Junhyung walked past the school's library, alone. Most of the campus was like a ghost town, abandoned because everyone was in class or at home. It only made sense that he would grow used to the pain in his chest, like air was being out his lungs and his heart was caving in on itself and his stomach was being crushed under an invisible weight. He had been locked inside of his head for months now, never being able to escape, always replaying memories or working through imaginary scenarios where Nakyung would come around or he would find something else. He desperately preferred to find someone else. But he couldn't. As much as his mind begged for someone else, his heart would not jump to the occasion.

He had not seen his friends in weeks. Hyunseung and Hyuna broke up and he eventually stopped coming over. Yoseob called a lot over the summer but Junhyung eventually stopped answering. The only thing that hurt him more than being alone was the insatiable pain that fed off of other people. They couldn't understand it and so he stopped trying to make them.

In all honesty, he wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and beat the pain out of him. He wanted to run and break things and lash out but the pain wouldn't leave him--he had already tried. It would only spread and lock up in his limbs and it was much better this way, to keep the pain trapped in his heart rather than everywhere else.

He finished classes early; and by "finished," he decided to take the rest of the day off. So he crossed in front of the library and headed to the student parking lot. But a hand gripped his arm from behind and he turned around.

"Oppa!" Kim Hyuna smiled at him, hair dyed blond, dressed in an oversized floral sweater and jeans. She waved. "Junhyung-oppa, I haven't seen you in forever."

He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah I haven't been around."

"Want to hang out some time?"

He shrugged and said, "Mianhe, Hyuna-ssi, I can't."

She giggled. "Hyuna-ssi? You don't have to call me that, oppa. And wae-yo?"

"I don't know."

She giggled again. "You're not still hung up on Yoon Nakyung, are you?" When he did not answer, her smile vanished. "Oppa... She was mean to you. She lied to you. She cheated on you. She used you. She was just a stupid number! I've been good to you. Why don't you want me?"

He began walking to his car, no longer interested in maintaining the conversation. She followed him but stopped once he said, "Mianhe, Hyuna-ssi. Mothae. Sirheo. I can't. I don't want to." Then his phone rang and he raised his brow at the unfamiliar number. "Yeoboseyo?"

"This is Gangnam Severance Hospital. I was told to call you--Yoon Nakyung was admitted minutes ago with several injuries after a murder attempt."

--

Nakyung expected a lot of things--hate mail being delivered to her house, people scratching her car, flattening her tires. She did not expect fangirls to make her late to class. So she sat in her car, surrounded by the cars of fangirls who stared at her and playing Kikwang's songs on repeat. She laughed at the incredulity of the situation, shaking her head and getting out her cellphone to call Doojoon. She had not spoken to Kikwang yet and she had little time to shower and rush to class so Doojoon was long gone before she had even finished shower.

She flung open her door and grabbed her backpack, more than prepared to walk the rest of the way, relieved she chose to wear sneakers. She did not expect, however, to be pelted with rocks.

The rock came flying, larger than a fist, and hit her hard in the temple. She saw the blue, blue sky before her body crumpled onto the pavement and she felt a rush of warmth to her face. She was tempted to sleep when her eyes drooped but she felt a tug by her hair and, barely able to stand, she was thrown into the back of someone's van.

--

"Oppa? Gwaenchanha?" Hyuna asked.

Junhyung leapt into his car and shut the door, starting up the car and pulling away without another word. He could feel the supernova in his heart moving faster, pushing towards this one moment when he was called, wanted, needed by Nakyung, when he could give what Kikwang couldn't. He was on panic mode, like a balloon and a pin, only milliseconds before everything collapsed. I was told to call you. He thought about all the possible attacks that could have happened and, when his fear got the worst of him, cringed and drove faster. He dialed Doojoon's phone. No one answered so he left on the voicemail, "Get to Gangnam Hospital--Nakyung is there."

He would be the challenge she needed and she will save him from himself. All he needed to do was convince her that it would happen and it could happen.

--

Nakyung was pulled from her haze and the car by nails digging into her ankle, yanking her from cushions to a cold, concrete floor. She rolled onto her back just in time to feel a low of a baseball bat to her chest. She curled onto her side, coughing at the pain, feeling the bat hit her again and again. She refused to cry. She would not give them the satisfaction, even if they... Killed her?

Arms sat her up and she heard the clip of scissors again and again and they threw something soft at her. They cut her hair off.

Several voices were screaming at her. Stupid. . . . She opened her eyes long enough through the blood to see a picture of Kikwang smeared with blood and they threw it at her. They spit on her. And then they commenced beating her again; punches and kicks and the bat returned. All she had to do was wait until it was over. It would be over soon. She could make it. She would make it.

Hands pinned her on her back. "You should kill yourself," some of them yelled. "You should have never been born." "Drink bleach." "Go die." "Here, I'll help you," someone else yelled. And razor sharp pain lit up her wrists again and again and again and again. She screamed.

--

Junhyung walked into the emergency room and approached the desk. "I'm looking for Yoon Nakyung. She was admitted recently."

The woman nodded. "She's been taken into surgery so please wait here."

He nodded numbly and turned around. Sugery? How bad could it be? Would she be alright? What if she died? He finally had something to say, he was finally sure of himself, and she could die. He was ready to feel what he needed to feel and he needed her here for it. Did he even know what he wanted to say? Or how? I'm your challenge and you're mine. We could be so good together. But now, all he wanted to say was tteonago sipji anha I don't want you to go.

Yoon Doojoon stumbled in. He spotted Junhyung and rushed over. The seriousness on his face was intimidating. "Yah! What happened?"

Junhyung stood and shrugged, crossing his arms. "They won't tell me. They just called and she said she was injured from a murder attempt.

"Why did they call you?"

"Molla-yo." Because she needs me. I'm hers and she's mine.

--

Nakyung went stumbling hard from a soft carpet onto hard concrete again. They had driven her somewhere and she had no energy to pull herself from the street. She wanted to sleep. So badly. She remembered the late nights doing homework and how horrible she felt but that was nothing compared to this. Every part of her body was screaming and she herself couldn't control the painful sobs. "Gwaenchanha?" A voice asked and that only made her sob even louder. The person then said, "An ambulance is on the way, hold on."

Kikwang-ah... I thought about what you said before. Niga pilyohae. I need you. You are my best friend and... Niga jeongmal johahae. I really like you. Neol... Neol eobsineun andwae. I can't live without you. Stay with me, okay? Stay with me forever. Issgo sipeo. I want you to stay.

"What's your name?"

"Yoon Nakyung." She managed to stop crying.

"Who do you want us to call?"

"808..." She started to give them Doojoon's number. Should she call Kikwang? Instead, she said the first number that came to mind, the number she typed over and over and over and over again through the months, tempted to call though she never did. Yong Junhyung's.

--

"Yoon Nakyung?" The doctor called in the waiting room. Doojoon and Junhyung approached, ready for the first bit of news since they arrived over two hours ago. "She had a lot of internal injuries that will take a lot of time to heal. Right now, she is in a medically induced coma so that she won't feel a lot of pain. You are welcome to wait for her to wake up, which should be soon."

--

Nakyung was standing in a feel surrounded by trees starting to blossom with springtime life. She felt normal--no pain, no scrapes, no cuts, no bruises. Was this what death was like? Did she finally get the peace she hoped for?

"Nakyung."

She whipped around at the familiar voice and felt her voice get caught in . "Yunho?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ta-da! Feedback please? Still no internet so excuse typos. iPhones aren't good for typing out stories. (⌒-⌒; ) Wait for my next chapter! It'll be good!