Depression. It comes to us all once in our lifetime. It just happened that it liked to torment Song Mina more.

            It didn’t stop at school. Every day and every night, the voices in her head would haunt her into her dreams, calling her fat, ugly, or retarded. The urge to die was just too strong, but she didn’t want to give in. Dying would do nothing; she would just be another one of those girls that killed themselves because of bullying.

            Anyways, she loved her family too much to leave them alone. Her father had passed away a while back, causing her to love her mother more than ever. Her mother was always there for her: whether it be the time she scraped her knee from biking, her first crush, and the first time she started cutting.

            Cutting. Mina hated cutting, but it just felt so right. She hated seeing the tears it brought to her mother’s face; she hated pressing the blade against her skin. But, she grew addicted to it. She loved the satisfaction it brought. I’ll give them what they want; I’ll go die, she says to herself, but she never does. Her hands shake, what would her mother think? No, what would her brother think? Her brother was her everything; they were only a few years apart, and he was her only friend. Song Jihyuk was amazing; he was smart, handsome, always surrounded by friends, and not to mention he was the sweetest person Mina ever met. Her brother always comforted her when the bullying became too much, when she wanted to swallow every single pill in the medicine cabinet. He would wipe her tears and tell her that everything would be alright. Too bad he didn’t understand how it felt to be an outcast.

            Only two things kept her alive: Music and Lee Howon. It’s not that she didn’t love his cute smile, or his good looks, but she loved him for another reason. In her freshman year of high school, Mina walked home every day. The bus fare was too expensive; it was either food or the bus, and who would pick the bus over lunch? Well, after a few weeks of school Mina wished she did. She was always the outcast in middle school, but high school life brought some new aspects: cliques. Before, no one went near her. Of course it hurt to be lonely, which is why she started cutting in the first place, but to be ganged up on and beat up by almost complete strangers? That was something she only experienced in high school.

            “Oh, look here, our fat little Minho is blocking the way,” a girl whose face was caked with makeup sneered.

            “It’s Mina,” she hissed back, trying to remain calm although she was scared out of her wits. She still had some confidence, only having been bullied for about two months at this point. The other girl laughed.

            “You think I care?” she asked, before snapping her fingers. A group of girls came from the shadows, ranging from popular girls to sporty girls that could snap Mina in half in less than a second. Mina panicked; her feet wouldn’t move, so she just let them throw punches at her. The punches kept coming and coming; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… after 20 she just stopped counting. Blood began to trickle down her cheek, and she was beginning to wonder if she would survive. Along with the punches, insults were thrown her way and she couldn’t help but break down into tears. Mina closed her eyes, waiting for another punch, waiting for more blood to flow down her face.

            Instead of a punch, soft cloth landed on her body, causing her eyes to blink open rapidly. The scene before her was one that she would play again and again in her mind. A man, who appeared to be slightly older, was standing in front of her protectively and muttering some things to the bullies. The girls immediately stared at him in shock before looking at Mina on the floor, deciding that they couldn’t get away with their crime because of their oh-so evident bloody fists. The leader of the clique, the girl with heavy make up, glared at Mina, as if trying to say “we’ll be back for you.”  Mina bit her lip nervously as the man told them to get lost before he turned to her. A kind face, with thick eyebrows and a warm smile came to face her. He offered her a hand without realizing that she was too scared to move, and she just hid herself more underneath the soft cloth, which appeared to be his jacket.

            “What’s your name?” he asked, as he realized his mistake and scooped her into his arms effortlessly.

            “S-song Mina…” she mumbled as she trembled in his arms. The stranger smiled in understanding; he was a stranger after all, so of course the high school girl would be scared.

            “Lee Howon,” he replied quietly as to not make the poor girl even more nervous. She sent a weak smile back at him as she directed him to her house. Her mother almost fainted from shock at the sight of her bloody child; good thing her brother was at his part time job, or he might have gone back and punched those girls in the face.

            Sitting Mina’s mother down at the table to calm her down, Howon asked where the first aid kit was located at and began to clean Mina’s cuts. She hissed in pain, but before she knew it, she had been completely bandaged up by Howon’s tender hands.

            “T-thank you,” she murmured shyly as Howon washed his hands in the sink.  She was about to return his jacket, but she realized that there were blood stains from where she had been holding onto it for her life.

            As if reading her mind, Howon laughed softly and shook is head. “Keep it,” he stated while drying his hands on a towel hanging in the kitchen. He headed for the door, and Mina’s mother began to weep as she thanked Howon for saving her only daughter’s life. He left almost as soon as he came, leaving only a memory and his jacket. Mina and her mother decided to hide this incident from Jihyuk; he would only complicate matters by trying to find these girls.

            Since then, Mina would get beaten up every day, but smile every night as she buried into her face the jacket that had the slight scent of man. It made her feel safe, especially when she wore it outside. She never got beaten up while wearing that jacket; it was like a lucky charm for her, so her brother never questioned it. He knew about the bullying, and he knew what the girls told her, but he also knew that Mina hated talking about it, so he kept quiet.

            Mina wasn’t ugly; no, she was actually pretty in a way. A unique way. She had small, curious eyes and black hair that cascaded down her back. Her frame was nowhere near petit, but it’s a lie to say that she was chubby. She just didn’t fit the average, cute and y image. She felt like a burden to be seen with her brother who was as handsome as a movie star, so she pushed him away in public. They acted like strangers out of the house, but best friends in private. Then, Jihyuk got a new job. Fresh out of university, there weren’t many job opportunities, but Jihyuk needed to earn money fast: he had to support both his mother and his sister.

            “Mom, I’ll be home less now,” Jihyuk said as he was eating a piece of bread before his first day of work. Their mom smiled in understanding, as she also began to prepare to open up the small restaurant she owned.

            Mina, who was now going into her final year of high school, stated as she shoved the piece of toast into , “Oppa, you have to show me what you do sometime. Bring me to work when I’m on vacation!” Jihyuk laughed and ruffled his little sister’s hair as he wiped his hands and lips free of crumbs before straightening his clothes.

            “I don’t think that will be fun; I already told you, the job position said bodyguard,” he smiled and grabbed his coat before slipping his shoes on at the doorway. Mina shrugged; she wanted to do anything to get out of the boring daily routine she had. Jihyuk finally gave in and nodded, “I’ll ask my boss if I can take you after I’ve worked there for a while.” Mina cheered and waved at her brother as he left the small house, before standing up and slinging her backpack onto her shoulder, sighing. “Another day, another bully,” she groaned as she said goodbye to her mother and walked out the door.

A/N: I didn't reread this chapter and check for spelling or grammar errors because I felt like typing it straight ;~; xD hopefully it turned out okay. Ugh Hoya is so cute, and he seems so sweet so he's the nice guy in this story <3 c: for now... tell me if you like it so far in the comments, and I'd love it if you subscribed <3 Thanks!