Jinri finally came back to school again on Tuesday. I only had a couple of classes with her, so I didn’t even know she’d made her reappearance until my Biology class right before lunch. I was usually early to all my classes, so I saw when she slunk in through the door and offered her sick note to the teacher, Mr. Lee.

She glanced at me for the briefest of moments as she passed my desk, and there was the slightest flicker of fear and disgust before she sauntered past on her way to her own seat at the back of the classroom. I spent the entire hour fighting the urge not to turn around and look at her. I didn’t know if it was my imagination or not, but it felt like she was glaring daggers into the back of my head the entire class period.

Once the bell rang, she disappeared out the door before anyone else, leaving me to collect my books and head out of the classroom in a more orderly fashion.

As usual, my boyfriend was waiting for me outside. Even though Jinri hadn’t pulled any more since I’d cracked her nose, he was being diligent about keeping me safe. It was sweet in a way, even if it was getting a tad bit annoying.

“Jinri’s back,” I said by way of greeting.

“Yeah, I saw her for a second,” Jonghyun agreed, pecking me on the cheek. “She didn’t stop to talk, though. Seemed like she’s in a hurry.” He snickered. “She’s probably pissed that her mother made her come back to school before her nose fully healed. She’s still got that bandage on it, so everyone knows she had surgery. My guess is that she didn’t even get her parents’ permission to get it done and this is their way of punishing her.”

I forced a weak smile. “Maybe.” Jonghyun couldn’t know the truth behind Jinri’s bandaged nose. He’d totally flip if he knew I was the cause of it.

She wasn’t in the cafeteria when we got there, not at our table or any of the ones nearby. Nobody seemed too bothered by her continuous absence from our group.

“Isn’t Jinri eating with us?” I asked cautiously as I took my seat. “I saw that she’s back today.”

Krystal snickered. “She’s probably hiding out in the bathroom,” she said. “Her mom made her come to school today and she doesn’t want anyone to see the bandage on her nose. She should’ve just waited until vacation to get the damn surgery. I don’t know what she was thinking.”

“I would think you of all people would be glad she’s not eating with us,” Key pointed out, giving me a level look. “Jinri isn’t exactly nice to you.”

I quickly looked down at my lunch. “I guess…” I said. I didn’t really want to give anyone cause to second-guess my motives. Just because I knew that Jinri was the one attacking me didn’t mean I wanted everyone else to know, too.

The only other class I had with Jinri was physical education, which took place directly after lunch. I walked there with Krystal and Amber, who were also in that class, with Jinri and our predicament heavy on my mind.

I wanted to talk to Jinri. I didn’t hate her despite everything she had done to me. I probably should have, but I didn’t. I felt sorry for her, and I wanted her to know that even though I knew she had been behind everything, I didn’t despise her anything. But talking to her proved to be incredibly difficult.

She didn’t attend physical education that day. When Krystal asked the gym teacher, Coach Ahn, we were told that she had gotten a note to miss class because of her healing nose.

“That brat,” Krystal laughed good-naturedly as the class divided for a game of volleyball. “She just hates gym class. She gets out of everything.”

I managed to find her after she left for the day, however, by asking Mr. Park if I could leave Calculus class early. Most of my teachers would have told me to dream on, but Mr. Park liked me and he knew I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t have a good reason, so he let me go with an unnecessary reminder to do my homework. So, thanks to Mr. Park, I was able to situated myself outside of Jinri’s last class to wait for the final bell to ring.

When it did, she was one of the firsts out, as I had expected. She was busy looking at her expensive handphone and she didn’t notice me at first.

“Jinri,” I said loudly, and she jerked her head in my direction.

At first her eyes widened with surprise and a touch of fear. Then they narrowed in their usual dislike. “What the hell do you want?” she snarled.

“I want to talk about what happened the other day,” I said, taking a deep breath and stepping towards her. “About your nose and my hair.”

She stepped back, looking suddenly terrified. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied. “Don’t come near me, you filthy .” And then she her heel and ran the opposite direction, shouldering students out of her way.

I frowned, but I didn’t follow her. I would need a better way of approaching her, one where she could run away.

My opportunity came the next day during Biology class. When Jinri raised her hand and asked to go to the restroom, I waited about half a minute before asking the same question. Because I didn’t often disrupt the class, the teacher let me go without hesitation.

“Jinri!” I called, jogging after her.

She glanced over her shoulder in surprise, and then her lip curled up in a sneer. “I thought I told you stay away from me. You hard of hearing or something?”

I backed her into a corner, glaring down at her. “Want me to break your nose again?” I threatened. “I already told you that we need to talk.”

She withered under my gaze. She really was a coward. “T-talk about what?” she demanded.

I gave her a level look.

She looked away, anywhere but at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered. “And I didn’t break my nose. I got a nose job. Didn’t Krystal tell you? That’s why I’ve been missing school.”

I slammed my fist into the wall beside her head, and she flinched. I guess the memory of me breaking her nose was too fresh in her mind. “Jinri,” I said warningly.

She looked at me, panic all over her face, and then she snapped. “It’s all your fault!” she screamed at me, giving me a push. “You deserved everything you got! You deserve even more!”

I stared at her in disbelief. “What on earth did I do to you that makes you think I deserve to be treated like that? To be locked in closets, to be called names, to be chased down the street and attacked with ing scissors?”

“You took Jonghyun from me!” she screamed.

“Jonghyun was never yours, Jinri,” I retorted hotly.

The sneer was back, more pronounced than ever. “He was mine, you filthy . He was mine and then you came along and tricked him away. Everything is all your fault!”

“He was never yours!” I repeated, more loudly. “I don’t know what fantasy world you’ve been living in, but Jonghyun never loved you. Hell, he never even liked you. You need to get that through your head. No matter what you do to me, Jonghyun will never like you. Ever. I’m not saying this to be cruel, Jinri. I’m just telling it like it is. You need a reality check.”

She scoffed at me. “We’ll see about that,” she muttered. “With you out of the picture, Jonghyun will come back to me.”

“With me out of the picture?” I repeated incredulously. “What, are you going to attack me again? Try to kill me with a pair of scissors? Because we both saw how well that worked out for you before.” I sighed. “Seriously, you really want to kill me because you’ve got a crush on my boyfriend? Think about what you’re doing, Jinri. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You’re the one being ridiculous!” she screamed. “If you would just go away, everything would be okay! Jonghyun-!”

But she stopped midsentence, staring horror-struck somewhere over my shoulder. When I turned to look, I saw why. Jonghyun had come around the corner and, from the expression on his face, it was obvious that he had heard enough of our conversation to figure out what we were talking about.

“Jonghyun,” I said, stepping in to try and do damage control.

But he wasn’t having any of my reasoning at the moment. He brushed past me like I was nothing. “It was you?” he demanded, staring at Jinri like he was seeing her for the very first time. “You’re the one who’s been bullying Narae? The one who attacked her?”

Jinri looked like she wanted to be anywhere other than there at the moment. She stammered for a few seconds, but nothing coherent came out.

“You sick ,” Jonghyun growled, and his hands balled into fists to keep from hitting her himself.

“She came between us,” Jinri pleaded. “Please, Jonghyun. You have to see that. You and I…when she came along, you forgot all about me.”

“There never was a you and I, Jinri,” Jonghyun said nastily. “I don’t even like you. I only tolerated you because you’re friends with Krystal and Sunyoung. I’ve never liked you. In fact, I hate you.” His expression was dark and threatening. “Don’t you ever come near Narae or me again. I swear to god, you will regret it. Change classes so you don’t have any with Narae anymore. Hell, transfer schools. Even better, move cities. Move to another country. I don’t want to hear your name or see your ing face ever again. And don’t you worry. My lawyer will be contacting yours with the restraining order immediately.”

Jinri stared at him for a long moment. Then the tears that had been welling up in her already swollen eyes spilled over and she ran away.

“Jonghyun,” I said sternly when Jinri was gone. “You went too far. That was too much.”

“Too much?” he demanded incredulously. “She ing tried to kill you, Narae! We should be pressing charges!”

I shook my head. “She never would have killed me,” I said. “She hates me, sure. But she’s not a killer.”

Jonghyun scoffed. “Don’t act like you know her so well,” he said. “She attacked you with a pair of scissors.”

“Just don’t, okay?” I said. “Let me handle this my own way. I don’t want you to get a restraining order, and I don’t want her to transfer schools or even classes. I want to make things right in my own way.”

He sighed but brought my hand to his lips so he could kiss my knuckles. “If I hadn’t walked in on you guys having this conversation, you never would’ve even told me it was Jinri, would you?”

“Eventually,” I said with a little smile, standing on my toes to kiss him. “But not for a while, no.”

He smiled ruefully. “I’m going to trust you, because you’ve never steered my wrong yet. I won’t get involved. But I want you to be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

“The feeling is mutual.” I kissed him again.