Two weeks later, Baekhyun was allowed to go home. He needed long time to recover from his serious injury. He also needed to use a wheel chair since he broke his leg—the right one. When he was still hospitalized, Haruka visited almost every day, usually after the school ended. She brought him a lot of delicious food she made herself after learning cooking from Suho. Luhan had showed up anyway. Lately, he often accompanied Baekhyun in hospital to redeem his fault. They both didn’t look awkward. They joked as close as before and it made Haruka relieved.

Today also, just the same as yesterday, Baekhyun came to school with his wheel chair—Chanyeol helped him by pushing the wheel chair. His wound seemed to get better and better. Behind Chanyeol, there were Suho, Sehun, Kai, and D.O. They chitchatted about the latest car which would be launched next week. Meanwhile, Haruka walked next to Luhan. She didn’t get scared or traumatized after that incident. She seemed to accept Luhan just the way he was.

As they walked, some groups of people started to whisper and grumble. They kept staring at them—actually at Haruka. She realized just now after she heard her name was mentioned. Luhan who had his hearing sharp—he could hear the dropping leaf or dropping water—looked at Haruka with that kind of face—asking what happened.

Haruka shrugged.

“What’s with these people anyway?” Chanyeol gave his dumbfounded look.

“Why are they looking at us?” Suho mumbled.

“Not us, but her.” Luhan pushed Haruka’s arm with his shoulder softly. Haruka once again shrugged. “What’s with me, uh?”

“Oh-my! Look—” D.O ran and wafted out through the crowded to see what’s stuck on the announcement board. He almost dropped his jaw after he saw what’s on the board. Sehun and Kai also ran and saw the board. There were some photos on the board. It was taken when Haruka was drunk in the night club that day. It showed in the photos that Haruka was being hugged, kissed on the lips, and touched by the unknown man.

Sehun was about to block Haruka’s sight, but Haruka was a little bit faster. Kai also couldn’t stick off the photo since it was so crowded. As she saw it, her face turned red and she looked terribly shocked and down. Her body trembled and she almost fell down. Luckily, she was able to withstand her body. Without saying a word, Haruka pushed people near her and she ran out all her might, no looking back. She ignored Kai and Sehun who called her name out loud. Right now, she just wanted to be alone and cry a river. She’s more than embarrassed that she couldn’t face anybody. She felt like digging a very deep hole and hiding there forever.

Haruka didn’t attend the first and second class, and she was gone until the lunch time. Chanyeol was totally worried that he couldn’t even concentrate to the lesson at all. He believed Suho was more worried than he was now.

While Suho, Kai, Sehun, D.O, and Chanyeol were in the cafeteria—didn’t feel like eating, Haruka herself was in the park, under the tree, playing with small branch and a stone when a bunch of people came and threw so many raw eggs to her body and head. They also threw some flour, making Haruka looked horrible. They laughed so hard while Haruka was trying to protect herself from the attacking.

“You should have been dropped out from this school. It’s a shame to have a student like you in our school.” A girl with short hair said coldly. She threw an egg exactly to Haruka’s head. Haruka could only moan quietly.

“Having those handsome boys with you, you must have given everything to them, right? Your body and your ity—maybe…” another girl said while laughing.

“Really? I heard so. I heard some rumors about her having each day with different guy. Ouch! What a shame, really…” said the long haired girl. There were total five girls and two boys there. Haruka didn’t know them. They might be her seniors.

“That’s—that’s not true…” Haruka stuttered. It was difficult to even move her lips. Her body trembled again.

“That’s true! Every student in this school knows it. How can a nerdy and freak girl like you become so popular among those boys? Even a popular girl like Jenny and her friends can’t steal their attention. It’s impossible. You must have lost your ity, no doubt!” the girl with the short hair threw the last egg to Haruka, but the egg unfortunately landed on another head.

Those five girls screamed together as they knew the egg landed on Baekhyun’s head. Haruka was as startled as those five girls. She just didn’t know how Baekhyun’s face turned red and he had his gaze deadly scary.

“Rotten mouth of you…” he grumbled, but in relax tone.

Luhan suddenly came. He grabbed Haruka’s hand and brought her to another place. Not long after Luhan and Haruka left, Chanyeol came while cursing this and that, cursing to the seven students who stayed quiet now. Maybe they were too shocked because of Baekhyun’s sudden arrival and also the incident of the flying egg. They were so dead.

“Don’t you see he’s sick? How can you throw a sick person with a raw egg?—tch—so inhumanly.” Chanyeol kept nagging while helping Baekhyun with his wheel chair.

“You should check her first, Chanyeol-ah. She’s with Luhan right now. I’m afraid Luhan will lose his control—”

“Nah, don’t worry. I called Kai just now. She must be really—depressed and down. I just can’t believe it. Is that really Haruka or is it photoshoped?”

“It must be her. I remember Kyungsoo told me that he saw Kris there. Was it Kris?” Baekhyun asked. Chanyeol shrugged. “Why would Kris be there, then? Was he invited or what? Let’s clean you up first.” Chanyeol hurriedly pushed the wheel chair to the bathroom.

At the same time, Luhan brought Haruka to an unused room in the third floor, helping her to clean his hair from flour and raw eggs. He did it patiently without even talking. He could barely hear Haruka sob quietly. He saw her teary red eyes. He felt her body tremble so much as he cleaned her shoulders. Getting no response from her, Luhan tried to lift her head up. Their eyes met. His hands cupped her cheeks. Haruka felt those warm hands again she missed.

“Don’t cry,” He said softly.

“Everybody hates me now. They hate me because I’m shameful and also disgusting.” Her tears flowed down as she said that.

“Although everybody hates you, just remember one thing that we never hate you.”

Haruka sobbed even harder. “But I’m disgusting, I’m dirty.”

“What’s the matter with that? They just don’t know what actually happened, but we know.”

“I—don’t want to live anymore…” she moaned.

“Sshh…” Luhan hushed her. “Only a person who doesn’t believe that the heaven and the hell exist will say such thing.”

Haruka sobbed. “What’s the point of believing such things—”

“I always believe it.” Luhan cut her words.

“But now everybody hates me—my best friend, my friends, even my parents—they hate me. God also hates me. He makes me blind in the night. Nobody knows how I feel. They act like they know, but actually they don’t. I—I just—hate myself because I’m so careless. I never think that they would record and post my photos to public.” Haruka cried even harder.

Luhan brought Haruka to his embrace. He smelt Haruka’s scent he liked. It’s strange that he could control himself even at this close. He felt like comforting her, nothing else.

He then rubbed Haruka’s head gently. “Haruka, listen. Everybody makes mistake, but God never. God never hates you. Don’t blame God or anybody. You have us. You can share your problem with us. You can rely on us. Just lean your burden and your worry to us. If you keep thinking that everybody hates you, then what about us? What are we to you, Haru-ya…”

“Why me? Among hundreds students in this school, why are you guys only close to me? Why do you open your heart only to me? Why not Minhwa or Jenny or anybody…”

Luhan sighed. “I’m not sure about the others. But for me, you always shine bright like a moon. Out of my expectation, I’m always attracted to you. You’re like—a magnet? I’m not sure.”

Luhan loosened his embrace and now he faced Haruka’s face which had turned awful. He grinned, showing his sharp teeth, but Haruka wasn’t afraid at all. She felt comfortable, maybe because he was warm. “I destroy the art.” He said regretfully. Being called as an art, Haruka finally smiled.

“Oh—I’m better distanced.” Luhan stepped back. Haruka got confused at the moment, but Luhan giggled, again, showing his teeth. “You start to shine as you smile. I’m afraid I’ll lose control and harm you. I don’t want it happens again.”

“Stop joking and help me cleaning my hair, would you?”

***