I cleared my throat almost too obviously, glancing to the side awkwardly.

I've been following my classmate for almost an eternity now, while sighing to myself every now and then, hoping dearly he would notice me soon.

We probably walked through the whole school already.

That's when he stopped all off a sudden, causing me to stop abruptly as well.

"Oh. It's just you." My classmate, whose name I in fact did not know, spoke with a smile, "Why are you here? Need to go to the toilette too?"

That was the moment I snapped back to my usual self, my eyes widening when I realised where we were.

"Uh. Not really, I—" I stuttered out, cursing to myself for acting rashly again.

What was I doing here in the first place?

Why did I follow him?

Noticing my confused expression, the boy in front of me blinked innocently before introducing himself, "My name's Kyong by the way. We are classmates."

"I know...that."

"Then what's with the frown, Jungwon?" Kyong smiled at me, trying to put on a cute act while tilting his head.

And for some reason I felt like throwing up all of a sudden.

"I was just unsure." I replied nonchalant, looking away as embarrassment started becoming visible on my face, "There's...something I needed to confirm."

There was nothing you needed to confirm, Jungwon you dumb rat. Seriously why in the living world did you follow him?

"Whatever it was, I'm happy that we are talking." The boy nodded rapidly and I was concerned that he would be dizzy soon, "I've always wanted to be your friend!"

"But...it's really hard to approach you, you know." He pouted and this time I couldn't hide the disgust on my face.

I couldn't hold back the scoff escaping my lips, before coldly staring into his smiling eyes, "What were you doing at Eunji's locker? Not long ago. You ran away when you noticed me."

I watched the boy in front of me closely and I could see his innocent, bright eyes turn serious and dark all of a sudden.

Only at the mere mention of Eunji's name.

"Ah, you saw me? Well, I closed it for her, because she forget to." Kyong laughed, which would turn into giggles soon, "Eunji's so clumsy...always needing someone to protect her..."

"What?" The frown on my face deepened, "But I saw you take something out of—"

"Hey."

My eyes widened, when I felt his hand grab my shoulder tightly. He wasn't standing in front of me anymore, but next to me. Way closer than I anticipated.

My body tensed.

"Jungwon...?" Kyong's voice sounded hurt, but serious at the same time. It was a lot lower than the bright voice he usually had, "You should stick to being the quiet kid you are. Stop being in other peoples' businesses. I would never hurt Eunji in any way. Never."

There it was. His true self.

Again, I scoffed, trying my hardest not to totally lose it.

There's no way I would be involved in a school fight.

"You—"

"By the way, did you know that my name means 'brightness'?" Kyong smiled widely, letting go of me, "Let's be friends, Jungwon."

Youngmin let out a groan, aggressively typing into her phone, as the teacher put another pile of worksheets on her desk.

"i'm going to drop off the things we did today at school today eunji"

- youngmin

"spoiler: it's a LOT"

- youngmin

"so immediately open the door when I ring the bell"

- youngmin

Glaring at the big pile of school work, she attempted to lift it up, when she felt someone else's hand grab the folders first.

"Uh—" Youngmin was surprised and awkwardly tried to form a sentence, when Jungwon gave her a nervous smile.

"I will drop it off for her." The boy spoke, surprised at his actions himself, while the girl pulled back her hands, startled from Jungwon's cold hands touching hers.

"What?" Youngmin blinked in surprise, still stunned at the fact that the Jungwon just smiled at her.

"The school work. I will bring it to Eunji." He insisted, holding onto the folder.

"Are you sure?" Eunji's friend was hesitant.

"Yes." Jungwon looked away, afraid she would reject his offer.

"Well, I won't hold you back." She nodded, pushing the folders towards Jungwon, "That's good to hear. Human interaction is something she needs the most right now."

The boy nodded, his dark, awfully long eye lashes, catching the other girl's attention, almost drawing her in.

"I will get going then." He spoke under his breath and turned around in the blink of an eye.

Youngmin smiled and waved him goodbye before turning around herself.

Eunji's going to be so thankful. She thought, when suddenly she heard fast foot steps approaching her.

"I-It's me again, sorry." Jungwon's voice sounded breathless as he brushed back his slightly messed up hair, "I don't have Eunji's address."

Stretching my arms, I rose up after having the most uncomfortable sleep I've ever had.

Putting down my phone after reading Youngmin's messages, I let out a sigh and finished brushing my teeth, when suddenly the doorbell rang.

That was fast.

Running downstairs, I stopped in my tracks after passing my mirror from shock.

I looked terrible.

The exact kind of terrible you would expect when someone told you that they didn't sleep for 3 consecutive days.

Unbrushed hair, weird pyjama my aunt got me and eye bags darker than my failed and smudged attempt to put on mascara.

"Youngmin saw me worse before." I yawned, shuddering at my own reflection.

Shrugging it off, I went to open the door forcefully just to be greeted by Jungwon's dazzling face.

I couldn't hold back the gasp escaping my lips, while he seemed surprised that I opened the door with such speed.

My brain wasn't fast enough to process any words

Obviously startled, I shut the door close with widened eyes.

"Wait—" I heard his silken voice say, before my attempt to slam the door shut, was stopped abruptly by his shoe in between the door and my doorframe.

"W-What are you doing here?!" For some reason I whisper-yelled, hiding my miserable appearance behind the door, as he didn't seem to budge.

"I..came by to give you your school work."

"Just leave it there!" I cursed to myself internally while holding onto the door with everything I had.

"No."

"What?! What do you mean?!"

"I need to talk to you. In person." Jungwon sighed. "It's been bothering me for a while now and—"

My eyes widened. "Are you drunk?" I asked to make sure he wasn't out of his mind, "I'm really not in the mood for jokes right now. Just leave everything there and—"

There was a small pause and I could hear him take a deep breath.

"It's important, Eunji. You are in danger."