The three of them make the slow, arduous journey to the infirmary. Minju finds a scowl fixed fiercely onto her face - partly due to the pain, partly to deter any curious souls that might get too comfortable and offer their help.

"The name's Ryeo Wonshik, by the way." The boy either doesn't notice, or has nerves of steel up against her murderous expression. "Sorry I hit you."

"It's-" Minju has to stop herself before she can say "it's fine", because it clearly wasn't. "At least you owned up."

He raises one dark, dense eyebrow. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience."

She huffs out a laugh. "Lee Daehyun is in my class."

"Oh, that clown." Wonshik pauses to let her readjust her grip. "Yeah, I heard he's an asshole. Never met him though."

"That's probably for the best."

Minju leans on the wall for a moment as Wonshik has to shimmy the door open with both hands. "Excuse me," he calls into the room.

The nurse's office has always seemed the nicest place in the school building to Minju, with the wall-spanning windows that let in light all year round. The serene white tiles and sterile smell give it the feeling of a hospital, though with none of the solemn quiet. Even the standard white curtains look pretty, catching every breeze because the head nurse likes having the windows open.

Said nurse sits before her workstation now, peering at the computer screen through metal-rimmed glasses. Ms Yeo isn't particularly advanced in age - in fact, one might consider her pretty young - but Minju always thought she carried with her the air of a lovely British grandmother like she sees on television.

"Oh, Wonshik!" Ms Yeo peers over her glasses at him, then her, then at Taemin. "And who's this?"

"I'm Kwon Minju, ma'am." Wonshik lowers her onto one of the beds, and Minju melts gratefully into it, propping her leg up on a chair. "I might have hurt my ankle. And my palm."

"Oh dear." Ms Yeo rolls over on her swivel chair, picking up a first aid kit on the way and gesturing for the other two to sit. "And what happened here?"

"I hit her with my ball, ma'am." And in a show of sheepishness Minju didn't expect him to be capable of, he rubs the back of his head, ruffling his already messy dark hair. "Sorry."

Ms Yeo dabs at Minju's hand gently with some antiseptic, but pauses to give him a scathing look. "It's not me you should be saying sorry to, it's this young lady!"

"He already apologised, Ms Yeo." Minju allows a small smile to grace her lips. "And it was an accident."

Wonshik glances at her, as if not expecting her to come to his defence. Minju pretends she hadn't seen it.

"It certainly looks like you took quite a tumble." Ms Yeo gives the three of them another appraising look, then catches sight of Minju's broken glasses in Taemin's hand. "And what about those?"

Minju winces. It was going to cost her to get those fixed.

"You should pay her back for those, you know," Ms Yeo says, before Minju can come up with something. "Or at least compensate her in some way."

Wonshik's face darkens, but Ms Yeo has her back to him.

"It was an accident," Minju says quickly before he can respond. "I don't expect you to."

The anger dissolves just as suddenly as it arrived. "No, Ms Yeo is right. I should pay you back somehow."

Spoken without a hint of malice or dishonesty. Minju wondered what kind of person Ryeo Wonshik truly was.

Ms Yeo gets up from her seat with a huff and pats Minju on the leg. "There we go, all nice and bandaged up. You have a bit of a bruise on your forehead too, so you take some rest and skip the next class just in case, alright?" She writes up a quick note and hands it to Taemin.

"I'll leave your glasses here," Taemin says, placing them on the bedside table, where they topple over forlornly. "And I'll collect your homework for you. Don't leave me alone in there for too long."

She brushes a hand over Minju's forehead, almost impersonally, and leaves like a wraith on the wind.

"I should get going too." Wonshik stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Class started a couple minutes ago..."

"Oh, yes, yes." Ms Yeo flaps her hands, scribbling up another note for Wonshik. "Do take care, young man. And try not to get yourself in any more trouble."

Wonshik shrugs, the corner of his lips raised in a rueful smile, and he too leaves without another word.

What kind of a person is Ryeo Wonshik? Minju would be loath to admit it, but her first thought after waking from her nap was about the person she'd just met.

Certainly one with a lot of secrets. Most people with the emotional range of a spoon did.

Not to mention the curious comment that Ms Yeo had left him before he'd gone off. So he'd gotten into trouble before, had he? Bad enough that even the school nurse recognised him.

Minju mused it over. Well, she could get behind that theory. Wonshik did look like he was ready to take anyone in a fight at any moment, with his permanent, slight frown and striking eyes, like shadowed moonlight over a pool of blood.

But he amused her, in a way. And Minju hoped to see him around school again some time.

"Someone's thinking hard," Taemin comments, shoving books in her bag until Minju can see loose papers crumple.

Minju blinks herself back to reality. "It's more than you usually do," she retorts good-naturedly. And then, "Aren't those papers important?"

"Oh, crap." Taemin struggles to remove the crumpled wad from out of the mess. "Yeah. Whatever."

The sun had chilled as the day passed, and the late afternoon was cool enough for Minju to pull out her cardigan. Taemin raises an eyebrow, but makes no comment, and the two of them commence the trip to the bus stop together.

"How's your ankle?" Taemin asks.

"Fine. Sore. But fine."

They exchange a look.

"You should've gotten that Ryeo Wonshik's number. Maybe he really would have paid you back." Taemin's phone pings, drawing her attention away from the conversation.

She was right, as usual, but it wasn't like she knew anything about him beyond his name. Asking around would be downright mortifying, let alone scouring the halls for a single boy.

"Minju-ya. Kwon Minju."

Both of them stop, though only Minju turns to see who it is. Ryeo Wonshik comes down the stairs, a cowlick on his head flopping with the movement as if he'd been just rudely awoken from a nap.

"Glad I caught you," he says, starting to walk without missing a beat. "Give me your number. I'll pay you back some time."

Minju hesitates. "Really?"

"Yeah, really." When she doesn't answer, Wonshik narrows his eyes at her. "I don't say things for fun."

"Um, okay." She tells him, and he nods. "You're not writing it down?"

"Nah. I left my phone at home. It's not hard to remember. What's she up to, anyway?" He angles his chin at Taemin still on her phone, lagging behind them a couple of steps.

"Texting her boyfriend. He probably got in trouble again and has to skip out on a date." Privately, Minju adds to herself, "and I have no idea what she sees in him."

"No idea what that kind of guy is doing if he's still getting into trouble with a girlfriend like her."

Minju gives him a sharp look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a compliment." He shrugs, glancing away. "Isn't she good at school? That's supposed to be a good role model for anyone, isn't it?"

"Oh." Minju hadn't thought about it that way.

"Anyway, whatever." Wonshik stuffs his hands into his pockets. "How are you getting back?"

"The green bus." Minju finally catches sight of his sleeve with the three stripes. "Oh, I didn't know you were a third year."

"Yeah. I hate it. Day in and day out. Nothing but tests. I'm ready for entrance exams to be over."

"Do you have your eye set on any university?" Minju asks.

He pauses. "No, not really. Somewhere close to home, I guess. But I want to take a gap year if I can."

"Oh, a gap year?" Taemin nearly trips off the curb, and Minju has to grab her by the sleeve and haul her back. "Geez. What are you planning on doing?"

Wonshik pauses again, and Minju finally clocks the discomfort in his expression. "Sorry. You don't have to think about it."

"It's alright. Thanks." The relief is evident in his voice, and in the lull in the conversation, they crowd into the bus stop with their other fellow students, trying to get shelter from the autumn sun. It does nothing to quell her curiosity, but Minju has to bite back her questions.

Taemin grumbles out a sigh, pocketing her phone. "The date's off," she announces to no one in particular, drawing a few looks.

Minju pats her on the shoulder sympathetically. "It's okay. There's still the weekend."

"He has cram school on the weekend. For math. I said I could coach him!"

Taemin hangs her head until her bus pulls up, puffing dirty, hot air. "Bye," she says forlornly, waving to them both. "Text me when you get back, Minju."

Wonshik raises an eyebrow once she leaves. "Your friend sure is a character."

Minju rubs the bridge of her nose, huffing out a laugh.

next part out on friday! please vote if you enjoyed <3