“As if there’s no problem

You smile brightly in front of me.”

Da Young could only run as fast as she could with her two tired feet. She was tired, tired from school, tired from crying, tired from explaining, and also, tired from Ji Hoon.

She stopped after a couple of minutes and took a deep breath in before wiping her tear away from her still-watering eyes. She told herself to be strong but it was impossible, just thinking about her attitude towards Ji Hoon killed her. She desperately wanted to go back to school to hug him, explain to him and all, but she couldn’t. Because of one thing: She was a coward who fears.

She glanced around the surroundings where she had stopped and pressed her lips together. This neighborhood was nowhere familiar to Da Young. Even the entire atmosphere differs from her neighborhood. This place had an eerie touch to the quiet atmosphere. She sighed and turned around to go back to wherever she had came from but she paused for a moment.

“If… If I go back to where I have left, wouldn’t I end up at the school?” She asked herself, suddenly remembering about Ji Hoon and shook her head. There was no way Da Young would ever… in her life retrace her footsteps back to the place she had dreaded. Call her stubborn or whatever but she wouldn’t care.

She glanced around the silent neighborhood and found a small park. She quickly walked towards the park and sat on the lonely swing that hung alone in the middle of those large slides. She placed her bag next to her and started to rock the swing quietly. She had a lot to think about now.

She said nothing at all and only looked up at the dim skies. A tear slipped from her eye but she did not bothered to wipe it off. She stayed like that until the skies started to turn a little greyish that she picked up her bag and left the park, heading straight back home.

It was a little troublesome and frustrating to find her way through the unfamiliar streets without any light source but she promised herself to never walk back to the school to find her way home unless it was time for school.

She let out a frustrated sigh and started to walk again, to find her way, not expecting to be stopped just for her sigh.

She was startled at the sudden approach of someone walking in front of her, blocking her way.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, dodging her head low, to avoid eye contact with the latter but it was useless.

The person in front of her held Da Young’s chin and forced her to look up. Da Young gasped a little and struggled to escape the person’s grip but it was too strong.

“Let go of me!” She gritted her teeth as she tried to loosen the person’s grip on her. It was starting to hurt her.

“Oh, such a feisty one,” the person chuckled and a couple of chuckles were heard as well. There were more people behind the one that had hold Da Young captive.

“Yah! Herim, you really do have bad taste in choosing people to take advantage of,” another voice appeared behind the person.

“It’s not my fault that this girl is the problem, am I right, Jaerim? Who told her to get close to my oppa?” Baek Herim asked, her eyes still on the struggling Da Young. “But who would’ve thought that this fragile Im Da Young would end up here? In the middle of a very dangerous neighborhood? For us to bother her?”

Her grip on Da Young tighten and Da Young gaggled a little, she was still struggling and there were tears glistening in her eyes now.

“What. Do. You. Want?” Da Young asked, trying hard not to faint from the pain she was experiencing.

“What I want?” Herim scoffed, glaring at Da Young. “What I want?” Her voice went up higher, into a shrill.

Before Da Young could escape, Herim dragged the girl across the quiet street into a dark alley and tossed her onto the wall. Da Young landed with a thud, her head made contact with the hard brick wall behind. She tasted blood at the back of but she tried to ignore it.

Da Young groaned and winced but she avoided making eye contact with the group of girls who had surrounded her. She tried to stand up but was immediately pushed back down by a few girls. They grabbed Da Young’s shoulder roughly and pushed her back down.

“What do you want?” Da Young snarled.

Herim grasped Da Young by her collar, making her look into the eyes of the cruel person. “I told you didn’t I? Get away from Park Ji Hoon and I’ll leave you all alone! Isn’t it simple? Why can’t you even do such a simple task? If you did that task, we would leave you alone. Didn’t I mention this already? Didn’t I?”

“It’s… it’s not my fault… that he… he… comes around… me… I did… ignore him….” Da Young grunted.

“But you’re not trying your best!” Herim hissed, pushing the girl back onto the wall. Da Young’s eyes were half-closed now. “And since you let this happen, we have to punish you.” Da Young could see the corners of Herim’s mouth curl up into the wicked smirk she had ever encounter.

“What… are… you going… to… do-“ Da Young could not finish her sentence.

Right after Herim had finished hers, she clapped her hand once and immediately, the girls behind Herim clawed at Da Young, reaching out to her like they were hungry hyenas. Da Young’s eyes widen and a scream escaped as she tried to escape the sharp nails of many hands, tearing and ripping her clothes away as if they were paper.

Da Young’s eyes glistened with tears quickly as she helplessly tried to protect herself. “Get off me!” She yelled and a hot tear fell from her eye.

She saw Herim holding a cellphone with the flash on, smirking. She glanced at Herim, begging her to stop those girls from attacking her but it was useless. Herim just smirked once more, shaking her head as she twirled her hair. Herim was enjoying it and Da Young was still there, helpless.

She did not know how long it had went on until she heard a pair of sirens and a few heavy footsteps that forced the girls including Herim to run away, shielding their faces as they ran.

Someone ran past Da Young while another went straight to Da Young, asking if the girl was okay but all Da Young see was blur and she immediately started to sob into the person’s chest.

“It’s okay, girl,” she heard the female voice trying to calm her down as the female police her head.

She was saved, but at the same time, she was broken as well.

✩✩✩

She sat in the unfamiliar room. It was covered in bright lights but she could not feel the heat from those lights. All she felt was numbness. From everything.

She sat on a wooden chair, with a fleece blanket covering her fragile body and a mug of hot chocolate in front of her, on the wooden table. She said nothing and did nothing at all. She stared at the hot chocolate that one of the police had left for her without touching it.

“Hello there,” she heard a gentle voice as the only door of the room creaked open, emerging the same female police that had saved her from the group of girls.

Da Young said nothing but watched as the police made her way to the other chair in front of Da Young. She observed Da Young for a moment before looking at the hot chocolate that had went cold now.

“You don’t like hot chocolate?” The police asked.

Da Young shook her head slowly and the police nodded her head as well.

“Can… can you tell me what happened?” The police asked. “It’s okay if you don’t want to! You can really take your time-“

“Thank you,” Da Young whispered before glancing down at her lap. “Thank you for rescuing me, Officer….” She drifted off.

“Officer Ha,” the police brightened up immediately. “You’re welcome, my dear.”

Da Young said nothing after that and shifted uncomfortably from side to side.

Officer Ha looked at her and nodded slowly. “It’s okay, take your time, dear,” she whispered as she walked towards the door. “I’ll come back here while you just rest.” She twisted the doorknob open and stepped out. “Oh, and I’ve called someone to reach the police station. I couldn’t figure out who were your parents because almost all the contact address had really weird names and I got confused.”

Just before Officer Ha closed the door, Da Young snapped her head at the door and opened . “Wait,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “Officer… Ha, I’m… I’m ready… to… to… talk.”

Officer Ha’s head popped through the doors again, now with a big grin. “Great,” she smiled and walked up to the same chair which she had sat before just a few moments ago, looking at Da Young with the most attentive look she had shown.

And with that, Da Young explained from top to bottom of how everything had happened. She would shiver when she mention Herim’s name but Officer Ha would tell her that it was okay.

The door to the room opened immediately with a bang, forcing Da Young to jump and stop her talk. She glanced at the door and found a disheveling looking Ji Hoon at the door. He was patting heavily as he scanned through the room, not looking long as soon as his eyes landed on Da Young’s. His feet moved immediately, straight towards Da Young and he wrapped his arms around the girl’s body as she started to cry immediately.

“Are… are you okay?” Ji Hoon breathed, still holding her in his arms. Da Young had grasped Ji