I wake up with my body covered with a blanket. My vision is blurry for a while and then it starts to clear up. I look around and realize that this is not my room. I quickly sit up to only see ChaeMin and TaeHyung sitting beside me.

 

"You're finally awake. You scared me." ChaeMin says, sighing in relief.

 

"You were asleep for about half an hour." TaeHyung says. "Feeling better?"

 

I adjust myself on the bed. I'm in ChaeMin's room. I remember. I was yelling at TaeHyung. I was hitting him. I was hitting him as hard as I could. I looked over at him.

 

"Why are you following me?" I ask him. He stares at me for a while, resisting to answer me. But then, he sighs.

 

"A few minutes later after you walked in the house today, your mom came home and saw MinKyu and I standing near your house. She told us to go home and talk to you at school. MinKyu started walking off and I told him to stay and he started getting mad at me. So he walked off and I stayed." He answers. "I heard yelling so I couldn't leave. It was a faint sound but I know I heard yelling. I would usually just leave but you were bruised and in your pajamas at the park yesterday. I kind of worried."

 

"Did you stay outside my house for that long? It was a long time after that I came here." I tell him.

 

"No. I walked away. I didn't go home. I just walked around the neighborhood. I was walking in circles because I didn't want to go home. And while I was walking, I saw you with suitcases crying getting into the car. I was curious. I'm not a freak I swear! I was just curious and worried." He replies.

 

"I can't believe you and MinKyu saw my dad yell at me. This is going to make everything so much worse." I say, rubbing my head.

 

"How will it make everything worse?" He asks.

 

"Because you guys basically run the school. He basically runs the school! He's going to bring this up and tease me about it and everything!" I yell at him.

 

"Didn't you say that he stopped picking on you?"

 

"Yeah but that's not going to last forever. I swear ever since I bumped into you my life hasn't been peaceful. I told you my dad doesn't like it when I'm with guys! Why did you have to walk up to me while I was in front of my house?" I yell at him. He didn't say anything.

 

"Please go." I say.

 

"JaeEun-"

 

"Please. You're just going to make things worse." I look up at him and he nods. He gets up from the chair and walks out the room. I sigh and lay back down on the bed.

 

"You okay?" ChaeMin asks. I shake my head.

 

"No. My mom could be beaten at home right now and I don't know how long I'm going to be out of my house. What time is it?" I look at her alarm clock. 8:47pm.

 

"I can't believe it got so bad that your mom had to take you out the house. I am so sorry." She says. She comes up to me and hugs me tight.

 

"I really am. But promise me this next time this happens. Promise me that next time, you will call the police. Please?" She asks me. I nod, even though I probably won't.

 

 

 

I'm on the way to my physics class and the insides of my stomach are starting to twist. I'm holding my binder tightly over my stomach. Everything seems normal so far. Haven't bumped into any of them so far.

 

When I walk into physics class, a few of the students heads turned towards me. Then seconds later, everyone saw me and kept looking at me. I heard a chuckle come from across the room and I turned to look at who it was. It was these two girls. They turned away as soon as I looked over.

 

I slowly walked to my desk and got tripped my someone's foot along the way. I grabbed my desk and stopped myself from falling.

 

"JaeEun! Sit down, now!" Someone said in a mocking way. Half of the class chuckled. I looked around to see them all staring at me. Where the hell is my teacher?

 

I sat down and just stared down at my desk. I usually don't wear make-up, but ChaeMin tried putting some on to cover the bruises on my face. I wore a sweater to hide the bruises on my arms from my dad's belt. ChaeMin also did my hair, since it was very messed up when I was at her house.

 

I see someone walk in front of me and stand by my desk, I look up to only see MinKyu. He studies my face and then scoffs.

 

"Awwww, did your dad discipline you because you weren't allowed to hang out with boys?" He mocks and the class chuckles a bit louder. "What guy would hang out with you?"

 

Chuckles changed into laughter. My eyes started to tear up. I usually didn't mind the teasing. I used to get through it and just ignore it. But now, they're bringing up my personal situation without knowing it. They're making fun of what I call a living nightmare. They all think it's some kind of joke. They all think it's really funny. them.

 

The teacher, Mrs. Lee, walks into the classroom and yells for everybody to sit down. The bell rings and she gets the class started. 3 minutes into the class, a crumpled up piece of paper gets thrown at my head.

 

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Mrs. Lee yells at the guy who threw it at me.

 

"I missed the trashcan!" He shouts. The class chuckles.

 

I look at the crumpled up piece of paper that landed on my desk. I see some shadow on it and I unfold it. I straighten the paper out and it read:

 

 

Even though he can't spell, my stomach tightened. I crumpled it back up and threw it back at the guy.

 

"JaeEun!" Mrs. Lee yells. My eyes teared up and I grabbed my bag and stood up from my seat. I walked out the classroom without saying a word.

 

Right when I got out, I ran towards the nearest bathroom. I ran in and shut the door. I looked ahead of me and saw that the bathroom was empty. The bathrooms are a nasty place to be in, especially the school's, but I had to break down. I slid my back down against the door until I was sitting on the floor. I brought my knees against my chest and hugged it. I cried into it.

 

I rocked back and forth crying. What kind of sick students do we have at this school? Or at least in my class? Who laughs at someone who's dad yells at them like that? Who makes fun of a bruise they found saying it's from their dad? What kind of children are those parents raising?

 

I keep crying until the door slightly pushed me. Someone was trying to get in. I calmed myself down as quick as I could. I stood up and wiped my tears. Then, I speed-walked towards a stall and closed myself in it. I tried not to sniff, but I was still crying inside.

 

I leaned against the stall door, waiting for the girl to finish doing her business. When she wiped her hands, I flushed the toilet to make it seem like I wasn't just in here if she knew I was in here. As soon as I heard the door close after she left, I walked out the stall. I went towards the sink and leaned against it, pushing all my weight onto it. I felt like I was going to break it.

 

I looked into the mirror to see the tear lines formed from removing the foundation ChaeMin put on me. I washed my face and dried it with the paper towels provided. Then, I walked out. I walked straight towards the back of the school, the way I walk home. I left the science building I was in and the most amazing thing happened as soon as I set foot out of that building.

 

TaeHyung: JaeEun?

 

Me: *Of course.*

 

I ignored him and kept walking. He caught up with me and stayed walking by my side.

 

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks. I stayed silent. I tried to walk faster.

 

"Hey. Are you mad at me? If you are because of what happened Saturday, I'm sorry! I didn't want whatever happened to happen." He continues. I sarcasticly chuckle to myself.

 

"Hey, talk to me!" He says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to face him. I looked at him with the most serious face I could pull off. His eyes got wide as he studied my face.

 

"Why do you look so surprised? You saw how beat up it was Saturday." I tell him.

 

"You were crying." He says. I look at him.

 

"Your eyes are red JaeEun. What's wrong?" He adds.

 

"Why do you care?" I say, pulling my wrist away from his grip. I breathe a bit faster.

 

"JaeEun! I caught you in plenty of bad conditions. I may not know you but I'm worried about you okay?"

 

I look at him and scoff.

 

"Don't worry about me. Go back to class." I tell him.

 

"I don't have a 6th period. I'll just stay with you."

 

"TaeHyung! I'm serious! You made my life worse than it already was. Just go!" I yell. He looks at me. That's all he's doing. He's just looking at me. And for some reason, that whole several seconds of him looking at me, made me feel so broken. I started to feel so empty and alone.

 

I broke. I started crying again and into his chest. He put his arms around me and started rubbing my arms up and down. I cried louder and I forgot that for that whole while, I was on school grounds.

 

He started rocking our bodies side to side, and he kept rubbing my arms. He rested his chin on top of my head and whispered, "Shhh. It's okay." I gripped onto the v-line part of his shirt and tried to gasp for air. I gripped his shirt so hard that when I let go of it, it was super wrinkled. It also had my tears and left-over foundation stained on it.

 

I started choking from trying to breathe normally again. I hear him chuckle.

 

"You okay?" He asks. I slowly nod.

 

"Sorry. About your shirt." I say, trying to un-wrinkle it. I can see him shake his head. I push myself off of him.

 

"Why were you crying?" He asks me. "Was it because...you know..."

 

I shake my head.

 

"Your friend crossed the line." I say. "My whole class is laughing at me. His friend threw paper at me mocking how I'm single and my dad yelling was an excuse. Your friend MinKyu saw my bruise and laughed saying that it's my dad's discipline for hanging out with guys. It's just, I can't. I walked out of the class and went to go cry in the bathroom."

 

"Where were you going when I caught you?"

 

"Home. Well...just out of school. I can't go home. Not until my mom says I can."

 

He looks at me and I start to realize the amount of distance we don't have in between our bodies. I start to feel uncomfortable and I step back.

 

"Do you trust me?" He asks as soon as I stepped back. I look at him.

 

"Do you trust me? Do you trust that I won't laugh at you like your classmates? Do you trust that I can keep secrets?" He continues.

 

"I don't know if I can trust you." I tell him. He nods his head and holds his arm out towards the back of the school. I raise an eyebrow.

 

"You said you want to leave the school right?" He asks. "Lets go somewhere. Like I said, I have no 6th period."

 

"Can I trust you?" I ask. "Trust that you won't do something horrible to me like murder me?" He starts laughing and I slightly chuckle.

 

"Fine. So you don't think I have something planned out, where do you want to go?" He says. I shrug. I hardly go out to like, public places. Heck, I hardly go out if it's not to ChaeMin's or JiHye's house.

 

"Do you like shopping?" He asks. I shrug again.

 

"Do you even go out?" He adds. I shake my head and he sighs.

 

"Mall it is!" He shouts, walking to the back of the school. I follow him after.

 

 

 

We make it to the mall finally, after about 15 minutes of walking in the heat. I stay behind him. It's a weird feeling actually. I'm not freaking out about how I'd get home late if I don't keep track of time. Now I can just text ChaeMin that I'd come home late and she'll just say okay. I'm not worried about my father right now. I don't need to go home to a nightmare. I get to go to my best friend's house, to a family of my dreams.

 

We end up in front of a clothing store. It seems a lot like JiHye's style. He stands in front of it and then looks at me with his arms on his waist.

 

"What?" I go.

 

"These are the type of clothes you wore the other day before I found you at the park." He says. I raise an eyebrow at him and he scoffs.

 

"Yeah. Sure it was a lazy day. I knew this wasn't your type of style."

 

I roll my eyes and walk away from him. I chuckle to myself when he calls after me and catches up.

 

"So Park JaeEun, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He asks, his arm touching my arm. I step a small step away from him. He really likes skin-ship, I can tell.

 

"I want to become a teacher." I answer.

 

"Teacher? What subject?"

 

"Physics." He looks at me and nods. He then takes a step closer to me and puts his arm around me.

 

"Alright. Do you want to eat? I'm pretty hungry. School food isn't always the best." He says. I nod. I kind of leaned my shoulders down and he noticed. He removed his arm.

 

 

 

After we ordered, we sat down at a table for two. I silently ate my food and he was just looking at me. I felt awkward, so I stopped eating.

 

"What?" I say to him. He shakes his head.

 

"I'm sorry. It's just that. I'm really curious with what's going on with you and your family. I mean, I can make a guess but I don't want to seem stupid." He answers.

 

"What's your guess?"

 

"Well. Is your mom or dad, hurting you?" He asks. I chuckle.

 

"Close. My dad is. Not my mom. Although my mom does nothing to protect me whenever he does." I don't know why I'm telling him this.

 

"Hey. Your mom got you out of the house didn't she?" He brings up. I put my spoon down and look at him.

 

"Whenever my dad does something to me, my mom either sides with him or hides in her bedroom. She doesn't come down and save me. She doesn't risk getting hit so her own daughter doesn't get hit. I take the beating for both my mom and I. She may have taken me out the house but whenever it was in action, she did nothing." I stare at the table in between us.

 

"JaeEun. You know your mom cares, right?" He says.

 

"Yeah. I know. On Saturday, my dad locked me up in the closet for maybe a few hours. My mom then took me out when he didn't know and that's when she made me live with my friend, ChaeMin. I know she loves me, I love her too. But, I wish that she didn't have to make me suffer through all the beatings I don't deserve. I wish she fought for me when it happened. Not just tell me she loves me when it's safe and he's not around."

 

TaeHyung sighs. He leans forward over the table and rests his hand on my arm.

 

"I'm sorry. I really am. How long has this been going on?" He asks.

 

"Too long." I say, and he removes his hands from my arm. Maybe he sensed that I was getting uncomfortable. I don't like it when people touch me but I'm not rude about it. I can't bring myself to tell them to stop. I'm glad he can sense that I don't like it at least.

 

"Have you ever thought of calling the cops?"

 

"I have. But, I felt like if I do call, he'll find out somehow and he'll beat me so hard that I might die. Or my mom might. I didn't want to risk it."

 

"So when I found you at the park, did you get kicked out?" He asks. I nodded my head.

 

"Don't tell anyone about this. Please! I didn't want to tell you but I...I don't know I had to tell someone. I mean ChaeMin knows but...I don't know just don't tell anybody about this! Please don't!" I say quickly, sitting myself up on the seat.

 

He smiles and nods his head. He reached his hand out again but then slowly puts it back beside him.

 

"I promise I won't tell anyone about this. This is between you and I only."