The students ran out of the classroom one after another as the school bell rang. You observed your classmates who were leaving one by one. No sign of him. You sighed in relief and took out your homework which was due the next day. Everything was peaceful until a hand slammed down on your table as you were writing. You jumped in your seat in surprised and dropped your pencil. Not sparing any glance to the culprit, you bent down trying to reach for your pencil. To your dismay, the person stepped on your pencil, preventing you from taking it.
‘Not again’ you cursed in your mind. You glared at the culprit before stuffing all your items into your bag and rushed out of the room, leaving your poor pencil behind.
“Hey! Where are you going?” the culprit called out. You ignored him and increased your pace. The culprit caught up with you and grabbed your arm before pushing you against the wall. “Why are you running away from me? Is that how you treat a best-friend?”
“That was a long time ago, Koo Junhoe” you glared at him. Koo Junhoe, the person who always stood by your side when you’re in deep trouble. Things turned wrong as he started bullying you after becoming popular in school. You didn’t know why. It hurt you so much. You've distanced yourself from him since then, even though he would give you ‘surprises’ which haunted you for three years straight.
“What do you mean ‘a-long-time-ago’? Did I do anything wrong?” his grip on your arm tightened. You shook his hands off.
“You’re hopeless” you gritted your teeth before stomping off angrily. Way to go, Koo Dumbhoe. You’ve ruined my day.
“Did you hear about what happened earlier? Junhoe oppa went to talk to the ice princess” a female student said.
“What!? Why did he find her?”
“I don’t know but he was pissed off after that. I heard he’s planning to give that ignorant a lesson” You let out a sigh and closed your eyes. What the hell, Koo Junhoe. You let out a frustrated sigh before leaning your head onto the table. So much for peacefulness in the library after school.
"Can I sit here?" A voice asked. You shot up like a zombie and stared at the person in horror. Kim Donghyuk? What is he doing here? Especially after school?
"Is this seat available?" Donghyuk asked again. You nodded quickly and looked down at your book to avoid any eye contact with him. Was this some sort of trick Junhoe's trying to pull off?
"Hi, I'm Kim Donghyuk" he smiled. You eyed him cautiously and nodded. "No handshake?" He held out a hand at you. You stared at his hand, not wanting to have any physical contact with Junhoe's lackey, if he was one. "I guess not" he pouted and pulled back his hand. You ignored him and continued writing. As for him, he placed a book onto the table but kept looking at you.
"Aren't you going to read your book?" You asked, feeling uncomfortable of his states.
"Your face is much more attractive to look at" he grinned. Feeling grossed out, you ignored him and continued writing.
'Ew, go away! Get out of my sight you piece of radish!' You mentally screamed.
"I'm serious" he said, making you look at him. Yes, he was indeed serious. "I don't get why Junhoe loves bullying you. I mean I'm pretty close to him, but he never told me the reason why"
'Wait..what..?'
"Well I've never intended to hurt you but Junhoe kept pestering me to join him in annoying you and I couldn't turn him down because he seemed so desperate" Donghyuk sighed. "I actually had thought it was for a good cause but seeing you getting hurt all the time makes me feel guilty" he hung his head low.
'How was that a good cause?! I thought you're a top student you dumb crap!'
"Junhoe doesn't normally disturb girls that much. I found out you two used to be really close but it's really weird for Junhoe to act this way towards a good friend-" He drew in a deep breath before continuing. "-and I have come down to a conclusion that-“
“Are you done yet?” you snapped. “I came here to study; not chit-chat”
“Just give me a few more minutes” Donghyuk said. “Anyway, i think, our prideful Koo Junhoe, likes you"
"What?!" You scoffed. Donghyuk was stunned at your reaction. You had got almost everyone's attention in the library. "You, Kim Donghyuk have got to be kidding me. He's been bullying me since second semester in freshman year. I knew him way longer than any of you did. There is no way he acts like that if he likes someone!" You shouted as a wave of memory hit you.
|Flashback-4th Grade|
"June what are you doing?" You furrowed your eyebrows at Junhoe, who was hiding his face.
"Nothing" he said in a muffled voice. He then looked up again and quickly his his face.
'What the hell' Curious, you turned your head to wherever Junhoe was looking. Being a hawk-eyed person, you spotted the thing, no, the person he was peeking at.
"Are you looking at Seolhyun sunbae?" You asked. Junhoe stated at you and gasped in horror.
"How did you know?" He asked in a timid voice.
"She's the only girl over there!" You rolled your eyes. Seolhyun was in 6th grade which made her your senior. She had a lot of admires because she had great looks, and she was the top scorer in her grade. Junhoe, obviously, developed a crush on her, which was pretty impossible as she had rejected almost every guy, even older ones, with one reason (more like excuse)—study.
"It's impossible she's going to like me" Junhoe sighed. You put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on Junhoe! You're only 10! I'm sure there's going to be one girl that out stands her" you said.
"Are you going to be one of them?"
"What? No!" You smacked his arm. "You aren't even my type!"
"I was just kidding" he groaned sadly. "Why are we talking about this anyway?"
"You started it you idiot!"
|End of Flashback|
"Hello? Earth to Junhoe's ex best friend. Are you there?" Donghyuk waved his hand in front of your face. You blinked in surprise and looked around.
"You're back! Thank God for that. You went blank for a moment. I thought you were going to faint!" Donghyuk smiled in relief. You took in a few breaths and quickly packed your stuff. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"I'm tired. Bye" you hurried out of the library and ran towards the school gate. Well, being unlucky you, you tripped onto something, or more like someone's foot and fell onto the ground.
"Need a hand?" An annoying voice asked while holding a hand out at you.
'Today is such an unlucky day' You pushed his hand away and got up yourself before walking away.
"Why are you ignoring me?" He asked aloud. You continued walking without sparing a glance at him. “What were you doing with Donghyuk just now? Do you like him?” You stopped and turned at him. You weren't going to let Junhoe ruin another day of your final year. That was enough.
“What do you want from me, Koo Junhoe? There’s nothing going on between Donghyuk and I. Your friend came to annoy me, that’s it. I’m leaving” you walked away and stopped when he spoke.
“Then why are you ignoring me?”
"Me? Ignoring you? You should really think about what you've done for the past three years. To me especially" you said before walking off, leaving him dumbfounded.
It's been a week since Junhoe stopped bullying you. You were relieved. You could finally have a taste of your own freedom. You didn't have to worry about how your going to survive through another day with Junhoe's constant torture. You stepped outside the school gate with a relaxed smile plastered on your face. It was a matter of seconds before you were scowling at a group of 7 boys.
"Hey there cutie” said a boy with an orange beanie. They wore different school uniforms. You immediately sensed trouble.
“Who are you?”
“It’s none of your business” said orange beanie. “Do you happen to know who Koo Junhoe is?”
‘I knew it’
“N-no. I’ve never heard of him” you clutched your bag pack tightly. Orange beanie scoffed and leaned forward, causing you to move backwards.
“You must be lying to me, sweetie” he said, lifting your chin up with his finger. “I heard that Junhoe is a kingka here. Its impossible for his schoolmates to not know him” he smirked while pushing you away. “Mark?”
“Yeah, JB?”
“Take the girl” orange beanie-JB said. “Youngjae, guard her well with Mark, don’t let her run away; the rest, lets go find that ” Youngjae and Mark grabbed both your arms and dragged you along with them, behind wherever JB was leading the guys to. You struggled and tried to scream but Mark, clamped a free hand over your mouth, muffling your shoutings. It was a matter of time before they found Junhoe and his entire gang in an abandoned classroom. You nearly let out a gasp noticing how Junhoe’s state was. His eye bags were heavy and he had bruises on his face. He looked awful.
“I knew you were in here” JB smirked.
‘What the hell are you doing here?”Junhoe asked, and looked at the boys before noticing you. Being taken aback, he quickly regained himself before questioning again “Why the hell is she with you people?”
“She’s just someone we picked off from your school gate, might be a nice weapon to use against you”
“Shut the hell up, Im Jaebum” Bobby scowled.
“Leave the girl alone, she’s innocent” Jinhwan joined in. So they’re defending me? How cute.
“We’ll let her go” the short one who was wearing a snapback said. “Give us Junhoe and we’ll let her go”
“It’s a win-win situation” a tall pink haired guy joined in. Junhoe’s friends looked at the strangers with questioning looks before turning to Junhoe.
“Dude, what the hell is going on right now? Did you mess with them again?” Hanbin asked. Junhoe kept quiet and stared at you, making you feeling extremely uncomfortable with two guys holding you captive.
“Your friend here went to our territory and caused a huge mess” the short guy said again. “He went all nuts and our poor leader got a bruise on his arm” he pointed at JB’s arm. There were tiny scratches and a cut on it.
“You call that a mess?” Chanwoo snorted.
“They’re only scratches” Donghyuk said. “It’s no big deal. Look at what you’ve done to Junhoe. That’s even worse”
“I had to get stitches because of it” JB pointed at Junhoe. “Because of you” Junhoe’s friends were about to jump in and fight when Junhoe suddenly spoke.
“Let’s do it outside the school. Leave the girl alone” he said in an icy tone. Everyone looked at him in disbelief.
“Are you insane?”Yunhyeong shouted at Junhoe. “They came all the way to our school just because their leader got scratches and a cut and had to get stitches when you have bruises all over your body and now you want to fight them alone?”
“It’s my fault, okay? I went to their underground club because i felt awful and i wanted to release it all out”
“And you picked a fight with the wrong person. Nice way to release stress buddy” Hanbin rolled his eyes. “Look what you’ve gotten yourself into? If it wasn’t for the gi-“
“I said, LEAVE.THE.GIRL.ALONE” Junhoe exploded in anger. Everyone stared at him, surprised at his outburst. JB’s friend, who’ve seemed to have caught the situation quick, smirked at the boys before speaking.
“I know whats going on now” he waltzed his way towards Junhoe. "Lovers-quarrels, eh?”
“Shut the hell up, Jr. There’s nothing going on between us” Junhoe gritted his teeth and scowled at him. Jr, only smiled before turning back and nodding to JB.
“Take the girl. We’ll have some fun with her at out place” JB said, motioning the two boys who had been holding you the whole time to bring you away. Struggling, you kicked and screamed for mercy. Another of JB’s lackey joined the other two to hold me down until a loud cry was heard following by punching sounds. You found Junhoe pinning Jr on the ground beating up him in a terrifying way. The boys dropped you and went in to fight, so did the rest. Soon, it was a huge chaos of punching and shoutings. You stood near the door not knowing what to do.
“STOP” you shouted. No one bothered to stop. You grew angry and felt yourself gaining a little more courage. “I said..STOP IT RIGHT NOW YOU JERKS” the boys stopped and looked at you. Some of them already had bruises on their faces. You stared at Junhoe, whose nose was bleeding really badly.
“Get the hell out of our school you immature douchebags” you shouted at the unfamiliar people. “coming over to our school just to pick a fight? Really?” you walked towards JB and grabbed him by his collar. “How old are you? Three? Do you always pick fights when you don’t feel well or are you just mentally unstable or you just want to release your damn stress like this idiot over here?” you pointed at Junhoe. He looked at you with an amused look.
“Way to go girl!” Donghyuk suddenly clapped but stopped when everyone scowled at him.
“What the f-“
“Don’t you dare ‘what-the-‘ whatever you were gonna say at me” you glared at JB and then his friends. “I give you ten seconds to scram or else I’m reporting you s to the cops for physical bullying in school you hear me?” you pushed JB away.
“Come on guys. Let’s not mess with that ’s here” JB said to his friends.
“Don’t you call her a bit-“
“Stop it Junhoe, before i report you as well” you said, while shooting JB and his gang a death glare and watched them run away.
“That was amazing!” Bobby clapped.
“Man, i didn’t know you were like this” Yunhyeong said. “I would’ve pissed in my pants if you were like that every time we annoy you” you stared at them. Hanbin who had sensed the strange atmosphere, smacked Yunhyeong’s head. “What the hell dude” Hanbin whispered something into his ear and nodded his head.
“Let’s leave Junhoe and her for a bit” Jinhwan said, who understood Hanbin’s instructions. “We’ll be outside” one by one, the six boys left, including Donghyuk, who threw hearts at you and had Bobby to stop him and close the door. Once the boys had left, the two remained awkward and quiet.
“You sure you and Donghyuk don’t have anything going on?” Junhoe broke the ice, with a lousy start.
“I’m leaving” you rolled your eyes and stalked towards the door when Junhoe pull you back and placed his hands on your shoulders to prevent you from going anywhere. You tried to move but his grip was too strong.
“Just give me a couple of minutes okay?”Junhoe said.
“Fine” you sighed. “Five minutes”
“Okay, uhh…I…” Junhoe let go of you and scratched his head.
“I’m leaving”
“No, wait, i’m sorry. I’m really sorry okay. I mean, I’ve been treating you like in these few years without realising myself as well. It’s really complicated but I’m really really really sorry for whatever i’ve done. Yell me, hit me, kill me or anything I really don’t know how to repay you-“he took a deep breath before continuing. “-After what you’ve said to me the other day, i’ve been thinking a lot. More than I did in class. Three years ago I met the guys, we weren’t like that. It was just…”he stopped, not able to continue further.
“Your five minutes is up” you said coldly. “I’m leaving”
“It was because I like you” he said, tears forming in his eyes. “I know you’re really hard to get but I’ve known you for so long. I’ve been dropping hints for you after you told me to stop thinking about Seolhyun sunbae” he said. You blinked at the memory while he continued. “After I’ve thought for so long, the only person who understands me the most is only you besides my mom. I really don’t want to loose someone like you, so i’ve tried many ways to get your attention”
“And bullying me was one of the options to catch my attention?” you frowned.
“Yes. I know it’s hard to accept but yeah it is” Junhoe scratched his neck. “Bobby hyung and Hanbin hyung taught me that”he confessed.
“I heard my name!” Hanbin shouted from outside.
“They said if guys act badass towards girls they’ll like it, cause girls love bad boys” he let out an awkward laugh.
“Do i look like i like bad boys?” you raised an eyebrow at him. “I absolutely hate guys like that and i don’t know why you, Koo Junhoe, would be so stupid to assume that I like bad boys”
“But you like BTS”
“That’s different!” you snapped back. The both of you started bickering until Bobby cleared his throat.
“Are you two done? I’m hungry” he said. Junhoe immediately went over to him and pulled him over, not forgetting to drag the others into the classroom as well.
“Apologise”
“What?” Bobby said.
“I said apologise to her right now” the boys bowed and admit their wrongdoings before Jinhwan started speaking.
“Do you forgive us?”
“Well…”
“Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease”the boys started kneeling down begging for merciness. You looked at them with an amused face.
“I forgive you guys” you said. “Thanks for being honest”
“Ohmygod I love you!” Donghyuk got up and threw his arms over me but was immediately blocked by Junhoe.
“Do not lay a finger on her”
“What? It’s just a friendship hug!” Donghyuk whined.
“I don’t even know you well” you said.
“Looks like someone’s getting jealous over here” Jinhwan chuckled. Junhoe’s face reddened at the sudden comment.
“So have you asked her out yet?” Bobby asked.
“Hyung! We just reconciled!” Junhoe protested.
“That doesn’t mean its impossible, right?” Bobby looked at you. You glanced over to Junhoe, who seemed pretty desperate with an answer.
“Well…I’ll think about, but not now”
“That’s good cause i’m hungry” he rubbed his tummy. “My poor belly has been crying since just now and is screaming for meat”
“To the meat grill store we go!” Chanwoo cheered, running out of the classroom. The rest followed, leaving you and Junhoe behind, again.
“So…”
“I’ll think about it”
“Think about what?” Junhoe chuckled. “I haven’t even ask you out yet”
“Oh shut up June. I said I’ll decide when you ask me then” you smacked his arm.
“Good” he said. “Shall we go? Best friend?” he held out his arm.
“Certainly, best friend” you linked your arms together with his and skipped out of the room to catch up with the others.
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