“Why are you two late?” The question shouldn’t have surprised Dia, seeing as class started well over 15 minutes ago, but she was still lost as to what to answer. I’m late because I had to deal with my stalker? That’s going to be so weird. I can’t say that. But luckily for her, Sehun answered in her stead.

“We were talking and lost track of time.”

“Right, right, just take a seat, I don’t want to know what you were doing.”

“You did ask though, seongsaengnim,” Sehun replied innocently. Dia just ignored him and went to her seat. No matter what the teacher might think, everyone in class knew she and Sehun disliked each other, so there was little chance of misunderstandings. This didn’t change the fact that her friends were looking at her, surprise clear on their faces. Because why would she be with her bully?

Dia ignored their questions, pretending to focus on class, while thinking about what to say to them. She couldn’t tell them the stalker had told her to break up with Myungsoo, so she had to pretend that she had wanted to break up with him. That this was her choice. Even though all she wanted to do was cry about it.

---

“Why were you late?” Hee-Jin asked Dia as soon as lunch break started. To avoid Xiumin they had decided to just stay in the classroom today.

“And why were you with Sehun?” Hoya added with a frown.

The redhead took in a deep breath, trying to force herself to calm down and just speak matter-of-factly.

“He overheard me break up with Myungsoo oppa and just had to bother me about it. Thus we ended up being late.”

For a second her two friends nodded in understanding. Of course it was because he had been bothering her, what else could there be. But then her statement fully sunk in.

“You broke up with Myungsoo oppa? Why would you do that? You were finally together! You were so happy!” Hee-jin fired question after question. Dia had prepared herself for this, she knew it was coming, but  it was still hard to keep her calm.

“I realised I didn’t actually know him all that much. We just talked about ourselves all the time, him about photography and me about archery, but we didn’t really talk with each other,” she lied. “I just fell in love with the idea of him…” her voice trailed off, because while this wasn’t necessarily untrue, she liked the real him even more than the idea of him she had had. She liked how they were able to talk about their own passion, without feeling judged for being overexcited. She loved how she could be herself, no matter how silly she could sometimes be. She even loved how hard it was to read him, to know what he was thinking. She loved everything about him.

“That’s what I’ve been saying the whole time,” Hoya commented with a sigh. He wasn’t stupid, he knew she was down about this, but he couldn’t help being a bit happy as well.

“I know,” the girl replied with a sigh.

Hee-Jin got up and hugged her friend tightly.

“I’m sorry! I’m sure your next relationship will work out better!”

“You love Xiumin, right?”

The sudden question surprised Hee-Jin a bit, but she nodded.

“Then don’t break up with him for my sake. Because that will only hurt you in the end. You shouldn’t break up with someone you love. No matter what.”

“You’re talking crazy stuff now,” Hoya retorted. “Of course she has to break up with him. You know what he did to you, right? He might be the stalker! He might be the one causing you all this pain, but you’re telling Hee-Jin to stay with him despite all that?”

“I don’t think he is the stalker. And even if he was, he’d have his reasons, I assume. So she shouldn’t just break up with him without even hearing him explain himself. Because she will definitely regret it. And that’s not something I want to be held accountable for.”

“But!”

“She’s right,” hee-Jin started quietly. “I should at least hear him out.”

---

Hee-Jin was fidgety as she walked up to Xiumin and his friends. She was nervous, not knowing how to act towards him now. How could he just cause her best friend so much trouble? Was he the stalker? Or was Dia right, and was it someone else? But then why, why would he do something like that? That didn’t seem like Xiumin at all.

“We need to talk.” Her voice was small, and she looked at the ground rather than at him. She still hadn’t decided what exactly she wanted to say, or ask, or how anything was supposed to go from now on.

“If you want to break up with me, you can just do it here.”

“You want to break up?” This time, she was looking at him. He shook his head.

“Of course I don’t. But you’re here to tell me that’s what’s best, right? I’m sure your friends have been telling you that as well.”

“Hoya has.”

“How about Dia?”  Woohyun decided to join the conversation.

“She didn’t. She’s the one who told me to come talk to you.”

“Because she knows she’s at fault,” Xiumin commented with a shrug.

“How? How can she be at fault when you were the one writing horrible messages to her?” Hee-Jin asked quietly.

“How? You really don’t see it, do you? She’s not such a good person as you seem to think,” Xiumin replied. “Why do you think she lives alone? Because not even her family wants to live with someone as twisted as she is.”

“That can’t be the reason,” Hee-Jin retorted, but felt a pang of doubt. Dia had never talked about why she lived alone. Even when they had asked, she had said she rather didn’t talk about it. But it couldn’t be what Xiumin had just said. She trusted her friend.

“You just don’t want to believe it. But that’s what she’s really like.”

“What did she do to you to make you hate her this much?”

“She rejected his friendship when she was little and he’s never gotten over it,” Woohyun butted in and Xiumin glared at him.

“You know that’s not it.”

“Then what? Explain it to me, so I can try and understand why you’d do something so awful.”

“We used to live in the same neighbourhood, me and her. She was always with her mother. Or alone. She didn’t have any friends. I should have known then that it was because she was a . But I was clueless. Too innocent to think ill of people. So I felt bad for her. I tried talking to her again and again. But all she did was cry. And everyone, everyone, thought I was being mean to her. She never said I wasn’t. She kept acting like she was scared of me. Even though I didn’t do anything wrong. And it didn’t take long for everyone else to start avoiding me too. And for my parents to scold me, and put me under constant surveillance so I wouldn’t bully anyone anymore.”

“She cried when she was a little baby and he’s still hung up about it, basically,” Woohyun added.

“She ruined my life.”

“I’m sure she did it on purpose,” Woohyun replied dryly.

“Of course she did. She’s been evil from the start.”

“And you didn’t do anything to her?” Hee-Jin asked softly.

“Of course not.”

“Then why would she cry?”

“She was scared of his face?” Woohyun offered, earning him another glare from his friend.

“I don’t know what to think anymore…”

“Maybe you should ask Dia for her side?” Woohyun suggested. “Because no matter how good of a friend Xiumin is, I don’t believe the girls a black diamond.”

---

Dia was not as happy as she usually was when going to archery practice. Just at the end of lunch she had talked with Hee-Jin explaining that she didn’t remember much about meeting Xiumin before. But that she only really learned korean when she started going to school, so she probably had no idea what he was saying. And with that, and her break-up, she was sure to be really distracted. She bit her lips softly while thinking about the best course of action. When she reached the archery range she had decided.

“Let’s make a deal oppa,” she started as soon as she saw Donghyun.

“A deal? What are you talking about?”

“I wanna win the competition. Obviously. But I have to watch over the first years like everyone else right?”

“Of course you have to.”

“So if I watch them the whole time today, can I get the other three days to the match off? So I can practise full time then?”

“You’re willing to watch over them all the time today?”

“Only if I get to practise for the rest of the time until the weekend. I can’t lose again.”

“Sounds good to me. You have a deal. But then you better win.”

“Of course I will!” Dia replied with a smile. She was kind of glad she didn’t have to practise today. No matter how much she liked it, there was no way she would be able to focus, and if she started hitting her arm again, everyone would realise something was bothering her.

They had just finished preparing everything for the first years when the rest arrived.

“You’re watching over us today noona? That’s rare, you usually try to avoid it,” a girl commented.

“She just loves archery too much,” Minwoo commented.

“I do. But today I’ll be helping you practise! When I was a first year I came second, so I’d love it if one of you guys also came second this year.”

“Second, why not first?” the boy asked.

“Sure, come first in the boys category. But I’ll be taking first in the girls section,” she replied.

“So cocky,” a girl muttered. Dia smiled and nodded.

“I prefer confident, but you’re not wrong. But I practiced all year, so I should be better than last year at least.”

“Will you teach me how to pull apart my bow again today?” Minwoo asked as everyone was getting ready for practice.

“Sure thing,” the girl replied with a smile. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do, and it would be a good way to keep her mind of things.

---

Dia was nervous as she was waiting in front of the school gates. She had gotten there exceptionally early, just as they were being opened. She had to see if Myungsoo was okay, she couldn’t just take the stalkers word for it. She kept pacing, and her thoughts slowly drove her crazy.

After archery practice the previous day she had gone home, and ended up crying most of the evening and night. She had somehow managed to sleep, which seemed like a small miracle to her, with how much the stalker had already been messing with her sleep schedule.

When she finally, after what seemed like ages, spotted Myungsoo she let out a relieved breath. There he was. Perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw him, but it disappeared when the boy in question quickly looked away from her when their eyes met.

Of course he does. I broke up with him. In a text message. I’m the worst.

She took a deep breath and softly slapped her cheeks.

It can’t be helped. It’s okay if he hates me, as long as he’s safe.

“What are you doing?” the confused voice of Hee-Jin broke through her thoughts.

“Slapping some sense into myself.”

“Don’t hurt yourself! Things are already bad enough.”

“They are,” Dia agreed. “What are you going to do about Xiumin?”

“Don’t remind me~” Hee-Jin muttered and looked down. “I’ll have to break up with him. I can’t… I can’t forgive him.”

“Like how he can’t forgive me.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong right? You said so yesterday,” Hoya had just arrived and instantly jumped into the conversation.

“I said I don’t remember. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t know that much Korean untill I went to school. My dad was never home, and my mom spoke English with me. So if he was talking to me in Korean, I wouldn't have understood anything and pretty scared. I vaguely recall something that... But I only remembered after he told me it had happened, so I'm not sure how much of the memory true.”

“So you had no idea what Xiumin was saying and that was scary to you,” Hoya decided.

“Maybe.”

“Why don’t you want me to break up with him, after all he did?” Hee-Jin asked softly.

“I don’t want my stalker to ruin more lives.”

“She’s feeling guilty. It’s not even your fault,” Hoya commented.

“He’s right,” Hee-Jin agreed. “And I get what you’re saying, but I still think I should… I should break up with him. I don’t want to. But his anger… His hate for you… It scares me a bit.”

---

Hee-Jin had been studying Hoya during class. He didn’t seem that different from before the stalking incident. Only staring at Dia a bit more. But something Dia had said before had bothered her. 

The stalker seems jealous of me and Myungsoo.

There was only one person of whom she knew he was jealous. And that was Hoya. She didn’t want to mistrust her friend. But then again, she had trusted her boyfriend, and look how wrong she had been.

But I can’t confront him. There’s no proof. It’s probably not even him…  And I can’t lose him too. Not after Xiumin. It’s almost as if I’m losing more than Dia from this stalker.

As soon as she thought this, she scolded herself. There was no way that was true. Sure, she lost her boyfriend. Dia hadn’t, she had chosen to break up with hers. But Dia lost sleep, safety and had gotten hurt so many times, that it couldn’t compare. Even if she herself was hurt now, she couldn’t say it was worse than what her friend had to experience. And if the stalker really was Hoya… Then they’d both lose their friend.

---

Three weekdays left. One saturday practice. Then the match on sunday. I have to focus now. I have to win. I won’t let the stalker take everything from me.

Today, she was fully focussed on practice. At least after the first few minutes, in which she had given herself the above pep talk and splendidly hit herself on her elbow. This had earned her a frown from Donghyun, but before he had had the time to ask her anything she had already recovered and was now properly hitting the target in front of her.

“For a second I thought we were doomed for the match,” Donghyun commented after practice.

“So did I. I guess I should have just practised yesterday as well. That’s what I will do next time.”

“You are totally going to be abusing your captain powers next year aren’t you?”

“Maybe~” the girl replied and stuck out her tongue.

“I should have never made you co-captain,” the elder sighed.

“You don’t regret it at all,” Dia teased and smiled. “And I’ll be a good one, I promise.”

“Good girl,” he smiled. “That’s why I picked you.”

When she had finished packing everything up she noticed a familiar person standing near the archery range. The school basketball uniform she saw made her think of Hoya, but it turned out the one in the shadows was Sehun. She had figured she’d just walk past him, not feeling up for any taunts, but he stopped her.

“Was… Did everything turn out okay?”

“Practice was fine, thanks,” she replied, more than a little suspicious.

“That’s not what I meant…” Sehun looked awkward, a hand behind his neck and looking down.

“Then what?” she wasn’t going to fall for it that easily.

“The thing with your boyfriend… Myunghoon… or something? Was he okay?”

“Myunghoon? Who’s that?” the girl couldn’t help but laugh. Not quite because of the mistake but more because she wasn’t sure how to deal with this new side of Sehun. Like he was… almost nice to her.

“Your boyfriend. Was. It. Okay?” He was clearly getting annoyed now and that somehow calmed her a bit. This was more like the Sehun she was used to.

“He seems to be. He’s avoiding me though. He was gone as soon as he saw me enter the cafeteria at lunch.”

“That must have hurt.”

“Can’t be helped. At least he is safe.”

“I guess so.” And again the awkwardness had returned.

“So what happened to you? Are you being blackmailed to be nice to me?” Dia commented dryly. Sehun rolled his eyes.

“Maybe I’m actually a nice person.”

“Yeah right. My bully is actually nice.” She sighed and then added: “Please don’t say you’re just being mean because of something I did to you when I was little, which I of course don’t remember.”

“What? No! That makes no sense. What are you on about?”

“Hey, I at least knew you when I was young, so it’s an option.”

“Well, you definitely don’t remember much about it.”

“Huh? I totally remember getting bullied, don’t worry.”

“Yeah… But not quite who… Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’ll stop being nice if it makes you feel better, don’t worry.” He smirked.

“Thanks for worrying,” Dia commented, and without replying to what he had said, continued walking. She didn’t know why he was being nice to her, and it creeped her out a little. But being bullied wasn’t actually better.

“I’m not worried, idiot!” he called after her, but she gave no reaction.