“Pardon me?” Jongin blinked in surprise. The girl he had seen two days in a row, suddenly, came up making a scene. The students were all gathering around his class, whispering to each other as they looked at the scene. Sehun looked stunned, and Kris looked pathetically perplexed. The girl opened , only to close it the next second when the bad whispering started to overheard.

Weird… Pink… Weirdo… chick...

However, as he examined her face, there was no single glint of sad, disappointed, or hurt—it was just an usual annoyed. He did not know how she could be that strong, hearing those things could make Jongin cry in desperation if those needed to stop them. The girl only flashed them a glare and bit her lips before she said, “I said, this nametag is yours.”

“Oh…” Jongin felt around his chest. No nametag.

Jongin’s face got flustered and flipped the nametag. Kim Jongin. It was his nametag; it must be accidently fell when he was trying find the ball. He muttered under his breath, cursing himself for being so clumsy. He cracked a nervous laugh and took the tag from her hands, then put it back on his shirt. However, the condition was still not getting better. He looked at Sehun, who had looked at him in disbelief, confusion, curiosity, and annoyed. Everything was there on his eyes, glistening underneath the sunshine.

Jongin’s face hardened when he read Sehun’s face. There was this huge fear, coming from his heart and radiated to the whole body. His heart was shaking, attempting to burst everything out. Sehun looked away from Jongin and stared back to the girl. The girl looked a bit surprised when Sehun sent her a glare, but she handled her face fast. She her lips, to read the situation, before she decided to take her leave quietly.

“We don’t know each other,” Jongin interjected.

“Oh, sure you don’t.” Sehun replied and rolled his eyes. He sat backwards, so he could face Kris properly. Kris still looked stunned about the brief scene. Sehun poked Kris from his shoulder and Kris looked back at him, raising his eyebrow.

“Do you really know her, Jongin?” Kris intrigued.

“We just met yesterday, the day we ran away from the prefects.”

Then, it was a complete silence after that. Sehun was avoiding Jongin’s stare and decided to stare at Kris for a long time. This time, Jongin couldn’t stand for it; his heart was constantly trying to burst out flames, and anything that contained fire, but Jongin collected himself so his heart couldn’t burst so easily. It was so hard, it was so painful; suffocating.

Jongin couldn’t bare this situation, conversely, how could the girl bear all of those words and manners. That was absolutely not everyone wanted. Even Jongin couldn’t bear to hear it, and how could she bear all of that. She must be strong, and Jongin considered he was weaker than the girl was. There was only one way…

Jongin stood up, clenching to his fist tightly, as he made his way to the indoor court. He needed her help; to release the suffocation that has been haunting him for years. After he got out from his class, he ran through the hall and turned left and left, until he got his way to the indoor. He always thought that this court would never be unlocked if there was no events—this time, he tried to think differently.

He opened the door into the court, only to find it empty. Where she would go? The only place he had ever encountered with her was the court, and the front gate. It was impossible for the front gate, the school main door was locked when the school isn’t over yet. So, this has to be it. He didn’t even know her, but he knew that she was somebody.

He stepped into the court, examining things, trying to find the girl’s figure. But, there was none. It was completely empty, there was nobody. His expectation collapsed slowly, his heart sank and he was about to turned around to go back to the class, and the girl stood on the door; leaning and put her hands on her wrist.

“Looking for me?”

“H-How—yes.” Jongin stepped aside to make some space for her to walk in. She eventually walked in and sat to the nearest bench, she folded her legs on the bench and stared at Jongin in amusement. There was a glint of curiosity in her eyes, which made her brown irises got clearer. Jongin moved back and closed the door, so no one could listen to any of this.

“What’s up?” She asked, tilting her head. Jongin was a bit perplexed on her question, people around him rarely used that kind of question—or rather avoiding it just because.

He shrugged, “Good?”

“Nice,” She clicked her tongue. “What’s your name?”

“Kim Jongin.”

“Mine’s Jung Hayoung,” She nodded a bit. “I know right, mine is so mismatched. I don’t even know why they have to name me so beautifully, when myself is completely a wreck.”

“Yeah…” That was the only thing he could say. He was too stunned to everything; her personality was the most shocking ever. She confidently said something about herself being such a wreck, which was not a compliment—for Jongin it was not—but a form of assault. But, it looked like that Hayoung think the opposite—she always thought the opposite ones.

“So?”

“I mean, nice to meet you…”

“Okay, this is completely awkward,” Hayoung stood up and pushed Jongin so he could sit instead. Hayoung found Jongin stunned by her action, but she ignored it. “Your friends are a complete .”

Jongin’s eyes perked up by her words, “You do?”

“Sure, I do. Who wouldn’t?”

“The students?”

“Ignore them,” She laughed. “Pretend that they are dying or whatsoever.”

Jongin cracked a small laugh, “I’ll do that later.”

“Are you serious?” She raised one of her eyebrow. “You looked so damn afraid to your own friend.”

Jongin went silent again, he didn’t know how to refuse that statement. It was true, he knew he was afraid, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. Jongin his lips and Hayoung could see glimpses of fear mixed with confusion in his eyes. “That’s not the thing…” He eventually trailed off.

Hayoung saw something familiar underneath Jongin. He saw something that made her heart suddenly beating pretty loud, and she could also see the way that he acted around everyone, the fears that lingering and crumbling him into a pastry—she could saw all of that in the classroom. He was too stoic and afraid to people around him, and he just realized it. He needed some air, and she got the oxygen.

“I’ll help you okay,” She eventually said. “And geez, stop being so ing afraid.”