I found my eyes drooping as I stared at the whiteboard in front of me. I really did not care in the least amount about ionic bonds. Chemistry is like math in my opinion, you learn the basics and that's all you'll ever need in the real world. That's another thing I don't understand. Why do people make you go to school for hours upon hours, saying that it'll be useful when “you get into the real world” and then you find that the stuff you actually need has been forgotten because of all the complicated stuff you don't need?

“Minji! Pay attention. You don't want to fail this class do you?” She hissed through her teeth and I immediately sat up straighter. Some people around my desk eyed me at my sudden movement. I looked down blushing, I hated drawing attention to myself. I quickly went back to scrawling notes into my notebook. When we finally finished and I looked at the assignment, I found that I actually understood it today. No more hours upon hours of tutoring from Jihae.

“Maybe there is still hope for you.” She whispered but she was far from sounding satisfied. In fact, she sounded more disappointed. The disappointed tone was thick in her voice and I ended up walking straight into someone's chest because I was distracted by it.

“Hey, are you ok?” I heard someone ask. I looked up and found myself looking into really familiar eyes.

“The question is are YOU ok? You're never this polite with me.” I teased Kyuhyun. He looked and sounded genuinely worried. That was definitely a first for him with me. He was never that worried.

“Minji I'm serious. Since Saturday you always looked so spaced out. You almost ran into that pole there had I not pulled you out of the way.” Kyuhyun told me with serious eyes. I tried to suppress the surprise in my facial expression. There was a pole there? I thought I walked into him. I turned around and looked at the pole I almost hit. The thing was painted bright yellow and kindda ugly. How did I miss that?

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired.” I said as I closed my eyes and rubbed them. It was easier to lie to him when he couldn't see the truth in my eyes.

“Ok, if you say so. Be careful.” He said as he eyed me, making his way to eighth hour. I shook my head to clear it before I walked into my last class.

The moment I walked into the dorm, I flopped onto the bed. Eunmi raised her eyebrow at me before going back to her homework. When I made no move to take my assignments out, she took off her glasses and looked right at me.

“You know it's only a Wednesday right?” She asked me. I grunted in response as I put the pillow over my head

“Just making sure.” She said as I heard her go back to work. My phone started to vibrate and I groaned.

“SHUT UP!” Eunmi yelled in a friendly tone...if that even works. I rolled my eyes and quickly opened the text message.

To: Minji

From: The Ninja Chipmunk

Hey! How was your day? Do you have a lot of work to do?

To: The Ninja Chipmunk

From: Minji

My day was long. =( Thought it would never end. I have time today, what's up?

To: Minji

From: The Ninja Chipmunk

Meet me at the park we were at last time.

I felt myself grin stupidly at my phone screen.

“Stop looking so stupid and go already.” Eunmi said as she glanced at me before going back to her writing. I stuck my tongue out at her before I ran to the park. When I was a block away, I stopped and slowed down to a walk to catch my breath.

“You look really sloppy you know. Why didn't you even consider looking in the mirror before you left?” She said with a voice full of disdain. I tried to ignore her but suddenly felt very self-conscience. Did I really look that bad? I tried patting my hair down before Henry spotted me.

“Minji!” I heard someone yell to my left and looked over to find Henry walking towards me. A smile naturally curved onto my lips.

“Hey.” I told him past my smile and he returned it, making butterflies flutter in my stomach.

“What are we doing?” I asked him. He just took my hand into his and started dragging me behind him. I felt the blood rush into my cheeks as Henry laced his fingers with mine. I stared at our hands for a good ten minutes before looking around. We had started walking through the forest and the terrain became rough. “So what are we doing out here? Are you gonna kill me out here or something?” I asked him partly joking. The other part of me was really paranoid.

“Would I really do that?” He asked with an exasperated look on his face before looking back ahead.

“Yes, yes he would.” She said in my ear. Oh would you just shut up! I thought. After walking through a couple more trees on the dirt path, we arrived at a clearing and I gasped. There was a red and white blanket spread on the ground with a picnic basket, just like in those movies.

“Do you like it?” Henry asked as he looked at me.

“Yes, Henry. I do. I really do.” I told him, still looking at the setup.

“Well, I'm glad.” He said with a relieved sigh. I quickly pulled him into a hug, startling him. I was afraid I made a wrong move but when I felt him hug me back, all those worries vanished.

“You're pathetic.” She said and I wanted to slap her so hard. I pulled out of our embrace and sat down at the blanket.

“So what are we doing here?” I asked him, tilting my head to the right.

“It's nice isn't it? I found it during a walk on Monday and I thought about bringing you.” He confessed as he rubbed the back of his neck. I smile broke on my face.

“Well that's very kind of you.” I told him. He sat down and pulled his backpack next to him.

“I thought we should actually do homework this time seeing that we were too distracted last time.” He told me as he pulled his books out. I smiled at the boy in front of me that became completely concentrated in his work and pulled my books out too.

For the first time in the past two weeks, I had finished my Chem homework without any difficulty or asking for anyone's help. I smiled down at my finished assignment, the feeling of accomplishment flowing through me.

“Minji, this only proves you're a failure. You SHOULD be able to do the assignments without help since day one. That obviously did not happen. This should definitely not be a reason to smile.” She tutted and I started to frown. She's right. I should have been able to do this correctly since day one but I couldn't. I need to pull myself together. I stretched after finishing two more assignments and looked at the time. Five thirty already? I came out here at three forty-five though. My stomach grumbled loudly, pulling Henry out of his textbooks and he looked at me. I clutched my stomach, embarrassed. God, why me? Why now?

“We can start eating if you want.” He said while eying the basket.

“That would be nice.” I replied sheepishly. My stomach was starting to eat itself. I was just sitting there, nibbling on my sandwich when Henry's...demand caught me off guard.

“Date me.” He said bluntly. I looked up at him and blinked once at his statement.

“Excuse me?” I asked. Did I just hear him right?

“Minji, date me. I know we haven't known each other for long but I really like you. It sounds insane, I know. I want to get to know you more and I want to be in a relationship with you.” He told me while staring into my soul. I gulped down my saliva.

“But I've never been in a relationship before Henry.” I told him.

“I haven't either. We'll figure this out together, ok?” He asked, sincerity flowing through words as he grabbed my hands. I was left speechless and only nodded in response.

“Is that a yes then?” He asked, still looking right into my eyes.

“It means no because that's what nods mean.” I told him with a sarcastic voice. Henry rolled his eyes at me.

“You're ruining the moment Minji.” He said as he let go of my hands and started laughing. I felt my cheeks rise into a smile. I had lost track of time but while Henry was walking me back to the dorms, I could feel eyes watching me the whole time. She kept muttering things to herself, I think. I did catch some of the sentences though and the ones I did hear cut right through my chest.

“She's not good enough for him.” “She's not even decently attractive.” and “What in the world does he see in her.” Were enough to make me look over my shoulder. I found myself staring right back into amber eyes and felt my stomach start to knot up.

“Where are you going Minji?” Henry asked at my left side. I looked around me confused and realized I walked right past the East Entrance.

“Sorry, just a little tired. Thanks a lot for today, it was great.” I told him with a smile. He blushed at my statement. Gosh, he looked really cute when he was blushing.

“I'm glad.” He said. He started walking away before I grabbed his arm and he looked back at me, confused. I quickly pecked him on the cheek.

“Good night.” I told him quietly before running onto campus.

†††

     A week after Henry and I started dating, Eunmi and Kyuhyun did too. Kindda weird watching you're childhood best friend going out with your roommate but fate does weird things. A week after Henry and I started dating also marks the beginning of my bulimia. I could now see the face that those horrible eyes belonged to and I started seeing it everywhere. I saw her on the late nights I spent with Henry. I saw her when Eunmi and I were watching dramas. I saw her in the cafeteria at school and in all of my classes. I'm not bulimic on purpose. I don't want to loose the nutrients I just took in. Thank God that it's not regular. The main problem is if there's food in my stomach when I see her, I get nauseous and sprint to the nearest bathroom. The dreams were worse now. I wish I could go back to day one where the journey seemed like a long trek compared to now. Each night, I walked a shorter distance and the pit was noticeably larger.

     I leaned my head against the stall door, panting. I quickly wiped my mouth and flushed the toilet, hurrying back to our table. I was very conscious of Henry's worried expression but chose to ignore it instead and just took my seat next to him. I looked down at what I had ordered and felt sick. I pushed the plate away.

“Are you ok?” Henry leaned over and whispered as he grabbed my left hand.

“I'm fine, just full.” I mumbled back.

“You barely touched your food.” He said as his eyebrows knitted together.

“I'm not that hungry.” I told him. He didn't look convinced but did not question any further much to my relief.

“We should all go watch a movie!” Eunmi suggested to the group as she clapped her hands together.

“You guys can go, I'm gonna go home.” I told them. Henry turned his head towards me, concern in his eyes.

“Why? Are you ok?” She asked.

“I'm fine, just exhausted. I'll probably go take a nap.” I told her. Eunmi nodded in acknowledgment before planning out the rest of our night. As Eunmi, Kyuhyun, Jihae, and Hyunki started off towards the theater, Henry and I walked back to my dorm. We ended up playing games on my laptop, then watching dramas, and then just cuddling and talking.

“Tell me what's wrong Minji.” Henry insisted. I sighed. I couldn't even tell Kyuhyun what was wrong.

“Nothing's wrong, really.” I told him as I nuzzled into his chest. He pulled my closer and I started to relax. “What time is it?” I mumbled into his chest.

“Tired already?” He asked teasingly. “It's one thirty-five.”

I yawned and felt my eyes starting to close. He pulled me closer to him and I smiled at the gesture. Maybe I won't have nightmares tonight. Maybe I'll be able to relax and not worry about her again.

I looked around my surroundings and the terror was worse than ever before. I was on the same pathway walking towards the same pit again. I looked to my right and was met by her gaze. Her sharp, defined, cold facial features met my gaze and she sneered at me.

“You can't run away from me Minji.”