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chapter 3

story by misstalkytalk - 

When the book gets lost, I end up finding it. After that event, I was the only one that accepted her. Every day she was hurt but I ended up taping her back together. The lock was once again on the book, afraid someone would find the key to open it. Page after page, day after day, I protected her even if I didn't want to. More importantly, even though she didn't want me to. Every book has a shelf it belongs on. Sometimes the book moves from shelf to shelf but most of the time it stays there. For her, she moved from the most special shelf to a normal shelf. Her luck wasn't long though. She wasn't only hurt at school but it turned out at home she was isolated as well. Her secret slipped out of her pages and came to me. I heard and saw them all. The book was thrown off the shelf and no one wanted to pick it up or help it. What did that lead to? I wasn't only her author or the tape that put her together anymore, I became her shelf as well.

“Jongin, what are you doing here?” Krystal’s voice trembled as she stood up. “I should be asking you the same,” Kai replied, grabbing her so she stayed seated. “What is this? What happened? Where have you been?” he asked, grabbing the paper towels in his backpack as he started wiping her leg. “Who did this? The queenkas? Sulli? Who?” He questioned.

“No one,” Krystal whispered, avoiding his eyes. “I did it myself.” “When? And where are your shoes?” Kai asked. “I was running late… I was scared,” Krystal said.

“Then explain this cut to me,” Kai pointed, grabbing her leg. “Why do you keep getting so many cuts? What’s happening? What are you hiding?”

“Nothing,” Krystal replied and tried to smile. “Let’s just go to class.” She whispered and got up as she started walking away before Kai sighed and followed her. She was hiding something. He just didn’t know and honestly deep down inside, he was scared to know.

"It's Choi Jinri, isn't it?" Kai spoke up as Krystal stopped her steps and looked down at her feet. "What did she do to you? Tell me. Now." All he could do was stare at the back of her head. Kai just hated the face that she was lying to him. He hated lying in general. It happened to him in the past and since then, he never trusted anyone. But that was a different story. He didn't know why he was getting angry or mad. Was he starting to care about her? Or was it because he was that kind hearted to not let someone get hurt for no reason? It didn't matter to him, all he wanted to know was who did such a thing to the girl in front of him. "Will you answer me?" He asked frustratedly.

"I already said it was no one, Jongin!" Krystal screamed, not realizing that she had raised her voice at the male. 

Taken aback, Kai let out a scoff. Was she really yelling at him? All he was doing was caring for her. He just wanted to protect her but instead she turned around and yelled at him. It wasn't usual for Kai to be rude but at the moment, anger built up in his body, and Kai couldn't help but let out the words he had been keeping inside since the moment he had saw that she was hurt. 

"Maybe you're use to people helping you out when you're hurt but that doesn't mean you have the right to yell at them. Are they doing anything wrong? Am I doing anything wrong? I'm just simply helping you but instead you yell at me?" Kai asked. 

"No one ever asked you to help me, Jongin! I never asked you to help me!" Krystal yelled with tears streaming down her face. Yes seeing her cry hurt him but what could he do when all she wanted was for him to go away. She was right, she never asked him for help. He just helped her without permission. He helped her because he was a good person. Maybe even too good sometimes and that was what Kai hated about himself.

"This isn't about me, this is about you. Stop being like that. Nice people don't come everyday. You know that's the truth. Our school is filled with bad people. But if you can't see the good people trying to help you, I guess it's just a waste of my time helping you." He told her before grabbing his backpack and walking towards the school gates. Looking up, Krystal saw Kai's back as she tried to call his name but the words wouldn't come out of . Only the sounds of vehicles could be heard.

It had been a few days , maybe even a week, since the last time Kai saw her. The last time she wasn't at school, Kai had got in an argument with her, which probably was the reason why she didn't show up to school. Or so he thought. Test, homework, projects, everything was happening at school but she was missing. No one cared whether she was gone, no one asked where she was, no one wrote notes down for her, no one but Kai. Only Kai. Like always. At lunch he would eat by himself like before, only this time, girls tried to approach him even Sulli, since Krystal was nowhere to be found. During breaks, Kai would search the garden, the rooftop, every place he could think of. But she wasn't there. He waited at the bus stop, waited in front of the school, outside of class, but Krystal never showed up. Not even once. Kai kept telling himself not to care, not to worry, and that she was in good hands at home with her dad, but something told him otherwise. All the worrying made his perfect score of 100, in his homeroom class, go down to a 98. It was still the highest in the class, and he was still rank one in class since the other kids were rich and didn't need the eduaction in the future. But one name on the class list caught his eyes. It was Krystal's. She was no longer rank number two with a score of 95, she was at the bottom. The very bottom, with a score of zero. A flat zero which was even lower than all the kids that never even opened their textbooks.

"That's what she gets for being absent."

"You mean stupid? Krystal Jung is totally stupid."

It was Kai's fault. It had to be Kai's fault. Everything was always his fault. If he didn't yell at her and leave her that day, she would be at school. If he just left her alone, he wouldn't be thinking about her. If he never tried to help, she would happily be with her rich friends and living the luxurious life she was having before. But no, Kai had to interefere. He hated himself at the moment and all he could do was let the guilt stay in his head.

The day was rainy. The sky was dark, the clouds were out, and Kai could see lightning flashing in the sky from where he was sitting at in the cafeteria. Everyone was going with their day, as if the weather was sunny. Everyone but Kai like always, the weather matched with his mood perfectly. Too perfect. Why? Because he was still thinking of the one and only Krystal Jung. The girl that was making him confused and worried. All he wanted to do was see her and make sure she was okay, that was all he was asking for.

It was as if his thoughts were written in the air when the back doors of the cafeteria opened to reveal a familiar female walking in. But Kai being lost in his thoughts only looked down at his tray, poking his food. She was soaked from head to toe, her head bowed down looking at her feet as she walked. Little stains of red running down her legs and fingers as she tried her best to cover it. 

"Oh my god, she looks so pathetic."

"What happened to her?"

"Who is she?"

"Are you an idiot? It's obviously-,"

"Krystal Jung," Sulli cut in as Kai's eyes widened and his attention went to the girl walking quickly, trying to find the way out of the cafeteria. Before Sulli began to speak again her eyes were on Kai as she walked towards him. "I know, I know. I shouldn't mess with her because you'll protect her." She said with a smirk her hands resting on Kai's shoulders as he watched Krystal quietly. "But is she really worth watching out for? She's nothing. You wouldn't want that. I'll get Minho to keep an eye on her. You should watch out for people like me." Sulli told him before Kai stood up and pushed her hands away as people shifted their attention from Krystal to the two.

"One, don't touch me. Two, I'm here for an education not to be a somebody." Kai replied. "And three." He started, his eyes staring at Krystal softly. "I'll be the only one taking care of Krystal Jung and she's the only person I'll be watching over." He finished before running towards her and putting his jacket over her, letting her warm up. "Let's go." He whispered softly while she looked up slowly and Kai took her towards the nurse's office.

The sound of sneezing filled up the nurse's office as Kai sat there waiting for Krystal to change into new clothing. Like before, questions were running through his head. Why was she in the rain? Why was there blood again? Why did she come to school? What was going on in her life? Why couldn't she just tell him? Did she not trust him? Shaking his head quickly when she walked out, Kai fixed the bed for her, letting her lay down. Looking around the office, he grabbe