Chapter 38

My life kind of felt like it was getting back to normal already. I was able to get some sleep and waking up was pretty easy for me. Getting to the bus stop was easy as well, but it was still jammed pack, nothing new. I made it through the gates before the ahjusshi was going to close it and I made it to class on time for the first time without having to run. My teacher was surprised to see that I had even made it there before most of my other classmates who were usually there before me. Jung Ah was sitting in her seat, as usual, and when she saw me, she greeted me through her pressed lips, as if she was still thinking about our conversation from yesterday.

Class lecture was really boring today, but it's not like it was fun any other day. I didn't pay attention and I decided to draw on my notebook instead of taking notes that were up on the board. For the first time, it looked like Jung Ah was actually focused. I saw that she was taking down the notes that were up on the board and she didn't turn around to talk to me once, which was also a little bit unusual. Didn't I just say that my life was kind of getting back to normal? I lied. It was getting back to normal in a weird way. 

During lunch, Jung Ah had decided that she was going to ask the teacher for help with one of our lectures because she didn't understand and she really wanted to get the idea of it. Again, I was really taken aback at how unusual she was being. I must have really missed something when I was gone in Busan yesterday. I headed out to the cafeteria and bought myself a small snack to eat and something to drink. I went to sit down at our usual table and took my phone out to occupy myself. Just as I was looking through my phone, I heard someone sit down in front of me.

"The big day is tomorrow." I heard Jae Hyun say as he knocked lightly onto the table to get my attention.

"It is, huh?" I said looking up at him.

He looked surprised when he heard my answer. "Are you sick?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked kind of unlively.

"You're... You're acting a little weird today." He raised his eyebrow at me. "Did something happen?"

"No, I'm just... I'm just not feeling good today." I didn't know what else to say.

"Ah, that's why you weren't at school yesterday." He nodded his head, acknowledging my absence.

"So you noticed."

"Of course. I wanted to remind you about the days, but you weren't here."

"You mean how you're going to shave your head, right?" I asked trying to sound a little normal, but I think my attempt could have been the worst thing I've done today.

"No, but you need to pucker up for tomorrow." Jae Hyun winked at me, making me want to gag at him. "I can't wait to for the whole school to see it all happen..."

"Nothing will happen tomorrow." I glared at him. "Unless you bring a buzzer and we shave your head."

"You have no idea how much everyone is anticipating tomorrow." He smiled. "Even I'm anticipating it."

"Ah, I should have skipped tomorrow instead of yesterday..." I heaved a sigh.

"So you weren't sick yesterday?" He asked confused.

"When do I ever skip because I'm sick?" I raised a brow at him.

"Never..." He thought about it and then smiled. "Look at what Se Hun has done to our little Ahn Soo Jin. You're even skipping out on school now just because you're talking to him."

"He's never forced or influenced me to do these things." I snarled at him. "Don't try to blame him for things he didn't do."

"Relax, Ahn Soo Jin, I was only joking." I didn't even realize that I overreacted. It was kind of embarrassing.

"Go away. You're not making me feel better." I groaned at him as I got up from the table.

"Hope you feel better tomorrow." He waved at me as I left the cafeteria. "I want to kiss a happy Ahn Soo Jin!"

Sick jerk.

I took a sip of my juice after I made my way out of the cafeteria. I was just about to head back towards my classroom, but I stopped when I saw that Se Hun was making his way towards me. Everything right then and there made my heart go crazy. I looked to the side and saw that there was another hallway opened. I pretended as if I didn't see him and quickly turned down to the hallway and picked up my pace, just in case Se Hun had decided to follow me. But just to my luck, I went to a dead end. I tried to open the doors to the rooms that were in the hallway, but all of them were locked.

Great. Just great. I turned around and saw that Se Hun was walking towards me. He had one hand in his pocket while the other one was hanging out with the mittens he had bought the other night at Myeongdong. I stared at it and then I looked back up at him. He smirked at me, making my freaking heart flip inside of my chest. Great. Even better. I was going through mixed emotions and there was no way I could run away from him. What am I going to do now?

"What? Are you skipping school?" Se Hun raised his eyebrow at me as he got closer to me.

"No, I was going to go to class..." I said, as a matter of fact.

"You turned down the wrong hallway..." He pointed out.

"Yeah... I realized that..." I bit my lip. "What... What are you doing here?"

"I was just going to ask you the same question." He grabbed my hand and put the mitten onto my hand. "Are you trying to avoid me?"

"What? No..."

I looked down at our hands that were connected by the string. Se Hun grabbed my hand and held it tightly, as if he was afraid I was going to pull away. Weird, actually, because I was going to pull away.

"Is there something bothering you?" Se Hun lifted my head up so our eyes could meet. "You weren't at school yesterday. Were you sick?" He touched my forehead with his free hand. "You didn't even pick up my call..."

"Sorry, Se Hun... I... I have to get to class." I used my free hand and shoved his hand off of me so I could take the mitten off. "My teacher doesn't want us to come in late since we have a test. I'll see you later."

I quickly hurried off. Even when I heard him calling my name, I refused to turn around.

I stayed late after school since I decided that it'd be better to study there instead of a loud cafe. On my way out of school, I realized that I was probably the only student left here. The ahjusshi was started to close the gates, but he stopped when he saw me. He let me through and then closed it behind me with a nod. I bowed towards him before I made my way down the street. It was darker than usual and the bus I was supposed to catch had just left. I decided to just walk instead.

On my way home, there was a food stall so I stopped by and bought myself some bongeobbang. I loved eating these kinds of snacks when I was really craving for some street food. I savored each bite and looked at my surroundings while I did so. I've never walked home late and it was an odd feeling seeing all of these things I've never seen before. I never noticed that not many people were out on the street I took to go home at a time like this. And it was surprising to see that only children were the ones who were running around the streets. Eh. I'm sure everyone was too tired to come out tonight.

Just as I turned the corner to go down my street, I started to hear footsteps behind me. I thought I was hearing things because I was munching loud on my snack, but I realized that there was actually someone following me. I started to pick up my pace, not caring to eat my snack anymore. I didn't want to turn around because I was afraid of who it might be. Was it another ert? If it were Se Hun, he would have scared me already, but I'm sure it wasn't him to begin with. I was starting to get scared and I was only half a mile away from home. What made things even worse was that it started to snow heavily now.

I had decided to start running because now I was getting scared. I could hear the person behind me start running as well. Okay. This was going to get bad and I knew it. There was no one around and it was really scaring me that I was so close to home but yet, I was still kind of far. I turned the corner and slipped on the snow and fell foward, scraping my knee again. Even though it had healed a little, this cut had reopened and it started to bleed. I turned around and looked at it, forgetting about whoever was chasing because the pain freaking hurt.

The person behind me suddenly pulled me up, making me drop my backpack to the ground and shoved me against the brick wall that was nearby. I had my eyes closed for a few seconds, but when I opened them, I saw a scary looking ahjusshi staring at me, as if he was excited that he had caught me. I tried to move out of his grip, but this caused me to get shoved up against the wall again but even harder this time. I felt like the wind knocked out of me when he did so.

"Why were you running away from me?" He said it in such a creepy way, I couldn't understand why he thought no one would run away. "Were you coming from school?" He was looking at my body, reminding me of how I felt when I went off to a random place and another ahjusshi had pinned me up against the wall just like this. "I like young girls like you. You're very pretty."

"Please let go of me..." I said under my breath. This only caused me to get shoved up against the wall harder again, making me not able to breathe. "You're hurting me..." I yelped.

"As long as you don't speak, you won't get hurt..." He leaned towards me and took a deep breath, as if he was smelling me. "Waaah, you smell so fresh and sweet."

God, I was disgusted at how this bastard was touching me and how he was sniffing me as if I was food! I wish I had strength, but him shoving me up against this wall three times was making me lose my energy. My knee was in pain and my back felt so stiff. I tried to move my arms, but he only squeezed it tighter, causing me to yelp in pain. He was laughing in my face, enjoying the pain he was giving me. I used my leg and hit him where I shouldn't have and he tumbled over, cupping his private part.

"You stupid wench!" He was bending over.

I took this as a cue to run. I didn't even care about my bag that was down beside him. I took off and started to run with all my might. I could hear the ert get up and chase after me. Great. I had to run even faster. Come to think of it, this was the first time that I was able to run away from a ert and I was very proud of it. I didn't need Se Hun. I would be find without him. I turned the last corner down my street and just as I did, I bumped into someone and stumbled backwards. Just as I was about to hit the ground, the person grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me back up. My face hit the person's chest so quickly that the jolt hit my back, causing me to yelp in pain.

My body hurt and I wish I wasn't one of those stupid weak girls at that moment. I didn't care who it was, I shoved my way out of the person's grip and tried to run off, but the person grabbed my arm and yanked me back. I didn't even realize it who it was until I looked up. His eyes were filled with anger and were worried. It was Se Hun. You had no idea how happy I felt seeing him right there and then. I know I just said I didn't need him, but seeing him made me so happy.

"Is someone chasing you?" He asked looking at me. When his eyes reached my knee, his eyes widened. "What the hell happened?"

"Oh? So you brought your boyfriend?" The ert caught up to us and he was using the wall for support to catch his breath.

Se Hun pulled me behind him and clenched his fists together. "I hate bastards like you."

"I did nothing wrong." The ert chuckled. "But it's cute seeing that you want to protect your girlfriend." The ert suddenly pulled out a pocket knife and pointed it at Se Hun. "Give me your girlfriend and no one gets hurt."

Se Hun scoffed. "ing ..."

"You'll get hurt..." I yanked at Se Hun's shirt. "Stop... Let's just run..."

"No." Se Hun looked back at me and pressed his lips together, as if he was telling me that it was going to be okay.

Se Hun let go of me and pulled out his leather gloves from his back pocket and started to put them on. Just as he was putting his last pair of gloves on, the ert swung at Se Hun, but he ducked down and kicked the guy in the stomach, knocking him over. The ert got back up and started to swing at Se Hun once again. Se Hun dodged a few times and punched the guy across the face, making the ert's lips bleed. I didn't like looking at this since I was afraid that something bad was going to happen. I was useless and all I could do was watch.

"Why is everyone always touching my girlfriend?" Se Hun scoffed as he dodged another swing from the ert. "I hate bastards like you. People who have no respect for women!"

The ert managed to dodge one of Se Hun's punches and cut his stomach with the knife. My eyes widened in fear, but Se Hun quickly recovered and kicked the guy across the face so hard, that he knocked over to the ground. The guy tried to get back up and swing at Se Hun again, but Se Hun kicked the knife out of the ert's hand. After, Se Hun stepped onto the ert's hand and kneed his chest. He leaned forward and looked at the ert, who was having a hard time breathing.

"Go do something better with your life." Se Hun spit to the side and then got up from the ert. He walked over to me, grabbed my hand and yanked me away. "Come on."

**A/N: Here's a late update for you guys! Sorry it took me awhile, but to let you all know, I decided that my hiatus is no longer happening since I'm pretty much almost done with this story, but that doesn't mean I'll update everyday! Enjoy reading!!! Also, I have another story that's going to come soon after I finish this one. It's called Goodbye Autumn. It features Chenchen <3 But note that I won't be posting until I'm done with this story though, but please still support and read :D. Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent reader. Thank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah!