Length: 1043 words
Warning: bullying

Right hand in his pocket, the other gripping the handle of his brown knapsack, Jung Jinyoung strode the hallways of his school, only to be met with an awful sight. On his left were kids teaming against one student. Jinyoung sighed, but decided to proceed directly to his first class. As he was about to leave the scene, he heard the name of the person he had been curious about these past few days—Kim Hyeonjeong. Jinyoung's eyes widen.

Jinyoung knew he shouldn't involve himself with these kinds of situations, but the female always succeeded in getting his attention. So he got back on his tracks and watched the incident from the opposite end of the closed space, pretending to be busy with his locker. From the mirror inside his locker, he searched for Hyeonjeong. And there she was panting while wiping the blood from her lips by the back of her right hand.

"What is it that you want this time?" Hyeonjeong's eyes were fixated at the lass in front of her.

"Your broken face," the lass mocked as two other girls came to throw punches not only on Hyeonjeong's face but also to her stomach. Hyeonjeong coughed out blood and inhaled a mouthful of air, eyes blank.

"Not fighting back, are you?" the lass grabbed a generous amount of Hyeonjeong's hair. Hyeonjeong only looked at her with soulless eyes.

Not getting the reaction she anticipated, the lass clicked her tongue against her cheek and let go of Hyeonjeong. "Let's get out of here."

As soon as the group was gone, Hyeonjeong didn't say a word and only tended her aching stomach. "Argh!" she grunted as she tried to stand up straight.

If Jinyoung's sister were there, she would have hit Jinyoung's head for not being a gentleman their parents raised him to be. But Jinyoung's sister wasn't there. Jinyoung can act whatever he wished, and he chose not to act. Jinyoung's reason? Stay out of trouble.

As soon as Hyeonjeong disappeared from 's sight, Jinyoung was slapped by something—reality. He was a coward for not standing up for a fellow student—more over, a classmate. He mentally cursed himself for it.

yourself, Jung Jinyoung.

*     *     *

"Kim Hyeonjeong," Jinyoung's math professor proceeded to his daily roll call. Slender fingers shot up above the said person. "Hyeonjeong, what's with the face mask?"

"I caught a cold, sir," Hyeonjeong said. But Jinyoung thought otherwise. Jinyoung now understood why Hyeonjeong liked to wear turtlenecked, long-sleeved sweaters—to hide her bruises.

Cold, my .

"Everyone, please take care of your health. Your finals are coming up in a few days."

Jinyoung shrugged off the thought of Hyeonjeong's bruises and practiced answering yesterday's geometry problem.

*     *     *

Hyeonjeong was sitting by herself in a four-person table in the cafeteria. For today's lunch, she would be having ramyeon and green tea.

She took off her face mask, revealing the bruises on both side of her lips. As she was about to take a bite of her noodles, the lass from before appeared again.

"Is your lunch tasty?" The lass sounded sympathetic with her brows brought together and a little pout. Hyeonjeong ignored her and ate some noodles. "I think it needs a little more water." The lass poured her bottled water into Hyeonjeong's bowl. "There, all set. Enjoy your lunch, loser."

*     *     *

"Jung Jinyoung, snap out of it!" Lee Junghwan, who was sitting across Jinyoung, waved his right hand that was holding his chopsticks in front of other male's face.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Jinyoung blinked and focused on Junghwan.

"Are you seriously gonna make your noodles cold? You've been staring at one direction for 10 minutes now."

"Oh, sorry. I don't think I have the appetite."

"Ey. You should have said sooner. I—" Junghwan was about to dip his chopsticks inside Jinyoung's bowl when Jinyoung stood up with his tray.

"I'll be right back." Jinyoung hastily went to the direction he was looking at before.

 *     *     *

Jinyoung was definitely out of his mind when he sat across Hyeonjeong. Meanwhile, Hyeonjeong was still shocked with what just happened. Jinyoung cleared his throat.

"You can have my lunch." Jinyoung pushed his bowl in front of Hyeonjeong. Hyeonjeong only stared at him and back to his bowl. "Don't worry, I didn't put anything in there."

"It's . . . fine. I'm fine. Thank you, but no thank you." Hyeonjeong dipped her chopsticks inside her bowl and swirled some noodles.

"No really, I don't have the appetite. Plus, I wouldn't want my food to go to waste."

"You shouldn't have ordered it then." At that moment, Jinyoung wanted to stand up and leave her.

Just eat the noodles, God damn it.

"Well, I just lost my appetite—exactly after my meal arrived."

"I can still eat—" Before Hyeonjeong can have another word, Jinyoung removed Hyeonjeong's chopsticks inside her bowl.

"You've endured enough today. You should eat up," Jinyoung said it in the most nonchalant way he could manage. "Oh, and here, it's an ointment that should remove your bruises." He grabbed something from his pocket and placed it on the table. "You should put it twice a day."

"Thank you," Hyeonjeong was out of words at that time. Nobody ever approached her from the time she became an entertainment to bullies.

"Do you have a phone?"

"Huh?"

"I'll type in my number."

"Ah." Hyeonjeong was hesitant to give her cellphone at first (since Jinyoung may be one of those bullies, and ran with her phone or break it even), but there's something about the look on Jinyoung's eyes that made her hand it over. Jinyoung typed in his number and gave it back to her.

"If you need help, don't hesitate to call or text me." Jinyoung looked at her eyes sincerely and determined, as if prepared of what's to come—when in reality, he was rethinking his life choices as soon as the words came out. 

Go dig your grave, Jung Jinyoung.

*     *     *

There may be a few times when Hyeonjeong refused help from Jinyoung, but through the days, Hyeonjeong learned to receive hands when they were offered and Jinyoung learned to offer his hands to those in need.