You can say after that happened, I bolted from my spot so fast that dust clouded the air– are you surprised? You shouldn't be. I didn’t bother a second glance. If you all are confused as to why I didn’t even kindly check to see if he is okay – well, I knew he was okay.

How?

Why, from all of his angry yelling, of course.

If he could still yell at me then he must be okay. And so, I didn’t look back as my legs worked quickly to get me home. 

But, I am human too. 

There was regret. 

I’m regretting that I didn’t hit him harder! 

Just kidding.

There was a little bit of guilt and worry, to be honest. I couldn’t bring myself to think about how much I worsened his bad eye. Looks like the recovery time is going to be delayed once again and suddenly, this tough front I had put up has already started to crumble. 

Before, I actually hadn’t done anything to warrant his attitude and his bullying but this time – this time, I did do something. 

But, let’s be fair here.

Hanbin was the instigator in this situation. If he hadn’t tried to touch me, I wouldn’t have tried to move my hand, the bag of green tea mochi ice cream wouldn’t have been flung, and it wouldn’t have hit his eye.

You agree with me, right?

In contrary to that belief, something tells me that Hanbin’s thoughts on this wouldn’t be similar to mine. If anything, it will be the total opposite. According to his perspective, I would say he thinks I planned it all. That I purposefully attacked him with my plastic bag, intending to do that to his poor little eye. 

So instead of enjoying my weekend, a weekend where I didn’t have to see Awkward Mino or Gullible Hanbin and a weekend where I can enjoy myself – I’m spending it with mushy drama titles and worries for what will happen to me on Monday.

“I haven’t heard a complaint from you for a while.” Sanghee comments and yes, everybody, her eyes were still glued to the screen despite speaking to me. I’m not even offended anymore.

“I think I’ve run out of complaints.” I reply smoothly. My mind was elsewhere but I wasn’t slow in answering her question. 

“Why are you always strange after buying your sister’s ice cream?” 

I turned to look at Sanghee. It’s so scary how she could multitask like that. While watching her torturous shows – in my opinion – she still manages to notice such details.

“So, are you going to tell me or continue to add this to your list of secrets?” She continues on when all she gets from me is silence.

“Well, Sanghee –“ I begin slowly. “ – I don’t know what you’re saying.” 

Maybe, I should have told her. If anyone can protect me, it would be Sanghee. But, that’s the thing.

I didn’t want her to. I have come to realize that Sanghee had problems of her own and I didn’t need her worrying about my own matters. And conflicting to what I have said in the beginning, maybe the entire time, it had been me that needed looking out for and not the other way around. 

Well gee, look at that enlightenment. 

She clicks her tongue in annoyance. “Your avoidance is becoming a habit.” 

“And your insistence is becoming a routine.” I say in response.

Sanghee sighs and finally turns to face me. I do the same and meet her eyes. “How did you like today?” She asks with a benevolent smile. But, I knew it was anything but benevolent.

“It was a nightmare.” I answer without pause. These dramas were awful.

“Good.” Her smile grew wider. “That’s the response I wanted. It will only get better from here on out.”

And when she says, ‘better’, I know what she meant was ‘worse’. This was how Sanghee worked.

***

When I awoke on this bright and happy Monday morning, I didn’t know the horrid news that would turn my whole day – sorry, my whole year upside down. 

Believe me.

Nothing could get worse than this. Questions ran through my head. Like, why me? What did I do to deserve this kind of ending? Didn’t karma get tired of targeting me? Wasn't it someone else's turn by now?

And I came to one conclusion.

The world and most importantly, Jimin must hate me. I mean, why else would she put me through something like this? Her news came in a form of a note, stuck to the outside of my bedroom door. 

Jiwoo, I can’t take you to school in the mornings anymore.

Those were the words that were written on the piece of yellow note. Do you all know what this will entail? This means that I need to ride the bus in the morning from now on. I would have to deal with the crowded bus and run into Awkward Mino. Every. Single. Week. Day. Morning. 

That didn’t sound fantastic. 

It sounded awful.

Though these thoughts clogged my mind, I could only sigh as I sat at the kitchen table, my appetite absent for breakfast.

“Did you see what unnie left for you?” Jiyoon asked me, reminding me of the dark news of the morning.

Another sigh was given in response.

“Seems like you did.” Jiyoon concluded as she went back to her breakfast. “It looks like unnie has an earlier shift now, she already left.”

Again, a sigh was the only sound I could produce. 

Jiyoon stares at me from her spot at the table and shakes her head. 

She didn’t understand me.

And, she would never understand me. 

“I should go now.” I say quietly before getting up from my seat. I placed my half-finished breakfast into the sink and waved one last time before leaving through the door.

When I saw the crowd of people waiting at the bus stop and then the crowd of people on the bus, I couldn’t help but think this is what I have to deal with for the rest of the year? I sighed as I stared out the window of the bus. I was trying my best to not think about it and that’s when I noticed the stop that was coming up.

As I predicted, Mino got on the bus and stood beside me. 

“You’re riding the bus this morning.” Mino stated the obvious. Probably with also a hint of surprise.

“Please don’t remind me.” I reply softly. I didn’t need to think about how Jimin chose to abandon me. 

A deep chuckle resonated from him. “It’s not all that bad.”

I turned to see that he was already looking at me. “I beg to differ.” Because it’s bad. It’s terribly bad. Maybe, I’m a brat. Maybe that’s why the news hit me hard. Because Jimin had been spoiling me all along. 

And, at the same time, I couldn’t help but notice that Mino got a bit less weird. Seeing that his stammering has stopped and that he can hold a proper conversation. 

I can’t believe the problem was fixed over night.

I looked up and my eyes followed the single stop as the bus speeded by it. “Wasn’t that your stop?” I blurted to the boy beside me.

He didn’t look panicked as he shrugged his shoulders. As soon as I thought he had gotten less awkward, he surprised me once again. His eyes turned away from me and it seemed his words had failed him once again. He cleared his throat and finall