It’s already 8 pm when Minju got home from school. She lost time while doing her assignment even though the due was still next week. Minju was a straight A student that was popular among students and teacher. All of them thought that Minju was perfect, smart, beautiful, and kind. She had her own boy and girl fans. They sometimes went to her class or passed by just to catch a glimpse of her, it was seriously uncomfortable. So whenever she got a chance, she would escape to the private room in the library where no one could disturb her. Yes, she has a private room for her only, because her family was the one of the investor of the school. No one knew about that, fortunately. She only wanted a normal school life, but now wasn’t what she called “normal school life”.

She only had a few close friends. They usually had lunch together, and when she was with them, no one will dare to come close. She was so grateful. They were Wonyoung, Eunbi, Chaewon, Yuri, and Hitomi. Eunbi and Chaewon are her seniors and also her cousins, Wonyoung was Eunbi’s younger sister. They loved Minju so much and took care of Minju very well. Eunbi was the strongest and the scariest, but never mess with Chaewon,too. They both had blackbelt in Taekwondo. Yuri and Hitomi were Minju’s classmates.They were also smart and they often studied together. They all were the only thing that make Minju’s school life bearable.

Minju rarely used her car, only when she hung out with her friends or cousins. She liked walking, looking at the view and had fresh air before going home. Don’t get her wrong, her family was great, but they were away most of the time. Even though they always made sure to call or chat Minju everyday, she couldn’t help but feeling lonely in that big house.

Minju was walking home, when she suddenly spotted something on the road in front her. She then walked closer.

‘Hey, it’s not something,’ she thinks. ‘it’s someone. What is she doing sleeping here? Is she sick and fainted?’

She turned her over and was shocked that the person was wearing the same uniform.

“Who is she? We are in the same school, but I’ve never seen her at all. Well, not that I know a lot of people.’

As she looked closer, she noticed something wrong with that girl. She had cuts on her lips, a couple of bruises.

‘Did she just fight someone?’

She wanted to take the girl to the hospital, so she called her maid to ask for help.

She stayed beside the girl, while waiting for her car. Suddenly, the girl moved. She groaned.

‘She must be really hurt.’ She helped the girl to sit.

“Hi, are you okay? You just fainted here. Are you hurt anywhere?”

The girl squinted her eyes, she still hadn’t waken up properly.“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Kim Minju.”

The girl opened her eyes wide. “Kim Minju? Kim Minju from One High School?”

“Yes, that one. And you are...?”

The girl stared at her for a while, then she looked away. “I’m Chaeyeon.”

“I’m sorry, Chaeyeon. I don’t really hang around school, so I don’t know many people.”

“It’s okay.” Chaeyeon stood up. “Thank you for staying with me. I have to go.”

“Wait!” Minju stood as well. “Where are you going?”

“Home?” Chaeyeon answered, tilting her head.

‘Oh God, why do I feel that she is cute when she did that?’Minju thought. ‘Wake up, Minju!’

“No, you have to go to hospital. You are hurt.” Minju said, worriedly. She pointed at the cuts and the bruises.

“Oh, this...” Chaeyeon smiled dryly. “I am fine. Thanks, by the way.”  Then, she started to walk away.

Minju watched as Chaeyeon left. She wasn’t sure, but as Chaeyeon smiled, Minju could see so much pain and loneliness in her. Chaeyeon suddenly stopped and turned around. They stared at each other.

Chaeyeon looked away. “Please don’t tell this to anyone, and just act like you don’t know me if you see me at school. Even though I don’t think we’ll bump to each other any time soon. “ She smiled.

“Bye, Kim Minju. Be careful.”

That night, Minju couldn’t sleep. Her mind was constantly thinking about that girl.

‘Chaeyeon. I’m going to ask Eunbi unnie tomorrow. She must be sleeping right now.’

She didn’t know why,but she wanted to know more about Chaeyeon. The look in her eyes, it haunted her.

Minju felt terrible the next morning, terribly sleepy. She was always a good sleeper and never had any difficulties to fall asleep in minutes. But this time, she just couldn’t close her eyes because her mind was distracting her and kept giving her questions about Chaeyeon.

‘Eunbi unnie must have arrived at school now. I better get going too.’ Minju thought.

She couldn’t wait to meet her unnie to ask about the person that had been bugging her mind all night. She was really curious about this girl, and it was the first time she felt like this. She found Eunbi walking towards the school gate.

“Unnie!” Minju greeted. “Good morning.”

“Yah! You scared me!” Eunbi said. “Good morning, too. Why are you so early today?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to come earlier. Is there something wrong with that?” Minju smiled.

“No,but it’s so not you. You are never late, but this is way too early for you.” Eunbi said. “What’s with your eyes though? Did you not sleep yesterday?”

“I don’t know but I just couldn’t sleep yesterday, Unnie.”

Eunbi raised her eyebrow. “Wow, now that’s weird. Something happened?”

Minju contemplated to tell Eunbi about Chaeyeon, but decided to keep numb about it. She promised Chaeyeon already. “Nothing, Unnie. I was just as confused as you.” Right that time, she saw someone walking not too far in front of her. She was wearing her headphone and kept her head down, with bandages on her face. ‘Chaeyeon’.

Minju thought this was a great time to ask Eunbi. “Unnie, who is that girl over there? The one with the headphone and bandages?” Minju pointed at Chaeyeon.

“Oh, that’s Chaeyeon, Lee Chaeyeon. She is in my class.”

“Why does she have so many bandages on her?”

Eunbi shook her head. “I don’t know. She often comes to school like that. She is very quiet and always sits at the corner. She was quiet, she only talked to her best friends, Yena and Yujin. Everytime the bell rang, she would leave quickly to nowhere. She skips class sometimes, but the teachers didn’t really care since she is smart, so she could do whatever she wanted as long as her grades are still good.”

“Ahh, I see.”

‘Okay, so her full name is Lee Chaeyeon. Same class with Eunbi unnie. Like to skip class.’

She stared at Chaeyeon’s back. ‘How can a beautiful girl like her has all those bruises? Was it from her family? I wish I can help her.’