“Yah! Wait for me!” Hyosung yelled after the young teenage male who was already out the door before she could even pull on her shoes. She made a quick pause at the shoe rack to slip on her black flats before going through the door and running after him.
“Hey! Wait up!” she yelled at his back. He was already a few feet ahead of her as she ran after him, struggling with the weight of her bag when she unexpectedly bumped into him, causing him to almost topple over.
When he found balance again, he turned to the girl. “Hey, watch where you're going! This is the second time you’ve bumped into me this morning. My body’s not made out of bricks you know,” he raged at her, glaring into her eyes. She felt like disappearing under the rocky surface of the sidewalk, intimidated by the scorn on his face.
“Well I’m sorry for your oh so important body. It was just an accident...” she defended herself. He let out a deep breath and started walking again, as if Hyosung had caused some huge disaster getting her mad. ‘It was just a mistake! Why is he getting so pissed?’ she wondered in her head. She couldn’t help but mutter out the word, “Jerk” under her breath before continuing to follow him.
Apparently, she wasn’t quite low enough because he turned back around and started, “What did you say?” making her flinch in surprise. She didn’t think that he would be able to hear her.
“Nothing!” she looked up at him with big innocent eyes.
“Yes you did... I heard you. You called me a hunk now did you?” he had some huge grin painted on his face. “I knew you’d fall for me,” but then the expression on his face changed and he was stone faced again. “But don’t think I’ll feel the same way for you back.”
Hearing this baffled Hyosung. She was overwhelmed by his sheer stupidity and cocky attitude.
“What did you say?” she asked for confirmation, ready to sling her backpack over her shoulder and give him a good smack with it. If he really said what she thought he had just said, then this guy must be really stupid.
“Oh god,” he looked up at the sky as if annoyed before piercing his eyes into Hyosung’s eyes again. “How will I make this understandable for your puny little brain to comprehend?” Puny brain? Did he just say I have a puny brain?! The nerve of him! She could feel her head getting hotter and hotter by the second.
“Huh?” she didn’t know what was going on.
“Hmm...” he wondered for a second. Hyosung glanced at her watch, wondering if the much time passing by while they made “conversation” if you could call it that was going to be beneficial to them. Didn’t he say he had to meet up with his friends early?
“Just get straight to the point!” she yelled, starting to get annoyed with this hot shot.
“Fine,” he sharply said. “If that’s what you want, then sure. After all, it’ll only make it easier for me,” he kept going, still not getting to the point.
“What do you have to say!? Just say it!” Hyosung didn’t know where she received this sudden boldness from but she felt good, yelling at him like that. That’ll teach the hot shot. But what did he want to say that was taking him so long? She was sick of standing on the sidewalk for so long. Time was ticking by and school would start in about forty minutes. Deciding that she would be the wise one, she started walking, not waiting for him to catch up.
He followed her, “Okay, let me make this short and sweet in a way you’ll understand. You and me will never happen.”
“And your point is?” she asked. This guy is really stupid.
“Don’t have any hopes. I just wanted to make that clear before you start to get any ideas. Just being nice here.”
“Nice? Nice?! What are you talking about? Why’d you even bring that up?!” she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk just to scream at him, glaring up at his face.
She was astonished by the look of confusion on his face. Why did he look so lost?  “Don’t you like me?” he asked her with a purely innocent expression on his face, completely oblivious to the fact that she did not.
“NO!” she stormed in his face, wanting to punch the daylights out of him. This arrogant dude was really something. “Who ever said I liked you?!”
“But... You just called me a hunk.”
“No I didn’t!”
“Yes you did. I heard it myself.” He was grinning again, “You thought I didn’t hear you whisper it back there but I did.”
“Do you want me to smack you? Your so stupid! I called you a freaking jerk! Not a hunk! Please don’t flatter yourself like that ever again.”
“A jerk?! What did I ever do to you?” he asked stupidly again. This guy needs some serious therapy sessions for his egotistical attitude.
“Forget it... I’m done,” she crossed her arms, head hot and stomping past him. She needed to get away from him. She didn’t even know how at one point, she had feelings for this guy. She must have been really naive back then to not see how stuck up he was.
“Fine. By all means go ahead and go by yourself. See if I care when you get lost on the way,” he retorted, making Hyosung’s cheeks warm up as she took in what he said. Without saying anything, she rushed back to his side, in fear she wouldn’t find the way.
She didn’t turn her sight to him but she could tell that he probably had a smirk on his face with triumph. He commented, “Thought so,” and started walking really fast, making it hard for to catch up. She struggled to keep up with him as they made their way to the bus stop. It was starting to get crowded as they left their quiet neighborhood behind.
Ugh! How embarrassing! Being new around the place put her at a serious disadvantage and made her look so stupid just now.

***

Kikwang didn’t even offered to let Hyosung go first and swipe in her bus pass like a gentleman would. Instead, he shoved past her and swiped in his own, not bothering to look back at her as he made his way toward the back of the seat.
Hyosung felt claustrophobic as she pushed past people in the process of following him. Great. Just my luck. The first day she’s attending school from her new house and the morning starts off with an unfinished breakfast, a pointless argument with a complete buffoon and a crowded bus ride.
The bus started moving again just as she found Kikwang, who had already found a place to stand. Hyosung looked around the small area for a place to brake herself but quickly stopped, knowing it was useless. In a crowded bus like this, it would be rare to find an empty seat with many others who were starving to rest their bottoms down as well.
Giving up, she took a step forward only to topple forward with the moving bus and into Kikwang again, who almost lost his balance as she fell into his arms. He held onto her waist and she burst out, “Sorry!” as she scrambled out of his held.
“You better be...” he muttered.
Her cheeks got warm again with the accident. People were watching her and she gave them an apologizing smile for disturbing the peace and quickly scanned the area for a closeby pole to hold onto but came to a panic when she realized there were none. The next pole was a whole bunch of people away meaning more squeezing through which would be hard with the bus in motion and all. In desperate panic to hold onto something before she lost her balance again, she reached for one of the empty hooks above her head only to fail. No matter how much she reached or jumped up, the hook wouldn’t find its way into her hands.
She didn’t realize Kikwang was watching the whole time in an amused way until she heard him comment, “Shortie.” With this, Hyosung turned to face him again and throw him a death glare only to start to fall over again when he caught her, not off guard this time as if expecting it to happen.
“Thanks,” she said, trying to gain balance and starting to move away from him out of awkwardness when he stopped her.
He sighed before saying, “Just hold on to me...” and gestured his arm towards her.
Her eyes widened at the hearing of this. He was offering his arm to her?! Oh my god. I must be hyperventilating, she thought in disbelief.
“What are you waiting for... Take it,” the bus took another rough bump causing her to not hesitate any longer and take it.
“Thanks...” she muttered while holding onto his arm with both of her hands, looking down and clearly feeling uncomfortable with his sudden gestures.
“No problem.” he replied, making her heart feel a little warmer with their friendlier interactions. Well, that was before he added on, “Because I’m only doing this for my own safety. Who knows what will happen to my precious bones with you and your clumsy self toppling onto me like that non-stop. What am I? Your safeguard cushion?” Hearing the words come out of his mouth made her narrow her eyes.
“Well if that’s how it is, I won’t hold onto you anymore!” she said in revenge, pushing off him. She didn’t need him. “Hmmph!” Her fiery attitude was quickly wiped away when she started to fall again with the moving bus going at high speed.
“Sorry!” she apologized after bumping into a woman wearing a suit and high heels, probably going to work. Her eyes met with Kikwang’s and she felt her pride take on pain with seeing that mocking smile upon his face.
“Need a hand?” he asked with a teasing voice.
Without looking at him, she reached up to hold onto his arm whose hand was gripping the hook above them.
“Thought so,” he whispered in her ear making her shudder with feeling of his breath flow past her eardrums.
Feeling that she should say something, Hyosung muttered clearly enough for him to make out, “I’m only doing this for the safety of everyone else... Not yours.”
“Sure you are,” he retorted making her narrow her eyes at him. She refused to speak anymore knowing that it would make things go on even longer.

***

Finally being off the suffocating bus felt amazing. But that also meant a stop to Kikwang’s job on escorting Hyosung to where she was supposed to be.
A mere moment of silent eye contact between them and in result, a clear agreement was made. Neither of the two wanted the whole school knowing about their new living arrangements. They looked away quickly, wary about the dangerous conditions under school grounds and Hyosung started to quickly make her way out of his eye distance, eager to inform her friend Jieun about the hell of a morning she had to go through.