My eyes have been closed for a couple of seconds now, but nothing has happened. I open my eyes, and I see that one of the bouncers is holding the man’s arm, only a short distance away from my face.

“Wh-what are you doing?” the man yells at the bouncer, who seems unfazed by it all.

“The Boss gave me an order to stop whatever you’re doing until he gets here.”

“The Boss?” the man asks, “I for sure know your boss isn’t here, because he’s off to the States for a business meeting! Who the hell is this supposed Boss?”

“I am” A voice I’ve heard before says, as he’s walking into the room. I can’t recall who it belong too until two very familiar people come into my view. It’s Junhwe and Donghyuk from the Seoul National Six.

The man sees the two of them and starts to laugh hysterically.

“You?” he laughs, pointing to Junhwe. “You’re just a kid, why the hell should I listen to you?”

“From what I see here,” Junhwe says calmly, as he opens a folder in his hands, and starts to flip through it. “My dad, who owns this club, made a deal with you that if you take care of the hiring process of employees, he’d let you do your business here when the club is open. And due to certain problems, he recently wanted you out, but you begged him to let you stay here. Is that right, Mr.Choi?”

“Wait. You’re Mr. Gu’s son?” the man says, realizing the situation he’s in, and starts to laugh nervously. “Y-you must be mistaken, I’m just … just dealing with an employee here.”

“Doesn’t look like it.” Junhwe says, “Looks to me like you’re causing trouble. Don’t think my dad doesn’t know about all the shady things you do in his club. He could call the police on you anytime, but he doesn’t want to bother with the paperwork.”

“It’s definitely not what it looks like.”

“Really?” Junhwe says and point to me, “Then what do you want with her?”

“H-her mother owes me money.” The man stutters, “And she came to pay up, but she doesn’t have enough.”

“What about her mom then?”

“She just fell! W-we were trying to-“ the man tries to make up an excuse when he sentence gets cut off.

“Bullsh*t.” Junhwe says and looks at the bouncer. “Take him up to my father’s office, I’ll deal with him there.” The bouncer nods and drags the man out of the room, as the man struggles and yells incoherent sentences. When the man and the bouncer are out of the room, both Junhwe and Donghyuk look at me.

“Yoonjin-noona, you okay?” Junhwe asks, coolly. I give a small nod, the rest of my body is frozen, and my mind is still trying to process what just happened.

“Donghyuk-ah” Junhwe continues, “Get Yoonjin and her mother out of here, I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.” And he also leaves the room. Donghyuk runs towards me and lightly grabs my arm.

“Noona, you sure you’re okay?” he asks, concerned. With his touch, I finally come to my senses to say something, but instead my legs give out. “Whoa, easy there.” Donghyuk gets me to sit down on one of the couches.

I try to take a couple deep breaths to calm myself, and Donghyuk patiently waits for me to talk.

“What…just happened?” I say, and I look at Donghyuk. “Wait, how did you two know I was here?”

“You bumped into us coming in.” Donghyuk chuckles, “So Junhwe asked the bouncers what was going on.”

“And Junhwe’s dad owns this place? I thought they said he’s the CEO of some car company.”

“He is. But this club thing is a side project, out of boredom I suppose.”

“Wow…” I sit here, thinking what a coincidence this all is.

“Oh.” Donghyuk says, breaking me out of my trance again. “I should get you guys out of here, and your mom needs to get some medical help. Would you mind grabbing everything, and I’ll carry your mom.”

“Wait but – “

“No buts, come on.” Donghyuk lifts my mom up and starts making his way out of the room. I grab all of my backpack and my mom’s things, and follow Donghyuk out. As we leave the club, a car drives up and stops in front of us. The driver gets out and quickly opens the rear doors for us.

“Master Kim” the driver says, eyeing me “This is…”

“A friend who needs help.” He says, without any hesitation. The driver, realizing the situation, quickly helps Donghyuk get my mom into the car. And then ushers me into the car as well. After closing the door, Donghyuk gets into the front. “Ahjussi, take us to my dad’s hospital please.”

“There’s no need!” I stop both of them. Donghyuk turns around and looks at me. “Really, it’s not that big of a deal. My mom comes home like this quite a bit.”

“Then…to your home then?” he suggests. I can’t afford hospital fees, I think to myself, but if Donghyuk sees my home, he’ll know for sure that I’m not supposed to attend Seoul National High.

“Yes, please. If that’s okay.” I finally decide.

“Lead the way then noona.” Donghyuk gives me a friendly smile and turns back around.

When we arrive, Donghyuk carries my mom again, as I take care of our belongings. As we make out way up the stairs to my place, I start to feel bad for Donghyuk because I live up on the roof.

“Let me know when you’re tired, and we can switch” I say to Donghyuk.

“It’s okay.” He says, starting to sound out of breath.

When we finally get to my place, I open the door the Donghyuk. He quickly goes in, puts my mom down gently and then lies down himself, exhausted.

“Thank you so much, Donghyuk. And sorry for making you trek up the stairs like that.” I say to him, as I close the door behind me. Donghyuk sits up and smiles at me, telling me not to worry about it. As Donghyuk catches his breath, I get my mom into her room, and I start to look after her wounds. As I’m doing that, Donghyuk peeks in and tells me that he told Junhwe where we were and that he’s on his way. And then it hits me that two guys from Seoul National Six now know so much about my life that I’ve tried to keep hidden for so long. I can’t help but wonder what is going to happen.

I close my mom’s room’s door after fixing her up and making sure that she’s all right, and I see that both Donghyk and Junhwe are sitting on the floor talking. The same floor that I sleep on every night, and the shame that I have been feeling for the past hour just keeps building.

“Do you guys want anything to drink?” I ask them, as I try to discreetly tidy up the place.

“No need” Donghyuk turns around and says, holding up a tray of drinks “Junhwe bought coffee on his way here.”

“Oh okay.” I say quietly, and I sit down with them. “So um…I really can’t thank you two enough for what you guys did tonight. This may sound a bit dramatic, but you guys saved my life.”

“No need to thank us, Yoonjin-noona.” Junhwe chuckles, “We couldn’t just stand around and do nothing, while someone we knew was in trouble.”

“Ah, about that…” I say, “What happened… to the man?”

“Don’t worry about, I took care of him, and my dad will hear about it when he gets back.” Junhwe waves it off like it’s nothing, “Ah and about that. Donghyuk and I have been talking, and we have something that might make things easier for you guys.”

“What is it?” I ask them,

“Well” Junhwe starts, “I apologize first off for not getting your opinion or your mother’s before I did this…but I kinda paid cleared your mom’s debt.”

“You what?!”

“Okay, don't’ freak out. It’s just that that guy never keeps his word, so I didn’t trust him.”

“But then now we owe you the money.” I say, trying to figure out where Junhwe is going with this.

“Yes, but this is where Donghyuk comes in.” he gestures Donghyuk to start talking.

“Okay” he says, looking excited, “So my family owns a couple of department stores, and you mom could work there. And since it would pay better than what she was paid before, she could slowly pay Junhwe back. No offense to your dad, Junhwe.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He waves him off. “So what do you think Yoonjin-noona?”

“It sounds great, but my mom wouldn’t have the qualifications to get hired. And I don’t want to cause any more trouble than I already have.” I say.

“No trouble at all!” Donghyuk says, “I actually already called my mom, and she says no problem.” I can’t believe what these guys just did. Not only did they get my mom get out a tight situation, they even found a way to make things easier for my mom. Getting a real job means that my mom might be able to straighten her life back out. Maybe I’ll be able to have my mom, before my dad’s death, back. As my thoughts keep running through my head, I feel my eyes prick.

“Then it’s all settled then” Junhwe says, “…Yoonjin-noona, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine” I say, as I quickly wipe my tears. “And it sounds like a great plan. I’ll be sure to tell my mom in the morning. And really, thanks again to both of you.” Both Donghyuk and Junhwe give me friendly smiles.

“Ah, I almost forgot” Junhwe says. He puts his hand into his pocket and hands me a familiar envelope. “I believe this is yours.” I take it from him, and I realize that it was the money that I was going to use to pay off my mom’s debt.

“I …have one more favor to ask of you guys,” I say, and they both look at me with wondering eyes, “Is it okay if you don’t tell anyone about this? And about this” I gesture to my home.

“Actually now that you mention it…I wanted to ask you this before,” Junhwe says, carefully, as he sips on his coffee “If you’re a student at Seoul National High, why is it that you live here?”

And here it is, the moment of truth for me. I tell them everything, from my dad’s death and me working many part time jobs, to my social anxiety and my scholarship at Seoul National High. I feel like after what they did for me, they deserve an explanation with nothing left out. After I tell them everything, they take a couple of moments to absorb everything.

“Does Hanbin-hyung know about this?” Donghyuk asks,

“Hanbin? Not that I know of” I reply,

“Hm, then I wonder why you became a target.” Donghyuk says to himself, and now I can’t help but wonder myself

“Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.” Junhwe says, giving me a reassuring smile.

For I don’t know how long, the three of us continue. We talk about everything from school to our families. And I think for the first time, I have been completely honest when talking to someone. I don’t have to worry about what or what not to talk about, or how I’ll be judged. Even with Sunghyun, I’m not able to do that. Is this what it means to have friends, I wonder to myself. Donghyuk’s phone rings, and he answers it. When he finishes his short phone conversation, he stands up and stretches.

“I have to go now” he says, “My mom’s asking why I’m not at home yet.”

Junhwe looks at the time “Holy, we’ve been here for a long time!”

I look at the clock, as well. I didn’t realize if was that late at night.

“Thanks again for everything” I say, as they’re walking out.

“Noona, stop thanking us!” Donghyuk says, cheerfully.

“Yeah, there’s no need to thank us. Friends are supposed to help each other out.” Junhwe adds, and I feel like I’m about to cry again. Unable to speak, I wave goodbye, hoping that I don’t tear up again.

When they’re gone, I sit back down to where we were, and I take out my books to start studying. As I’m studying, I can’t help but think about my two new friends, and smile. Maybe the Seoul National Six aren’t that bad after all. 

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@faddyrobot09 are you a mind reader?? xP I actually did want to make it Hanbin and Bobby, but then decided not to use them because Yoonjin needs some friends first kekeke. Anyways, thank you again for reading! And I feel so thankful for everyone's kind words and support T^T Thanks to you guys, I'm kind of still on track with my new year's resolution of more frequent updates. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this story without any hiatuses!