Hasun hated herself for crying.

After crying the whole night, she woke up with her eyes swollen. She couldn’t even recognize herself.

To make matters worse, she only got a few hours of sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the image that got her heart in misery…

Key lost in passion with someone else.

It was like a horrible dream.

“Stop it Hasun! You’re old enough to get over this.” She scolded herself, looking at her gloomy self on the mirror.

Surprisingly, she woke up on her own and had enough time to prepare for school. She got ready and went down to get some breakfast.

Her mother almost had a heart attack when she saw her awake without being forced.

“Oh dear! You’re awake!”Mrs. Gu was beaming at her daughter. She quickly added another plate on the table and joined her daughter.

Hasun only nodded and started eating.

Then, she noticed Hasun’s eyes. “What happened to your eyes?”Her tone was worried and Hasun didn’t like hearing that kind of voice from her mother. She didn’t want to add to her mother’s problems.

“I watched a movie last night and cried a lot because of it.”

Her mother nodded in understanding and asked another question that caught her off-guard.

 “Is Key coming today?”It was a natural question but it hit her like a ton of bricks.

She suddenly lost her appetite but pushed herself to eat. Not eating will not help her survive the day.

She shook her head. “He needed to do something for school, so he went ahead.”

It was a total lie that her mother bought.

Just like her mother, Victoria and Dongwoo were amazed when she arrived in school earlier than them.

“Holy ! Are you sick?”Dongwoo exclaimed when he entered the classroom.

Hasun was already seated, looking the least bit interested at the view from the outside.

“No.”She quietly answered.

He walked towards his seat happily and sat before noticing Hasun’s eyes.

Dongwoo looked concerned. “Did something happen yesterday?”

She shrugged and kept her eyes on the view outside. “Nothing.” She let out a tired breath. “Not. A. Thing.”

Her friend looked like he wanted to pursue the matter but at that moment, Victoria came and had the same exclamation as Dongwoo minus the ‘Holy ’part.

Like what Hasun did to Dongwoo, she just shrugged and let her mind wonder in her own world.

Time flew faster than she thought that day.

“Hasun.”Key cornered her when she was going to the school’s rooftop for some fresh air to clear her head.

She sighed and looked everywhere other than her friend. “What do you want?”

“I’m sorry for not telling you.”

His words made her want to roll her eyes and glare at him.

“No. You’re sorry because you chose to lie to your friend and got caught in the lie.”She looked at him in the eyes and gritted her teeth.

Her words rang true to both of them. He didn’t want to admit it but that was the truth and he was ashamed to own up to it.

He was afraid that his relationship with Jonghyun will affect his friendship with Hasun.

It was his mistake not to tell. He thought by the time he told her about his boyfriend, they would be both ready and everything would be fine.

Key grabbed her wrist when she tried to leave. Hasun struggled but his grasp was strong.

“Let go.”She demanded.

“No.”He stubbornly replied and pulled her into his arms.

“KIBUM!”She almost screamed his name in rage, wanting to get away as far as possible from him.

“I said N-”

Slap.

The sound echoed on the walls, creating a deafening silence.

His left cheek bear the mark of the harsh hand that abused it. He slowly let go of her while she backed away realizing what she had done.

Her eyes watered and she bit her lip so hard that it bled. Hasun wanted to apologize so badly but the words were stuck on .

Hasun left immediately while Key let his eyes linger a little longer on the spot where she stood.

They didn’t speak for almost a week. Key tried so many times to talk to her but all he got was she was busy. She never answered his calls and even pretended he didn’t exist.

To be treated like this was pure torture.

He even cried on some nights.

During that time, Jonghyun dragged Key with him after school. They went to his bandmate’s basement where the band practices.

That day, no one was there except for the two of them.

“You and Hasun… you’re not on speaking terms?”Jonghyun asked him. Key had been entertaining himself with the music related items that decorated the place. “You’ve been with me most of the time and usually you’re with her. I always see you going home with her.”

Key forced a smile that didn’t even look like a smile. “We’re just having some troubles.”

The dangerous looking student sighed and wrapped his arms around his prim and proper boyfriend. “Was it because she caught us back at the…? ”

He didn’t have to finish the question to get an answer from Key. His boyfriend stiffened.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get through this eventually.”Key assured him.

Jonghyun didn’t believe his words.

Since the fight, Hasun had been spending a lot of time drawing sketches either in her room or in the art room. She had detached herself from her other friends.

She had been scribbling furiously at her sketchpad.

Those prominent cheekbones…

The pale white skin that she had always envied…

And the lips that she wished that she could feel on hers.

It was clearly an outline of a face that resembled the one person she had avoided all this time.

Recognizing who she had drawn, she messed up her hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

She crumpled the edge of the drawing but was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

 “Is this a bad time?” She turned her face away from the sketch and looked at the source of the voice.

“Kim Jonghyun.”She swallowed hard.    

He flashed a smile at the sound of recognition from her. “Gu Hasun.”

An awkward silence followed.

Hasun didn’t know what to do. Their paths never really crossed before he and her best friend hooked up.

“Is there something you needed Jonghyun-sshi?”The tone of formality had Jonghyun smirking. There was definitely some anger in there.

He had the feeling that he was some kind of menace to the girl. He raised his palms in front of him, showing he meant no harm. He walked into the room and walked towards Hasun until they were a couple of feet away from each other.

“I heard that you and Key have been avoiding each other.”

No reply. Hasun looked uninterested with anything that he was about to say.

“Judging from what I heard, the reason was that Key hid it from you that I was the guy he was dating.”

Still nothing.

Jonghyun exhaled loudly. “Wow! You’re stubborn.”

She sighed in return. “You won’t understand.”

“No, I don’t. But I know you’re threatened by my presence in his life.”

“Threatened?” She scoffed and stood up. Hasun crossed her arms and glared. “Please don’t flatter yourself.”

“Then what? Why are you so mad at your friend if not because of me?”

There were no words to answer. She couldn’t admit that his words were true. The wound was still fresh in her heart.

She looked away and kept her stance. A blush moved up her cheeks.

 “Ah…” He nodded in understanding. Seeing her looking all flustered and quiet was an answer for him. The anger on his relationship with Key made sense. “You really do like him.”He confirmed it himself.

“I don’t.” She lied.

He patted her head like a kid and smirked. “You do and that eats you the most. You like him and he won’t return those feelings because he isn’t attracted to women.”

She slapped away his hand and pushed him hard. He staggered backward.

“Okay. I like him!”She admitted in anger. “I like him a lot! And I know that he will never look at me the same as he looks at you! You don’t have to slap it on my face!”

She screamed the words at him and left. She left everything including the sketch.

By the time she was out of the school, Hasun couldn’t believe that she had admitted her feelings for her friend to the man her friend loved.

Hasun noticed a rock by the side of the road and kicked it out of irritation.

“Stupid.”She scolded herself.

She was even mad at herself for not bringing her bag with her when she ran out. The only thing that she had with her was her phone and a couple of change from the juice she bought earlier.

She passed by a small alley and detected movement when she walked by.

“!”The word rang on her ears.

Instincts ruled her body and she quietly hid by the corner, watching the unusual crowd in the alley.

“You’re a shame.”

Her eyes wandered until it landed on the student they were bullying. As if fate decreed it, Key stood there, looking nervous and scared. Three students that were wearing their school uniform had Key cornered.

“Since he likes boys, why don’t we properly teach him how to be a woman?”One of them slyly suggested. His filthy hand caressed Key’s jaw line, making him shiver in disgust.

That was when Hasun couldn’t take the words anymore.

She took out her phone and walked out of the shadows. “Bullying a fellow student can get you expelled.”Hasun warned them.

Like Key, she was also scared. She only managed to hide her fear to protect her friend.

“Hasun-ah…leave. You’re gonna get hurt.”Key pleaded her.

She didn’t listen and had her eyes on the three students.

“ooh.. who’s this? Your girlfriend-no that’s wrong. Is she your boyfriend?”The taller looking student mocked and closed his distance to Hasun.

Before he could add more insults he met a painful end down below.

In a blink of an eye, he was on the floor squirming like a worm.

Key cringed at the unpleasant sight while Hasun had her attention towards the bullies making her life more annoying than ever.

“You’re not even worth my time.”She sneered at him and showed him her phone. “I have a video recording of you and your idiotic friends bullying a fellow student. If you don’t want me to show send this to our school superiors…SCRAM!”

Her words seem to get into their heads. The other two didn’t wait for their friend on the ground to get up and run to save themselves.

Hasun smirked and kicked the fallen student on the leg. “Shouldn’t you go as well?”

Even though he was in pain, he got up and ran away limping.

As soon as he left, the intense aura disappeared. It was replaced by an awkward silence.

Key just stood on his spot, pressing his back without a word.

Both of them look like they were holding their breaths.

What seemed like hours were mere seconds and Hasun couldn’t take the silence and turned around to face her harassed friend.“Are you hurt?”

He shook his head vigorously. His hands were trembling and his lips turned pale, matching his skin.

 She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and kept her distance from him.“That’s good.”She nodded and started to walk away. She didn’t have the courage to say more.

She was really relieved that he was fine. It was a good thing that she came before anything happened.

Before she could leave the small alley, Key spoke to her.

“Are we okay now?”

This was the only time she had heard her friend sound so vulnerable. It hurts her heart to see him like this.

She stopped and made an uncommitted nod. “Yes. I guess so.”She still kept her back to him. Hasun was actually shaking from the inside. It scared her to death that Key might have been hurt or if her plan didn’t work, worse things could have happened.

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

Hasun sighed.

“There’s nothing else to say. I’m going home.”

Hasun’s cold attitude was scarier than those bullies in Key’s eyes. There was something about it that had him thinking that if this continued, he would lose her.

Without warning, he moved away from the wall and ran after Hasun’s retreating figure. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face on her shoulder.

She stiffened from the warm envelope of his arms. The fuzzy feeling was breaking her defenses. She wanted not to care. She lied to herself that walking away from him would be the best thing to do so that she could protect herself from more pain.

“Thank You.”He said, murmuring it on her neck.“Please don’t leave me.”

She heard it loud and clear. The words were simple.

“I’m really glad you’re okay.”She choked on her tears. She covered , trying her best not to cry.

“Friends?”He asked.

“Yeah. Friends.”She nodded with both tears and a smile on her face.