A Fear of Flying

“Keep your ing hands off my girlfriend, you piece of . Or I will not hesitate to rip you open with my bare hands.”

Hansol sneered. “I’d like to see you try, freak,” he shot back coldly, curling his hands into fists in case he needed to defend himself from Tao, who was still looking feral as he stood in front of the trembling Jiyoon.

She looked in between the two males, both of whom seemed like they would spring at each other at any point in time. She’d never seen Tao angry before. He’d always been calm, tame, around her. Yet he was acting like a vicious guard dog protecting its master. In this case, it was Jiyoon. Her legs shook in fear.

Jiyoon had never been one for violence, or any sort of altercation in general.

Soojung always made fun of her for being a pacifist. Instead of getting angry when she was picked on, she either shook it off with a smile or took it with a bucket of tears. There was rarely ever any malice or irritation. Whenever she snapped at someone or even got angry, that was a sign that something was extremely wrong.

That was the reason that the tension between the two males scared Jiyoon so much.

Her hand landed on Tao’s arm, hooking around it and pulling at it. He looked down at her in surprise, the brutality in his eyes melting away as he looked at her.

“It’s not worth it, Tao,” she muttered, pulling on his arm again. “Let’s just go. He’s not worth you getting even more hurt… You’re still healing. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Tao seemed to soften at her words. He turned away from Hansol without another word, folding an arm around Jiyoon’s shoulders. The pale-haired boy slowly dropped his hands back to his sides, watching in complete bewilderment as the boy who was just about to tear him to shreds stepped back, looking more passive than aggressive, with a girl who he claimed was his girlfriend.

The door closed behind the couple as they left the rooftop without another word or even a glance towards Hansol. He noticed their hands linking as they walked down the stairs, Jiyoon supporting Tao as he seemed to stumble clumsily, like he was in pain.

Hansol would never have picked Tao out to be the one that Jiyoon moved on from him to. He never would’ve picked the kid who was in his grade, but hadn’t graduated with the rest of them.

To say that Hansol was shocked was a complete understatement.

But he turned away as well, looking up to the blue sky. He noticed the bench, and the photos sitting on it. He slowly staggered over to the bench. The pictures were all of the surrounding areas, some of birds and others of the scenery.

Hansol’s lips twitched. He knew, just by looking at the pictures, that Jiyoon had taken them.

One by one, he gathered the Polaroid pictures up, stacking them in his hand. He hesitated to touch the last picture.

It was of Jiyoon and Tao.

She looked like she’d been taken by surprise, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. A pink tint rested on her cheeks as she stared at the camera. Tao, however, was grinning widely, clearly the one holding the camera as he wrapped an arm around Jiyoon. His eyes were gleaming with life and happiness, something that Hansol had never seen before.

He’d always seen Tao angry or downcast.

And so, he wondered what had changed.

With a sigh, he added the last Polaroid to the stack and tucked the photos away in the pocket of his jeans.

Tao looked over at Jiyoon, who was reading a book as she lay next to him. “You didn’t tell me you know Kim Hansol,” he said quietly.

She sighed as she turned a page in her book. “I didn’t know you knew him, either. So we’re even, Tao.” He quieted. She just continued to read her book peacefully. “He wasn’t always such a douche, you know.”

“I can imagine.”

Her bright, yet dull, eyes looked at him before turning back to the book. “No… he really wasn’t.” Her hands shook around the pages. Noticing the trembling, Tao placed his hands over hers. “He was always nice as a kid. He only really changed two years ago… and he changed again earlier this year. Last year, he picked on people, but he was never violent. Four months ago, that was when he started picking fights and getting suspended… I don’t know why he’s like that.” She sighed, closing the book.

Tao frowned. “Maybe he decided hurting them verbally wasn’t enough,” he suggested, his voice soft as he wrapped an arm around her, still holding her right hand in his. She squeezed his hand.

“Maybe…” she muttered. “Maybe.”

Tao held onto her as he turned back towards the television, turning it on and flicking through the channe