You were thirteen years old then.

It was a crappy sunny day for you.

You had been experiencing stomach ache and it was uncomfortable to feel like that, especially when you were in school. You didn’t go to the school clinic since you just hated going there.

You clutched your hand at your stomach, as you bended your body a little to ease the pain you were feeling. The heat just made you feel more irritated. You were in a bad mood all day and as soon as classes were dismissed, you left immediately without even saying goodbye to your friends.

As you sat down on the bus on your way home, your mind was busy willing your body to get used to the pain. You were coming up with plans on what to do with it when you get home. You didn’t know what time Luhan would be home. And so, you were on your own. You were debating whether you should go to a drug store and buy some medicine first, or go home and pray that there was a medicine for your stomach hidden somewhere.

You looked outside the window to check if you were close to your stop now. As you swung your head to the side after that, your eyes stopped on a boy who was wearing a middle school uniform the same as Luhan’s. Your eyes trailed to his face, and you felt your heart flutter when you saw how good-looking he was. The boy had his eyes closed, making you wonder if he was sleeping and if he already missed his stop.

You forced yourself to look away from him to check where you were now for the second time. Your eyes instinctively went back to him after that, and you were surprised and embarrassed when his eyes opened and met yours.

You immediately averted your eyes away from him and felt heat creeping to your cheeks. You hoped that you weren’t blushing that much.

You had always been shy around guys since you were not used to any male attention besides from Luhan and your father. You were studying in an exclusive school for girls, and you have absolutely no guy friends. Your family was overprotective of you, and Luhan becomes territorial of you whenever boys look your way.

You tried to avoid looking at him again since you wouldn’t want him to think too highly of himself. You thought boys were arrogant in general, of course with the exception of your family. You wouldn’t want him to think that you have a crush on him or something.

You just find him cute. That’s all.

When the bus was almost on your stop, you stood up and positioned yourself near the door so you could exit fast. Your stomach was still aching as hell, and you just wanted to escape from the embarrassment you were feeling from getting caught.

You walked out of the bus and into the street, and tried to walk as if you were not feeling your abdomen about to explode.

You suddenly felt a presence close to your back, and you instinctively gazed on the side where you could check your reflection on the glass door of a shop.Your steps halted and you felt your heart beat wildly in your chest.

You turned to look at your back and saw the guy from the bus with a laid-back expression; a hand in his pocket and the other on the strap of his bag.

You just stood staring at him for a while, and then you abruptly turned away from him and started walking fast.

You didn’t know how to react to this.

'Was he following me?'

You turned to look at the back and saw that his pace was matching yours, and he was uncomfortably very close to your back again.

This time, you felt your hand getting cold and you were really getting paranoid that you started running.

He determinedly went after you and you felt your legs weakening. All this run was making the pain even more intense, making beads of sweat trickle down your forehead. You wiped it with the back of your hand and came to a stop.

You bent forward with hands on your knees as you panted very hard.

You felt him staring at you and you were feeling very mad now. You clenched your hands on your side and faced him.

“Why are you following me?!” you screamed at him hysterically.

The boy just looked calm as if the way he was stalking you was just a normal routine.

“I’m not. This is the way to my home. Is there any law that says you’re the only one who can pass here?” he gave you a bored look.

You were stunned. You didn’t know what to do.

After a few seconds, you finally got your wit back.

“Then why are you uncomfortably close to me?!”

“Why? Is my body touching yours?”

“N-no!”

“Then this is not close.” He motioned to their distance.

Your mouth parted at his words.

“Excuse me?!”

“Don’t be a stuck-up, kid. Just turn around and walk already so you can go home. Relax. I’m not following you. And if I do, it’s not as if I’m gonna do anything to you,” he looked you up and down, “You’re not my type.”

You were appalled at this boy and you couldn’t help but scowl openly at him.

“Well I don’t care! I don’t want a psycho like you crushing on me anyway!”  

You then turned around and resumed walking back home.

This stranger was very easy to hate. You decided to ignore him since you just didn’t give a care anymore.    

When you were near your house already, you crossed the street and he still followed you.

You ran fast towards your home and fumbled to unlock your door. After you successfully opened it, you looked at him leaning on your gate and giving you a soft smile.

'Okay. How weird could you be? Is this boy bipolar or something?'

You narrowed your eyes at him.

“And you say you weren’t following me.” You rolled your eyes at him. You were in your house now. You weren’t scared anymore. There were people passing through your street and you know that he couldn’t possibly do you any harm.

He just chuckled at you and slightly shook his head. He gave you an eye smile and you realized yet again how handsome he was.

“Be careful and be observative next time, kid!” He winked at you and left towards the direction you came from.

You furrowed your brows at him and watched him as he disappeared right behind the corner. His words and actions confused you.

What did just happen?

He obviously followed you and he definitely lied about his home being this way. Why would he do that? He didn’t ask for your name and he didn’t seem to be interested in you.

You scratched your head and went inside the house towards your room.

You took out clothes from your closet and just as you were about to change, the mirror caught your attention.

Your eyes widened.

You turned so that your back was facing the mirror, and struggled to look at something on your back; specifically at something reddish at the back of your skirt.

You paled.

You hurriedly took it off you and saw that it was a blood stain.

You absently dropped your skirt and quickly ran to the bath room.

You bent and saw that there was blood in your underpants. You panicked and sat on the toilet. You breathed erratically and forced yourself to calm down so you could think. You looked at the blood and after a few seconds, everything clicked into place.

You just had your first period.

So that was the reason why you were so irritable, hot, and in pain the whole day.

A smile unknowingly formed in your face.

'I am a young lady now. This is a step towards maturity.'

You chuckled softly.

But then your happy thoughts were stopped as you remembered the stranger from earlier.

“Be careful and be observative next time, kid!” you recalled his last words to you.

You were frozen in your position trying to absorb everything that happened… to his actions, to his last words…

'OH DEAR.'

You suddenly felt like someone poured cold water over you.

'OH .'

You just uttered your first curse.

 %^%$#&^$&%#*#^*^#(!

You put your face in your palm and suddenly released a scream.

The stranger saw you in such an embarrassing situation!

So that was why he followed you and stuck close to your back!

He did that to cover you!

You hit yourself and whimpered at the humiliation you were feeling. You didn’t know whether to be happy and thankful, or be embarrassed and depressed...

'Why didn’t he just tell me?! Now I feel so embarrassed. Ground, please swallow me whole now.'

You already knew that this was one ridiculous moment you wouldn’t ever forget.

After that incident, you prayed every day that you wouldn’t see that stranger EVER AGAIN.

You had never been so embarrassed in your whole life! You had never felt so exposed!

You now go home an hour later just to make sure that there was a higher chance of you successfully avoiding him.

---------------------------------------------------------

It had been a year since that incident and you soon got over it.

God must have loved you so much since you didn’t see that boy again after that.

It was a weekday, and you were dead tired that you went directly to bed and took a nap after arriving from school.

You woke up to sounds of laughter and male voices shouting at each other.

You abruptly sat up on your bed and tried to focus on the sounds.

'Why is it noisy? Did Luhan invite some friends over? But he never does that.'

You got off the bed and stood in front of the mirror to make sure you were presentable before going out of your room.

You slowly tiptoed towards the living room and hid behind a wall. You took a peek at his friends and you saw four boys busy doing something with Luhan. You stared at the weird object they were working on and thought that it might be for science project.

You were about to turn around and leave for your room when Luhan called your name.

“____!”

You turned and plastered a smile on your face.  You weren’t comfortable with other boys, and you were wondering why Luhan was calling you over when he was so against to you befriending guys anyway.

He went over to you for a hug and then kissed you on the head.

He then turned the two of you towards his friends. “Hey this is my dongsaeng. Dongsaeng, these are my friends.”

He introduced them all to you, and you were so uncomfortable you wanted to go back to your room.

“Oh. Where’s Yifan?”

The door to your house opened and a figure slowly emerged from it. He bent to untie and remove his shoes, and you realized that this boy looked familiar.       

After he placed his shoes on the side, he stood tall and faced the boys.

Your face paled and you were feeling like you wanted to faint.

You hurriedly went to back to your room before he sees and remembers you, confusing the boys.   

Yifan. So that was his name.

You groaned.

'What a rotten luck do I have!?'