A cold shiver runs down your spine as you walk your way home from your part time job  and realise that the church bells have already started ringing. You're not sure what time it is. Even though you know it's not twelve yet, it is quite spooky and you get an uneasy feeling of being watched. Without hesitation you turn at the next corner and start running.

 

Your mother nearly gets a heart attack when you crash through the door and slam it shut behind you. “What's the meaning of this, Y/N! How often have I told you not to slam the doors! Do you know how expensive it is to have them repaired? We can't afford it! We already have problems with the new school fees! Be glad they are giving you a scholarship!” You lower your head, “I know mum and I’m really sorry!” She sighs. “Go get yourself some dinner. We still have some leftovers in the fridge and then go to bed, but don’t wake your brother. I don’t want you to be late for your first day of school!” You nod and go into the kitchen, avoiding the stuffed animals on the floor your mum has been sewing.

 

After you have eaten you say good night to your mother and she kisses you on the forehead. As silently as possible you open the bedroom door. Your little brother is already sleeping, so you climb over him and lay down. It has been quite a long day since you have been at your part time job till very late and there had been some erts giving you a hard time and not to forget the strange feeling of being followed on the way home. You shudder and cuddle with your brother. He always manages to calm you down.

 

Suddenly a loud scream tears you from your sleep. “Yah! Sis!” You sit straight up in bed, while your little brother is crying of laughter at the door. “Chanie!” You look at him angrily. Your mother’s bed is empty as always because she is probably already in the kitchen. You give yourself some time to rest from the shock before you jump at your brother to tickle him. Afterwards you go into the bathroom, take a short shower and put on your new school uniform.

 

The second you step out of the bathroom your brother hushes past you and shuts the door. Confused you look at your mother, who holds up a bag of chilli powder and points at your brother’s breakfast. Both of you start laughing. You sit down at the table and carefully inspect your own breakfast for chilli powder, but it seems save to eat. After a few minutes your brother joins you again, this time with a save meal.

 

Since your new school is close to Chan’s school he accompanies you the entire way. At the school doors he ruffles your hair and hugs you. You pout. -Why does he have to be so tall? Is it normal for people two years younger than yourself to be at least one head taller?- You sigh and wave him goodbye. Then you enter your new school for the first time…

 

You hear the gates getting closed behind you as someone shouts: “MOVE!” You turn around and a boy not much taller than you runs you over. A small scream escapes your lips as you fall. The boy lands on top of you. He is covered in band aids and bandages. “I told you to move didn’t I?!” He suddenly yells at you furiously, parts of his golden-blond hair hanging in his face while the rest is held back in a ponytail. Suddenly the school bell rings. “Damn it! I’m late! Well thanks a lot, quack!” You're completely dumbfounded by the boy’s words. Did he just call you a quack? You frown angrily but run after him because you are going to be late as well if you don't.

 

The next time you see him is in class. Turns out he is in the same class as you are. You sigh as you get seated right next to him. That is when you notice he's not even wearing the school's uniform. Instead he wears dark skinny jeans, combat boots and a low cut, black tank top. A leather jacket hangs around the back of his chair. Why hasn’t the teacher said anything yet? You frown in confusion. “What?” Your neighbour suddenly whispers angrily, making you jump in your seat. “Is there a problem, Jihoon?” The teacher asks him, but Jihoon just puffs angrily, which looks kind of cute, but you would never dare to tell him. The teacher on the other hand looks quite enraged. “I don’t want to hear another word from you, or anyone in this class until it is over! Now open your books and Joshua please read out starting from page 17.” A boy in front of the teacher, with neat hair and a very tidy uniform with the student’s council emblem on it stands up and starts reading the text.

 

You let out a sigh of relief as the class finally ends. The teacher had let you read out at least four times and the homework is overwhelming. What a great first day. Another sigh escapes your lips and you lean your head on the table. Only six lessons left.

 

When the last bell finally rings, announcing the end of the school day, you hurriedly pack your stuff and make your way to the exit. Chan is already waiting at the gate. He has taken off his tie and opened the first two buttons of his shirt. You roll your eyes as he gives you a big gummy smile and waves enthusiastically. He takes your backpack against all protest with his briefcase and you start walking home.

 

“How was your first day, sis?”  Your brother asks. You sigh and shrug. “It was… Well I got run over by someone, then in class I was seated next to that specific person, yelled at by the teacher thanks to him and bombarded with homework… All in all a great day!” You gesture around. Chan starts laughing. “Sounds fun! I just talked with my friends as always.” He looks at you with his big smile that makes you want to cuddle him to death, so you pull him down and ruffle up his hair. “Hey!” He pushes you away and you laugh. What you don’t notice is that someone is walking behind you. Your brother shouts: “WHATCH OUT!” but it’s too late and you walk backwards into that person.

 

The first thing you notice is the golden-blond hair you have come to known way to well today. “Uhm… Sorry about that… Jihoon…” You stutter but he just stares you down until Chan steps in. “Hey! Leave her alone, will you? It’s also your fault you bumped into each other.” He grabs Jihoon by the collar and pulls him closer. “Stop it you two!” You step between them. “That’s enough! I know you want to protect me Chan but please. I’m the older one. And I apologize for bumping into you yet again, Jihoon. But please don’t jump at each other's throats like that.” They give you an annoyed look, but let go of the other slightly pushing him. You roll your eyes, grab Chan’s wrist and pull him along. “Let’s just go.”

 

A few days later you see Jihoon limping through the park on your way home from grocery shopping. It seems as if he has been beaten up severely, so you walk over. “Are you okay?” You ask him, but he just counters “I’m fine. Leave me alone.” He slightly pushes you out of the way but stumbles, so have you to catch him. “Oh that’s it!” You say angrily. “Put your arm around me and let me help you already! Why are you so stubborn?” Unwillingly he lets you put his arm around your shoulders. “This is embarrassing…” He mumbles. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this!” You sigh. “Fine. I promise I won’t tell, but only if you let me take you to the hospital to get your injuries treated.” Jihoon looks quite unhappy about that, but in the end he agrees and you spend some time in the hospital waiting for a doctor. It feels very awkward to wait with Jihoon. None of you really knows what to say or do so you both let out a relieved sigh when a doctor finally arrives. “Thank you…” Jihoon states so quietly you nearly don’t hear it. “Oh no it’s no problem really…” you answer and stare at the floor. “See you in school then…” Jihoon just nods in response.

 

When you get home your mother is really angry. “Where have you been all this time? I’ve been worried sick about you! God knows what could have happened!” Your brother who is sitting on the sofa sewing stuffed animals nods angrily. “I know, mum. I’m really sorry.” You try to calm them down. “But I met someone from my class… He had been beaten up pretty badly, so I took him to the hospital and we had to wait quite some time…” You look at the floor. “He?” Your mother suddenly asks and looks at you with a raised eyebrow. A blush makes its way up your cheeks. “Who is he, Y/N? Tell me everything!” She keeps looking at you with that smile. “What? Nonononononono! I-It’s not what you think!” You try stopping her. “Oh really? Then why won’t you tell us?” She continues. “Yeah. Come on, sis. Tell us!” Chan adds with a big grin. You shoot him dead with your eyes. “I… I’m really tired right now…” You start sweating. “1… I’ll tell you some other time!” Hurriedly you pass them and hide in the bathroom. As soon as the door is closed behind you, you let out a deep breath and sit on the floor. This is not happening. This is not happening! You rest your head on your knees. Why did you blush before? You can't explain. It was just very frustrating, so you really decide to go to bed.

 

The next days become kind of a routine. You walk to school with Chan, are in class on time and sit next to Jihoon. At lunch break you eat by yourself and after school you wait for Chan who accompanies you to your part time jobs or home.

 

About a week later your teacher decides, that it is time for a project and you have the luck to be paired with the one person missing that day: Jihoon. You sigh as you go to the teacher to ask for his phone number, but of course he hasn’t given the school his number, so you have to ask for his address.

 

The address leads you to an upper middle class neighbourhood. You don't really like these kinds of neighbourhoods, since your last school and have to suppress a shiver. Carefully, you press the doorbell and feel your heartbeat rising out of anxiety. You jolt a little as the door opens and send a quick prayer to heavens that it isn’t the parents. Luckily, it’s not and a surprised looking Jihoon is standing in the doorway. “Uhm… Hello ,Jihoon… Uhm… We were paired up for a project in school today… I wanted to ask for your number but they said that they didn’t have it, so…” You stop and look down. Jihoon seems flustered as well, but he steps aside and lets you in.

 

You arrive at his room and he offers you to sit on his very comfortable desk chair. His room has a piano and at least one PC and a laptop. You wonder what he needs them for. Awkwardly you start working on the project but as the time passes you start talking.

 

At first he is quite cold and distant, but after a while he opens up to you. “I’m sorry…” He suddenly starts. “I know I’m irritable, but it annoys me how people always assume that’s all I am… I mean sure. I get angry easily, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be happy… or nice…” You nod, hiding your own uneasy feelings behind an understanding smile and start asking him questions.

 

“What do you do in your free time? Or are you more of a sleep-long-don’t-wake-me-up type?” Jihoon hesitates. “Uhm … Well… I… I make music…” You raise your eyebrows. “Make music? So you are a composer?” He nods. “Yes…” “Tell me!” You look at him eyes sparkling. Jihoon notices how interested you are, so he starts to explain all the things he does and the next half hour you listen to his passionate talk about music. He uses hands and feet to illustrate what he is saying and you can follow easily. You also find out that he wants to participate in a composing competition and that he is working very hard to win first place. He even lets you listen to one of his compositions and it is so good you loose yourself in the music.

 

When the song ends you abruptly come back into the real world and Jihoon looks at you nervously. “How was it?” You blink a few times before knowing what he means. “It was amazing!” You don’t know how to explain what you felt in words. “It’s great! For me this is a definite first place!” Your eyes sparkle. “Really?” A big smile appears on Jihoon’s face. “By the way.” He adds. “You can call me Woozi.” You smile at him. A warm feeling of trust starts spreading in your chest and you decide to do something you would have never thought would be possible for you. “About what you said earlier of being reduced to something because of a certain asset… I know what you mean. In my old school I was always picked on because of where I live… They said that I was dumb and that I would never make it… They even waited for me on my way home…” Your voice trails of as you hold back tears that start building up. “That’s also the reason why I don’t trust people easily and don’t let anyone come too close to me…” You fall silent again and look at the floor slightly shaking. Nervous of how he might react. Jihoon is not sure what to do because he has never been in a situation like this. As you notice him struggle you have to smile. He looks so cute when he is confused. Jihoon gets even more confused by your sudden change of expression and his hands cringe. “Did I do something wrong?” He asks concerned. You shake your head. “Oh it’s nothing. You just look kinda cute when you are confused.” A smile appears on your lips as you ruffle his hair like you always do with Chan. Jihoon pulls away and blushes. You laugh. The time passes quite fast afterwards and soon it’s getting dark outside and you have to go home.

 

The next day starts completely normal. You wake up and eat breakfast with your family. Afterwards you and your brother walk to school and lessons start. But as the bell rings for lunch break someone suddenly puts his arms around you and comes really close to your ear making you able to feel his breath on it. You let out a little yelp, because your ear is a very sensitive spot. “Hey there, y.” A male voice whispers in your ear. “Let me go!” You push him away. Turning you see it is Seungmin. He thinks he is the coolest, but for you he is just a jerk. Since the second day of school he has been calling you things like ‘babe’ or ‘hot stuff’ and so on and now this. You look at him angrily. “Leave me alone, Seungmin! I don’t like this at all!” Seungmin just laughs and grabs your chin. “Oh come on, sweaty! Don’t fight it.” He gets closer. “No… Stop!” Tears start building in your eyes.

 

“HEY!” Suddenly Seungmin gets pulled back and you see an outraged Jihoon landing a punch in his face. The second he notices you tearing up he rushes over. “Are you alright? Did he do something? Did he… Did he hurt you?” He sounds panicky. You shake your head but cannot stop the tears from running anymore. Jihoon’s eyes widen and he doesn’t seem to know what to do, but in the end he takes you in his arms and hugs you tight. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.” He whispers. Then he turns to Seungmin. “Don’t you EVER touch her again! This goes for all of you!” He looks at every single person in the room and hugs you even tighter. “She is my girl!”

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: This is it for now... I'm thinking about maybe writing more chapters but i'm not sure yet.