All alone, I'm all alone.

Jiyong let out a scowl as he heard Daesung giggled next to him. Without looking at him, he smacked his head, earning laughter from the other two boys from behind. Jiyong stared at the new wallpaper on his phone again before biting back a smile and putting his phone inside his pocket. He did not bother to change it.

“Don’t want to change it?” Taeyang teased, earning giggles from Daesung again.

“Shut up you, doofus.”

From the corner of his eye, Jiyong saw Daesung and Seungri high-five and raised up their fists into the air. He only ruffled his hair annoyedly. Jiyong could not believe that he let the boys win just because of the new wallpaper of his puppy.

It was a photo of Dara, smiling sheepishly while holding books in her hand. He did not know who between the boys that took the picture but he kind of liked it. As time goes by, he could see how that girl’s personality improve little by little. She had slowly gained confidence and was braver and bolder than before.

That actually made Jiyong really satisfied.

The bully no longer happened, not as bad as before. The only thing that Dara got was the unending scribbles on her table and the disappearance of her homeroom shoes. There was once where some girl tripped her for God knows what times and the girl ended being hit with Dara’s shoe as she threw it to the bully. The other reason that made other students start to stop bullying her was that Dara deserved respect. She’s changing to be a better person in other people’s eyes. She might be a bullies’ target before, but Dara had never sought revenge or tried to bully other people too to satisfy herself after everything that she faced. Sandara Park was still the same ugly, polite and kind person. Or maybe better than that.

And Jiyong thought he was in danger.

…

“Ji.” The familiar soothing voice called him when he was chewing his food. Without looking up, he nodded his head once, a gesture for her that he actually listened. The chair in front of him was pulled and she sat there, a bunch of envelopes in her hands.

“Again?” he snorted. He eyed the letters, hands still holding the spoon and fork to eat his noodles.

Dara pursued her lips. She had mixed feelings about this thing although it was not bad. She slowly pull out the first letter and read it. Her eyes darted as she read, did not notice how Jiyong kept staring at her expression.

Ten minutes later, she finally finished reading them. Dara made sure to keep all of them back into their envelopes and arrange them neatly before setting them on the table. When she looked up, she was met with Jiyong who now with his chin in his hand, staring unblinkingly at her. She suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment at how he was staring but try to ignore it.

“Why you don’t finish your food?” her voice trembled.

Jiyong raised his eyebrow at her voice but kept his eyes on her. He pushed the remaining noodles to her. “You haven’t eaten yet.” It was a statement, not a question. Dara nodded and pulled the bowl, happy that she did not have to buy on her own. As if Jiyong could read her thoughts, Jiyong chuckled, which made students next to their table turn their heads to him. His soft expression was still there although he knew he was being stared at by others.

“Letters about what? Asking for your forgiveness again? Or insults?” he reached one of the letters from next to Dara’s hand.

“Yes. No insults this time.”

Jiyong only read the first sentence of the letter before he tossed back the paper to her. It made him gag at how they write to apologize. Wasn’t it better to meet Dara and talk face to face? It would look more genuine that way. He thought that it was funny how they did not feel anything when they bullied Dara but then felt embarrassed to ask for her forgiveness. It was coward of them to just leave letters inside her locker or under her desk.

“Um, Sandara.”

The both of them looked up to the source of the voice. Jae, the boy who bullied Dara before with Brian, was standing at their table, holding his tray of food. His eyes darting between Dara and Jiyong while chewing on his lips.

“Yes?” Dara glanced at Jiyong and then focused back on Jae.

“I want to apologize.”

That made Dara’s eyes widen. Her hands clenched the utensils, her legs kicking Jiyong’s under the table. There was silence for a minute and it was making Jae feel awkward.

“I want to apologize to you too, Kwon.” He turned to Jiyong.

Jiyong bore his eyes straight into Jae’s. His dark gaze was so intense that Jae could not keep eye contact for too long.

“For?” Jiyong tried.

“For hurting your friend.” Jae’s voice turned small.

“What else that you have to say to her?”

Jiyong could see that the boy was being genuine, but it was fun to see the bully squirmed in his eyes, so he maintained the stoic look on his face. He continued to watch as Jae gulped, hands started to tremble because the soup in the bowl was spilling out into the tray.

“I want to apologize for being so mean to you, for bullying you and calling you ugly. It was a shame of me for insulting you like that when you didn’t do anything wrong to me.”

The silence from Dara and Jiyong continued, while Jae kept his feet there, waiting for Dara to say something. He tried to avoid looking in Jiyong’s direction by looking down at his soup. After a few seconds that felt like years for Jae, he noticed that Dara stood up from the chair and stick out her hand to him. Wordlessly, Jae slowly grasped back her hand, trying to balance his tray with others.

“I forgive you.” She smiled sincerely. She was perplexed that someone bravely come to her, but she was not going to complain. Dara knew that Jae’s intention was genuine, the signal t