Yoojin’s POV

For the thousandth time in the last thirty minutes, I caught the new guy smiling at me in that over-friendly way. I glared at him, again. Doesn’t he get the idea that I do not like him?

Also, there are heaps of empty seats in the classroom but the teacher just had to make him sit next to me. Why couldn’t he sit somewhere else? I’m sure all the other girls would be more than happy to be his friend, judging from their squeals when he walked in and how they are all glaring at me jealously.

Sigh… I wish Soori were in my class. She’s been my best friend for almost 12 years, and is the only person in the world who understands me, other than my mum.

I looked out the window, drowning out the teacher’s endless ramblings on some math equation. Why does Maths have to be compulsory? I won’t even need it in the future since I want to do something I like doing, e.g. Art.

Outside, there was a nest on the tree in front of the window. The tiny, newborn birds chirped happily as their mother fed them. In my brain, I started creating of my next painting. But before I could decide what colour I should make the leaves, the annoying voice I’d been listening to non-stop for this whole lesson snapped me out of my daydream.

“Park Yoojin. What’s the answer to the problem on the board?”

Crap. He gave me the hardest problem of the lot. I swear Mr Lee hates me for some unknown reason.

Seconds passed…

Just as I was about to say I don’t know, Key passed me a piece of paper.

X = 15. Tsk y weren’t u listening to the teach D:

I looked up and glared at him. He smiled back.

“Ahem. Ms Park? Please answer my question.”

“X = 15,” I answered hastily.

I looked back at Key and muttered thanks. His smile grew wider. I looked back out the window and continued to paint a new painting in my head for the rest of the lesson.

 

RING RING

Finally! The lesson’s over! I silently cheered in my mind.

I started to pack up my books and was just about to head to lunch when Key stopped me.

“Hello! You’re Park Yoojin, right? I’m Key, as you probably already know. Let’s be fri-”

I cut him off by walking straight past him. He stared at me, surprised that I ignored him. But as I was heading towards the door, he stopped me again.

“Hey. I was wondering, since I’m new here, would you be mind showing me around?” he asked in a cheerful voice, as if I hadn’t just ignored him.

I sighed. Why does he keep on bothering me?

“No. Ask somebody else,” I replied coldly.

Suddenly, as if all the girls in the classroom had been watching us, jealous girls started crowding around us and offering to show Key around the school. I barely managed to get out with people everywhere trying to get closer to Key. What’s so good about him anyways?

Unfortunately for me, as soon as I was freed from the class, another annoying guy approached me.

Himchan. Bang Yongguk, my ex-boyfriend’s best friend. Before we broke up, Himchan and I became friends through him. However, after what happened with Yongguk, I stopped trusting guys and we stopped being friends.

Since then, Himchan has been trying to regain my trust. I probably would agree to be his friend again, but I can’t. Because he’s still best friends with Yongguk.

“Yoojin! Wait up.”

Himchan caught up with me and started blabbering on about things I didn’t care about. I walked while half listening to him. He always follows me around whenever he sees me. No wonder there are rumors going around that we were dating.

“Have you seen the new movie that came out? I just watched it last night with a few friends,” Himchan ranted on. “It was awesome. And the lead actress was so hot! I definitely recomme-”

I stopped.

Right in front of me was my ex-boyfriend, Bang Yongguk.

“Oh. Hey Yongguk!” Himchan greeted his friend.

I glared at him and Yongguk looked back at me sadly.

Himchan recognized the situation and walked away, saying something about finding the rest of B.A.P.

“Yoojin, I’m-” he stepped forward.

I stopped him, “I don’t want to know. You’re not a part of my life anymore. Goodbye.”

I walked off, leaving him in the middle of the corridor.

I had already forgotten the pain from what Yongguk did to me, even though it hurt a lot back then. Maybe if I had learnt from my mum and Soori in the past, I wouldn’t have had to go through all that pain. Nevertheless, since then I chose to take the safe path and stayed away from boys.

---

*Flashback*

Six-year-old Yoojin was running home after playing in the park with her new friend, Soori. Her mum would always be busy sick treating animals at the vet clinic so she would go find her friend to play with.

Yoojin rang the doorbell when she finally arrived at her house.

A familiar middle-aged man opened the door.

“Taehyun ahjussi!” Yoojin hugged him excitedly.

“Hello Yoojin. Did you have fun today?” he asked.

Yoojin nodded enthusiastically and told him all about her day.

She trusted Taehyun. She had never met her father before and her mum didn’t like to talk about him, but Taehyun acted as the father she never had. They were really close.

Her mum and him were getting married in a week so they are very busy planning for their wedding. Her mum promised her that once they got married, Taehyun would be her new dad and they were going to be a happy family. Yoojin smiled at the thought of having a father like other children.

Just then, a woman came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.

“Omma!” Yoojin ran up to her and hugged her, also giving her a big kiss on the cheek.

Her mum smiled and hugged her back. She was only in her early twenties, quite young to be a mother, but she loved her daughter a lot. Park Yoojin was the only good thing she received from the man who left her when he found out she was pregnant.

“Come on Yoojin-ah, dinner’s ready. Let’s go eat,” she said.

“Yay! I’m so hungry I’m going to eat everything on my plate!” Yoojin exclaimed, rubbing her tummy.

*One month later*

Yoojin was waiting for her mum to pick her up from school. She didn’t really want to go home.

It’s been almost a month since her mum and Taehyun got married. She should be excited to go home and spend time with her new family but things have been strange lately.

Taehyun has been coming home very late in the evening, and sometimes doesn’t even come home the whole night. Her mum has also been having problems with money disappearing from her bank. Her originally happy family was getting more and more distant each day.

“Yoojin-ah! Let’s go home,” her mother called out.

Yoojin plastered a fake smile on her face and ran up to hug her mum, she noticed the tired expression on her face.

*One week later*

When Yoojin came home after a day of playing with Soori, she knew something wasn’t right. First of all, the lights were off. And second, she could hear sobbing sounds from her mum and Taehyun’s bedroom.

She walked inside to see her mum crying on the floor.

“What’s wrong Omma?” she asked worriedly.

Her mum looked up with a tear-stained face and saw her beloved daughter standing in front of her. Suddenly, she burst into tears again and hugged her.

“Yoojin-ah, I’m sorry. I can’t keep my promise,” her mother sobbed. Yoojin looked at her, confused. “Taehyun can’t be your dad anymore. He did something really bad. You won’t be seeing him again.”

Her mum didn’t tell her anymore, but she partially understood what she meant. Taehyun had been acting suspicious in the last few weeks.

“It’s alright mum. I understand,” she whispered.

*Nine years later*

Fifteen-year-old Yoojin was bored again during the school holidays. She flipped through all the boring channels on TV and sighed.

Her best friend, Lee Soori, had just gotten her first boyfriend so she was always out having fun with him. Her boyfriend was two years older than she was but Soori didn’t care. She really loved him. However, something about that guy she was seeing worried Yoojin. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

Ding Dong.

The doorbell rang.

Curious as to who it is, Yoojin opened it. She was surprised to find her best friend outside, crying.

“Yoojin-ah!” Soori cried and hugged her. “He broke up with me!”

“What?! Why?” Yoojin asked, surprised.

She opened the door wider and ushered her inside.

They sat down on the couch and Soori told Yoojin what happened.

“He took me to a party at one of his friend’s house. It was one of those wild parties where people wore revealing clothes and dance. *Sniff*. I was kind of scared but I thought it would be alright if he was with me but then I lost him in the crowd of people. *Sniff*. And when I found him he was kissing another girl so I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted to break up with me because I was useless and he found another girl,” Soori burst into tears at the end. “All guys are beasts! They make you fall for them so they can play with you and if they don’t get what they want they just throw you away!”

Just then, an event from nine years ago flashed in Yoori’s mind.

*One year later*

Yoojin hurried to the café where Bang Yongguk, her boyfriend of three months, asked her to meet him. She checked her watch.

Oh no! I’m late, she thought and ran faster.

Upon arriving at the café, she searched for Yongguk. She smiled when she found him.

“Yongguk oppa!” she waved ran up to his table, maneuvering through tables and chairs, and sat down in front of him. “Sorry I’m late.”

He didn’t flash her his usual gummy smile.

Wow. He must be really angry at me for turning up late, Yoojin thought.

There was silence for a while until Yongguk spoke up.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

When he said that, she knew he had bad news.

“Let’s break up,” he continued.

Yoojin froze. What?

“You’re kidding me right? Hahaha. I’m not going to fall for it oppa so just stop it now,” Yoojin laughed it off.

“I’m not joking, Yoojin. I’ve been secretly seeing Eunhee for a week now and I don’t want to lie to you anymore,” he said gravely. “Let’s break up.”

“No! You’re lying! You said you only had feelings for me!”

“My feelings for you ended a month ago! You were just too dumb to notice!” Yongguk yelled, frustrated.

Only then, Yoojin noticed how he had acted strangely the past few weeks, he hardly held her hands anymore, his hugs became less frequent, and his kisses grew rare.

“But-”

“I don’t want to know. We’re over. Goodbye,” he said and walked away from her, leaving her frozen in her seat.

So, you now know the details as to why Yoojin doesn’t trust guys.

I’m sorry it took me so long to update but I hope this chapter is better than the last. I really wanted to make this one better because my last chapter really made me cringe after I read it again so I worked on this one for longer.

Thank you for reading ^O^