It didn't take long for the impact of Mark's transfer to immediately affect Saemi. The typical rumors began once more, not that it was nonexistent before. The rumors just became skewed in such a way that people believe that Saemi was two-timing the two boys, Jackson and Mark.

It was amazing how easily people changed their perception of Saemi for the worse, but it was even more amazing to Saemi how Jackson and Mark were able to make friends so easily. While it might have been initially because of their looks, she knew that it wasn't the only reason.

They were easygoing with everybody, constantly smiling at the world. They looked like completely different people from a completely different world.

But Saemi couldn't understand why she was feeling like this now. She shouldn't care about who they hung around with. She shouldn't care whether or not they talked to her or not. Before Mark's transfer to her school, she could care less how Jackson interacted with his friends. Now, it seemed so different. There was a strange tightness in her chest. Was she actually feeling this way because of Mark?

"Did you hear about that girl? They say she's sleeping with both of them! Disgusting, right? How else is she keeping them by her side?"

Saemi didn't know how to react. All she had done was sit down in her classroom, in her seat, and yet, it seemed like she had commited a horrendous crime. Her eyes wandered over to Jackson who was, as usual, surrounded by the usual girls who fawned over him.

It was clear as day that Jackson hadn't heard the rumors behind his back, and there was no way Saemi was going to make a scene. So she did what she always did: she let the rumors spread. Her hands tightly gripping a textbook in front of her, her eyes looking down in unexplainable shame cast upon her by the others; her vision is blurring.

It's been this way ever since she transferred to this school, so why should she act any different?

But why is it against these unwritten rules written by the society that she can't make friends with certain people? Why is it that because someone else chooses to enter her world, she is the one that is punished? Why is it that she is cast aside from her classmates because she's just one year older? Was it her fault that she ended up in the hospital, causing her to miss an entire academic year?

Her eyes widen in shock as she realized that she has begun to do something she's never done before: She's questioning her situation.

Something's different now. She's always taken her place at the bottom of the ladder without another word. She's always just accepted her place as she had no friends, no family. Ever since she had woken up in the hospital, she lived in a simple world where nothing could shake her heart.

But something in her heart had finally begun to stir.

It was scary to her that things were so different now. Now, things have changed within her that she can't even tell what she is feeling anymore, all because Mark appeared in front of her.

It didn't make sense. All because Mark appeared in front of her, she's begun to act strangely. She's not who she normally is. He's messing around with her mind, and she didn't like it. Who is he to do something like that to her? How could the presence of one stranger affect her so much?

"I heard that she's pregnant but refusing to tell who the father is! That must be how she's got Jackson and Mark tied around her finger!"

Saemi takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. This was nothing new. She's always heard these rumors. She's always been labelled the villain even though she knew she had done nothing wrong to anger them. She wasn't even the one who initiated conversation with either boy. The nonsense these classmates were spouting were utterly ridiculous.

But then a voice spoke.

"I will personally kill whoever is spreading lies about Saemi."

That was when Saemi's heart thudded loudly against her chest. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that she had gone through this situation before. She knew that she had heard those same words before, spoken by the same person. For a split second, she almost believes she recognizes those eyes of his, that serious look of his. She almost believes that she had depended on him once, sometime in the past. However, she also knew that she didn't know the boy named Mark Tuan.

But those words unknowingly made her heart soften, and Saemi panicked. This feeling was so persistent. Why won't it just leave her be? Why can't won't it stop fighting to stay and confuse her mind? This really was so unlike her. She would never react so strongly to the words of someone who she didn't know. She shouldn't be so affected by him. She's supposed to be completely fine. She's scared of losing what makes her Park Saemi. She's scared of letting go of what she's familiar with. Everything should be under her control.

But that's not reality.

Immediately, he chases out after her without a moment to spare.

***

"Wait! Park Saemi-"

Saemi clenches her fists and spins around, only to come face to face to Mark. Her self-composition, her confidence, her strengths. They all seemed to vanish when Mark stood in front of her. In front of him, she was like a piece of glass, easily seen through.

If Mark was really someone from her past, someone she once knew, then it was clear to her that he must be up to no good. After all, no one from her past came back to see her. No one from her past came to make sure she was living okay. If that was the case, then that would make it that Mark was the one who hurt her.

It would explain why he didn't show up to see her. He wasn't family. He wasn't a friend. He was just a killer who thought she died, and when he discovered her to be alive, he found her with her memory wiped clean. It was extremely likely that he is now posing as someone close to her to finish his job.

It would make Mark the one who placed her in a coma.

Knowing that, how can she let her guard down around him?

"What do you want with me?" she speaks firmly, hiding her doubts well from him, "You say you know me, but I don't remember you. In this moment, you're nothing but a stranger to me."

But in the moments she said those words, she could've sworn she saw something that made her doubt her entire deduction. In those moments, his eyes filled with an unspeakable sorrow. She knows she's strong, standing on her own two feet. She knows she's independent, never needing anyone by her side. She knows that she is not easily influenced by anyone around her, and yet, here was this boy. Here was a boy that can, with one glance, cause her to doubt herself.

Knowing that, how can she explain the fact that Mark just stood up for her in front of the ones who spread those rumors?

The look in his eyes didn't lie, and it scared her. Ever since she can remember, she's never gotten so emotional with anyone. She was never pushed around by her new classmates. However, she feels like she's losing this game. Mark was beating her. In his eyes, there was, so clearly, the look of sorrow. The look of sincerity. The look of one who fell in love with another.

...She's seriously in trouble.

Saemi knows it. She hates this feeling. She doesn't want to feel this way. She doesn't want to react this way. It's not necessary. It's not okay. She just needs to look away. She just needs to pretend that this isn't happening to her. She doesn't want to know her past. She doesn't want to know why she's been abandoned. It doesn't matter to her whether Mark is someone who loved her or hated her. She's spent her life hating the people in her past, every single moment.

She's afraid of knowing that she's been wrong this entire time.

Why is this all happening suddenly? She just wants things to go back to before. She doesn't want to face this new reality. She doesn't want to get hurt.

But in the midst of her battle against her own feelings, she took the final blow. With one swift gesture, Mark pulls her into his embrace. It's warm, he's warm. Her small frame fit so perfectly in his arms. It was as if she's found her other half. It was as if, in that moment, he was no longer a stranger.

But that's impossible after all. She doesn't know him in the slightest.