Hana POV

Well, I thought I was going to scream and yell at him. But one look into his mesmerising eyes, and every intention, every conviction of mine disappeared. He made me feel bad by not appreciating his little actions just by looking at me. Why? How?

“Why are you being so nice to me, Woohyun? When all you’ve done is laugh at me these few days? You know, just because I don’t look like your ideal type or have long hair or a stick thin body or a small face or a flat stomach or clear skin or nice legs, it doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. And…. there’s only so much someone can take before it gets too much.”
I paused. My voice was starting to choke up in my throat.

“The first time you laughed at me, I understood. I get why you don’t talk to me anymore because of how I look. I understand why you laughed at me in the club. It was because I was wearing a dress, right? I even understand why you’re being so nice to me now. You feel sorry for me, don’t you? But I need to tell you something. I don’t need your sympathy. I don’t want it at all.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off abruptly.
“Don’t say anything. You don’t need to say anything to me, Woohyun. I completely understand why you don’t talk to me anymore. I get why you made empty promises to me. I get why you were a completely different person to the choiapple I thought I knew. You need a good report to graduate, right? I get it. But what I don’t understand is why you need to mock me. Are you planning to make me embarrass even more? You leave me a rose in my locker because you know its my favourite flower. You pull out my chair for me because you see I’m holding books. You open the door for me. You buy me nachos. But why? It is for all your friends to see? So you can laugh at me? So that when you’re bored, you can mention my name and you’ll all immediately feel better? So that you can cross it off you list of things to do? Humilate someone to death?”

I stopped rambling when I remembered that the whole school was watching. And I stopped when I realised that I was playing exactly into what Woohyun and his friends wanted. They were doing this to get a public reaction from me, right?
It all clicked together now. All this was leading up to what was happening now in the cafeteria. I was cracking, right infront of the whole school. And his friends were loving it. But why didn’t Woohyun look happy?

“Do I need a reason to be nice to you?” He asked me quietly, not looking at me.
I looked up at him, shocked. This time, it was me that was speechless.
“I – I don’t, well, no, but – “ I stuttered stupidly.

“Is that what you think of me? That I was talking to you because I wanted to graduate?” He sounded hurt.
My heart dropped. Was I too harsh?
“I, well, no. But when I found out it was you, it didn’t make sense to me. How Woohyun and choiapple were so different.”
“Well, why didn’t you come talk to me then? Ask me how, ask me why, instead of making all these silly assumptions?”
I stared at him incredulously. “Me? Make assumptions? Are you mad? First of all, how do you expect me to come talk to you after what you said at the assembly? Would anyone? And have you forgotten how you laughed at me in the club?”
My eyes stung with tears at the memory. It still hurt my heart thinking about it.

Woohyun took a shaky deep breath. He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly and slammed his fist down on the table. I shrunk back a bit – I had never seen him like this before.

“This is all wrong,” he groaned. “I wasn’t mocking you, Hana.” He looked at me dead straight in the eye. “I was…I was trying to say sorry.”
I laughed bitterly. “Is that how you say sorry?”
“Sure it is,” he smiled half heartedly. “Flowers, lunch and small gestures. All girls like that right?”
“Of course they do,” I answered him. He sat up and looked a little relieved. “But not when it’s done as show for his friends. Not when his friends are always laughing at her. At me. Don’t think that I don’t notice, Woohyun.”
He turned around and glared at his friends, which were now silent. The whole room was silent, and they were clinging onto every word we were saying.
“Don’t worry about them! They’re idiots, Hana! You should…..you should see what I do. And see that I’m doing it from my heart.”

“Can I just forget about them? As quickly as you tell me to? Is it that easy? Don’t lie, Woohyun. What they think of me is just as important to you as it is to yourself. It’s clear that we can’t be friends. So just……” My breath caught in my throat. “Leave me alone, okay?”

“Why are you so stubborn?” He growled. “Just….ugh! So annoying! Are you blind?”

I blinked. Now he was insulting me?
“No, I’m not blind,” I said, firing up. “Are you? Oh wait, you’re not. Because all you care about is outer appearance. Who cares if she can’t count to ten? Who cares if she doesn’t know the difference between desert and dessert? Who cares! As long as she’s good in bed, right?”
Now it was Woohyun’s turn to get angry. “At least I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not, huh? Did you really think that guy who made you so upset that time really was just having a bad day? He was in a bad mood? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Of course he didn’t. He’s not blind – no one in the world is. If they were blind, then they wouldn’t be able to see your terrible face. Oh, but that would be a good thing, right? At least they could eat their meals in peace without thinking of you. They could eat and swallow and chew without vomiting it up everytime they saw you!”

If the whole room was silent before, then right now, there was absolutely no movement at all. Even the cafteria serving ladies had stopped worked to listen in to our fight.

My heart thumped loudly in my chest. I could feel my face burn red, and I could feel tears stinging at my eyes. He had managed to knock the nail squarely on the head. I knew it. He knew my greatest insecurity just kept mentioning it over and over again. Everything about Woohyun was just about appearance and nothing more. The reason he was nice to me on chat? Because he couldn’t see my face. The reason he laughed at me? Because I was the living joke - a girl who had false hopes in every area of her life.

I needed to get out of there before I broke down in the middle of the cafeteria. I looked at him one more time with my teary eyes. I didn’t care if he saw me crying.

“How’s your brother?” I asked him quietly before running out of the cafeteria, wiping my free flowing tears.