I guess I’ll be failing then.

Not a single word my teacher has spoken registered in my mind. I continued to sit there, blankly staring at the chalkboard that held perplexing numbers and it didn’t make it any easier when my thoughts remained muddled ever since Mino left me standing there in front of my house the other day.

Nothing is working.

I gave him bull reasons – who the hell actually goes through puberty at the age of 18? But then, I tell the truth and that doesn’t work either. I know I’m not the best person when it came to doing more than asked but I did try. I tried to prevent Mino from getting hurt but he just wasn’t listening.

So, can I just give up? Because it is actually stopping me from functioning in my daily life and I am just so close to my limit already.

I mean, I’m not even that great. I don’t think Mino has the right image of me – if I had to be truthful. Did he even know the real me? Because if he did, I don’t think this little thing he had going on would progress this far.

I snapped back from my thoughts at the sound of the ringing bell.

Taking my time in gathering my things from my desk and packing them into my backpack, I was unfortunately setting myself up for far more bothering situations. But, who ever thinks ahead…am I right?

“I need you to do something for me.”

I looked up upon hearing the voice. Do something for him? My eyebrow quirked and he noticed.

“I wouldn’t ask for a favor if it wasn’t a big problem.” Bobby continues when he doesn’t get a response from me.

His words were blunt but it wasn’t untrue. If he wanted, he could have found some way to force me into it. “I’m not promising I’ll help, but what is it?” I looked down to zip up my backpack. This is going to be fun listening to what he wanted because let’s take a moment to think, shall we? He is asking for help from a person that was sabotaged by him…

Does that make sense? Anyone? I didn’t think so.

“I need you to see Hanbin.”

A short laugh leaves my lips at the mention of the tyrant. Bobby has got to be joking. The past two days without Hanbin in my life has given me one less problem to think about. I’m not about to add more stress to my life by openly waltzing back into his nor was I ever thinking about doing Bobby a favor either.

That would make me an idiot and I am no idiot.

“Why me?” I didn’t actually care – I was just humoring the thought for a moment.

“Believe it or not, your words did more damage than you expected.” 

His words caused me to stop my actions, still not quite believing this was actually the conversation we were having. “You’re telling me, I somehow hurt his feelings?” Hanbin? The person who I am convinced doesn’t even know what feelings are.

“You can say that.” Bobby stood there, still trying to convince me to do something about this apparent problem…though, if you ask me, it wasn’t much of a problem in my world.

“You want me to apologize? For telling the truth?” 

There was a bit of a pause before Bobby opened his mouth to answer. “No, I want you to forgive him.”

Thinking there was sarcasm in his voice, I stared at him. “…Are you joking?”

“Nope.”

I don’t think I understand – “I think you lost me along the way.”

“I can’t tell you why but he needs to know you forgive him.” Bobby vaguely explained and I tilted my head in thought – acting like I cared about the words coming out of his mouth because believe me, I didn’t.

“…I’ll think about it.” I said it more on a whim since all I wanted to do was get to the cafeteria soon and most importantly, away from Bobby. Before I could turn away, Bobby reached out and held onto my wrist.

“By today.”

I looked back at him while chewing the inside of my cheek. “I’ll also take that into consideration.”

Not really.

***

I looked at the two in front of me when the memory of yesterday seeing them leaving together came to mind. See what I mean? I had more important things to think about than about the tyrant.

“Where did you two go off to yesterday?” I broke into their two-person conversation. No longer did Sanghee looked at Donghyuk with annoyed eyes – instead, she was looking at him like how she looked at me.

Something was up.

Sanghee clears and Donghyuk avoids my stare. “What do you mean, Jiwoo?” 

“I saw you guys leaving together.” I didn’t go into further details because they definitely knew what I was talking about. “What are you two hiding?”

“Nothing.” They responded in unison and that was enough to convince me they were hiding something. 

“You’ve been getting along with each other.” At my comment, they shared looks. “But, I guess it’s not impossible when you two hang out when I’m not around.” I concluded before going back to my lunch. I have been so preoccupied with Hanbin and his issues that I don’t hang out with Sanghee as much anymore. So, it’s a given if Sanghee and Donghyuk get closer due to my absence.

“Is there something going on?” 

I didn’t react to Sanghee’s question that successfully switched the topic. “No, not really.” I lied.

“Where’s Hanbin? I haven’t seen him lately.” Sanghee asks next, thinking my mood was the result of missing my ‘boyfriend’…or was it because she didn’t want me further questioning her?

Either way, I’ll let you off this once, Sanghee – only because I was once in her spot – my mistake, still am. But, I’ll wait until she wanted to share whatever she was hiding. “He isn’t feeling well.” Not a total lie. He was totally moping, apparently.

“Are his injuries that bad? What happened?” Donghyuk joined in. “Everyone in school has been talking about it.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.” I looked up to see the two. “He got himself into trouble so he can deal with it himself.”

***

Despite me saying that, Bobby once again cornered me before I could leave school. He was not going to let Hanbin deal with this on his own even though, Hanbin was already a big boy and he hardly needed anyone to help him. He didn’t need to hold anyone’s hands before pummeling faces so he didn’t need to hold someone’s hand to be cheered up.

And, that made total and absolute sense to me – but obviously, not to Bobby.

“Did you think about it?” He leaned back against the lockers beside my own while Jinhwan stood on the other side of me. “I gave you the whole day.” He was quick to remind me.

That was so kind of him…but it didn’t change anything. “I don’t want to.” I closed my locker and looked at him. “I like this feeling.” The feeling that Hanbin was finally feeling a little miserable. I liked how the situation had flipped. 

“So, you won’t –“

“Nope.” I interjected before Jinhwan can finish his question. 

“What is so hard about what we’re asking you to do?” Bobby kept his face stoic, not allowing me to have a glimpse of what he may be thinking or feeling. But, that was normal – I could never read him.

“You’re asking me to forgive him – even though, he hadn’t apologized.” I didn’t think it was that hard to understand. 

“That’s hard?” Bobby questioned.

“No, that’s just part of the reason.” I decided the only way he would understand is if I spelled it out for him. But, I knew Bobby was intelligent. He knew why I was acting the way I was. This was a matter of persuading. Persuading him about why I shouldn’t have to do it. “Ever since school started, Hanbin has forced me to fix his problems, thus, putting me in unsafe situations. I didn’t ask for it yet it was forced upon me. I have grown to dislike me being pushed into problems that I have no intention to be a part of.” Like this problem where Hanbin is moping around – I don’t care to take part in fixing it.

“What about the deal? Where’s the part that you agreed to fix his problems?” Bobby asked his next question.

“Given that I eventually agreed, it was still terrible.” I granted his mention. “Yet I did it anyway. But then, Hanbin started to involve me into things beyond the deal.” Like going out of his way to make Mino miserable every chance he got. “And besides, this isn’t a type of problem I fix.” 

Especially one where I needed to lift his spirits. 

“I listened to Jinhwan and decided to approach this problem in a different manner.” Bobby replies – still not persuaded, I’m assuming. He took a step closer while Jinhwan dropped his head in his hand.

“You should have just agreed.” The said boy mumbled into his palm.

I looked back at Bobby,