Have you ever been afraid to go somewhere? Been scared when you wake up with the first light of the morning, knowing that the new day will bring the same pain as each before? This is what HaRa feels. Every day brings dread, combined with a compelling force to crawl back under the covers and stay moulded with the dark. What scares her so much? It is the single place mandatory for those people who want to gain knowledge, skills and be successful in the world: school. Despite the empty promises from teachers that classrooms are a safe environment where everyone was there to learn, HaRa could not have felt any farther from safe. She felt trapped, isolated, and alone; she was suffering.

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HaRa awoke bright and early to the buzzing of her alarm clock. Lazily turning over to face the obnoxious noisemaker, HaRa slammed the snooze button with no desire to heed its warning. Cuddling back into her safe haven, HaRa was ready to let the companionable darkness consume her again; unfortunately the relief was short lived.

“HARA, YOU BETTER BE OUT OF BED! I’M NOT GOING TO LET YOU BE LATE AGAIN!” Her mother’s shrill voice travelled the halls and affectively woke up HaRa. She hated school but she also didn’t want to disappoint her mother.

Climbing reluctantly out of her bed, HaRa grabbed the necessary items and made her way into the bathroom. After a few moments of freshening herself up, HaRa was done but didn’t leave the bathroom just yet. She had one last thing to do that had become a part of her morning routine; she had to give herself the little pep talk that had now become a ritual of sorts.

“Ok HaRa you can do this. If you survived up until today, then you can make it through one more day. Just keep your head held high.” With a final firm stare into her reflection, HaRa exited the bathroom and prepared herself for her living nightmare.

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The large monstrous building was a travelling distance too short for HaRa’s pleasure, but knew it’s looming presence will continue to be a part of her life for another year. HaRa was currently a junior in high school and considering this was the most prestigious school in the area, transferring was certainly not an option.

Counting each step until she reached the doors that served as a gateway from heaven to hell, HaRa continued to try to build up her self-confidence. She thought and hoped that the higher she talked herself into fake confidence and self-esteem, then maybe she would have a better chance of not being brought down. Unfortunately this did not work, but she continued to try anyway.

HaRa finally reached the mouth of the beast, but she once again hesitated knowing what lied beyond. As though knowing HaRa needed coaxing to finally enter the school, the warning bell rang signaling everyone should be getting to their first class of the day. With a final deep breath to calm her thunderous heart, HaRa opened the doors and made her first step into the building.

As soon as she started walking down the halls, she heard the familiar drone of murmurs that were all directed toward her. By the time HaRa reached her locker she heard of how her hair was flat and dull, how her clothes looked worn and how awful her mere presence was to even look at. All the comments made her want to crumble and melt through the floor to get away, but unfortunately the worst was yet to come.

As HaRa was filling her backpack with the books she would need for her first few classes, a shiver ran down her spine that commanded all the hairs on her back to stand at attention. She knew this feeling all too well; it was the dark cloud that always preceded a certain presence. Daehyun.

Daehyun was a part of the kingka group whom called themselves BAP. It supposedly stood for Best, Absolute, Perfect, but HaRa decided it should more appropriately stand for Brute, Atrocious, People. The group was rude, harsh and belittled everyone that they deemed to be a part of a lower social standing. This, according to them, was everyone. In HaRa’s mind though, Daehyun was the worst of them. Despite not being the leader of the group, he had a powerful and intimidating aura surrounding him that rivaled that of any authority figure; and he certainly used it to his advantage.

At this point, HaRa was panicking. She wanted, no needed, to get all her books and head to her class before she would be made into mincemeat by the kingkas. But once again, the sun was not shining on her.

“Oh look, loser number one is back again. Why do you insist on coming here?” HaRa has been tortured by these six for so long now; that she knew who the raspy voice belonged to without turning around.

“Himchan please, obviously she is here to learn. Stupid people need all the time they can get to study. Although I think Miss HaRa here is a lost cause.” There’s Youngjae, subtlety flaunting his intelligence any chance he can get.

Slowly turning around, HaRa was hoping to find a way out before things got worse. But once again luck didn’t seem to be on her side, for when she turned around she made direct eye contact with BAP enemy number one: Daehyun. Without saying anything, Daehyun pushed HaRa’s shoulder into the lockers behind her, causing her to drop her bag and her books glide across the floor.

“Oops, sorry, just figured an idiot like you doesn’t need any books. Go home, no one wants you here.”

With Daehyun’s parting words left ringing in the air, BAP turned and started walking away down the hall while laughing as though they just heard the funniest joke in the world. Meanwhile, the hum of other student’s comments where filling the air as HaRa started to yet again fill her backpack and fight back the tears that were on the verge of falling.

As the day progressed HaRa did nothing but keep her head down and have her presence limited to the corner of whichever room she was currently in. Counting down the minutes until the bell rang for the end of school, HaRa bolted out of the classroom once she heard the ring of freedom; and she didn’t stop running until she finally was able to plant her body firmly under the protection of her blankets.

However, that night HaRa’s mind did not stop replaying the scene with Daehyun. Her mind was on a constant loop and for some reason it focused on certain aspects of the silent bad boy. The chocolate brown of his eyes, which were always cold and distant, yet somehow slightly warm and inviting. The slight curve of his jaw, the height of his cheek bones and the strength of his obvious muscles being unfortunately shielded by his shirt. HaRa was starting to go deeper into her mind, until with a jolt, she realized she was actually starting to experience a warm and fuzzy feeling while thinking about this particular boy.

“I can’t possibly like him right? I mean he has yet to stop torturing me and making my days miserable. How could I like someone like that? Why would I like someone like that? I couldn’t possibly…..”  With her thoughts never leaving Daehyun, HaRa eventually drifted off to sleep, but not before picturing his full masculine face one last time.

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The next day BAP were casually stalking the halls, looking for their favourite play toy they so dearly enjoyed messing with. Stopping by a particular locker, they waited for their target to arrive, so they could start their day properly. When the warning bell rang though and no one attempted to get them off the lockers, BAP was curious as to where their toy was at. With only a minute left to spare they decided they would continue the hunt later, and headed off to class. Only Daehyun’s mind seemed to have been left behind.

“It’s not like her to not come to school. Where could she be? Oh god what if something happened to her? What if someone broke into her house and kidnapped her!! Ok seriously, that’s just stupid. Come on Daehyun get it together, it’s not as though you like her or anything….wait. Like? No, I don’t like her…..”

For the next two days after that, Daehyun’s mind was not focusing on anything that was going on around him; he was just constantly thinking about a particular someone who seemed to have stolen his attention. Despite his best efforts to avoid the inevitable conclusion, Daehyun realized that he may be starting to fall for this unusual person.

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With the flu finally releasing its grip on HaRa’s nose and throat, she finally was well enough to head back to school. She really didn’t want to go though. Now on top on the constant buzzing and humming of insults being thrown at her, she needed to catch up on three days’ worth of school work. She was definitely not looking forward to returning; but sadly she had to. So with her pep talk completed, her huff of make belief confidence and determination, she entered the school building and made her way to her locker.

Oddly though, today her typical morning greeting by her least favourite tormentors did not occur and HaRa started to wonder what exactly happened in the days she was absent. Enjoying the little gift of solitude, she happily made her way to class, hoping that the day will not be as torturous as usual.

With lunch now the focus of everyone’s minds, HaRa packed her bag and made her way to the cafeteria to buy some lunch for herself. Five minutes later with a salad and juice in hand, she took her leave from the food line and started making her way back to the empty classroom in order to share her lunch with the inviting silence. Unfortunately she barely made it to the doors when the command of the familiar shiver crawled down her spine and stopped her feet from moving another step forward.

To HaRa, silence is always welcome and embraced, but the spontaneous hush of the cafeteria was haunting. When BAP then started to speak, it was deafening.

“Oh look who finally decided to show her face around here again. I seriously thought you learned your lesson, finally.” Apparently what Jongup said was so hilariously funny that it made everyone in the cafeteria instantaneously erupt with howling laughter.

“This little lady clearly needs to be taught a better lesson. Don’t you think guys?” Leave it to Yongguk to have such a wonderful idea; do note the dripping sarcasm.

“Daehyun hyung, why don’t you do the honours of teaching her the lesson?”  Once Daehyun’s name left Zelo’s mouth, HaRa couldn’t help but direct her attention over to his eyes. Those chocolate brown eyes, that….with a slight shake of her head, HaRa stopped her rather inappropriately timed train of thoughts. He will never like her back.

Without wasting any time and sporting his usual cocky smirk on his face, Daehyun made his way over to HaRa. With a quick glance to the contents of her lunch, he decided to free her hands of the juice that she had just bought. However, Daehyun was nice enough to return her drink, but he was cruel enough to return it in a way that involved getting her hair, face and top of her shirt all sticky with purposely spilled juice. As if that humiliation wasn’t enough, Daehyun decided to finish the act with a final jab to her ego.

“You know HaRa, somehow your ugly self actually looks nicer. You should wear juice more often.” Daehyun’s words were met with yet another round of hearty laughter, but all HaRa heard was the soft vibration of the noise as she ran down the hall with her salty tears mixing with the fruity juice.

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For the rest of the day, HaRa stayed locked in a stall in the far corner of the girls bathroom. An hour after she entered, she managed to cry out all her pain and suffering. Now she just sat on the closed lid of the toilet, yet again waiting for the shrill sound to announce the end of the day. However, even after the bell rang, she didn’t move from her hiding spot. She wanted to make sure the halls would be devoid of any human being so she could make her escape without being caught.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Thirty minutes later and HaRa was confident enough that the halls would be empty, that she slowly made her way to her locker. For once she wasn’t in a rush to leave the school, but she did want to get home in order to accept the solitude and safety of her room.

Having her back to the halls, and head in her locker, HaRa failed to hear the approaching footsteps coming closer to her. It wasn’t until she heard the familiar deep voice did she snap her head up with wide eyes and whirl around to face her worst nightmare.

“Listen. I um, wanted to apologize for earlier. Um, it went too far and it wasn’t called for.” Standing in front of HaRa was Daehyun, who for once looked absolutely lost and shy while rubbing the back of his neck.

“I don’t want to see you right now Daehyun.”

“That’s a lie. My heart says to accept the apology, but my head says he hurt you too many times to give him a chance.”

“Look, I want to get something off my chest right now. When you were gone from school those few days ago, all I could think about was you. I wanted to see your face again even for a second. I wanted to hear your voice, even though it is so small. I guess what I am trying to say is that I really like you HaRa.”

After hearing his confession, HaRa’s eyes grew in surprise. Never in her wildest dreams would she ever think to assume that Daehyun would actually like her. If she hadn’t heard it herself come from his lips, she would have never believed it to be true. However, despite the now obvious mutual feelings, HaRa couldn’t help but still keep her feelings closely guarded under lock and key.

“How do I know you are telling me the truth? For all I know this could be some prank to humiliate me once again. Don’t play with my feelings Daehyun.”

“You have every right to think that HaRa, but I am telling you the truth. Right now, there is no way for me to prove it to you. You just have to trust me. But I noticed when you were gone. When your presence wasn’t in the school, I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do except let my thoughts be consumed of you. I really, really do like you. A lot actually.”

Looking deep into his eyes, HaRa could sense the sincerity coating every word he spoke. But she still had one more question, which was bothering her sense of peace.

“If you like me as much as you say you do, and have realized this since I have been absent, why did you do what you did today? I felt so hurt and humiliated. You don’t do that to someone you like!”

“I know and I am so sorry. Really, I guess I just did that to save myself my own humiliation from the guys if I didn’t do anything. I’m sorry, I really am. I could make it up to you if you like? Come on, I’ll treat to a nice warm drink.”

“Is the cold, cruel bad boy asking me out on a date?” You couldn’t help the small, shy smile spread across your face at the idea of your crush actually returning your feelings. When Daehyun answered though, the small smile turned into one that reached every fiber of your being.

“Only if the beautiful, shy girl will say yes.”

“Then definitely yes.”

Placing her small hand delicately in his larger and warmer ones, HaRa allowed Daehyun to lead her out of the empty school and into the inviting café that was just down the street. Receiving their drinks and finding a secluded table near the back, the odd pair enjoyed each other’s presence and passed the time talking, laughing and simply getting to know each other.

Later that night as HaRa settled into her covers, she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped . For once she felt happy and excited. HaRa was actually looking forward to going to school.

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A/N: Oneshot for Cheesecake_luhan!! Thanks so much for requesting! Honestly I had a major writers block for this oneshot so I'm sorry for the delay. Hope it was the worth the wait though! Please feel free to request again. :)

And since Christmas and New Year's all ready passed, I hope all of you had amazing holidays spent with your family and friends!!! :D

I also want to add another idol group to my list......BTS!!! Keep those requests coming my lovely people! ^^