It was a Wednesday evening after school. Yongguk and I walked to the library to search for resources for his project. We had the same shift that day, so I thought I'd accompany him to the library. Although we weren't really friends, I decided to make an effort. I wanted to be his friend, like all the others. I wanted to try without turning him human. I realized thst I never asked him about his major or any of the other's majors either. That was a topic to start off with. "What major are you?" I asked. "Literature," he simply replied and then he added, "I like to write lyrics. Lyrics that will hopefully soon become music. A type of music that doesn't only sound good, but conveys a deep meaning." I didn't expect that to come out of his mouth. He could've easily replied with a one word answer like he usually does but he gave me detail on what he wanted to do. This proves to me that he didn't go to school just to waste time, but to actually learn. Learn about something he's passionate about. Instead of saying anything, I smiled. Not hearing a response from me, he turned his head around since I'm always lagging behind and asked, "Why, you don't think it's worth learning about?" I shook my head. "I think it's great that you're trying to achieve a goal. I bet the others chose their majors according to what I personalized them to, right?" He chuckled. "Yeah. Except for Zelo and Himchan. You didn't really give them a specific talent that was useful there. Zelo is following Jongup's footsteps, which is dance, Youngjae majors in computer engineering and Himchan is majoring in traditional music." "Traditional music?" I asked. "He apparently saw a show on TV about it. He found it really interesting and was amazed at how your school offers that kind of course." "I would love to see him play it one day," I said. He ignored my comment and announced we were already at our destination. We stepped into the library and I followed Yongguk to where he wanted to go. We got on the elevator and it took us to the 5th floor. Yongguk headed towards a shelf of different CDs. "What did you have to do again?" I asked while looking through the random CDs also. "I have to research about different poets or artists about they're life and how they affected people." "That sounds easy." "I also have to make a piece of poetry that conveys my feelings towards that artist." "Oooh, challenging." He smirked. "Nothing I can't handle." Yongguk finished searching for his resources and we headed towards Dominique on the bus. Yongguk still hasn't lifted that grudge off the bus incident. He always makes sure I'm in a hands length away from him or the other aliens. He said an arm’s length isn't enough since people can still squish in between us. To be honest, a hands length isn't that comfortable. Sometimes, it's less than a hands length. Being squished to an alien who I don't have a close relationship with is really awkward. Sometimes, the others will hold my hand and I'm fine with that. But not Yongguk. He doesn't hold my hand but he sticks to me like glue and even if there aren’t many people standing up, he'd stick to me like a bodyguard. Bystanders just watch in amusement while others snicker. I don't understand why that doesn't irritate him, even though he's a short tempered alien. This time on the bus, there were surprisingly enough seats for us to sit down, making me wonder if everyone was from the same company and it suddenly shut down because usually around this time, there would be lots of people in suits and skirts pressed up against each other. We got off the bus at our stop not making much conversation. Honestly, this was the first time I've been alone with Yongguk and it isn't going so well. We walked to our designated locker rooms and changed to our uniform. Yongguk was at the front desk, welcoming customers, sitting them down and bid them a good night while I was mopping the floors. Today, there were more people for some reason. It probably relates to the missing workers on the bus. While I was mopping, a customer was walking by to go to the washroom so I stepped aside but what took me by surprise, was that he slipped right on his bottom. He didn't look old at all, maybe in his early 30's, so I didn't pay a lot of attention towards his accident that might have affected his health. "I'm so sorry!" I bowed. "Watch where you’re mopping!" he shouted, creating a scene. "I'm so sorry." I bowed once again. "I didn't know it would be that slippery." He stood up and brushed his pants but once he felt his wet bottom, he looked really pissed. "You didn't know?" he scoffed in annoyance. "You’re mopping the floor, how could you not know it was slippery?" the man shouted. "If you're going to work here, do it right! Do you know how expensive this suit is? Probably more than what you earn here!" I winced at his harsh words. "If I were your boss I'd-" he made a motion to hit me to which I closed my eyes and ducked in reflex. "What the-?" the man cried, sounding irritated as ever. I opened my eyes but twice as big when I saw Yongguk right in front of me, penetrating the distance between me and the customer. I stepped to the side to see what was happening. He was holding the customer's raised hand. He had a straight face on while the customer's was a surprised one, just like mine. "Let go!" the man complained, yet making no move to release his wrist from his grasp. "You shouldn't raise a hand in front of a woman," Yongguk said in his monotone voice. "I wasn't going to hit her," the man defended. Without even saying anything, Yongguk’s face hardened and the man took notice of it. He suddenly raised his hand, about to hit him and the man ducked in reflex just as I did. "Were you just going to hit me?!” he asked, bewildered. "No," he replied. "I was simply raising my hand." The man flinched at how he used the same excuse back at him. "Do you understand how she felt threatened by that simple gesture? I really do hope you don't threaten our employees, even if we are here to serve you," he sneered. "Because if you do, we'd tell you to get lost."

He coolly let go of his hand and stuffed it in his pockets. Some bold customer hooted and clapped, with the whole restaurant joining in. Even I had to snicker at that. The man, red with embarrassment stormed back to his table, where a young woman was not looking please. He grabbed his jacket and the girl's wrist and said, "Let's go." The man walked all the way to the front, to escape his humiliation when Yongguk called across the room with amusement, "Don't you think you're forgetting to pay your bill?" He froze and turned around to look at him with a glare, "Can I have my bill?" "Of course," he playfully smirked. "Now if you can come up here, I'll be happy to serve you." I had a feeling Yongguk was enjoying this a bit too much since he took his time walking over to the cash register. He wanted to humiliate the customer even more by taking his time while other customers in the restaurant were loudly gossiping about him. Finally, he gave him his receipt. "Have a good night sir," he smiled. "Yeah," he grumbled and made his way quickly towards the door, still embarrassed. Yongguk walked towards me, where my feet were still planted on the floor. "Are you just going to stand there or are we going home? Our shift is over." "Huh?" I looked at the wall clock and noticed our shift was finally over. "Oh yeah." I wheeled the mop and bucket of dirty water to the back for other employees to empty and clean with. After I finished changing, I met Yongguk who was waiting outside. I opened the door and a bang of cold air hit my face, signalling that winter was coming soon. Yongguk was waiting at a pole with his back and a foot leaning against the pole while his arms were folded against his chest. He pushed off with his foot as soon as he felt my presence. Without a word, he left towards the bus stop, with me following behind. It has always been like this. He walks in front of me while I fall behind, not able to catch up to his pace. There was a silent distance between us before I decided to muster up the courage to say something. "Um, thanks for helping me back there," I timidly thanked. He stopped. I walked up to him and looked at his face. "What’s wrong...?" His facial expression was just the same before, when he was talking to that customer. His eyes turned to me. "I hate that man," he simply said before walking faster than he was before. "Why? He didn't hit me." I started to jog to catch up with him. Again, he stopped but this time he turned around, which made me bump into his hard chest. Before I could complain about his abrupt action, he said with a harsh voice, "I don't care if you didn't get hit. He threatened you and you ducked like someone who was about to get hit." "But he didn’t-” "I don’t care if he did or not!" Yongguk yelled, making his voice echo on the empty street. "You were scared, even if he didn't make physical contact with you. That's enough to make me hate him." He turned around to walk again but after a couple steps he stopped and turned around. "If he touched a single hair on your body – no – if he even touched the air around you, I would've broken him into pieces. I'd break anyone who'd touch a single hair on you." With that he continued walking. I stood still but then a wide smile slowly grew on my face. I was touched - touched that a cold-hearted, awkward Yongguk would protect me like that and mean every single word of it. I know because of the way his voice sounded. It sounded harsh yet, sincere. He was protective but with a more logical sense, unlike Youngjae. He was beginning to open up, and that is all that matters. "Are you coming or not?" He broke me out of my thoughts. "Coming!" I ran up to him and walked beside him. "Did you really mean what you said?" I asked dumbly. I was too happy to think of a more intelligent question to ask. He didn't mind and said softly, "Every single word." A silent moment lingered before I quietly but sincerely said, "Thanks." That night was the first time he slowed down to match my pace.