Sojin was craning her head towards the car's window, breathing jaggedly. More than once she'd attempted to fall asleep but always jerked back awake the moment her head hit the hard glass.

I was situated beside her on the left side of the backseat behind the driver's seat. The driver was Sojin's brother.

Eunjin had bustled inside the infirmary before Sojin could explain anything to me, his face marred with worry over his sister's condition. He was never convinced with Sojin's reassurances and thus, we were headed towards the city for a more serious medical examination.

Upon Sojin's insistence, I was brought along. I was glad she had pleaded for me, because I couldn't imagine myself asking permission from her brother to take me with her, just as I was currently conflicted on towing Sojin by the shoulder and letting her lean on my arm, with Eunjin's eyes constantly checking the rearview mirror, I meant.

When Sojin bumped her head the fourth time, I finally acted.

"C'mere," I muttered, placing an arm behind her and pulled her closer beside me. Sojin winced from the contact, her eyes fluttering halfway open then dropping shut again. She allowed me to guide her head to rest by my shoulder.

"Hmm-thanks.." Her breaths were still shallow; she needed fresh air.

I pressed the roll-down button of the window and just as instantly, Sojin's breathing improved. She cuddled even closer, enjoying the rush of open air.

"Perceptive," Eunjin said. I had almost forgotten his presence. He met my eyes over the rearview and winked.

I wasn't in trouble.

The distant metropolis grew nearer, gray clouds still impeding the sun's late afternoon rays. Twilight rolled in unusually darker.

Eunjin spoke again as we melded into the city traffic. "What was it?" He asked.

It was Sojin who answered. "Carbolic acid, er, phenol."

Phenol. Of course. How could I have missed the sweet dizzying scent?

"In layman's terms?" Eunjin pressed.

"Phenol," Sojin repeated, shifting comfortably in my arm. "It means blindless for the eyes, burning for the skin, ulcer for the digestive tract - if ingested, that is - and pneumonia for the lungs. These are all only under severe exposures though so, not a thing to worry."

Eunjin turned ashen in his seat. "And how exactly did some deadly phenol get inside your locker and exploded when you -"

"I don't know, Oppa, but I'm pretty sure it involved simple prankster skills -"

"I doubt it was only for the sake of pranks, Sojin."

"No, sorry, Oppa, I didn't mean it that way. I was saying it's a little easy ballooning phenol liquid, placing it inside a locker with a needle or something angled in such a way that it'd prick the balloon the moment the locker is unlatched. Then boom - surprise. It's just a theory though."

Eunjin considered the happenstance in silence. Finally, he pulled over a hospital's parking space.

"Let's be thankful then that Luhan was around when you opened your present," he said as we exited the car.

A pang of guilt erupted from my conscience. Sojin had not only claimed the y-trapped locker as hers, she also hadn't told him half the story.

"He was great," Sojin replied, grinning.

Much to my annoyance, I was also put under examination. Sojin had been ushered to a different room so I didn't have her to back me up when I insisted I was fine. Luckily, perhaps they realized I was too irritable for somebody supposedly phenol-induced, I was finally released.

Over at the next room, I saw Sojin sitting on a mattress and supporting an oxygen mask to her lower face while the Doctor scribbled a few things on paper before handing it to her. Upon his exit, Eunjin greeted him by the door. Eunjin was flanked on either side by his parents. I didn't notice they had arrived.

"How is she?" Sojin's mother charged at once. "Will she be okay? Is she allowed to go back to school?"

"The dermal area of exposure is supposedly alarming - it covered her neck down to her upper chest and over her left shoulder - but she managed to wash them off completely. You're lucky your daughter's smart to have performed the necessary measures. With phenol contact, any second's delay may have resulted to crucial damage. It helped that she was already soaked in water when the chemical came into contact with her skin."

It was good then that Sojin had fancied bathing in the rain before rushing to my rescue. Her oddness held its own unusual benefits after all.

"Her eyes are clear," the Doctor added, pointing to his own pair. "She may have inhaled enough vapor to cause her shortness of breath but the oxygen's wiping it out of her as we speak."

"Will there be any long-term effects?" It was Sojin's father querying this time.

"No." He prattled on regarding Sojin's next check-up and some more about her haste at irrigation that spared her irreversible damage.

My eyes drifted towards the large glass window over at Sojin. She waved at me, a little energized now. The phenol vapor had greatly enfeebled her earlier.

I raised a heavy hand in return. Somehow, I figured it was all my fault why she was here, and why she'd been endangered in the first place. Even though I never asked for it, she had always interfered in my circumstances, placed herself on hazard zones, dodged life-threatening bullets, and they were all for my sake. I didn't recall ever doing her a favor so insurmountable that she'd be willing to lay down her life for me - it was just maddening!

Sojin morphed her waving hand into an 'ok' sign with her thumb. I returned the gesture. It didn't help suppress my guilt that she was so.. abnormally kind.

With the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, she bobbed her head to one side. She was assessing me, but what for?

She removed the mask away from her face, raised her free hand and pressed her thumb and index finger on either corner of . Then, slowly but vividly, she pushed the corners of her lips upward.

She wanted me to smile.

How could such a being exist?

I smiled, not only to comply but more importantly, to convey my gratitude.

Sojin dropped her hand and beamed back a pretty, dimpled smile before replacing the mask over her pale face.

That was it. I my heels and disappeared from her sight. I could no longer handle the raging unrest Sojin had inflicted upon me from the day she came into my life.

I trudged aimlessly around the intersecting corridors, turning wherever my feet dragged me. There were no stairs nor elevators in sight, prompting me to move on. I wasn't sure whether escape was the antidote, but it was the only rational thing in my mind at the moment. It was another display of cowardice but it felt so much better than facing the girl who had caused me mounds of misery.

Why did she ever have to set foot into my classroom? Why had her parents allowed her to transfer schools? Why was I even blaming her? My mind