I stood there with my hands hanging by my side. Completely shocked as I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that the person who was bullying me just a few minutes ago was now hugging me.

His warm body and strong arms were plastered against my smaller frame, making me realize that I was too short in front of this silver-haired dude.

"What the hell do you think you are doing? Let me go!" I whisper shrieked as I tried to wriggle out of his arms.

"Don't move! A warm embrace can cure half of your tension and pain. I'm trying to heal you. So, stay still." Rylan said as he pulled both of my hands in his own while hugging me even more tightly in his embrace.

"..."

I just could not find a proper retort and that's how I ended up standing there in his arms for the next few minutes.

Somehow, his trick actually worked. By the time I pulled away from his arms a few minutes later, I was back to my normal self.

"Turn around and show me your back," Rylan said while he started searching for something in his backpack that was sitting on a chair behind him.

Somehow that chair was the only furniture in that entire tiny storage that was not covered in dust.

"Huh?"

To say that I was completely clueless about what he was talking about, would be an understatement.

In reality, all that my mind could process was that I needed to get out of that storage as soon as possible.

As far as I know, this silver-haired dude was not good news. I had a feeling that him being around me could lead to infinite troubles for me and I was not fond of any kind of problems at the moment.

Rylan stopped fumbling with his bag to spare an irritated look at me. It was clear by his expressions that I was testing his patience.

"Are you deaf or something? I told you to turn around and show me your back. Now, do it. I don't have the entire day to spare on you."

Saying that he once again started searching for the thing that was probably buried deep inside his bag.

"Why should I do that?" I asked as I folded my arms in front of my chest to look a little more confident than I was actually feeling at that time.

Right as I finished my question, Rylan threw his bag back on the chair before marching towards me.

I was able to make out the outline of a small porcelain jar in his right hand before he approached me and with a strong force, he made me face the wall.

The protest that was about to leave my lips died inside as I felt him yanking my school shirt up from under my blazer.

The warm air of the tiny room hit my bare lower back and it sent chills running all over my body.

"W-what are you doing?" I asked out loud in pure shock as I tried to turn around and hide my back from the boy.

"Goodness sake, woman! Can you just stay still and stop asking useless questions? I'm trying to help you here. If you can stay still for just a few seconds then we both will be done here." Rylan said as he clasped both of my hands in one of his and fumbled with the jar that he was holding in his other hand.

"You....!"

The protest died as his piercing gaze shot up and glared at me, making me gulp down the saliva to cure my suddenly dry throat.

As soon as he made sure that I won't be causing any more problems for him, his attention returned to the porcelain jar in his hand.

I wanted to get as far away from him as I could. However, I was too afraid to make a single sound leave my lips.

Something was telling me that getting on Rylan's wrong side would bring me not only troubles but also insufferable pain.

It was not like I'm either on his good list but at least I had done nothing to rile him up on purpose.

I felt my uniform shirt rising and soon the bruise on my lower back that had probably started turning purple and blue was visible to his surprised eyes.

"This...I-I....forget it! This ointment will help to heal this bruise quickly. Just bear with the pain for a little bit longer."

With these words being said he took out a little bit of that light green gel from the porcelain jar and the very next second I felt cool fingers on my bareback, making me hiss as pain soared through the bruise.

He did not stop. And soon I realized that the pain was vanishing little by little. I had never seen any medicine working this quickly and that made me curious about the gel that he was using on me.

"Here! It's done now. You can tha.........HEYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rylan did not get the chance to finish whatever he was going to say as I did not spare him a single more second.

As soon as he was done and I found the perfect chance to get away from him, I took it.

It was a pure miracle that I succeeded in fleeing from the storage and it was probably because Rylan did not try to chase after me.

He just shouted after me a few times and after that, I was already on the first floor. Way too far to hear his shouts and also far enough to be caught by him.

By the time I reached the hallway where our lockers were located, the lunch break was about to end.

Coincidentally, I did not come across Rylan for the rest of the day but that did not mean that I was enjoying my day.

By the time my first day of Senior year in my new high school was over and I was walking towards the car that belonged to Jackson, I was looking as normal and calm as possible.

At that time, I was completely oblivious to the fact that I could no longer run away from Rylan.

Somehow, we both got tied to each other for the rest of our lives and it was just the beginning.