The dorm become an awkward residence now. Kikwang and Doojoon practically banished Dongwoon from their hectic lives whenever possible. Whenever they saw the maknae, they simply pushed him away and ignored him, as if he was never there. The other members caught on to this behavior, but didn’t come to question it as they knew it was personal business.

 

“What’s with Doojoon and Dongwoon now?” Junhyung asked Yoseob, while they played a different game on the console this time, rapidly pressing the buttons to shoot bullets at the villains.

 

Yoseob replied blankly while his mind was focused on the game, “I don’t even know myself. One day they were all happy and brothers and now they like want to kill each other.”

 

The pikachu had been placed in Yoseob’s lap this time for their round of late gamings. The two older guys were battling over who would get to sleep with it, though it was Junhyung’s plush doll.

 

“Oh. Hm, weird. Yah, are you cheating again?!’ Junhyung accused, his eyes scrunched up at the television set, his presses on the button becoming more forced and pressured.

 

Yoseob shrugged, “Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe they’re fighting over a girl, who knows. I know why Kikwang is mad at Dongwoon though. And no, I’m not cheating, you just .”

 

“YAH! YOU LITT--”

 

And the two idols erupted into childish horse-playing, both guys struggling on the couch for the plush toy.

 

~

 

“I talked to Dongwoon.” Doojoon stated, his arm wrapped around the girl’s shoulders.

 

The two had located themselves at the bench once again, their presence comforting the other. Her eyes had huge bags underneath them and her hair was ruffled wildly, this time not from Doojoon, and her school cardigan was also tattered, but she didn’t care about her physical appearance. She didn’t care about anything, but instead just stood on Earth to breath.

 

“Oh.” So-hyun whispered weakly. The emotional state she was in was obvious to Doojoon but the rest of the world didn’t question it, she was a nobody to everyone else.

 

Doojoon continued, “Yeah, I saw it happen.”

 

She remained silent.

 

He resumed, “Why didn’t you tell me, So-hyun? We could’ve solved this problem easily.”

 

Her eyes were closed, but she slowly raised her head, no longer letting it rest upon his shoulders, “I don’t know. I didn’t want to cause a scene.” She admitted, her eyes red, stained with tears.

 

“Scene? You’re letting yourself get hurt just because you don’t want to cause a scene?” He asked puzzledly, making her excuse sound pathetic and wimp.

 

Her eyes remained closed, “Yeah..”

 

“So-hyun..”  He murmured, his arms returning from her shoulders back to their usual state.

 

She was tired of this conversation’s topic, “What now?”

 

“I’m sorry.” He apologized sadly.

 

She was confused, “For what?”

 

He took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m sorry for all the pain you went through.”

 

Her expression remained sad and blank.

 

“I’m sorry for not being a good friend. I should’ve knew something was up.”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

It really wasn’t.

 

~

 

“They’re all mad at me now.” Dongwoon sputtered angrily inwards the phone, the line ending at Ye-Jin’s residence.

 

Ye-Jin let out a soft silence before continuing in her sweet, but deceiving voice, “I don’t know why they are. It’s just a joke.”

 

The silences between each lines of dialogue were deafening, “I don’t think we should mess with her anymore. I saw her crying in the bathrooms.” He replied, remembering the sounds of cries coming from the bathroom after So-hyun had ran off in classroom again.

 

The two girls were complete opposites of each other, as So-hyun was an intelligent, but a weak and shallow girl. His girlfriend though, was a more outgoing person. Ye-Jin wasn’t scared to express her feelings outwardly.

 

“God damn her. She’s such an unstable person.” Ye-Jin snapped, holding the phone with such a huge grip that it left blistering marks on her hand.

 

Dongwoon was already annoyed with her insults, “Hey, calm down now, Ye-Jin.”

 

She continued her snarky remarks, “No. She’s such a wimp. Ratting to people and , and now we’re in trouble.”

 

He was done, “Alright, yeah, sure. Hey, I’m going to go to bed, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

She was shocked but that wasn’t shown in the tone of her voice, “Alright. Love you.”

 

Ye-Jin expected the sincere words back, but this night, she didn’t receive them as she usually did.

 

~

 

The tiles of her bathroom floors were wet from the dripping water on her hair. Her cardigan was neatly ironed last night, looking much more sleek than it did yesterday.

 

Put on a smile.

 

It was hard, but manageable. Hopefully the fake smile would last her until she got to study hall. There Doojoon wouldn’t be able to question any of her beings.

 

Her mother had left for work early, leaving a note stating her sorrows for her inability to cook dinner for the past few nights. She had continued to drink out her stress.

 

~

 

Grandmother remained silent most of the days now, only speaking to communicate greetings to her grandchildrens.

No one could expresses the depression she was having to cope with right now. Her husband, who had been married to her for several years, had passed away. Not involuntarily, but instead as a choice.

 

He was always a stupid man. She thought jokingly to herself, grinning sadly at his picture which laid by the bed stand, untouched for years therefore having dust lay on the cover.The deceased elder meant the world to her, but now he was no longer with her. It was saddening, to wake up, to find no one laying next to her. The left side of the bed remained cold. As well as her heart.

 

~

 

She started her daily routine. It remained the same as it started in the beginning of the year, but it was now all tiring and cut. She no longer ate breakfast in the morning. She no longer gave her siblings the usual peck on the cheeks. She never shouted through the house to say one final last goodbye. So-hyun would only grab her usual trench coat, tug at the sleeves to hide her arms, and take off into the windy mornings to meet Doojoon. But today, it was different.

 

Upon pushing the front door with weak struggles, she found no one waiting on the front porch for her. Normally, Doojoon would be waiting on the bench in the front, or if he wasn’t waiting, he’d be waiting to jump out at her to scare her. That wasn’t the case either since she could venture through the front lawn without a scary presence surprising her.

 

Weird. Where’s Doojoon?

 

She didn’t’ question it any longer after she started her stroll towards the school ground. Today would’ve been one of the usual days where the two would remain silent. The only sounds heard during the walk being the whistling wind and the sounds of their footstep walking against the pavement.

 

Doojoon had taken off early, knowing that this would’ve happened as well. The two colliding thoughts caused Doojoon to take another path to school. He knew she needed silence, and he respected her privacy deepy. He didn’t want to pressure her into telling him, but instead he would wait for when she was ready to talk about it. If anything, he just wanted the girl to regain her usual self. Hopefully, she would soon regain the cheery self she had at the beginning of the year. But who knows. The damage she gone through was overall, excruciatingly difficult to overcome.

 

~

 

“How is she?” The transparent figure asked.

 

The croaking but peaceful voice answered, “Not good.”

 

“She’ll make it.”

 

~

 

Trudging through the hallways was only the mere beginning of her living nightmares, the nightmares that happened everyday. A stare was always given to her, as well as a few murmurs, but all she could manage to do were ignore them. It was difficult, but not impossible. The words remained the same everyday though, as insults and rumors that were spread got bland. Of course, the usual happened today, as the few girls at their lockers turned towards her and began to whisper to one another as she passed by them. The words were muted from her ears, but she wouldn’t want to hear them anyway. The worst words of her morning wouldn’t arrive though, until she would pass through the Second-Year corridors, where Ye-Jin’s locker was located. She would never be distracted by her locker, but instead by her friends or if not her friends, Dongwoon.

 

“Yeah, there’s the wimpy girl.” Ye-Jin whispered loudly, making it obvious for So-hyun to hear.

 

She ignored her, but began to walk more slowly.

 

Ye-Jin was never done, and never knew when to shut , “She ratted us to her little friends, and got Dongwoon in huge trouble from his hyungs.”

 

She stopped walking, even though she was past the bully. Slowly twisting around in a circular manner, she softly said, “He deserved it.” And before the bullies could even dare think of a reply, she continued walking.

 

So-hyun knew they would fight back with a reply, and it slowly came after she continued walking for a few seconds.

 

“So-hyun!” A voice called out, though she ignored it casually.

 

Dongwoon knew she could hear him, as he echoed her voice loudly through the hallway. He had no choice but to run up to her himself.

 

The blonde-haired male had soon caught up to her, pulling on her trench coat, causing it to pull off slightly, revealing her arm sleeves. More was shown than needed to.

 

Her left arm had a long mark impaled into her skin, but it wasn’t normal. The long mark was bruising red, obviously manmade and not naturally cut.

 

“So-hyun..” He stammered, seeing the scar she had committed herself.

 

. She thought to herself, panicking on her thoughts. She preferred not to talk about it, but no one had seen the scar before.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” So-hyun bluntly said surprised that he had tugged on her so roughly, that her cardigan sleeves were pulled back. She quickly pulled back down the cardigans, as well as putting on the trench coat at the same time to hide the scar.

 

He stopped walking, shocked.

 

“Uh, what’s that..?” He asked dumbly, wanting an explanation for the cut on her arm.

 

She sadly shook her head and pushed towards him, causing the older one to stumble back against the lockers. She couldn’t even comprehend the situation enough to think of a full-thoughted excuse.

 

Dongwoon was persistent though. This time, he pulled her other arm back, holding the girl into a grip so she wouldn’t be able to run.

 

She was plainly annoyed, but some feeling within her had told her to stop walking.

 

“What?!” She yelled, her eyes glaring at him.

 

What the hell do you want now?! Your y girlfriend just said her usual insult.

 

He flinched, surprised at the tone of her voice. He heard her be angry before, but never in this pleading pitch. “I...I’m sorry.” He said softly, his eyes not being able to meet with hers anymore.

 

She turned her heads towards the ground, her vision becoming blurry as the dripping sensation had formed into her eyes again, “For what?”

 

“For…the way I treated you.” He replied quietly, hoping the others around him wouldn’t hear his apology that was genuine this time. The words he had received from Doojoon and Kikwang had gotten to him, and he was sick of the days where he couldn’t sleep, the days where he would just think about the cruel actions he had did to her. And with seeing the scars, he was sick of it.

 

He managed to turn his head upwards to meet with hers. Though her head was tilted downwards, he could still see the red-stained eyes.

 

Slowly turning her head up, she met her eyes with his brown eyes, where she could see the guilt that was impaled into the orbs. Her reply though, was what her heart said instead,

 

“Dongwoon, you can’t be sorry.”

 

The dejected apology had shocked him even further. He’d never apologized to someone this sincere before, yet has he ever had to. His eyes widened in astonishment quickly.

 

“You can’t be sorry for the constant bullying over the months. You done too much for me to just forgive you that easily.”

 

It was true.

 

“So-hyun…” He stuttered, his arms releasing hers. She didn’t take this chance to leave though.

 

“No. You think I’m just going to forgive you? You and everyone else?”

 

He didn’t reply nor made any change in movement towards her.

 

She scoffed at him in disgust, “You’re more pathetic than me. And that’s a huge saying right there, since everyone already told me how pathetic I am.”

 

It was her turn to insult, but she quickly took it back, “No, you’re not pathetic. What am I saying? I’m just being like you.” Her tears had fallen at this point, as she didn’t try to clear them.

 

So-hyun continued with her words beginning to quiver,

 

“The words you guys said, they were horrible and cruel. But you know what I could’ve done? Nothing. I’m not a ratty , even though I was called one several times.”

 

“I really am sorry..” He said regretfully. Other classmates had passed by them, including Ye-Jin in which all she could manage to give him was a death glare. He ignored her though, as So-hyun continued to talk to him in a lecturing manner but then again, a reality call.

 

She smiled sadly, causing his heart to ache even more, “You can’t be. That’s not you.”

 

His frown had turned grim, and so did the clouds of his thoughts. So-hyun this time, pushed him out of her way with more force, and all he could do was stare at her figure walk inside the classroom. The classroom where all the feelings he had vented towards her occurred.

 

You ed it up Dongwoon. You really did.

 

Dongwoon was pushed again towards the lockers, this time by a presence that had been ignoring him for the past few days. Doojoon threw him a glare, before continuing towards the third-year corridor.

 

~

 

Mr. Park left the classroom for the usual study hall break, which started the worst part of her school day. It was the period of time where anything could happen, but most of the times, was the period where Ye-Jin would harass her everyday. Suzy had ignored So-hyun all day, only calling to her for the few questions she had on an assignment. Yoseob and Kikwang were absent again, leaving the girl to herself in isolation.

 

The conversation she had with Dongwoon was cruel on her side, but she wouldn’t have sympathy for him and simply forgive him. He had done far too much for her to just say it’s okay.

 

He caused this scar.

 

“Hey, So-hyun, why aren’t you crying like always?” A yell had been shouted from across the classroom. Small snickers and chuckles could been heard from her desk.

 

When will she ever leave me alone? Oh that’s right, never.

 

Her tired state didn’t stir up tears but just caused her to palm her hands together, creating fictional heat.

 

Ye-Jin continued, “No answer? Wimp.”

 

The laughter had risen up in volume. Dongwoon no longer laughed with them though, but the actions he would continue to resume would contradict his past behavior, confusing his classmates especially So-hyun.

 

“Stop.” He ordered towards Ye-Jin in which all she could manage to do was shake her head,

 

“And, where’s the fun in that?” She excused lamely, flipping her luscious hair backwards.

 

He turned towards her, his eyes glaring. “There’s not supposed to be any fun in that. Just stop, god damn it.”

 

Suzy continued to tend to herself, no longer defending the girl as So-hyun had someone else to do so. She couldn’t help but overhear the once bully now defend the victim.

 

Dongwoon rose up from his seat and walked towards the muted girl, sitting behind her as the seat had always remained empty all-year, “Hey, ignore her.” He said quietly towards So-hyun who didn’t turn backwards towards him. The class had erupted into gasps and murmurs, but he ignored them.

 

She remained silent, but continued to palm her hands. It had suddenly turned freezing. She tugged up her sleeves just in case.

 

What the hell does Dongwoon want now?!

 

“Dongwoon-ah, what the are you doing? Stop talking to her.” Ye-jin called out exasperatedly across to him.

 

What IS Dongwoon doing? Sitting behind the ? What the ?!

 

“Shut up, Ye-Jin.” He countered smoothly, causing the girl to be taken aback.

 

He wouldn’t it up again. He wouldn’t let his relationship with Ye-Jin get in between his continual friendship with So-hyun.

 

I won’t make the same mistake again.

 

“Yeah, just ignore her.” He said, comforting the girl’s shallow self. She made a movement, moving her head towards the desk, in which tears started to fall on the mahogany surface. Her eyes were still red-stained, since she cried in the hallways from his other confrontation.

 

She had murmured something, but it was too weak that he couldn’t hear her. He raised himself up slightly and moved closer to her, “What?”

 

So-hyun repeated herself, a bit more stronger but still weak, “Why are you doing this?”

 

“So-hyun-ah, I really am sorry.” He said, his guilt killing him slowly by slowly.

 

She couldn’t accept it yet. The words he had said before still hurt her deeply, and they still impacted her heavily. They shot through her heart, the bullets sharding her shady ego relentlessly.

 

“I can’t..” She grimly said, tears muffling her short responses.

 

Sighing deeply, he had managed to pick himself back up and stroll back to his desk in which he had classmates staring at him in deep surprise. Well, everyone except one person, in which she was staring at him in pure anger.

 

He ignored Ye-jin’s stare and began to get ready for the next class as the next teacher in the rotation had arrived.

 

I won’t let it happen to you again, So-hyun-ah.

 

I promise.

 

It was just up to him, if he would really keep it.

 

 

---

 

school . :c i'm so behind on chapters now, i only written about 25. that's why i can update daily, i need to get back on pace before i drop it again. anyway comment and subscribe. love you all!