When Lay saw her walked up and spoke to him that recess, there was something off with her, but he had thought that it was because of the bruises she had.

Was it the way she talked? Was it the way she thanked him with a wistful smile, saying that it was a secret? Or maybe it was when she asked him to lend her his books and writing utensils? Perhaps it was when she had that bitter smile on her face as they walked back to class?

He did not know, and he did not pry. For all he knew, Haera could have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed and started her day on a bad note. After all, she told him that after bumping into a guy, she had fallen to the ground, and she had consequently also lost her bag.

It was possible that the events had irked her to the point that she controlled her speech and mannerisms in order to not let loose her demonic rage onto the whole school.

However, upon witnessing Haera’s tears when a male student with an olive-colored skin had spoken to her, Lay knew he was wrong.

Even as he grabbed the guy’s arm that tried to pull Haera to God-knows-where, he had no idea what was actually going on. Lay tightened his grip on the guy’s arm.

What had happened between these two?

“And who the hell are you?” The guy before Lay shot him an annoyed glance, not flinching even after Lay had exerted enough force to make his arm blue. “Let go of my arm, now.”

“I’m her friend, and if you were to let go of Haera’s hand, then I will do the same.” Lay turned to look at Haera who had her eyebrows scrunched up and tears rolling down her face as she kept her head down. Her bottom lip was messed up and covered with blood. “Besides, we all don’t want to continue this here.”

The students in Lay’s class that still had not gone back home was watching them; he should settle the argument with the guy—if he could even call it that—as soon as possible. Haera was not a specimen under a microscope’s lens to be scrutinized under their judging gazes.

He knew that it would have been better for her to go home and not attend the classes. At the very least, the guy would not be able to cause her such distress.

The male student let out an exasperated sigh before he let go of Haera’s hand. He tousled his dark brown hair and squeezed out a sentence. “I was trying to get her to the infirmary, if only you didn’t interrupt me, but fine.”

How self-righteous of him, Lay thought. The guy made it sound like it was all his fault and Lay stopping him was unwarranted for.

“Oh.” Lay let go of the guy’s arm as he promised. He gave a sheepish smile towards him. “Sorry, I was acting a bit rash, but you shouldn’t have acted so abrupt like that too. We are even, right?” Even as Lay replied, he pulled Haera closer to his side, and away from the unknown student.

The unknown guy just picked up his bag from the floor and pointed at the other bag that was on the ground. “Make sure your friend here sees her bag and bring it with her this time, hmm? I don’t want to be a delivery boy anymore.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, um,” Lay looked at the guy’s shirt, only to find his name tag missing.

Seeing Lay’s glance, the male student said, “Kim Jongin. You’re welcome by the way. My class is two classrooms away from yours, so whenever you or her want to give me a gift as thanks and to make up for making me feel like a piece of for no reason, do come and give me a visit.”

Lay’s smile on his face was stiff as he just nodded his head; there was no need to prolong the interaction with the guy known as Kim Jongin. He just clenched his jaw as he reeled in his annoyance.

The person before him was much more annoying than Haera’s friends, which Lay thought to be impossible for anybody like that to exist. He erased any thoughts about Kim Jongin from his mind the moment he exited the class.

Lay turned to Haera as he let go of her hand. She was breathing a bit calmer now that the guy was no longer here, and she had stopped chewing on her lips. Lay winced once he took a brief look at her lips; he could see her lower lip had turned into a mangled mess.

“Haera, he’s gone.” Lay gently shook her shoulders. With his limited knowledge on proper treatment, it would be best for Haera to go home first and have her maid, Choi Soo Hee take care of her.

Haera’s chewing and biting of her lip stopped. She looked up at Lay before she stared at her surroundings.

The students who met her empty eyes looked away and started to mind their own business. They packed their books into their bags and left the classroom. One exclaimed as she avoided Haera’s stare, “I–I’m going to be late for my ride!”

Lay just sighed. Soon, it was just the two of them left inside of the class. Taking out his phone, he let out another sigh as he viewed the time. It was nearing ten in the evening. He also could not hear any other sound except for his breathing and Haera’s quiet one; the other students must have gone home or to a cram school already.

“Haera, let’s go home,” Lay called out to Haera, his voice tender.

Really, he was almost useless when it came to situations like these. He wished he was a mind reader so he could know what Haera was thinking. That way, he would know all of the right words to say to her.

Haera turned her head towards him, her complexion had gained a bit of color, and her eyes returning to their usual bright shade of hazel. “Yeah… And I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“Don’t apologize. I’m used to getting roped into your troubles after all,” Lay said with a light tone as he chuckled.

The only thing he found himself good at was cracking up jokes.

“...Sorry.” Haera just apologized, oblivious to the fact that her childhood friend was just kidding.

However, joking with Haera was a miss most of the time. He needed to correct himself, fast.

“N–No, no! I wasn’t blaming you! That was not my intention! It was just for the…the, the, what was the word?” He waved his hands back and forth, frantic to remedy his mistake of a joke before he came upon the right word that Haera would usually say. “’Lolz’! Yeah, I was just saying that for the ‘lo—”

Just then, a high-pitched and bloodcurdling scream of a woman could be heard coming from Haera’s bag.

Lay jumped in fright and bumped into a few tables before he fell to the ground, sputtering colorful cusses. He shakily pointed at the bag on the ground, the screaming of the woman still piercing the deafening silence of the night. “H-Haera. What, what is in your bag?”

Haera blinked her eyes, this time fully regaining her senses as she alternated looking at Lay and her bag. She picked up her bag and rummaged the insides of it. She took out the culprit that caused the high-pitched screaming and blinked at the device in her hand.

“Soo Hee is calling me,” Haera said as she looked at the still screaming phone. She then glanced at Lay. “The screaming…is my ringtone.” Her lips twitched and almost curled into a smile.

Why would she have such a disturbing sound as her ringtone? Could she not use a normal ringtone for receiving calls?

Why?

Lay pushed himself off the ground, feeling miserable and embarrassed at the same time; his ears were aflame and worse, he knew that from the way Haera glimpsed at his ears, she had noticed his mortification. That realization made his ears burned even more.

Appearing lame in front of Haera was the last thing he wanted to do. However, lo and behold; he was not successful in doing that if the disarrayed tables were any indication of his bravery.

At the very least, he managed to somewhat brighten up her mood, right?

Lay cleared his throat and urged Haera, “You should answer your phone.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he avoided eye contact with her.

Haera nodded and answered the phone. “Sorry, Soo Hee. Something cropped up in school.” She paused before continuing, “It’s nothing big. I’m with Lay right now. Okay. You don’t need to worry about me too much. Stop worrying; Lay’s here. Alright, see you at home.” By the end of the conversation, a small smile made its way to Haera’s lips.

Lay smiled when he saw the little smile on Haera’s face before he asked, “What did Soo Hee say? Your ride is here, right?” He then directed his attention over the tables that were in shambles. “Uh, let me just arrange these real quick.”

As Lay fixed the tables back into their original positions, he could feel Haera staring at him.

He did not know why she was looking at him, but he could feel his ears heating up again. Thinking about how his white skin made the redness of his ears even more visible, he wished he had the stuck-up, Kim Jongin’s skin color just for this occasion.

Finished arranging the tables back into order, Lay turned towards Haera, not meeting her eyes. “Let’s, let’s go home?”

Haera nodded as a response before she added, “Let’s go to the convenience store that you wanted to go to tomorrow. It will be my treat.”

“Really?” Lay caught himself before he got too excited. He then looked at Haera in the eyes. “No. Tomorrow is not a school day for you, so you should just take the chance to, you know, let your injuries heal. Of course, I will come by your house after I’m done with my club activities.”

“...Sorry. Then, I will go with you to the store next time and even treat you to anything you want.” Haera did not reject his idea. Slowly moving her hand up, she looked to the side as she extended her pinky finger. “I promise.”

When Lay saw that, he threw out any thoughts about Kim Jongin–if he had any left at this point–out of the window. In a quick motion, he entwined his pinky finger with Haera’s and a grin adorned his face. “I shall take your promise of free food.”

Why was Haera acting all formal,