The week after the party, the classes went by smoothly, especially dance class where the dance was near the finishing stage. They still had two weeks to finish and polish the dance. Looking around in dance, they realized they were the only ones that finished their choreography for the song. By Friday, they had the choreo nailed, and the constant couple dances that involved a lot of skinship were making the pairs closer than usual. Finishing school, Seulgi and Joohyun walked out with each other. 

    “Wanna go to that new boba shop?” Joohyun asked, looking over at Seulgi.

    “Yea, su-” Seulgi started answering but was cut off by another person waiting at the front of the school.

    “There you are! I thought you were never going to come out!” Jackson yelled, looking comically at his empty wrist for the time. At the action, both Seulgi and Joohyun laughed, causing Jackson to look up with a satisfied smile. Grabbing Seulgi’s wrist, he dragged her next to him and started walking off, looking back to tell Joohyun that he needed a talk with her.

    “You guys can go to the boba shop next time! I have something important to talk to her” Jackson winked at Joohyun. Joohyun shook her head in disbelief at Jackson’s antics. She knew that Jackson liked Seulgi for a long time, and that Seulgi liked him back. Jackson had told her that he was planning to ask her out soon, but she didn’t expect him to abruptly show up and just drag Seulgi along like that. Sighing, Joohyun decided that she would have to walk home alone. The walk to her house took 20 minutes, but if she took a small road in the shady parts of town, she could reach it in 10. Weighing her options, she realized that it was only 3p.m, and reassured herself, thinking that nothing bad could happen when it was still daytime. 

As she walked, Joohyun mentally prepared herself for the worst part of the walk. It was where there were buildings, and the small side roads were usually full with weird men looking out to see if there were any young girls they could prey on. Shaking the thoughts away, she ignored the bad feeling, once again looking up at the sky. 

“Oooooh who is this young lady? What’re you doing here in this part of town beautiful?” Joohyun heard a voice behind her. Wincing, she looked up at the sky once more, blaming her fake reassurance of not being called on because it was still day. Gauging the amount of space she had between the voices, Joohyun started to walk faster, wanting to avoid any and all confrontations. The steps behind her quickened until she saw a face pop up in front of hers and an arm around her by another guy. 

“Awww look at this little kitty! She thinks she can leave!” They laughed out loud. Joohyun winced again, in her mind thinking about the uncanny resemblance between their laugh and a hyena’s laugh. The two men stepped back and walked around her, eyeing her up and down. Joohyun heard another pair of shoes walk up to her and felt an arm around her waist. Closing her eyes and preparing for the worst, Joohyun felt a sense of comfort in the arms, and she realized that it was a familiar feeling. Opening her eyes and peeking up to see who it was, Joohyun was surprised to see Minho, who seemed furious with his jaw locked in place.

    “ off” Minho threatened, his voice deeper than usual.

    “Why don’t you off, kid.” The one on the left growled back. He didn’t like having to lose such a beauty right in front of him. 

    “I said. off. Come on babe let’s go.” Mino pulled her even closer. She was pressed clad to him, with no space at all in between their bodies. The two men acknowledged their defeat, unwilling to pursue a girl when her boyfriend was right there.

“She’s not worth it. We’ll catch another baby next time let’s go” One of the dudes said as he saw Minho’s fist starting to clench. The other guy just sighed and followed the first man out, leaving Joohyun in Minho’s arms.

    Minho looked down and glared at Joohyun, who was too busy looking at the ground and wiggling out of his grasp. 

    “Is this the only way you can go home?! Through these alleys?” Minho half yelled, his eyes hardened and his jaw still locked. 

    Joohyun, realizing that he was furious, just shook her head. “I usually walk with Seulgi the longer way but she had to go somewhere else so I just took the shortcut. I didn’t realize this was going to happen because the sun is up” Joohyun rambled on as she tried to explain herself. 

    Minho shook his head and just took her hand and started walking. “Just call me when Seulgi can’t walk with you. No, you know what? I’ll just walk with you from now on.” 

    Joohyun rolled her eyes, not appreciating the overprotectiveness. She couldn’t help realize that they were still holding hands. His previous threat crossed her mind, making her smirk.

    “So. Girlfriend huh? Thought that was a one night thing.” Joohyun teased. She felt Minho still, and she looked up in surprise. His cheeks were a little rosier than she remembered. Minho just sighed and pulled her along. They walked in silence, hands still grasped together, until they reached her house. Minho pulled away first, much to Joohyun’s disappointment. Her eyes widened slightly at the feelings. She should not be feeling disappointed. Immersed in her own thoughts, she didn’t hear what Minho was saying. 

    “Okay?” Minho asked, waking Joohyun from her thoughts. Joohyun looked up, furrowing her eyebrows trying to figure out what he just said. Minho shook his head, knowing she wasn’t paying attention at all.    

    “Wait for me after school, okay? I don’t want you going home alone or with just Seulgi. Those guys don’t care if there’s two girls or not.” Joohyun nodded absentmindedly, turning to go into her house. She took out her key, not wanting to knock and have her parents have to come out to open the door. She struggled putting the key in the keyhole, and after a few minutes of wiggling she finally opened the door. Entering her house and closing it, she realized that Minho had waited to see that she got inside safely. A smile came upon her lips without her even trying, and she waved one more time at Minho and went inside.

    Once inside, she greeted her mom happily. Her mom had eyebrows raised in confusion. 

    “Anything good happen today?” Her mom questioned. Joohyun just shook her head and went to her room. He was the first boy that waited for her to go in safely. Heck, she was the first boy that probably cared about her safety this much. As she laid in bed, she stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts kept jumping between how he held her waist and how they held hands til they got to her house. A text notification made her jump. 

    From: Dance :)

    You guys wanna grab lunch tmrw? 

    Jackson suggested in their group chat. Joohyun’s eyes turned into crescents, excited to go hang out with them tomorrow. Her phone lit up again, showing texts from both Seulgi and Minho. They were all down to go tomorrow. Sighing happily, she texted back.