Minhyuk's POV

 

Three broken ribs, one broken nose and several bruises and wounds. I grinded my teeth as I looked at Sojin's sleeping figure in the hospital bed, not knowing what to do with all the anger inside me. I'd been on my way to the bathroom, so it'd been a coincidence that I'd seen them. To stop them from hurting her had been the hard part, I'd gotten a punch in the face in my tries, but luckily, a teacher heard the noise and came to see what was going on.

 

My silent rage got interrupted by the door that opened, and a tall woman came in. Judging by her clothes, she belonged to the higher society. Her beauty was undeniable, and even though she looked bitter and was frowning, there was no doubt that she was Sojin's mother. She froze the moment she saw me, and we stared at each other. I had no kind of respect for that woman. She should've realized something was wrong with her daughter before she ended up in the hospital. 

 

"Who are you?" she asked after a moment of silence.

 

"The guy who saved your daughter", I answered coldly.

 

Me mentioning Sojin made the woman look at her sleeping daughter. Her expression softened the slightest, which made me even more reluctant towards her. Her reaction wasn't normal. Slowly, with the finest grace, she sat down on the chair on the other side of the bed.

 

"Leave", she whispered, and I knew it was ment for me.

 

I looked hesistantly at Sojin, and then her mother, before I stood up and left the two alone. Things were more messed up than I thought.

 

Sojin's POV

 

Even though my eyes were closed, the light still managed to get through and blind me. I opened them slowly, looking up at the weirdly white ceiling. The smell of hospital reached me, and I wrinkled my nose in displeasure. That brought back the pain, and my eyes teared up. My nose throbbed with pain, and I raised my hand to touch it. It felt hot and swollen under my cold fingers, and I shivered at the touch. The rest of my body hurt too, but it was my side that was the worst. But before I got the chance to see what caused the pain, a voice caught my attention.

 

"Sojin?" 

 

I froze, and slowly turned my head to see mom sitting next to my bed. Her face had a rare worry plastered on it, and she reached out her slender hands to touch my arm. It was the first sign of tenderness she'd given me on several years. I looked at her in disbelief, not knowing if I should believe it or not.

 

"I'm so sorry", mom said, her voice cracking mid sentence.

 

Her eyes begun to fill up with tears, and they slowly spilled over, trickling down her pale cheeks. I blinked to clear my head and opened my mouth, but no words came out. She was apologizing. But I couldn't accept it. 

 

"I should've... I shouldn't..." she struggled with her words, swallowing.

 

I just watched her as she tried to find the words to say to make it all better. Deep inside, I wished that those words existed. That there actually was something that could make my pain disappear. But I knew that they didn't. I was broken, and she was too late. She looked at me, begging that I would say something. That I would forgive her. And I wanted to. Nothing seemed more inviting than just forgive her and go back to "normal". But I couldn't. 

 

"How are you feeling?" she asked me when I didn't say anything.

 

I shrugged slightly, feeling the pain stab in my side. 

 

"Do... Do you need anything?" she asked hesitantly.

 

I shrugged again. What I wanted was for everything to be over. My thoughts wandered off to my classmates, wondering where they were. Would they get away with it, or would something happen? Honestly, I didn't care anymore. But what I did care about was who it'd been who'd stopped them. Who'd saved me from any further damages. Even though the answer was obvious, I couldn't really believe that one person could care so much about me.

 

"Okay... I'll go get something to drink. Your brother will be here soon", mom said, getting up from her chair.

 

I nodded lazily, focusing my gaze on the wall infront of me. Dongsung. He'd told me to be safe, and I end up on the hospital. I could hear mom's footsteps walk out of the room, and then get replaced by softer ones. I turned my head to see who it'd been who entered my room, and stared at Minhyuk. He smiled sadly at me and walked up to the bed, and without thinking about it, I took his hand. It was warm and safe, and I didn't want to let it go.

 

"How's it going?" he asked, sitting down on the exact chair that mom had been sitting on.

 

"I've been better", I answered, smiling bitterly at him.

 

He nodded and looked at my hand that was holding onto his. His face was tensed, and I could see that he was bothered.

 

"Don't worry. I'll be okay", I reassured him, pressing his hand lightly.

 

That made him look up at me, and to my surprise, he looked angry.

 

"How can you be so calm about this? They made you end up in the hospital", he said, staring into my eyes.

 

I looked back at him, not knowing how to respond. 

 

"Look at you! Your nose is broken, and it's never going to look the same. And your lung almost got punctured!" he said, gesturing wildly with his free hand.

 

I just looked at him, letting him get it out of his system. So, that was why I had pain in my side. They had broken my ribs. For some reason, I didn't react strongly to the fact that they almost could've killed me.

 

"What if I hadn't passed? What if-" he continued, but he choked on his own words.

 

He pressed his free hand against his lips, and tears started to build up in his eyes.

 

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" he asked, his voice cracking.

 

Without any firther thought, I reached out my hand and cupped his chin. He looked at me, the tears streaming down his face. I smiled softly, whiping away his tears with my thumb.

 

"It's okay", I said, and he rested his head against my hand.

 

He closed his eyes, and it looked like he was trying to find some kind of peace. Never before had anyone dared to care so much about me. As I watched Minhyuk's face, I realized something that scared me more than anything. I was in love with him.