TW: Bullying and offensive words.

The rain softly hit the glass window, the droplets slowly making their way down leaving a wet trail behind. Dark chocolate eyes stared at it, a small, gentle smile gracing her full lips. She loved the way the rain affected the nature giving it a new beauty, the green of the trees seem so much more alive and the flowers more colorful as they precariously swing at the will of a whimsical wind, the grass below shining with a greyish spark due to the water…She even liked the unique smell rain had, so earthy and familiar. It made her feel at peace.

Kim Minjoo didn’t feel at peace often, at least not at school.

She didn’t hate the school, but saying she wasn’t very fond of the people there was an understatement. They would say she didn’t belong there, she felt like she didn’t. Always trying to stay out of sight, to go unnoticed, counting the minutes to the end of classes so she could go home. School was the worst part of her young life, no matter how much her naturally optimistic ways tried to shine a better light into the situation.  Minjoo had given up on trying to fit in, to make friends and find her place in the complicated high school hierarch – it would be near the bottom anyway. She would be more than happy to just be left alone, and that’s why she would stare out of the window every day, wishing she could get out of that cold prison of grey walls, and go to the vivid park that surrounded the school to admire the pretty flowers without anyone watching over her.

The annoyed voice of their homeroom teacher took her out of her thoughts, forcing her to straighten her back and prepare herself for another day of boring classes and unbearable lunch breaks.

However, instead of facing her teacher with a new lesson, her eyes found a new classmate standing beside the man. Minjoo’s eyes grew a little wider as she observed the girl who had such a strong aura to her. Brown hair fell over her shoulders, looking much softer than the girl’s expression. Her face was small, with delicate, almost adorable, features adorning it. Chestnut brown eyes were partially covered by her bangs, they were beautiful, almost like a doll’s – and expressionless like it belonged to one too.

“I’m Kim Chaewon.” The newcomer introduced herself with a short bow before the teacher could say anything. Her tone was robotic and lacked any emotion – no signs of nervousness or shyness, it was almost as if it was indifferent for her. Her face didn’t give away anything either, her lips pressed into a thin line and her sharp eyes staring back at the small crowd of students, as she waited for the teacher to assign her a seat.

The man seemed slightly annoyed by the student – but he always was –, pointing out the place next to Minjoo’s, the only available seat.

Minjoo immediately tensed up, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. She wasn’t good with new people and the girl didn’t seem like the friendly type, what meant that being her seatmate wouldn’t be an easy task.

Trying her best to act natural and force a friendly smile – she was actually friendly, but school has made her wary of people, always waiting for the worst and today was no exception. Still, she was trying her best, after all, she would be stuck with this new kid for the rest of the semester and gods know how much she already suffered dealing with her unpleasant classmates, to have to deal with another one, especially one that would be her partner for school activities. She greeted the girl with a polite nod of head, sitting in a way that allowed Chaewon to read her nametag easily – The other Kim didn’t bother to do so.

Chaewon narrowed her eyes at her, nodding slightly as she took her seat and proceeded to get her notebook out of her backpack, completely ignoring Minjoo.

The younger blinked, moving so she could face the front of the class instead of her seatmate. Being ignored was better than being antagonized, still she felt an unpleasant feeling of rejection and for some reason, it embarrassed her. Maybe she had tried too hard with her dumb, silent smile.

She tried her best to not frown, looking down to her notebook and opening her book in the page the teacher said, starting to work diligently. She was good at studying at least, if she could focus on it, she would be able to ignore the other brunette’s presence.

Math wasn’t her best subject, but Minjoo was the kind of people that can do anything as long as she puts her mind to it, and that’s why she was filling the pages of her workbook now. The brunette would’ve been even faster if she couldn’t feel someone’s stare over her once in a while, making her a little restless, uncomfortable with the attention. Of course, it was her seatmate, probably judging her bad calligraphy or point out her mistakes – she was used to this silly, annoying way to ; it was the lightest form of bullying and the only one she could ignore completely most of the time.

A light, tentative touch on her sleeve, took her focus away of the books. She expected some sort of superior look, maybe a smirk or a snicker as the other girl would insult her in some way. Instead, she was faced by an expression that could only be labeled as ‘embarrassed’.

“Hey,” Chaewon’s lips were slightly twisted as if she was unhappy with herself, the sharp eyes that faced Minjoo didn’t seem as cold as before, nor her voice carried the indifference she showed…She looked young and out of place, just like you’d expect of a new kid at school. It took Minjoo by surprise. “I know this is annoying and it’s okay if you don’t, but…I really hate math, so can I have a look at your book? I still haven’t gotten mine and I don’t know how to do this without a proper explanation.” She gestured her notebook that was open, but still blank even after more than half an hour since the beginning of class.

Chaewon should’ve asked the teacher for help instead of her, and for a moment Minjoo considered the idea of just ignoring her – her own little revenge for earlier. Only that Minjoo wasn’t a very revengeful person at all, nor she thought it would be a good idea to do this when the teacher would probably just obligate her to help the other girl later.

Gingerly, the younger Kim nodded, moving the book so Chaewon could have a better look at it. Pointing out where she was working on, she showed the girl what she has done and smiled, indicating it was okay for Chaewon to copy it. “Are you sure?” The newcomer asked, raising an eyebrow.

Minjoo only nodded in reply. There was a chance she was putting herself in trouble, not because the teacher would mind – he wouldn’t, he never cared enough to check their work properly –, but because Chaewon might become used to copy and start to use her as an easy source for homework…In this case she would just hand it out anyway, she knew better than waste her energy, however she was hoping that her kind action would make the other girl a little more gentle toward her.

With a small sigh, Chaewon nodded as well, starting to copy. They worked in silence mostly, but once in a while Chaewon would ask her about something and Minjoo would only point out the answer in the book or write it down for her – Chae’s eyes would stare at her a little longer in these occasions, but she didn’t say anything, only nodding before going back to work.

The lesson ended and soon another teacher came, but they didn’t talk even when a new task was assigned. Minjoo just made sure Chaewon could see what she was doing and they worked together in silence until the bell for lunch rang. Even then, they didn’t exchange a word, only putting away their stuff.

Chaewon gave her a single nod as a thank you before Minjoo dashed out of class as usual. The lack of verbal thank you didn’t bother her, nor the other Kim’s quiet attitude throughout the morning. If anything, it made her relieved.

After all, Minjoo couldn’t speak.

Chaewon sighed, her eyes darting around with uneasiness. Like most teenagers she hated school, more than this, she hated being the new kid at school. She was never great at making friends, always wary of people. Trusting wasn’t something easy for her. Not knowing who was genuinely nice and who was just pretending to backstab her later, made her uneasy.

That’s why she had decided to keep her distance from people and quietly finish her last year of high school.

At least it was her plan until she met Kim Minjoo.

Ever since she entered that classroom, she had tried her best to make sure she wouldn’t look like an easy target, using her natural blank face to scary away any potential bully. Yet, it was hard to keep her façade when she was assigned to seat beside such…How could she describe it? Adorable? Yeah, pretty much that was a good definition to her new seatmate. The girl had the biggest and most innocent brown eyes she had ever seen, matching well her hesitant, shaky, but gentle smile as she tried to welcome Chaewon – it was such a sight that it pained Chaewon to ignore it, although she tried her best to pretend she didn’t notice it, that she couldn’t feel the odd, unfamiliar, warm feeling it brought her.

She lifted a hand to her ear, feeling it was getting hot from embarrassment – awesome, not only she was socially awkward, she was extra awkward around cute girls. However, she lowered the hand before she could touch it, clasping the edge of her desk instead. Perhaps she should’ve returned the smile, maybe like this she wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable and slightly guilty now. Chaewon fought the urge to steal a glance at the other brunette, not wanting to see disappointment on her face.

She wasn’t supposed to make friends, trusting someone just because they look nice was stupid.

When the teacher started the lesson and she was forced to try to focus on math, she realized she had put herself in a pretty uncomfortable position. It was terrible for her ego to have to ask her scared cat seatmate for help, but she would rather do it than having to ask it to the teacher and wait for him to force the other girl to share her book – honestly, if she didn’t care so much about her grades, she would have simply ignored the task. It took her several minutes to muster the courage to ask – perhaps she was the real scared cat here.

Chaewon kind of expected to get a big fat ‘no’ as an answer – she couldn’t blame her if the girl did it, after all she didn’t give her a good first impression. But maybe the old say was correct and the eyes were indeed the windows of the soul, and that girl’s soul was as pure as her eyes, because she not only agreed on sharing the book, she also allowed her to copy her answers. Scrap it, ‘pure’ wasn’t the right word for her. That kid was either incredibly kind, or incredibly dumb. Maybe both.

Taking a look at the brunette’s name tag – Kim Minjoo, a pretty and very common name –, she asked again if it was okay and received another smile as a reply. The older Kim was relieved and pretty flustered as she copied the work.

Chaewon hated owing people favors, and that morning she received several ones from the quiet kid who was so willing to help her. Kim Minjoo with her pretty calligraphy and patient smiles, gifted her with a morning of efficient, but very much silent, work – Chae was pretty sure the other hadn’t uttered a single word during the whole day.

Minjoo disappeared as soon as bells rang for the lunch break, leaving Chaewon on her own – what took the slightly shorter girl by surprise. She was pretty sure Minjoo would be one of those overly nice kids that always tries to make new friends, the type that would ask her for them to have lunch together and finally start to asking a bunch of questions...But it looks like her theory was wrong and the other probably already had a big group of friends waiting for her somewhere, she would be busy catching up with them to take care of her new classmate.

Not giving it too much thought, she went to the canteen to grab something to eat and watch the circus that was the social dynamics of high school – and think about how she could avoid getting involved on it. Sitting at a nearly empty table close to the doors, she observed all the different groups and unconsciously looked for Minjoo in the crowd – not even a trace of her. Even after lunch time was over, she didn’t see the brunette.

Minjoo was back at her seat by the time Chaewon arrived in class for their afternoon classes – she didn’t comment anything, only receiving the same small smile from the girl. During the days that followed, this ‘weird’ behavior of her seatmate persisted. Disappearing from class as soon as the bell rang and coming back earlier than anyone else seem to be part of Minjoo’s routine. Perhaps she was one of the kids that eats outside the school, or had a special place to stay with her friends during breaktime…This, however, didn’t seem like the case from what Chaewon was seeing.

As far as she remembered, she had never seen a single person talking to Minjoo before with the exception of the teachers, and only for roll call, but the girl would only answer to it by raising her hand. People even talked to her, although Chaewon never even tried to come off as friendly or receptive. She had never seen anyone around Minjoo either, no friends coming to greet her or waiting for the her at the end of the day. The girl was always by herself and everything indicated she was an outcast. With the exception of some girls shooting her dirty looks once in a while, everyone seemed to ignore her existence. 

It was hard to understand why anyone would do that to someone like Minjoo. Chaewon wasn’t the type to be easily fooled and she could tell the girl’s kind actions were genuine and honestly it was hard to not like her – she was always willing to help, offering her shy smiles and gentle gazes no matter how much Chaewon tried to ignore her; Besides, she was pretty enough to catch the eye, what usually was a pretty big deal to determine someone’s place in the school hierarchy…The fact that people weren’t flocking to her was rather weird. One didn’t need to be a genius to see that something was off, something that probably everyone but her knew about – noticing the way the other kids would look at Minjoo’s way and how she seemed to be used to it, Chaewon was starting to understand the situation.

Two weeks in that school, long enough for her to start to understand how the place worked and to learn to hate some aspects of it. In an all-girls school, you’d expect things to be less chaotic and more pacific, but the truth was that women can be especially evil towards other women. Money, influence and looks…All was judged to establish where you’d stand in the school’s power rank – the people who tried to approach her were just trying to asset her value to decide whether or not she was worth their time; She didn’t entertain them, not wanting to be associate with any groups.

Still, life always find a way to force you to come out of your comfort zone and it happened again the form of Kim Minjoo.

Chaewon didn’t really interact with people, staying quietly at her seat next to Minjoo – who didn’t need to lend her books anymore, but would still let her copy her answers if she asked for it –, and focusing on her studies was her thing instead of mingling. Unfortunately, people still tried to interact with her.

“Watch where you’re going, newbie.” A tall girl said with a very non subtle threatening tone to her voice, as she tried to trip Chaewon over by extending her leg to create an obstacle on the shorter girl’s way to the exit of the classroom.

Awesome, a wannabe bully. It was an old trick and Chaewon didn’t have any difficulty avoiding it, instead she let the sole of her sneakers hit hard against the girl’s leg.

“No need to worry. As you can see, I always know where I step.” Her tone was sweet and full of venom as she replied with a smile that didn’t match her gaze. The bully scoffed, looking more taken aback than intimidating, but she didn’t try to stop her from walking away again. As expected from a bully, she would rather go for an easier target than to pick a fight with someone who could stand up for herself.

Having picked up her backpack, Chaewon was already on her way out of the school when she had to stop and sigh, annoyed at herself. No wonder her bag seemed so light, she had forgotten her history book under her desk and she would need it for homework, what meant she would have to go back and get it before someone locked the classroom.

She walked fast, going back to her classroom only to find the oh-so-pleasant classmate from earlier, alongside one of her minions, cornering Minjoo, preventing her from leaving the room.

The tall girl, Boah, had her heavy hands on Minjoo’s delicate shoulders, making her unable to stand up from her seat. The minion, whose name Chaewon didn’t care enough to remember, was in front of Minjoo’s desk, partially blocking Chaewon’s view. “Come on, talk to me. Didn’t your dad teach your manners? You should always ask for permission before leaving.” Boah asked with that one annoying tone Chaewon loathed so much, while her friend snickered as if she had told a great joke.

“Boah, you forgot her dad left when he was informed she was you know, kind weird?” The minion spoke, crossing her arms as she leaned in to speak closer to Minjoo’s face. “I mean, retarded. I can’t blame him for it.”

Minjoo winced at her words as if they were physical hits, lowering her head in what Chaewon presumed was embarrassment. The older Kim closed her hands into fists, feeling tension spreading through her body. You had to be a real coward to mess with someone like this, using their weakness to break them – to use family out of all things was particularly vile.

“Ya, Sukyung, don’t be rude! Our friend MinMin is not retarded, she is just special, you know? Her head is a little slow, that’s why we need to teach her some manners. We just want to help, right?” Boah leaned in closer to Minjoo, a sadist smile on her face as she squeezed the girl’s shoulder until Minjoo moved on her seat due to the pain. Boah didn’t allow her to stand up even after it. “Come on, MinMin. Ask us for permission to leave. Say it like a normal person.”

Minjoo flinched, shaking her head. From where she was standing, Chae could tell the girl was breathing hard, probably shaking with fear, but not even this would make her speak.

Such reaction seemed to annoy the bullies and Boah hit the table with strength, a little too close to Minjoo’s hands. “Speak, you dumb ! I’m sick and tired of you playing the victim!”

“You. Move.” Chaewon approached with quick steps that hopefully didn’t show how disturbed she really was by the scene. She made sure to not lock eyes with Boah, keeping her gaze on Minjoo instead. “Kim Minjoo, let’s go.”

“What do you think you’re doing, newbie?” Boah glared at her, straightening her back to look down on Chaewon – she was indeed taller, but the Kim didn’t mind it at all. “Don’t get in my way.”

“This is my way, not yours, oldie.” She replied without hesitation, shoving her aside gracefully so she could grab her book from under her desk and stand by Minjoo’s side. “I’ve some school work to do and I need her help to do it, so don’t be a bother, will you?” With a hand gesture, she dismissed Boah carelessly, grabbing Minjoo by the arm to make the girl stand up.

“Who the he-“

“Excuse me, we’ll be leaving now.”

There was a chance that things would turn really bad, really quickly, but she was counting on her confidence to push the other girls away – although she had plenty of years training taekwondo with her mother to get her out of any problem, and she wouldn’t mind that much testing some of if on Boah’s face. Still, she hoped it wouldn’t be needed, even now she could feel the way Minjoo was shaking slightly under her touch, as the girl hesitated to move even after she pulled her towards the exit.

Minjoo seemed to expect for the worse to happen, but Chaewon pretended she couldn’t notice – or cared about – the emotion on her face, as she dragged the girl along.

“So you want to get the retarded to do your homework? I guess you’re even more stupid than she is!” Boah still glared at her, the minion-girl looking confused as she watched the Kims leaving. None of them tried to reach them, perhaps Boah was the type that enjoyed being in control and didn’t know how to react properly to quick changes – luckily for the Kims, this time they were able to leave without a physical confront.

Although looking at Minjoo’s pale face right now, Chaewon couldn’t say that the girls hadn’t make any damage.  

Chaewon didn’t let go of Minjoo’s arm until they were outside the school gates and on the way to her house – whether or not it was also the path to the younger’s house.

She felt irritated and uncomfortable, her hand reaching to loosen up the tie around her neck to give her some breathing space. She was annoyed at those bullies for being such s for no reason and ruin her peace of mind; She was annoyed at Minjoo for not even trying to stand up for herself, although she couldn’t really blame her for fearing the people that probably have been harassing her for a long time; More than anything, she felt annoyed by herself. Playing the knight in shining armor wasn’t her deal, yet here she was feeling so inexplicably angry at those girls for messing around with this kid she barely knew – since when she had so much empathy for others?

“Look, you can’t let them treat you like that. If you don’t do anything, they will get worse and…” Grimacing, Chaewon looked at Minjoo who still kept her head low avoiding her gaze. More than defeated, the girl seemed genuinely ashamed and the sight pulled the strings of Chaewon’s heart a little – a sharp, familiar pain coming along. She knew saying this wasn’t fair, no one wants to be bullied, nor they consciously decide to not get help, there were so many things involved – from one’s self- esteem and temper, to the social pressures and the built fear – it wasn’t a black and white situation.

Chae, however, always hated all shades of grey.

Bringing them to a sudden stop, the shorter brunette reached for something on her pocket – a cellphone –, handing it to Minjoo. “Here. Give me your number.” Kim Chaewon wasn’t one to go around asking for girl’s – or anyone really – numbers, she couldn’t even recall the last time she texted someone who wasn’t a family member of some sort. But this wasn’t about making friends or flirting.

“You can text me if you ever need help.”

She was just paying the girl back for helping her with school work, she hated owing favors and this would them even – it was what she told herself. Just getting even, nothing to do with how much it disturbed her to see the other being mistreated or how much it reminded her of herself. No, she would only help once and that would be it. Besides it was the right thing to do, her moms would be proud.

Nodding, more to herself than to Minjoo, she reinforced. “Go ahead.”

The younger Kim hesitated, gingerly reaching to accept the phone as she finally lifted her head to meet Chaewon’s chestnut gaze – there was a small, surprised but relieved, smile on her face as she typed the numbers carefully before giving the device back to its owner.

Not wasting any time, Chaewon called her. “Save my number and text me next time, okay?” She expected to be sounding more reliable than cold, albeit her tone tended to be a little too stiff whenever she was feeling embarrassed – and somehow feeling the warm chocolate eyes on her made her feel nervous.

The brown haired girl nodded, her small smile becoming less hesitant now, a new spark in her eyes as she looked at Chaewon in a way the other girl couldn’t quite understand – was it gratefulness? Some sort of idolization because she had saved her from some nasty girls? As if, she didn’t think she was anywhere near of being a selfless hero.

“My house is this way.” She gestured the east where a calm neighborhood could be found two blocks away. “What about you?”

Minjoo just gestured the bus stop a couple of meters away and Chaewon nodded, making her way there as the girl followed closely behind.

The silence should’ve been awkward, after all this was one of the situations where people make small talk – or in their case, they could’ve just trash talk Boah and her friend to destress. Still, she knew by now that Minjoo wasn’t a person of many – or any – words and if the episode earlier served of anything, now her suspicions about the other girl were confirmed. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t a little confused about what actually happened to Minjoo that made her like this, still, she didn’t want to intrude and make things uncomfortable for the girl. Boah had given her a hell of a time and Chaewon thought the silence was a welcomed calmness to Minjoo now.

Going home already would’ve been easier, she was also tired and they were far away enough from the school for anyone come to bother them – yet again, she acted so out of character, seating by Minjoo’s side at the bus stop and doing her best to pretend to scroll through her phone as they waited. Once in a while she could feel Minjoo’s eyes on her – how could anyone have such a warm feeling to their gaze? Chaewon wasn’t sure about it, but she couldn’t say it was an unpleasant feeling. She couldn’t resist looking back either.

The bus arrived shortly after, Chaewon waving goodbye as nonchalantly as the could as she watched the girl enter the vehicle.

She told to herself it was just her one big act of kindness of the year, like it was just an item for her to complete on her to do list. Still, as she made her way home that afternoon and her phone buzzed in her pocket with a short message, she couldn’t control her lips from curving slightly in a faint smile as she read Minjoo’s text.

“Thank you. I’m glad I met you.”

That message was only the first one of many.

A/N: Hi, guys. I started this story around a month ago and it's a very dear to me, but I'm kind of in a slump so it took me a while. Idk when the next update will be, but I hope you enjoyed this one. I'm sorry for any mistakes. Thanks for reading, see you next time :]

**I didn't rate this story as M because nothing too graphic happens here, but if any of you thinks this should be rated M, please let me know and I'll change it.