JongUp walked out of her gate with a skip in his step, it was weird that it could make him so happy. It was just Haeri, Go Haeri. But it always surprised him to learn something new about her. 

He recalled a conversation he had with Daehyun a long time ago, where Daehyun Had always warned him about hating people, girls in particular because he had no idea what it would turn into.  

Not to mention, hate was only so far from love. And that's really what was bothering him now, perhaps this whole time where he despised Haeri for being perfect, was actually his attraction to her. 

At least that's what Daehyun had warned him about, he did care a lot more about what Haeri did, than any other person. He knew all the people she turned down every week. 

He knew how many love letters she received everyday, he knew whenever she got a perfect score and how YoungJae would always try to talk to her like he was the only one privileged to. 

He hated that guy too, stuck-up brat acting as if he knew everything. JongUp couldn't bring himself to hit him, because YoungJae was hardly worth his time. But he hated how YoungJae thought Haeri was only allowed to talk with him.  

Haeri could make her own decisions, just as she had made the decision to kiss his cheek back. He smiled at that again and kicked up a rock. 

Three shadows approached him and he could feel their presence behind him before anything else. They were hardly stealthy but they were big enough to not care as much. He managed to get a step ahead of them before they ambushed him. 

"Quick as ever, Moon." One of them commented and he recognized the voice. He was friends with the person who was trying to get into his territory.  

"You're Bang's right hand man." JongUp commented, slugging one of the henchmen in the face and knocking him out. 

"That would correct." He replied, "It's a pleasure once again." He said, crossing his arms over his chest as the other henchmen launched himself at JongUp. 

JongUp took it in stride and slammed the man down using his momentum against him, "What do you want?" JongUp asked him. 

"The same thing as ever, Moon. We want part of your territory. You know all the drugs have to go through this neighborhood, just let us have it and we can go about the rest of your lives." He told him simply. 

As if it were that simple. There were people in that neighborhood counting on him to keep it safe, he had to keep Haeri safe. The drugs that the other gang wanted to run were far more dangerous, potent and deadly. There was no way that the people would survive if he allowed them to take over. 

"No." JongUp answered. "It's never gonna happen." He said firmly. 

"You know our gang is bigger than you." The man replied back to him, "We are asking permission because it is the moral code." 

JongUp scoffed, "You're only bigger than me in numbers. You've tried to outmuscle me before and that's never worked for you." He snapped back. "Besides, you know you have to ask because you can't beat me."  

The man held a forced smile, "You're right, Moon. We are not better than you, even when we try to ambush you with 10 of our guys, you manage to come out alive." He said, "Why don't you just join us?" He offered. 

"That's never gonna happen either." JongUp said quickly. "I won't be at the top and that's a problem for me."  

"Fair enough," He replied, "I'll be in touch." He said, leaving the two henchmen on the ground behind him. They were useless if they couldn't defend themselves against Moon. 

JongUp sighed to himself as the man walked away, his fist hurt slightly, probably from the impact of hitting another human, but he could manage. 

The only thing he walked away with was a small bruise on his cheekbone from putting the second guy down. It would be back to his dilipidated home and another day of school in the morning. 

He would wake up early to walk Haeri to the edge of the neighborhood before school. She probably shouldn't be seen with him at the school gates, people would talk. 

He fell onto his bed and fell into dreamland for a few hours until just before the sun rose. He quickly got dressed for school and headed out to her house. 

She was just closing the door quietly behind her when he got there. "Good morning." He said happily. 

"Good morning." She said, smiling back at him. He took her hand quickly and she let him, it would be something she had to get used to. But it was expected of a couple to hold hands, or else it would be weird to the eyes of other people. 

"What happened to your cheek?" She asked him, pointing at the small bruise that had formed overnight. 

JongUp looked away, "You know." He said, "It's nothing." 

Haeri sighed, "I'll put ointment on it when we get to school during lunch." She said to him. 

"I'll be asleep as always." He replied, they were reaching the edge of the neighborhood and he slowly let go of her hand. 

Haeri looked at him with a confused look on her face, "What's wrong?" She asked. 

"You wouldn't want people at school to start talking right? You want them to ignore you." He said, reminding her of what she had told him before. 

"Oh. Oh yeah." She muttered in agreement, taking her hand back fully.  

"I'll see you at school." He said, walking away from her with a salute. 

Haeri nodded and walked towards the gates on her own. She sighed to herself, it was weird, she could feel like her hand was missing his warmth. And she had only held his hand twice. 

It was weird. She liked it though, the presence of someone being there, something her parents were not. 

She sighed to herself, what was she even thinking? She had to focus on getting herself into college, scholarships, and her grades. She couldn't let JongUp affect her mind, she had to be focused. 

She renewed her resolve and stepped through the gates, heading straight for her desk in the classroom. She sat down and started to review her notes carefully, it was a lot of work but she needed to make sure she understood the material. 

Especially if she was going to start tutoring JongUp on it. She figured he must be really behind, but it's not like he wasn't smart. She probably just needed him to put in an effort. 

She hummed softly to herself as she went through English, math and science before the bell rang. 

Everyone quickly sat down and she noticed YoungJae was looking over at notes. She quickly put them away and looked around the room, JongUp was already at his desk sleeping. 

"What's wrong?" YoungJae asked her, looking around himself. 

"Nothing." She replied curtly. She turned back to the front to pay attention to the teacher. 

He noticed she had been looking for him, he smirked to himself. She was such an open book to him now, it was amazing. This whole time he thought she was such a mystery, but in the end, she's really simple. 

She shouldn't worry about him, unless there was a major fight, which she would have heard about, he was awake in class. 

He heard all the instructions, he just didn't care for it. He was kinda eager to surprise her when they had their tutoring lesson. He noticed YoungJae looked worried about her and he frowned. 

Only he could worry about her, that was his job. He was protecting her from all the bad guys that wandered around the neighborhood and he was looking out for her. 

She brushed him off and ignored him when class started and JongUp smiled to himself. She didn't let YoungJae distract her at all until class was over, but she stayed behind to talk to the teacher. 

JongUp took his cue to go to the cafeteria and claim his table. He would wait for her there while he slept. Despite all the noise and talking in the cafeteria, he managed to get more sleep there than in the actual classroom. 

Haeri walked into the cafeteria later and grabbed a plate of food before quietly sitting down next to JongUp. She smiled to herself as he left his face up for her to rub ointment on his face when she came over. 

He was quiet and said nothing as she tried to massage it as best as she could without drawing too much attention to either of them. She finished treating the bruise and ate the rice and mystery meat the school served today.  

It was better food than she could ever have at home, but it didn’t really matter to her if it really was or was not chicken. At least it tasted good. She ate quickly and headed back to the classroom before the bell rang. 

JongUp stayed there until the cafeteria quieted, he sat up before Daehyun could hit him. “You’re already awake?” Daehyun asked him in surprise. 

“Yeah, been a while already.” JongUp said, brushing his blazer off and heading back to the classroom. 

“Well, aren’t you changing? I heard you have tutoring lessons with Go Haeri, as per your teacher.” Daehyun said.  

“Yeah.” JongUp stuck his tongue out at Daehyun, “What’s it to you?” He teased. 

“Just looking out for you, you know. You can’t deny she’s pretty cute.” Daehyun teased back, “You have been hating on her for a while, remember?”  

JongUp rolled his eyes at Daehyun, “You never let me forget. I’ll see you later, Daehyun.” He said, walking into the classroom and plopping himself in the back. He saw Haeri check to make sure he made it back before putting his head down. 

Daehyun peeked into the classroom and saw Haeri in the front, paying attention. It was odd that JongUp would agree to take the tutoring lessons. But perhaps, he was being coerced by the teacher. 

Or he liked Haeri. Daehyun always thought he liked Haeri, but they never even talked once. He shook his head and headed back to his own classroom. 

Author's Note;;
Double update!
So now we are finally in the double digits!
yes! lol. but seriously it's hell week... so brb~