Eunjo groaned. It was not even lunch time and she wanted to go home already. How is it possible that this new school she transferred to was Byunghee’s old school? Almost everyone knows him and are friends with him, if not friends, they were all acquainted.

The moment she stepped in the hallways of this unfamiliar high school, almost everyone can be heard murmuring and pointing at her.

“Isn’t she the one in Byunghee’s minihompy before?”

“Oh yeah, that’s why I thought she looked familiar!”

“OMG I wonder if she has tape with Byunghee. After all, he never really likes taking photos or videos with any of the girl he takes.”

“Eew. .”

She was already lost in the sea of students. In the back of her head, she wanted to find Joon. But the same feeling of betrayal and hurt overpowered.

She didn’t have an appetite for lunch. So she just stayed in the classroom, resting her head on her arms, killing time. Good thing she and Lee Joon were assigned to different classrooms. Or else, she’d have to endure his annoyingly talkativeness.

“Ya!”

Eunjo suddenly looked up, after that person poked her hard on the arm. She frowned.

“Ya! Are you Lee Joon’s friend?” The guy asked rudely.

“No.” She answered, giving back the same cold stern vibe he was giving her.

‘Who is this anyway? What a rude guy.’ Eunjo thought.

“Are you sure?” The guy raised his eyebrow, not believing her. He did saw them earlier together.

“What do you care about anyway,” Eunjo muttered, looking away. She discreetly glanced at his name plate on his chest.

Yang Seungho

‘Yang Seungho. Now, where did I hear that name again?’ Eunjo thought hard.

Seungho watched her for a bit. She looked like she was thinking hard.

“Hey…” Seungho suddenly said slowly, as if remembering something. Come to think of it, she does look familiar to him.

“Aren’t you the one…. In Byunghee’s---“

“No. Go away.” Eunjo’s eyes widened then turn her head away. She’s getting sick of it. It’s been 3 years and everybody still remembers that stupid prank that Byunghee made, despite him being in another school already.

She heard Seungho sneered and she rolled her eyes.

“What an .” She thought.

“I’ll see you later then,” Seungho leaned down to her ear level. She can feel his breath on her neck, making her shiver.

She pushed him away hard, but he only laughed and waved his hand away.

Eunjo gritted her teeth. She can’t believe she’s being bullied now because of what had happened 3 years ago. And she still blames Lee Joon! So much for being a best friend.

Lee Joon spent half an hour looking for Eunjo everywhere. He looked at the hundreds of students in the canteen, but she was not there. He kept getting lost in the corridors too. He thought all same year levels stay in one side of the building. But no, they just have to be scattered in the campus.

Even though it’s only been half a day in school, everyone wants to befriend Lee Joon already. He just naturally attracts everyone. All the girls are swooning over him; all the guys want to be his best buddy. But he just smiled and politely turns away from them. He wanted to find Eunjo first.

He knows Eunjo wasn’t the best in making friends and introducing herself. He knew it since he had been with her forever. But he didn’t know that right after he went to US, she was forced to transfer school because of humiliation. He didn’t know she had to suffer being a loner again. And now it’s happening again because of him, again.

But everything was in vain. Soon, everyone was scampering around to get back to their classrooms. Lee Joon had brought lunch for him and Eunjo to share that day. He did truly miss her. And he wanted to make up for the 3 years they weren’t together.

“Here she comes guys,” someone whispered excitedly.

Eunjo was walking mindlessly, sighing in relief that she can finally go home. She never had such a tiring day like this before.

She was adjusting the strap of her bad when suddenly a foot went out of her way, making her stumble down. But Eunjo has a fast reflex, so she wobbly tried regaining her balance until someone pushed her real hard to the ground.

She didn’t just fall on her knees. The push was so hard that she went crashing down the cement ground and she slide, face down, for about a meter and a half, scraping not only both her knees, but also her elbows and the right side of her face.

She had her eyes tightly shut, enduring the stinging pain on her knees and elbows. She felt like time stopped, until the eerie obnoxious laughs were heard. She held herself up, looking at the students nearby. Everyone was laughing, as if all of them planned this to her.

“Oops.” The girl by the bench said, giggling. Her friends joined her and some were literally laughing their asses out.

“Oooh. Someone’s angry.” One of them taunted, when Eunjo shot them a deadly glare.

“Are you angry for getting dirty?” The girl asked, smiling maliciously. “Well, YOU ARE A DIRTY , right? So what’s wrong with that?”

Eunjo tugged her bag and swing it on her shoulders, dusting the front of her uniform, trying to ignore the laughter.

She was about to walk out when suddenly someone called out.

“Hey, there’s something on your face.”

She automatically reached up and touched her right cheek. She flinched slightly, feeling her skin broke from the slide.

“Don’t worry about your face. Nothing will look different. You’ll still look ugly, with or without those scarring.” Another one of them said, sending the rest in to another fit of laughter.

Eunjo still held control of herself from not bursting. If she loses it, it’ll be her versus the whole school. She cannot bear another slapping from her dad.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a familiar figure.

Yang Seungho.

He still had that same smirk on his face that makes her want to punch it.

She sighed. She’s becoming violent and hateful already.

“Ya! Ugly dirty girl!” The group of obnoxious students called her as they watch her walk away.

----

Lee Joon had been waiting for Eunjo in the playground park just beside her house. He hadn’t seen her the whole day in school and he wanted to at least talk to her.

For the past 3 years, Lee Joon send Eunjo emails regularly, just to ask her how she was, or simply just to update her with his life. He knew she must still be angry at him. He never really apologized personally, but in every email he sent her, he was always apologizing.

He just misses her so bad.

Suddenly, Lee Joon saw someone walking slowly, or rather limping, towards the other side of the area, towards Eunjo’s house.

He quickly rose to his feet and excitedly walked over to her. He was so excited to finally see, but he halted when suddenly she clumsily settled herself on the bench on the corner most of the playground. From quite a distant, Lee Joon, who was seeing her from behind, saw she carefully put her school bag beside her and took out neatly folded handkerchief.

He can hear her small whimpers every time her handkerchief would make contact on her elbows and knees. He was slowly making his way to him, wanting to know if she was okay.

But Eunjo suddenly stopped her movements when she felt a presence behind her.

“Who’s there?” She called out, suddenly moving away from the bench to see the person behind her.

Lee Joon felt his jaw fell open. He almost choked. How can anyone… How could…

He swallowed as he reached for her. Both her knees were badly bleeding, her arms too. Her crisp white top uniform were dirty and what angry the most was the scrapes on her face.

“Who did to you?!” He breathed out, controlling himself not to be violent as he forced her to be pulled by him to his chest. But with what small strength she had left, she was pushing him away from her.

“Stop. I’m okay. Just let go of me.” Eunjo gritted her teeth, trying to get away from Lee Joon. The presence of him, the scent of him, the mere voice of him, makes her feel dirty and used. It was all because of Lee Joon that made her life miserable like this. It’s an irony that your supposedly best friend had ruined your life for you.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Lee Joon decided, scooping her up on her feet.

“YA! LEE CHANGSUN PUT ME DOWN!” Eunjo screamed, hitting his arms. But he had securely held her in his arms, not wanting to let go. Lee Joon forever regretted what he did. And he knew telling his side would be useless. Even though he just took Eunjo that time in the dance so he can save her from Byunghee, but he still put that sleeping drug on her drink. He could have locked her in her house for god damn’s sake so Byunghee couldn’t take her. But no, he just couldn’t lose in that bet. But everything backfired. Byunghee tricked him and made him drunk to steal Eunjo from him.

“I SAID PUT ME DOWN!” Eunjo screamed. They were almost at Lee Joon’s house. It was only just a few blocks from Eunjo’s.

He settled her on the couch as soon as she was put down; she immediately jumped on her feet to get to the door.

“DON’T GO! WE’RE CLEANING YOUR WOUNDS AND YOU LISTEN TO ME!” Lee Joon bellowed. Eunjo seldom see Lee Joon mad. And it did take her by surprise. Usually, when she’s hurt, he would just let her cry but won’t actually do anything. He would wait for her to finish crying and tell her how ugly she looks crying so she would stop.

“Go home when you’re already cleaned up. You don’t want your dad to scold you again, do you?” Lee Joon said as he digs for the first aid kit.

Eunjo and Lee Joon were silent the whole time. He would glance up at her from time to time, but she had her head looking away from him. She would wince every time Joon would dab on her wounds, but he would immediately blow on it to ease the stinging pain.

“Are you hungry? Wait for me, I’ll cook something for you. Is Ramyeon okay to you?” Lee Joon asked as he made his way to the kitchen.

Eunjo didn’t really want to be rude. After all, they used to be friends and she knew he’s trying so hard.

“Where are your parents?” She asked instead, looking around. It didn’t change that drastically. The same big photo of her and Lee Joon when they were 10 years old outside their tent on Lee’s backyard was still there. That was during Lee Joon’s 10^th birthday.

Joon poked his head outside of the kitchen. She didn’t seem to hear him calling for her.

“Ya.” Lee Joon smiled gently as he kneeled infront of her, holding out his palms on her lap to get her attention.

“I said do you want to watch TV? Or you want to stay with me in the kitchen while I cook?” He asked.

“I’ll stay here. Thanks.” She murmured. The tone of her voice wasn’t as hostile anymore.

“My parents are off shopping right now. But they will be back later for dinner. I’ll call your parents to tell them you’ll have dinner here.” Lee Joon said, deciding for her.

“What—“

“Shh. I’m on the phone now.” Joon said, holding out a finger. She scoffed. He’s still the same, always trying to control her life.

-

Lee Joon watched her poke her food slowly, deep in thoughts. His heart ache seeing his bestfriend like a total different person now.

“I didn’t poison it. In fact I made it just the way you liked it. 2 eggs, look, the yolk are still intact,” Joon leaned a little to let her see what he was talking about.

She nodded slowly. She was actually not thinking about something. From time to time, she let her mind blank. It keeps her calm, not thinking about anything else.

Lee Joon racked his head for anything to say; he didn’t want to be awkward with her anymore. If he wasn’t able to take care of her last time, this time, he convinced himself that he’d do it right.

“So, did you have any boyfriends while I was away? You never reply to my emails, so I was left there wondering whether you replaced me already.” Joon said lightly.

Back when they were little kids, Eunjo would always say how Joon is her only male friend and no one else can replace him. She was greatly fond of him.

“No, I didn’t have any.” She mumbled quietly. How could she have? She was not pretty enough.

“Aw, come on, you can tell me. I need to check him out first to see if he’s fit for you.” Joon said, still not giving up.

She sighed but said no more until they finished their ramyeon.

“Let’s go watch a movie!” Joon excitedly suggested. He helped her stand and held her hand. She immediately flinched her hand away, looking surprised at him.

“What?” He said, looking at bit hurt at her reaction.

“Nothing.” She thought she wasn’t the type to brood. But she cannot help it if the things in the past kept hunting her.

During the movie, Joon kept glancing at Eunjo. He knows it’s his fault for her aloofness and for being distant to people. She totally withdrew herself from everyone else. When he left her, she was literally broken. He broke her then he left her just like that.

He reached for her and tried holding her hands again. At least he can do right now is let her feel that he’s still around, and that he can trust him.

He felt her looked at him, but he kept his gaze at the movie they were watching. Then she felt him trying to pull her hand off his grip.

“You used to love holding my hands.” Lee Joon said sadly.

He felt her stopped fighting and sighed. A really heavy sigh before began speaking again.

“And you used to hate holding my hands.” Eunjo replied, feeling sadder at the memory.

FLASHBACK

“Changsun!” His mom called. It was his 11^th year old birthday and all the kids from his class were there. Of course, Eunjo and Eunhye were there too.

“Changsun, aren’t you playing? You need to hold Eunjo’s hands if you want to join the game.” His mom said. He scoffed as he looked at the smiling Eunjo who was extending her hand for him to reach.

“But I don’t want to!” He whined, slapping Eunjo’s hand away and ran to the opposite side of the circle, holding other kids' hands.

-

“Changsun, hold your dongsaeng’s hand.” His father called on to him as their family together with the Jung’s. It was a family holiday and the two joined together for a camping trip. Eunjo and Lee Joon were playing by the river.

Lee Joon pretended he didn’t hear his father.

“Kids, don’t run too far away. Changsun hold Eunjo’s hand, she might get lost.” He heard his mom called. Eunjo’s parents were inside the pension house, since Eunhye was sick at that time of the trip.

Little Eunjo reached out to hold hands with Changsun but he pushed her hand away from him, making her lose her balance and stumbled backwards towards the river. Lee Joon panicked of course, but good thing it wasn’t that deep.

Eunjo cried a little in pain as she felt her hand pierced something sharp on the river soil. She automatically raised her hand for Lee Joon to help her pull herself off the river, but he only looked at her fearfully, before running back towards his parents, saying Eunjo had fell on the river.

END OF FLASHBACK

Lee Joon felt the sadness in her voice. He knows he had done wrong so much for her in the past. He believed he had grown so much back in the US. He had time to think about what he had done before. He had fully realized Eunjo’s importance in his life, but he had always taken her for granted. But now, the detailed memories were slowly coming back to him, and he never felt such a jerk in his whole life.

He tightens his grip on her hand, squeezing them.

“I’m sorry. I really am.” Lee Joon said, pulling her to him. Eunjo didn’t tried protesting, which relieved him.

“I’m so sorry Eunjo, I promised I will be better.” He promised, as he felt her heavy breathing against his chest. He pulled her back a little to take a look at her. She wasn’t crying, but her breathing was so heavy, she was almost panting.

‘Is she trying her best not cry?’ He thought, worrying. Eunjo have always been the cry baby. There was time before he got angry at her for crying too much at every little thing. But now, she’s holding everything back. She can almost not breathe anymore!

He shook her gently, feeling alarmed.

“Eunjo-ya.” Lee Joon called, but she remained focused, still trying not to cry.

“I’m sorry I made you this way. I love you, you’re my best friend. Please.. Please let me change you back to my old Eunjo-ya.” Lee Joon cried as he pulled her back to his chest and cried silently.