The oncoming wispy breeze from the speeding vehicles brushing past suddenly jolted Soojung awake from her slumber. She shivered as she felt the wind and opened her eyes, adjusting to the light that began blinding her. Not noticing where she was, she adjusted her thin backpack straps and got up from her seat in the small bus stop, ignoring the shoulder she was previously leaning on. She began quickly walking towards the left, wriggling out of the unknown person's grip. A few large strides later, she stopped suddenly and turned around to see where she was earlier. She began pointing in all directions, stuttering before checking her watch. 11:30 AM.

", , , ." She recited quickly, storming towards the boy who was sitting down on the bench within the bus stop. He had an anxious expression on his face. "You. You. Yah! Kim Myungsoo! Seriously! What the is wrong with you! Where the am I? You were that ty masked guy, weren't you? I'm ing dead because of you..." Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she yanked his collar and gave him a hard slap on his plump cheeks. "I'm so ing dead."

She quickly checked her cell phone, frowning at the scarce 32% icon and dropping her jaw to see 24 missed calls. Most of them were from Dongwoo, some were from the school and the remaining calls were from her parents and her sister (probably very mad at her after receiving an absence notice from the school). She continued pushing and pulling Myungsoo, shaking uncontrollably. Myungsoo just stood still, taking in all of her yelling as she grasped the situation she was in. "Aren't you going to say anything, you dickhead? Aren't you? ing answer me! Why am I here? Why are you here in Seoul? Why the are you everywhere? I have never hated anyone so much in a space of three ing days! I'm going to ing die tomorrow but not before I make sure you do! For 's sake, I wish I jumped off and died without your stupid ty intervention!" She screamed into his cold ears.

"Shut up." Kim Myungsoo muttered under his breath, looking down at the rocky pavement and avoiding any eye contact.

"What? What the did you just say to me? Look up and say it again." Soojung's timid voice became louder and angrier with every word. Reluctantly, he sighed and looked up at her. Inhaling, he opened his mouth,

"Shut up! Yah!  Are you out of your ing mind? What the is wrong with you?" He flicked her forehead. "Isn't there anything in there? Isn't there a functioning brain in there? You should be grateful to me that I did this. Do you think I can just stand there and see a vulnerable girl like you just get tormented over and over again? Of course I intervened on that day, I don't want to see you end up like those two. , I'm basically your saviour and you're just cursing at me with that huge mouth of yours. And what's up with that? How are you so quick to scream at me then go all quiet around those bastards in our class?" Myungsoo rushed his words loudly back at her. Soojung opened slightly but closed it again as she released his collar from her trembling, freezing hand. He in his breath and took off his thick coat and covered Soojung's face with it, signalling her to put it on. "Now shut up and spend the day with me." He said under his breath, leading her away from the bus stop where they had spent the last ten short minutes bickering at each other. He walked her towards the relatively quiet street market 200 metres away, both of them as quiet as possible as the air became thick and unbearable. Once they both arrived at Cheongdam-dong's market, Myungsoo released her wrist from his hand (giving Soojung relief) and began venturing.

Soojung ignored all of the stares of the disapproving stall owners and members of the public as she trailed behind the casually walking Myungsoo who didn't really care if people saw his uniform or knew that he was skipping school. He kicked some beer cans out of the way as he made his way to the cooked beef stand, situated at the end of the stream of stalls and near a convenience store. The pondering girl followed him and continued walking until a boy nearby caught her eye. "Yah, Myungsoo." She hissed, catching his attention. "Look over there... Isn't that Lee Jinki?" She asked, pointing towards a boy with a black baseball cap on his head, hiding behind a thick tree and observing all of the crowds. Myungsoo shrugged and ignored her question, only to go back to the stall and buy a portion of Korean beef.

"Soojung, here, ea-" He poked a stick of hot beef at Soojung's mouth only for it to smear all onto her cheek. There was a minute-long silence before she reacted.

"Are you crazy?" Soojung glared at the chuckling Myungsoo who kept staring at the grease on her face. "Yah!" She insisted, not finding it funny. Myungsoo tried to attack again but Soojung quickly darted her cheek away and caused him to put it directly in her wide mouth. She chewed it with a grin and quickly grabbed a stick of beef and hit his nose with it. Laughing, she ran away from him as he tried to get her once more.

---

He stared at the laughing two in disbelief and he shoved small pieces of spicy rice cakes in his mouth. Quickly pulling out his shiny new phone, he took a picture of them and sent it to Dongwoo. He already knew that Dongwoo was mad at Soojung for not showing up but he was sure that he'd be absolutely infuriated after hearing about her spending the day with the guy he hates the most. He quickly pressed send along with a message. He double checked that the message looked fine before pressing 'enter'.

Sender: Look at these punks. She ditched you to hang out with that guy.

(One image attached)

Tapping his foot, he eagerly waited for a reply.

Dongwoo: What kind of ing idiot... Stop those two from having their date and make sure you scare the out of that girl. No one in N. High school can refuse to meet with me just so that they can hang out with that punk. Make sure she knows what she’s in for the next time we see each other. After all, she is my girlfriend. Good job spotting them, Hoya.

Hoya's eyes widened at the word 'girlfriend' - he never knew about Dongwoo and his past relationships even if they had been 'best friends' since they had known each other. He sighed as he looked up from his phone and peered at Soojung. He could see that Soojung had an above average face but it was covered with dark circles and uneven skin so he still wasn't sure if she was qualified to be his girlfriend. Hoya had expectations for the beloved girlfriend of his best friend and one that always got kicked around and looked down on it definitely wasn't it. Ignoring his thoughts, he made sure to carry out Dongwoo's mission for him.

He squinted his eyes as he caught them entering the convenience store. The curiosity quickly lead him into the cunning idea of following them, he found it unbelievable that the 'partner' of Dongwoo, one of the most feared people in Nabi High school, would actually leave him for Myungsoo. Quickly tapping the shoulder of his grandmother, he excused himself saying that he had to go and buy something at the store for his school project due in two weeks. Dodging everyone walking around, he entered the low budget store and quickly hid behind the rack of health supplies and poked his head up, looking at the two ask the clerk where the tissues where. The worker stared at the grease stains on their face, let out a chuckle and unexpectedly pointed towards the shelf which Hoya was hiding behind.

"You're paying for the tissues."

"Yah! You smeared it on me too!"

He rolled his eyes and grit his teeth as he quickly changed his hiding spot to the area with all of the drinks and snacks. Myungsoo and Soojung were both laughing at each other like friends which caused Hoya raised his eyebrow; he and Dongwoo never acted this way towards each other, they both saw it as stupid and as cheesy as friends could get. Their friendship was 'as laid back as possible yet as close as brothers'. These were the words that Dongwoo would always use to reply with whenever he declined offers to go somewhere (like an amusement park, zoo or an aquarium) together when they were younger.

Quickly snapping out of his thoughts, he looked up at saw that the two had already paid and left the store. Hoya scowled as he saw that they were already within the busy area of the market. Waving goodbye to the store clerk, he dashed out and began running towards them.

"Yah! Jung Soojung! Stop right there!" He halted right in front of a DIY stall and paused to catch his breath as he locked eyes with a shocked Soojung who looked back at him. "What kind of a douche cheats on her boyfriend? Huh? Are you crazy?" He swiped off a tin of nails off the desk, causing it to create a metallic chatter as they hit the ground. "You - you ing left Dongwoo to hang out with this piece of trash. Who the do you think you are? A queen? Don't make me laugh." Hoya said with a deep voice, taking one step forward. He clicked his tongue cockily as he saw Myungsoo shift so that half of his body was in front of Soojung's. "Myungsoo? Why are you here with her, huh? Do you pity her? Do you pity her like we pity you par-" A loud crash suddenly alerted the whole of the market as the sound of hammers, screw drivers and other tools crashed onto the floor.

Everyone's eyes widened to see Hoya on the floor, still with blood emerging from the top of his head, right where a group of hammers had struck him. Myungsoo stared at him as he struggled on the floor, crying for help. Paramedics soon arrived and dragged him away after members of the public took him to lie on a bench a few minutes prior. The store owner was in panic as he shook Hoya's shoulders and apologized over and over again, crying. Soojung was desperate to check if he was okay, just like she did with Dongwoo, but was restrained by Myungsoo who just watched everything happen while his feet were glued to his spot. Hoya's grandmother could be seen crying at the sight of his crimson blood, hitting the man who ran the store over and over again with her bag along with all of the strength she could muster.

Out of the corner of Soojung's eye though, she noticed a silhouette of a boy running away from everything happening, looking back once. Something about him, though, caught Soojung's attention. Perhaps, it was his hair, or perhaps it was the glint in his eyes as he turned his head back to whatever direction he was fleeing off to. Whatever it was, it seemed familiar and Myungsoo definitely felt it too.