Warnings: Contains violence and mentions of death.

"Korean"

"Chinese"

"Speaking from a distance"

You sighed as you were once again dragged by bf/n (best friend's name) to some unknown place. She's been doing that a lot recently. Takes you somewhere in hopes of getting you to socialize with people. So far, she has yet to succeed.

You didn't bother fighting against her as she pushed you into her car and even buckled you up herself like you were a child. She does that a lot actually. Treats you as if you're a child that needs protecting all the time. You're 18 for Christ's sake! At times it's nice though; being taken care of by someone.

Your mom passed away when you were ten, and your dad is always away on business trips nowadays. Even before he was always gone, he was always professional with you.

You know why too.

It's because you look just like your mother with midnight hair that cascades to your waist and cerulean eyes.

The only time he would get personal was when you spoke Chinese. He would yell at you and tell you never to speak the language again. You never listened though. It made you feel closer to your mom who was Chinese.

You were brought out of your thoughts when you felt the jolt of the car stop. When did she even leave your house? Oh well.

Curiously, you looked around to see where she took you this time. Your curiosity turned to confusion when you saw that you were outside a warehouse that had seen better days. Bf/n, however, was very excited as she bounded out of the car and what seemed like a second later, she had pulled you out of the car as well.

She grabbed your hand and looked at you with sparkling eyes and a wide grin. "Come on! This place is awesome!" She yelled with excitement before she proceeded to drag you. You once again sighed as she led you closer to the dilapidated building.

When she pushed the door open, you froze. You didn't know what to expect coming in here, but an underground fighting rink was NOT even slightly on your guessing list. Bf/n seemed unaffected and walked over to a huge, bulky man standing to the side of us and handed him a wad of cash.

Where the hell did she get that much money!?

She quickly returned to you and resumed dragging you to the front lines. It seemed like one of the fights was about to start. You were once again surprised when you saw who was fighting. One of the guys was the typical huge guy with not shirt and pants.

It was the boy who looked to be your age wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a shiny blue and black shirt that surprised you. Your first thought was that he would get really hurt. The second thought was that he was very attractive. His clothes clung to him and showed off his arms that proved he worked out. His face was calm with a bit of irritation that only showed by the slight down tilt of his lips. His eyes were focused solely on his opponent. One thing that stood out were the dark circles around his eyes, reminding you of a panda.

You jumped when you heard a loud chime. You realized that it started the fight because the large behemoth charged at his opponent. Your jaw dropped when you saw the smaller man catch the behemoth's fist and used his momentum to flip him over onto the ground. The behemoth landed with a loud thud on his back.

The behemoth growled before getting up. "You're going to regret that." The behemoth once again charged and attacked but his opponent kept knocking him down or just dodging his attacks entirely.

As you watched, you felt as if the man was dancing. An elaborate and dangerous dance. He didn't seem like he was trying all that hard.

That changed however when someone from the crowd threw a knife to the behemoth. You felt your heart sink when the behemoth let loose a feral smile. You looked over and saw that bf/n was nowhere to be seen. Your lungs seemed to freeze when you realized that you were alone in this place.

She left you. You quickly pulled out your phone and tried calling her multiple times but it went to voicemail every time. The cheers of the crowd seemed to get louder and you felt almost as if you were drowning. You didn't do very well in packed places. It was one of the reasons you didn't hang out with a group of people. If you get surrounded by people, you have a panic attack. When bf/n was here, it wasn't as bad. Now that she was gone though…

You had trouble breathing and didn't even hear the loud chime to signal the end of the match. You saw your vision blur and felt yourself falling. Soon, your vision was black. You were unconscious before someone caught you.

~.~

You awoke to the sound of people shouting.

"I didn't even want to be here in the first place! I'm not going back out! Besides, I'm busy doing something much better with my time."

"We need you to fight! I'll give you a lot of money!"

"NO! I'm not fighting!"

You heard a door slam and slowly opened your eyes. You were thankful when you noticed that the room was darkened. You could still see, but the light didn't hurt your eyes. You looked around and noticed that you were no longer in arena. You shot up in panic, but regretted it because it felt like someone hit your head with a sludge hammer. You groaned and your hand automatically shot to your head.

"You're awake! I was beginning to worry." You turned your head and saw the man from the fight. He was wearing the same outfit but his face showed relief instead of irritation. That confused you though.

Why would he be feeling relieved? Why was he even with you in the first place? Where the hell were you? You were about to ask these aloud, but it seemed he read your mind.

"You passed out from what appeared to be a panic attack and so I brought you to my room so I could take care of you." He said with a small smile. You blushed and felt your chest hurt. Why would it hurt? You mentally shook yourself.

"Thank you. How long was I out?" You asked and you felt relieved now that your headache was almost nonexistent. You froze when he spoke.

"Two hours."

Your eyes widened and you fished your phone out of your pocket. You paled when it read 5:36 pm. "Shit! Damn it! I'm gonna get in so much trouble!" You shouted before rushing out of the bed. You didn't even realize you switched languages. Once you stood and took a step, your legs gave out on you. You completely forgot that you were always weak after a panic attack.

You braced yourself for when you hit the floor, but your descent suddenly stopped. You opened your eyes and saw that the man had caught you and was holding you to his chest. When you breathed in, you smelled sandalwood mixed with a musky scent. You blushed when you realized that it was coming from the man holding you.

"You should be more careful." The man told you in Chinese making you jump in surprise. "You speak Chinese?" You asked, temporarily forgetting about the position you were in.

He smiled sadly. "Yeah. I'm Chinese but moved here for a job opportunity that turned out to be this. How do you know Chinese?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.

You smiled, hoping to hide the sadness you were feeling at the simple question. "My mother taught me. She was Chinese." You replied, trying to sound happy. The man's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean 'was'?" His voice was gentle and he genuinely seemed concerned. Your smile faded and you stared down at your hands that were resting on your stomach.

"She died when I was ten. It's been my dad and I for the past eight years." You answered honestly. You felt his thumb rub soothing circles on your back where he was holding you. You rested your head on his chest and for the first time in a long time, you felt safe. You felt…loved.

"May I ask how she died?" The man's soothing voice asked. You unconsciously curled up a bit in his arms. His grip on you tightened a bit and you felt your eyes burn. "A man tried to rob her. However, my mom wasn't a pushover. She studied martial arts when she was a teenager." You smiled as you remembered watching your mom practice in an empty room. Your smile faded though and you felt a tear run down your cheek. "The man pulled out a gun and shot her before running off with her purse. An hour or two later, an ambulance picked her up. She was still alive. She was left bleeding to death." You choked on a sob as tears streamed down your face. "They tried to save her but she died on the operating table."

You covered your face with your hands as you sobbed. The man pulled you into his lap and rocked you back and forth. He muttered soothing words into your ear and instead of covering your face, your hands were clinging to his shirt. He began humming to you and that coupled with his steady heartbeat calmed you.

Soon, all that escaped you was a quiet sniff as he continued humming to you. You forced yourself to pull back and wipe your face. Being in his embrace was so comforting to you. You sniffed again as you removed your hands. You gave the man a weak smile. "I'm so sorry about that. It's just I was really close with my mother. I miss her so much." You let out a bitter laugh. "Gods, I don't even know why I'm being so open with a stranger."

"Tao."

You blinked. "What?"

"Tao. What's your name?" The man, Tao, asked with a warm smile that made your stomach do flips. "Y/n (your name)." You answered slowly.

He smile widened. "There. Now we're not strangers." Tao said and you paused. You laughed as you realized that he was right. "No, I guess we're not. Well, I'm sorry about this, but I need to get home Tao. Thank you so much for all you've done. How can I repay you?" You asked earnestly.

Tao smiled shyly with a blush tinting his cheeks. "You can repay me by promising me that I'll see you again." He said and his blush darkened.

You blinked and gave him a warm smile. His blushed darkened even more if that was possible and you thought it was adorable. "Sure. I promise you'll see me again. Soon." You promised. Tao smiled widely and helped you up.

"Well, let's get you home." Tao said as he grabbed your hand and gently pulled you towards the door.

At that moment, you realized that you didn't want to go home. You wanted to stay with him. You reminded yourself that you'll see him soon. You needed to remember to thank bf/n for bringing you here.

After all, it was because of her you were able to meet the man you fell in love with.