The next morning I was having the worst cramps ever. I was irregular with my periods but this came really unexpected. It even crossed my mind to skip, but then Jun would definitely ask why I hadn't gone to school and like hell I was going to tell him. I could only be glad that it was a Friday, so I only had to cope through today somehow but I was still dreading it. I wasn’t fortunate enough to be one of those girls who don’t get excruciating pain—like a million daggers stabbing you in the abdomen—nor was I one of those who were able to get by it without becoming an emotionally unstable wreck in the process. Seriously though, it would probably be safe to say that it’d be dangerous to mess with me during this time because more than likely I’d already be ranting on about everything as it is.

I rolled on my side in pain and looked at a picture of Jun and me, "Morning, Babo."

We had taken the picture two years ago when we were fifteen. It was on the first day of high school because we wanted to see how much we would change throughout our high school years and as predicted we had changed quite a lot. I still had the shoulder length dark brown hair with straight bangs, but I was definitely a little taller now—about 5'5 foot. It wasn’t a significant change, but thankfully I grew at least that much. The biggest difference was probably my weight, or at least the look of it, I had lost a good amount of baby fat in my face, but still nowhere as much as Jun. In addition to losing his cute chubby cheeks, he had also grown like crazy. He was probably around 6'0 foot now, even though on the picture he was only 5'4 foot and barely just taller than me.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, "Minhee?"

"I'm up, Abba," I said, getting out of bed, "I'll be there in a bit." I grabbed some clean undergarment, before heading to the bathroom to wash up.

After eating the breakfast Abba had made—sweet egg sandwich with cabbage and a dusting of brown sugar—I dumped the dishes in the sink. I would usually wash them before going, but I had spent more time in the shower than originally planned. The hot water felt so nice on a cold day like this and the cramps had subsided a little. It was a miracle I had managed to get out. I grabbed the lunchboxes that I had prepared the night before when Jun left and put them in my bag. After slipping on my jacket and shoes, I headed for school.

I rode my bicycle past the stores where Jun and I would always do grocery shopping after school and over the Jamsu Bridge. When I reached school, I saw Jun already waiting for by the bike rack.

"Why are you late?" he took my bag from me so I could lock my cycle, "I almost thought you wouldn't come and was about to text you."

"I overslept, sorry," I lied, "I should've let you know." As a rule, I never lied to Jun about important things, but small things like these didn't matter much. What was I supposed to say anyway, it's not like a guy would understand the horror of uncontrollable bleeding.

"Oh, okay. Our first period is English," Jun informed me as I took my bag from him and we walked towards the entrance of the building.

A few hours later, after English, mathematics and history, I was starting to regret the dumb choice of coming to school. I put my head on my desk and hugged my tummy. The day was passing so slowly that I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it through the whole day. Usually, I would bring painkillers with me, but today I had totally forgotten about them. Maybe I should go to the infirmary during lunch break and see if they have any.

I glanced over at Jun who was sitting on my left and followed his gaze. Of course, he was looking at Yoori, how could he not when she was one desk ahead of him, on his left. Which, in Jun's mind, was 'almost next to' him.

I really didn't understand what was so special about her. She barely talked to anyone besides the popular or rich kids. When she had told Jun to be careful yesterday, it wasn't in the way that he interpreted it. I was certain, it meant something like 'Watch where you're going' or 'You better not bump into me like that again', but it was next to impossible to convince Jun that the angel wasn't angelic at all. There were even times that she would be part of the bullying crew who made Jun's life difficult at school.

The thing is Jun hadn't always been the target of bullying. It had started when we enrolled into high school and Kim Woonha and Jun, the two smartest kids of our middle school days, ended up in the same class.
Woonha wasn't only rich and handsome; he was also the tough, confident type of person, which attracted a lot of girls. He was just arrogant and stuck up if you ask me, but even I had to admit that he had a lot of style. On top of all that he was smart and always ranked first...that is, until Jun came into the picture.
Despite being wealthier than him, Jun was almost the opposite of Woonha. He was nerdy, childish and had the worst fashion style ever. Woonha, being the narcissistic Kingka that he was, couldn't digest the fact that 'a nerd' like Jun was better at something than him—because unlike Woonha who had to study a lot, Jun was smart by nature.
This is where Yoori came in. Yoori had a crush on Woonha, and if Woonha wasn't happy, it meant Yoori wasn't happy. And most of Woonha's time was consumed by his endless efforts to get in Jun's way. So in conclusion, it was safe to say that Yoori probably hated Jun, but to uphold her sweet image, there wasn't much that she could do besides hanging out with the Sharks who bullied Jun.

"Hey, you okay?" Jun asked, with a worried expression.

"Hm?" I lifted my head and was about to answer him when Woonha knocked Jun's bag off his desk as he walked by. Jun's stuff scattered around the floor, because his bag had been open.

A few students looked in their direction as if a fight was to break out, but they should know by now that Jun wouldn't do anything. For three years he hadn't done anything, why would he suddenly change in the last year?

Without a word, Jun got up from his seat and quietly collected his stuff again as if nothing had happened.

"Jun..." I started but he quickly cut me off.

"It's okay," he said without looking at me and carried on getting his stuff together. It was not okay. The girl Jun was crazy about was looking at him as if he was a pitiful eyesore. That is not what he was, that is what she and that mutt-face of hers were.

I saw Jun searching for something and looked around to see if I could spot it for him. I found his glasses case near Yoori's feet, but it seemed like he’d noticed it as well. He was looking at her as if he owed her an apology for looking like this in front of her. I angrily grabbed my bag and stormed over to him. Jun didn't realise until I snatched the case from the floor and grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the classroom.

"Ah, Minhee?!" he managed to blurt out startled, before bumping into random students in the classroom and then the hallway as I dragged him behind me.

I was so sick of this bullying, it was getting on my nerves. I think I felt the irritation ten times worse because of the cramps, but this had to come to a stop either way. We weren't little twelve year old kids anymore, we were almost adults.

I power walked through the hall, not caring one bit if he was still in one piece, looking for an empty area that we could talk in.

"Minheeee," he dragged my name out like he always did when he was whining, "What's suddenly gotten into you?"

Unable to find anything, I decided the place we would always eat lunch at would be the most suitable right now. It was an unused science storage room with lots of sculptures on shelves, and besides us no one ever went there. As soon as we walked in, I abruptly came to a stop, making him bump into me.

"Ow!" he rubbed his chest and I saw him look at me questioningly when I turned around. Seeing the furious look on my face he immediately turned his gaze to the ground and pouted, "It hurt..."

I violently tossed the glasses case at him, making it more than clear that I was enraged. He really had to start sticking up for himself, because immature people like Woonha wouldn't stop on their own. They simply lacked the brain cells to understand that they couldn't go around making people feel miserable.

"How could you let Kim Woonha treat you like that?" I asked impatiently, trying to keep my anger in as much as I could. I didn't want to let my emotions get the best of me and then regret it later.

Jun rolled his eyes, dismissing the whole thing, "Minhee, please, he's not worth it—"

"He's not worth what?!" I gave him a hard stare, letting him know that he wasn't going to get away this time, "You standing up for yourself?" I know he didn't like arguing, but if he didn't do anything about the bullying now it chances were that it would never stop. He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Minhee..." he started, but paused because he either didn't know what to say or was thinking things over.

Ugh! He's always so nice, I wish he'd just flip out on someone just once. It was hard for me to see him suffer like this because I really, really liked him with all my heart. And I prayed that he'd like me back the same way, but that wasn't the case. He liked Yoori, and her looking at him the way she had done earlier was something I couldn't handle.

"Jun, please," I spoke in a softer voice, my anger having gone down, "I'm not asking you to change, but you can't let Woonha treat you like that."

"What do you want me to do then, huh? Bully him back? Beat the crap out of him?" Jun asked in an almost sarcastic tone, which was so uncharacteristic for him that it startled me. "What should I do if not change, Minhee?"

I didn't have an answer to that. It was true he had to change a little, because the current Jun wouldn't even hurt a fly. I started feeling as if I had asked too much from him, but was I wrong that I wanted him to stand up for himself?

"I have to be cooler for Yoori to like me, right?" he sneered, "More like that Woonha brat."

"You're better than Woonha," that was one thing I could say with confidence. Jun was better than Woonha without changing a thing about himself. The only thing that he was lacking was confidence and that was something he could work on. But truthfully, I couldn't and didn't blame him for that. Jun grew up in a broken family which hadn't always been there for him. His parents never showed up on parents' evenings because his dad was a business man who barely had time for Jun and his mother was too depressed to care about anything. Then when his parents had separated, Jun had completely shut down. If it hadn't been for us having to do the assignment together, I probably wouldn't have talked to him either, because he simply didn't look approachable back then. Some of the bullying had started there. The students would make fun of him for always buying lunch at school—while their mothers made theirs—and eating it alone, which is why he had started eating his lunch in the science storage room. That was something that I could relate to. I had to make my own lunch because my dad worked until late and we couldn't afford me buying lunch at school everyday either. Most of my dad's income back in the days went to paying off debts and we could barely afford the one bedroom apartment that we were living in. But unlike Jun's parents, my dad had always been there for me and made sure I understood that no one had the right to make me feel less than them.
Anyway, it didn't take us long to become good friends, but unfortunately the bullying never stopped and only got worse in high school because of Woonha.

"Just don't worry about it," he said in a soft voice and turned away from me, facing the exit.

"Let's go back before class starts." I sighed in frustration, feeling defeated as I watched his retreating back.

"I just don't want you to be hurt," I whispered to myself. Instead of going back to class I went to the infirmary, hoping to get some painkillers. The pain was turning me into such an obnoxious person, how could I ask Jun to change just like that?!

"Lee Minhee, you horrible person!" I scolded myself before I reached the infirmary and peeked inside to see if anyone was in there.

"Yes?" the school nurse looked up from her paperwork.

I walked in and nodded towards her in greeting, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but can I get some painkillers?" She got up from her swivel chair and walked around her desk.

"Are you feeling unwell?" she asked already touching my forehead to see if I had a fever.

"Just cramps," I told her slightly embarrassed. I knew there was nothing to be embarrassed about, it's just that I had never said it out loud. My only friend was a guy and I never really talked about it with my dad.

"You also have a low fever," she commented, thankfully not taking any notice of my embarrassment. "Would you like me to write you a note so you can go home?" she added as she looked through the drawers to find me some painkillers.

"Could you do that, please?" I politely requested not in the mood to stick around at school anymore anyway. I waited for her to give me the painkillers and write me the note. I left the note on the principal’s desk because he didn't seem to be around. Maybe he was doing class visits like he sometimes did to see if students were paying attention and participating in the lesson. I shrugged it off and made my way towards the exit.
The sound of my footsteps ricocheted off the walls of the empty hallway, making them seem louder. It felt odd not to be in class while the lesson had already started.

"Eh? Lee Minhee, you're not in class?" a familiar voice interrupted my train of thoughts. I looked up to see Woonha blinking at me a few times. I had never directly talked to him and it kind of surprised me that he even knew my name. I saw him search around and knew he was looking for Jun. We were inseparable and most of the students knew that if they saw one of us, the other couldn't be far away.

"Where's your nerd?" he finally asked.

Even though I loved the fact that he was calling Jun my nerd, I couldn't appreciate Woonha calling him a nerd like that. It sounded really hostile and degrading when he said it. It was just Woonha and the rest of his Sharks that were capable of making simple terms sound like cursing words.

"He's not a nerd, Woonha," I told him sternly.

A smile spread across his face and he chuckled, making me frown at him grumpily. I didn't see what was so funny, but I was getting in a foul mood. Just looking at him made my blood boil. I took a deep breath to contain myself and was on my way again. Last thing I wanted was to make things worse for Jun by confronting Woonha.

"See you next week, Minhee!" he shouted after me, saying my name as if we had been friends for years. I gave him an angry look over my shoulder, but didn't bother to respond.

I cycled across the Jamsu Bridge, enjoying the cool spring breeze that would occasionally caress my face. It had already been a month since school had started in March. Just two more months and it'd be summer break and then there'll only be a half year left until graduation. After that Jun and I would both go our separate ways. I wanted to be a makeup artist and I was grateful that my dad supported my ambition. Jun on the other hand wanted to be a K-pop idol, but his father had other plans for him. He wanted Jun to take over the business and it didn't seem like he had a choice. I kind of found this sad, because my dad was now doing what he loved doing and he encouraged me to follow my own dream. I wanted the same for Jun. I wanted him to be able to sing and perform and really just do what his passion was.

"Oh?" I slowed down, catching sight of a figure that looked like Jun, with his bag next to his feet. He didn't go to class? I came to a halt and got off my cycle, moving to the pedestrian path and walking the last few metres. He still hadn't noticed me as he seemed lost in thoughts. He was staring at the water with such a serious look on his face that it made me wonder what he was thinking about. He only took notice of me when I parked my cycle barely a metre away from him.

"Minhee?" he said in a questioning tone without showing any emotions on his face like he usually did.

"What are you doing here?" I walked over to the bridge railing and stood next to him, "Telling me to go to class and skipping yourself?" I added, jokingly.

Jun didn't respond to that and took a few moments before he spoke, "I'm sorry for getting mad."

"Aish! You Babo," I feigned an annoyed look, "Having the nerve to be all mean to me."

He smiled, "You're the only person who can push me that far."

"Whyyy?" I threw myself against him in a weak attempt to flirt, "Do you by any chance like me? Hmm?" I nudged him a few times with my elbow.

He let out a small laugh and pushed me away from him, "Yah! Where would I have feelings for a blockhead."

Tch. I bet if I had been Yoori, he would have drooled over me like a puppy, this Babo! Whatever, one day, when I become famous for my makeup skills, I will have a swarm of guys chasing after me and he'll wish he had claimed me when he had the chance. Just wait for it Babo, hmph.

I suddenly heard Jun's stomach growl loudly and saw him place a hand over his tummy with a pained looked.

"I'm hungry," he confessed looking at me, knowing that I definitely would have made him lunch like I did everyday. Now you do look at me, huh?! This happened so many times—him turning to me whenever he got hungry—that I was starting to feel paranoid that he maybe saw me as a chicken leg or a chunk of beef or something.

"Hold on," I grabbed my bag from my bicycle basket and took out two matching lunchboxes. His container was green like the apples he loved so much and mine was a coral colour. On his lid there was a design of a black tuxedo, starting from the shoulders down to the upper waist. My lid had a design of a dress with a coral peter pan collar, starting from shoulders to upper waist as well. My dad had bought these in Japan when we were there almost eight years ago now. I was really obsessed with Japanese bent­­o, simply because they were made to look so cute and there were so many varieties. I was introduced to bento at an early age because my mom was Japanese and she would always make us bento before dropping me off at school on her way to work. Abba had bought the tuxedo one for himself, but Jun had claimed it because of the colour and because Abba was home most of the times and didn't need it. Jun would always drool over my food and at some point I had starting filling my lunchbox up so we could share. Then after reading online that Japanese girls would prepare cute bento boxes for the guy they liked, I had started doing it too. But this not being very popular in Korean culture, it was only logical that Jun wouldn't understand. I had continued making him the bento because even if he didn't know the meaning behind it, I still had a way to express myself.

I handed him his lunchbox and his face lit up right away, “Thanks, Minhee!" he eagerly removed the strap that held the lid and box together and looked inside.
Beside the apple, there were a few chicken salad sandwich rolls with shredded cabbage and some cherry tomatoes, sausages and a boiled egg. "Uwah! You made rabbit-shaped apples," he grinned even wider as if he'd just been presented with a masterpiece.

Rabbit-shaped apples were nothing more than an apple cut in wedges with some inverted V-shaped skin taken out after removing the core. Jun started stuffing his face right away, using the bridge railing as his table. I copied him and put my bento box next to his before digging in as well. For the most part we ate in silence. It was only when Jun was almost done with his food that he spoke up.

"Minhee," he asked for my attention without looking at me. He was poking at his food with his chopsticks as if he was unsure whether he should continue or not. It made me curious what he was suddenly thinking off, because he had a serious look on his face again, "Can you...help me change?"

I was taken aback a little by his sudden request and wondered if he was saying that because of our little argument earlier. I really only wanted him to stand up for himself, that was all. I complained a lot about his hair and clothes but only because I loved style and fashion and he was my only friend who I could do the styling for.

"You don't have to change, Jun," I reassured, "I only meant—"

"I want to change," he cut me off with a smile, poking around a sausage in his lunchbox. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to become a K-pop idol, but I can't keep neglecting everything just because that dream might never come true. I never stood up against Woonha not because I'm scared of him but because I thought he would eventually get tired of it and the problem would solve itself. I thought the same about Abba, he would get sick of telling me to take over the business and let me do what I wanted." Jun paused for a second before he continued, "But I see now that things don't work that way. And I know changing my clothes or hair won't make a difference until I voice my thoughts but I think it's a start."

"You sound so mature," I swallowed a lump, making Jun look at me weirdly, "I'm so proud of you!" Jun furrowed his brows probably thinking I had lost it, but I had seriously prayed for this day for so long and I couldn't believe it was finally here. Although, I think my period and fever played a role in my sudden mood swings as well. But who cares, I was really proud.

Jun touched my forehead in worry, "Eh?! You have a fever!" he quickly put the lunchboxes together and dumped them in my cycle basket, "Let's take you home, we can discuss this later." He walked alongside my bicycle, steering it with one hand. His other hand was around my shoulder as he let me walk close to him in case I started feeling unwell and he needed to break my fall. Little did the Babo know this was only making me act sicker than I actually was, just so I could lean on him. My fever was already increasing my temperature and quite honestly being in such close proximity to him wasn’t helping, but still, being taken care of by him was something I couldn’t avoid and didn’t want to avoid.