She was stunned, her mind was telling her to move but her feet stayed in place, almost frozen. She had never seen him look so scared and vulnerable, his expression lined with something - remorse? Guilt? Jin Ae felt a sting in her eyes and thought long and hard to herself. She's not supposed to care, he's always been so cold and distant with her so why should she even bother?

But he looked like he was in so much pain.

Jin Ae then turned to look at the open doorway, her eyes traveling to the black bag sitting on top of the desk. Almost as if in a trance, her legs began to act on their own, leading her towards the lone bag. She was slightly surprised to find herself clutching the bag in one hand. She lifted it, feeling the weight of the books shift a bit. Hesitating a bit, Jin Ae gulped before swinging the bag over her shoulder.

Making her way back to her own seat, she grabbed the pink folder and then walked back out of then classroom, making sure to grab her own bag on her way out, having dropped it by the door. At first, her mind was clouded with many different thoughts but now her body began to act out of its own accord and Jin Ae's mind was now occupied with the tear stained face of Lee Byunghun - the boy who crushed her heart four years ago, the one who insisted on cutting all contact with each other, the one whom she had trusted with her life. She was now quite far from her school, walking fast and using a different path than the familiar one leading to her home. No, this path was just as familiar, but it has been a while since she ever walked in that direction.

The sky began to darken and she tugged both the bags closer to her as she turned into a catwalk. She remembered always walking down this little shortcut, but never had she felt so insecure and somewhat frightened. Back then, she had always walked down there with Byunghun, but now she walked it alone. She wanted so much to turn back and go home, but her legs went on down the narrow catwalk. The trees had grown tall in the four years since she had last walked down the familiar route, creating menacing shadows, making her feel as if somebody was watching her. Jin Ae was about halfway down the catwalk when she felt someone tug at Byunghun's bag, making her stumble backwards.

"Hello little miss sweet, what brings you down here at this time?" A low voice whispered in her ear. Instinctively, she jerked away, causing the person's grip to tighten.

"W-Who are you?" She managed to force out, not daring to turn around to face the unknown person. All she heard was a growl-like chuckle and she felt an arm wrap itself around her waist, pulling her towards the source of the voice.

"That's for me to know and you to scream out." As she was about to scream, the hand that had been holding on to Byunghun's bag now covered , the strong arm around her waist lifted her up in the air. Jin Ae started to kick her legs wildly, the person struggling to keep hold of her. Trying with all her might, she managed to uncover and proceeded to pry the person's arms from around her waist. Wasting no time, he saw that her window of opportunity was growling larger and began to touch her dangerously close to her privacy. At his rough touch, she let out a blood curdling scream which then became muffled again as the man used her small moment of hesitation to be in control once again.

"Will...y-you....stay still?!" He grunted as she continued to writhe in his arms, doing all she could to prevent him from touching her anywhere else. Beginning to feel desperate, she bit down hard on her captive's hand, causing him to yelp in pain and withdraw both arms from her. Seeing her escape, she quickly dropped everything and began to run blindly, her hair flying wildly around her face. She could hear heavy footsteps behind her as she ran and the adrenaline pumped through her veins, making her run faster. But then her foot got caught in a small crack in the pavement and as she braced herself for the hard impact, she was momentarily surprised to feel another pair of arms catch her, breaking her fall. Still partially blinded by her own hair, the person that caught her gently pulled her aside, as she heard shrieks of pain, the sound of skin harshly making contact with more skin, a very cringeworthy-cracking sound, and then finally the sound of the frightening heavy footsteps fading away into the distance.

Not daring to move her hair away from her face, Jin Ae sat on the cold pavement shaking slightly from what had just happened. She was half expecting this new presence to be just as aggressive as the first, but instead, she felt the same pair of gentle arms wrap themselves around her. Should she pull away? Should she scream and panic again?

"Sorry..." Sorry, the word that she longed to hear from that one person. Hang on, this can't be him, he hates me. He said he never wanted to see me again. He told me himself that he hated me. No, this isn't it, this isn't right. What's happening?

"Jin Ae, I'm so sorry." She felt the arms pull her closer to the owner and she lifted her head slightly, her hair falling away from her face, instantly clearing her vision. As she did so, her eyes met a soft brown pair looking at her sadly, surrounded by a bit of red, the ducts wet as if he were crying.

"W-What are you - how did you know..." She couldn't seem to form complete sentences as she still felt shaken both by what had happened and also because of the fact that Byunghun was her saviour. He didn't answer, but slowly pulled away and stood up, his hands clenched into tight fists. Jin Ae looked up at him, still trembling. Tears threatened to fall but she didn't want him to see her cry, she didn't want to seem as vulnerable as she felt inside. Byunghun silently walked over to the fallen bags and picked both up with one hand and swung them over his shoulder. He walked back to Jin Ae's place and held out a hand. Jin Ae merely stared at it, leading Byunghun to bend down and gently but firmly pull her to her feet. She swayed a bit, having lost a bit of feeling in her legs and he took one of her arms and wrapped it around his own shoulders while he wrapped his own arm around her waist.

No words were exchanged between the two of them while Byunghun supported Jin Ae, who seemed to have lost most of her senses. Here she was, leaning against her ex-best friend, who just happened to save her from being a victim, who she thought hated her guts. Someone she thought she herself despised and long since erased from her life. Her feet were almost being dragged across the sidewalk as she put a lot of her weight on to Byunghun who didn't complain about all the extra weight he was carrying. She then found herself in front of a familiar looking door and flinched a bit when Byunghun slowly pulled his arm away from her waist, to fish out some keys in his back pocket, all the while still managing to support Jin Ae.

Unlocking the door, it quietly swung open and he threw the two school bags inside by the shoes before finally carrying Jin Ae in both arms, bridal style. She let out a small gasp from the change of position and was a bit relieved when Byunghun set her down on the couch. Leaving her for a bit, he went into the kitchen and she watched his back as he grabbed this and that, opening some cupboards, bending down to retrieve mysterious foods from the fridge, and she thought she saw a little bit of steam from a kettle. She managed to push herself up into a sitting position and she sat rather stiffly on the couch.

Byunghun came back with a small cup of what seemed to be some jasmine tea and held it out to Jin Ae.

"Drink it, it'll help calm you down." She hesitated a bit before taking it from him and setting the small plate and cup on to her lap.

"Thanks." She said in a quiet voice, feeling the couch shift slightly as he sat down beside her. Feeling his eyes on her, Jin Ae held the cup to her lips and blew on the liquid slightly before taking a small sip. The hot liquid felt good going down , her nose inhaling the sweet and fragrant smell of the tea. She then set the cup and plate down on the coffee table and folded her hands awkwardly on her lap.

"Jin Ae..." She didn't look up when he called her name, but he noticed her tense slightly. Byunghun gulped and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"I...You must be wondering...about a lot of things." He started carefully. When he received no response, he decided to continue, still remaining wary of his choice of words.

"I'm just not sure if..." He paused, wondering if he should continue on. She noticed his hesitation and finally turned to face him.

"Don't you hate me?" She asked rather coldly, making him flinch.

"W-What?"

"Are you being nice to me out of pity? Was it because you remembered that you pretty much ditched me when they died? Or maybe it's because I've almost been kidnapped and possibly ? Why are you like this?" As she spoke each word, her tone went higher and higher, her voice almost shaking, her eyes piercing through him like the biting winds and cold ice. Regaining his senses, he looked at her with a sad, almost pleading expression.

"How could you think that? Why would you think that?" He asked her in turn, to which she scoffed in reply.

"For starters, you've ignored me ever since we started high school, you randomly disappeared from my life the summer before that, oh, and how could I forget - you told me that you hated me, remember?" She spat, but Byunghun didn't back down.

"And you believed me? You, of all people, believed everything I said? Don't you ever wonder Jin Ae? That maybe it was just a facade? Did you ever stop and think -"

"That's all I ever did! I always wonder, Byunghun. Everytime you give me a bad look, everytime you give me a cold response I always think about why you did it." Jin Ae's voice shook as the tears she'd been trying so hard to keep at bay now threatened to fall over the edge. Byunghun opened his mouth and then closed it. A teardrop fell, sliding down her cheek. He lifted his hand and used his thumb to wipe it away. He looked down at his hands and took in a shaky breath.

"Jin Ae, it's time I....it's time I told you the truth."

Hey guys! Okay, so this author's note is just to ask you if you think this is moving too fast/slow, what do you think I could improve on etc. Just keep in mind that they are ex-best friends so no, there are no romantic intentions between the two. And on another note, I also did mention that I'm making this as a write-as-I-go kind of plot, but being me, I've figured out the plot ahead of time anyway, but not quite the chapters. So feedback would be awesome, thanks to all of your lovely comments btw, they make my day! (: