[6] stares and stairs

»  Monday morning, Hayoung stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom, glancing at the contacts, “It’s only temporary…It won’t be like this forever.” She purses her lips and starts putting on her contacts. “Hey, Hayoung, can I brush my teeth?” Jimin asks as he knocks on the door.

“Yeah, come on in,” She replies as she places her left contact in, blinking slightly as she looks at herself. There was definitely a huge difference with her glasses on and off. She looked even prettier, her eyes wide and deep brown, and her face standing out more. As Jimin walked in, he raises an eyebrow and pats her shoulder, “Now you watch what will happen at school today.” He stands beside her and starts grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste.

After applying on her contacts, she fixes her uniforms and starts to smooth out some of the wrinkles, pursing her lips, “Okay, I’ll be going to school now—see you later.”

-

Hayoung takes a deep breath as she slowly enters the gate, holding the straps of her backpack tightly. She arrived later than usual due to the fact she had to learn how put her contacts on and she started following the line through the doors.

She enters the halls and immediately, people look at her. The boys’ eyes were all glued towards the young female, whispers coming from every corner.

“Who’s that?” “Isn’t that the glasses girl in first year?” “No way!”

“She’s hot…” “What happened to her glasses?”

“Isn’t that the girl that Sehun ran away with on Friday?” “They can’t be going out—that just ruins everything!”

Hayoung bites on her bottom lip as all the attention is on her. Quickly, she makes her way to her classroom and finds some of her classmates inside. Over half her class is royalists and word did go around like wildfire when they heard Sehun escape.

“Hey, Hayoung-ah,” A male starts as he sits on the seat beside hers, his body facing her with one arm propped on the back of the chair and the other on the desk, “How do you know Sehun?” Hayoung sits down on her seat and blinks, “Hi, Junhong.” She pauses and scratches her head, “I don’t actually know Sehun. I just met him…” She tries to emphasize on those words as some of the girls listen in.

“Yeah, but you two ran away together. What was that?” Junhong asks as he tilts his head slightly, looking at her attentively. As opens, the bell rings and all the students start going back to her seats. Throughout the class she can feel all eyes on her, her heat beating abnormally. She brings part of her hair forward to hide the side of her face, concentrating on her notes.

-

During lunch, Hayoung starts walking out of her class with her lunch box. As she walks through the halls, two boys walk beside her and grins. “Hey, Hayoung, want to hang out with us after school?” One asks as the other nods along. “No thanks…” She whispers as she walks a bit faster. She starts heading towards the stairs to the second year classrooms and as she gets over the first flight, a group of third year girls stands there, their arms crossed and their eyes glaring at the younger one.

“Are you Oh Hayoung?” One of them asks as her hair is up in a ponytail. Hayoung’s eyes widen as she nods slowly, slowly walking towards the second flight of stairs. A weird and strong aura starts flowing as Hayoung feels more intimidated.  Just as she was about to take her first step, the girl pulls the back of her jacket and pushes her to the wall, her eyes turning into slits as she lays a hand on her shoulder, “You were the one with Prince Sehun on Friday, right?”

She nods and gulps, staring at her in absolute fear, “Y-Yes, but nothing happened—I swear!”

The older one smirks and murmurs, “If you ever get closer to Sehun—you better watch out Oh Hayoung or I swear—‘”

“What are you guys doing?” A voice emerges as the group of girls looks up towards the stairs, finding a male step down.

“It’s none of your business, Jongin,” The girl says as she lets go of Hayoung, staring at her once more, “I swear you’ll regret it.” She lets out a small laugh and crosses her arms, “Let’s go.” She starts walking up the stairs and glances at Jongin, the girls leaving the first year alone.

Jongin sighs and turns around to look at them, shaking his head. Turning back, he looks at the girl quivering in fear. She looks so familiar and that was when it hit him, “Oh Hayoung?”

“Yes?” She beams as she looks at him with scared eyes. She’s been receiving so much attention and honestly, she doesn’t like being in the spotlight. Each and every break that has happened so far today, she’s only been asked questions about Sehun, what she did with Sehun, why did Sehun go with her, etc. She honestly hated it.

“I’m Jongin, Sehun’s bodyguard,” He introduces as he stands in front of her, “Are you okay? Those girls are some of the Princesses in the third year. They’re quite—vicious.” He pats her shoulder and yawns quietly, starting to head downstairs, “Try to be careful, huh? Anything that happens with Sehun, everyone finds out—and it won’t be easy.” Just as he gets halfway down the stairs, he turns around and looks at her once more, “But if you need any help, just tell me, alright? It’s the least I can do for helping Sehun.”

Hayoung gulps and closes her eyes, placing the back of her hand on her forehead. This is too much… She starts heading upstairs and hangs her head down, heading towards Namjoo’s classroom.

-

“I heard what happened,” Jimin whispers as he walks inside Hayoung’s room, the girl focusing on her homework. “Yeah…It’s not much,” She whispers as she sighs quietly, “Maybe if I still had my glasses, it wouldn’t have been so bad.”

He sighs quietly and sits down on the edge of her bed, “I can help you get your glasses back…” She looks up at him and blinks, “But you wanted me to wear contacts so bad.”

“I know, but—hey, my sister is too pretty for everyone,” He laughs and purses his lips, “And I can’t tell you what to wear and not to wear.” She felt touched that she had such a sibling like him. She moves her books away and sits down beside her brother, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Thank you, oppa. You don’t have to help though; I think I’ll be fine.”

Thrown aback from her sudden embrace, Jimin smiles and loosely hugs her back from around the waist, “You’re welcome, dongsaeng. Just remember, I’ll always be here as your brother.” Despite Hayoung being adopted, Jimin has always seen her as a little sister that he needs to protect. He wouldn’t want anything happening to her at all.

-

“I saw Hayoung at school today,” Jongin starts as he sits on Sehun’s chair in the room. He shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck, “You know that girl…Jung Yunhee? It looks like she was threatening Hayoung or something…”

Sehun lies down on his bed with his hands behind his head, looking up at the ceiling, “Seriously? She’s always up to things…”

“Sehun—Hayoung might be getting the boot just because she was seen with you,” Jongin’s voice rises as he glances at the prince. He closes his eyes and nods, “I know, I know. But, Jongin, I really want to know her more.”

Jongin scratches his head and stands up, “It’s up to you, Sehun. Just remember about how this will affect Hayoung’s life as well.” He walks towards the door and whispers, “Good night.”

You’re not the only one who wants to know Hayoung too, Sehun.