"No"

Jong Suk stared at me. His facial expression never changed, but his eyes narrowed a tiny bit. "No?" He challenged silently.

My hands were shaking so badly I had to sit on them to make it stop trembling. I gulped down nervously. The thing with my brother was he's very quiet when he's mad, so quiet it seemed like he had all the oxygen out of the room. He seldom yelled or throw things, but that made it so much harder for me to read him.

Barely controlled anger.

I shook my head while keeping my eyes on him. I knew better not to let him out of my sight, so I can anticipate his next moves.

He lowered his head. His long bangs covering half of his face, shielding them from my view. "You wanna tell me why?" He asked softly.

I hesitated for a moment but decided the best course of action would be to keep my mouth shut. Nothing I say at this time would made me looked less guilty.

"Haneul, why would a girl like you, disguised herself as a boy and entered this school? I'm giving you a chance to explain before I pull you out of this school myself." He said, his voice slightly raised.

I thanked heavens for small favors, it's dinner time and I knew all the other students were in the dining hall, because if not, then I'm in so much trouble due to the sensitive nature of this conversation.

"Oppa" I started. "I'm really sorry, but I have to do this on my own. Someone needs my help and I intended to help him through this. So, I'm finishing this whether you approve or not."

I knew I was always being silly and reckless for my own good, but I got my stubbornness from my brother, hell, I learned from the master himself. So, if my brother thought I would leave meekly, he had another thing coming. I did not go through all the hardship these past 2 months just to go home quietly.

He slowly leaned forward until he was so close I could smell his cologne, fresh mint. There's nothing romantic about this closeness at all, ew, he's my brother. In fact, I felt so suffocated with our close proximity I trembled in my chair.

Slap.

My head snapped to the side, hard. My cheek burned and throbbed painfully, it felt numbed after a while. I didn't realise the tears I was desperately holding in were coursing down my face.

"Stop this foolishness at once" he snapped harshly.

I slowly raised my hand and rubbed my battered cheek. My breathing was coming out fast and choppy. I blinked away my glassy eyes to have a clear view of my brother.

His brows were knitted together and his mouth turned down in the corner. He looked at me as though I was a very difficult Math problem to solve, the answer were just out of his re