My vision turns black and for a moment I panic, wondering whether I’m fainting. That would be a huge embarrassment. But then I realize that there is something covering me. What the heck – did the girls send some trash down after the water?

Peeking out, I find out that it is a jacket. I look up and see Jaehyun standing right in front of me – without his gray jacket on. I gape at him. His face is turned upwards to the girls. His emotions are covered by a mask.

I look up. The girls have disappeared.

“You’re going to catch a cold.” He reaches over and I shy away from him, but he merely ties the arms of the jacket around my neck so it looks like I’m wearing a hood. “Let’s go to the clinic and ask for a towel.”

The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. With the bell returns my strength.

“No.” I stand up. “I’m fine.” I start heading to the double doors of the school.

I feel an iron clamp on my wrist. I glance down at it – it’s Jaehyun’s hand. “Uh… do you mind?” I say.

He doesn’t let go. If anything, his grip gets stronger. “Are you really going to go to class like that?”

“Uh, my life, my business?” What is his problem?

To my surprise, he starts dragging me away from the double doors. “Hey!” I cry out. My arm feels like it’ll pop out of its socket any second.

Oh snap – he’s taking me off school grounds. This is illegal. “Class is starting!” I hiss. “Let go!”

“Don’t you know that if you go back, they are going to bother you endlessly? How did you get yourself into this mess this time?”

“I rejected Mr. Jerkface again. But anyways, I need to go back. I’m dead serious!” He’s pulling me along like a tree limb. We’ve reached the street.

I spy a stop sign. Reaching forward, I wrap my free arm and a leg around the pole. Jaehyun stops in his tracks.

“Why are you doing this?” I snap. I hug the pole as if for dear life. I would marry it if I had to – anything to prevent that wacko from dragging me to who-knows-where.

He runs a hand through his hair and frustration surfaces on his features. “I don’t know! Honestly, I should be as far away as possible from you right now!”

“That’s a welcoming statement! Please do that very thing!” I am so confused. He should’ve just stayed away since day one! What is wrong with him?

“But I can’t!”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid that second I turn my back on you a car will run over you… or a girl will throw a brick at you… or something!”

“Why should you care? Why would you care whether I become a pancake or get a black eye or not?”

“Because I do! I’ll feel guilty if I let you get hurt!”

I take a deep breath. “Jaehyun. I can handle whatever they got in store for me. I’ve survived situations where I had rocks thrown at me and my textbooks were burned in front of my eyes. I’m fine.”

He lets out a huge sigh. “Let go of that sign.”

“No.” I hug it tightly. I know I probably look like a crazy monkey to passersby, but I have no choice. “I’m not letting go until you let go of me.”

“Fine.” That one word conveys his exasperation quite well. He lets go of my wrist without warning and my arm drops limply beside me. He whirls around and stalks away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” I cry out as he stomps off into the opposite direction from the school. Not that I really care.

I distance myself away from the stop sign when I spy a passing driver stare at me with wide eyes. What now? I can’t go back and enter the classroom in the middle of fifth period. Ahhhh! That guy is ruining my school records.

Maybe I should call in sick. I could pretend to be my mom and call the office… As I plan out an excuse, I head home.

The next day, I walk into the classroom with a heavy heart. Vicious whispers erupt to welcome me. I have become the center of attention once again. Clenching my fists, I walk through the aisle, dodge a paper airplane thrown at me, and sit down. I feel like putting my head down on my desk to block them all out, but that would show that I’m weak. In front of bullies, you should never look weak.

Oh, Jaehyun’s here. I give him a glance. He is a stone statue. Maybe he’s mad from yesterday. Well, he told me he should be as far away from me as possible. Why? Does he not want attention? If that’s true, I channel him.

My mistake for thinking he might be different.

A pencil flies towards my face like a javelin if Jaehyun didn’t knock it down in the air. I am more surprised by his stupefying reaction rate than the fact that I could’ve been blinded. I see Haeun, who has turned around in her seat, hide a gasp behind her hand.

“Uh, th-thanks,” I manage out. Who is this guy? Superman? Wait, forget it, Superman is the hero of strength. Then some other kind of superhero?

“Are you two dating?” Haeun shrieks. I almost cover my ears at her shrill tone.

“Heck no!” I find myself exploding. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut and ignored her, but I am still mad at Jaehyun for yesterday. Me date him? I’d rather date that stop sign.

“Class!” Just in time, Mr. Lee enters the room. About time he came in. The class hushes as he starts writing on the blackboard.

He turns around. “Thank you, class,” he says with a smile. He locks eyes with me for a moment. He’s probably wishing I was in a different class. At least this time, Rowoon and I are in separate classes. Thank the heavens for that.

For some reason, I glance at my deskmate. He is staring intently at Mr. Lee, as though looking at an interesting specimen. My brow creases. What is his problem?

3rd POV

As soon as the lunch bell rings, Jaehyun leans back in his seat as he observes his classmates run for the door. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Hwayoung calmly removing her lunch box from her backpack and make her way to the door last. She doesn’t even glance his way, and somehow, it bothers him.

The classroom is empty. Jaehyun jumps up to his feet like a cat and smoothly strides to the teacher’s desk at the front. On top of the desk is the thermos Mr. Lee had forgotten when he left the classroom early that morning. With one swift movement, Jaehyun opens the lid and checks its contents. It is half full, which means that the man had obviously drunk from it.

Jaehyun removes a small vial from his pocket and carefully but quickly pours part of the drink – it is coffee, Jaehyun noted with a wrinkle of his nose – and filled the vial. He snaps the lid closed and the vial disappears in his pocket once more. All under a minute.

Suddenly, he hears soft footsteps. He whirls around and begins erasing the board as though he is the student in charge of cleaning the classroom for the day.

The footsteps enter the classroom and wander about. Jaehyun sneaks a peek behind him. To his utter surprise, it is his deskmate.

Abandoning his pretense of erasing the board, he turns himself fully towards her. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

The girl doesn’t even look up at him as she fishes in her backpack. “I could ask you the same,” she says with a sigh. She brings out a water bottle and her novel and starts walking to the door.

Without thinking, Jaehyun reaches out and grabs her arm. She pauses in her steps and shoots a glare up at him. “Uh, mind if you let me go?”

Jaehyun freezes. Why did he stop her?

“I thought you said that you should stay as far away from me as possible,” Hwayoung says drily.

“I… know,” he says. “But… I can’t seem to.” His brown eyes bore into Hwayoung’s.

Hi readers! How are you? My summer is going into quite an anticlimactic direction... but oh well. I hope your summers are fantastic!

I have decided to make each episode four parts. I hope you enjoy! Please comment! And if you haven't already, subscribe!