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.’

The bell rang, sign for lunch time. Minju was so hungry, she practically dragged Yuri and Hitomi to the cafetaria. She saw Chaeyeon walking towards her with her headphones on while holding a sandwich. Chaeyeon didn’t see her at first, but when she did, and when she saw Minju smiled at her, she looked away and walked past her.

Minju was dumbfounded. She just wanted to say hi to Chaeyeon. She remembered Chaeyeon telling her to act like she didn’t know her, but still, a little smile wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Do you know her?” Hitomi asked.

Minju came back to her senses. “No, I don’t.” Minju sighed. “I only know she is in Eunbi unnie’s class, and her name is Lee Chaeyeon.”

“Then why did you smile at her, I mean, a person that you don’t know?” Hitomi asked again.

“Hm.. I- I- I just..” Minju stuttered. “Well, she is our senior. It’s only out of politeness.”

Minju didn’t know that Yuri was watching her the whole time. She had no idea Minju knew Chaeyeon, and Minju stuttering when being asked about Chaeyeon was weird. There must be something between them. But Minju was almost with them everytime, since they had lunch together and were in the same class, they even went to library together after school. She never saw Minju talked to Chaeyeon, like ever.

‘I have to ask Yena-unnie.’ Yuri noted in mind.

Yes, Yuri knew Chaeyeon, she was friends with Yena, Chaeyeon’s best friend. They hung out together sometimes at Yena’s house. Even though she was not that close with Chaeyeon, but she knew her enough. Enough to care about her a lot. She would ask Yena about her condition from time to time, since Chaeyeon didn’t really talk at school. As Yena said, Chaeyeon grew up pushing people away. She tried once to Yena and Yujin, but they were not easy. They were just as stubborn as her. Luckily, it worked out in the end. Since then, their friendship was stronger than ever, but Chaeyeon still couldn’t let others in.

Yuri saw Chaeyeon this morning, and she knew what happened to her. She never stopped wishing for Chaeyeon, for her safety and her happiness. That’s the only thing that she could do for her.

‘Be safe, Chaeyeon.’