"This is Lee Sungyeol," the teacher introduced the tall boy standing beside him.  "I hope you will make him feel welcome."

The boy's hair was hastily straightened, his shirt was tucked in, his tie was done up and luckily the school had lent him a spare pair of shoes for the day.  The tall boy smiled to the class.  His eyes lit up when he saw a familiar face.  He started waving at Woohyun which earned him a glare from Hoya and his group of friends.  

Sungyeol took the empty seat beside Woohyun and immediately pushed their desks together before scooting his seat closer to him.  Hearing the noise, the teacher looked at him questioningly. 

"I forgot my books," Sungyeol explained.  "We have to share."

Not only did Woohyun have to share his books with Sungyeol, he also had to buy the new boy lunch since he forgot his wallet which was in his school bag.  Woohyun was surprised at the amount of food the boy bought.  He figured all the running in the morning must have made Sungyeol hungry.

They carried their trays to a table in the corner of the cafeteria when a group of boys bumped into Woohyun, making him drop his food to the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" snapped one of the boys, before walking off with the rest of his group.

Sungyeol frowned in anger.  "Hey!" he called out to them.

Woohyun did not want to make a big deal out of it.  He knew the boys were trouble.  He tried to stop Sungyeol but the new boy would not listen.

"You did that on purpose," Sungyeol accused the group.

The group smirked.  "You want to make something of it?"

The two boys were dragged outside behind a building where more of the group's friends gathered.  Woohyun tried to shield his head from their attacks while Sungyeol tried to fight them.  The two of them were no match for the group and were left beaten and bruised.

"You'll regret this!" Sungyeol shouted out after them.  "I have lots of friends you know!"


Sunggyu almost gasped in shock when Woohyun arrived at the store that afternoon with a bruise on his cheek.  He then looked at the tall boy standing beside Woohyun.  Despite his injuries, the tall boy smiled happily at Sunggyu.  Woohyun was afraid the man would be angry at him for bringing Sungyeol along when he was supposed to help out at the store but Sunggyu didn't seem to mind.  He was more concerned about their injuries.

"I'm Sungyeol, Woohyun's new best friend," the tall boy greeted Sunggyu and Myungsoo.

"Isn't that nice, Myungsoo," Dongwoo chimed in while enjoying his slice of chocolate cake.  "Now that you have helpers, you can let me be a customer in peace."


By the end of the night, Sungyeol had already gone home and all of the customers had left.  Woohyun had offered to stay back and help close up the store.  Sunggyu wanted to wipe the tables but Woohyun and Myungsoo would not allow it.  Myungsoo cleaned the counter while Woohyun wiped the tables.  Sunggyu stood and watched the boy hard at work.  Myungsoo glanced over at Sunggyu and noticed that the older man was watching Woohyun.  

When everything was done, Myungsoo grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.  "I'll be going first.  There's something I have to do," he told Sunggyu and walked out before Sunggyu could ask him where he was going.

Woohyun felt a little dejected, thinking that Myungsoo was avoiding him.

Sunggyu turned to look at Woohyun and saw the solemn expression on his face.  "It's late, I'll give you a ride home."

Woohyun didn't want to trouble the man but Sunggyu wasn't going to let him walk home.

As the pair were about to walk head, a group of masked men burst in through the front door with weapons in their hands.  Without warning, they began trashing the place.  They smashed the furniture and pulled down the books from the shelves along the wall.  

Woohyun tried to stop them but was shoved aside.  One man struck his bat at Woohyun, but Sunggyu pulled the boy behind him and evaded the impact.

"Who are you people?  Why are you doing this?"  Sunggyu shouted, trying to be heard above the racket that was going on.

One man stepped forward.  "Stay quiet old man!"

The masked man raised the bat in his hand and struck it down at Sunggyu.  In that instant, Woohyun ran in front of Sunggyu and shielded the older man from the blow.  Sunggyu's eyes widened in horror as blood trickled down the side of Woohyun's head.  Woohyun smiled at Sunggyu, seeing that the older man was unharmed, before he lost consciousness.  Sunggyu caught Woohyun as the boy collapsed into his arms.


He glanced at the fallen bodies on the floor, while he stood drenched in their blood.