I’m not dead. My eyes are shut tightly, but I don’t feel pain and my thoughts are awake and aware. I’m not dead. My eyes slowly flutter open. A way-too-familiar face is inches from mine.

I realize that I’m in a super awkward position in Jaehyun’s arms. This situation is so cheesy that I want to puke. What am I living: a soap opera?

I know I should be thanking him for saving me – first two times, he prevented me from meeting the ground and this time, he prevented my soul from leaving this world – but I am slightly annoyed instead. Frustration builds in me, partially because I feel so weak and helpless.

“Are you stalking me?” I snap. I push myself away from him but he suddenly pulls me even closer. A bike passes by on full speech inches behind me. I freeze at the near encounter. Okay, that is the fourth time. And what the heck is a bike doing at our school? I thought the kids here all rode cars with their personal drivers.

I hear loud gasps and glance over Jaehyun’s shoulder. Students exiting the building are staring and pointing at us. I bet that we will have made it on the front page of the school gossip tomorrow morning. I cringe.

By total accident, I lock eyes with my worst nightmare. He’s surrounded by his jock pals who are also gaping at Jaehyun and me. His expression is as cold as the Arctic waters while his eyes are flames. Do I detect jealousy in his burning gaze? He can’t possibly have any feelings left for me except for hate and contempt, can he?

Jaehyun finally lets me go. “You should be careful,” he states. I’m still staring at Rowoon, trying to detect his emotions.

“T-thanks,” I manage out. I turn around and hurry home, Rowoon’s eyes still blazing in my mind.

I walk to my locker the next day and take a deep breath to prepare myself. I open the locker and slowly open the door, dread filling me.

I jump backwards by instinct. However, my regular clean locker with my books in order greets me. My jaw drops. Impossible. My mouth curves. Impossible!

Just a few months ago, all kinds of garbage would greet me in the morning. It made me seriously wonder if the kids who did it went to a landfill every dawn just to be irksome – what a waste of a life. The worst I’ve experienced was a live frog on top of my Biology book. I usually greet the trash with a poker face, but that incident was the first time I had screamed.

Gathering my Psychology book, I shut my locker. A small smile surfaces. To think of it, except the time when Rowoon entered our homeroom, the students have awfully been quiet. No one ramming me in the halls, no one stealing my books and scribbling cuss words in them, no one talking loudly about what a bi**** I apparently am… It is startlingly wonderful.

Of course. It is in a human’s nature to forget.

Or so I thought.

In the hallway, a tall figure steps in front of me. I automatically side-step, but he copies me. I look up and my smile disappears.

“What are you so happy about?” Rowoon says. He arches an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” I say in a monotone. I know I should just ignore him, but it jumped out of my mouth before I could prevent it.

He takes a step forward and my face is inches from his chest. I tilt my head way up to see him looking down at me. I feel annoyance course through me – I hate it went tall people look down on me because I’m so short.

“It’s not too late,” Rowoon whispers.

Not too late? Is he friggin’ kidding me? Does he want a slap across the face to understand that I want nothing to do with him?

“Shut up,” I snap. Before he could say or try anything else, I begin power-walking away from him.

I may not be good at a lot of things, but I’m good at power-walking.

“So you’re rejecting me again?” I pause when I hear the false note of despair in his voice. Frowning, I turn back to him. The school’s top gossip girls, Areum and Haejin, are standing nearby. Like a pair of birds they annoyingly chirp to each other in the background. Just my luck.

He locks eyes with me and a smirk appears. I feel my hands turn into fists. I clamp my lips shut, whirl around, and leave. I don’t look back.

Morning classes go by as normal. No one points to me and whispers, but worry bites and attaches to me like a leech. I find myself struggling to concentrate.

It seems like days have passed when the lunch bell rings. As my classmates run out the door, I follow with heavy feet. I automatically head to my secret place. Why do I feel so down despite the fact that I’ve realized that I’m not being singled out and bullied? Is it because of the unfortunate encounter with Rowoon before class?

As I reach the rusty door, I pause with my hand reached out halfway to touch the old doorknob. Wait… What if Jaehyun decided to eat here again today? I feel like grumbling like an old lady. I really like that place, but someone else has invaded the area.

“Easy,” I mutter as I head down the stairs. “I’ll eat somewhere else.”

My feet lead me past the cafeteria – oh, that would be a very bad place to be indeed –and outside into the courtyard. There is a huge tree nearby. I sit in its shade with my back against the wall of the school building.

It feels nice here. The students are inside or far away playing soccer and whatnot on the field. The breeze is still here to comfort me. However, a sense of loneliness seeps through me and I struggle to ignore it.

A whisper rides the breeze and enters my ears. I frown. Is there someone nearby? Well, wouldn’t it be two people considering that no sane person would be whispering to him- or herself? I concentrate on my hearing.

“What did you find out?” It seems like a male voice.

“Taeil’s information was correct. He’s a teacher here.” Another male voice. I furrow my brows. They sound like spies or something. Is Taeil a student here? Maybe a senior or a freshman?

“That’s good.” A pause. Or maybe I didn’t catch the next part. And then: “So I’ll come back in a week or so. Same place?”

Silence again. I imagine myself straining my ear muscles, but what enters my sight quickly stops my foolishness. Jaehyun steps out of the shadows. The first thought that dinged in my mind is: he couldn’t have followed me here!

Jaehyun seems just as surprised as me. “What are you doing here?” His face is expressionless.

“I could ask you the same,” I retort. My thoughts wander to the conversation I overheard. Well, I only managed to hear a part of it. Had Jaehyun been one of the two people whispering? My instincts tell me yes.

“So,” I say. I wonder how to make him leave in the nicest way possible.

“At least you haven’t killed yourself on your way here.” He turns his head as if to hide a smile.

I bristle. Who is he to treat me like a clumsy, weak girl who needs rescuing all the time?

But to be honest, I, too, am surprised that I survived walking to school this morning. Shoot, I’m surprised every day. I am clumsy, but Jaehyun doesn’t have to act like he’s my Prince Charming or something.

Suddenly, I find myself cold and wet. My vision is blurry and my hair sticks to my cheeks and neck. Water has fallen from above and soaked me. I look up, wondering what the sudden downpour was for. The weather app didn’t say it is going to rain today, did it?

I am met with the heads of a couple of girls holding a dripping bucket upside-down. They are leaning out the window, pointing at me, and laughing derisively. They are not Areum and Haejin.

A chill sweeps through me from the inside as well as the out. This is what I feared. The spread of news from this morning’s incident. My nightmares have sprung back to life.

Hey readers! Have any of you taken Psychology? I loved that class - you get to learn about the human's tendecies and sneak a peek into philosophy. I can be moody sometimes and ruminate about my life. It was nice to find universal thoughts and feelings in this class - I felt like I wasn't alone. I recommend it greatly to those who plan to or have given thought to taking it!

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