Sehun could feel his impatience growing. It was indeed torture when Ara continued to ignore him for the following days as well. After a few days, his patience had snapped. He left Miyoung in the classroom, seeing that she didnt look all too weak that day, and tried to find Ara, who had left the classroom as usual. 

With determined steps, he dashed through the corridors, his eyes searching for Ara. He needed to exchange one word with her at least. Just one. An excuse, maybe. He didn’t really know; he just wanted to look her in the eyes. His eyes, he was sure of that, would definitely convey what he actually felt. He knew that Ara would understand the look in his eyes. He hoped.

In his swiftness, he didn’t even hear the loud chatter coming out of one of the classrooms. “We're getting an intern, and he's said to be so, so handsome!” Such things could be heard throughout the corridor and classrooms, but Sehun didn’t notice. His mind was elsewhere. Then when his eyes finally spotted the familiar figure of a certain girl standing at her locker, he halted, breathing heavily.

Ara stood there, back-facing him, as she took out a few books from her locker. Even after she closed it, she rested her hand on it for a bit longer than necessary. Sehun knew, it was his chance. So he swiftly reached out to grab hold of her wrist, spinning her around. However, the relief he expected to feel didn’t sweep his body. There wasn’t even a spark. Not when Ara was glaring at him with eyes that could kill.

Eyes, so hard to decipher, as they were dull and yet filled with anger, glared at him. They were so emotionless, but there was something else. A tint of pain. Barely noticeable, but Sehun could see it. And the longer he stared into her orbs, the more evident the pain became. Then the mask of rationality fell and all he could see was a look so full of sadness emitting from Ara.

At that moment, he could feel it rush through him. Not relief. No. But regret and guilt. But mostly, he felt so terribly bad for being the reason of Ara's sadness. Even that was an understatement. He felt like dying upon seeing Ara look at him with such pain and disappointment in her eyes, looking so angry and yet vulnerable. Because he knew, Park Ara was strong. So strong that he hadn't seen her shed a tear; even as a certain student kept insulting her and calling her names; even as she was caught up in a situation she'd rather die than to be in when she saved her little sister; even as she collapsed and woke up in a hospital in an utterly weak state; even when her life had been so terribly hard with her father's betray and the debts he left. He hadn't seen one tear drop escape her eyes in all those times.

Only once. Only once had he seen it. When the girl reached her absolute limit as her mother died. Only at that single time did he see her shed a tear. Did he see her weak side. And even if Ara wasn’t crying at the moment, he could feel just how much she was hurting right now. And all because of him.

For a second, Sehun was too shocked to react, only continuing to stare at her. And when he finally snapped back to reality, wanting to wrap his arms around her, the girl's rationality already reclaimed the lead. Within a blink of an eye, her eyes were as cold as before again and she whipped away from his grip.

Before she completely turned around and walked away, she gave him one last glare. One that etched into his mind, cold and yet burning.

Sehun watched her as she walked away, her steps firm. He rammed hist fist into one of the lockers, not caring about the pain of the impact, as he whispered, “Damn it.”

-

Ara's hands clenched into fists as she walked away from Sehun. She could feel the back of her eyes burning. Which meant she was close to crying. But, she wouldn’t let a single tear drop slip from her eyes. Even if the sudden appearance of Sehun had shocked her to the extent that she lost her rationality for a moment. Even if she just wanted to scream at the sudden difficulty to breathe that took over. Even if her heart was contracting so unfamiliarly. She wasn’t someone to cry. She didn’t want to cry. Never.

So, once her rationality had been back, she immediately reacted, not wanting to stare into his eyes for a second longer. Not wanting to feel the undefinable feeling that seemed to choke her.

When Ara reached the classroom, she could feel her heart calm down again. She quietly went to her seat, her rational self slowly gaining all control over her again. She averted her gaze from the door since she didn’t want to see a certain person enter the classroom. Since she didn’t want to feel as miserably, as when she had been met with his eyes, again.

However, her caution wasn’t necessary as the next person who entered the classroom wasn’t Sehun. A blonde male – who wasn’t wearing a school uniform, but looked too young to be a teacher – stepped in, cautsing the whole class to hold the breath for a moment. The man or boy looked ridiculously handsome. Muffled squeals escaped the female students' as they realized this was the intern the other classes had been talking about.

However, before a student could confirm it, the teacher for the next period already entered. Shortly after that, the door opened again (Ara immediately averted her gaze) and Sehun stepped in. He halfheartedly bowed to the teacher before going to his seat, not looking anywhere in particular and not paying attention to his surroundings.

When the class calmed down a bit, the teacher clasped her hands together. “Class, welcome our new intern, Luhan. He is our youngest intern ever – only twenty-three years old – but he already has great potential,” she announced happily, her eyes glistening with admiration