(Sujung’s POV)

 I was running down the street. Some of the older boys at my school were chasing me. Maybe I had ran for 15 minutes now, I did not know for sure, but my legs were starting to give in. They were already quite week, after my father had bruised them during one of his breakdowns only two days ago.

 After a few more minutes, my legs could not hold my weight any longer. I fell down to the hard asphalt right onto my knees and palms. After just a few seconds, the boys had surrounded me. There were four of them. 

"When did you become so fast?" one of them asked, panting, as he hit my head forcefully. I did not stand up against them. Things would only become worse if I did. Another of the boys took my school bag and threw all my things out. He then found my painkillers, and threw them on the ground before stepping on them. I had them for the pain my father would cause me. 

"Why d'you have so many tablets?" he asked, mocking me. I did not reply, I only sat crying as soundlessly as possible. 
 "Why aren't you answering us?" another of them asked. When I again did not answer, one of them kicked me on the side of my waist, causing me to fall completely down to the ground. I would not say 'I'm used to this pain, it doesn't really bother me,' because it hurt. Every single day, I had to go through the pain someone would cause me. 

 I was being dragged up by my hair, and when I was back on my knees, they all started to punch me and kick me.  

 "YAH!!!" Someone was shouting. I looked up, finding a very handsome boy jogging towards us. It was not the first time I saw him, however. I was sure he had been following me around the school for the past two months. I had never spoken to him, but I knew he was two years older than I. Honestly, I actually thought he was spying on me, or something similar. 

 "Hyung...?" one boy, Jinki, gasped. It was as if he was regretting his actions when he spoke.
 "Didn't I tell you to leave her alone?!" the boy said as he came to stand in front of the  angrily, as he had approached us.
 "But look at this thing!" one said, pulling my hair roughly. "She's so fun!"
The boy received a slap on his head. "It's not fun to bully someone!" he shouted. I looked up at him confused. He was the only one that had ever been nice to me. 

 "Go away," he told them. They obeyed, and walked off, some cursing at him. When they were gone, he bent down to meet me at my current eyelevel.  "Are you alright?" he asked. I nodded and tried to stand up, but I failed. My ankle was sprained, and I fell back on own to the ground. 

 The boy beside of me had collected all my things and put them back into my bag, before helping me back up on my feet. After that, we were just standing there. I did not dare to face him and say anything. 

“My name is Lee Minhyuk, by the way." He was smiling at me. He had such a friendly smile. "I already know that your name is Kim Sujung." Now I had to look at up at him. 
 "How do you know my name?" He was starting to freak me out a little. "I asked someone in your class." He was still smiling cutely at me. 

 "How do you know what class I am in…?" Now, I had to admit, he was starting to sound like a stalker. 
 "I just do." I looked back down to the ground. I was slightly confused. Why would a handsome boy like him, know things about me without wanting to bully me? Or maybe he did want to bully me?

 "Climb on my back." He turned around, his back facing me. I hesitated. People would always call me fat, so maybe I was too heavy for him? However, I was skinnier than everybody in my class. My father would barely feed me. I knew I was underweight and I was not very proud of having such a bony body.

 "You can't walk, just let me help you!" Minhyuk insisted. I climbed onto his back, after some time of thinking. "What is your weight?! Don't your parents feed you?" He obviously thought I was not heavy at all, but he was right, though. My parents did not feed me. In fact, I had only my father. 

 I strained myself so I would not be in contact with his body too much, but as my body was so weak, I ended up leaning onto him. All this week I had been in trouble with both my father and those boys who were chasing me before. 

 "From now on, I'll be your Oppa," Minhyuk suddenly said as he was walking. "If anyone is bothering you, just call out to me, and I'll be there and help you." His words were so friendly. It made me feel awkward. I had never heard someone say those words to me. 

 Suddenly, I started to notice that I had no idea where he was taking me. He was walking towards a house, but it was not my house. He went inside and carried me up some stairs and into a room. Afterwards, I was put down on a bed.
 "Wait here,” he said, and soon vanished out the room.

I looked down at my legs. I was bleeding from both my knees. I really hated the fact that we had to wear a skirt for our uniform. My legs were always showing marks from when I had been beaten.

 After a little while, Minhyuk came back with tissues, bandage and a bag of ice. He knelt down in front of me and slid off the stocking on my left foot carefully. My ankle had swollen into twice the original size. 

 "What happened to your legs?" he asked, as he carefully put ice on my ankle.  I bit my lower lip to prevent any sound from passing my lips when he was taking on the bandage around the bag. I did not want to disturb him with annoying sounds. 

 He proceeded to wipe away the blood on my knees with the tissues. It stung horribly. 
 "I hope it wasn't my friends who gave you all these marks," he sighed. "It wasn't right?" He looked up at me with a serious, yet concerned, expression. I shook my head. My father made most of the marks and wounds, but I could not tell him that.

 Minhyuk wiped off the blood from my palms as well. I did not even realise I had started bleeding there. 

 "You always look so miserable," he said when he was finished. I looked down at my lap. Did he think I was supposed to be happy? My father was my only family-member and he was beating me, I was bullied at school, I had no friends and he was talking as if I was supposed to be happy?

 "Sujung-ah, don't be so sad." He pulled me into a careful hug, but unfortunately, his hand touched the spot where my father had beaten me seriously yesterday. I hissed in pain, and he pulled away quickly. 

 "What's wrong? Where else are you hurt?" Tears started to fall down my cheeks. As shameless as he was, he pulled up my shirt just to see the left side of my stomach being blue and purple. 

"Who did this to you?!" he yelped. I only cried more. I could not tell him. He seemed so trustworthy, but I did not really know him enough to tell him about myself. "Who did this to you?" He spoke with a clear voice. I avoided looking at him, but he cupped my face so I would meet his eyes. 

 "Was it someone at school?" he asked. I shook my head. "Was it someone at home?" I did not respond. "Your father?" Again, I did not respond. How did he guess the correct answer so quickly? 

 He carefully pulled me in for another hug, and, this time, he made sure not to place his hands on the same place as last time. I buried my face in his chest, crying. I could not help but to cry. All those things that were running through my mind... 

 "How can anyone live like you do?" He was questioning himself more than he was asking me, as he let out a sigh in frustration. "Don't go home. You can stay here if you like." he told me. Why did he care so much about me? It was a good thing, but why would someone handsome and popular like him care so much about me?

 Suddenly, I realised that I was late. I was supposed to be home right after school! What would my father do now? He would not be pleased... This was not good at all!

 "Lee Minhyuk-ssi... I need to go home now," I said. My voice was weak. 
"No, stay here." I pulled away from him. 
 "I'm late, he'll be so mad at me!" Minhyuk sighed and stood up. 
"Give me your phone." He held his hand out towards me. I handed him my phone without a word. Minhyuk sent himself a text message from my phone and saved his number. He saved himself as 'Minhyuk Oppa <3'. 

 "Try walking," he said as he helped me up. The first step I took was not too hard, but after three small steps, I collapsed onto the floor. "Don't worry, I'll help you." He smiled at me and helped me up. Then he turned around and signalised that I was going to climb on his back for the second time. I obeyed without a word. I showed him the directions he had to go, and I was glad I didn't live too far away. Minhyuk would become tired of carrying me. 

 He stopped outside of my house. He was just standing there, looking at where I lived. 
"Lee Minhyuk-ssi, you can put me down now," I said in a soft voice. Whatsoever, he was just standing there in silence. I waited patiently for him to do something. 

 "I'm not sure if I want to let you go in there, Sujung-ah…" He bit his lip. 
"I'll be fine. Don't worry," I assured him. 
 "I will at least help you inside." He took a step closer to the door. 
"DON'T!" I yelled, before he could take any more steps. He stopped in shock. I could not let him go inside my house as long as my father was there. 

 "Sujung-ah.. You can't walk, I have to help you." I did not like that he was so insisting. As the polite person I was, I did not want to refuse any of his offers. 
 "I'll just crawl..." He looked at me from over his shoulder, and then put me down in front of the door. 

 "You sure you'll be alright?" he asked, concerned. I nodded in response. He smiled at me. There was something special about his smile. It was so warm and kind. 

 "Lee Minhyuk-ssi… Thank you," I said and bowed. He laughed at me slightly. 
"You don't need to thank me, but please stop calling me 'Minhyuk-Ssi'. I told you I'm your Oppa, didn't I?" he chuckled. 
 "Ah, yes... Minhyuk... Oppa," I said, hiding my insecure expression behind my bangs. 

-

 I went inside my house, jumping around on one foot towards the stairs, hoping my father was asleep or something, but of course I was wrong. I felt a strong grip around my left arm as I had approached the stairs. 

"Where have you been?" A dark voice asked me. It was my father. I did not really know what to answer, so I stayed silent, trying to come up with a good excuse. "I saw you got piggybacked by a boy, who is he?" I could clearly hear how mad he was. I could not exactly understand why he even cared.  

 "Why the hell are you not answering me?!" he shouted and threw me down on the floor. 
"A-appa... He was only helping me…" I said quietly with tears in my eyes.  "I hurt my leg at school, and he helped me home. Nothing more happened!" I told him. 

 At first, there was complete silence for a moment. Then, he kicked my hurt leg, causing me to cry out in pain. After that, I received kicks on every part of my body. He did not care when I begged him to stop. He did not care if I screamed my lungs out. 

 Suddenly. As everything was happening, my phone rang. I pulled it out weakly, and it showed 'Minhyuk Oppa <3'. I stared at my phone until my father snapped it out of my hands. 

 "So your already calling him Oppa, huh?" he spat. He turned off my phone and threw it at me. "You won't be getting close to him, you know! Nobody wants to be close with a freak like you, and you shouldn't forget that," he said, before he walked off, leaving me to lay hurt and helpless on the floor.

*Author’s Note*

 Misspellings and other (minor) parts of this chapter was edited 15.03.10