Hanbyul's POV~

I sat in my seat, staring at Luhan's empty seat. It's been 3 days since his father's scandal has happened and not once has he appeared in school. 

"Hey, wanna make a bet?" Krystal asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

"What kind of bet?" Sulli asked, munching on some jelly beans. 

"On how long it'll take for Luhan to come back and man up," she said. "I'm betting 2 weeks."

"I'll go with a week and a half," Sulli replied and looked at me. "How about you?"

"I'll pass on this bet," I softly said and stared at his empty seat. I felt Krystal nudge me. 

"Have you seen him at all?" she asked. "I mean, you are his only friend, right? Have you seen him outside of school?"

I shook my head. "Last time I saw him was 3 days ago at his workplace. I haven't step my foot in there since then."

"He hasn't been working there lately either," Krystal said as I looked at her with wide eyes. "Every time I go to his workplace, he's never there or maybe he's just really good at avoiding me."

"Too bad we don't know where he lives. We would've cheered him up," Sulli sighed. I sighed too and the school bell rung with students piling into the classroom to start the day. 

I noticed that Daehyun didn't come to school today either.

"What are they doing today?" I whispered to myself staring at both empty seats. 

Today felt longer than usual, it was only our lunch break. Since the weather was nice out, Krystal, Sulli and I decided to eat in the courtyard. I didn't have much time to prep a lunchbox, so I bought a cream bread and red bean bread. 

"You didn't make a lunchbox today?" Sulli asked, eating a spoonful of rice. I shook my head as I opened my cream bread first. She offered me some of her lunch, but I declined. 

"Are you worried about them? You've been gloomy all day," Krystal said, taking a sip of her vitamin water. 

"You could say so," I softly replied. She smiled and leaned forward towards me. 

"Who are you most worried about?" she asked with an eyebrow raised. 

"Luhan oppa of course," I said without a second guess. "There's nothing for me to be worried about for Daehyun because I know he's worried too."

"Seriously, when will the two accept the fact that they still care for each other?" she sighed.

"It's harder than you think it is," I said. "But they will accept it sooner or later."

They agreed and soon our lunch break was over. Hours slowly went by and school was done for the day. 

Because Krystal and Sulli were a part of the event committee, they had a meeting about the Sports festival leaving me to walk home alone. I would've walked with Zelo, but because the weather was starting to warm up, he went straight to the skate park. 

I walked towards the school gate when I saw Luhan leaning against the brick wall, staring directly at me. I walked straight to him. 

"Oppa, where have you been?" I asked, worried. He gave me a gentle smile. 

"Taking a rest," he replied. "Are you busy?"

I shook my head. 

"Wanna go somewhere with me?" he asked. I tilted my head, curious. "It's not too far from here and it'll only take a few minutes."

"In return, will you come back to school?" I asked with my arms crossed over my chest. He chuckled and nodded. I raised my pinky. "Promise?"

He interlocked his pinky with mine. "Promise. Now, lets get going."

Luhan's POV~

There wasn't a specific place we were going to. I just wanted to be with Hanbyul to relieve some stress. Also because I was starting to miss her. 

We didn't say anything as we walked to who-knows-where, but it wasn't awkward between us. I could tell that she was urging to speak to me, especially about my absence as well as how I was handling my situation. 

"Are you hungry?" I asked, breaking the silence as I looked down to her. She smiled with a nod. 

We stopped at a street vendor and ordered soondae and deukbokki. I reached for my wallet, but Hanbyul had already handed her money to the vendor. 

"I'll pay for this," she softly said. I smiled a bit and sighed. 

"You know, just because my father lost everything doesn't mean I'm officially poor. I do work," I informed her. 

"I know, but this is the least I can do for you right now," she said and grabbed two toothpicks, handing one to me. "Dig in."

Once again, we didn't say anything and silently ate our snack. The only noises breaking this silence were the cars passing by and the ahjumma cooking in front of us. 

The rest of the day, we took a stroll at a park. We did talk a little about school and our peers, but she was cautious to not bring up anything related to my father. 

"...and so Yongguk oppa got accepted into a university!" she said continuing her story with the widest grin ever. "Honestly, not one of us thought he was going to enter a university because he had always put the family first than his education. But because appa and umma are around to help with finances, he's taking the opportunity."

"That's great to hear," I smiled. "Maybe I should go and personally congratulate him. It's been awhile since I've seen him too."

"Yeah, you should come by and visit. Everyone has been waiting to see you again," she warmly smiled. "I guess you can say they're tired of seeing Daehyun all the time."

"Daehyun? He goes over often?" I asked as she nodded. I had to be honest, I did envy him for being able to freely visit her and her family. 

We continued to talk when the sun was just sitting above the horizon. It was also getting a bit chilly and considering that she was still in her school uniform, her legs were getting cold. I suggested we go home, so we took a bus back to her neighborhood. 

"You'll come tomorrow, right?" she asked while staring out the window. 

"We'll see," I snickered. She turned to me with a pout. "I'm just kidding. I'll come."

"You better," she softly said and soon enough, we reached her bus stop. I would have gotten off with her, but I had a night shift to go to. 

She got off the bus and waved bye as I returned the way. Watching her growing farther from me, I let out a sigh and faced forward. I really didn't want to send her home...I didn't want to be alone. 

Daehyun's POV~

Morning had come and I put on my uniform. I left my house and met Zelo and Hanbyul at their house. 

"Where were you yesterday?" Hanbyul asked with a pout. 

"I went to a job interview," I answered. 

"A job interview?" she asked as I nodded. 

"Graduation is coming up, so I don't want to be a lazy bum once I'm out of school," I replied. "Besides, I can't rely on my parents all the time, even if they're never with me."

"I see...," she softly said. "Well, how did you think it went?"

"I don't know. I mean, I wasn't nervous but I'm not sure if the answers I gave were good enough. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I get the job," I smiled with hope. She smiled too and we got to the bus stop. We didn't wait too long for the bus and got on, heading towards school. 

At school, Hanbyul and I went straight to our classroom and took our seats. Krystal and Sulli walked in and the girls began conversing about uninteresting things. I laid my head on the desk facing out the window when the classroom suddenly went quiet. I didn't care to turn at who it was because I already knew who had walked in. 

"He actually came to school," a male classmate whispered to his friends.  

"What a loser," another laughed. I shut my eyes tight to shut their voices out. "At least he had the guts to show himself considering that he's gone poor."

The comments kept pouring out one by one from everyone in the classroom. I closed my fist while clenching my jaw. 

"Aish! Shut the hell up!" I shouted while slamming my hand on my desk to a stand. "You guys are all annoying!"

"Geez, what's with him?" the students mumbled as I glared at them all. 

"He's exactly what he looks like," a female student muttered under her breath and gave me a face. I looked at Luhan, who just sat there silently. I rolled my eyes and sat back down plugging in my earphones to block out everyone again, but that didn't work. 

"Anyways, Luhan must be embarrassed," they continued on. "It's embarrassing to the public. It's almost a disgrace in Korea."

I bit my bottom lip, irritated and shot my eyes open. I got out of my seat and walked up to Luhan. 

"Get up," I said as he didn't even look at me, but showed that pitiful face. "Did you not hear me? I said get up!"

He didn't respond, so I grabbed his collar shirt and pulled him up. 

"What the? Is he going to cause a fight here in the classroom?" a girl scoffed. I glared at her and she hid her face. I turned back to face Luhan as his eyes dropped. 

"Are you going to up to them? Are you going to have them see you as an easy target?" I firmly asked. "Answer me you punk!"

"Daehyun," I heard Hanbyul softly call my name to cool me down. I kept holding onto his collar waiting for an answer. 

"You can't even answer me?" I muttered, furious. He swallowed and kept his eyes low. 

"Coming today was a mistake," he quietly said while looking at Hanbyul. 

"You've got to be kidding me," I scoffed. 

"Are you going to do anything, Daehyun? If not then leave the poor kid alone," the same girl from before said with a smirk. 

"Yah, Kim YooJin. Can't you stop?" Krystal asked, standing up. "It's annoying to hear you speak. That ugly, nasally voice of yours."

"Yah, Jung Soojung. Just stay out of it," she scoffed. Krystal rolled her eyes and deeply exhaled. "You're not much different from them."

"Yah!" Hanbyul shouted, standing up while slamming her hands on her desk. "Just stop."

"Oh, who do we have here? Someone who's trying to act all mighty and tough," YooJin mocked with a snicker. 

"Do you really want to die?!" Krystal shouted and charged at YooJin, pulling each others' hair. 

"K-Krystal!" Sulli said unsure of what to do.

Students from different classes started to pile in and watched the fight as I let out a groan. 

"YAH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Mr. Chae yelled, coming into the room. He looked at me and widened his eyes. "Let go of Luhan! Soojung, release Yoojin's hair!"

"Not until she releases mine!" Krystal shouted and continued to pull her hair. I deeply exhaled and released Luhan's collar pushing him aside then grabbed Krystal and pulled her off. 

"Aish! You crazy bitc-"

"STOP IT KIM YOOJIN!" Mr. Chae yelled, with a red face. "Luhan, Daehyun, Krystal and YooJin. Follow me to my office."

I swallowed hard and released Krystal. 

"Dae-"

I brushed passed Hanbyul and followed Mr. Chae with the rest of them. 

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm being sent to the office all because of these idiots," YooJin scoffed. 

"Kim YooJin, stop talking and keep walking," Mr. Chae firmly said and we entered the office with the other teachers and staff watching us enter. 

"What happened? Why are the students' hair a big mess?" Principal Oh asked, standing up. 

"They got into a fight in class," Mr. Chae said and glared at us. "I will do individual interviews. First I'll start with Luhan."

2 hours of interviewing individually, the four of us got together and waited in the council room. 

"I can't believe I got in trouble all because of Luhan," Krystal growled, crossing her arms. Luhan hung his head and rubbed his eyes. 

"Give me your parents name and their number so I can contact them," Mr. Chae said as we all groaned. 

"You can't call my parents. They'll kill me," YooJin whined. 

"I don't get why they didn't kill you sooner," I muttered, earning a glare from her. 

"You shouldn't have gotten yourself in this mess," Mr. Chae said, getting his pen and notebook. 

"I didn't get involved they-"

"Aish, this bitc-"

"Stop," I firmly said and pulled her back to sit. "Get a hold of yourself."

She rolled her eyes and looked away. They all gave their guardians name and number, I was the only one left. 

"Jung Daehyun, your guardian's name," Mr. Chae said looking down at his notebook. I stayed quiet and looked down to my shoes. "Jung Daehyun!"

"I don't have any," I softly said as he scoffed. 

"You have to have a guardian, now hurry up and tell me or else you will all stay here until you say a name," he firmly said as the girls glared at me to tell. 

"I said I don't have any-"

"Jung Jinhee, 010-XXX-XXXX," Luhan said. "Jang Heesung, 010-XXX-XXXX."

I looked at Luhan, who stared at the ground. Mr. Chae furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me. 

"Those names sound familiar," YooJin said looking at me suspicious. 

"That can't be," Krystal softly said, then looked at me with wide eyes. "You're the son of Jung Jinhee?! That famous surgeon?! And Jang Heesung, that lawyer who never loses a case whether the person is guilty or not!"

"That's impossible, a gangster like you being their son," YooJin scoffed. "This is something big."

"They're not my parents-"

"They are," Luhan said and glanced at me. "Jung Jinhee and Jang Heesung are his parents."

Mr. Chae wrote down their names and closed his notebook. 

"Starting today, you guys will receive after school detention for the fight wasn't big enough for a suspension," he said and stood up. "Go back to the classroom."

"Yes sir," we all said and left the room one by one. We walked down the hallway as YooJin looked at me.

"Are you really their s-"

"Don't start thinking of things that aren't true. There are countless amounts of men and women with those names in Korea," I said and turned to look back at Luhan. We made eye contact and my blood was boiling inside. He slowly made his way towards me. 

"You don't have to tell me, I already know," he said walked passed me. I grabbed his arm putting him to a stop. 

"And what is it that I have to tell you?" I asked. 

"I'm a real coward," he answered and shook me off. "I can't handle my situations very well and I try to act tough."

"I guess you got those parts right," I scoffed with a smirk. 

"Oppa!" I heard Hanbyul's voice. I turned in her direction and stood besides Luhan. 

"Don't blame her for any of this," I said. "She just wanted you back in school."

"I know," he softly said and I walked away. 

"Don't skip class for too long," I said as I walked passed her. 

Hanbyul's POV~

Daehyun's footstep descended as I moved towards Luhan. 

"I'm sorry," I said almost in a whisper. I honestly felt guilty for having asked him to come back to school when I was aware that the scandal wasn't over. "It's my fault for asking you to come back-"

"It's okay, Hanbyul-ah," he said with a smile. 

"It's not okay...," I said. "They teased you."

"It was bound to happen," he said with a shrug. "It would've happened even if I were to come a week later."

"Still, I'm sorry," I said as he moved towards me and pulled me into a warm hug. 

"You don't have to be sorry," he whispered. "It's more burdensome for me."

I felt my heart squeeze and he released the hug. 

"Lets go back to the classroom," he said and walked away without another word. I looked at the back of his body and sighed. 

"Pretending to be okay and tough is a cowardly act," I thought to myself as I followed him to the classroom.