I should have stopped.

She called my name, bringing me back from the clouds. “What happened to you?” she asked.

“He looked at me today,” I smiled sheepishly. I can still remember his dazzling smile. “He actually smiled at me, Yoona.”

“Figured. You wore the correct uniform. Of course he’ll smile at you. Traitor,” Yoona told me, putting her hands on her hips.

She was my best friend in the entire world. When I transferred a year ago, I wasn’t liked by anybody. News of what happened with my family had spread in our village causing us to move in the middle of the year.

I became an intruder. I was isolated. But, Yoona was the first one who approached me. She said she liked my eyes. It was as if my eyes were so innocent, it blinds her. She said she wanted to have a friend with innocent eyes.

“I told you. Everybody was home this morning. I couldn’t get away,” I said to her, trying my best to look sad so she could forgive me.

I figured out why Yoona liked my eyes. It was a week after I met her. I heard she was sick and being as she was the only friend that I had, I wanted to go visit her. When the door opened, I was greeted by evil eyes. Her dad was home and he was mad. His eyes were scary, like that of a wolf scorned. He looked at me, motioned upstairs, and walked away. I was too scared to move from my spot when another figure walked past me. I figured it was her brother. He looked at me with such cold eyes. It was as if I was invisible in his eyes.

“If you aren’t going in, close the door,” he told me before walking away. His voice was as cold as his eyes.

I was scared. I rushed upstairs to find Yoona in her bed. She was sick, and yet she was wearing her clothes from yesterday.  I rushed to help her, stayed over at her house and earned one of the best people in the world as my friend.

She was a delinquent. When I first met her, I thought she was nice and sweet. She had an angelic face and beautiful hair. She was tall and model-like slim. She accompanied me to lunch. She said I looked like I needed a friend. Even though everybody was looking at us weirdly, I was oblivious to it. It had been a week since I transferred but this was the first time I was actually eating lunch with somebody. Yoona was witty and funny. I liked that about her. She was fresh, as if she didn’t have a problem in the world.

But the next day, I was shocked to hear that she got into a fight with a few girls from the other school. I was extremely worried. My angel must have been hurt. She must have been bullied. All these were running through my mind as I rushed around school to find her.

I saw her finally at the back of the school. She was with some other girls from the other sections. On her face was a bandage. My beautiful angel’s face was hurt.

“Yoona!” I shouted as I ran to her. “What happened? I heard you got into a fight. Were you hurt elsewhere?” I said as I looked intently at the bandage on her face.

She laughed, the other girls copying her. “Honey, you should have seen the other girl. If I was hurt, I didn’t know what she was.”

“Yeah. The Queen didn’t show any mercy. That girl is going to live off on make-up for months,” the other girl beside her snickered.

“Awww. Aren’t you cute?” one of the girls pointed to me. “She looked extremely concerned about you. So sweet.”

“Stop teasing her,” Yoona said, “she’s my friend. And anyways, that girl asked for it.”

“But my queen, she begged,” a small girl said. She looked out of place with the other girls. She looked timid.

“Well, she didn’t beg hard enough,” Yoona said before smiling at the timid girl.

It was then that I realized why they were looking strangely. When she smiled at the timid girl, I saw a different kind of Yoona in her eyes. When I went to her house a week after that day, I realized that she had the same look as her brother that time. It was emotionless and extremely cold. It was then that I found out that I had just became friends with the leader of the delinquents of the school.

Yoona was known as the Queen, not just in school but also in probably the whole town. When their previous leader graduated high school, she became the heir to the throne. They were known around the area to be always involved in fights. When I became her friend, I was hesitant. I didn’t want to be a part of that kind of group again. But Yoona slowly drowned me in her presence. Soon, I was becoming a part of their clique. I wanted to protect her beautiful face from getting hurt. I wanted to be there to beat up the one who does.

She is different from what I thought her to be. She was still nice and sweet but once you get on her bad side, she’s worse than a predator hunting her prey. But one thing about her, she never fights without a reason. She is kind in her own way. She said she wanted to protect the weak, even though it made her look bad. She didn’t want to be the Queen. But there wasn’t anybody that was fit for the position but her. She tried multiple times to break free, but she couldn’t leave the others behind. Boys and girls followed her everywhere.

It was funny since I thought this only happened in TV. But it did happen. In my life. And soon enough, I was already a part of it.

A lot of people actually come to challenge her. It was as if she was the standard of strength in the neighborhood. And usually, she declines. But then these people would act dirty and she just had to do something. That was my life with her. We never got in trouble, though. It was as if she was truly a queen.

She always seemed distant, even though she was always close to us. She looks at you kindly, but it was if it doesn’t reach her eyes. She had beautiful eyes. It didn’t look innocent. It looked meaningful, as if every look contains a completely new world.

I was slowly drowning. I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to see such a distant look in her eyes.

“What are you thinking about?” I jumped as I heard SooYoung’s voice beside me. “Are you still thinking about him?”

“I always think about him,” I said to her smugly, my thoughts returning to the beautiful smile I have received this morning.

I first saw him during one of my escapades with Yoona. She had this crazy idea to make us not wear the complete uniform. Apparently, she had been doing this since the last year. She never wore her ribbon, nor does she follow the appropriate skirt length. And she wanted us to follow suit. In our school, this was one of the few grounds wherein she actually gets in trouble.

Until the last semester, nobody ever did follow her. But I didn’t want to leave her alone. I was one of the few who knew why she was like that, why she looks so distant.

And so the day after she told me to not wear my ribbon to school, I really didn’t. The look on her face was magical. It was worth it. Her smile that day was worth it.

The others looked at me, as if I had a death wish. At that time, I didn’t know which was better. It was then that I met him.

He was beautiful. His face was delicate and kind. And when he talked, even though the words were of disappointment, it was as if he was singing a melody. His voice was beautiful to the ear. And when he looked at me, it was as if my world had stopped spinning. His eyes were soft and understanding. It was the kind of look that can melt you on your feet.

He was the student council president. He was so high up that I was blinded by his majestic persona. He was at our year, but because he was already known at the school since middle school, once he entered high school, he was sought after by the student council, making him the youngest president in the history of our school and probably the longest. Since we were already in our senior year, it was already his last term. Since he was always the top one in our year, they said he’d most probably make it to the top university of the country. Aside from that, he was the star of the soccer team. He was perfect.

And at that time, I did not mind getting reprimanded by him every morning. I did not mind at all. ^^

“Were you forced by Yoona to do this?” I almost blushed when he asked me that. He was standing in front of me, his fingers massaging the bridge of his nose.

I was momentarily stupefied at his question, must be because of his eyes. “Uhm, I-“

“I understand, you may go,” he said softly, smiling at me, blinding my heart with his brightness.

“What?! That is totally unfair,” I heard Yoona protest by my side. I looked at her and she was aiming her mean look at him. I was worried of what she may do to him but when I checked his reaction; he was looking at her similarly.

“What’s unfair is if I punish her for something you made her do,” he seemed oblivious to Yoona’s mean look. Maybe student council presidents were supposed to be like that.

“Uhm, I don’t mind having the punishment,” I interjected before Yoona did something, “I actually did this willingly,” I said shyly.

“See,” Yoona said smugly, sticking her tongue out at him. “Mr. Lee Donghae, you shouldn’t be biased, you know.”

“It’s because it’s you we’re talking about, Ms. Im Yoona” he said, massaging the bridge of his nose once again. “Are you sure about this?” he asked me, “I’m actually really giving you a way out.”

I stopped myself from asking him to punish me as much as he wants. “Uh, yeah.”

He scratched his head and proceeded to interrogate the boy beside me who went in drunk.

That day, I had to stay for an hour after class. Apparently, the punishment was some kind of community service. And for that day, we were tasked to fold pamphlets for the school. The others were sent outside to clean the garden. I was more than happy to fold papers.

I got to enjoy an hour of stealing glances at him. I didn’t get too look at him for a really long time since he was always looking at our direction. I wanted to think that it was because he was checking me out, since there were only three of us in the room, but his words stated otherwise. He was telling Yoona to do the punishment, which she wasn’t doing because she was busy texting on her phone. He seemed to have a habit of massaging the bridge of his nose. And when he does this, the muscles in his arm flexes, showing off his well-toned muscles. Of course, his face was always looking at Yoona disappointedly, causing creases on his forehead.

And even though I had to do community service after class, I couldn’t help breaking the rules.

“You shouldn’t,” SooYoung said, bringing me back to reality, “You know, think about him like that.”

“Why not? It’s not a crime,” I said irritated. SooYoung always tells me to not see myself as Donghae’s girl.

I didn’t know if she wanted me to hear it, but I did. “You’ll just get hurt,” she said quietly. “Why’d Yoona look pissed?” she asked.

“Oh my, she did?” I asked SooYoung worriedly. “It must be because she’d be alone at detention today.”

“Oh, you wore the correct uniform today?” SooYoung asked indifferently, “That must be why. Why? You turning over a new leaf?”

“Uhm, yeah. Something like that,” I said, keeping myself from blushing.

I actually had another reason behind my good deed for the day.

The day before, I had chosen to tell Donghae how I felt about him. After weeks of stolen glances and casual talks during detention, I chose to gut up and tell him how he makes my heart beat a million times faster.

“I like you. I really do. And it’s more than the usual attraction because of your perfection, err, I didn’t just say that, did I?” I said awkwardly. We were in the school garden, sitting beside each other. I had purposely stayed behind after detention for this. “It’s more than that. What I feel for you, I mean.”

Before he even got the chance to react, I stood up and turned to him, “You don’t need to answer me now. And I know I am totally unworthy of going out with you. But I promise. I’d be good from now on. I won’t go into fights and go on breaking rules anymore. I’d show you I’m worthy of being your girlfriend. Just you wait,” I smiled at him and ran away. It was cowardly of me, knowing that the look on his face was saying he had something to say. I didn’t want to hear it, whether he’d accept me or not. I wanted him to tell me how he feels in his own time.

As I was walking to my meeting place with Yoona, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I made it my goal to be a good girl from then on.

I wanted to tell Yoona what I did, but when I got to the cafe, there was already somebody beside her.

The other members were there with her, but there was a man in the middle of them all. He was not as beautiful as Donghae, but he was fine so fine. He was charming and appealing. Every move he makes screams confidence and power. However, he looked really kind and gentle.

When I sat down beside one of the girls, it was then that I realized why his presence made me stop.

His arms were around Yoona.

“Oh, you haven’t met Seunggi-sunbaenim, have you?” Na Eun, the timid girl from before, said as I sat beside her.

“Uh no,” I said, my eyes still unable to veer away from his hands. It was the first time I have seen Yoona be alright with someone from the opposite touching her like that. It looked too intimate. Although she was close with our other male classmates, the closest to skinship I have seen her do with them is an arm on the shoulder. But this guy had his arms around Yoona’s waist, his hand resting on her thighs. Yoona was either too engrossed on telling her story or she really didn’t mind.

“He’s the King,” Na Eun suddenly said beside me.

“What?”

“If Yoona’s the queen, he’s the king. Lee Seunggi. Ask around and all the residents here know him,” she said quietly. “Don’t be fooled. He only looks kind. He’s the previous leader of the gang.”

“His arms. I mean, his position, with Yoona-“

“Hmmm? Didn’t Yoona tell you? Seunggi-sunbaenim is her boyfriend.”

I was shocked. When I looked back at Yoona, Seunggi was looking at me. His eyes were totally different from the make of the rest of his face. It wasn’t cold. It wasn’t distant. It was menacing, as if he wanted to burn you on your seat. I looked away before he actually does.

I was more than shocked, actually. It wasn’t because Yoona had a boyfriend, it was because I didn’t know.

We were friends for months already, Something so trivial should be told, right?

I asked her about this as we went home. But she only replied with, “Oh I haven’t mentioned him? Nah. Doesn’t matter. He’s not here every day, anyways.”

She looked like she really didn’t care. I did not mind at all that much during that time. I remembered her confessing when she was drunk on something about not wanting her boyfriend to be involved in her life anymore. At first, I didn’t understand what she meant by it. When I found out about Seunggi, especially when I saw his eyes, I figured Yoona must have wanted to break up with him or something.

“She couldn’t have been pissed at me,” I said hesitantly. “She was the same as always this morning.”

“Hmmm. Must be because Seunggi’s back in town,” SooYoung said thoughtfully. “That man always causes problems whenever he’s here.”

“Oh really?” I said, thinking my hunch was totally correct. “I better go look for her.”

I was pretty sure she was in detention. She must have been folding papers all alone. She was the only one caught disobeying the rules this morning. She had to be doing all those work alone. Donghae wouldn’t be so lax about it, right? When I was in detention with Yoona, I always tried to do twice as much just to cover for her. I wanted to laugh, imagining Yoona brooding over folding pamphlets. She was a queen, no matter how I look at it.

But I couldn’t find her at the detention room, nor at the student council room. She was supposed to be serving her time in detention. She can’t be slacking off.

I looked for her everywhere in the campus. I was about to leave when I heard her scream from the garden. I know her voice from anywhere. I was pretty sure it was her.

I went running, desperate to look for her while imagining all these nasty thoughts in my head. I kept thinking that she broke up with Seunggi and he was going to kill her. He must be strangling her. Or beating her up. It can’t be. It can’t happen.

I should have stopped.

Yea. Hi. As most of my subscribers know, I am such a YoonHae fan that almost all my fics, even Tumblr posts, are about them. So you can imagine my grief right now. This is going to be dark, as dark as the state of my YoonHae heart. I'd love to know what you think before I post the next part. Comment and subscribe. Enjoy. ;)