Sakura has a love hate relationship with her ears. She likes them whenever she’s with Eunbi, but absolutely hates them when she’s with anyone else. Ever since she was in kindergarten, Sakura would always be made fun of for her big protruding ears. Some kids called her “Mickey mouse” while others called her “Dumbo the elephant”. 

Six year old Sakura did tell her mother about the constant name calling at school, but her mother simply told her to ignore them. She did as told, until it started getting worse during high school. 

Sakura was getting bullied by a bunch of seniors by the names of Yujin, Wonyoung, Yena, and Chaewon. They would drag Sakura to a corner and pull on her ears, making nasty comments about them all while laughing and recording it down on their phones. Every recess they treated Sakura like their servant, forcing her to buy them lunch. Sometimes if they were feeling upset, they’d use Sakura as a punching bag to vent their anger, leaving the poor girl with bruises everywhere. 

Sakura kept all her sufferings to herself. Whenever her parents asked her how was school, she’d say “good”. On the inside however, Sakura was feeling really miserable. She had no friends at school because her bullies spread the videos of them bullying her online and everyone started seeing her as a nerd, an outcast. 

Sakura doesn’t remember a day without getting teased about her big ears. Though some of the people who make those comments mean no harm at all, it still made her upset. She really hated her ears. But it was a different case with Eunbi. The first time they met was during school, when Sakura was getting bullied again. 

-

“Hey look it’s Dumbo!” Sakura heard Yujin exclaim before the bullies start making their way towards her. Sakura kept her head down and arms clutched tightly around the books she held close to her chest. 

“Yah, aren’t you going to greet us?” Chaewon rolled her eyes while reaching forward and tugging on Sakura’s left ear. The sudden tug makes the girl stumble slightly in pain but she regains her balance. With her head still tilted downwards, Sakura says softly. “Sunbaenim..” 

“That’s more like it! Did you guys hear there’s a new Dumbo movie coming out soon?” Yena snorted after hearing what Wonyoung said. “Seriously? There’s a new Dumbo movie coming out? We should go with the real Dumbo to watch it then!” The few of them agree and laugh as Yena continuously pulls on Sakura’s ears while calling her Dumbo. 

Sakura didn’t say anything but it actually hurt when they tugged so harshly on her ears so much that they even turned red. She felt so ashamed of herself because so many people in the hallway were watching what the bullies were doing to her and laughing about it. Sakura let out a whimper when Yujin grabs and pulls her right ear so roughly until she fell forward onto the floor. The books she was previously holding were now all scattered across the hallway. 

Yujin faked a gasp. “Oopsies.”

Sakura bit down on her trembling lip as tears blurred her vision. She desperately tried to blink her tears away, not wanting to seem weak and cry in front of everyone. One by one she started picking up her books, trying her best to ignore the snickers from the students surrounding her. “Who else wants to go watch the Dumbo movie with miss big ears over here?” Yena asked the students who were watching the commotion, before more people started laughing. 

When Sakura heard that, she clutched her fists until her knuckles turned white. “Stop calling me that...” She somehow gathered enough courage to say, though it was soft. 

The bullies chuckled to themselves before Wonyoung took a step forward. “Omo.. did Dumbo just talk back to us? How dare you..” As Wonyoung raised her hand, ready to slap Sakura on her face, someone stopped her. 

“Don’t you dare hit her.” The girl had an iron grip on Wonyoung’s hand. Though she was shorter than Wonyoung, just her cold hard stare alone made Wonyoung afraid. “Yah.. who said I was going to hit her? We were- just playing around-“

“It’s not called playing when the other person is in pain. Back off before I make you.” The girl took a glance at the other bullies who looked taken aback. Quickly, they retreated once the girl let go of Wonyoung’s hand. The other students who were crowding around also left, leaving Sakura and the girl alone. 

She turned to look at Sakura who was picking up her books one by one. “Are you alright?” Sakura paused for a second. Her eyes met the stranger’s ones briefly, before she looked away and nodded. “Are you sure?” The stranger asks again, but Sakura didn’t reply. 

She sighed and helped Sakura pick her books up. “I’m Kwon Eunbi, from the same batch as Yujin.” After hearing that, Sakura froze. Seniors were never nice to her, so