“Look, Myungsoo got himself another girl!” a whisper reached Naeun’s ears.

“Wow, she’s pretty…”

“Are they dating?!!” an upset voice rose.

“As if – we’re talking about Myungsoo here.”

The group of girls evaluated Naeun with a knowing eye.

“I give her a month before he gets tired of her.”

Another girl giggled. “I say a week. She’s just a pretty face anyways, look how awkward she is.”

Pretty face? That’s shallow. Awkward? Absolutely.

Myungsoo was dragging Naeun through a packed hallway to a café nearby. Or buffet. Or was it a department store? Naeun didn’t pay attention to Myungsoo’s endless rambling about the type of food sold at whatever place they were going to; she was too busy freaking out about his arm being casually swung around her shoulders.

He was being too close with her, so close that she could vaguely feel the warmth of his body through his jacket, making her whole body stiffen. And it wasn’t the embarrassing or romantic type of closeness – Naeun constantly felt as if Myungsoo would start harassing her at any second if she made a move to take his goddamn arm off of her... But with his smug smile and relaxed pace, it seemed Myungsoo was enjoying every second of his power over her.

And although usually Naeun couldn’t care less of what other people thought of her, the stares from an innumerable amount of girls were beginning to freak her out.

Exactly how many girls did Myungsoo date?!

Naeun had yet another reason to stay the hell away from Myungsoo and his little idiotic games.

But Naeun had to bear with it until she thought of a way to get rid of Myungsoo; teacher Son would flip tables if he found out about this…

They stopped in front of a small café and Myungsoo spun her around. With the same smug face, he held the door wide open for her. Naeun cautiously walked in; it was hard to tell whether this idiot was mocking her, or if he was just so genuinely happy to be with her that he couldn’t stop smiling.

Naeun shook her head.

It was probably the first, no way was it the second. 

“YAH! Look who showed up! What took you so long?”Sunggyu called over, and Myungsoo led Naeun to the table his friends sat at.

Naeun awkwardly sat down in the corner without looking at anybody. She took out her thermos and slowly began taking sips of her tea, trying to make it last the whole 'lunch'.

 “Where’s Sungjong?”

“Busy, said he’ll call.”

“Ah.”

Myungsoo settled beside Naeun and drank the coffee his friends ordered for him.

“Oh, is this a new one of yours?” Sunggyu leaned over and asked in a low voice.

Myungsoo’s smile disappeared “What? No! No. Well…I mean kinda.”

“Kinda?” Sunggyu looked confused at first and then his eyes grew wide “…Don’t tell me you’re friends with benefits!…”

Myungsoo and Naeun simultaneously spat out their drinks.

“WHA– WHY WOULD YOU– THE HELL?!! She’s a classmate. A classmate.” Myungsoo yelled desperately and his ears were turning red. He didn’t dare to look at Naeun.

“Relax, I was just asking! I meant no harm” Sunggyu turned to Naeun in apology “Sorry. But I mean, he is the type to take girls and brag about doing this and that to them. Good girls like you should stay put! This one time he met this chick at a bar and the very same night he and–”

“–AAAND the weather is nice today, isn’t? It was cold yesterday…” Myungsoo spoke loudly as he interrupted. He glared as hard as he could Sunggyu, but that block head was too oblivious to get his hints.

 “The weather?.. Man, what’s wrong with you today? You’re overreacting about everything!” Sunggyu laughed, but the topic of the conversation switched.

Myungsoo sighed and glanced at Naeun.

Still as poker-faced as ever. As if she didn’t hear a thing.

Somehow this made Myungsoo disappointed. You'd think she'd care about him in some way or form...

“Want some?” Myungsoo meekly offered her one of his donuts as he saw she wasn’t eating anything.

She shook her head without taking her eyes off the thermos.

“Are you sure?” Naeun rejected him again; all she could think about is when she could leave.

“Why are you being so snobby Son Naeun, chocolate is your favorite flavor.” A familiar husky voice spoke for the first time.

The girl froze. Suddenly the room felt cold, and even the thermos didn’t give off any warmth.

No way.

Naeun’s head spun.

It can’t be.

Not now.

But as she looked up at one of Myungsoo’s friends, there he was.

With the same unyielding cruel grin he had a year ago.

Nam Woohyun.

---

“What’s wrong, surprised? Didn’t think I’d meet you here either.” Nam Woohyun, who before was too preoccupied with a new girlfriend sitting by his side, now spoke to Naeun in a cheerful voice.

Myungsoo looked from Naeun to Woohyun and back, confused.

Wait, they know each other?

The way Naeun looked at Woohyun wasn’t normal. He was different to her, and her poker face was turned into shock. You'd think she saw a ghost.

“What, cat’s got your little sharp tongue and ripped it out of your throat? About time.” Woohyun looked and spoke as friendly as ever, but his words did not match at all.

“So tell me, how’s life? Are you enjoying it? It’s nice to be alive isn’t it?” Even Woohyun’s sense of humor didn’t cover up the contemptuous resentment in his voice.

Myungsoo expected Naeun to snap back but instead she grew incredibly pale.

“Yah, Woohyun, what’s with you?” Sunggyu asked with concern as the table grew quiet.

“Me? Oh, there’s nothing wrong with me. Right, Son Naeun?” Woohyun burst into laughter looking at her face.

Myungsoo lost his patience. He couldn’t stand Naeun and his friend sharing a close relationship. Moreover, Naeun looked ill.

“How do you know each other?!”

“Oh, it’s a long story!~ Would you like to tell him?~”

Naeun didn’t say anything, eyes blank and glued to Woohyun.

“Oh, I guess I’ll tell them! You guys must be curious, right?~”

Naeun sprung up in panic, nearly tipping over the table. Woohyun burst into laughter.

"What's wrong? Naeun, what's wrong?!" Myungsoo never thought he'd see the collected, sarcastic Naeun in this state.

“I’m sorry…I…I have something I need to do…” Her voice was shaking. Myungsoo got up to let her out of the corner.

“Are you alright? Do you need water?” Myungsoo put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with concern. “Do you need a doctor?”

“No…it’s just my head…just my head…” She pushed away his hand and rushed out of the café, hand on her forehead.

“What.the.hell.was.that.” Myungsoo shot daggers at his friend. Woohyun ignored him and went back to flirting with his girlfriend-of-the-day.

“Even if you dislike her you didn’t have to be so mean.” Sunggyu nudged Woohyun.

“Dislike? What an understatement! And that wasn’t even half of what she deserved.”

Myungsoo was debating whether he should run after her before he realized something.

Woohyun…girl…past…

It couldn’t be that they…?

“Woohyun–!”

Woohyun cut Myungsoo off, knowing what he’d ask.

“No one in their right mind would date that selfish . Yeah, shocker – not even me! You’d think Sungjong’s stories about the ‘bucket woman’ would give you a well enough input on how her mind works.”

Myungsoo stared at Woohyun.

“How did you know the bucket-woman was Naeun? Even Sungjong didn’t know her name.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes, annoyed.

“Well who do you think gave Sungjong the information about her school, name, etc…? You don't really think Sungjong dug all that up by himself.”

“Bucket woman? Who’s that? Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything!~” Sunggyu nagged.

Myungsoo ignored Sunggyu and continued questioning his friend “So if you didn’t date, how do you know each other? And why do you hate her, you never hate anybody!”

Woohyun chuckled and his face grew darker.

“Well why don’t you ask Son Naeun herself?”

---

Myungsoo found Naeun sitting on a bench at the train station, head hung low.

He couldn’t help but think she and Woohyun shouldn’t have met.

“Can I sit here?”

Naeun didn’t answer or look up. She just scooted over.

“Can you tell me about Woohyun?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s none of your business.”

There was a pause.

“I will tell about your mafia–”

Naeun sighed.

“Let’s just say a year ago, I accidentally took something very precious to him. And…”

“…and?”

“And I cannot pay up for it…I’m...I’m…”

“…scared?”

Naeun didn’t answer and just hid her face with her long, beautiful hair.

“So who’s the scaredy-cat now?”

“…So you came here just to mock me?’

“What? No, of course not!”

“Then what do you want?!!” Naeun shouted all of a sudden, her voice echoing down the platform.

“Why does everybody always want something from me? Why can’t you people just leave me alone? What have I done wrong?”

Myungsoo didn’t say anything. It was the first time he heard her be truly angry.

“You want me to tell you about myself? Fine! I’m a Witch! It’s great, all rainbows and sunshine! I’ve been homeschooled and trained for the time when thousands of people I don’t even know will be chasing my trying to kill me. My sole purpose is to become a leader. That’s it! I don’t know how many times I’ve broken multiple bones in training sessions. How many times I’ve wanted to cry. How many times I felt so tired I just wanted to die. How many times I’ve been told my skill was not good enough and that I needed to try even harder. But you know what? I bore with it! I had a goal! I had to repay my…my…father”

Naeun turned in spite, emotions burning.

He’s probably looking and smiling at me like usual. He probably finds this amusing.

But he wasn’t. Myungsoo was staring at his feet, attentively listening to each and every word.

Naeun continued, unable to stop, now shouting to him, not at him.

She must’ve kept to herself for too long.

“I never questioned anything! I was always trying my best! Shouldn't that have been enough?! I've been a good girl! My eyes were set on becoming the next most powerful leader! I did what I was told, and I did it well! I wanted to prove I could do it, prove that I could repay him for all of his kindness! Until...until...last year.…she…I…” Naeun lost her voice and grew quiet. If she had any strength left she’d probably thank Myungsoo for listening to her rambling instead of continuing on with her story.

Myungsoo turned to look at her. His dark hair gently covered one of his eyes.

She never thought about how nicely the dim lighting accentuated his profound nose and his Adam’s apple. Although he usually looked like a boy, now he looked more mature…

And she never noticed how both of them wore black jackets, black pants, black watches and black shoes of the same brand…

But most importantly she never noticed how his brown eyes were…kind…

Naeun couldn’t take it anymore. Her vision was getting blurry.

“I’m so sorry…I’m sorry for everything…I didn’t mean to hurt anyone that time…I’m so sorry…”

Myungsoo rampaged through his pocket and offered her a tissue.

She politely refused it and blinked a few times to stop herself from crying.

“It’s okay. I really don’t know what happened…but I’m sure they’d forgive you…”

Naeun nodded at her feet.

“Hey, Son Naeun.” They looked at each other.

Her big eyes were glistening from the left over tears.

“Would it kill you to believe that I’m here just because I want to be here? Sure you have a temper and I may or may not get thrown in a river by your driver…” Naeun smiled. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t honestly enjoy your company as a person.”

On the ride home they didn’t say anything to each other. Myungsoo offered to share his ipod and for the first time Naeun accepted something from him. She did keep switching all of his favorite songs however, and he’d usually find it very annoying.

But hey – who could concentrate on music when you had Son Naeun so close to you?

----------

Author's Notes: Thank you to the person who sent in a few corrections, I'll change them soon! I have to walk the dog now, sorry... If you're curious why I haven't updated lately, it's because of EXAMS. ADSFHJKASDTFHGYJKHXDFHCGBHJ. Actually I'm overexaggerating, they're easy, but I had to hand in a ton of work and last minute projects last week, so I had neither energy nor inspiration to write.

/will add more notes after I walk the dog my mom's yelling at me T_T

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