“Is your elbow better now? Did you use the ice to treat your bruise yesterday?” asked Krystal as soon as he hugged her from behind by the time he entered the kitchen. Today, the university held a sport contest and his girlfriend promised him that she would take a day off work to go cheer him up. Thus, he went to his friend’s house early to pick her up.

“Yeah, it’s better now. It may look awful purple but I don’t feel the pain anymore” he told, releasing her waist and stood beside her.

“Can I take a look of it?” she questioned, washing her hands after cleaning the dish. The boyfriend nodded in reply, rolling up his sleeve and showed her the bruise.

After examining, she rolled the sleeve down and said “It doesn’t look really bad. I hope you get well soon”

“I’m fine, silly. Don’t worry” he smiled at her warmly, hand patting her head.

“Then I will get changed upstairs. Please wait a moment” she informed before quickly dashing to her room to get ready. Her cousin already left when Yunho arrived since he had to prepare for the contest. Krystal didn’t want to waste any more time of her boyfriend since he was also a participant.

It took them about 20 minutes to go to the university because Yunho drove his car today. It saved up much of their time and when they arrived the tracking field, it was crowded. Students were excited on the grandstand while the participants did warm up. Krystal came to her cousin to give him her cheer while Yunho went to change into his sportswear.

“Aren’t you going to cheer for me later?” Byunghee asked his cousin when the latter came to him before the match.

“Uhm, I cannot. I have to watch Yunho oppa competing” Krystal replied in hesitation. She wanted to watch him, too but the archery and tracking were held at the same time and she had to choose one over two. As she promised to cheer on her boyfriend, she had to keep her word.

“Well, this is what I get to have a female cousin” he sighed, pretending to be disappointed.

“Oppa, don’t be sad. You still have Yejin unnie to cheer for you” she consoled, giving him a pat on shoulder.

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” asked Yunho out of nowhere as he wrapped his arm around his girl’s shoulder.

“Nothing, just ask her to cheer on me” the friend answered while titling his head toward his cousin.

“Dream on. She will go with me. Where is the other three?” the taller referred his friends, Victoria, Jaejoong and Yejin who were absent at the moment.

“Yejin is buying some water bottle in the cafeteria while Jaejoong is disturbing Victoria at the moment. They have fought for a few days already” informed Byunghee shrugging uninterestingly.

“Well, I’m gonna warm up now. Good luck” told Yunho holding Krystal’s hand as he bid the other goodbye “Let’s meet up and grab something to eat after we finish the match”

“Araso. I will tell others so” his friend agreed.

They quickly moved to the assigned position when the announcement was made. The boyfriend registered 2 sections, 4 x 100m relay and 100-meter race. The other three are the member from his tracking club and due to position arrangement, Yunho would be the last who determined the result of the whole team.

Krystal went to the grandstand to cheer on her boyfriend later. While waiting for his turn, Yunho would look at the audience to search for his girl. Once their eyes met, he waved at her excitedly to which she shyly returned him with a slight wave. Once the race started, the nerdy girl anxiously watched his relay team running. As soon as his second member passed the stick to the third, a group of three girl approaching Krystal.

“Come with us” demanded Jiyeon while the other two grabbed her hands. Though it had been a while, Krystal still remembered them who bullied her because of Yunho. The nerdy was forcefully dragged to the back of one building despite of her unwillingness.

“Last time you were lucky because there was Victoria. But today, she is busy with the contest. Let’s see who is gonna save you this time” a fierce girl in the group of three said with a smirk, pushing her victim hard until the latter fell.  

“Didn’t I ask you not to go near Yunho oppa? You are deaf or you don’t understand human language?” yelled another one as she grabbed a handful of the poor girl’s hair, causing her to yelp in pain. The latter tried to pull back but seeing her resistance only made others’ blood boil. They slapped her hard on the face and kicked her stomach. The poor nerd tried to pick up her glasses which were falling off because of the hard slap. It is the first gift from her cousin so it is really important to her. As soon as she touched the metal, Jiyeon stamped her feet on the former’s hand before grinding her heel. Krystal did her best to free her hand but the other quickly took her free hand off their leader’s ankle and stepped on it without mercy.

Whatever insult words the bullies said couldn’t get in her ears anymore because her head was dizzy after the slap as well as her body couldn’t feel anything except for the pain on her bruised hands which were still under their heels. Her physical was hurt so badly that she felt like tears she held back were gonna come out. She didn’t want it, she didn’t want them to see her being weak.

“What the hell are you doing?” the male voice shouted out of nowhere surprised the girls. They quickly released Krystal and turned around just to find Yunho standing there, breathless. A moment ago, he noticed a bunch of girl dragging his girl away from the audience. He knew that Krystal didn’t have any friends and when he recalled that Byunghee once told him about her being bullied because of him, he got an uneasy feeling inside. However, he was stuck at the tracking field when his fellow passing him the stick. Being a responsible person, he couldn’t leave but he ran as fast as he could and once he hit the finish line, he immediately went to find Krystal. Fortunately, despite the field was noisy because of cheer, the surrounding of the buildings was pretty quiet which helped him quickly locate the fight of the girls at the back.   

“Yu-Yunho o-oppa” the three stuttered in fear. The mentioned guy looked at them fiercely with bullet-like eyes as he dashed toward his girlfriend. Seeing her cheeks red with handprints and her messy hair only angered him even more. His hands gripped into fists while he abruptly stood up and walked toward the other three aggressively.

He was about to hit them but a soft voice stopped him in track “Oppa, I’m fine. Please, don’t”

“Why did she do that you beat her like that?” he asked, trying his best to keep it cool but seriously, looking at them only irritated him to no end.

“It’s because she is clingy. We told her to stay away from you because she would only embarrass oppa but she didn’t listen to us. We just worry about you, oppa” said Jiyeon using her fake cute voice while holding his hand, acting all innocent.

“And who are you to me? You don’t have a right to meddle into my personal life” Yunho asked coldly shaking her hand off him “I extremely hate noisy brat with foul mouth like you! Stop acting almighty just because you think you are pretty. You are the clingy one here, you know I have a girlfriend and you dare to hit my girlfriend just because you think so highly of yourself. Do you want my attention that much? But I won’t give you any even if I’m single. Now, get out of my way!” 

His harsh words caused their jaws to drop open in shock. Jiyeon burst into tears but Yunho could care less. Krystal was the only one occupied his mind at the moment. He instantly rushed toward her and carried her to the infirmary.

“Oppa, that was harsh” his girlfriend commented, staying still in his arms as he kept walking.

“They treated you very badly so they deserved it” he stated, still feeling the anger burning inside him “If you didn’t stop me, I don’t know what I would do to them”

Krystal didn’t know how to talk back so she stayed silence until they reached the office. Yunho carefully put her on the bed as he went to the fridge to get an ice bag for her swollen cheeks. He pulled a chair and sat down across her while pressing the bag on her red skin “It must be hurt”

“Oppa, I’m fine” she replied, about to hold the bag but Yunho quickly noticed her hand was bleeding.

“Gosh! Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, holding her left hand still as he examined her cut palm.

“It is just a small cut, don’t worry” she assured him, taking her hand back while hiding her right hand behind her back. Without looking, she