Mina, Chanyeol, and Seulgi stopped in the middle of the staircase, eyes fixed on the clamorous crowd. Hundreds of students were huddled in the main hallway, glued to the large bulletin board. Mina’s heart dropped in her chest as her turbulent thoughts swam inside her head, tugging at the regenerating strings of calmness. The situation was too familiar: the noises, the aching feeling of her legs threatening to fall and the never-ending anxiety.

In an instant, Mina gripped Chanyeol’s hand with such strong force that he whipped his head to look at her in alarm. Seulgi glanced between the two friends and she finally understood. It wasn’t long since she found the same crowd hurdled before the official board, with dozens of pictures of Mina in Kodak tacked to the plank. She remembered how the said girl furiously slapped Baekhyun in front of the whole school in the cafeteria, and how much she felt sorry for her. She spent two years building an almost untouchable reputation, and it broke down brick by brick right before her eyes because of Baekhyun. Seulgi had seen him tacking the pictures at five in the morning, and she wondered how he managed to steal the key easily when the principal had only given it to the security guard and the librarian. But then again, she did so as well and it wasn’t a hard task.

So why would he do it again when the two seemed to get along lately? It was almost impossible. That was the same question Mina had asked a second ago, hand still around her best friend’s. She shared most of her secrets with him, helped him when he was feeling down and even grew to care about him for God’s sake! She could even say he was a friend, so why did he back away now? Was the truce only a low step at bringing her down? Were the intimate chats they had just a cover to get close to her, find out her darkest secrets and use them against her? Did she mean nothing to him?

“It can be an announcement or-” Chanyeol started with comforting eyes, rubbing invisible shapes on the back of her quivering hand with his thumb. Seulgi rubbed Mina’s back, nodding to his words.

“No.” Mina gulped, shaking her head furiously, “I have a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling.”

She pulled out from his grasp, shoving her hand inside her pocket. The toothpick immediately was between her lips, her upper and lower teeth chewing on the wood material impatiently. She couldn’t see anything from the top of the stairs, and the blurred sight that resulted from her anxiety wasn’t helping either. It couldn’t be an announcement; students would pass by and not stop if it was.

Before anyone could stop her, Mina was already making her way down the staircase and towards the bulletin board. Chanyeol and Mina called after her, trailing behind just as fast as she walked. The dreading feeling mounted to as everybody turned around. They looked at her with an unavoidable kind of disgust, eyes darting from her feet to her head as if she was an extraterrestrial creature. It was then that she confirmed her instincts: whatever was on that damned piece of wood, it was about to ruin her all over. Maybe ruining was an underestimation of what was about to happen.

Seulgi and Chanyeol exchanged worried looks, realizing there was nothing they could do to stop her now. Mina was already pushing past people, one by one, not really caring if she pushed them too hard. It didn’t really matter to her since all the energy that was left of her was gathered in her hands and it wouldn’t be enough to hurt anybody.

When Mina finally reached the front, she froze.

There was a picture of a young woman holding a boy’s hand in front of a small house, both smiling endearingly at each other. It was innocent, a simple family picture but what was written above was gruesome. The writing was delicate, the pen barely touching the paper as it spelled out a sentence Mina wished she hasn’t read: ‘Byun Baekhyun is the son of a worthless . Not so perfect now, aren’t you, bastard child?’

Mina’s hand flew to cover ; her brows furrowed even more when she caught sight of the document attached right next to it. It was a petition signed by a group of housewives to kick out single mothers from the Gochang neighborhood, with a list of people in which the name ‘Byun Sunmi’ has been circled in red. The words ‘’ and ‘’ were written next to it with a red marker.

Mina couldn’t take it anymore. There were evil people in the world, but she never thought it would be to that extent. Who did they think they were to kick them out? What did they know about them to take such rash decisions? Being a single mother wasn’t a mistake, but even if it was, nobody deserved to be treated like that. But the stigma around the subject was too intense, but what did they know? What did they know to call her cruel names and kick her out of her own house?

Nothing, they knew nothing.

Her eyes glanced again at the picture, just realizing how the little boy looked so much like Baekhyun, with the same burning ten on top of his head. That was the first time she’d seen a number on a picture, but she wasn’t too surprised. Baekhyun was always out of the equation. But along the way, she seemed to forget that he was human too.

She didn’t really care that he lied to her when he said his parents were divorced. She couldn’t blame him either; it wasn’t easy to tell somebody you didn’t trust such a big piece of information of you. Mina only cared about where to find the poor boy and comfort him.

She turned away from the bulletin to face an unmoving crowd boring holes in her head. It took her a few seconds to understand the disgusted looks they’d thrown her earlier; it wasn’t about her, it was because of her. Mina felt her heart drop to her feet now that it hit her.

“It’s not me.” She mumbled, casting fearful glances all over the hall, “I didn’t do it.”

Her eyes fell on Chanyeol and Seulgi, and oh how she wished she didn’t. They had the same doubtful looks on their faces, the same suspicious frowns plastered on their lips. But it wasn’t her, she swore it wasn’t her. She couldn’t do it; she wouldn’t have wanted to do it.

Mina opened to shout out loud and clear that she didn’t do it, that she wasn’t the one to blame, to only close it shut again. The students’ opinions didn’t matter to her. Those words needed to be spelled out for Byun Baekhyun and Byun Baekhyun only.

Mina snatched the picture and the document from the board and bolted to the staircase, pushing through the throng of students in the way. She didn’t want Baekhyun to think of her a threat anymore. She didn’t want him to believe she didn’t keep her promises. She didn’t want him to think of her as another somebody who hurt him. A small part of her was afraid he’d seek revenge and tell everyone her darkest secrets, but a bigger part was more worried about losing him –that is, if she had some fraction of him at all. The twinge of fear around the flaming ten above his head was slowly, but surely transforming into something else –curiosity. She was already breaking something that had yet to start, already losing the war when the first battle had yet to burst. However, the biggest part of her had a hard time keeping up with her feelings towards the said boy. She was beginning to see him as a friend, a person she’d run to talk about her problems and worries, a person she’d be somewhat comfortable showing herself to, and it was frightening. It all came down on her in one dump that the perfect ten she despised a few months ago had started to make himself a spot in her heart alongside Chanyeol and Seulgi, even if it was minuscule or insignificant.

Mina’s string of thoughts came to an abrupt end when she caught sight of a familiar black-haired at the end of the empty corridor. He was leaning cockily on one of the lockers, a smirk playing on his lips. The green two on his head was waving uncontrollably, dizzying Mina along the way.

“I told you to go for the mother instead.” He detached himself from the wall, walking towards her in slow steps, “But you don’t listen. Miss Kang never listens, and someone had to do it.”

Mina clenched her hands into fists, and then folded the papers in half and shoved them into her pocket. The ground seemed to crumble beneath her, along with the number above his head. The way her name rolled off Sehun’s lips felt so different from Baekhyun; the latter usually kept a playful tone when calling her, not sounding like he wanted to eat her alive.

“You’re the one who did it,” Mina spoke, stopping herself from punching him straight in the jaw. It wasn’t even speculation anymore, she was sure of it. He was the one who told her to go for the mother instead. He hated him so much that he couldn’t stand to not hurt him. She should’ve known better, but now it was too late. “Don’t even try to deny it you brat.”

Sehun stood frozen for a couple of seconds before laughing, “Deny it?” He laughed even harder, “Why would I deny it? I admit that I’m the one who sabotaged Baekhyun’s reputation. There’s nothing to hide, I’m not afraid of you.”

Mina scoffed, her toothpick almost breaking between her fingers, “Aren’t you scared I’ll tell on you?”

Sehun took a step closer until they were an arm’s reach apart, with Mina glowering at him since he was much taller than her, “I’m not scared because nobody will believe you. I’m his best friend and you’re his worst enemy, who do you think they’ll put the blame on?”

He tried to tuck in a strand of hair behind her ear but Mina swatted it away, “Come on, Mina. Be honest. Don’t you want this as much as I do? Aren’t you sick and tired of that bastard coming in and taking the entire spotlight? Don’t you think it’s time he remembers where he came from?”

Mina shook her head in disbelief and asked, although she already knew the answer to her own question, “Why are you doing this?”

“Didn’t I make it clear?” Sehun tilted his head, innocence peering from his eyes, “I want to humiliate Baekhyun. I want to make him hate life so much that he decides to leave. I hate him, with every fiber of my body, and it doesn’t matter what I do to make him understand. He’s a mistake, an illegitimate child; he isn’t supposed to be here. I’m not surprised his father left him and his mother to starve. ”

Mina couldn’t believe a boy was able to hide this much hatred for a person, “How did you even find that picture? Did you sneak into his house? That’s illegal, and you can get in jail.”

“The picture was in my house all along.” Sehun declared confidently, “My mom signed the petition years ago, and she kept a copy of the document along with the picture in her old drawers. I wanted to share it with everyone. What can I say? I’m a generous person.”

Mina lifted a finger, “Correction, you’re a jealous person.”

Sehun scoffed, “Jealous?”

“Yes –jealous is what you are.” Mina repeated, “You’re jealous because you’re nothing next to Byun Baekhyun. You’re always in the shadows, not because Baekhyun steals the spotlight, but because you have nothing to show. Admit it; you’re the definition of mediocre. You’re average at everything: academics, sports, and wooing Bae Irene. You’re jealous because she never even looks your way when Baekhyun is there. You’re just the poor guy friend who doesn’t get the girl.”

Sehun visibly reddened as soon as Irene’s name left , and Mina knew she hit bull’s eye, “Irene has nothing to do with this.”

Mina crossed her arms, “Are you sure? I’m pretty sure you’re doing all of this because of her. But let’s face it; Bae Irene will never see you in that way. You’re an obnoxious kid with jealousy issues. Scratch that, no girl will ever see you in that way.”

Sehun’s voice was tense when he spoke, “Watch your mouth, Kang.”

Mina didn’t falter at his threat, the smile still playing on her lips, “What? Am I hitting too close to home? Did your mommy tell you that you’re obnoxious when you were little? Or did Irene reject you when you confessed to her? Let me guess: was it because you were immature? Not special in any way? Did little Sehunnie go home and cry for a week because his crush didn’t like him back?”

Mina didn’t know –or how– she ended up slammed to the locker next to her, with Sehun boring his eyes into her skull. The pain in her back hit her as if a dagger was shoved into her spine, but Sehun didn’t seem to care. To add on effect, his hand smacked into the locker as well. Warning bells rang in her head, but her eyes only focused on the green two shake wildly before morphing into an orange three. Mina gaped at the transformation, then at Sehun who was panting heavily in front of her.

“Say one more ing word and I’ll punch you.” Sehun growled, “I don’t care if you’re a girl. The last bell rang a while ago and I bet there’s not a living soul in this school who can witness it.”

Mina’s hands shook but she hid them underneath her blazer, hoping he didn’t catch sight of them. She was afraid; Sehun looked very much like he’d hit her if she pronounced another word. And she wondered if this day could get any worse. But Mina was no quitter, and she didn’t care if it cost her a black eye.

“Punch me, Oh Sehun.” She dared to say, “I dare you, punch me.”

Sehun narrowed his eyes at her, “What did you just say?”

“Punch me.” Mina uttered each syllable as if she was speaking to a toddler, acting as if her heart wasn’t threatening to break out of her ribcage with how hard and fast it beat. She stared at him directly, refusing to break eye contact. S