It must be hard for you, too.

“Kim Nara, watch your language!” My Mom stood up, grabbing my wrist. “You are embarrassing me!”

I can’t believe Mom said that I’m embarrassing her when all I did was just protecting her? Nayeon did worse, and her Dad wasn’t even yelling at her in front of us though.

“I’m sorry, Oppa. My daughter can’t behave well. Let’s meet next time.” She dragged me out of the restaurant, with my brother followed behind us. Heol. Did she just say ‘Oppa’? Looks like they’re dating for real.

“Jongin, you drive her to the study group place. Her brain isn’t fully functional right now.”

“I can’t believe you embarrassed me, Mom.”

My brother dragged me out before everything got worse as he tried to soothe me down. It’s not like I don’t know how to behave in front of older people, it’s because Nayeon couldn’t shut for even a seconds as she indirectly insulting my Mom, that’s why I stood up to defend her.

But what did I get in the end? I think the world is joking with me right now, nothing works for me even for the littlest thing. Everything turns its back against me in the end, even my Mom.

“Are you seriously going to drive me to the study group place in this situation, Oppa?”

“Then, do you want to go home early, in this situation?”

He is right, I don’t want to be trapped at home listening how my Mom talks about my behavior today. At least I can meet Mingyu at the study group; even though I’m not sure about telling him the whole story of today, at least being with him is enough for me.

I love how our fate crosses with each other a lot. I was taking the emergency stairs and he happened to be sitting by himself there. But seeing him from a far makes my heart aches; the way he rested his head to the wall, his gaze wandered everywhere looking empty as hell and the straps of his backpack just fall down of his shoulder.

He doesn’t even realize that I’m in front of me, walking closer towards him, and seated myself beside him.

“Why are you here? Are you going to skip the study?”

He sighed deeply, “I don’t feel like studying.”

“Why bother coming here then.”

“I don’t feel like coming home early.”

Perfect timing, same fate.

“You?”

“Huh?”

“How about you?” he asked, but his gaze is still in the air.

“The exact same reason as you, unfortunately.”

We spent about around ten minutes without saying anything to each other, just staring at empty walls, with deep sighs that could be heard often. I was happy to meet him because I thought he could make me feel better, but seems like he also has big problems.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He smiled, “I’m going to be okay tomorrow. You?”

“And you are going to say the same thing tomorrow.”

“No wonder you are always ranked first at school.” He laughed, “Lean on my shoulder if you are tired.”

Without thinking twice, I leaned my head on his shoulder, crying my heart out right away. I don’t need any advice from him, I just need someone beside me while I’m feeling down. I don’t need anything else.

Mingyu wrapped his arms around me, putting my head in front of his chest, patting my back gently. I know that maybe Mingyu is also in the middle of bigger problems than mine, but I can’t help but cry right now.

I really have nowhere to go, nobody to lean on, and nobody to listen right now. I just happened to have Mingyu by my side, and he is the only one I got.

“Is it really hard?” he asked, without even asking me what happened to me. He just asked me that.

I nodded, “The whole world hates me, even my Mom.”

He suddenly stopped patting my back, then continued after a seconds. Seems like he paused it for a reason.

“A Mom would never hate her own child, a Mom would never disappoint her own child. I believe that, and you also have to believe.” He said.

Even though I locked myself as soon as I arrived home, at least my heart is a lot better after crying it out and telling Mingyu everything. He is a good listener actually, and even without telling me what to do, he has his own way to make me feel better.

I hate him at first, and I can’t believe he could be my best friend right now.

From: Wonwoo

I’m outside.

Rushed to meet Wonwoo without even wearing my jacket, he is smiling ear to ear as he sees me. Then he stretched his coat, telling me to hug him inside it. “You are really warm, Wonwoo.”

He put his head on top of my head, “I’ve heard everything from Jongin. I know you are stronger than this.”

I suddenly remembered about what Mina had said about Wonwoo, and maybe this is not the right time to ask him if he’s still in contact with her or not. And I shouldn’t remember any from today anymore.

“Nara?”

I looked at face, “Yes?”

“Why do I have to hear everything from Jongin?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everytime you are in trouble, or something bothered you, or anything happened to you; why do I have to hear it from Jongin or even random person? Can’t you tell me anything every time you are not feeling okay, or just need someone beside you?”

Well, he is right. I just unconsciously run to Mingyu whenever something happened to me, and forget him for a while. I just approached Wonwoo whenever I feel happy, but I’m with Mingyu whenever I feel like pouring my heart out.

Still hugging him, “Okay.”

***

Even until the next morning, I haven’t say anything to my Mom and decided to just take the bus to school because my brother is still sleeping and I don’t feel like fighting with him right now. And what’s surprising is that Nayeon’s Dad is right in front of my house waiting for my Mom.

Amazing. At this point, my Mom could leave her children for that guy. And I suddenly miss my Dad. And I bet my Brother feels the same, since he went to the cemetery last night. It must be scary to go there at nighttime, but maybe he was just can’t hold his longing anymore.

Our Dad left us a long time ago, but at this situation we suddenly missed him so much. Because our Mom might remarried to someone else, and we don’t even know the man well. We are just afraid that our Mom will be hurt, just that.

And don’t forget that his daughter is Park Nayeon, that’s what made me hate this situation so much.

***

“Hey.” Mingyu approached me, sitting on the table in front of me. “Good morning.” Then he took the water bottle from my hand, opening it like he usually does. He really does that thing like it’s nothing now.

“Good morning.”

“The whole school is in a mess, you know.”

I put the straw to the bottle, “Why?”

“Because you told Nayeon that I’m your boyfriend, they are all jealous now.” He laughed. “If something happens, tell me right away.”

Then I choked on my water, “Did she tell the whole school about that? But I was just threatening her, really. I didn’t mean it, I lied to her.”

“I hope you were sincere though, I don’t mind being your boyfriend for real.”

“Uh stop hitting on me.”

He laughed, again. Seems like he’s fine now, even though his eyes couldn’t lie to me. Something really bad really happened to him, and he’s keeping it by himself. “I’m going.”

“Are you going to skip the class again?”

“Yeah, I will be back for soccer on the break time.”

Just when will he stops skipping class? He has to gain good specs to get into Yale though. I thought he is excited to meet his Mom again soon? But he became lazy these days, and it’s really unlike him. I really have to know what happened to him recently.

Because I want to help him, just like he has always been there for me whenever I needed him.

And he was right, he is really coming back for soccer. I looked at him from the windows and then our eyes met right away, then smiled to each other. Like a telepathy, I quickly walked downstair to meet him on the field.

But Nayeon stopped me, “Don’t go there, stop following Mingyu around!”

“What’s gotten into you, huh? I’ve told you, if you want him, go take him if you can. If you can.” I emphasized the last sentence.

“You took Wonwoo from Mina, Mingyu from me, and your Mom took my Dad from my Mom. No wonder.”

I couldn’t slap her even when I wanted to do it so bad since there are so many people here and the teachers are passing often. I really don’t want to get into problems with her anymore.

“I’ll let you slide this time. But next time if you insults my Mom once again, you are dead in my hand, Park Nayeon.”

After leaving her, I’m trying to act like nothing happened since I’m going to meet Mingyu. He looks so exhausted after playing soccer but still running to approach me, and I walked closer to him.

Our gaze exchanged, and even before I could say anything, he leaned his head on my shoulder. Breathing so fast, and his body is trembling. “Nara,” he called.

“Is it hard?”

He nodded, “I’m tired.”

I know that he didn’t mean tired from playing soccer. I just know it just by looking at his eyes. In the middle of the field, everyone is looking at us, but we didn’t mind. It must be hard for him, whatever happened to him. It must be really hard.

“I know, Kim Mingyu. I know.”

***

a/n : if you are going to hate anyone, just hate me instead. because I'm a #TEAMMINGYU #TEAMWONWOO and #TEAMNARA lol