Minhyuk's POV

 

I hated being sick. Especially when I knew that Sojin would be all alone at school, vulnerable. But mom had refused to let me go, so I was forced to stay in bed all day. Dad tried to cheer me up, but he wasn't really good at it. But the positive thing was that I was doing better.

 

Sojin's POV

 

Going to school the next day was hard, but for a whole other reason than I was used to. I didn't know if they would be on my side, or if they would ignore me. The words and glares were the same when I entered, but there was no physical violence while I walked to my locker. When I was taking my books out, I heard a weirdly familiar voice call my name. I turned my head, and saw Minhyuk come running down the hall. My stomach filled with warmth as I saw his smiling face, and I couldn't stop a smile forming on my own lips. He stopped right next to me, and I had to stop myself from hugging him. It was so weird, I'd never had that feeling before.

 

"Sorry for my abscence, I was sick", he said, grinning at me.

 

"It's okay", I answered, smiling back at him.

 

We looked at each other, before I dropped my gaze, blushing. He cleared his throat, and I glanced up at him.

"So... What did you do all weekend?" he asked me.

 

"Studied", I answered truthfully.

 

"Nerd", he said, but it wasn't ment as a hurtful word.

 

The smile reappeared, and I closed my locker. We started to walk, and soon, Changsub joined us.

 

"Hi, guys!" he greeted us, smiling at both of us.

 

"Hi", Minhyuk greeted him back.

 

I only smiled a little at him, and earned a happy smile back. Were we friends now? 

 

It was all very absurd for me. Except Minhyuk, I now had Ilhoon, Changsub, Peniel, Eunkwang, Hyunsik and Sungjae following me between classes. None of them mentioned the day before, they just smalltalked. I didn't really participate in their conversations, but they tried to make me a part of them. And then lunch came. It was only Minhyuk who walked with me to my locker, and he seemed to be happy with the sudden friendliness from his friends. But when I turned for the stairs, he took a light grip around my arm. I looked up at him in confusion, and he smiled kindly at me.

 

"Maybe we can eat in the cafeteria today?" he asked me.

 

I opened my mouth to protest, but before I got a word out, he got first.

 

"For my sake. You don't want me to be sick again, right?" he asked.

 

I hesitated for a moment, before I shook my head. He started to lead me towards the cafeteria, and every impulse in my body screamed that I should stop. But I couldn't. I owed him that much. When we entered it, I almost expected that I would get food thrown at me, but nothing happened. I kept close to Minhyuk while he got us lunch, and then to the table where his friends was sitting. They all greeted me, and I waved a little.

 

It actually worked fine, until someone pushed me in the back, making me spill out water all over the table.

 

"Oops. You shouldn't take up so much space", a poisonous voice told me.

 

It belonged to Kim Chahyo, one of my old friends. Giggles could be heard behind me, and my face flushed in a deep red as I tried to dry up the water.

 

"Get a life", Hyunsik told her coolly.

 

I looked up at him in shock. My impression of him was that he always was calm. 

 

"Excuse me?" Chahyo asked him, with a mix of shock and irritation.

 

"Get a life", Hyunsik repeated. "Besides, you should work on that clumsiness of yours."

 

My eyes grew wide, and I glanced at Chahyo over my shoulder. Her face had gotten drained on all it's color, and then she got red. She stormed off, with her friends after her. I looked at Hyunsik, who smiled at me. He had a really pleasant eye-smile. Changsub started to help me clean up, and then all seven of them helped. My eyes got weirdly wet, and I had to blink the tears away. They actually defended me. All of them. 

 

Minhyuk's POV

 

Seeing Sojin get so moved that she almost cried made my heart get filled with warmth. The fact that what Hyunsik just did was something any friend would've done, and that we helped her clean up, brought her to tears, only showed how badly she'd gotten treated. But that was slowly beginning to change.