“It’s this seat taken?”

“No”

The girl answered and kept her head low. She was trying to concentrate on her almost done homework. Not minding about the moving chair next to hers, she kept writing in her notebook. When she finished she noticed the whispering voices in the classroom. Looking up, she saw her classmates looking towards her place constantly.

With an uneasily feeling she looks towards who was sitting next to her. Turning to her left, she was surprised to see Hanbin, better known as B.I, sitting next to her. Not knowing what to do she keep looking down to her homework.

“Settle down class”

Through the class, she’s felt his eyes on her but, every time she turned to see if she was right he was looking to the front or to this notebook. She didn’t give attention to it and just tried to pay attention.

“Do you have an extra pen?” She was so concentrated that she jumped a little when she heard the question. B.I was looking at her, she nodded her head and passed him a pen, and again she tried to avoid looking at him. He was what people called a “bad boy” he didn’t go to many classes, even though she always saw him on the classes they took together, got in trouble daily and didn’t care much about what people thought of him. She did hear the rumors going around like he was in a gang, he almost killed someone, that he beat up some kid that was in her class too. But she wasn’t so sure. He never did anything to her or in front of her.

When the class was over she picked up all her stuff she noticed her pen laying next to her with a note with it. ‘Thank you-H’ she read. Smiling she picked both, the pen and the letter, and she left the classroom to go home. It became their routine, every class they shared he’d sit next to her and ask for a pen, sometimes a pencil too and each time he kept letting her letter from “thanks “ to “Have a nice day” or even “I like what you did to your hair”, all of them were collected in her box she had.

Since then she would wait anxiously for their classes together. She didn’t want to feel that way but she was happy that someone, for once, noticed her. He was her only friend. Which made her feel happy, for the first time in a while.

“Hey” Bobby, Hanbin’s good friend approach her. She was surprised, her friendship with Hanbin was just a thing in class, seeing that one of his friends recognize her, made her felt uncomfortable.

“Hi” She answered quite confused on why he was talking to her. He took a sit next to her on the bench she was sitting on. They sat in silence for a while until Bobby broke the silence.

“So… Do you know where Hanbin is?” He asked her.

She looked at him in confusion shook her head. “Is he missing or something?” She questions him in worry. They might not know each other for long but still, she felt like he was her only friend.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that he hasn’t skipped in a while and we are worried because he’s not here and he didn’t say anything” Bobby replied looking at her with a smile. He then stood up and walked away after saying goodbye.

She was confused, why would he disappear? she questions mentally. She was just wishing he was ok, wherever he is.

She felt miserable in class. She felt alone once again, she didn’t think about how he made her forget how lonely she was.

The bell rang and she went to her classroom. Like she knew he wasn’t there. Getting to her table she notices a folded note on top of it along with a pen, opening the note she read; ‘I won’t be at class today but, use this pen today and give it back when a comeback. Stay out of trouble -H’. Smiling slightly she took the note and set it inside her backpack, taking the pen she started writing the assignment her teacher had given her.

When the last bell rang she walked out of her classroom, ready to go home. Walking home was her favorite part of the day. Walking around the busy city made her feel happy, seeing people going back and ford, and also how couples walked hand in hand. Seeing people happy made her happy too. After a small walk, she was stopped when someone pulled her into a small alley between two stores. Her heart was beating furiously against her chest she was about to scream for help when a hand was placed in .

“It’s just me, calm down” She hears the familiar voice said of Hanbin behind her and she feels her body relax a bit. Slowly letting her go, Hanbin kept his hand over . “Don’t make a sound until I say you can, ok?” He told her and waited until she agreed. He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her into him when he saw a group boys walking around looking like they were searching for something, all seem to be well built and angry at the same time. She felt his hold on her tighten when one of them look their way.

A couple minutes passed and he let her go. Sighing he told her not to move and he went outside by his own. She was scared, she didn’t know what just happened but she just did what she was told to do.

When he came back he took her hand and lead her out of the alley. “I need you to guide me to your house, once we get there you get in and don’t go out, ok?” He ordered her, she was confused.

“What’s going on?” She asked scared to see this behavior on him. Walking her usual way to her house.

“Those guys are after me and let’s say they know you are my friend, which is why I couldn’t let them see you before” He kept glazing everywhere but not once he let go of her hand. She notices how some people from school recognize them and started talking about them, making her drop her head a little and blush a bit. She wasn’t used to being in the spotlight.

Once they reached her house she pulled away from his grasp to open the door, turning to him to say bye she gets scared to see him so close behind her. “Give me you phone” He told her still not moving from his place. Once she passes the phone to him he types in some numbers and his phone rings. “Anyone you don’t know comes knocking you call me, anyone looks at you for too long you call me, understood?”

“Why? I don’t get anything that’s going on” She tells him letting her anxiousness talk for the first time. He took her face in his hands and made her look at him in the eyes.

“I can’t risk anything happening to you, I put you in this situation I’ll get you out of it, but I need to be sure that you will tell me if something bad happens. Now lock everything well and please stay safe” He finished saying a slowly pulled her in and kissed her forehead.

When he let go and left. She could only sit in her living room confused about how life will turn out for her now.