The weekend passed quickly, and soon it was time for Jihyun to be back at school. She had been drowning herself in the books for the entire weekend, and this not only cleared most of her schoolwork, but also kept her from letting her thoughts run.

Walking to school with Hyorin, she reached school and the first person she saw was Minjung. Trying to steer out of trouble, she took another route towards class and successfully avoided her, but this didn’t go unnoticed by Hyorin.

“Why did you take the longer route today?” She asked questioningly while Jihyun shrugged, “I just felt like it.”

“You didn’t want to meet Minjung, did you?” She stated and Jihyun knew she couldn’t hide it anymore so she sighed and nodded her head. “It feels weird seeing her, you know? She thinks I’m Sehun’s girlfriend so she’ll probably scream at me since she thinks I’m preventing her from getting together with Sehun.”

“The girl’s delusional; Sehun doesn’t even like her anymore.” Hyorin rolled her eyes while Jihyun shook her head, “Nah, I think Sehun still likes her though.”

Before Hyorin could say anything else, the teacher entered the class and the students fell into silence. Class was boring, and Jihyun spent the entire lesson spacing out. She hadn’t even noticed the teacher asking them to separate into their pairs, and it wasn’t till when she felt a tap when she finally snapped out of her thoughts.

When she turned, she was met with Sehun staring at her, and she cleared nervously when she saw him.

“Yes?” She asked questioningly and Sehun motioned towards the assignment on the workbook. Glancing down, she realized he meant the Chemistry experiment they were tasked to do. They were briefly discussing and writing their answers down, when Sehun suddenly broke the silence.

“Are you feeling better now?” He asked and Jihyun stopped writing. Putting down her pen, she turned to him, “Yeah, Thanks for the other day.” She said softly. “What happened?” He asked the dreaded question and she stayed silent for a couple of seconds before continuing, “Maybe some other time.” She said and turned back to her assignment, leaving Sehun wondering.

Gym class came quickly, and Jihyun dreaded it since she wasn’t in the mood to move around or play a sport today. What made it worse was she was going to play Volleyball, a sport she wasn’t good at.

She wanted to steer clear of the ball and try not to impose on her teammates as much as possible by being at the back; however, it was all futile when she ended up as the striker since her gym teacher asked her to give it a try.

Hyorin was on the bleachers and gave her a good luck sign before Jihyun took a deep breath and the game started. As expected, within seconds, the ball on her side dropped to the ground because she missed it and she blushed in embarrassment since the entire class was there.

On the other hand, Minjung seemed to be enjoying the game as she purposefully strike the ball towards Jihyun’s direction countless times, causing the ball to hit her more than once before it rolled onto the floor.

“Guess you don’t play much Volleyball, huh?” Minjung taunted and Jihyun looked away in resentment, she couldn’t retort because it was true.

Hyorin had grown increasingly worried for Jihyun as she witnessed the countless hits she suffered as Minjung hit the ball towards her body. She saw the way Jihyun wincing in pain, and she was surprised the teacher didn’t call time out, but she knew why when she realized he was looking at his phone the entire time.

Fired up, she was about to march down to the gym floor when Tao pulled her back, “Where are you going?”

“That Minjung is too much! Jihyun’s gonna suffer countless of bruises after this game and it’s obvious she’s trying to hit Jihyun instead of actually playing the game!” Hyorin shrieked and Kai nodded in agreement while Sehun stayed silent, “She’s right. Minjung’s doing that on purpose.” Kai said.

Before anyone could say anything else, a loud thud was heard and all four heads turned towards the direction of the sound, where they were met with the scene of Jihyun lying down unconscious on the floor. Kai was the first one to snap out of it and quickly rushed down the stairs towards the gym floor, pushing his way through the crowd that had formed around her.

“Who did this?!” He shouted angrily, scaring the students as nobody spoke. The rest had caught up with him and they all saw the bruises that had formed on Jihyun, and a particular one that was going to form on her head.

“She didn’t know how to defend herself from my strikes, oppa.” A voice suddenly said and Minjung stepped out of the crowd, showing no remorse. “So you took advantage of that and knocked her out?” Tao bellowed and Minjung flinched. “I-I was just playing the game!” She retorted and Hyorin scoffed, “You were obviously aiming for Jihyun with every hit!”

In the midst of all the quarreling, Sehun had picked Jihyun up and Minjung widened her eyes at the scene. “You don’t have to carry her, it ain’t even that serious!” She whined and Sehun shot her a glare, which made her shut up.

Without exchanging any more words, he walked through the crowd that had made way for him while Tao, Kai and Hyorin followed him to the nurse’s office. Barging into the nurse’s office, he slowly placed her onto the bed before reporting the condition to the nurse and was told to wait outside.

Heading out of the office with the rest, he settled down in one of the benches while the rest sat around him.

“You guys have classes later on; I’ll wait here till she wakes up.” Sehun said and Kai opposed, “You have classes too.”

“I could say I was accompanying Jihyun while she’s at the nurse’s office. You guys don’t have an excuse, just go ahead first, I’ll see you guys in class later.” He explained and the three of them reluctantly left the place.

When they left, he let out a sigh and put his hands over his head. He remembered the bruises and injuries on her face when he carried her; and he wasn’t dumb, he knew Minjung attacked her because of him, and he couldn’t believe she would actually act so childishly.

The nurse stepped out of the office and when he saw her, he stood up immediately. “She’s unconscious for now, but you can go in to see her. She fainted because of a sudden hit and her body wasn’t able to react fast enough. I treated her bruises, and she’ll wake up in probably an hour or so.” She said and he thanked her before entering the room.

Sitting on the red plastic chair beside her bed, he gently pushed a strand of hair away from her face. Tracing his fingers over the bruises that were formed, he felt guilty for putting her in this situation she wasn’t supposed to be in.

“I’m sorry…” He said softly while he tucked the strand of hair behind her ears as she slept peacefully.

Unknowingly, he had fallen asleep on the bedside and Jihyun had woken up. Squinting her eyes, she slowly opened them and was met with a bright light. When she finally opened her eyes, she was met with a sleeping Sehun on her bedside and she realized she was lying under the white sheets in the nurse’s office.

She fidgeted in her bed and tried to sit up, causing Sehun to wake up from his sleep. Jolting awake, he found Jihyun trying to get up and quickly assisted her by putting the pillow up.

“Are you feeling better?” He asked and she chuckled, “You have been asking me that a lot, haven’t you?” He scratched his neck awkwardly while she smiled, “I’m fine, don’t worry. I was probably dehydrated.”

She didn’t even blame Minjung for this even though it was clear she was the one who caused her to faint.

“I’ll help you back to the dorms.” He said and she shook her head as she stood up, “You have classes, I will head back myself. You have already stayed here long enough, don’t worry about me and just go back to class.” She assured and he was about to refuse when she continued, “I’ll text Hyorin later on when I’m back at the dorms, so don’t worry about me.” She smiled and made her way out the door while Sehun watched her till she turned the corridor and was out of sight.

It was already the second last period by the time he got back to class and thankfully, the period was changing so no teachers noticed his absence. He quickly sat down on his seat and he realized Minjung was approaching him. As soon as she sat down, he stood up and turned to her.

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her out of the seat while she yelped in pain and resisted him, but Sehun was too strong for her so she eventually got pulled by him. Dragging her to a secluded corridor, he finally came to a stop and faced her.

“What was that for?” He asked in annoyance and she acted innocent, “What?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Minjung.” He said and Minjung frowned, “You never cared about what I did to the girls who liked you in the past, why bother now?”

He stayed silent, because he didn’t know the answer to her question. Oh Sehun was known for being nonchalant and cold, and Minjung knew that. Sehun had never worried for anyone else except for his hyungs and family members, and this was the first time Minjung witnessed him being concerned for a girl apart from her, and she didn't like that a single bit.

“You still love me, don’t you?” She suddenly asked and he remained silent, again. He didn’t know what to answer.

If someone had asked him this question a few months ago, he would say yes without hesitation. However, his heart didn’t feel like saying yes this time.

“Just stay away, Minjung. Don’t do these things to make you look stupid, I’m not worth it.” He simply said and walked away.

“I regret everything, Sehun. I know I shouldn’t have left you. You were all I thought about for the past one year!” She wailed and Sehun halted in his tracks.

“Then you shouldn’t have left me for Myungsoo.” He said in resentment as he turned back to her. “I know I was dumb, he was a complete jerk to me and-”

“And so you came back to me?” He interrupted and she stopped. “I-I…” She hesitated and Sehun knew he was right. “Kim Minjung, you’re really despicable.” He said coldly.

To his surprise, she was smirking. “You know me Sehun, I won’t stop till I get what I want.” That was all she said before she stalked back to class.

When he arrived in class, he sat next to Hyorin instead since he couldn’t stand sitting next to Minjung. Hyorin was surprised but she didn’t ask more and concentrated on the lesson.

“Has she texted you?” He asked suddenly and Hyorin turned to him, “Yeah, she did. Why?” She asked questioningly and Sehun shook his head, “Nothing, just checking.” He said and Hyorin raised her eyebrows teasingly before turning back to her front.

Once school ended, Sehun rushed out of class without telling anyone and headed towards the direction of the dorms. However, he stopped at the canteen to grab some lunch before continuing towards the dorms. Stopping in front of Jihyun’s dorm, he raised his knuckles up and wanted to knock before stopping.

“Why am I so concerned over this? Because I was the main reason she got hurt, right.”

He nervously knocked on the door before he heard a faint “Come in” and he pushed the door open slowly to find Jihyun lying on the bed.

“I brought lunch.” He held up the plastic bag and Jihyun let out a smile, “Right on time, I was hungry.”

They ate in silence, and it wasn’t till Jihyun cleared before they started talking. “You don’t have to do this.” She said. “It was my fault she’s picking on you anyway.” He explained and she chuckled, “I wouldn’t deny that, but don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”

“Aren’t you angry?” He asked questioningly and she shrugged, “I guess, but what’s the point of being angry? It just makes you sadder. She’s not worth the time.” She said as she took a mouthful of her soup.

He looked at her in awe. He expected her to scream or yell at him for causing her to get hurt, but she did none of that, and she hadn’t even thought of taking revenge against Minjung.

“You’re one weird girl.” He chuckled and shook his head while she smiled, “I take that as a compliment.”