My palms are sweating from nervousness. I’m sitting outside of the patient room Sunghyun is in with the other guys, waiting for Sunghyun’s parents to arrive. The doctor said he is fine and that he didn’t sustain any serious injuries, but I still don’t feel good about it. I can’t believe I lost control like that; I don’t know how far I would’ve gone if Yoonjin didn’t call out to me.

“He’s over here,” a nurse says from afar, and I turn to look down the hallway. A man and woman turn the corner and head towards us. We all stand up and greet them.

“Hello, I’m Hanbin” I say, bowing “I’m the one responsible for what happened. I am very sorry.”

“Hi, Hanbin.” The woman says, while the man ignores me and walks into the patient room. “I heard from the doctor that Sunghyun isn’t too injured, thank goodness. If you don’t mind, can I talk to you after I see him?”

“I will wait out here.” I say, still not able to look up. The woman gives my shoulder a light squeeze, and then heads into the room.

“I wonder what she wants to talk about.” I say, feeling more nervous than I did before.

“Who knows?” Yunhyeong-hyung says, “But she seems nice.” We all nod in agreement.

After half an hour, Sunghyun’s parents come out of the patient room.

“I have to get back to work. I will see you tonight.” The man says, as he walks away, not even looking at his wife. The woman turns to me, and I stand up to follow her.

We sit down at the table and we’re silent for several moments.

“Um, Mrs…” I start, but I realize I don’t even what to address her as.

“Park.” She says, in a friendly tone.

“Mrs. Park.” I say, “I am really sorry for what I did to Sunghyun. I understand that you probably don’t want to listen to my excuses, but I just lost control when I saw…” I don’t know what to say next. Do I tell her that I saw him shove Yoonjin?

“It’s okay.” She says, “You must’ve had your reasons. And for you and your friends to bring him here to the hospital, means that you boys aren’t bad. But if you don’t mind, may I know what happened?”

I hesitated about telling her because a mother would not want to hear bad things about their son. But Mrs. Park urges me to tell her everything, even if it will make Sunghyun look bad. I start from the time I saw Yoonjin and Sunghyun at the theatre, and Mrs. Park listens patiently.

When I finish talking, I let Mrs. Park digest everything. I fiddle with my hands, nervously waiting for her to speak first, when she reaches across the table and holds my hand.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Hanbin.” She says. “I am very disappointed in what my son did, and if I had any say in it, I would just let this go.”

I wait for her to continue, there’s going to be a “but” in this, I know it.

“But, my son and my husband don’t feel the same way. They’re insisting on telling your school what happened. I’m sorry, Hanbin.” She says with sincerity.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Park.” I say, “I knew I would have to be punished when I realized what I did.”

“Thank you for understanding.” She says, standing up. “I should get back to Sunghyun and get all the paper work done.” I stand up as well, to greet her. She walks towards me and gives me a hug. I stand there letting her hug me, not knowing how to react.

“Excuse me,” she laughs, letting go “Sunghyun never lets me hug him, and you looked like you needed one.” I give her a polite smile, still not knowing how to react.

“You take care of Yoonjin okay? She’s a nice girl.” she says,

“Sorry?” I’m caught off guard.

“I can tell you like her. It’s actually quite obvious.” She smiles, and I look down in embarrassment. “Anyways, it was nice meeting you, Hanbin.”

“It was nice meeting you too.” I say, bowing “Anneonyhi-gaseyo [Goodbye.]”

When she leaves, I sit back down. There’s something bothering me from since I met Mrs. Park, and I’m not sure if I can handle figuring out what it is.

It’s the next morning, and I’m sitting at my desk, waiting for class to start. I don’t know which will be worse, getting a punishment from the school or having my father find out about this. When I got home last night, I wasn’t called into his office, which means that none of his employees have found out about me beating up Sunghyun yet. But they’ll find out soon.

“Hey.” I hear a familiar voice say, and I turn around. It’s Yoonjin, who’s sitting down and pulling books out of her backpack.

“Hey.” I say.

“So about yesterday,” she starts, “thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I say,

“And thanks for everything else too.” She adds. I give her a smile, and she smiles as well, then quickly looks away.

Our teacher walks in, and I turn back to the front.

“Before I start class,” she starts, and I know what she is going to say, “Hanbin and Yoonjin, please go to the office.” Everyone is class starts to talk, asking what happened. I can hear them making assumptions and already gossiping about us. Ignoring them, I stand up. I look at Yoonjin and she’s still sitting in her desk. She’s looking down at her fiddling hands, worried. It’s the same expression that she had when I told her I like her in the hallways.

“Yoonjin?” I say, and she slowly looks up at me. Her eyes are starting to glisten, and it looks like she is about to cry.

“Hey. I’m right here.” I reassure her, “We’re just going to block out everything they’re saying and get out of here together alright?” Yoonjin nods, and slowly gets up. We walk out of the classroom together, and as soon as I close the door behind us, Yoonjin lets out a sigh of relief.

“You alright?” I ask, letting her take her time.

“Yeah” she exhales, “I’m good. Let’s go.”

When we get to the office, we are told to go into the principal’s office. I knock on the door, and the principal tells us to go in. I open the door and I see the principal sitting in her usual spot, and across from her are Sunghyun and his parents. Yoonjin and I greet everyone, and we are gestured to sit down.

“So, I have heard everything about what happened yesterday. And Mrs. Park here has told me your side of the story as well.” The principal says, look directly at Yoonjin and I. “Yoonjin, I would like to listen to what you have to say about what happened.”

Yoonjin is silent for a couple of seconds and then she says, “Please don’t punish Hanbin. He only did what he did because of me, and because I was pushed. He was only protecting me.”

“Yoonjin, I understand that Hanbin was protecting you, but unfortunately I have to give him a punishment.”

“I understand.” I say, accepting whatever will be given to me.

“Well, based on the procedures I have to follow, you are now suspended for a week.” I nod. The principal continues, “And this will also be put into your permanent records.” I nod again. We continue talking about specifics for around half an hour.

When we finally finish, I am told that I have to leave the school property as soon as possible.

“Hanbin,” Mrs. Park approaches Yoonjin and I, as Sunghyun and Mr. Park walk in the other direction, “I’m sorry that the principal had to give you such a punishment.”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Park.” I say, “It was what I expected to receive. And I should be the one apologizing for what I did to Sunghyun.”

“There’s no need.” She says, “Oh, I should catch up with those two. Stay well okay, Hanbin? And it was nice seeing you again Yoonjin, too bad under these circumstances though.”

“It was nice seeing again too, Mrs. Park.” Yoonjin says, and Mrs. Park gives us both a hug, then leaves.

“She’s nice.” I say, as Yoonjin and I walk back to the classroom.

“Yeah” she says, “she’s very different from the rest of family.” And we walk in silence for a bit.

“Thanks for standing up for me back there.” I say,

“It’s the least I can do.” She says, “What are you gonna do for the next week?”

“I don’t know,” I say, thinking about it for the first time. “It’ll be nice having the time off,” I say jokingly.

“To be honest, I’m a little jealous.” She laughs, “But catching up with school work won’t be fun.”

“Oh no!” I dramatically yell, causing both of us start laughing.

“Shh!” A teacher pokes her head out of her classroom and shushes us. We both quickly bow in apology. When the teacher goes back into her classroom, Yoonjin and I start laughing again and we quickly walk past the classroom.

When we finally get to the entrance of the school, we both stop walking.

“I guess I have to leave now.” I say, trying to sound like I’m okay with it. I wish the walk to the entrance was a bit longer; I was having a nice walk with Yoonjin.

“Oh, well I guess I’ll see you around then?” she asks.

“Yep, for sure. Now get back to class, or else you’ll get suspended too.” I warn her, jokingly. Yoonjin gives me a small wave and turns around to walk away.

“Wait.” I blurt out.

“Hm?” Yoonjin turns around, and suddenly I feel very nervous.

“Um…” I try to regain my composure. “What time are you off work tonight?”

“9, why you ask?”

“Well, since it’s a Friday and we both don’t have school in the morning, do you…” I feel my heart pounding. Don’t screw this up, Hanbin, I think to myself “Do you wanna go see a movie? After you’re off work, of course.” I feel like a weight has lifted off my chest, but my heart is still beating hard.

Yoonjin blinks, and I can see her face getting red.

“I completely understand if you don’t want to go though, you can tell me.” I add. Let her answer first, I think while mentally hitting myself.

“No, I’d love to go see a movie with you.” She says quickly, and then she looks down at her feet. “I just wasn’t expecting you to ask that.” She says in a barely audible voice. She looks back up at me and grins. I look away, chuckling.

“Okay, well I’ll pick you up from work tonight then.” I feel all giddy inside, as I say those words.

“Okay, see you then.” Yoonjin smiles, and she starts walking away. All of sudden she stops and turns around. “At the manhwa café. That’s my last job tonight.” She says, in a straight face, and then she turns back around and keeps walking.

I chuckle as I watch her walk away. I can’t help but smile at what just happened, I’m going to see a movie with Yoonjin. That makes it a date, doesn’t it? Oh my god, I’m going on a date with Yoonjin.

In a trance, I start walking out of the school. I’m halfway through a crosswalk, when it all hits me, and I do a fist pump. I’m going on a date with Yoonjin! A lady, who is walking close by, jumps at my sudden celebration. I bow in apology, and I continue walking with the biggest smile on my face. 

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Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) I have my final exams in the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to write whenever I'm free *cough* when I don't want to study *cough*. 

On another note, did you guys watch the fancams of Team B at the YG Family concert???? They were so good, especially during !! Junhwe's vocals~ (and did he get even taller?! How is he the maknae..). Hanbin looked amazing and performed even more amazingly! Bobby was so energetic too ^^  They're definitely ready to debut ㅠㅠ I've missed them so much! hahahaha 

Edit: I just realized that out of all my fanfics, this one has the most views, most subscribers, and the most comments. Guys, thank you. Really, really. I'm so grateful that you guys clicked in to begin with, let alone read it and put up with my long hiatuses. T^T *shoots hearts at everyone*