Wincing, you wrapped a bandage over your scars carefully as well as the burn that your father created. Your stomach still grumbled from the hunger so you had no choice but to walk to the nearest convenience store and buy something that you can afford.

Afford, the word processed in your mind.

You quickly took out your old pink wallet from your pocket and checked for money. You let out a relieved sigh when you saw you that had enough to buy a cup of ramen.

It was already past noon when you arrived to the store, there was barely anyone there, which was a good thing for you.

This ramen should last me for a whole day, you smiled as you gripped onto the small cup.

The cashier gave you a smile as you approached. He ran the barcode under the scanner, scanning the cup of ramen, “Do you want eat it here?” the man asked and you nodded your head.

He poured boiling hot water into your ramen and sealed it with the foil lid and slid a pair of chopsticks on the edges so that the steam wouldn’t come out. You bowed your head as a thank you then reached out the grab the cup with your both of your hands.

“Wait!” the cashier suddenly yelled, startling you. “Here, let me,” he said then took the cup in his hands, placing it on top of the nearest table in the store. “Feel free to call me if you need anything else, my name is Taehyung, by the way,” he said then gave you a sweet smile before going back to his spot behind the cash register.

He must have noticed your bandaged hand and helped you out. That was really nice of him, it’s rare for men to do such nice things like that these days. You took out a book from your old orange book bag and began to read as you waited for your ramen to cook.

After a few minutes, you set down your book and took the chopstick off the edges of the cup of ramen, trying your best to break then apart with one hand. You could barely move your left hand without wincing in pain.

As you were trying to break it apart, someone suddenly snatched it from your hand and broke it apart for you. “There you go,” a familiar voice said. Your eyes widened the moment you saw Jimin taking a seat in the same table, smiling like he usually does.

“T-thank you…” you bowed your head to him.

Jimin took notice of your hand and pointed, “What happened?”

I can’t let him know what actually happened or he might judge me like the others, you thought.

“I fell and sprained it a bit,” you lied. It pained you to lie to someone but you had to do what you had to do.

“Oh,” he said, “Where did you fall?”

Think of something believable.

“I-I fell down the stairs in my house,” you lied again.

That’s good, he doesn’t know that you don’t even have stairs in your house.

“That must have hurt, hope your hand will feel better,” he said then gave you one of his smiles where his eyes disappear into a thin line. “Well, I better get some snacks for me and Yoongi hyung,” he stood up to leave but then stopped before taking two steps away from the table. Jimin turned, “Hey, are you planning on going back to the library today?” he asked.

You nodded your head, you planned on heading there right after you eat your meal since you had like ten books to return.

Jimin smiled again, “Cool! If you want we can walk there together, you’ll have to wait a bit though because I still have to pick some snacks,” he said.

“S-sure…” you answered.

He gave you a thumbs up, “Great! I won’t take long so you can just sit there.”

You brought the cup of ramen to your mouth, drinking all of what’s left that your chopsticks couldn’t pick up. It felt like it’s been a long time since you’ve ate, you were that hungry. You turned your head when you saw Jimin at the cash register. He and Taehyung began to talk to each other and you couldn’t help but listen.

“Taehyungie, how’s work?”

“It’s okay, I guess. The only thing that’s bothering me is the sun, I’m like burning right now.”

“Hey, wanna hang out later?”

“Sorry bro, I have to work a double shift today for some extra money so I can buy my sister a gift for her birthday.”

“What are you getting her?”

“I’m getting her a hairclip that she saw in one of the stores she likes.”

“That’s cute.”

“Dude, is it true?”

“What’s true?”

“About that girl sitting over there.”

Taehyung jerked his head to your direction. You looked away, pretending not to hear anything and just kept reading your book. They were talking about you, the topic made you want to listen to them even more.

“Shin Young? What about her?”

“Wait, how do you know her name?”

“She goes to the library a lot so Yoongi hyung and I see her all the time. Anyways, what about her?”

“Oh, I heard from Jungkook that her dad went there last night – drunk – then beat Yoongi hyung up.”

“Yeah but it was either Yoongi hyung or her.”

“Well, thanks to her, Yoongi hyung is famous now. He’s the most searched guy since this morning.”

Taehyung took out his phone from his pocket and showed Jimin the news. Judging from his expression, it must have been true.

“Library clerk helps girl form her drunk father,” Jimin said, reading the heading of the news.

His friend locked his phone and shoved it back in his pocket, “Kind of cool to have one of our friends on the news.”

“Yeah…”

Minutes Later

The two of you walked along the streets headed to the library. You still couldn’t get their conversation out of your thoughts. You were in the news with your dad and now everyone knows that you have a father who gets drunk 24/7 and beats you up all the time.

“Shin Young-ah, watch out!” Jimin suddenly yelled.

You quickly lifted your head up, seeing a large cart heading right towards you. Jimin grabbed your arm and pulled you to his side before the cart almost ran over you.

“Yah! Watch where you’re going!” Jimin yelled. He looked down at you with a small smile, “You okay?” he asked worriedly.

You nodded your head, still a bit shocked from what just happened to you.

“You were pretty spaced out there, anything wrong?” he questioned, his head tilted to the side as he lets go of your arm.

Biting your lip, the thought of you being on the internet made you want to hide in a deep hole. “A-am I really on the n-news?” you stuttered.

Jimin exhaled a sigh, “You heard, didn’t you?”

You nodded your head again.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure no one will be able to recognize you,” he said then started walking again. “You know, I hated how people took their phones out and took pictures and videos instead of helping you.”

Another nod.

Jimin suddenly let out a little laugh, turning his head so that he’d get a good glace of you. “You don’t talk much, don’t you?”

“S-sorry…” you apologized, feeling a little bad that he was the one doing all the talking. You couldn’t help it, you were afraid that if you talked to him you would just end up finishing the conversation and it’ll be a very awkward walk to the library.

The older boy shook his head, “Don’t apologize, it’s not like I’m forcing you to talk or anything.”

When the two of you arrived at the library, Jimin kindly opened the door for you. Right when you entered, the first person that caught your eye was Min Yoongi. He had a different hair color now, it was a light shade of pink and it looked really cute on him. This must have been like his tenth time dyeing his hair to a different color.

You returned the books that you had in your backpack. Yoongi stood behind the counter and was eyeing all the books that you took out, “Whoa, did you read all this?” he said in disbelief then started to count all the books, “Three… five… eight… eleven” his eyes widened into saucers when you finally stopped pulling out books from your bag. “Damn, you must really love reading. And they’re all in English, impressive.”

“I-I really liked the Maximum Ride series,” you smiled.

“Hey, what happened to your hand?” he asked, grabbing a hold of your left arm. “Did your dad do this to you?”

You shook your head vigorously, “I fell!” your answer was too quick. You cleared your throat, “I-I fell down the stairs.”

He set your hand free then moved his hand to your head, ruffling your hair lightly, “Don’t be so clumsy like that, okay?”

Heat suddenly emitted from your cheeks that you could practically feel yourself turning a deep shade of red. Yoongi took his hand off and placed his elbow on the counter, the palm of his hand on his chin to support his head. You looked down to avoid making him notice you blushing.

He let out a little laugh and used his free hand to lift your chin up, the two of you making eye contact. His puppy eyes staring deeply into yours, “Don’t hide, you’re cute when you blush,” he said then his eyes suddenly widened, his expression looked like he just saw a ghost.

“Shin Young-ah, your hand is bleeding.”