Jungkook slept in the bed fitfully, curled into a tight ball. His face was streaked with tears and his breathing was heavy and laboured. I stared at him with a strange foreign emotion running through my veins.

What was this feeling called again? The feeling when you steal a cookie out of the jar, and the jar is knocked off the cupboard, crashing to the floor and breaking into pieces and you know your parents are going to murder you.

Oh right, it’s called guilt.

I hadn’t felt this emotion in ages. Not since I killed my conscience eons ago, anyway. But today, I’d felt it so strongly.

Was Jungkookie’s attack caused by what I did this morning? Honestly, I knew he was going to freak out, but not to this extent! Heck, what sort of weird- condition did Jungkookie have for him to collapse on the ground when crying enters the picture?

I sighed loudly.

“So you wanna tell me why you were crying just now?” Superhero-sunbaenim’s voice came from my right.

, I forgot someone was here with me.

“I wasn’t c-crying,” I said, my face turning an unhealthy shade of maroon.

Why the hell did this guy have to exist? He seemed to be everywhere! my life. First he had to find out about Hinsaek. Then he had to somehow spot my bruises every goddamn time –I surreptitiously pulled the sleeve of my cardigan a bit lower so he wouldn’t see the hand mark there- and now, he’s asking about-

“You sure you don’t want to tell… oppa?”

I immediately choked on my saliva as he burst into peals of laughter.

“You… are… in no way… my oppa,” I seethed angrily.

He held his hands up pacifyingly, but the -eating grin was still on his face.

He opened his mouth again but praise the heavens above, Nurse Soojung walked in, escorting a distinguished man and a lady in. He was in a kempt double-ed suit, his greying hair neatly slicked back with hair gel and his shoes shone like the sun, whereas the lady was in a grey dress.

He reached out hesitantly to pat Jungkook on the head. For a second, Jungkook leaned into his touch.

Then he woke up. He immediately flinched away as the old man smiled ruefully at him.

“I’m here to pick you up.”

Even his voice sounded posh. I rolled my eyes. Darling Jungkook had a father who had the mannerisms of an old-school gentleman, and his mother (I presume it was that lady) made boxed lunches for him every day, as compared to dear old me, with a non-existent mother and a father who never let me leave home without marks.

What a lucky young man.

“You must be the children who brought him here,” the man looked at me thankfully, and the guilt tripled. “Thank you for taking care of Jungkook.”

Jungkook stared at me with his signature deer-in-headlights look. I shot him a patented Chesire grin of my own.

“No problem sir,” I faked a polite smile. “It’s always good to look out for a… friend.”

The man nodded his head eagerly as Jungkook stared at me with the familiar hateful glance that he had shot me on the first day of school.

“I do hope Jungkook has not been of trouble,” he said and I reassured him with a firm handshake.

Jungkook seemed disbelieving as the man accepted my handshake, but he wordlessly got out of the bed anyway and the man supported him as the lady gathered his things.

Jungkook leaned tiredly onto the older man’s frame as they walked out, escorted again by Nurse Soojung while I immediately picked myself off the seat and strode out of the office.

Somehow being in the room with Jungkook and his father made me sick.

Perhaps it was because of how loving and protective he was, a stark contrast to my father. I snorted in annoyance. Not only was Jungkookie rich and handsome, he also had such a loving family! I bet his mother was a housewife who baked cookies and sang songs to him to sleep!

Why was the world so unfair? Why couldn’t I have been born to a family like that?

Not to mention how strangely guilty I felt when my thoughts went to Jungkook. This world was dog-eat-dog. If I had to eat Jungkook (metaphorically of course, though he did look remarkably delicious), then why shouldn’t I?

If only Hinsaek was here. My throat clogged up. Hinsaek was gone.

“Hey, wait up!” Superhero-sunbaenim called behind me.

I rolled my eyes. Why couldn’t this annoying guy leave me alone? But still… I slowed my pace just enough for him to catch up.

“You haven’t told me why you were crying,” he panted.

I stared at him in disbelief. Why the hell did he care so much? We weren’t even friends!

“I… I don’t like seeing girls cry,” he muttered, cheeks stained a strawberry red. “I’ll help you solve it, whatever it is! I pinky-promise!”

He held up his pinky finger and scuffed his shoe on the floor in embarrassment.

---

“… Fine,” she hooked her pinky with his.

Hoseok looked up, breaking into a wide smile. She shot him a decidedly out-of-character upwards quirk of her lip back.

Suddenly she didn’t look so scary anymore. Actually, she looked a little… like a fluffy kitten. One that he would dearly protect and tickle to sleep.

“So what do you need help with?” he asked, scrubbing that thought from his mind.

“I… Ilostabird,” she muttered, cheeks aflame.

“A what?”

“A bird. I lost it.”

Hoseok suddenly recalled that goddamn bird “kekeke”-ing at him earlier this morning.

“Is it black with some parts of blue and white?” he asked.

She nodded eagerly, eyes wide and mouth open.

Cute.

Wait, what? Not cute, not cute! This girl had crushed many a classmate with just her pinky! She was insane! She lived to torture others!

But was she really that bad? Images of her the first time he’d met her flashed through his mind. She’d been playing with the birds, and seemed so childlike and innocent while doing so. Then she’d turned around the exact same moment and threw his plate off the table, making him clean up the mess. She was such a puzzle…

“Um, hello?” she waved at him.

“Sorry, I got… sidetracked,” he said. “I saw it this morning! It tripped me on the way to class. It had a broken leg, I think.”

“Please bring me to him!” she bowed.

Hoseok couldn’t resist patting her head.

Immediately she hissed and jumped back, her hair almost standing up, almost exactly like a cat… or a bloodthirsty feral tiger.

Hoseok couldn’t tell if his beating heart was from terror or from… he didn’t want to think about it. Wordlessly, he walked towards where he’d last seen the bird, gesturing for her to follow.

This did not bode well.

---

Well, it wasn’t in the bushes. Hoseok rolled out from underneath the Boxwood bush, shaking his head at an increasingly-deflated Lee Youngmi.

“Hey, we’ll find it!” Hoseok cheered. “It’ll be okay, don’t worry!”

She gave him a sad, almost… guilty look. Hoseok frowned. What was she guilty about?

All of a sudden, she collapsed onto her bum, covering her face with her hands.

Hoseok rushed over… but he didn’t expect for her to be crying again.

“I’ll find it for you, I promise,” he begged frantically. “Please don’t cry.”

“W-why are you being so nice to me?” he could barely hear her voice muffled by her sleeves. “I’ve been mean to you since the beginning. I threw your plate on the floor… I slammed Jungkook’s head on the table just this morning, and I threw him into the locker on the first day of school… Even your other friend calls me diabolical and evil! And yet you treat my wounds, you bring me to the hospital, you’re even dragging your uniform through the mud helping me find a ing bird!”

Ooh, this girl’s got a spiky tongue on her.

The hallway was silent except for the heaves and sobs emitted from her shaking frame.

Hoseok didn’t know what to do, to be honest. His ex-girlfriend cried before, but it was only at romance movies, or when she used alligator tears to get him to buy her something nice.

“I don’t even know you that well, yet you keep doing things for me! And I don’t even say thank you-”

“My name is Hoseok,” his mouth spat out the words before he could connect his brain to his mouth. “Jung Hoseok.”

“I’m born on 18th February 1994. I don’t like to exercise, but I love dancing. Dogs and puppies are my favourite,” he rambled. “I have a sister. I can’t draw for nuts. I-”

“I’m in severe mental trauma, and you decide to tell me all about your life?!” she snapped up, bristling angrily.

Hoseok shrugged.

“You said you didn’t know me well. Now you do.”

He took a breath.

“You don’t have to feel bad about me doing nice things. That’s just how I am; I do nice things for people. And even though you are honestly the most terrifying person I’ve ever met, I think you have redeeming qualities. The fact that you’re feeling guilty now… doesn’t it mean that your perceptions are starting to change? You’re starting to find out that your actions do affect people, and that some of your actions are wrong.”

“… Are you saying I’m wrong?” her tone was disbelieving, muffled by the hands covering her face. “Are you asking me to… apologise?”

“If that’s what you think is right, then I say go for it,” he shot her a smile. “Whatever you did to Jungkook… obviously it messed you up something bad, because I know a girl like Lee Youngmi doesn’t cry just because she lost a bird.”

She stared up at him speechlessly.

“Contrary to the rumours… you’re not as bad as they say,” he grinned cheekily at her, squatting to her level. “Now stop crying, and we can go find your bird, okay?”

Wordlessly, she nodded, wiping her splotchy face with her hands.

And just in time too, because a loud croo was emitted from above them.

Lee Youngmi leaped up to her feet, face turned upwards. Hoseok observed her in amusement as she tried her darnedest to reach for the bird, who was caught amongst the leaves in the huge tree beside them.

“Let your Superhero-sunbaenim come to the rescue,” he joked as her ears turned red.

He reached up coolly, grasping the bird with his hands before handing it to her. The bird crooed and sang a twinkling song, nuzzling up to Lee Youngmi.

The look of childish delight on her face made her look ten years younger as she caressed her bird lovingly. Hoseok couldn’t stop the grin from showing on his face as he observed the terrifying tiger morph into a fluffy kitten.

She turned to him suddenly.

 “T-t-thank you,” she muttered uncharacteristically, refusing to meet his eyes.

Good thing too, because Hoseok couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He patted her head to silently show “hey, no biggie”. To his surprise, she didn’t hiss this time, but stayed cautiously still, ears flaming red.

Then, as if she remembered where they were and who he was, she leapt away, breaking off their contact. Without another word, she dashed off in the general direction of her classroom.

He hid a bashful smile as he watched her rapidly retreating figure.

This girl was full of surprises.

He headed back to his own classroom, mind full of this surprisingly strange Lee Youngmi.

---

The bell for the end of school rang loudly. Mrs Lee dismissed us, and we stood to greet, but I wasn’t even paying attention, my head tucked into my arms.

“Youngmi, you okay?” Mirae asked cautiously as I hid my burning face.

“… No,” I whimpered into my sleeves.

That Superhero-sunbaenim… no, Jung Hoseok-sunbaenim; he was an enigma, an unsolvable puzzle. What was he? A friend or a foe?

His words replayed loudly in my mind.

You’re not as bad as they say.

, why was I so hung up over some annoying guy’s words? He probably didn’t mean it anyhow, he was just scared that I’d beat him up! All guys were like that! Either they were scared less of me, or they wanted to beat me up! After all, it is a dog-eat-dog world! And I was the alpha dog! Not even an annoying beta male with an admittedly cute smile would trick me into giving up my position!

Wait a minute, he’d said that I was starting to see that my actions were affecting other people, and that they were wrong. But how on earth were they wrong?

I only took action on those who opposed me first! It was revenge! Like Yerim and Minho and… Jungkook.

I instantly felt a heaping serving of guilt pour onto my shoulders. Was what I did to him… wrong? But this was the only way to retaliate if people aren’t listening! How else could I make them obey my will?

“What’s the matter?” Mirae crouched down to my level, interrupting my internal rambling.

She suddenly smirked.

“Is it boy trouble?” she winked.

Immediately, I felt like I was bursting into flames. I let out an uncharacteristic squeak of denial.

“Aww, Mimi’s growing up!” Mirae laughed loudly, ignoring my futile denials. “Your first boyfriend? We have to celebrate!”

I let out a few mumbles of protest of “he’s not my boyfriend” as she dragged me out of the class, beaming from ear to ear.

---

“Guys, I have news!” Mirae slammed the doors of the club open, dragging my poor soul inside.

All the guys looked up curiously.

“Mimi has a boyfriend~” she cooed in a singsong voice as I reddened immediately.

“He’s not my-”

“DRINKS ON THE HOUSE FOR OUR MIMI!” Kyung-oppa roared, pouring orange juice into a heavy beer mug.

“But my drinks are always on the-”

“MIMI HAS COME OF AGE! LET’S THROW A PARTY!” Jaehyo-oppa cheered.

“But I’m not legal ye-”

“Mimi’s finally grown up! Mimi’s finally grown up!” B-Bomb-oppa danced, singing along to some old cheesy tune.

I gave up fighting.

Within seconds, I was decked out in full party wear; a red party hat snapped onto my head, a balloon forcefully tied to my wrist, a party horn stuffed into my mouth and a full blown cake displayed on the table.

Evidently, they had been preparing this for a while. I hid an embarrassed grin as they made an unholy din, screaming and yelling about me finally… going to get laid.

I smiled into my hands, feeling more loved than I’d ever been in my life.

it's 1am i didn't proofread this i'm sorry