Slow but sure

Chapter two

Chapter two: Seungmin

Nothing changed after the day that Sa Rang stood up for me—in fact things got even worse. Of course, I wasn't going to tell her this, but ever since that day a few months ago, everyone kept saying that a girl protected me, and I was weak, and the bullying got even worse. She said hi to me in the hallways when we would pass, but we never really talked from that day on. I just had to face the fact that I had to deal with it on my own. I got beaten up on a weekly basis now. I had never had a girlfriend before, but now I had no chance—or did I?
One day after school, I was passing by Sa Rang and some of her friends, and I overheard her say something about how she couldn't believe that her friends didn't think I was cute. I didn't want to eavesdrop, so I decided to stop listening and ignore them...but I couldn't help wondering what she meant by that.
I got home, and I was so enthralled in my thoughts, that I almost didn't notice my father cornering my mom in the kitchen. Almost.
"Dad! Calm down." I slowly ventured over to him. "Be carful about your temper. Remember?"
My dad had anger issues, and he lashed out sometimes. You just had to reason with him. He calmed down with some methods that the psychologist gave us. It worked like magic.
"Take in a few breaths with me. Take in some deep breaths." I breathed in and out a few times with him, and he calmed down.
"Now. Back up a few steps away from mom. Okay?"
He followed directions, and then said,
"Thank you, son."
I thought that he had some sort of mental thing wrong with him, but the doctor never diagnosed him with anything—or at least my parents never told me about it.
"You're welcome Dad," I said, and walked down the hall to my room. I put my stuff down, and lay down on my bed. I still couldn't stop thinking about what she had said. Did she like me? I didn't know. I hoped so. I wondered if the girls she was friends with had finally gotten into her mind, and convinced her that I was just an ugly nerd like everyone else thought. I was always trying to think on the bright side, but sometimes it could be very hard. Sometimes I wished I wasn't who I was—that I was someone else who impressed all the girls and had a ton of friends. But if I had had the choice, I could never have actually done it. I have people who love me just the way I am. Like my family. I could never do that to them, but sometimes on the worst of my days, it would certainly feel like I could.