“Arin!”

 

Soobin frantically searched for her, in between screaming for her name countlessly and calling her cell phone and texting her the same thing over and over again. He was at the verge of giving up because Arin was known of her excellent hiding skill, because no matter how badly he searched for her in the past, she would only come out once the tears had dried up.

 

Collapsing on one of the benches in the playground, he leaned back with eyes on the cloudy sky as he panted heavily.

 

“Where are you?” He muttered softly to himself.

 

Arin had always been his protector when they were kids. And, Soobin thought it was his duty now, to be there for her.

 

He recalled the first day he first met her, in this very playground. He was new in town and quite frail and short to be compared to kids his age. Being a newcomer, Soobin wanted so badly to go the playground and play with the children there. Upon seeing his parents were busy unpacking and his older brother was sitting at the kitchen table reading books, he slipped into his tiny shoes and walked out the main door silently.

 

Unfortunately, the children were not as welcoming as he thought.

 

He was in a happy mood, skipping all the way towards the swing where a group of children was laughing and giggling happily. As soon as Soobin tried to lean his bottom on the swing seat, one of the chubby boys pushed him and he would choose the word, flew, rather than fell, from the force that little boy intended.

 

They laughed, pointing fingers at the little him who was slowly tearing up from the embarrassment and the pain from his knees.

 

“Hey!” It was then she came.

 

All of eyes turned to her, Arin who willingly dropped her chocolate ice cream and came approaching them with angry expression to scare them away. Weirdly, they did scatter away and Soobin wondered, how an angel like little her could scare off the boys who were physically two times bigger than her.

 

Later then Soobin knew that Arin had obtained her yellow belt in Taekwondo and one of the boys was beaten up quite badly by her.

 

He jumped at the loud sound of the ringtone in his hand, “.”

 

Turning his phone screen around, he quickly picked up the call as he questioned with a calm tone, “Where are you?”

 

 

 

 

 

His racing heartbeat earlier gradually slowed down as soon as he stepped inside Arin’s hiding place. Soobin was greeted with the bell ringing continuously above his head and another loud “Welcome!” from the worker behind the counter.

 

Coffee shop around the corner as a hiding place, that was a smart move, especially coming from a person who hated coffee like Arin.

 

Soobin picked up his pace immediately, running as fast as he could after he received her call. Even though the location was around their neighbourhood, an image of Arin crying by herself with her face in her small palms crushed his heart.

 

He walked towards the counter, basically asking for a girl in a school uniform and immediately the cashier pointed at the stairs to the second level of the coffee shop. As he was about to excuse himself, the cashier stopped him, calling him by his name.

 

“Take this with you.” He handed Soobin a tray with a glass of hot chocolate.

 

Trailing his eyes on the cashier’s nametag, Seojun, he then reached for the tray and thanked him, “Thank you.”

 

The cashier flashed him a smile that was awfully familiar to Soobin in some ways. However, he couldn’t make up his mind and decided to abandon the thought, focusing on Arin instead. Then, an odd feeling rushed in, making him halted his steps and turned his head slightly around to the counter where the cashier was supposed to be.

 

He muttered lowly with eyebrows knot tightly, “How did he know my name?”

 

 

 

 

 

Soobin finally made it where Arin was sitting with her earphones in while looking absentmindedly outside the window.

 

Once he placed the tray on the table, she jumped slightly and there was a relief look on her face once she saw that the person was Soobin. She pulled her earphones out, and placed it on the table, saying without looking at him, “Have a seat.”

 

“This is it? Your hiding place?” He took the hot chocolate and positioned it before Arin before he sat himself on the empty stool.

 

She nodded slightly and took a sip of the drink, smiling afterwards which Soobin indicated as she was very much satisfied with the taste.

 

“Do you mind telling me what happened?”

 

“About what?”

 

He folded his arms, straightening his sitting posture as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, “Why did you run away like that?”

 

“One of my friends crossed the line, saying that the reason I am single for a long time because I am unattractive, lack of charms as they said.” She shrugged her shoulders and sipped on the hot chocolate several times before she placed her elbow on the table, leaning her chin on the heel of her palm with eyes still staring at the window.

 

One part of Soobin was boiling in pure anger as he listened to what Arin’s friends had to say things like that to her and another part of him was devastated to see her seemed to believe in what those people had said to her.

 

If only she knows, he thought to himself.

 

“Soobin,” She diverted her eyes on him, forming a wide yet sad smile. He hummed while his eyes were following her shaky brown orbs that was about to spill tears.

 

“What do you think of me?” As soon as she questioned him, Soobin quickly kicked the stool and stood on his feet. Immediately, he pulled Arin into his arms, letting her tears wetting his white uniform.

 

Even though she wasn’t yelling or screaming her pain out, her fingers grasping tightly on his clothed back was enough to say that she was hurt by the statement.

 

“You’re so pretty, so pretty. Prettier than anyone else.” He said and she let out a soft chuckle, a sheer victory on Soobin’s side.

 

Soobin thought he was already on top of the world when he felt her head on his shoulder, and somehow, he felt a little light-headed when he felt Arin smiling at the crook of his neck.