After a few minutes of just crying and being in pain, I finally stood myself up. I looked back at my front door and I can feel the tears forming again. My back hurts and it feels like all my hair is gone. It probably looks really bad right now. My head hurts from it. My knees are bruised and a small wound formed from when I scraped it onto the floor.

 

I turn around and stare at the sidewalk. I don't know where I want to go so I just started walking straight.

 

I walked for about a good 5 minutes, turning whenever I felt like it, until I reached a park. I looked around at it and saw families having picnics on the grass, kids running around playing on the playground, and some teens sitting on benches having a laugh. I feel relieved when I recognize none of them.

 

I sit myself down on the grass and lean against a nearby tree. I look up into the sky and breathe. This is the first time my dad has ever kicked me out of the house. I kind of feel bad for not trying to go back in. My mom is still in there. I don't even want to imagine what he could be doing to her in there.

 

I pull at the grass beneath me. I like the sound of it when it's being pulled, I don't know why. It satisfies me. And right now, I'll do whatever to satisfy me. I need it.

 

I lean my head back against the tree and close my eyes, still pulling at the grass. I'm not thinking of anything, but a tear starts streaming down my cheek. I'm too numb to feel sad now, because I already cried for about 3 minutes, but somehow a tear still manages to get out.

 

The air starts to feel different in front of me. I open my eyes to see two pairs of legs standing in front of me.

 

"This is a weird park outfit and hairstyle." I hear someone chuckle. I look up to see who it was. It was of course, why am I not surprised...TaeHyung. As soon as I looked up at him, his eyes grew wide and he put his bag down on the grass and went on his knees.

 

"Whoah, what happened?" He asks me. I stare at him in confusion. And then, he reaches his hand out, and his thumb and pointer finger touched my cheeks until I smacked his hand away.

 

"Don't touch me." I say, looking away.

 

"Alright. Sorry." He says. "But what happened to you? Your cheeks are all, swelled up."

 

I'm still looking away. I'm squinting my eyes shut so a tear doesn't fall down. I don't want him to know about what happens. I don't even know him and he's friends with people who make fun of me everyday. I don't want things to get worse.

 

"Nothing happened." I reply. He sighs.

 

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. He chuckles.

 

"This is my path to walk home." He answers.

 

"But school ended about 30 minutes ago."

 

"I know. This park is just 5 minutes away. I stayed after school because I needed help on something and I barely left." He replies. "But a better question is what are you doing here? I'm kind of worrying now."

 

"Why?"

 

"Well, first of all, you're in your pajamas. Second, your hair is really messed up. Third, your cheeks are bruised and swelled up. And lastly, you're at a park like this with nothing." He tells me.

 

I couldn't help but cry silently. I didn't look at him and I hope I didn't make a noise. I really don't want him to know but the fact he's bringing it up, kind of, is making me cry. I feel like he's waiting for me to answer, but I can't even bring myself to whisper.

 

"Sorry. I'll stop talking." He says, his voice a bit deeper than usual. I shake my head but I have no idea if he's looking at me or not.

 

It's silent for a while. I stopped silently crying and I wiped my face with my hands. I turned my head around to see if he was still here, and he was.

 

His legs were bent and his elbows were rested on his knees. He was staring out at people walking pass in front of us. I guess he felt I was staring because then he looks back at me.

 

"Please tell me that you were crying now and your eyes aren't red from crying before I got here." He says. I couldn't help but laugh. It's both.

 

"No, I'm serious." He adds. I shake my head.

 

"It's now." I barely let out. He sighs in relief.

 

"I won't ask why."

 

"Thanks."

 

"How long are you going to stay here?" He asks me. I shrugged my shoulders.

 

"Maybe until it turns night time." I say without thinking, looking forward at the people passing by.

 

"Night time?" He asks. I look back at him and nods.

 

"Alright. I'll stay with you until night time." He goes. I raise an eyebrow.

 

"You don't need to stay. You don't even know who I am, or my name."

 

"It's okay. I don't want to go home right now anyways. My parents won't be worried." He says.

 

"Well, you don't have to stay with me. Go to a friend's house."

 

"Do you not want me here?"

 

I look forward and not say anything. I can hear him chuckling in the background.

 

"But at night time it gets dangerous in this area." He tells me.

 

"It gets dangerous anywhere at night time."

 

"Well, yeah but...when it turns dark I'll walk you home, okay?"

 

I look at him. His face was serious. I was about to nod because I am afraid of walking home in the dark but then I remembered, if my dad answers the door he'll see me with him. That would make everything worse.

 

"No. I'm fine." I tell him. "My dad doesn't like me hanging out with guys."

 

That was better than saying, if my dad sees me with you he'll beat me when I get in the house.

 

"It's okay. I won't walk you up to your front door. When we reach your house, I'll just leave. Come on, I'm already suspicious about your face; don't make me worried about you going home by yourself." He says.

 

I nodded. I don't even think I remember how to get home from here. At least he'll leave before I reach my house. At least I have someone to be with me when it turns dark.

 

"I'm TaeHyung. Kim TaeHyung." He says, looking down at the grass.

 

"I'm JaeEun. Park...JaeEun."

 

"Do you live nearby by the ways JaeEun?"

 

I shrug.

 

"I don't know. I mean it feels like it took me 5 minutes to get here. I don't even think I remember how to get back home." I reply.

 

"Then how will I walk you home?"

 

"You can walk me to the school. I know how to get home from there."

 

He nods and looks up, but forward. I look at the side profile of his face. It's serious. He really wants to walk me home. I go back to pulling at the grass.

 

"You probably wouldn't want to be friends since I'm friends with people who you say pick on you, huh?" He says, breaking the silence. He looks at me and I just stare at him.

 

"Why do you want to be my friend?" I ask him. "Everyone you're friends with don't like me. The whole school doesn't like me. Don't you recognize my name? Park JaeEun. The girl everyone knows for being bullied by almost the whole school."

 

He just stares at me.

 

"Would it make you feel better if I say that it doesn't sound familiar to me?" He says. I stare at him, then look forward.

 

"Anyways, you're popular aren't you? Now that you know that more than half the school make fun of me, wouldn't being my friend ruin your reputation? Wouldn't it make your friends question you?" I say.

 

"I don't care about a reputation. I'm not popular. Nobody knows who I am. Yeah, sure I'm friends with someone that a lot of people know, but it doesn't mean that they know who I am. Just because you're friends with someone popular, doesn't make you popular as well." He replies back. "And anyways, you're an interesting person. I want to be friends with you. You seem nice and fun to hang out with."

 

I laugh.

 

"What?" He goes.

 

"You're funny. Are your friends around?" I ask him.

 

"You think I'm kidding? I'm not." He says. I look back at him. Again, his face is still serious. I nod.

 

"Yay. Three friends now." I say in a sarcastic tone.

 

"You have more than three friends." He goes. I laugh again.

 

"Nope. Just the two girls I ate with at the mall. Those are my only friends."

 

"I bet you have people in your class that you at least talk to. You don't have to hang out with them."

 

"Nope." I say. "I don't talk to anybody, because nobody wants to talk to me."

 

"Is this all really because you broke MinKyu's project?" He asks. I shrug. Maybe it's more than that but, that's the reason MinKyu is bullying me.

 

 

 

It's night time and TaeHyung is still with me. We're still at the park. We didn't talk much. He just asked what I wanted to do when I grow up, what my interests were, what I liked to eat, and such. I felt like I was being interviewed for something. I probably made it really awkward because I replied with only one word answers. I didn't even ask him anything.

 

He stands himself up and looks down at me.

 

"Well, it's dark. Should we walk to the school now?" He asks me. I nod and stand myself up before he could reach his hand out to help me, if he was.

 

I follow him to the school. It seems peaceful. There's hardly anyone around, only sounds of a few cars driving by.

 

"Alright. Where to?" He asks as we reach the school a few minutes later. I point to a street ahead of us and start walking ahead of him. He caught up and walked beside me.

 

5 minutes later, we reach my house. I stop walking.

 

"What?" He asks.

 

"My house is just over there." I say pointing, but not directly at my house because I didn't want him to know where I live exactly. He nods.

 

"Alright then. Hey! Do you want to hang with MinKyu and I this weekend?" He asks me. I raised an eyebrow and he laughs.

 

"I'm kidding. See you at school on Monday." He says, waving and then walking off. I roll my eyes and turn around, walking to my house.

 

I stand in front of the door and let out a big breath of air. I knock.

 

The door opens and I was glad to see that it was my mom. I wasn't glad to see that her eyes were red. She pulled me in and hugged me tight, and then quickly let go.

 

"Go upstairs and just get ready to sleep. Your father is upstairs taking a shower." Mom tells me. I nod at her and quickly but quietly run up the stairs to my bedroom.

 

I close the door and change my pajama pants. My was wet from sitting down on the grass. After, I quickly go and turn off my lights and lock my door. I turn on my lamp and jump onto my bed, pulling the covers over me. I hear my parent's bedroom door open. My dad probably finished.

 

"Is she home yet?" I hear him yell.

 

"She's already sleeping!" My mom tells him. I hear his footsteps get louder until he stops in front of my door. I pull the covers over my head. He tries to open my door and then groans when he realizes it's locked.

 

"Does she not trust us? Why does she have to lock the door?" He yells.

 

"So we don't wake her up. Let her sleep honey!" My mom yells back at him. I always wonder if she means it when she calls him honey, or she's just saying that so she doesn't sound like she's scared of him. To be honest, calling him honey sounds more like you're scared of him. But then again, that's just me.

 

I look over at my dresser and see my phone there. I get up and grab it, and then I go back onto my bed.

 

"My dad kicked me out the house for the whole day." I text ChaeMin.

 

"Oh no. Did he beat you again..." She replies.

 

"Yeah."

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just bruised on the cheek and my knees are scraped up." I assure her.

 

"But guess what?!" I add.

 

"What?"

 

"TaeHyung saw me at the park after my dad kicked me out and he told me he wanted to be my friend." I tell her.

 

"Isn't he friends with that douche-bag who picks on you?"

 

"Yeah but he's nothing like him."

 

"Yeah alright. Just don't trust him yet."

 

"Yeah. I know." I reply.

 

"But he is pretty cute." She says.

 

"He is. He really is." I reply.