“Can you please stay still. I’ll get you all cleaned up.”

The nurse moved towards him with those accursed cotton balls soaked in rubbing alcohol and his hand immediately went to stop her. “No, thank you. If you don’t mind I’d like Seul to do it.”

The woman didn’t seem to. In fact, she looked almost relieved as she headed out of the door for her lunch break. Seul approached him with some caution: she still hated blood. She couldn’t stand the sight of it. She couldn’t stand the smell of it. Just the thought of it made her nauseous.

“Why exactly do I have to do this?” she asked as she sat across from him, cotton balls in hand.

“It doesn’t sting as much when I’m holding your hand,” he extends his and she sheepishly accepts it.

She cleans and bandages the cuts he’s got on his arms, eyes flickering to his face whenever she applies the rubbing alcohol to a cut. He winces but his gaze remains fixed on her. She realizes with a degree of nervousness that she has run out of cuts on his arms and now has to move on to his face. She grabs a damp cloth and starts to clean a cut on his cheek, refusing to meet his eyes.

“You’ll burn holes straight through me if you don’t stop staring at me like that,” she says still refusing to look at him.

“Is it my fault you’re so pretty?”

“Oh, shut up. What did I tell you last time about getting into trouble like that? You’re all covered with cuts bruises now! And you’re making me clean you up, too, like I’m you’re damn nurse.”

“Are you getting upset because you’re worried about me?”

“Of course I—” she accidentally looked up. . She hadn’t realized how close they were to each other and Jiyong’s intense gaze was throwing her off.

He smirked slightly. “Choi Seul is worried about me?”

“S-Shut up!”

He complied and a thick silence fell over both of them. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t look away. His eyes were so deep as if compelling her to lean in, take a closer look. She noticed that his eyes had been flickering between hers and her lips and her heart beat accelerated. , he’s not thinking what I’m thinking, is he? But Seul tended to be very good when it came to premonitions. As if on cue, Jiyong started to lean in. She struggled with herself as she tried to choose an appropriate course of action. Push him away? Lean in too? Just stay still and stop thinking?

In the end, she spotted an open cut on his arm and pressed the rubbing alcohol soaked cotton balls against it. Jiyong immediately flinched away.

“Oh, no! I think I missed one of the cuts!” she began to ramble, “You know, I really shouldn’t be so careless when it comes to these things. Who knows? It could get infected or something like that. Then you’d really be in trouble.”

He felt a faint smile cross his face as he watched her. Her cheeks had tinted significantly as she busied herself with cleaning him up. He found her beautiful— almost too beautiful— as her hair fell into her face when she leaned over. He couldn’t put it into words, this strange thing he felt when he was around Choi Seul, so he remained silent as he watched her through rose colored eyes.

She had begun to realize over the following weeks that Kwon Jiyong had become a major part of her life. Every morning, she moved a bit faster so as to not keep him waiting longer than necessary out in the cold. True, it would’ve been easier to just tell him to piss off but he had a tendency to only listen to the portions of what she said that directly applied to his interests (and she seemed to be one of them for one reason or another). Seunghyun grew intensely suspicious of the two and no matter how many times she denied it, the uneasy feeling he felt whenever he saw the two together wouldn’t subside.

When she got to school, she’d be unable to shake him. At first, he’d eventually leave her alone but now he found some kind of sick joy in giving her friends heart attacks on a daily basis. Whether it was sneaking up on her and giving her a back hug, putting his arm around her, complementing her endlessly. He’d always walk away eventually and then they’d all jump in with the mandatory questions.

“You’re really the worst, you know that Seul? How can you keep lying to your friends like this?”

“Clearly that boy is crazy about you. Why don’t you just admit you’re together?”

“Ugh, I wish Kwon Jiyong would tell me I’m beautiful everyday like he does to you. He even back hugged you yesterday! I would’ve died.”

She’d always feel her cheeks color at their words. He was just doing all of that stuff to be annoying. It wasn’t because he liked her. Right?

Miss Chung seemed to think otherwise as she stumbled upon the millionth sketch of Seul on his margins. “Seul, this is so cute. He really can’t get you out if his head!”

“I doubt that.”

“We could probably open a museum with all the ones he’s done already! He always has a look like he’s in some far away place during class. He’s probably fantasizing about you or something.”

She frowned at this. No doubt any fantasy Jiyong would be having would be erted to some degree.

The bus lets them off at the stop as per usual. Just as she’s about to turn to go home, Ji Yong stops her. “Seul, I have something I want to tell you.”

She blinks a few times. “What is it?”

He opens his mouth to speak but something past her catches his attention. When he finally speaks again, he shakes his head and says, “Never mind. I’ll save it for some other time. Be careful going home, alright?”

“I’m always careful.”

“Seul,” his eyes have an intense sincerity to them, “Please. Be careful.”

She nods slowly. “Don’t worry. I will be.”

He smiles softly at her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll see you tomorrow at 6:30, beautiful.”

“Aish!” she groaned as he walked off, leaving her feeling confused again. She hated that so much about him. That ability to make her feel so flustered she could barely think.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets and started on the walk home before a familiar voice greeted her. “My, my. If it isn’t Choi Seul.”

She turned to see Lee Seunghyun, standing behind her with his regular gang of boys in tow. “Oh, great.”

“How is that you’ve gotten so much prettier in 4 years.”

She shrugged. “Puberty. Genetics.”

He smirked. “Wow, if you get any prettier then I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.”

“A woman doesn’t reach her ual peak until age 25. I’m sure you’ll figure it out by then,” she said with little emotion, “What exactly do you want, Seungri?”

“I was just wondering how your boyfriend was doing after our little scuffle the other day.”

She scowled. “He’s doing fine. And he isn’t my boyfriend.”

He stayed silent before a smile formed on his lips. “Good to know…”

“Look, just stay away from our school. We’ve got enough problems without you coming and beating up our students.”

More silence. “Alright. I’ll be good.”

She knows he’s lying. That’s just how he is. As if it’s a secret, she whispers, “What happened to you, Seunghyun?”

He takes a sharp intake of breath. No one has called him by his real name since he was in middle school. “Don’t call me that. It’s Seungri, now.”

“Whatever, Seungri,” she says spiting his nickname at him with all the venom she can muster,“Don’t come around me anymore.”

“That’ll be hard to do if you stay this gorgeous, baby,” he says as he and his group walk past her.

Watching from a distance, is Jiyong. He had had a bad feeling when he saw Seungri approaching in the distance. He didn’t want to start anything knowing how Seul felt about him fighting but he couldn’t just walk away. He felt his fists tighten as Seungri approached, evil smirk falling in to place immediately.

“What did you say to her?” Jiyong growled immediately.

“Nothing,” Seungri said feigning innocence, “Just assured her that when I get her out of that little uniform, I’ll be real gentle.”

Jiyong couldn’t stand him. Immediately, his fist connect with the boy’s face. Seungri wiped at the blood on the corner of his mouth before letting out a laugh of disbelief.

“Watch your back, Kwon.”