Sung by: J-Min (SM Entertainment)

Life was never easy, to begin with. I mean if it were that easy, I wouldn't have to suffer so much, trying to live. I could live in bliss and still be successful. I wouldn't have to worry so much about myself. Yet, life was cruel. It decided to take away the thing I value most...

My happiness and my will to live...

It sucks. I lost it. Everything disappeared and I lost my interests.

See how depression and pressure take over you?

They trap you in this world filled with negativity. They make you believe that you're worthless. They make you lose hope in yourself without you knowing. They destroy your mind that you believe that you deserved to die. And also, they make you believe that death and suicide is the only option for you to end your suffering.

And the worst part... you're unaware of it. Depression will be a part of you until you point it out. And once you realised it, you're stumped. You wanna improve yourself - but you couldn't. Or you tried to convince yourself that everything's fine but in actual fact, it's not. You want to tell your everyone about it, but you're afraid of their reaction - they might deny it and just say that you're 'faking it', even though it feels like hell 24/7. You wanna overcome it, but the burden is too heavy for you to do it alone.

Although some could overcome it easily due to their family support, religion and therapy, others are not that fortunate. They may look at other, more dangerous things to cope with everything, like self-harm, drug abuse, anything else under the sun that hurts the victim. Some may even commit suicide due to the immense amount of stress they had.

It's scary... but that's the norm.

At least for me, I was conscious of the thought. The only problem was I didn't know how to overcome my problems.

That was me, for the past year of my life...

Until I met her.

Maya.

She wasn't the most sporty person out there. Heck, she was the complete opposite. She was more of a goof, art student who enjoys learning new things and loves to annoy everyone with her cringe-worthy puns.

Yet, something about her caught my attention.

Maya was a new student at my school. She only came when I was in my 3rd year in high school. She was a cheerful girl with many friends and was quickly popular in my school. She had so much talent, especially in drawing, that she was quickly recognised by the school as the most talented artist.

Everyone knew her as that one art student who loved making stupid jokes in class.

I had to admit...back then, I was envious of her. Every time I looked at her, the green-eyed monster would suddenly emerge and cloud my thoughts. She was considered 'my enemy' for a few months. She had so much attention even though she wasn't the most sporty person, which was super ironic. Yeah... in my school, usually the athletes were considered very popular. Everyone else was considered 'peasants' and deemed 'not worthy'. Yeah... that's how my school was.

I was popular, being in the archery club. Keyword - 'was'

My popularity soon crumbled into dust due to a mistake I made during an archery competition when I was in the second year of school. It was a small mistake - but it was an obvious mistake.

I couldn't aim for a perfect shot. In fact, I missed the target so many times and could only score between 1 - 5 points per shot. My body was trembling in fear each and every time I couldn't succeed. With that, I already knew my fate... Of course, everyone would be disappointed in me.

Actually, scratch that, not only were they disappointed - they were extremely mad, utterly abashed, super disgusted, and other negative emotions that people feel when they hear failure.

Everyone was disappointed in me. And I mean everyone. My family kept on scolding me every single night, constantly reminding me how I was destined to be a star, but everything crumbled down and instead, they told me I was destined to be poor and homeless. They left me alone, not even bothered to check on their own son, who felt like dying every single day. 

And with that, I was stuck in this loop of despair every day. No one wanted to talk to me. I lost my popularity status within a few days, heck even hours, as everyone spread the news of me being a failure. My classmates avoided me, not even bothered to talk to me even if it was during group projects. I was kicked out of my own club, now constantly loitering around with no purpose in life. From the most well-respected and popular boy in school, I was soon known as the outcasted trash that didn't deserve to live.

From there, I believed that death was the only option for me. I believed that I had no purpose in life. I believed that I was a burden in society and that no one would care. My world turned monochrome - but mostly black. There wasn't any hope for me.

See how an incident changes you instantly?

I changed so much... and it scared me so much honestly. Every night, those demons would haunt me the most, questioning my worth in life - from my family to my friends. It felt like hell living in a world where I had to force myself to contain everything when I'm already so broken and hollow inside. It's so hard for me to call for help when I'm being surrounded by noise and I'm only considered a whisper... or even worse, silence.

I changed so much... to the point that I didn't want to wake up in the morning, I didn't want to do anything, I stopped caring for myself and I stopped caring for others.

Except for Maya...

"Hey, I heard you didn't win the archery competition and everyone still talks crap about you even though it happened a long time ago... You okay?" Maya suddenly asked while I was seated at my desk, minding my own business.

'What do you know about me anyway?' was what I was about to say, yet I remained silent, letting her continue her speech but also ignoring her words. Her words were coming through my right ear and leaving through the left.

"I know I'm not good at archery or sports... but I could help you out to get back on track... I know I don't know you well, but I'll try to help out. you look very lethargic and you seemed to lost your spark in everything."

"What do you know about me anyway?" a question that I absentmindedly blurted it out, leaving me in a state of shock initially.

Maya looked shocked, even more than me, at first. She was stumped with the question. It took her quite a while for her to answer me genuinely.

"Well, for one, you look very lethargic and you don't have much energy at all in class. Number two, people seem to be avoiding you so much and I always see people whispering amongst themselves whenever you walk down the hallways. And lastly, I rarely see you eat in school which is not good for you, ya know that? Anyways... I know it sounds creepy, me just looking at you and knowing your moves, but I'm just an analytical girl, nothing more."

"If you wanna give it a shot, come meet me at the field later afternoon. I can lend you a bow and arrows for you if you want that is," were her last words before she left to talk to her other friends.

I couldn't help but catch a glimpse of her. Why was she so willing to help me? What did I ever do to her? The only thing I did was being cold to her, heck I rarely talked to her. So why would she bother helping me?

Even though a billion questions were running through my head at lightning speed, I wanted to at least give it a shot. I wanted to get my life back on track, but without support, it was a burden to bear with it. At least, Maya was willing to help me. Unlike other people, who could only criticize me for my mistakes 24/7 and not offer help.

So, I did what I did. I met her at the field later that afternoon. A smirk emerged from Maya's face as I approached her.

"You finally came huh? I knew you would actually... Anyways, here you go. Start practising yeah? Don't have to be so hard on yourself. Just try to adapt to it first, then slowly you can start scoring. I know it's gonna be hard, but at least try first." Maya advised as she handed me a bow and an arrow, guiding me towards the field, meeting my nemesis for the first time in a while.

Not gonna lie, it was terrifying facing archery again after being traumatised for so long. I guess I couldn't confront my own fears, knowing that those voices and flashbacks would haunt me. Even though I only had to face a target, something pretty tame, it was a nerve-racking experience.

My hands were trembling while I was trying to pull the arrow from the bow. Heck - I couldn't even pull the bow strongly. My arms were aching and I felt exhausted even from doing such as simple action.

Yet, Maya continued to encourage me. I guess she saw my struggle and wanted me to push on. I guess she didn't want me to give up so soon. With her gentle voice constantly reminding me to push on, I closed my eyes and slowly release the arrow from the bow...

Like how I'm finally releasing my inner fear and freeing my soul...

Pak!

Something could be heard from a distance... I opened my eyes and saw the arrow actually hitting the target. My jaw dropped. Maya was equally shocked. She approached me, curious as to what caused me to hit the target perfectly. I was confused as well. I didn't know what came to me or what power I had in me to be able to score within the first try.

Not sure if the arrow hitting the target was symbolic of anything... but maybe it represented how my life could go back to how it was even though I was in an infernal state. It was as though the target was saying "You may harm me billions of times, but you should never harm yourself."

But one thing's for sure - I had the power to change and I could actually break free from those chains.

 I thanked Maya profusely for her help. I guess she's not that bad of a girl in my eyes...

After a few months of training with Maya's help, I slowly began to feel better. I was improving in my archery skills. I was able to shoot properly and was able to obtain a few bull's eyes here and there. My archery coach actually saw me practising when he came down for the club activity and he asked me if I would like to come back. Of course, I couldn't pass the opportunity of redeeming myself, so I agreed. My teammates were shocked at first, but they were relieved of seeing me getting back on track. They even encouraged me to be part of the school team! How cool is that?

I began socializing with my friends again. Though they were initially shocked by the sudden transformation and reluctant to accept me back into their own group, they were at least glad to see me cheery again. I began to spend time with them more, not only for homework or anything related to school but also for doing random things like playing games and eating together - something that we always did back then.

I began talking to my family members again. They apologized to me sincerely for pressurizing me too much back then and calling me words that should have never been said. Though I would never forget those harsh words that were spouted in my face, I quickly forgave because they were my family and no matter how much I wanted to despise them, I wouldn't be who I was without my family. Even though, they did contribute to my depression for a moment.

Even though my life was already piecing itself, Maya never failed to offer me aid. Albeit sports or academics - she was always there for me, even when I was already recovering.

Long story short, I became happier and more thankful...

All thanks to her...

I didn't know where would I be without her... I didn't know what would I do if not for her help... I 

"Hey! You wanna continue practising?" A soothing voice called my name, making me lose my train of thought.

"Sure!" I replied cheerfully, grabbing my bow and began shooting at the target.

I finally escaped from hell. And it's all thanks to her.

Thank you for saving me, Maya...

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Author's Note: Shout out to the peeps that know 'To the Beautiful You'! That's where the OST came from... Such a cute drama oml (also Minho (SHINee) be looking hot af in that drama!!!! Double also, Minho looks like Lucas (NCT) especially in that drama, I was shookt! Anyways, I was inspired by the drama but of course, there are slight tweaks in it. ;3 Hope you enjoyed!! 

Anyways... holy this was such a long chapter to write... Originally, it was supposed to be around 700-800 words... but now... it's almost doubled or even tripled the number... *cries in agony* I don't really write long but god damn... this is shocking for me...

Also, I'm super sorry for not updating for a very long time in this book. Other than the number of words in here, life got in the way and I had no motivation to continue this book. But I'm slowly going back on track, so I hope you guys will enjoy this book!

Have A Beautiful And Amazing Day! (HABAAD)! ;D