For the past two days I haven't been going to school. It was mostly because the bruise on my cheeks was visible and my sides was still hurting a bit. My parents both thought that I went to school both days, but all I really did was walk out the house with my uniform and bag and go somewhere else. The first day I was just sitting alone at a park near my house, and yesterday I was hanging out at an ice cream shop the whole school hours.

Today, I'm finally back. The main reason why I didn't go to school was because I didn't want the guy in my class to see the bruise and make false assumptions, out loud. I know what he'd say, and I don't want any more rumors about me spreading. I really haven't done anything bad that deserves rumors, so some people just forget about what happened, but some people just love to spread rumors and turn them into a fact.

To my surprise, the guy who usually bugs me wasn't in class today. His friends didn't even come bother with me, and class was actually decent today. Nobody spoke to me, as usual, but nobody annoyed me either. Even during lunch break, I was able to just lay my head down onto my desk top and rest for a while. Rest shouldn't even be the word to use for what I did during break, I actually drifted away into a nice sleep.

-

Sitting in class, I can just see all the students doing their classwork. All around me are my group of friends who I always get in trouble with for talking too much in class. The two in front of me are deep serious into their work, while the one to my right is just dozing off.

I look over at him and throw a pencil at his head. He snaps back into reality, jumping a bit from fright, which caused me to laugh a little. He threw the pencil back at me and clicked his tongue out of annoyance. I laughed even harder.

"How are you in the top 10?" I ask him. He looks at me with a look as if I should already know the answer.

"Because I actually study and do my homework, unlike someone~~." he says, singing the last word. I roll my eyes and we both chuckle.

"Jungkook, what are you even talking about? You're in like the top 20, which is still pretty freaking good." my friend in front of me says, turning around to join in on our conversation.

"I'm actually the number 20." I say.

"Still!" he proves. "Top 20 and you're like the worst person ever."

"Hey." I say, and we all just laugh. I knew exactly what he meant. I'm not the nicest guy in the world, that I can admit. I do pick fights at times, and sometimes I mock someone but that's pretty much it.

"The bad ones are usually the gifted." the one to my right says. The other friend groans but then turns back around to finish his work.

When class was over, they all left ahead of me while I stayed behind for a while to finish what I didn't do since I was busy talking during class time. When I had finished, I walked up to my teacher's desk and set the work on top of it, bowing down before leaving. As I was about to even open the door to walk out, some guy had thrown an eraser at my head. I assumed it was one of my friends pulling a joke on me, but when I turned to see who it was, it was just this guy sitting at his table with a pleased smirk plastered on his face.

I scoffed and put my hands on my waist for a while, turning my head to the right, my expression showing annoyance. While my brain had told my hands to just grab the eraser on the floor and throw it back at him, my hands wanted to do something else. They grabbed the stapler on the table beside me and threw it with so much force towards the guy. It had hit his forehead and everyone who was in the class gasped quite loud. Even my teacher didn't stop me because she was in too much of a shock.

The guy grabbed the stapler and ran towards me. He tried to bash it against my head but I had grabbed his arm and threw him to the side. He had ended up grabbing me as well, and he pulled me down to the ground with him.

I got up way quickly before him, but he wouldn't try to stop and hurt me. I mean, I can say this was my fault because I could've just walked away, but instead I grabbed a stapler.

My teacher tried to get in between us to pull us apart, but he pushed her away and came for me again. When he got closer, I punched him as hard as I could. Of course, that angered him a lot more. He tried to hit me again with the stapler, which was opened now, but I grabbed a textbook that was left on a table and smacked his left cheek with it which caused him to fall over. As he fell, his head hit the edge of our teacher's desk, near the corner almost. He laid on the ground, unconscious.

My eyes widened when I saw that he wasn't getting up. I looked around me and everyone's eyes showed fear. My teacher looked so afraid of me, but I can just tell she wanted to run to him to check if he was alright. Regretting what I had done, I dropped the textbook onto the ground and ran out of the classroom.

-

I woke up, more like jumped up, to the sound of my teacher hitting the board with her hand, emphasizing how important it was to take school seriously. I looked around and everyone was focusing to the front of the class, with a few exceptions of some whispering to each other's ears. No one was staring my way, I was quite confused. I expected everyone to be looking at me with fear, but then I realized everything I just saw didn't happen, at least not now.

I had dreamed of what I did last year, although dreams don't really recreate exactly what had happened. I really don't remember smacking that guy with a textbook, but I do remember having his head bang against the edge of a desk, and him going straight to the hospital after. I remember how afraid I was.

Class had ended and I quickly walked out, wanting to find Jimin and Taehyung. I checked where we usually eat, and they weren't there. I walked all over the school to spot them, but they were nowhere to be found.

When I had finally given up, I actually spotted them walking out a classroom. I assume it was their class, but I didn't even question why they stayed a bit late. I ran up to them and stopped right in front of the two.

"Jungkook?" I hear Jimin go. "What's up? I haven't seen you in school for the past like two days."

"Can I ask you guys something?" I said to them. They both hesitated for a while but then nodded their heads. "Be honest with me, do you really not know who I am?"

Taehyung smiled softly and then nodded his head to the left, telling me to follow him. He led us to a bench and we all sat.

"Honestly, when we first met you we didn't." he tells me. "You were just a stranger who tripped on the sidewalk."

I was observing him, his eyes, making sure he wasn't lying to me. I caught no hint of him doing so.

"Even the next day, we still didn't know the Jungkook everyone else somehow knew. It was the day after that, when we caught you sitting alone during break." Jimin adds. "One of our friends from class knew who you were. He came up to both of us and asked us, 'You're friends with that kid? Jungkook?' We were both confused to why he was so interested, but he then explained why he asked."

"He told us that everyone was afraid of you, mostly the students of your year. He even told us what you did last year, and to who." Taehyung says, his smile dropping a little.

"But honestly, I didn't believe him at first. You can even ask Taehyung. I just laughed and thought he was trying to joke around with me, but his face was so serious that I just immediately stopped laughing." Jimin says. "But even so Jungkook, our thoughts of you didn't change because of what he told us."

"It didn't. I mean, Jimin and I saw a guy picking on you. You told us that he even continued annoying you in class, but you haven't done anything. At least nobody is talking about you smacked him, or about how you beat him to a pulp, or anything like that. If you were really the same guy you were last year, you would have already hit him, right?" Taehyung asks me. I sigh and look down, nodding my head slightly.

"I don't want to do what I did again last year. I wasn't the nicest guy you could've have met. I guess you could say I was a bit like Namjoon hyung. I mocked my peers, and I always picked a fight. But I didn't mean to do what I did." I said, my head still down. "Gosh, if my brother could see how I was then and am now, he would be so disappointed in me."

It was quiet for a while, but I didn't bother looking up. I continued staring at the ground beneath me until I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I looked to see Jimin give me a comforting smile.

"What happened to your brother?" he asks, a bit hesitantly.

"He's not dead. I realize I kind of made it sound like he is." I answer. "But he left the house. As soon as he turned 18, he escaped."

"Escaped?" Taehyung asks. I realized that my wording wasn't really helping my case of keeping most of my life a secret. I shook my head and stood up, telling them that it's nothing. I knew they didn't believe me, so I changed what I said.

"I'll tell you later."

They both got up from the bench and threw their arms around me, dragging me out the school. They had invited me to hang out at one of their homes, but I refused. I remember what happened two days ago when that happened, and I didn't want to risk coming home to a drunk angry dad again.

They both gave me a hug before walking off into the direction of their house. I watched their backs for a few seconds, smiling to myself.

"If you were really the same guy you were last year, you would have already hit him, right?" Taehyung's voice played through my head. I saved that sentence into my brain, using it as hope. I'm not the same person I was. If I was, I'm sure Jimin and Taehyung wouldn't have wanted to be friends with me.

-

Arriving home, I find my dad crashed out on the couch and my mom cooking silently in the kitchen. I made my way upstairs to my room without saying anything and locked myself in it. I threw my backpack to the side and plopped myself onto my bed, trying to get a nap. But I heard something hit my window. I got back up and went to go check what it could be, and I saw a small pebble being thrown which hit my window again.

I opened it and looked outside, catching someone waving to me. I couldn't believe who it was at first when I looked. I closed my window and ran downstairs, running out the backdoor so my mom didn't hear me leaving the house. I ran straight to the person who threw the pebbles, my older brother. I gave him the biggest hug and he returned it.

"Hey Jungkook." he says, chuckling. "I see you missed me."

I didn't say anything and just continued hugging him.

"How's mom and dad?" he asks, releasing his arms from me. I looked at him and sighed.

"I don't know if they're doing better or worse. Dad slapped me two days ago." I told him. "He slapped me and then pushed me towards a table. I hit my ribs against the edge of it. I didn't go to school for the past two days. They're still arguing too."

"He hit you?" he asks.

"I think he hit Mom too. When he slapped me, she came running and hugged me and I noticed a bruise on her shoulder." I said. He sighed and sat down on the grass.

"You know, even though you came running towards me, I still think that you hate me inside." he tells me. "I mean, like 6 months ago I just left without taking you with me, without telling you anything. You must have hated me so much."

"I never did." I say. "I was jealous of how you were able to leave because you're an adult, and I was just a fifteen year old stuck at home. I was just jealous. I told myself that once I turn eighteen, I'm going to do the same thing you did. I wanted to leave. I still do."

He looked up at me, but he wasn't smiling.

"What if I go with you? In three years!" I say, a bit excited. He started smiling a little, but it didn't look really happy.

"That'd be nice, but I don't know where I'd be in three years. I told myself that I'd never come back to Seoul, but my job had me come here for some work and I said why not visit my little brother?"

I sat down beside him and he pulled me close to him, ruffling my hair.

"I'd love to stay longer Jungkook, but I really have to go back now. I came during my lunch break and I don't really want Mom and Dad to see me. They would never leave me alone, and I still feel like they probably hate me. Disappointed in me." he says, getting back up.

"Will you come back?" I ask him, grabbing his hand as he pulled me up.

"You know what, for you I'll try." he says. "I leave Seoul in three days. I'll see if I'm not busy enough to say goodbye to you."

"You better." I tell him. He laughs and hugs me.

"You know I love you." he says, letting go of me. "Bye Jungkook."

I watch him walk away before returning back to the house. My mom was still cooking but my father was awake now, watching something on the TV. I walked back into my room and stared out my window, still imagining my brother there. Gosh, it felt so good to see him again. I missed him so much. I know what I want to do now. Not only do I just want to leave when I turn eighteen, I want to go with him. At least he makes me feel like I'm someone important. I know I'll be happy beside him.