The next day at school the first thing I noticed was that Woosuk and Jonghyo had some fresh wounds. I went over to them during lunch. “Did you guys fight again?” I asked, looking over their bodies. They nodded. “You guys look like . Have you only fought twice?” Again, they nodded. “We look a lot better than some other guys though.” Woosuk said, smiling weakly at me. “A lot of guys aren’t even able to come to school.” I sighed. “Have you won at all?” “Yeah! We won last night!” Jonghyo said, smiling. “And yet you still got this beat up… alright, come to my house after school.” I turned and went back to my seat, leaving them confused. I was pretty quiet all day, and everybody could tell that I wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to make my friends uncomfortable, so I just told them not to worry about it and went about my business. Once school was over I headed to the gates with Woosuk and Jonghyo in tow. I passed Himchan on the way, but I ignored him, not acknowledging him at all. We reached the gate, and right as I was about to pass through it someone stepped in front of me. “Doyeon-ssi?” They asked, and I stared at them. I didn’t know this guy. “Yes? Who are you?” He didn’t answer, but instead pulled a single rose from behind his back and carefully handed it to me. He rushed off before I could stop him and, already knowing who it was from, I looked at the card attached to it. I clenched my jaw as I opened it and read what it said.

For My Beautiful Kitty-Cat

Be Careful Of The Thorns <3

P.S. Do You Not Like Chocolates?

I snapped the rose in half, not caring that the thorns cut deep into my hands. I threw the flower to the ground and tore up the note, scattering the pieces, now stained with my blood, into the wind. “What was that about?” I turned to see Himchan staring at the flower. “It’s none of your business.” I replied curtly before gesturing to Woosuk and Jonghyo and leaving the school grounds. They didn’t say anything the entire walk, which suited me just fine. It wasn’t until we had entered my house that Woosuk spoke up. “Umm… Doyeon-ssi? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital to get that checked out?” He asked, pointing at my hands. I looked at them, surprised, having completely forgotten about them. There was a good amount of blood on them, and at least 10 fairly deep puncture marks. I went over to the sink in the kitchen and washed them off before grabbing some Band-Aids. I covered the cuts with them and flexed my hands, stretching the bandages enough so that I could close my hands. “They’ll be okay.” I said, turning to the two guys staring at me. “Why did you bring us here?” Woosuk asked carefully, knowing I wasn’t exactly the happiest person right now. I looked at him, making him flinch. “If you guys are going to be forced to fight against the guys of Bullet High, then you might as well win with as little injuries as possible, right?” They nodded and I motioned for them to follow me. I led them up to my room where I handed them some basketball shorts and t-shirts and told them to go change. They went across the hall and did as I told as I changed as well. Once they were finished we went back downstairs and headed towards the door. “What are you doing?” I turned to see my mom standing there, looking at my hands with wide eyes, but not mentioning them. “I’m just going to help out a couple of friends of mine.” I said, smiling. “It’s nothing; don’t worry about it.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back to the guys. “Alright, follow me.” I led them out of my house, yelling goodbye to my mom as we went. We went to the park where Lay and I had first brought them and I got them warmed up. As soon as they were ready I started teaching them the moves that were the easiest to learn, while still being powerful moves. Once they were comfortable enough with the moves I sparred with them one-on-one. We practiced until late at night when they both couldn’t move any more. I let them rest for a while until they had enough strength to stand, and then we walked back to my house. “Drink a lot of water and keep practicing the moves on your own.” I said, looking at their exhausted bodies as they grabbed their bags. “And return my clothes to me within the next couple of days.” They nodded, thanking me for today, and then they were gone. As the door closed I heard a noise from behind me. “Wow, you sure worked those poor boys hard.” I turned to see my mom standing behind me. “Yeah, but they needed it.” I said, and she stared at me. “Doyeon, is something going on? First the bouquet of flowers that you were so upset about and threw out the other day, then you come home with your hands covered in bandages, and then you’re teaching these boys to fight when you’ve never taught anyone before.” I sighed, walking over and wrapping my arms around her and resting my chin on her shoulder. “It’s nothing, really. I promise. These guys have been getting bullied, and I wanted to help them be able to defend themselves.” She pulled away and looked into my eyes. “You don’t have to hide anything from me. I won’t get mad at you no matter what.” I shook my head. “Mom, I promise you have nothing to worry about.” She sighed and nodded. “Okay, if you say so.” She gave me a kiss on my forehead and I let her go. I went up to my room and lay down on my bed, sighing. I didn’t want to worry her, but I still didn’t like lying to her; it didn’t feel right. I rolled over on my bed and something caught my eye. The guitar, resting peacefully on its stand. I stood up and walked into the room, gently picking up the guitar and sitting down on the bed. I leaned against the wall, softly the neck of the instrument with one hand and running my fingers over the strings with the other. “I know what you’d say if you were here, Dad. You’d tell me that I was acting silly, and that all I had to do was knock some sense into them.” A pained smile made its way onto my face as tears began to well up in my eyes. “Well, it’s not that easy this time; they’re both possibly the most stubborn idiots I’ve ever come across, other than you, of course.” The smile grew a bit, and I bit my lip, trying to hold back the tears. I held the guitar close to my chest, closing my eyes and just letting the tears take over. This was the only time of the year that I would allow myself to cry. And cry I did. I can’t remember falling asleep, but when I woke up I was in my own bed with the sheets pulled up over me and tucked in, the guitar back in its stand.

Holy , I'm on a roll! I guess this is what being back in school does to me... I hope you can forgive the short chapters if I'm updating far more frequently ^^"