I brushed my long locks as I was blankly staring at my reflection in the mirror. I haven’t done this in a regular basis, so I wonder why I even bother do this today, when I don’t really care about how I would look at school.

When I think about it, I just found myself wanting to look nice when I woke up from my sleep. It was just an impulse, and now I am already doing it.

Placing the brush down on my dresser, I checked on my appearance one last time and slightly fixed my fringe with my fingers. The sudden knock on my door made me stop what I was doing, and in an instant, I picked up my backpack and slung its straps over my shoulders.

“Coming!” I told the person outside, who kept knocking when I didn’t respond, exasperatedly.

I aimed for the door and twisted  the door knob thinking that the annoying person behind it is just one of my siblings, but when it opened, I released a soft gasp as I saw Kai staring down at me with a straight face.

“W-what are you doing here?” I asked with a confused look.

He sighed and run his fingers over his messily done hair before turning back. He looked like he was not in the mood, but I was more than curious as to why he was here. Isn’t he just supposed to wait outside?

“Your mom told me to call you for breakfast.” I blinked twice, before I could even interpret what he said.

I bobbed my head and followed behind him as he strutted going to the stairs. “But what I mean is, why are you here?” I asked him with a raised voice.

He cocked his head to the side and raised a brow. “I was invited by your mom, idiot.” And he hurried on his steps as he left me behind.

The table in our dining area was already set up when I came in. Dad was already reading the daily broadsheet, mom was fixing everyone’s breakfast, Mimi was looking at her reflection on the small mirror she was holding, and Kai was sitting quietly next to dad whilst eating his share of the meal. I placed my hands on my hips as I realized my brother missing.

“Where is Minhyuk oppa, mom?” I asked her as I took the seat across from Kai.

Mom glanced at me as she was putting meat platter in the middle of the table. “He needs time to finish arranging things in his flat so he told me he was going to sleep there for some days.” She answered and smiled a little in the end.

When breakfast was done, I & Kai bid everyone goodbye. Dad offered to drive us to school but I persistently refused even if Kai looked pleased with the idea, since getting seen going out from the same car as him would even more become very troublesome. Our grand exit the other day was enough to put me into a slump, so I decided to keep my distance away from him.

“What was that even for? Your dad already offered and yet you stupidly refused. We could have saved our asses from the traffic and some money if not for your idiocy.” Kai uttered out with an irritated tone as he decided to walk next to me.

I tried to focus on the path ahead so I wouldn’t have to snap at him. “Dad has work, and besides, I don’t want to be seen going out of the same car as you, so up.” I told him with nonchalance.

I heard him groan in annoyance but that was it. He didn’t speak to me for the whole trip, and he even left me behind again as he went inside the campus with a bad mood.

“Good start, Kai. Good start.” I muttered to myself as I watch him kick some stones along the way from the distance.

I walked past the gates with the usual mindset to avoid trouble but it seems like the moment I set foot on the path going the main building, the coming storm was already brewing. The unusually dark-heavy clouds added to my worries.

“Ugh. I totally forgot to bring an umbrella.” Mom was right about never taking out the umbrella from my bag, but I still did. Now, I wonder how am I even going to go home. I obviously hate the rain more than the hot summer days we had.

Each step I take, I would see the mysterious glances from other students. They would look at me, and then would gossip something with the friend next to them. Some would roll their eyes at me or grit their teeth to scare the hell out of me. I know it was a normal thing already that they find me disgusting and hateful, but the fire in their eyes is definitely different today. I shook my head and waved the idea off—I don’t want a bad start.

I proceeded to the lockers and did my usual routine—getting books for my subjects. The place has been already filled with loitering students, and I was not even surprised, since it’s the time of the day when they would chatter and fool around casually.

The thing about teenagers these days is that they spend their time foolishly about nonsense things, and end up being unproductive. Unlike them, I learned not to waste time after almost dying from leukemia. Time is something you wouldn’t want to lose because it’s something you would never be able to keep if you let it slip. Back then, I was afraid that I would leave the love ones I have behind so I spent every cent of my time with my family, but now it’s the other way around. I’m the one who is afraid to get left behind, so I never really tried to create deep relationships—well except for that one that slipped--my relationship with Baekhyun before.

Closing my locker after making sure I wouldn’t have to do a second trip later in lunch, I was surprised to see Kai, Tao, Sehun & Baekhyun hanging around. They were talking about nonsense again, I guess. Probably about ways how to get girls in their hands, or how they could kill time to rid of the boredom school brings to them. Those boys don’t particularly pay any keen attention to their studies yet they manage to pass their subjects all the time. I would often wonder how they do that but then I would be reminded how Oh Sehun is related to the principal. Connections are really amazing.

At times like this, I would just ignore them and go to class, but the moment I laid my eyes at Baekhyun, it felt like I couldn’t even move nor look away. He’s always bright and cute, unlike the brat next to him, Kai. Well, they are really opposites since Baekhyun is pretty nice, and Kai is just plain rude. He has everything you would never wish for a person to have—excluding his appearance, since I must admit that he’s good looking. Other than his face, I don’t find anything attractive about him. That’s why I would often find it insane how girls like him. Is it just because he’s popular? Handsome? If that’s the case, then I guess, they are all fools. You don’t simply like a person for their looks. But you like them for who they are. Not what they are.

“Hey!” A call from Baekhyun automatically released me from my own reverie. He smiled at me and waved without any worry that people would find it weird.

I looked around, unsure whether I was to respond since eyes were already on me and him, but I returned the gesture with a wave and left wordlessly. I was in a good mood when I got to the classroom, but that ended when a bucket of water and flour fell from over the door and covered me from head to toe. Apparently, the nicest kid in class, Chanyeol, had pulled the string connecting to the bucket, and did a little entertainment with it and made me the main star. My classmates erupted in laughter as they pointed out how messed up I looked, and all I can do was to run away and force my tears not to fall.

I totally forgot the bullying since Kai was slowly opening himself to me, but here I am at the brink of tearing up because I was fooled. He probably tried to get close to me so I wouldn’t suspect him and his friends of trying to bring my guard down so they could easily make fun of me. I feel so bad. I don’t know anymore. Why are they like that?

I washed up in the comfort room and changed into my gym clothes and sneakers. I tried to remove all the flour on my face and hair, but a lot got stuck in my locks since it was really hard to remove it since water was mixed with the flour. I just bundled my hair up into a messy bun and got out of the comfort room. I slipped my hands in my pockets and ducked my head down to avoid the looks from my classmates that were still loitering in the corridors, but I couldn’t still ignore the things that they say about me. It were all always so bad, that I wish their mouths would just rot.

“She deserves all that. Especially when she’s trying to work her hands on the two boys.”

“How can ugly face even show herself in school after all the humiliation she had? She definitely has a problem.”

“I would be gladder if she just gets lost. Why don’t she get it that the whole school is against her?”

“She was definitely one of the bad apples before, but I don’t know how she got worse over the year.”

“She messed up with the wrong people, so she should just up to it.”

Bad apple? up? Am I the one who’s got the problem? Don’t these people even think how they could be the ones who has a problem? Why don’t they let themselves get checked in the hospital or something? I had done nothing towards them and yet they never left me any space to breathe comfortably. I had no freedom. Yes, I up to the situation, but that’s not because I am too afraid to get hurt. It’s because I am afraid to lose to those bad guys. I just can’t let them think th