"YOU IDIOT!" Mina yelled. "I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF IT!" Mina ran out of the cafeteria. Kyungsoo sat there for a moment in shock and then decided to go after Mina. 

 

He found her sitting in the hallway. When she saw Kyungsoo coming, she quickly got up and tried to run. Kyungsoo caught her just in time and grabbed her wrist. "LET GO SOO!" she yelled. "NO!" Kyungsoo yelled back. "Leave me alone!" she screamed. "Not until you tell me why the heck you just slapped me in front of half of the school!" Kyungsoo yelled back. "Because you deserved it!" Mina snapped, "I told you to stay out of it and you didn't!" "Stay out of what?" Kyungsoo asked. "Jaewon and I's relationship!" Mina yelled. Kyungsoo looked at Mina, "You were going to get in trouble because of him! What was I supposed to do? Sit back and let some one care get falsely accused?" Kyungsoo asked. "Yes Soo!" Mina yelled, "That's exactly what you should have done! You don't know the whole story Kyungsoo and because of what you did thing are gonna get worse!" Mina yelled. She then pulled out of Kyungsoo's grasp and ran down the hall. Kyungsoo ran after her, she ran into a classroom and closed the door. Kyungsoo stood at the door and waited. He didn't know how long he would wait, and quite frankly, he didn't care. He just wanted Mina to calm down and then maybe she would talk to him.

 

When Kyungsoo thought Mina had calmed down, he opened the classroom door. Mina was sitting on the floor in the corner. Her back was facing him. He walked over to her, "You said I don't know the whole story." He said, "Well then tell me, and maybe I'll understand." 

 

Mina kept her back to Kyungsoo.

 

 "It started in 6th Grade," Mina began, "My parents started arguing a lot more. They argued about Money, Bills and other things, but their favorite topic to argue about, was me. They argued about anything that had to do with me. Whether it was a new outfit, or what sports I should be allowed to play. Both of them thought what they wanted was best.  At first I didn't think anything of it, but then one day in got really bad, and my dad walked out the house. He didn't come back for a few days and when he did, they just argued more and he left again. They repeated this cycle over and over again until one day, my dad never came home. I waited for him and called his phone. I left hundreds, maybe even thousands of voice mails begging him to come home. I promised him that if he came home, I would be a better daughter. I called his phone everyday until eventually it was shut off. That was the day I knew he wasn't coming back."

 

 Mina paused for a moment and then continued. 

 

"When he left, I blamed myself for everything.  I thought that I was the reason he left. My thoughts made me depressed, and my mom decided to send me to a special place to get help. It helped a little, but deep down inside I still believed that I was the one who made my dad leave. I thought of every possible thing I could do to make him come back, and then one day it hit me. 

 

If I was the reason my dad left, then maybe if I wasn't around, he would come back. I thought about running away but I thought that was too simple, they could easily find me if they wanted to. What I had to do was go away, to a place where they would never be able to get me back.

 That was the day. 

The day that when I went to take a bath, I picked up the razor out of my parent's bathroom and took it with me." 

 

Mina stopped talking, she didn't need to say anymore. Kyungsoo knew what she was talking about. 

 

"I remember there was a lot of red." She said "Then I passed out." Kyungsoo looked at Mina. "I woke up in a hospital bed, with a bunch of machine hooked up to me and bandage wrapped around my wrist. I remember when I woke up, I was angry. I was angry that my plan didn't work, I was angry that I was still alive. I laid in the hospital bed and told myself that I as soon I went home I would try again, and this time, I wouldn't fail.

 

Two days before I was to be discharged from the hospital, I got a roommate. At first I was angry, because I had known this roommate for many years before and had never liked him. But soon, he showed me a different side of himself. He opened up to me, and I felt obligated to do the same. When I told him my story, he listened, and he told me that it was okay, but I was to never to do that again. He told that I shouldn't blame myself for other people's decisions and that I was special. He also told me he loved me, and the he would keep my story a secret, he told me he would protect me and my secret with his own life, and I believed him. 

 

He did protect me for a while, but then the table turned. Instead of him protecting and caring for me, I began to protect him, I protected him from failing classes and having to do chores and other things. I know compared to what he was protecting for me, my list may seem mediocre, but it started to add up. One day when I couldn't take it anymore, and I told him I was tired of it, I told him I was tired of 'protecting' him. I expected him the be understanding. I expected him to say 'I'm sorry' or 'I'll try to do better' but instead he looked at me and said 'well since you're tired of protecting me, maybe I'm tired of protecting you and your secret.' When he said these words I was shocked, my first thought was to leave him, but then I thought about my secret my deep dark secret. The one only he, my family and my doctor knew. I thought of what people would think of me when they if they heard it and... that scared me. I didn't want people to think of me differently. So I decided the best thing to do was stay with him, and 'protect' him, so he could 'protect' me."

 

 Mina finished her story. Kyungsoo stood there in silence. He didn't know what to say. Mina stood up and faced him. 

 

"Now you know the full story Kyungsoo, and I hope I can trust you to protect my secret, and I hope you understand why I deal with what I things like doing extra homework, and a getting handled roughly. Because, compared to my secret, those things seem so small." 

 

Mina then took one last glance at Kyungsoo. She forced a smile and then sighed before walking out the classroom.