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The next day at school I.M was impatiently sitting through English class. He was tapping his foot on the ground and staring down the clock in hopes that it would make time go faster which proved futile for the past seven hours. Only a little longer and the day would be over and he would be able to see Borah again.

“Lim Changkyun.” The teacher called out and everyone turned to the back of the room where I.M was sitting. He looked to the teacher who could obviously tell that he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. “I won’t dismiss the whole class until you read the last paragraph of “The Daisy” by Hans Christian Andersen.” All of the students looked anxiously between I.M and the teacher who refused to pick someone else to read. Everyone, including the teacher, was expecting I.M to refuse but instead he grabbed his text book, flipped to the right page and started reading in perfect English.

“The clod of turf with the Daisy in it was thrown into the road in the dust, and no one thought of the modest, affectionate little flower, which, however, had felt most for the bird, and, not able to give consolation and relief, had died with it.” I.M grabbed his bag and shoved the textbook inside as he walked to the door. Everyone was so shocked that they didn’t even stop him from leaving the room a full minute before the final bell rang. I.M and the guys who hang around him were by his locker as he grabbed his leather jacket and pack of cigarettes. He took off his school uniform jacket and shoved it into his bag so he didn’t have to leave it behind. His friends were just talking about how they did nothing all day and how school was pointless because they were so smart they didn’t need it, yet they still had the worst scores in the whole school.

“You guys talk too much.” I.M said and the guys became silent for a few seconds before the guys started whistling and annoying some girls that walked past. He looked to see who they were and noticed that it was Borah and some of her friends. I.M slammed his locker shut and walked after her. “Borah.” He called out and Borah and her friends looked back to see I.M standing there looking at them. Without hesitation Borah walked over to him despite the horrified looks on her friends face.

“Hey I.M.” Borah said when she approached him. Hearing her say his name like that made him a little embarrassed and he lowered his face so she couldn’t see him smile.

“Are you heading to work?” He asked and Borah nodded her head. “I’ll go with you.” When he said that Borah looked a little surprised and the two of them awkwardly couldn’t bring themselves to look at the other. “I’m only saying that since…you know…I hang out across the street and stuff…if you don’t want to you don’t-“

“Sure.” Borah cut in and I.M felt the anxious weight lift off his chest. “I just have to go to my locker. We can meet up by the front gates, okay?” She asked and I.M just nodded his head, not really sure of what to say. Borah then walked back to her friends who he knew was going to bombard her with questions about him.

“Are you banging the vice president?” One of guys asked when I.M walked back to his locker. I.M then grabbed him and shoved him against the locker which had all of the other guys grow anxious that a fight was going to break out.

“You shut your mouth, got it?” I.M threatened and the guy quickly nodded his head which secured his freedom as I.M let go of him and headed out to the front gate. He waited there for two minutes and felt like a complete idiot the whole time. People walked past him, looking at him from the corner of their eyes as they were too afraid to look at him head on. He honestly thought about just ditching Borah and going to his actual friends because he hated the way people were treating him as if he were a plague and that being too close to him would automatically seal someone’s fate.

“You actually waited.” Borah came running over and I.M just nodded his head, still trying to ignore the people giving him even weirder looks now that he was seen with Borah. “Ready to go?” She asked and I.M just nodded again. Borah was a little confused as to why he was so silent but then she looked around and saw people whispering about them. She just rolled her eyes and grabbed his jacket sleeve and pulled him over to the bus stop. “Don’t care about what those people think of you.”

“I don’t want them to dislike you because of me.” I.M admitted and Borah nervously bit at her lip. Usually as the vice president she always knew the right thing to say but this time she was stumped and I.M knew it. “Get on.” He said as the bus pulled up in front of them and opened its doors. Borah got on first with I.M following after her. There was one seat left open and Borah sat down at it with I.M standing in front of her so no one would be tempted to try and force her to stand up.

“So how long have you been friends with those guys at the auto shop?” Borah asked after the two of them had been riding the bus in complete silence for a few minutes and it was starting to make her uncomfortable.

“I’ve known Jooheon since we were kids and over the past three years we met everyone else.” I.M went on to explain how he met each of them individually. Kihyun and Minhyuk he met at a party that they threw, Hyungwon was dating Minhyuk’s sister and Shownu worked at the auto shop and drove at some drag races on the outskirts of town.

“And what about the one who always calls you Changkyun?” Borah asked and I.M felt his heart beat rapidly when his real name slipped past her lips.

“Ah, Wonho? I actually met him when I was picked up by the police once.” I.M admitted and he thought that Borah would automatically stop wanting to talk to him and never even want to be seen with him again.

“Is the police station clean? I imagine it’s not.” Borah blurted out and I.M was shocked by her reaction. He laughed so loudly that he got shushed by multiple people who he just ignored. They got off at their stop and talked the whole way to Borah’s food stall that had a small line already at it. “Oh shoot! I gotta go; I’ll talk to you later alright?” Borah asked and I.M just nodded his head and she ran off to go help the waiting customers. I.M proudly walked across the street where he heard his friends obnoxiously yelling his name.

“You guys are so loud.” I.M whined as he approached them. Jooheon came running over to him and threw himself to try and hug his friend but I.M moved out of the way just in time for Jooheon to fall to the ground.

“You’re actually talking to her now? Wow, has I.M finally grown a set of-“

“Shut up Minhyuk.” I.M threatened to throw a chair at his hyung who went running and hid behind Shownu who wanted nothing to do with their little quarrel.

“So what were you guys talking about?” Wonho asked as he leaned against a finished car, cleaning his greased up hands into a dirty rag that always stuck out of his back pocket.

“Nothing special.” I.M didn’t want to tell them much about it and just silently looked over to Hyungwon who reading a book and smugly smirking at him as if he were the reason that the two of them were on talking terms. An hour passed and the line at the food stall was completely gone. “I’m starving; does anyone want anything to eat?” I.M didn’t wait for anyone’s reply and quickly made his way across the street to the stall where Borah was cleaning up.

“Hello, can I get you anything? Oh, it’s just you.” Borah smiled brightly when she looked over and saw I.M standing there, also smiling.

“You talk to all of your customers like that? Aigoo~ What a disrespectful young girl.” I.M and Borah just laughed and told him to be quiet. The two of them laughed and talked for a few minutes until the familiar rumbling of stereos filled the streets. Three cars came prowling down the street and pulled into the parking lot by the food stall. “Borah, don’t say anything. Got it?” I.M said and Borah just nodded her head, taking a pair of tongs into her hands and gripping them tightly as if they were a suitable weapon to protect herself in case anything happened.

“What are you doing over here little one?” Jinhwan asked as he stepped out of the car along with the rest of iKon who looked like they were in a mood to cause trouble.

“Look who’s talking shorty.” I.M shot back which wiped the smile right off of Jinhwan’s face as they approached the stall.

“Shouldn’t you be over with your boys at that crappy little shop?” Yunhyeong stepped towards I.M who didn’t flinch as the taller boy got into his personal space. The two then stared each other down as the other boys just circled them and watched.

“Hey baby.” B.I spoke up and I.M was trying to keep an eye on all of the boys but because of Yunhyeong he couldn’t do anything as the leader of iKon approached Borah. “How about you give me something I can sink my teeth into. I.M could feel the bad energy radiating off of B.I who started to reach across the counter to grab Borah. In a flash, I.M moved from Yunhyeong and stepped in from of B.I who he shoved away from Borah before he could touch her with his filthy hands.

“Watch yourself, you punk!” Bobby stepped forward and grabbed a hold of I.M by the collar of his jacket. If B.I was the leader of iKon, than Bobby was his right-hand man who enforced fear into people who threatened the group. Borah gasped a little when she thought that I.M was going to get hurt which made B.I smirk.

“Chill out Bobby. Little Changkyunnie was just protecting his girlfriend.” B.I set his hand on Bobby’s shoulder which made his let go of I.M who was actually terrified at the moment but didn’t want to show any weakness. “Be careful I.M. It’s a shame how easily things get lost these days.” B.I threatened and I.M clenched his fists and wanted to punch the man in the face and he was about to do it until he heard the sound of feet pounding against the ground. They all looked over and saw the rest of Monsta X running over ready to get into a fight if they had to.

“Get lost B.I.” Shownu came over and got right in the iKon leaders face. Everyone grew a little tense, including Borah who just wanted to get away from it all. I.M made sure to stand in front of the stall so in case anything happened he would be able to get Borah out of there quickly. After a quick standoff between the two group leaders, B.I smirked and was the first to step back.

“We’re going.” B.I called out and the boys of iKon looked a little upset that they wouldn’t be able to fight them. “Remember what I said I.M.” He said before iKon backed off and headed back to their cars. No one moved an inch until iKon drove off and was gone. They all let out a sigh of relief as the tension lifted from around them. I.M turned to look at Borah who was pale and shaking a little.

“Are you okay?” He softly asked her, not wanting to startle her in any ways.

“Y-Yeah….thanks…” Borah quickly met his gaze and then looked back down at the ground. The guys of Monsta X headed back across the street as I.M awkwardly stood by the stall. With a painful groan he reached across the counter and grabbed a pen and a napkin. He quickly scribbled down his name and placed it in front of her.

“If you ever need anything, call me.” He said before walking off towards his friends who were going to talk about the encounter for the rest of the evening. I.M hated that just as he and Borah were getting closer, those guys had to show up and make her afraid of him. He hated that he was like this but he didn’t know any other way of living and he knew that Borah didn’t deserve to be around a person like that.