Jung Sooyeon. Sooyeon. Sooyeon. Jung.. Sooyeon. Sooyeon. 

The name echoes in his mind over and over again as he leans back on the railings of the blacony and looks up at the starry night sky, the first starry night ever since he had moved to this county. This morning, the sun was shining brightly and no clouds could be spotted. Ever since they first came here, Yifan was greeted with dark skies and rainy nights. 

Yifan missed home, he missed Beijing, he missed China. But he couldn't do anything about it now. If he went back, there was nothing to go back to anyways. But he knows that back in China, he'd feel more at peace than here in Korea. 

Because it was here that he had met her, the most annoying person in his school. Jung Sooyeon. 

She was so persistent and annoying that it was bothering him to no end now. Her strange behavior every time they encounter made him more annoyed with her with each passing day. She pestered him so much that it's still a wonder why he wasn't fed up with the girl. Maybe not just yet.

Out of all the people who could've bothered him, or push him to his limits, why did it have to be that Jung? Yifan still doesn't know why.

Even with her bothering him though.. Yifan still felt so alone. So unwanted. 

Nobody was there for him, and nobody is here for him. 

His own family was a wreck. His father and mother were both busy filling up papers and going back and forth from country to country to file up their divorce for real, and his own sister had or had not intentionally left him alone. Even his own best friend, who had moved to Qingdao from Beijing wasn't communicating with him. 

Yifan truly was alone. He had nobody, and he felt so unwanted. 

This feeling of loneliness and pain he bottles up every day left him to resort to harming himself. It was the only way that kept him sane. The endorphins he released as the blood flew out also released all his worries, his problems, his stress and the pain of it all. The feeling of numbness he'd get was so tempting that the promise he made to himself, that he would only do it this once and never again, was broken until it became a habit of his. 

The numbness didn't last, but it was still enough to make him feel a little better right after. Even if it was just a few minutes or hours. So he did it more slowly and more carefully, savoring the feeling of nothing. Feeling absolutely nothing. Yifan didn't want to die, he just wanted the pain to go away. 

And sometimes, feeling nothing is much better than the pain he hides within himself. 

Nobody even cared if he harms himself or not, nobody even takes their time for him. But even so, he did stop cutting a few days before he had entered Cheongdam, that retched school. He didn't want anyone to know, especially not a stranger, and most especially not Jung Sooyeon.

It was embarrassing for him, to let a stranger know and see what he did to himself at night when everybody was asleep. 

Yifan's eyebrows knit together as he looks down on his bare feet, the cold marble tiles underneath him didn't bother him anymore. But something else did. 

He thought about how Sooyeon was acting so annoying lately, how she would always pop up whenever he went outside the house, how she would tell him that she could help him if only he let her in, if only he told her what the problem was.

The genuine look in her eyes, the way she frowned whenever she'd lay eyes on Yifan. To him, she looked so honest and sincere that she really might want to help him.

She really might just want to help him out with his problems.

She really might mean everything that she said.

She really might care about him. 

But at that thought, Yifan chuckles and shakes his head. 

What drug did he take to make him think that anybody would care for him now? 

/\|\/

Sooyeon cannot stop worrying about Yifan the next morning. It was already Friday, and he still wasn't at school. Their homeroom teacher was also worried, and she had already approached Sooyeon this morning during their first period. They both didn't have a clue on where Yifan was, and it was crucial for him to always be present since he is in the highest section of the seniors in the whole school and he is a public figure that needs to be a role model. 

It was not going to be a pretty scene when the media and the principal finds out that he might've dropped out in his own accord. 

"Where could he be?" Sooyeon mumbles to herself during their 2nd period English class as she looks out the window and sighs to herself, thoughts of Wu Yifan and his whereabouts circling her mind instead of the new lesson that their teacher was introducing to the class.

Whatever Yifan's problem was, Sooyeon would help him. No matter how big or small it was. She had to. She promised the principal, she promised her homeroom teacher that she would keep an eye out for him as well. And most of all, she promised herself that she'd take good care of the next student she would be assign to, no matter what. She just could not let it happen again. 

"Yifan.." she breathes out his name and closes her eyes, envisioning him and that smirk in her head. "If you're not dead yet, then I'll be the one to kill you." she mumbles. "If I even see you again." she added, feeling a little hopeless with him. 

What was it that he didn't like about her? She made a mental note to ask him whenever she had the chance, or whenever she would see him again.

During lunch break, almost everyone in the class went outside or to the canteen but Sooyeon along with a few others had decided to stay in the classroom. Sooyeon was not in the mood to eat, she had lost her appetite ever since this morning when she found out Yifan was yet again, absent.

Sooyeon sighs as she looks out the window and up at the blue sky. It was the first sunny day in weeks. 

But her mood was the actual opposite of the weather today. 

Needless to say, Sooyeon was worried out of her wits for the guy who she barely even knows, but wants to help. 

\/|/\

At the sight of him, everyone steps aside and watch him with big owl-like eyes as he walks past them, his cologne lingering in the air. All attention, all eyes and all the necks turn towards him as they see or hear him approaching, walking through the hallway to get to his homeroom.

People can see that something's different, that something in him has changed. Almost everyone knew he was absent from school for nearly a week and everyone was curious as to why.

Upon seeing the curious and weird looks he was getting from the others, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Seriously," he mutters silently under his breathe, so that only he could hear his own words.

As Wu Yifan turned the corner, he shook his hands by his side before he cracked his knuckles. He came back to school for a lot of reasons, but there was only one thing he needed to do and confirm. Only one thing that really made him come back. And it was not because of the studies or school itself. 

Yifan was a smart kid no doubt about that. Even though he didn't quite pay attention to the discussions, he could ace any surprise test given to them. It wasn't because he studied, but he just had a vivid memory that not a lot of people have. 

And sometimes, Yifan wishes that he doesn't have the clear memory he has now. It also made him remember not only of his own hardships in the past, but of their family too. And thinking about his mother alone made his heart clench. 

"Aish,"  he runs a hand across his hair again. He couldn't think of such things right now. He checked the time on his wristwatch and was glad that their was only a few minutes left until lunch break was over. Yifan lets out a deep sigh. 

Even when he was standing outside his classroom, he could hear the loud voices and the never-ending chattering of his classmates from inside. Everyone was busy he could tell, and everyone probably was in a good mood. It was Friday after all, maybe that was why the moods were good and the spirits were up. 

Yifan sighs to himself as he enters the classroom. 

As expected, when they see him, the chattering and the talking died down. The excitement vanished just like poof and all attention is directed towards the tall boy near the door. 

Yifan nods his head, acknowledging the whole class before he walks over to their homeroom teacher's desk at the very back, where Mrs. Kim was busy attending to her grading sheets and tables.

He passes by Sooyeon and his eyes flicker on the crown of her head for a few seconds just before he looks the other way, right before she turns her head to look at him.

He hears a small gasp behind him as he walks on. He urges himself not to smirk. He only looks down at his shoes when he reaches Mrs. Kim's table, and he had to clear his throat to get her attention. "Um, teacher Kim?"

She looks up, obviously startled. Her eyes grow wide when she sees him standing in front of her. "Oh! Yi-Yifan, where-" 

"I'm terribly sorry for my long absence teacher." Yifan bows, keeping his voice low, fully knowing that his classmates were listening intently only a few feet away. Though the talking continued, it was hushed and less louder. "But.. here." he hands her a folded paper and his teacher accepts it with no hesitation. "My excuse letter. The reason behind my absence is there. Once again, I-" the bell rings, cutting him off. 

Mrs. Kim looks at her student from head to toe, but there's one thing that really catches her attention. "Mr. Wu, why are you.. wearing those sunglasses?" she asks. 

The sound of the bell dies down and Yifan sighs, unsure to remove the black sunglasses that was covering half of his face. "I-umm, I know it's techinically against the dressing code to wear these in school but.. Teacher Kim," he slowly lifts it up, only enough for her to see it and only for her to see. "I-umm, ran straight into the side of the door one time." 

His teacher only nods. "Ahh, well, I see. It's alright, no code is being broken here. When did you get it?" 

"Just yesterday. With some ointment, it'll get better soon." Yifan tries for a smile. "So, um, please read the letter Teacher Kim and I hope you'll understand." he bows before retreating back to his seat just as their teacher arrives. 

Everyone turns their head to the front, except for one. 

Yifan stares at her as she stares at him. 

He has a challenging stare on while she has a questioning look about her face. 

Yifan's face later on, softens, before he turns his head to the teacher in front. For once, he tries to listen to the discussion. 

\/|/\

Sooyeon still cannot contemplate on the fact that Wu Yifan is here now. After last night, she thought he'd be absent again. But he was though, only in the morning. But now, he's here and she's relieved. 

It's not like Sooyeon has feelings for Yifan, at least not in that way. 

As a fellow student, and as a student under her guidance, Sooyeon is concerned and worried for him. Even more so when she found out that he cuts himself and is suicidal. Sooyeon doesn't want the incident to happen again because that period of her life was the most depressing and most disappointing for her. No failure could match with her's on that not-so-fateful day and period. 

Sooyeon is determined to make amends with Yifan, determined to help him in his problems in every and any way she could. Sooyeon is more than willing to make him stop before it's already too late. 

She had saw him talk to their teacher, and that calmed Sooyeon down a bit. If anything happened to Yifan, she'd get blamed along with their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Kim so it was actually quite nice of him to go and talk to her, even handing her an excuse letter from the looks of it. She really wonders why he's wearing that sunglasses. One of their teachers had asked him to remove it but he went to the front and faced her, pushing his sunglasess up a little to let her see his eye. Then she had nodded and told him she understood and that he could keep it on. 

Nobody bothered to ask why he wore it, or nobody dared to ask him. 

From time to time, she swears that she can feel Yifan staring holes at her back. His intense gaze can even reach her, who was sitting a few rows before him. Sooyeon doesn't even glance back at him, not even once. 

It was only after class when Yifan had actually approached her. 

It was cleaning time and as usual, Sooyeon had to wait for the cleaners to be finished before she could lock the room. It only took them less than 40 minutes to clean and Sooyoen was glad because she got to go home earlier than usual.

At least, that's what she thought before he had appeared in front of her out of nowhere. 

She had just locked the room when suddenly, as she turns around; ready to walk home, Yifan appears, still wearing those oversized black sunglasses. "Hey." 

Sooyeon is shocked, obviously. She takes a step back and her eyes widen as she cranes her neck up to look at his face. Yifan doesn't really look angry, but rather, serious. This was the first time he approached her, it was always her who had approached him first. 

This was truly a surprise. 

"Uh-"

"Do you like me or something?" he says bluntly, and if it wasn't for the sunglasses covering his eyes, she would've guessed he'd be raising an eyebrow right now. Sooyeon thought he was joking, but his face looked dead serious. 

She takes another step back, eyeing him curiously. "Wha-what?" she stutters. For once, she is actually at a loss for words and the great President Jung cannot think of a snarky retort to that question. 

He leans down and Sooyeon doesn't know what to do. She looks from left to right, but nobody was around; just the two of them, alone in the hallways. When she faces him again, Yifan is already inches away from her face. 

"Do I have to repeat?" he asks, his warm breathe hitting the bottom of her lip, making her shudder. "Or.." 

Without warning, the space between their lips disappears as his lips touch her's.