The one thing that Yoona remembered the most about the boy that had just moved in across the street from her wasn’t his soft brown eyes or lovely smile or his interest in literature, just like her. No, if there was anything that the eight-year-old girl remembered the most about him was that, despite his gentleness, he wasn’t afraid to stand up to anyone.

It was summer and Leeteuk had left for a few minutes, promising to buy some popsicles for them. Yoona had decided to amuse herself by playing in the sandbox. She was nearly halfway through decorating her masterpiece sand castle when she saw Changmin and his gang of friends approach her and she instantly felt dread settle in her heart. That monstrously tall fourth grader loved to bully her (she would find out later in middle school that it was all because he had had a crush on her) and his sidekicks would always do whatever he said.

“Hey Nim Yoona.”

 Yoona did not even bother looking up as she said tonelessly, “What do you want, Changmin?” “

“To get out of the way and let us use the sandbox.”

More annoyed at Changmin than scared of him, Yoona glared at him and said, “No. I got here first and when I’m done making my sand castle, then you can use the sandbox.”

“What, you mean that piece of garbage? It’s not even worth germs to live in.” Signaling to his friends Yoochun and Yunho, together they began trampling Yoona’s hard work and flattening it back to sand and laughed cruelly, even when Yoona started crying and screaming at them to stop.

Just then, a boy with messy hair whom she vaguely recognized stepped in front of her and faced the bullies. “What are you idiots up to now?” he asked and Yoona was surprised to hear the calm yet assertive tone in his voice.

“Who the heck is he?” asked Yoochun. “Get lost, loser,” said Yunho.

“Wait. I know who you are. You’re that Lee Donghae kid that just moved next to Nim Yoona here right?”

“I’m IM YOONA, Changmin you jerk!” Yoona shrieked, just about to try and push him, but the boy named Donghae held her back. He gave her a meaningful look that said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” and then turned back to Changmin. “Shouldn’t you cowards find something more constructive to do other than bully a girl? Pick on someone your own size, moron.”

Changmin, fuming,, was about to retort back when he saw Leeteuk. “Hey, Changmin!” the older boy shouted. “You picking on my little sister again? Get your scrawny out of here before I kick it back to Mars, you creepy little alien.” Changmin’s face immediately turned white at the threat since he feared Leeteuk more than any other boy and he and his friends ran off.

“Hey Donghae- sorry, I didn’t know you were coming out to play today, I would have gotten you a popsicle,” Leeteuk said apologetically. He handed Yoona her frozen dessert, patted her on the head and asked, “Hey are you okay? Did Changmin do anything that I can beat him up for?”

Yoona shook her head and said, “No, I’m okay oppa.” Then, she shyly turned to Donghae, offered him her popsicle and said softly, “Thank you for helping me out, Donghae. Share with me?” He at first looked surprised, but then gave her the warmest of smiles, took the popsicle and said, “Thank you, Yoona-ssi whose hair is so nice.” Yoona blushed and the two shared a popsicle on the way back home.

Donghae was out taking a “break” walking through the hallways with his friends Heechul and Hyukjae when they passed by Yoona coming from the school library with an armful of books. Immediately, his heart sped up but he kept his cool as he smiled widely at her and waved. Struggling a bit with the load of books, Yoona managed a small little wave and he chuckled. When she left in the other direction, Heechul and Hyukjae resumed talking but his mind was far away from the conversation they were having about celebrities they’d love to “show a good time” to.

He didn’t understand it at all- why he kept reacting like this whenever he saw Yoona. He liked and respected Leeteuk quite a lot and whenever they had time, they would go over to each other’s house to play video games. Sometimes Yoona would join them and she was surprisingly good. She was his best friend’s little sister and his friend and honestly, that’s all she should ever be…right?

Or…was it something more? He was attached to her, Donghae knew that much. But those images that sometimes came to his mind…what on earth did they mean? Was it wrong?

Donghae remembered back two years ago when his father had just passed away from cancer. He didn’t eat, sleep, respond to Leeteuk and Hyukjae’s worried calls- he didn’t want any contact with anyone. Then, Yoona had come over, forced her way into his room and tried her hardest to talk to him, comfort him and just be there for him. He could still remember that time when he had woken up and found themselves still sitting on the couch where they had drifted off to sleep, her head resting on hers and their hands interlaced together. He also remembered how hard his heart had pounded and a strange sensation that spread from his spine all around in his body.

His thoughts were interrupted by Heechul yelling to him and telling him that they had to hurry up before the teacher scolded them. Oh well, he thought, I can think about it more later.

“Sunye-ssi…will you go out with me?” She stared at Jo Kwon, thinking of what to say and wincing inwardly at how hopeful his expression was. Nevertheless, she put on a sweetly fake smile and said:

“Aigyo- sorry, Jo Kwon. You’re a nice guy…but I don’t think of you that way.” She watched as his face fell and he tried to conceal it by saying, “Oh…it’s fine, Sunye-ssi, really, no worries.”

As Sunye walked away, she let off an aura of cool composure and she basked in the attention she garnered from the other students.

“Wah, look- it’s Sunye-ssi!”

“She just rejected Jo Kwon. Isn’t he the fifth guy in a row?”

“I heard number four had been Wooyoung…what is she doing, playing hard to get?”

Sunye couldn’t help but smile to herself as she heard blips of conversations about her. It took quite a lot of effort, after all, to be one of the most talked about girls in school. Her best friend Sohee caught up with her and said, “So you told Jo Kwon no, huh?”

“Yeah. Not my type,” Sunye replied casually.

“Well I get that, but…I mean come on, why’d you reject Wooyoung? You gotta admit, he’s pretty hot.”

To that, Sunye said nothing. No one, not even Sohee knew about the gentle prince that had stolen her heart. The only person who ever challenged Sunye’s confidence around boys. She could still recall that magical day like it had been just yesterday: she was in a bad mood, cursing herself for being late to club when she accidentally dropped her books, making her even crankier. Then he had shown up almost out of nowhere, helping her out and the only coherent thought in Sunye’s mind had been: “Whoa, he’s hot.” Afterwards, he told her to watch out next time and given her a playful wink and after that, he was all Sunye could ever think about.

But no one could really understand if Sunye told them. Because to them, Sunye didn’t love- she flirted and toyed with boys’ hearts. And she was fine with letting them assume that.

As she passed through the hallways, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of him talking to someone. When she discreetly took a closer look, she realized it was Yoona. She also realized that he looked so happy, the grin on his face stretched from ear to ear just looking at the Im girl. A wave of jealousy washed over Sunye and her fists clenched. Then, Yoona bid Donghae goodbye and left, as if nothing had happened. No, Sunye told herself. I must have been hallucinating.

“Sunye-unnie!” The fake smile came up again once more and she greeted the younger girl. But the more she talked with her…the more Sunye realized that this girl was truly pure. And little by little, her smile became a bit more real.

Taecyeon really could not deal with this. After being stuck for a whole day in this ty place of fake losers, he was more than ready to just go home and maybe have a smoke. But no, the goddamn president of the class had to stop him just as he was headed out the door and accuse him of stealing some random kid’s lunch money. For starters, Taecyeon didn’t even know who the kid was, much less have the will to steal his money, but the president wouldn’t back down.

As he went on and on about how he was such a “bad influence amongst the student population” and all that , Taecyeon automatically tuned him out and wondered whether Chansung had managed to pull off the stunt by the office building. It would be funny as hell if it worked.

“Are you listening, Ok Taecyeon?” That stupid annoying president finally started to get on his nerves and Taecyeon simply snapped. He grabbed the scrawny boy by the collar and just as he was about to let him have it, a girl’s voice broke through the haze of anger:

“Omo, who’d you piss of this time, Soochul-sunbaenim?” The girl the class knew as Im Yoona then turned to him and said, “Look, I know he’s annoying, but you’d best put him down- he’ll just be even more annoying and have a reason to get you suspended.” And Taecyeon, so stunned he was, simply just let the boy go and the president scurried away, shooting Yoona a disbelieving look.

“So? What did Soochul-sunbaenim accuse you of this time?”

Taecyeon stared at her again for a moment, then scoffed, “Stupid bastard thought I stole some idiot’s money.” Yoona then asked him, “Well…did you do it?” “No, of course not you dumb , what trouble would that be worth?” As soon as the words spewed out from his mouth, Taecyeon wished he could stuff it back in again, but Yoona seemed unfazed. “All right…so why didn’t you just tell him you didn’t do it?”

“Pft, what are you talking about, I…” Then it hit him. He really hadn’t just told the president he hadn’t stolen it and defended himself with an alibi. He had just let him accuse him and let it go. Without warning, he kept talking: “Yeah…why…why didn’t I just…tell him…” Just like that, she had made his bad boy front fall away and revealed a misunderstood and lonely boy hiding from reality.

“It’s just…people always assume I’m a gangster. They always assume I beat people up for fun, that I do drugs and . So…I just gave up…and became their image…’cause they always think that…”

“Well then prove them wrong, stupid!” Taecyeon stared at her in disbelief again. “Isn’t proving them and their expectations wrong and seeing their surprised faces that you can laugh at later so much more gratifying? Geez, even a third grader could figure that one out!” Then, she gave him a radiant smile and the whole world looked a little brighter.

Another boy outside the classroom called her: “Yoona! Come on, let’s get dinner, your brother ordered take out!” “Oppa!” she said, the smile on her face growing even wider at the sight of the boy. Taecyeon could see just how ridiculously happy she looked as she approached the other boy. The two left and Taecyeon stood there in the classroom, alone and confused.

It took time, patience and effort, but eventually, Taecyeon stopped smoking and participating in gang fights. He started showing up to class more often and, when he had the courage, greeted Yoona who always greeted him back with a bright, bright smile.

But it never stopped him from drinking. In fact, his drinking increased the more and more he saw of Donghae and Yoona together. Every time he plopped down in the bar, every swig from the bottle he took and every time the liquid burned in his throat, he drowned in desire, want and frustration. Images of her swirled around in his head and eventually, fantasies he’d play out with her started to arise. “Yoona…” he’d croak as he took another drink from the glass.

A/N!: Rebecca + other TaecYoon fans, the last part is for you! 8D the very last chapter is coming soon! thanks so much for reading so far everyone <3