She couldn't relax throughout the lectures, she didn't know what was going to happen. Why did JongUp want to know? Was he trying to figure out her secret for his own benefit? 

He could get anything he wanted especially with what those girls were saying about her earlier. They obviously liked JongUp, and she didn't have time to deal with that. There was obviously a reason why he wanted to know, some ulterior motive. No one did anything for no reason. 

She sighed to herself as she heard the final bell ring. It was going to happen, class was over, done with. And there was no way she was gonna run. 

“You ready?” He said, his voice already beside her. She knew he was worried she would bolt. She couldn’t blame him, she wanted to bolt. 

“Haeri, are you gonna be okay?” Youngjae asked her, pointedly staring at JongUp beside her. 

She gave him the best reassuring look she could muster, “Mr. Kim asked me to tutor JongUp, it’s not a big deal, Youngjae. Just go home.” She told him simply. 

JongUp didn’t miss the look of relief on Youngjae’s face with Haeri’s answer, he smirked to himself. This guy liked her, he could mess with that if he was bored. “Oh, okay. See you tomorrow, Haeri.” Youngjae said, leaving the classroom. 

It was finally empty and she grabbed her backpack and finally looked at him, “The roof?” She asked. 

“Okay.” He replied and she took the lead as they walked towards the stairs that would take them there. They walked in silence, just the sound of their shoes echoing in the hallway. The closer they got, the more anxious Haeri felt. She had no idea what to expect from this, why him? Why him of all people?  

But why not him? At least he didn’t have any friends to gossip with, unlike those girls from earlier. She would never live it down if those girls found out the truth about her background. They would ruin her reputation as fast as they could, they were so jealous.  

JongUp came around her to open the door to the roof and the dimming sunlight as it was setting hit their faces in full force. “Okay.” He said, and the door closed behind them. The signal to begin, the signal that they were finally alone. 

“The house you saw me enter is really my house. I live in that neighborhood. It’s the neighborhood known for gangsters, es, drugs, and more. I live there in poverty, from paycheck to paycheck. Every time a tutee of mine pays me it goes straight to food for my house. If it doesn’t then..” Haeri said drifting off. She looked at JongUp’s face and he seemed curious.  

It was rather odd to see someone be curious about her story, he wasn’t grinning or smirking, he didn’t look like he was making plans to exploit her already. “Go on.” He urged her. She kept her thoughts to herself and sighed. 

“My parents lost both their jobs when the market crashed. They resolved to get loans to keep up their lifestyle, but soon it grew to be too much. Every penny they earned went to their debt. Which resulted in their depression, which leads them to more debt as they chug booze like water daily. If I don’t use up all my paycheck on food, then they use it for booze.” Haeri explained to him, stopping her story again. 

“And?” JongUp asked her. He was waiting to hear it, to hear about her reputation and what it had to do with her living there. 

“And what, JongUp? I live there. That’s my neighborhood. If people found out I lived there, I would never live it down. I’m the top student. People would accuse me of selling my body for money on the streets and to teachers for good grades. People would accuse me of taking drugs for my good grades or selling drugs to make money. No one would think I worked hard.” Haeri raised her voice at him in exasperation. “Why do you want to know all this?" 

JongUp smirked, "If you really live there, then you should know about Moon." He said simply. 

Haeri looked at him curiously, "Moon? You mean the gangster that runs that neighborhood? He's the top one, and he's new from what I've heard." She answered him. "But what does that have do with anything?" 

He took a step closer to her and instinctively, Haeri moved back. They continued their dance until she could feel the wall pressed up against her back. He didn't lean in, but he towered over her ominously, "Don't you know my last name, Little Miss Perfect?"  

In a flash, he could see the lightbulb going off in her head as she realized what he was saying, "You!" She raised her voice loudly at him. 

"Yes, me. Who do you think rescued you from those two erts walking behind you the other night?" He asked triumphantly. He was thoroughly enjoying this, she knew practically nothing. She paid no attention to anything outside of her books, and yet she had made it this far in that neighborhood. She had to be good at something. 

"You? No wonder they disappeared so quickly. It was my fault for walking home so late but I had to get groceries or else, my parents would search my room for my paycheck to get food. They get the munchies every so often from getting high too." Haeri explained to him, her shoulders relaxing from his authoritative air. 

"You know better than to be out that late though." He told her. "I know you know." He raised his eyebrows at her.  

"I know, but I had tutoring which pays for the food and which is what I'm saving up for college as well." She said, "I'm gonna get into one of the top colleges and live in the dorms, so I can move out from that hellhole. I'm gonna make myself safe and free from there."  

JongUp looked at her in shock, "That's why you study so hard? To get yourself out of there?" He asked her. 

Haeri crossed her arms over her chest, "How else do you expect me to get out of there? I don't have money, all I can do is get out through hard work." She said pointedly. 

"You know that it's hard to get out, don't you? Why do you think I worked so hard to get to the top?" He replied back to her, crossing his own arms over his chest. If she was going to prance around and act like she was better then he could do the same. 

"That's what I'm doing too. I'm working hard to be the top student so I can get out. Youngjae doesn't need a scholarship to attend college, he's rich. I need a scholarship." She insisted at him, "And I'm sure you have someone who at least has faith in you, or you wouldn't be hanging around Daehyun that much at school."  

"Are you saying that you're better than me?" He took a step towards her and she couldn't hold back her flinch. She cowered before him as he proved once again exactly why he was Moon. 

"No, I'm saying at least you have people who support you, Moon. I have nobody." Haeri said, shaking her head, "Besides, what is the real reason that this whole thing has been bothering you? We both know you don't pry into people's personal lives for nothing." 

JongUp frowned, she did have a good point. Why did it bother him? To see Little Miss Perfect in such a dangerous place and wanting to know why? Or was it something else? "Why did you bandage my hand up that day?" He asked her.  

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Haeri stuttered out but she avoided his gaze. 

"So it was you! Why did you bother?" JongUp said, sticking his finger in her face. "You!" He repeated again. 

Haeri sighed deeply and rolled her eyes, "I don't know why I did it. There was nowhere to sit at lunch so I sat by you and I noticed the blood in your hand. So I thought that you shouldn't let it get infected so I cleaned it and bandaged it while you were sleeping. You didn't even notice when I cleaned it so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal." She explained to him. "Is that what's been bothering you?" 

"Yes!" JongUp answered with no hesitation, "No one does anything for me. Only Daehyun, so why would you even bother? You don't even accept your crushes' dates." He argued. 

"Yeah, you're right. But that doesn't mean I'm a bad person. Any person in their right mind would want to make sure your hand was okay." She told him, "You're the one who's been staring at me in class." She said breathlessly as she came to this realization. 

"Yeah I wanted to try and figure out what you were thinking. Like when guys asked you out, when YoungJae bothers you. I wanted to know why you would bandage up my hand." He explained to her. 

"Well I just told you. So what now? You know my secret." She asked him. 

"And you know mine." He replied. 

"So are we even then?" She asked. 

"I would say so."  

"So are we gonna be friends now? Or what? I still have to tutor you because Mr. Kim gives me extra credit for every student that I tutor that improves a letter grade." Haeri told him.  

"We can't be friends at school obviously. You have all the boys that would cry if you hung around me too much." JongUp said. 

"I would be hunted down by your fan girls too." Haeri muttered but JongUp heard it. 

"Why does everyone say I have fan girls? Even Daehyun says I have a fan club. But I don't see it. And I don't see why." JongUp said exasperated, throwing his arms up in the air. 

"I might be 'Little Miss Perfect' to you but I can promise you I'm not blind. All the girls in school are crushing on you, you have that bad boy aura and everyone wants to know if you're actually a softie on the inside." Haeri told him.  

"How do you even know that? You don't even pay attention to the world around you." JongUp threw her a glare. But she ignored him. 

"I might study a lot, JongUp, but I'm not blind and I'm still a girl." She snapped. "Besides, I'm sure that for as many guys that like me, there's the same amount of girls that like you." 

"What. Not even. You have guys from other schools that like you. Which I have no idea how that's possible, but yeah." JongUp argued. 

"Math competitions. And you have girls in the neighborhood that look up and admire you. You protect everyone in your neighborhood, the chivalrous gangster that doesn't allow any bad things to happen on his turf." She said, practically quoting those other guys who he got into a fight with the other night. 

"You need to know what you're dealing with. This guys are bad, it was worse before, don't you remember?" He asked her. 

Haeri frowned, "Of course I remember. That was before my parents got into alcohol and were only into the little stuff. But you made it better, you did that. You should know that you can do anything." She said to him. 

"I can't escape there. Not everyone that lives there deserves to be there." He told her. "Not everyone wants to be there." 

She sighed, "Like me. But some people do want to be there and you shouldn't even worry about those people. They're making a choice, and there's nothing you can do about it." 

"You have to stick with me, Little Miss Perfect. If you're caught by guys again, then not only will there be trouble for you. But if word gets out that I didn't protect you, then I'm ruined." JongUp said, "Be careful."  

She looked over his shoulder and saw that the sun was starting to go down, "Don't just worry about everyone else. Worry about yourself too. I should head home since the sun is going down. Wouldn't wanna get caught in a bad situation." She said. 

JongUp smirked at her, "You know what, Little Miss Perfect." He said, moving away from her so she could walk towards the stairs down from the building. 

"I have a name, you know." Haeri told him, as they went back down to the bottom floor to leave campus.  

JongUp followed her, in step with her as they headed out the school gates, "You're not so bad, Go Haeri." He said, grinning widely. 

Haeri smiled back at him, "You're not so bad yourself, Moon." 

Author's Note;;
okay so another chapter done :o took a while.. sorry.. 
it's midterm season now so my updates will get slow again.. 
but after that I'll be all good to try and write more.. >~> 
honestly i have no specific plans :o i know what i want to happen down the line.
but not in the next chapter.. so hopefully it all works out. :o 
enjoy~