Yoonju sighed picking up the thin piece of paper on her desk. It was extremely late and she was still up staring at almost everything in her room trying to distract herself. Her parents and little brother were already sound asleep and the soft hum of rain outside kept her from drifting asleep also. 

She titled her head to the right, blinking furiously. It wasn't like she wanted to be awake at this time, in fact she would have much preferred being in dreamland at this very moment but something was keeping her mind awake. 

Her body was aching and her head felt light but her mind kept racking and kept her up and about. 

For the fifth time, she picked up a test paper on her table. 

A+ good job Yoonju! 

It was the same thing every time; she would bring the marks and the report cards with remarkable comments. She had been through it all: the awards, metals, recognition but it was never enough.

Of course her parents loved her and supported her with every decision she made, it was just she was always known as the 'could do better' or ‘that's all?' kid. She had always wondered how it was possible to be better than 100%.

"Yoonju!" Someone groaned from behind her. 

She didn't have to spin her chair around to know it was her mother. 

"I can't sleep," she yawned, leaning her head in her arms. 

"I don't understand this child," she heard the woman grumble under her breath before she turned around and slammed the door deafeningly.

It was loud enough to awake her little brother who was sound asleep in her bed behind her. She turned to him and held back a smile as he let out a little sound and shifted his position so he was facing her. His eyes were barely open and he scanned her face, looking for some sort of reasoning behind why the room was so noisy.

She felt guilty, how hard was it for a 10 year old to get some sleep without her mom barging in? Her little brother had always known his mom and sister always fought and even he had grown accustom to it. 

With a sad smile, Yoonju lifted a finger over her lips in a 'shh' motion. The little boy blinked slowly at first but grumbled,

"Why does noona and umma always fight?" before closing his eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Yoonju turned back in her seat, picking up more pieces of paper and examining them. She did a small shrug as if answering her little brother’s question. She placed her head in her arms and tried to calm her shaking shoulders and the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. 

__________________________________

"Hey," Yoonju smiled, walking up to Junhoe's locker and smiling. 

He turned around and grinned at her. Still looking at her, he emptied his bag and dumped several books into his locker. 

“Another perfect score on your test?” He smirked.

She chuckled, waving a paper with an ‘A+’ marked on it in red ink.

"So how are you?" He asked genuinely. 

Her and Junhoe had met in the beginning of third grade and instantly clicked. They were always the pair that the school knew about and found extremely adorable. She thought Junhoe was masculine and handsome but nothing more. Her feelings towards Junhoe were always changing, one day she would find him lovely and sweet and another he would be bad and tough. Today seemed like one of his gentlemen days.

"Fine, a little rough with my mom yesterday but I'm okay," she shrugged.

Almost no one knew of her life at home except for him. She still remembered how it happened. A boy in her class had complimented her lifestyle saying she was always smiling and bright wishing he had a life at home like hers. She gave him a look before rushing out of class and out into a plain field where she sat at a park bench and thought of the reality she really had at home. 

Junhoe had found her eventually and asked what was wrong although she had denied anything. Soon, he had his arm around her and she was sobbing softly into his chest. Since then, Junhoe had been updated on every incident in her life.

"Just ignore it, it couldn't have been that bad," He shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. 

The two began to walk to the back doors realizing the end of the day bell had already rung. 

"Junhoe, she slammed the door in the middle of the night waking up my brother!" Yoonju complained, running a hand through her hair. 

"C'mon, he probably didn't even wake up," Junhoe laughed, his shoulders bouncing slightly.

But it wasn't a joke. In fact, she had no idea as to why he was taking something like this so lightly. Whenever she had come to him with a situation he would tackle it with respect and be kind about it. 

"Don't you understand?" She stopped walking and turned to face him.

"I'm not saying anything other than it probably wasn't that bad," He smiled and placed an arm on her shoulder.

Her head began to throb and she felt dizzy. Just when she thought she had someone to trust they had to break her. Junhoe was probably the only person in the world she thought would be by her side. Clearly he thought otherwise. 

"Junhoe-" she started but she was interrupted by his laugh.

"It wasn't as bad as the time your dad-" now it was his turn to be cut off by the look of disgust on Yoonju's face.

She was shocked he would act like this let alone bring up a scenario she most wanted to forget. He was treating her like garbage and she should have known eventually he would turn on her. Even her parents had, why was it any different with him?

"Yoonju, are you okay?" His hands shot up to grab her into a hug but she stopped him with thin tears that fell from her eyes. 

"Leave me alone." She sniffed, walking outside and into the parking lot. 

"Yoonju!" Junhoe called after her, racing to keep up with her pace. 

She sniffed, walking at a faster speed but it was no use. He had already caught up with her in seconds.

“Speak to me Yoonju-ah,” Junhoe was breathing heavily, his chest raising and falling several times. The moment he looked into her eyes, his heart broke. She looked miserable.

“What Junhoe? You want me to listen to you continue to make fun of me?” She spat, shoving roughly at his chest. Junhoe didn’t move, in fact he barely felt anything.

“I don’t know why I got so attached to you!” She pounded at his torso.

Junhoe didn’t say anything and watched her. She was everything he had ever wanted since forever. He wanted her and only her and every time she touched him his heart would beat hundreds of times. But right now, he had to tell her.

“Yoonju, I didn’t mean to be so mean,” He started, looking into her eyes.

Yoonju looked up at him and raised a brow, eyes red from all her crying and hurt.

“I thought you wanted a different Junhoe,” He admitted, scanning her face for some sort of realization.

“What?” She breathed, staring at him blankly.

“You didn’t seem attracted to the old Junhoe that was all nice and caring, so I became another Junhoe that didn’t care. I thought it would catch your attention.”

“What are you talking about?” She stepped back.

Junhoe his lips, his throat feeling extremely dry from all the pressure. He wanted to tell her how much he cared for her and how much she meant to him but he just couldn’t. At least not right now, not like this.

“Yoonju I’m so sorry,” His voice began to shake realizing how much he hurt her, “Yoonju, I’m sorry.”

She frowned, looking up at him, “What are you saying?”

Junhoe moved towards her, engulfing her at once. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, breathing in her scent and inhaling her emotions.

“I’ve gotten attached to you too,” He whispered, reducing the space between them until there was barely any.

“Junhoe,” Yoonju gasped, “What are you doing?”

“One day I promise I’ll tell you. And I hope it’s the best day of our lives.”