Haera

It’s Wednesday afternoon when I saw Kyungsoo for the first time this week. I was heading out of the room from my last class for the day when someone suddenly grabbed my wrist, making me halt from walking.

            “We need to talk,” he said in a low, cold tone. Kyungsoo started walking, dragging me out of the hallway.

            I didn’t say anything, until he stopped in an isolated corridor. “Are you still mad?” I nervously started, facing him. “I’m really sorry for not telling you, I got overly excited when I found out about the film fest that I only told Sehun about it. But I really have a plan on telling you, I just… forgot. And, I swear—“

            “Haera…”

            “—I didn’t tell Baekhyun and Chanyeol about it on purpose. They just saw me looking at the poster. Then, Chanyeol asked me if I’m joining, I said yes. And Baekhyun—“

            “Haera…”

            “—is with him, I can’t just make him unheard what I have said, right? Then you got busy, I got busy, then I only remembered that I’m still not telling you about it when the management messaged me—“

            “HAERA, SHUT IT!” I froze. He sighed as he closes his eyes firmly. “Stop explaining. I’m tired hearing the same thing for this week. Just… stop. I didn’t drag you here to talk about that.”

            About to mope upon hearing him say that he doesn’t want to talk about our problem, I titled my head when I realized what he just said.

            The same thing for this week?

            As far as I can remember, he’s been successfully avoiding me for the whole week since Friday, so I have no chances on explaining everything to him personally. How…?

            Jongin?

            My eyebrows furrowed at him. “Jongin has talked to you already?” I hesitantly said.

            “Yeah,” he said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “And also, Sehun… and Minseok,” he added. “I get it, they care about you and they all want to punch me because of that, but I also care for you as much as they are. You know that, right?”

            I nodded. Then, I heard Baekhyun’s word in my head saying, you’re the best friend, you shouldn’t know. Why not ask him, instead?

            I gasped. “This is the part where you will confess to me, am I right?” Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and gave me a why-am-I-friends-with-this-woman look. “Maybe not,” I shrugged when I figured how stupid I sounded when I said that.

            “This is the part where I’ll tell you to stay away from Baekhyun,” he blurted instead.

            I blew a raspberry in annoyance. “Not this again,” I muttered quietly, not even caring if Kyungsoo heard me or not.

            If I have no idea about Kyungsoo’s hatred towards Baekhyun, I might consider thinking that he’s working with Minseok on keeping me away from Baekhyun. Which, again, I still don’t understand how will I benefit from doing that. I mean, I’m not even that close to Baekhyun for me to suddenly ignore him. That will be weird. Considering the fact that I have no escape meeting him every time he’s with Park Chanyeol.

            I think that big guy fancies small people. Okay, maybe not small people, because everyone is literally small around him. But I noticed that he likes befriending people who is a lot smaller than him. I saw him walking in the school grounds once with Park Jimin of the dance department, then the other day, he’s with Lee Jihoon of the composition department, and of course, there’s not a day have passed that he’s not with Byun Baekhyun. And everytime he sees me in the hallway, he’ll shout my name really loud before running to me. I’ll never get used to that scenario. Then, there’s Baekhyun trailing behind his giant child.

            “Again? What do you mean again?” Kyungsoo bafflingly asked.

            I shrugged. “Minseok’s been telling me the same thing,” I said, in an idly manner.

            “Obviously, you didn’t listen to him,” he concluded, arms crossed to his chest. “Then, at least listen to me.”

            “No,” I said with a vacant expression. “Unless you tell me now why I should stay away from him, then I might reconsider my decision.”

            He sighed tiredly. “I can’t. I can’t tell you.” He walked closer to me and engulf me with a hug. “I can’t hurt you, Haera. I can’t. So, I’ll just protect you from anyone who will try to hurt you. Please, I’m doing this for you, just trust me.”

            I stiffened at how soft and vulnerable his voice is right now.

            “Why would Baekhyun try to hurt me?” I asked, flimsily.

            I felt his hug tightened as he grabs me closer to him. “I’ll protect you,” he soothed, ignoring my question.

            “You know,” I said as I pull away from his hug and face him, “sometimes, protecting me from what could’ve hurt me will not save me, but cause me more pain instead. If Baekhyun will try to hurt me, then so be it. I lived my whole life carrying the pain from my childhood, Kyungsoo