"See you next week, Michelle!" Soojung waved at me as we parted ways, walking into the chilly evening.

It was beginning to get dark a lot faster than usual lately, and even colder at that. My fingers clutched the brim of my sweatshirt as I tried to bundle it closer to my body, which ended up failing in keeping me warm. 

The weather was ridiculously cold, and I hated the fact that I walked home every day. I still had to wait a couple months before I could have my license. 

"Hate walking through this kind of cold." I mumbled to myself in irritation as I walked towards the sidewalk, still crossing my arms over my chest. 

Then, at that moment, I felt a sudden voice call over to me, 

"Do you need a ride?"

My head turned to see one of the last people I had expected.
Junhoe. He was walking towards me, and I could see the keys jingling from his fingertips. The mere sight of those keys almost made me swoon from the thought of being in a warm car.

I stared at him with a cocked eyebrow as I waited for him to come within talking distance before snorting and walking away. There was no way in hell I was going to get into a car with a guy who spilled coffee all over me, despite what I may or may not have felt during the dance. 

That reminded me. The dance..It was different for me. It wasn't a simple dance where I just followed moves; it was where I felt actual passion and feeling into every step. I felt...Like I really loved everything about what I was doing.
But forget about all of that, I still hated him.

"I'll take that as a no." Junhoe simply shrugged before walking past me. 

I watched in disgust as the famous boytoy moved towards his car, which was parked right in front  of the trainee camp. God, he made me so angry, and I didn't even understand why. I just wanted to choke him at times.

A sudden breeze pushed past me as I crossed my arms even tighter, forcing myself to trudge forward. I hated this more than anything, but I hated the idea of some helping me out every time even more. I wasn't some sort of damsel in distress.

Then, the unthinkable happened. It started to pour down raining. 

"Aish!" I said furiously as I stopped in my tracks. I'd never been so angry before in my life. Why do these things happen at the worst moments? Despite my ranting, I knew what I had to do.

My eyes turned towards Junhoe, who was just beginning to get into his car, and I softly called over, "...Junhoe?" 
I watched from afar as he merely looked up with a dull expression, pretending as if he didn't know what I was going to ask. How arrogant. I let out a sigh before walking a few steps closer to his car and continuing, "Can I have a ride?"

Surprisingly, his lips curled into a smile. He simply unlocked his doors and sat inside, allowing me to reach the handle and open it. I shivered as my rear touched his leather seat, the breeze and wet rain water working together to make me freeze to death.

"Just tell me where to turn." Junhoe spoke as he revved the engine up, placing both hands on the steering wheel.

"Okay. Go straight here and then take a left." I replied with a nod.

"Oh, and another thing." He began. 

I looked at him in confusion, waiting for him to finish. With the straightest face possible, he added, "You're gonna call me Oppa from now on right?"

If looks could kill, he'd probably be at the bottom of an ocean by now. You see, I was born in America, so I came from America. I don't call anyone oppa except my actual older brother, so Korean customs aren't exactly the simplest for me.

"Are you crazy?" I said with wide eyes, staring at him in disbelief.

"I'm older than you, so it's only normal for you to call me oppa." He replied.

"You're only a year older than me!"

"A year is a lot of months."

I watched as Junhoe lifted his hand and rubbed my hair with it, treating me as if I were some child. By instinct, I immediately shook him off and mumbled, "That's why you at dancing."

"Mworago?" Junhoe's eyes widened as an incredulous laugh escaped his lips. "What'd you say? You wanna get hit?"

I yelped as he ruffled my hair even harder, forcing a laugh out of me as well. My hands wrapped themselves around his arm as a pathetic attempt to get him to stop, but what it only managed to accomplish was making him swerve on the road.

"Wow, bad at dancing and driving." I commended as he quickly took a hold of the steering wheel, whilst getting angry shouts thrown at him from other people on the road.

"You're really going to get beat up by someone." Junhoe replied, shaking his head. "And it's going to be hilarious."

"Yeah, yeah, take a right after this turn." 

The ride overall was short, based on the  fact that I lived fairly close to the trainee camp, but it was still kind of fun. The more I got to know Junhoe, the more I began to like him. He did have a terrible first impression, and his sass was still the same, but it felt as if I were getting used to it. 

And then something hit me. "Junhoe, can I ask you something?" I said slowly.

"What?" He replied, not even looking towards me.

"The day we first met. Why did you embarrass me in front of the whole class?"

After hearing this, I watched Junhoe's expression seemed to change. Rather than his usual, sarcastic self, it looked more thoughtful.

"I guess I wanted to single you out and make you do better." He finally responded after a moment of silence, shrugging his shoulder slightly. My eyes immediately narrowed.

"You're a teacher. Is this some kind of movie to you?" I snorted.

"Like I said, someone is going to beat you up." Junhoe spoke as he made the final turn. "This is your house, right? Great, I can put it on craigslist tonight."

A small smile cracked upon my lips as I opened the handle of his car and slid out, adjusting my back pack on my shoulder before looking at him and saying, "Thanks for the ride, Oppa."

I didn't bother seeing his expression  before shutting the car door and walking towards my house. And yet, I could still feel butterflies.

~~~
 

"Hey, mom, I'm going out." I called over to my mom as I walked out of the house doors, scrolling up my phone's twitter feed. Once I got outside, I realized it was snowing, but I knew I had to run to the store quickly before heading over to Soojung's house. We were planning on making a korean soup.

"Milk, eggs, vegetables.." I repeated to myself as I trudged through the crowded streets, checking my phone once more. My head turned towards a path way as I passed a nearby building. It suddenly hit me that I could just cut through there and get to the store faster.

I might as well. Judging by the fact that I wasn't going to be getting very far in these designer boots. 

In no time, I had begun walking along the path while simultaneously checking my phone, making sure not to miss any recent news that might have come out. I couldn't tell why I kept feeling the need to check my feed, but it felt like a habit. Like I was looking for something.

"iKON is quickly becoming the newest boy sensation of Korea.." I read to myself as I looked at an article on my phone. "They will be debuting in no time."

For some reason, a light smile cracked upon my face. I felt almost...Happy for them.

As I continued walking through the path, I noticed 3 figures walking towards me in the opposite direction I was facing. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, but my conscience attempted to calm my nerves by making me understand that the path was too close to the city for anything dangerous to happen.

I looked down at my phone once more as I felt myself coming closer to the 3 people, getting ready to pass them.

And then, my worst nightmare happened.

"You're a pretty little thing, where are you from?" A tall Korean boy spoke to me as he grabbed my arm. It was highly disrespectful to touch someone whom you didn't know, so I couldn't even respond because I was in such shock. However, I managed to say, "Yah!" 

I looked up at him in surprise as another boy added, "I think I've seen her on a trainee video online, she's one of those new YG stars."

"There was a video of her and that iKON guy dancing."

There was what?
the video of Junhoe and I dancing was online? Why didn't I know of that?

"Imagine how much publicity we would get if we told the media how we got with her." The third boy said as he moved closer to me.

How we got with her.

It slowly dawned on me as the three boys continued to step closer towards me, their menacing appearances becoming larger while I stood in absolute shock. I'd never...Been in this kind of situation before. 

"You're a joke." I finally said as I ripped my arm from the boy's grasp, finding my voice. The three goons merely laughed as they roughly grabbed my shoulder again, not phased by my snide comment.

Before I knew it, they had pushed me onto the ground. I didn't know how to react. To be fully honest, I didn't think my brain was comprehending what was going on. All I could think about was escape.
I needed to escape.

"Get off of me!" I shouted as one of the boys held me down and the others began pulling off my coat, leaving me in a long sleeved sweater. Desperation clawed at the base of my head as insane thoughts ran through my mind, trying to think of ways to get out of this.

I watched in horror as one of the boys slipped their hand over to my shoulder, attempting to rip my shirt off.

Then, in a moment of pure instinct, my hand shot up towards the boys jaw, and I managed to get one of them off of me. The boy stumbled backwards as he held his mouth in pain, allowing a groan to escape his lips.

This was my chance.

Mustering all of my power, I took advantage of his state of shock and reached into the pocket of my coat, my fingers curling around a small object. In less than a second, my arm reached out and pressed the nozzle of my pepper spray can, getting the substance into the eyes of all 3 of the boys.

I watched as they screamed in pain and staggered back, bringing their hands up to their faces. They attempted to rub the strong poison out of their system, but it was failing miserably. Still shouting out profanities, the boys immediately turned and ran off, in search of some water I presumed. 

My breathing became heavy as I tried to rack my mind together, still sitting on the ground with snowflakes entangled in my unkempt hair. It was still...Still so hard to believe what had just happened.

I had almost gotten ..

My fingers fumbled for my phone as I shakily dialed Soojung's number, waiting for the number to ring. But, even after 10 rings, she didn't answer. She must be busy with something...But...I didn't know what to do.

I couldn't move.
I couldn't feel or do anything.
My eyes were wide and still, as if motionless to the movements around me, with my hair draped across the side of my face.

A single tear rolled down one of my wide eyes as I looked through my contacts. 

Junhoe.

I got ready to dial his number when I realized, we're not that close. Why on earth would he come all this way for me when we barely knew each other? This wasn't the notebook, and it wasn't like we were in some tacky love story..
 

But I needed help. I didn't have the heart to call my mom and tell her what happened. I didn't want her to worry.

Foolishly placing the phone next to my ear, I listened to the phone dial Junhoe's number.

Ring.
Ring.
Ring.

"Hello?"

"Junhoe?" I said hoarsely, feeling so safe with his warm voice speaking back to me.

"Michelle? What's up?"

"I-" I began, when I suddenly heard another voice in the background of Junhoe's line.

"Junhoe? Where are you? - Ah, sorry, Michelle. That was my girlfriend, Jennie. Is it okay if I call you back?"

And that is when my mind fell silent.

My hands stood still as I kept the phone solidly next to my ear, my eyes still frozen in pain. 
I slowly parted my lips as I responded, 

"Yeah. I'm good seriously, I'll see you tomorrow."

I listened and waited for him to say goodbye, but all I could hear was him and his girlfriend's giggles, and then an abrupt click, which ended the call.

And there I sat, covered in scratches and bruises, my sweater slid off one shoulder, completely immersed in absolute shock. 
The only thing I could hear was the sound of a single snowflake dripping from a strand of my hair and onto the ground.