HAYOON | AT HOME

I was sitting in my room alone as I could still hear murmurs from my mom and dad, talking and discussing some sort of important stuff downstairs. I told them I was fine and I can recover from this quickly- But I'm not really sure about it. 

I didn't notice that the night already came as dozens of stars already appeared above the night sky without me even noticing. Wonwoo also drove me home safely and also stayed a couple of hours just to let me have someone while I waited for my parents to come. I also got to introduce him shortly to my parents before he finally left.

I lazily flopped on my bed wearing the most comfortable pajamas I can find in my drawer. I continued to stare at the ceiling while the incident kept repeating inside my head again and again like a memorable scene in a movie. It was also enough for me to recall the feeling of being so protected and being embraced tightly by someone else.

And that's none other than Jeonghan, my senior.

"If it wasn't for him I would be possibly worse than now," I said to myself. "I should thank him or something. Maybe beg my mom to help me and make a good presentable meal to bring at school. I think I can figure where his class is and I'll hand it to him."

"I mean, he's a literal angel after all." I continued. "So he deserves it."

As I kept thinking about him and his handsome model-like features, I felt my face start to blush as my cheeks slowly turned into a few shades of red. I tried to cover my face with a pillow as I started to kick my blankets out of excitement. I soon stopped and stared at the window close to where I was lying on. Suddenly forming a sad frown which is a very big change of expression on my side.

"But when I first met him... He looked so weak and helpless... He doesn't even look like he has the instincts to fight back at Kai in that time until I stepped in." I mumbled under my breath as I shifted back my gaze to the ceiling again.

"But when it was me who's getting bullied this time, why does he sound so vicious and so threatening?"

"Why can he be so scary towards others while he can be so soft towards me?"

...

THE NEXT MORNING

I woke up very early from bed and walked downstairs to see mom cooking in the kitchen very early. I went over to her and kissed her on the cheek, greeting her a good morning. She had this worried look at first, but she later replaced it with a smile to match it with mine.

"Honey, I didn't expect you to wake up this early. The sun hasn't even risen yet." She said and turned the stove off in front of her.

"It's okay mom. I just want to tell you about making an extra lunch box that I can bring to school. Can you help me prepare another one?" I asked her, earning a very surprised face from her.

"Why? Are you feeling that hungry?" She asked out of confusion.

"Nope, I just want to give it to someone in a form of gratitude. I just want to give it to a friend that I feel very grateful to." I replied to her quickly.

"Sure honey, whatever you say. But do you really think you can handle going to school today? The school is fine if you don't go today-"

"I'm fine mom. Don't worry about me and I think I can handle myself from today. I'll be just taking a quick shower and I'll help you prepare the meals." I forced another grin and walked away from the kitchen and to the bathroom.

...

"Hayoon? Why are you here? I thought you were taking a break today?" Someone spoke as that 'person' proceeded to take a seat beside me.

"Oh, good morning Inha! I just don't wanna miss out on some lessons and that's why I still decided to attend class. I really feel good and I think I can recover from this sooner than you think." I greeted her and chuckled to lift the atmosphere between us up a bit.

"Well, I guess that's good to hear. I also just want to apologize for storming out yesterday. It's just so bratty for me to do and I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me." She murmured.

"My gosh, it's okay and I already forgave you long ago! I understand what you were feeling at that time so it's okay." I offered her a quick hug and she cheerfully accepted.

"So what's with the two lunchboxes you have there? Are you eating that much?" She let go and pointed out the two neatly wrapped lunchboxes from under my seat.

"Oh, that? I just want to give the other to someone else. I think it will be very nice to thank the person for literally saving my life yesterday. I hope he likes my cooking though..." I tried to whisper the last part but one person was still able to hear it.

"What are you saying? I've already tasted your cooking before and it's good! I think he'll like what you've prepared! Wait, who are we even talking about?" She looked at me with a very confused expression that made me chuckle a little more.

"I'm giving it to Jeonghan-sunbae. Didn't you see him when you found us in the shed? He's the one who saved me from Ella in that time." I responded while she tilted her head in response.

"Really? I actually didn't see him. Maybe he disappeared after we found you." She laughed at her own joke. "But anyway, I'm actually happy that you're here! I really wanted to call you yesterday and tell you all about something but I thought you deserve some rest. Can we talk about it now?"

Inha gave me this look of excitement and she really looked very eager to speak. I gave her a nod and told her she can tell me all about what she wants. And as soon as she spoke, you can say that it ended with us quietly fangirling by our corner inside our near crowded classroom.

"Wait- Seriously?! Did you just say that you and Mingyu are officially dating? So you're like a couple now? I can't believe it!" I flooded her with questions while she was blushing non-stop.

"You heard me right! We went out to get some tteokbokki after class and he said he really liked me all of a sudden- BOOM! We're officially dating right after that~" Inha hummed as I kept my happy expression along.

"I'm really happy for you two! I knew you're going to be together! At least I can finally see my ship being sailed~" I tickled her as she tried to resist.

"Hi girls! Hi Inha-ssi~" A voice suddenly creeped out of nowhere just to see Mingyu with a very wide smile plastered on his face.

"Hi to you too Mingyu-ssi~" Inha replied with a very cute voice.

"I almost thought you weren't going because you took so long~" Inha slightly pouted (still in a cute way).

"Sorry then~" The boyfriend apologized to her girlfriend as he took his seat beside us. "Oh, Inha? You're here?"

As Mingyu finally took his seat, he was really shocked when his eyes landed on my presence. As everybody does at this point, he gave me a very confused look as I already prepared the right words for a short explanation. I told him the same reason and he just nodded. His eyes eventually noticed the two lunch boxes stacked up from under my seat and asked me about it again.

"Oh, the other one is for me and I'll be giving the other one to somebody else. I just want to give it to Jeonghan-sunbae in a form of a simple 'thank you' for yesterday. He was the one who practically defended me from Ella." I explained to him before he just looked away in another direction.

"How are you going to give it to him? D-Do you even know where his classroom is?" He coughed as his gaze was still somewhere else.

"Oh yeah... about that, do you think you know where his classroom is? Or somebody you know that knows where his classroom is?" I looked at Inha and Mingyu back and forth, waiting for any response from one of them.

"I-I know..." Mingyu coughed between letters as he decided to speak up.

"Great! Can you go show me where his classroom later lunch break?"

...

MINGYU | LUNCHBREAK

The bell already rang and some of the students from our class already made their way outside to eat their lunch. As I expected, Hayoon tapped my shoulder and told me to lead her the way to my brother's classroom. During our walk, it really made me think about what happened yesterday and imagine how Hayoon is going to react when... you know...

...knows about his true identity and his over-the-top feelings towards her...

After we took a lot of unfamiliar pairs of stairs and unfamiliar hallways, I finally got to spot his classroom from afar. The hallway leading to his room was full of unfamiliar older faces that made me and Hayoon bowing and greeting good afternoon to every one of them. When we felt near, I heard a small 'yelp!' that made me turn my back to see who it was from.

"Oh, I didn't know you're going to visit our floor Hayoon... what's the reason that you decided to pay a visit here?" A tall and muscular man said as I can see that he towered Hayoon's small appearance.

"Excuse me, I think we need to go." I stepped in and tried to take Hayoon's wrist but I was stopped.

"Oh, you too? Not yet pretty boy." The man, Kai, brushed my hand away and hid Hayoon behind him with that nasty smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, but we all do respect senior but we need to get going-"

"But what are you going to do if I say no? Run like a coward as your other classmates did?" He cut me off as he started to laugh.

I stood there without any emotion at all as the whole situation began to gather attention from the other seniors that stood in the hallways. I glanced over at Hayoon and she really looked genuinely scared. She did try to get away from Kai and go to me- But she was always stopped by Kai's other new minions.

"Senior, I think we don't need to do this because this isn't really necessary-"

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

Kai's voice became louder and stronger whenever I decided to speak a word. I admit, I felt my forehead start to sweat out of nervousness and not knowing what to do. Many ideas did come to my head but I decided to decline them one by one. Many of our other kind seniors (not like Kai) also tried to step in and defuse the situation, but they were just silenced by Kai right away.

What did I put Hayoon and myself into this time?!

"I really do respect you senior, but can you please just let Hayoon go on with her way? We'll just drop something off and we'll be on our way to our classroom." I finally said, as my fingers started to tremble inside my pockets.

Kai laughed again and smirked viciously. "Then how about if I make you two stay longer?"