Before leaving the school, Seulgi headed to the locker to retrieve some of the books she needed for her weekend assignments. Once done, she turned around to exit the locker area, only to collide with a stack of books that moved past right in front of her.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t see you,” Seulgi and the owner of the books apologised at the same time. As they both find the voice of each other familiar, they looked up.

“Joohyun?”

“Seulgi?”

Upon realising the identity of the other party, they burst into laughter. Seulgi helped to gather all the books and while doing so, she discovered from the cover that they were meant for year three students.

“Joohyun… you are already in year three?”

“Yes. I am from class 3-1.”

“Then I should call you Unnie instead of addressing you by your given name. I’m your direct Hoobae from class 1-1.”

“I never ask you for your class,” Joohyun pretended to be uninterested.

“Haha… I’m not a hot guy. You don’t always have to play hard to get with me like I’m one,” Seulgi teased back.

Joohyun slapped Seulgi’s arm playfully, causing the latter to be in stitches.

“So where are you carrying these books to?”

“I’m bringing them back home to study for the upcoming quiz.”

“Wow that’s a lot to carry, and I remember you walk home. Do you want me to help you?”

“Thank you for wanting to help. I can still manage. Besides, you may have other activities to attend to.”

“No. I don’t really have anything else to do after this,” what Seulgi really wanted to avoid was to incur the wrath of her mother if she were to go home at this time. After all her body was not made of steel.

“If you insist, then I might as well accept your offer.”

On the way to Joohyun’s home, they managed to learn more about each other through their conversation. Of the things they had in common, what surprised them most was they both came from incomplete families. Seulgi shared everything about her mother but left out the physical abuse part.

Like Seulgi, there was an absence of a father figure in Joohyun’s family. Joohyun’s biological father passed away when she was only six. Her mother remarried shortly after, only to have the sweet-talking second husband swindled the family out of the assets. Left with a pile of debts, she had no choice but to enter into the sleazy industry as a social . While Joohyun respected her mother’s decision as to the best thing she could do at that point, the school thought otherwise. Despite being a recipient of scholarship, the school’s preoccupation with the student’s background had decided to label Joohyun as a , just like her mother. Joohyun confided that she did not have any friends in this school as nobody wanted to be associated with her.

“Then why do you keep pushing me away when I try to get friendly,” Seulgi chided.

“Friendly? During our first meeting, you were already asking me to be the model of your art,” Joohyun reminded her.

“Arggg! Stop bringing that up. I don’t even know why I say those things. Normally I avoid going into that territory,” Seulgi covered her face with one of Joohyun’s textbooks to hide her embarrassment. Joohyun was to learn later that this endearing habit of concealing the face with anything conveniently available was Seulgi’s natural reaction to hide her embarrassment.

When they finally reached the doorstep of Joohyun’s home, they were looking forward to offloading the heavy books and settling down to some refreshing cold drinks. Instead, what greeted them was an old lady laying on the floor in awkward angles struggling to get up.

“Halmoni!” Joohyun simply threw her books to the side and rushed to her granny’s aid. As Joohyun’s granny was a huge lady, Seulgi rushed forward to help too.

“What happened?” Joohyun asked while they helped the old lady onto her armchair.

“I accidentally dropped the drawing while admiring it, and it ended up underneath the cabinet. When I bent down to pick it up, I sprained my back,” Granny explained. “Sigh! Old already…”

“You could have waited for me to come home and help you.”

“If I am that good at predicting the future, I would have won the lottery,” Granny joked.

“That’s not funny.”

Meanwhile, Seulgi tried to retrieve the item that Granny had dropped. She was surprised and a little moved to find out that it was the painting done by her the day before.

“Yes, that’s the one. Thank you very much. It’s been a while since my Hyun-ah brings back a friend. How do I address you?”

“I’m Seulgi, but I’m not sure if Unnie considers me a friend. She keeps thinking I’m some ert hitting on her,” Seulgi stuck out a tongue at Joohyun.

“Yah! Spare my granny the sordid details!” Joohyun retorted, and Granny was left confused. “Halmoni, I just knew Seulgi yesterday while she was painting this piece.”

“Really? Seulgi, you are such a talented artist. You draw my Hyun-ah so beautifully.”

“Thank you for liking my work. I’m sorry you got hurt just for picking this up,” Seulgi approached Granny to return her the painting. “If you like this type of art, I can do more drawings with Unnie in it. That way, even if you drop one, you have other pieces to appreciate.”

“I’m would love that. But make sure you do not neglect your homework while doing that.” Granny smiled brightly at Seulgi’s offer.

“No problem,” Seulgi turned to whisper into Joohyun’s ear, “Don’t worry, I will not do any ones.”

“You totally belonged in that ‘territory’,” Joohyun whispered back while pinching Seulgi’s arm lightly.

To ensure that Granny’s injury was properly treated, Joohyun brought her to the chiropractor nearby. She had observed from the beginning that Seulgi’s movement seemed strained. When Granny held onto her for support, Seulgi was struggling not to collapse due to the weight. Joohyun could not comprehend why Seulgi insisted on staying behind to help when she probably needed help herself or at least to go back home to rest. Then again, she did not want Seulgi to leave her side. ert jokes aside, Joohyun felt strangely calm and secure with Seulgi around. Therefore the next best thing was to let Seulgi assist with lighter duties like handling the administrative paperwork at the receptionist.

Thankfully, Granny’s sprain was minor and should recover within a couple of therapy sessions. On their way home, they picked up some ready-cooked lunch from the vending kiosk. Once Joohyun settled Granny down to rest in the bedroom, she pulled Seulgi to the couch in the living room. Seulgi watched in puzzlement as Joohyun drew down all the curtains and the light instead.

“Seulgi-yah,” Joohyun held her shoulder gently and took a seat beside her on the sofa. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I’m ok. Is there anything wrong?” Seulgi was unsure of what Joohyun was trying to get on to.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. You look like you are in pain,” Joohyun removed her hand from Seulgi’s shoulder and placed it on her hand instead. “You can tell Unnie if anything is hurting you.”

Seulgi tried to get up from the couch and leave but was instantly pinned down by Joohyun. To confirm her hunch, Joohyun pulled up Seulgi’s uniform. Though not surprised by the revelation, the intensity of the bruises and inflamed scars congregating on the otherwise well-tone body still left her in gasps. “My gosh! Who did this to you?”

“No… no one. I fell… yes I fell down the stairs yesterday,” Seulgi pulled up whatever excuse that crossed her mind.

“Unnie may not be a forensic scientist, but I can tell these wounds, especially the scars, are inflicted by human. Is it one of the teachers or students?” Corporal punishment still existed, so was school bullying.

Seulgi shook her head. Joohyun could sense that Seulgi was deliberately protecting the identity of her perpetrator. Then she remembered Seulgi mentioning that her mother was an alcoholic.

“Is it your mum? I remembered you seemed quite flustered when you realised you would reach home late yesterday.”

Seulgi’s eyes started to water as Joohyun got closer to the truth. “Please Unnie! Don’t tell anyone about it! My Omma is the only family member I have. I don’t want her to be taken away.”

While Joohyun begged to differ, this was not the right time to reason with Seulgi. Instead, she bundled Seulgi into her embrace and allowed her to cry it out. To let it all out.

“I really hope I do not need to do that. For now, at least allow me to apply medication on your wounds, ok?”

Seulgi went wide eye at Joohyun. “Aren’t we progressing a little too fast? We only met the second time and…”

Joohyun flicked her finger at Seulgi’s forehead in retaliation and caused Seulgi to fall backward. “Behave yourself and no more dirty thoughts. I’d be right back with the ice pack and medication.”

It was a good thing that the bruises were mostly found on the front whereas the scars were at the back. Joohyun’s strategy was for Seulgi to lie on her belly on top of the cloth-covered ice pack, so that the cold compression could help to reduce the swelling. Meanwhile, she could disinfect and apply lotion on the scar on her exposed back. Seulgi swore that with the tenderness radiating from Joohyun’s magical touch, she was feeling better already.