"Dude, what the hell?" I hear someone yell as I'm walking towards my 6th period.

 

I turn my head towards the direction of the sound. I couldn't see anything with everyone starting to crowd around. I tried pushing my way through the crowd, but I keep getting pushed back.

 

"You changed, you know?" I hear, the voice sounding very familiar. I keep trying to get through the crowd, but no one is letting me go through to the center.

 

"MinKyu, are you serious? You're still my best friend." I hear.

 

TaeHyung.

 

I started pushing my way through, not caring about the dirty looks I'm getting. When I finally reach the middle, I saw MinKyu holding TaeHyung by the collar against the wall. TaeHyung was just standing there, staring at him like if it's nothing. I stood back to see what was going on.

 

"Oh really? You hardly talk to me ever since you met her. What is this? Get a girlfriend and forget all about me?" MinKyu shouts at him. I see his hand forming into a fist. My eyes grew wide, but I still held myself back from stepping in.

 

"MinKyu, seriously!" TaeHyung shouts, I see his hands turn into a fist as well. "Is this because you like her?"

 

MinKyu lost it. He dragged TaeHyung up more onto the wall and gave him a good punch. I flinched back seeing it. He punched him again and TaeHyung opened his hand, releasing the fist. When MinKyu punched him again, I yelled.

 

"What are you doing?" I shout. MinKyu stops punching him and turns to face me, still holding onto TaeHyung's collar. TaeHyung smacked his hand away and straightened his clothes out.

 

I walked up to TaeHyung and touched his face. He tries to smile at me but he keeps staring at MinKyu.

 

"Just like that huh?" MinKyu says. I turn around and face him, TaeHyung's arms around my waist.

 

"You know JaeEun, he's only dating you out of sympathy." MinKyu continues. "He doesn't really like you. He told me himself when you guys first started hanging out that he felt bad for you. I never really knew why until I witnessed your crazy father yelling at you. This whole school knows about his arrest and what he did to you. TaeHyung just feels bad."

 

I freeze. I say over and over again in my head that it's not true. TaeHyung knows everything about my family and I know about his. He's not dating me just out of sympathy, he's going through the same thing I am. He feels what I'm feeling. He knows what I was going through, even when mine was more rough.

 

"He doesn't really like you." MinKyu continues going. "Tch, who would even like you?"

 

"You." TaeHyung says. I get myself out of his hug and just stand back from both of them. They both look at me, TaeHyung looking worried and MinKyu looking anxious.

 

Everyone is looking at us, everyone is crowding us. The proctors come through the crowd and asks what's going on. Everyone stares at me and they think I did something. I just turned around and push myself through everyone. I can still feel them staring at me and it's so much worse than how it was before I met TaeHyung.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear JiHye shout. I just kept running through the halls. I reached an isolated spot and go against the wall, leaning onto it. Tears fall down from my eyes, but I'm not sobbing. I slide down the wall and sit down on the floor. I just stare at the ground, even the my eyes are dropping tears.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear again. I look up and see JiHye sit down next to me.

 

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks. She puts her hand on my knee. "I heard about your dad. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

 

I didn't say anything.

 

"ChaeMin told me that she knew about it. I kept forcing her to tell me but she told me to ask you. Then, I came to school and...well, I guess news spread fast here." She continues. I look up at her, my eyes a bit wide.

 

"Wait, people were talking about it when you got here?" I ask. She nods. I breathe out and more tears fall out. She puts her hand on my back and I shake my head.

 

"How long was that going on?" She asks. I shake my head again.

 

"Too long. It's finally over but the whole school knows? It was bad enough that my physics class knew about my dad currently beating me, and now the whole school knows about it and his arrest?" I broke. She rubs my back and I try to clam down but I can't.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear, but it's not JiHye's voice. The bell rings and I don't look up. JiHye stops rubbing my back and I look at her only.

 

"JaeEun, you know I'd love to stay and comfort you but, class and you know-"

 

"It's okay." I tell her. "You can go."

 

She nods and pats my back, getting up and leaving. I see her nod but I didn't see to who. I stood up as well.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear again. I turn around to catch TaeHyung standing there.

 

"Babe." He starts off, walking towards me. "Are you okay?" He says, putting his hands on my arms. I shrug his hands off. His eyes widen from shock.

 

"Don't tell me you believe MinKyu." He says. I shake my head.

 

"I-I don't believe him. I don't know TaeHyung." I say. I see him trying to put his arms on me again but he puts it back down.

 

"I just need to be alone right now. I-I don't know right now TaeHyung. Please just, leave me alone." I say, trying not to break in front of him. He steps closer to me, and I turn around and walk away.

 

***

 

"Honey, are you okay?" My mom asks. I'm sitting down at my kitchen table, playing with my noodles. I sigh.

 

"Everyone at school knows about Dad, Mom. They all know, and I know how they know about what Dad did, but I don't know how they knew about his arrest" I say.

 

"Is there anyone you told this about it?" She asks, sitting next to me.

 

"Yeah. ChaeMin and TaeHyung." I reply, playing with my thumbs.

 

"Do you think any of them would tell anyone?" She asks. I stare at the table.

 

"No. No, TaeHyung couldn't have told his best friend." I say, trying to deny the thought of it being true.

 

"His best friend knew about Dad already, I don't know how he knows about his arrest." I continue. My mom starts rubbing my back.

 

"No. Mom, no TaeHyung couldn't have." I tell her. "He couldn't mom."

 

"What makes you think he wouldn't tell him?" She asks me.

 

"Because TaeHyung didn't tell him about his family." I blurt out. My mom's head tilts and stares at me with confusion.

 

"His family?" She asks me. I look at her and grab her hands.

 

"Mom, please don't tell anyone anything." I say and she nods her head. "His mom abuses them. Not like Dad. She doesn't hit TaeHyung or his sister. She mentally abuses them, calling them things that make them think down on themselves. She told TaeHyung to kill himself one time."

 

My mom rubs my hands with her thumbs and I'm looking at her, hoping she won't tell anyone.

 

"I won't tell anyone." She says, I sigh. "But go ask him and see what he says. He might have, they are best friends."

 

"Yeah. ChaeMin, JiHye and I are best friends but I didn't tell her about his family." I say. My mother sighs and stands up from the kitchen table. She goes behind me and massages my shoulders. I bury my face into my arms on the table.

 

"Well, first do you think he actually likes you?" My mom asks. I breathe out and I can feel tears forming in my eyes.

 

"His friend said he's dating me out of sympathy, but that can't be true. TaeHyung is going through something similar that I was. He understands me Mom." I tell her. I feel like my mother is nodding behind me.

 

"Just ask him." She says.

 

"I told him that I'm not going to talk to him, or anyone."

 

"Why?"

 

"I feel like I should be alone right now. I can't talk to anybody right now. JiHye and ChaeMin called my phone but I turned it off. I don't think I can handle school tomorrow." I tell her.

 

"Has anyone said anything to you about your father?" My mom asks. I shake my head.

 

"No, because I skipped my last period. But now after that big scene that everyone watched, I feel like tomorrow they'll mention it more to me. Mom, please don't make me go back tomorrow. Just one day off, that's not much!" I beg, turning around to face her. She looks at me, her eyes wide. Then, she sighs and rubs my arm.

 

She nods.

 

"One day. But that's it." She says. I nod and stand up, hugging her. She kisses my forehead and I release the hug, going upstairs to my room.

 

***

 

It's 1pm. School ends in a few hours. I get up from my bed and go to my dresser, picking up my phone. I turn it on and see that I have too much missed calls, and a ton of unread messages.

 

I go to my miss call log.

 

 

More of just them three. Most of it was TaeHyung.

 

I go open up my messages.

 

 

I breathe out and resist opening any of them. I know for sure if I open TaeHyung's messages, I'm going to want to reply back. My phone shows the last message they sent though.

 

 

I turn my phone back off and place it back onto my dresser. I stare at the mirror on my dresser and sigh. I shake my head and go back on my bed. When you think everything is going to get better, something has to come and ruin it. You finally get a boyfriend who understands you. You finally feel free from being beaten at home. Your family is finally normal, but your life becomes worse. It's like life doesn't want me to be happy. It's like life is saying, "Oh, you think you're life is great because your father is arrested and you have a boyfriend? No. The whole school's going to know about it and they will judge you for it. Your life will again."

 

I hate life. I hate my life.