Warning: There is some coarse language and there will likely be more in the coming chapters so please be warned.

Sunbin’s eyes took in the view before her – trees to her left and right filed in a single line beside the road and an open green field on each side where there were students playing games, some having picnic and even solitary ones leaning against a tree with a book in hand tuning the world out, up ahead a building influenced by American architecture stood great and proud bearing the university’s emblem. “That’s the main building. Some of our classes will take place there.” Jisoo said as she stepped on the break to let students cross. It was grand as Sunbin noted. actually hung slightly open and her bright eyes wide as she took everything in.

Beside the main building, there were other building architectures that earned an appreciative awe from Sunbin. Jisoo would point out which building belongs to which type of students. “That building is for Business students.” She would point out. “The food is so good in the Arts building.” Jisoo continued. A soft amused sigh escaped Sunbin’s lips. She has been talking since they left the airport.  At first she kept talking to her in English despite letting her know she could speak Korean. But fifteen minutes into the trip, Jisoo finally yielded and decided she’ll speak Korean from now on as she ran out of words.

At last they reached the dormitories. Jisoo pulled up at the parking lot and hurriedly went out to open Sunbin’s door. Sunbin shook her head, slightly hung open with amusement. She was about to open the trunk when Jisoo intercepted. “No no no. No working for you. You must be tired from the long flight.”

“It’s okay. I’m not that tired. Besides my luggage is heavy. I should help at least.” Sunbin offered. But Jisoo insisted she do it alone. She claimed she did not have any problems loading her luggage back at the airport. But, Jisoo grunted as she hauled Sunbin’s luggage out of the trunk.

“Omo omo, I should help you.”

Jisoo held up a hand. “Nope. I can do this.” She then fished out a card from her pocket and gave it to her. “Just help me open the door later. By the way, I’m your roommate.”

Not far from them, a group of five girls tsked. One of them said, “Aigoo, have you found a new owner, Jisoo mong mongie~?” The group laughed in unison. One of them ran over Sunbin from head to toe and said, “Is that the foreigner they asked you to take care of? You can’t even speak their language properly. Tsk. I feel bad for her already.” The group giggled. One of them, standing in the middle, who seemed like the leader of the pack, introduced herself in English, “Hello, my name is Soobin Chae. I hope we can be friends.” Fake smile, fake sincerity, try-hard American accent – horrendous in Sunbin’s standard, especially in her choice of friends. But then again, she may be just as horrible. Sunbin gave her a small smile. “Amelia Williams. Nice to meet you.” Soobin returned the smile, walked away with her group and did not even spare a glance back to them.

Sunbin’s eyebrows twitched with annoyance and blinked once before her eyes trailed their retreating figures. She can’t stand bullies the most. She was exasperated.  She was about to open to hurl Korean profanities at them when Jisoo reached for her arm and shook her head and whispered, “Don’t concern yourself with them. They’re too powerful to be messed with.”

She was speechless as she stared at Jisoo’s helpless eyes. She bit her lip and looked away. “Lead the way then.”

Jisoo, who was cheerful and bubbly earlier was now devoid of those emotions. Sunbin watched her back slump and she felt like pulling the hair out of those girls. A smirk settled on her lips as she swaggered towads Jisoo’s retreating figure. She just remembered a memory – how she got revenge on similar people back in America. Sweet, sweet, revenge coming their way.

***

“I’ll just go to inform the teacher in charge of your arrival. I’ll leave you here to unpack.” Jisoo said, her voice considerably dull. Sunbin nodded in response. Those group of girls will get what they deserve soon.

Once the door closed, Sunbin got on to unpacking. It took her about thirty minutes before unpacking. She then let herself collapse on her bed. The encounter with those horrible girls plagued her mind for a while until she felt her eyelids becoming heavy. Her eyes flew open and gasped.

She forgot. Her mom. Sunbin quickly fished out her phone. She forgot she needed to call her mom. She told her to call once she landed but she forgot because of all the recent incidents she encountered as soon as she got out of the airport.

***

“Aishhhh~”

“Calm down, man”

Joon Young and Roy sat in Joon Young’s living room. Roy was playing one of Joon Young’s game, intently focused on it. While he, has just been staring at the phone on his hand for ages now. “She should have called by now.” He mumbled as he continued to stare at the phone. Roy, too busy to care asked bemused, “Who?” He has completely forgotten about how Joon Young was like in the airport. Laughing like a goat and staring creepily at the phone that was not his.

“Who else could there be uh?” Joon Young said, irritated.

“You know so many girls, how can I tell uh?” Roy retorted.

“My angel you bastard. My angel.”

Roy rolled his eyes and continued to focus in the game. Joon Young kicked him in the side. “Ya!”

“Ouch, that hurts you bastard!”

“Why isn’t she calling back? Why, why?” Joon Young whined. Roy grunted. “Why don’t you call your own phone then, coward.”

“I told you it’s a new phone. I don’t even know the number.”

Roy snorted. “The lucky Jung Joon Young finally got unlucky huh?” He then got hit in the head by a pillow. And because of that, he lost the game too.

***
“Omo, what’s up with this phone?” Sunbin asked herself. She clearly put a password on her newly bought phone but there was none. She even saved some contacts – her family’s. But there was none.

Just then, Jisoo came in. “Oh you’re back.” Jisoo responded with an almost inaudible yes and sat at her desk with her back facing her. Sunbin has forgotten about her phone now. Her mind reviewed the encounter with the group earlier. She could not help but ask, “Why are they targeting you?”

Jisoo seemed dazed. “Jisoo-ssi?” It took about three times to call her name before she responded with “Uh?”

“I asked why you? Why are they targeting you?”

“Because I didn’t want to be friends with them.” She stated. Her tone monotonous. “Eh? Just because of that?” Sunbin was baffled. Jisoo sighed and face her. She looked so tired then. “Just let them be.”

It struck a chord in her. “Let those bullies do what they want? Until what? Until you cannot take it anymore? Until you lose your bearings and decide that ending your life is better than enduring those people? No. I will not let them be. If I was in your place, I would have gotten my revenge already.”

Jisoo was taken aback with Sunbin’s sudden outburst. Jisoo looked away. Sunbin sighed and said. “I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing for you to apologize for.” Jisoo offered a small smile.

“Bullying is a big matter to me, you see.” Sunbin rubbed her nape and gazed at the floor. “I can’t let it go when I see something like that. I turned a blind eye once and regretted it. I’m not going to let it happen again.”

“I understand. I got used to them that’s why I said to let them be.” Jisoo gazed at the floor as well and there was a thin smile on her lips. “Can you be my friend then?” Jisoo said, her eyes suddenly hopeful as her gaze was now directed to Sunbin.

“Eh? Of course we can be friends.” Sunbin smiled at her.

***

“I want to throw this phone to the wall.”

“Go ahead. And lose your chance with this angel of yours.” Roy coaxed. It just earned him a glare and another pillow to his face. Roy was having fun teasing his friend. This is probably the first time he has seen him like this. It’s like he fell in love at first sight. He doesn’t show it but he too was anticipating the girl’s call just to hear the voice of the supposed angel who captured his friend’s heart. Heck, Joon Young looked so lovesick he’s not even following his routine before his shooting the next day – drink and sleep. He has been staring at his phone for hours now. It was fascinating to look at, Roy noted.

***

Jisoo took Sunbin out for a walk to the campus that night. They didn’t talk about the bully matters anymore. Sunbin didn’t want to ruin the mood. Jisoo, although not totally back to her bubbly self, look much livelier than before.

Jisoo explained there was a curfew and it’s about to be curfew soon but she was given special permission to take her around the campus to get to know the university more and help her adapt faster. She was having fun so far.

As if she inhaled bad air, the group she encountered earlier, the bullies, appeared and they seem to be a bit intoxicated. “Uh? Isn’t that mong mong-ie and the plastic surgery foreigner?” one of them pointed to them. A few giggles. “Uh – You’re right. She definitely got plastic surgery. She can’t be that pretty.” Another joined in.

On cue, Jisoo grabbed her arm as if to stop her from doing anything. Sunbin smiled at her with reassurance and took her hands off her. She then directed a smile towards the group who had fake smiles on thinking Sunbin could not understand their language.

Sunbin’s smile was feral as she approached them. The group didn’t notice the malice in her eyes due to the lack of lighting. “Looks like we meet again.” She said in English. The group seemed more attentive once Sunbin greeted them. “It looks like it.” One of them said as she smiled, fake of course.

“I think it’s fate that we guys are meeting like this!” Sunbin tried to sound as upbeat as she can.

“Waa~ this girl is trying to cling to us now huh? She probably don’t like that girl too. Well, it’s better I guess. So that mong mong-ie is all alone again. It’s fun to see her whine in a corner.” one of them said in Korean. Sunbin fought the urge to pull out her hair out right there and then.

Soobin said, “Do you want to hang out with us?”

Sunbin’s eyebrow twitched. “Why not?” and she smiled, fake. Soobin looked pleased. She added, “We only have room left for one person. Maybe she can just go back to the dorms?”

Sunbin shrugged. “I guess.” She turned to Jisoo with an apologetic look and said, “I’ll see you later.”

Jisoo, confused, could only nod as Sunbin walked away with the group. She felt hurt.

Jisoo has walked about twenty meters when she heard a scream. Alarmed she ran to the source of the voice. She saw four figures helping a hunched one up. She saw another one just looking on.

***

“Ahhhh!” One of the girls tripped. The one who has been talking crap about Jisoo since the first time they met. The section of the road was poorly lit and tripped. Was tripped. By Sunbin. She fought the urge to laugh as she fell face down. She bit her lip and faked concern. When they again started to walk, Sunbin positioned herself to trip another one but not enough to draw attention to herself.

“– what the hell is wrong with this place.” The one who tripped – another one who kept on talking crap –said and cursed in Korean.

“You’re drunk that’s why.” One of them countered.

Sunbin is still pretending she could not speak Korean. “Are you okay?” she asked in English. “Yeah.” Was the only reply she heard as she stood and walked again. A smile settled on her lips – thank the poorly lit road, her facial expression could not be seen.

The girls were chit-chatting with themselves, talking about hitting the club and finding cute guys and all that.

They reached a curve, poor to almost no lighting, and Sunbin positioned herself to the back of the group. Once satisfied, she pulled hair and the victim fell on her buttocks. “Ahhhh!!”  They all turned to the source. They see one their girls on the floor and Sunbin with a hand on , her eyes wide. The girl gave her a death glare and shouted in Korean, “What the is wrong with you, you wench?!” and lounge for her. Sunbin having predicted what she’ll do stepped back away from her grasp, her expression was still of shock. She’s playing for a best actress award right now.

While two of the girls, Soobin being one of them watched on due to confusion, two immediately went for the girl who was trying to attack Sunbin who was currently backing away. They were trying to hold her back.

“Ya, ya, ya! Stop it!”

“This pulled my hair. This !”

Soobin recovered and stepped in between. “What the hell is happening here?” she said in English with an authoritative tone that silenced the raging girl.

“I – I – I… ” Sunbin stuttered. “I felt something grabbing my shoulder. I was so scared and tried to grab anything I can. I was so scared I think I pulled her hair so hard she fell back. I’m so sorry.” She made her voice shaky and apologetic and even tried to walk towards the enraged female. God, she can win an award with this. They bought her story. The girl who got her hair pulled calmed down but still glares at her with suspicion. She gave her another apologetic look. Soobin became wary with her and stood a bit farther from where she stood as they walk.

They walked for about fifty meters more until Sunbin asked, “Isn’t there curfew for students here? Won’t we get punished if we don’t go back now?”

Soobin turned to her and shrugged, “Unless you get caught, you won’t.” Soobin stopped in her tracks. “So, are you a scaredy cat? I think you kind of are. You were scared just now.” Soobin taunted in a joking tone but she felt the challenge in it. The test.

Sunbin raised her eyebrows at her. “No, I’m not. I sincerely thought something grabbed onto me.”

“To prove it, I’ll come with you guys. I need someone to get close to while I’m here don’t I?” she gave them a friendly smile. They smiled back and announced that they’ll be going to a club. Sunbin shrugged and said, “Sounds fun.”

Yep, she needed to get close to some people to spice up her life.  A saying popped into her head. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

***

Jisoo watched from a distance until the group hailed two taxis and disappeared from view. She has been watching from the first scream. It was oddly satisfying for her to see them trip and fall. It was even exhilarating to see Sunbin get away with tripping and pulling their hair. Jisoo snorted in amazement. That girl was something else, she thought. Just when she thinks nobody noticed her presence, she saw Sunbin turn to her when she was walking at the back of the group and gave her a thumbs up sign. A soft laugh escaped her lips.

She hurried back to the dorms and thought of ways to help her not get caught just in case.

***