Seryung had tried to catch the flying rod of metal as it aimed for Tao’s head, but instead she found an arm wrap around her. Her legs swung in an acute angle, and she felt his chest press against her back. It had happened all to quickly for her to register. She sighed in relief when he caught the staff. He was safe!

She imagined his eyes were angry, as angry as they had been when she’d last met him. He whirled again still holding onto her tightly as if she were an extended form of him. She blinked when he released her feeling a tingling of excited hormones. Their happiness was short lived because of his next action. He pressed his palm against her head. She complied at the unfriendly gesture, crouching down while wondering why. 

Grimacing at the task, that had over complicated itself, Tao gripped the staff with seething energy. He yanked it free from the ruffian, with strength that didn’t belong to him. His eyes glanced at Seryung, and he made a metal note to be wary of her placement within the battle field. He was furious at a number of things, and striking her was one.

Seryung had been right when she’d guessed he’d be angry, he was, he was livid. She watched his nostrils flare as his face kept its composure. His eyes absorbed her countenance, and held her shoulders in his grasp. Seryung inhaled sharply upon the unfounded skinship. Her senses were sent into a frenzy while her mind tried to reason. His piercing gaze ripped through her, shallowing her breath and leaving her dizzy.

She didn’t know what he was doing until his eyes flashed in threat, and he his leg out behind him. Seryung heard a loud scream. She imagined Tao had kicked someone. She wasn’t sure because she was lost in a daydream. From the beginning of her nightmare no one had dared to help her. They’d either watched or joined in but now, another unexpected occurrence was occurring and she didn’t know what to make of it.

Tao forced an awkward smile. “Gimme a minute, I need to take care of these guys first.” Tao’s eyes faltered from hers. He let his hair cover his eyes to stop her staring. He felt as if she’d read into the depths of his soul and there were things buried there, things that he didn’t want anyone knowing. He smiled at his own thoughts when she nodded. He flashed her a genuine smile. “Mind this for me,” he entrusted her with his staff.

Seryung blinked and nodded. This earned hers another smile from Tao. He pressed the staff into her palm. His hands lingered around hers long enough for her hand to still feel warm when he’d let go and turned around. Seryung felt the weight of the staff after she’d broken out of a trance. She struggled to hold its upright weight with just one hand. Her other hand lazed uselessly by her side. Seryung grimaced and wrapped her left arm around the rod and let it lean against her shoulder. She prayed none of the goons would try to snatch it from her because she was incapable of protecting it.

Tao clenched his fists tightly and then unclenched them. He glared at the three hooligans. They were out of breath but still wanted to fight with him. This time, he wanted to fight them too. Tao smirked and prepared his posture. He let his legs slide apart. He raised one arm at an angle while keeping the other low.

“Hey, don’t take your anger out on us! We didn’t touch your girlfriend.”

Tao’s smirk faltered and was replaced by a frown, ‘She’s not my girlfriend!’ He thought shaking his thoughts.

“Why don’t you do yourselves a favor and leave?” Tao offered sarcastically. He watched as one of them considered the idea but his cohorts were of different thoughts. Tao waited for them to charge at him.

Instead of dodging them as he’d done earlier he allowed himself to land punches, not hard enough to cripple his adversaries but enough to scare them. Although it took time, the arrogance was soon wiped from their faces as they panted. Tao remained calm even though he wanted to beat them until nothing but meat was left behind; he was being extremely patient. He watched as they exchanged glances before they chose to run away.

Tao sighed exasperatedly. He stomped his foot and continued to do so until he felt calmer. He spotted a lone schoolbag and made his way to it. He picked it up and let it chide him. The bag and its owner had tried to save him. Even if she hadn’t intervened Tao knew he would have been able to protect himself, but she had and in return for her concern. He’d stuck her with a wushu staff no less!

Tao was mostly angry with himself for failing to recognize that she might have tried to intervene. He always believed his raw skill was perfectly tuned, but she’d forced him to see that he was lacking. She’d also taught him that his lack of care was dangerous. He made his way to her silently, and raised an eyebrow at the way she was holding onto his staff. He wanted to but his guilt didn’t allow him to do so but guilt couldn’t stop him from grinning when she sighed in relief when he took the rod from her clutches.

Seryung pouted when he placed it at their feet. She waited for him to return her bag but he chose to put it onto his back. She tilted her head questioningly but he seemed more interested in her arm. Seryung flinched when his hand touched hers. She pulled away quickly, “I think I might have broken it,” she explained.

Tao didn’t reply. He continued to stare at the spot he’d imagined he’d hit. ‘You told her to stay behind you. You should have known she’d try to do just that while you were busy showing off! Why the hell did you swing it behind you?’

“Let me see… How bad it is.” Tao nodded at Seryung’s right arm. She made a face, “How are you going to do that? It hurts to move it.” Seryung tried to raise it but Tao stopped her.

“Don’t,” was his reply. He inspected her arm thoroughly, careful not to bend it at the elbows because he suspected the injury was somewhere nearby.

Seryung bit her tongue as he rolled up her sleeves slowly. He was cautious but that didn’t stop the pain from raising its ugly head. She furrowed her brows and clenched her teeth. A black and purple bruise greeted them along with broken skin.

She looked away wishing she hadn’t seen it because now that she had, it hurt much worse. She smiled despite herself when Tao finished his examination. She’d wanted to release her pent frustration, and the blow had been enough to wipe her emotions clean. The dreaded wangta curse that had been weighing heavy on her thoughts had been beaten out of her. She debated on thanking Tao for it, but she didn’t think he would take kindly to her courtesy.

“Why did you do it?” Seryung finally managed to speak. She cleared , then clicked her tongue because she sounded like a broken trumpet. Tao looked away pretending he hadn’t heard because he didn’t know how to answer her question.

“Why did you help me? You could have just gone your way. You don’t even like me.” Seryung cringed at her gritty tone and pointed to her bag. “Water, front pocket.”

Tao nodded and brought the bag forward. The bottle of water lay where she said it would be. He uncapped it for her and handed it over. She smiled and nodded a thanks.

She took a gulp of water only to choke on it and spit it out. Tao flinched, he felt as if it were him who was coughing vehemently. As if luck were proving it wasn't on her side, she’d forgotten that there was a staff on the ground, and almost slipped by standing on it. Tao stomped on the rod to keep it from rolling away while he held her. He watched the bottles content rain to the ground.

Seryung exhaled slowly, her dry throat had met with an antagonistic esophagus. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Tao pulled her back to her feet. He gave her a skeptical look as she raised the bottle to . Seryung ignored the skeptic, and carefully let the water sooth . She thanked Tao quietly in her head as he capped the bottle she’d returned to him for him to put in her bag.

“This thing’s starting to give me trouble.” Tao picked up the staff and shook his head at it. “I think I might have to drop this off at the dojo before we can go to the hospital.”

“Hospital?” Seryung asked. ‘Why does he want to go to the hospital?’ She was sure he hadn’t gotten hurt.

Tao rolled his eyes, ‘Not me you silly girl!’  He pointed at her arm and met her eyes. Seryung flushed and looked away. “There’s no need to go there.” She tried to excuse herself from the horror show her senses would put on for her the minute she stepped foot into the hospital.

Tao rolled his eyes again. “Come on!” He insisted and interlaced his arm with her functioning one. Seryung was taken aback by his action. She tried to pry her arm free, but he was just as stubborn.

“It okay. I’m not that hurt,” Seryung blabbered. She wasn’t prepared to end her day with a visit to the hospital. She didn’t want to meet the ‘lost souls,’ and she prayed she wouldn’t have to.

Tao ignored her insistence. He didn’t have the energy to argue with her about it. He planned to see at least a cast on her arm, and hope she would get better quickly because seeing her in pain would remind him of his failure at protection.

“I still should put this back before it gives you more trouble. I don’t think the two of you are compatible,” Tao teased glancing from the Wushu staff to Seryung.

Seryung pursed her lips. “You were trying to ship me with your metal stick?” She asked pretending to be offended. The pain in her arm had calmed considerably at the prospect of finding a friend.

Tao clenched his teeth and emitted a dry laugh. “It’s a Wushu staff, not a ‘stick,’” he pointed out curtly. Seryung shrugged, and decided to drop the subject she didn’t want to fight with him. She hoped he would try to remain amiable too because she needed at least one person on her side.

“Ahh!” Seryung clicked her tongue, and let two fat tears roll down her cheeks. Tao felt the grip around his arm tighten considerably, “What’s wrong?”

Seryung shook her head and sniffed. A slice of burning, hot agony ran through her injury. She leaned her forehead against his shoulder, and waited for the pain to ease. She scoffed at herself, ‘And you said you didn’t need to go to the hospital!’

Seryung sobbed quietly for a few minutes before putting up a brave smile. She unwound her arm, and used her hand to wipe her eyes hurriedly. “Let’s go then.”

Tao noted that she chose to link arms with him a second time. He scoffed to himself, ‘Does she think we’re friends or something?’

Seryung pressed her lips together in a thin line, ‘This place is close to school.’  She made a face Tao had asked her to wait outside while he returned the staff, ‘It would be your luck if you ran into someone and they called you an outcast in front of Tao. That’s the last thing you need! He’d probably be’ super nice’ and call it a dose of your own medicine or something... OMG! If that does happen, do NOT cry! No one is going to care if you cry like an idiot.

‘Pfft, compatible with a metal stick? That joke wasn’t even funny. Tao you get a zero for humor and a six for companionship as for compatibility, I’d say you’d get a two with most people… You’re not really compatible with anyone I know… Maybe Hana? I don’t like her, she managed to make oppa hate me while pretending that they weren’t close at all! Nope, I’m not giving you to away to someone like her. I’d rather keep you for myself.’

Seryung sighed at her thoughts. She contemplated swiping Tao away from under Hana’s nose the same way Hana had taken Sehun.

‘Problem is, Seryung, you don’t know how close they are.

‘But does that matter at all? I was close to oppa too.

‘But you’re related, it’s different.

‘Ugh…!

‘Stop giving yourself headaches! You’re going to pass out once you get to the hospital.

‘No, no, no hospitals! What are you doing Oh Seryung? You should be thinking about how to get away from the hospital, instead of stealing Tao! Who in case you forgot, hates you.’

The thought of running away came when Tao emerged from the dojo. Seryung pretended to ignore him until he was beside her.

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s not.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

Tao arched an eyebrow bemused, he crossed his arms and grinned at her. “You’re not by any chance afraid of the hospital, are you?” He tone was teasing and his eyes sprinted with laughter.

“Terrified. Absolutely terrified! I’d rather my arm fell off, than go to the hospital.”

Tao flinched at the grotesque imagery. He shuddered at the thought. “Then you’d have zombies after you.”

Seryung bit back a smile and shrugged. “I’m not worried. My Chinese companion will save me.” Seryung giggled and waved her hand. “So no hospitals.”

“No one agreed to help you against zombies,” Tao declared crossing his arms. He frowned harder when she began to laugh. Tao rubbed his temples. ‘You never know, I might just break your other arm in mid-fight. Why would you ask for my help?’

“Why were you skipping school?” Tao suddenly asked. He peered at her curiously. The question had just come to him now that he’d noted she was in her uniform.

Seryung winced under his gaze. ‘To keep myself alive?’

“For the thrill of skipping school.”

“Well then, I’m sure you’ve had a thrilling day.”

“Truer words have never been spoken.”

Tao ignored the bitterness in her tone and sighed. “Come on,” he urged and linked arms with her. However this time she wasn’t as cordial. She tried to distract him by talking about random things and tried to get him caught up in talking about himself. Tao concluded that she was definitely afraid of hospitals almost as much as he hated haunted houses!

I know they're bonding, but their reasons for bonding are too sad! Like which couple bonds over broken skin and/or bone?