Many years have passed and we were now in high school...and as days passed by, our friendship was getting stronger and stronger. But not only our friendship, a love story was also getting stronger.

I was walking in the school corridor. I was going to my locker , I opened it and saw all my books in a bad state: things like “ Nobody loves you.” ; “You’re ugly, that’s why your parents threw you away.” were written on my books. Nothing has changed since middle school. I sighed, somehow, in my heart, I felt a pain. I gulped and when a tear was about to roll on my cheeks,Someone slammed violently the locker. I looked next to me and noticed that WooBin was staring at my locker. He mumbled:

“They will pay for that. Wait here.”

I wondered where he went to. So I waited for him. When he came back, he took off his jacket and gave it to me. He noticed my confused look but he started to write on every locker , I tried to prevent him from doing that by holding his arm but he continued. After he finished, he put an arm around my shoulders and brought him close to him ; he then, said with pride:

“Look at that, they won’t dare mess with you.”

I then , looked at “his piece of art”, I sighed and shook my head because he wrote things like:

“ Jerks & es. I’ll teach you a lesson for sure and beat all of you until you die. Piece of . BY: KIM WOOBIN.”

He was smiling at me.

When , suddenly someone shouted:

“SONG HANBYEOL, KIM WOOBIN, 2 HOURS OF DETENTION AFTER CLASS TODAY FOR DEGRADING THINGS AT SCHOOL!”

Our eyes widened and we both looked at the person who shouted : It was our math teacher. I then, glared at WooBin, he was just avoiding my eyes.

It was 5pm, nearly everybody went back home when WooBin arrived to me with 2 buckets filled with water. We started to clean the floor , WooBin cleared his throat:

“Y-Yah, are you angry at me?”

I sighed and glared at him:

“I’m not.”

He mumbled:

“Yes, sure. I don’t believe you.”

The atmosphere became somehow awkward. He then spoke to himself:

“Ah...Jinjja, Kim WooBin , it will be the first time of your life that you’ll apologize.”

He stared at me and said:

“HanByeol. I’m sorry.”

I smiled a bit and answered:

“Yah, I said that it was fine. Can I ask you a question ? ”

He smirked and continued cleaning the floor.

“What?”

“Why did you suddenly became our friends back then? I mean, you kept on being cold and kind of ...mean?”

He stopped and looked at me:

“When everybody was scared of me and didn’t want to talk to me , because of some rumors… I was hopeless to have friends, I think I was expressing my feelings  in my own way, I wanted others to see my true personality. But after a while, I gave up and I said to myself that I won’t trust anyone else, I’ll be fine on my own. Moreover, my dad don’t care about me. But when you all took care of me when I was in a bad state, I started to trust people...again.”

I just smiled and continued cleaning.

After that, we decided to go back home, after WooBin left: I was near the school front gate when someone back hugged me and put his chin on my head, I immediately recognized who it was.

I sighed and smiled. He said:

“Why did you have to come out so late ? I was waiting for you here.”

I chuckled and held his hand:

“Kim TaeHyung, how many times I have to tell you not to back hug me here… what if your fangirls kill me? Moreover, what if someone notice us...”

I started to blush a little.

He then, put my hands on my cheeks, he answered:

“I’ll protect you. By the way, you have to complete this school paper ; bring it back tomorrow and give it to our math teacher.”

Yes, we were dating each other. Infact, we decided to date each other several months ago.

Finally, I arrived at the orphanage and I opened my bedroom’s door. I found Mark inside my room, he was reading some stuff I wrote during today’s classes while eating a snack.

He winked at me and simply welcomed me with:

“Oh you’re here.”

I rolled my eyes and started to do my homework , when I read on the school paper, TaeHyung gave me :” How do you imagine your future?” I finished writing down my answer suddenly, Mark took the paper and read my answer:

He scoffed and sighed:

“Seriously ? HanByeol? Do you really think that will ever happen? You’re really something. That will never happen, people don’t change their mind easily. Just let me ask you a question then, why are you still living in this orphanage then?”

“SHUT UP, Mark Yi-en Tuan ! Give me back my paper! And Mind your own business.”

Someone then, opened the door and it was Mrs.Kim. Mark and I both stared at her. Her eyes was widened:

“H-HanByeol, can you see me for a moment? I-I need to tell you something.” Her voice was trembling and had tears in her eyes. I hesitantly nodded.

[Mark’s P.O.V]

I was waiting HanByeol in the corridor, when she finally appeared. She was looking at the floor. I went in front of her and said:

“Hey, Mrs.Song. What did Mrs Kim tell you ?” I bend a bit to stared at her eyes. I was smiling, but my smile slowly faded.

She looked at me , and she had teary eyes. I became more serious:

“What happened?”

She grabbed my right hand and gave me a necklace, she said with a trembling voice:

“M-My mum...she...d-died.”

My eyes widened, she then whispered:

“I don’t even...know why I-I’m crying. You w-were right, she will never come back for me.” She entered in her room, at that moment, I felt guilty for all the things I said to her about her mum.

[End of Mark’s P.O.V]

Tears were slowly rolling on my cheeks, and I took out that school paper. Minutes ago ,I wrote down :” I just want to live an ordinary life with a future where I’ll live with my mum and my dad without any regrets. And also, a future where I’ll forgive them for leaving me in an orphanage.”

Tears were falling on this paper.

When someone turned me around and my head was leaning on a hard chest. It was Mark. He was hugging me.

He softly said:

“Cry.”

I started to cry harder, and I hugged him back.

He said with a sorrowful voice:

“I’m sorry. I-It’s my fault for telling you to blame your mum for abandonning you here.”

[Mark’s P.O.V]

I felt awful, slowly only a tear fell from my eyes. I didn’t cry for a long time, but seeing HanByeol cry like that , it was hurting me so much.

The next day, I couldn’t face her. I decided to spend my whole day in a park, nearby the orphonage. HanByeol was sure that her mum left her for a reason, Mrs. Kim told me that it was because her mum was sick and had only few months to live. I felt guilty because I insisted for many years that she needed to forget her mum, I told her that her parents were selfish. Guess what? I was wrong. It’s not that my parents threw me away when I was still a baby that every parents are like that right?

I was still sitting on a bench, and noticed that it was the night. I stood up and decided to return to the orphanage when I heard someone talking to me:

“You’re here.”

I turned around and saw HanByeol with puffy eyes. She still had a sad expression. I said coldly:

“I need to go somewhere else. Go back to the orphanage.”

Unconsciously, I started to cry silently.

HanByeol whispered:

“It’s not your fault, Mark.”

I ignored her and started to walk away, but she tugged on my shirt sleeve and said:

“Let’s go back home, Mark Yi-En Tuan.”

She held my right wrist and walked away with me.

[End of Mark’s P.O.V]