For today, Byeol entered the class as the earliest student — an hour before school started.
Somehow or rather, there were very few people on the bus today and there was no traffic jam hence, she arrived earlier than usual.
She then placed down her pencil case on the table and heard the door flung open.
Instinctively, she looked up and saw Taeyang smirking as he placed his bag down on his seat.
Unfortunately, she forgot about the fact that Taeyang was coming to school today as well and that he was one of the early comers to school.
Her eyes widened opened as she realised that she was in the middle seat.
Both the back door and the front door were far from her.
She sat on her spot in horror as thoughts and memories flashed through her mind.
"I see that your dearest boyfriend isn't here right now..."
He tucked her hair behind her ear as a cold shiver ran down her spine.
There was no one here to help her.
"On that day, you were a little rude to me. Don't you think so?"
He suddenly pulled a bunch of her hair and she let out a loud shriek.
"P-Please don't hurt me."
She begged as hot steaming tears started to roll down her cheeks. Byeol just could not move at all. She was stuck in her position, too frightened to move.
"Let's see what we have today."
He looked through her pencil case while his hand still holding onto her hair.
"Ruler?"
He took out her metal ruler and hit her face using it without any hesitation which frightened the poor Byeol.
"Not enough."
He looked through her pencil case again, emptying all the stationeries.
"Pen, pencil, protractor, eraser, lead, highlighter- Ah!"
He picked up a red highlighter that Byeol uses to colour for science diagrams and started to write something on her forehead.
"Don't move!"
His voice bellowed as he yanked onto her hair again.
He forcefully pressed down the highlighter until all the ink flowed out and some entered Byeol's eyes.
"AHH!"
She cried out and he let go of her while he kept her highlighter in her pencil case.
"I can't-"
She started panting badly and being her ex-boyfriend, Taeyang shoved the inhaler into her mouth and pressed until Byeol's breathing was back to normal.
"You cannot be rude to me, understood, Byeol?"
He played with the penknife from Byeol's pencil case.
"Never mind. Let's not escalate so fast yet. Best things should always be left to the end, right?"
He smiled and picked up a stapler instead.
"Wow, you sure filled your stapler bullets fully!"
He checked the inner side of the stapler and began stapling her uniform multiple times.
"This is getting boring."
He pouted and unexpectedly stapled her hand instead.
Byeol screamed as loudly as she could when she felt the shape of pointy metal ends of the stapler entering her skin.
"Shut the fuck up!"
He slammed her head onto the table that had her stationery emptied on.
Luckily, Byeol closed her eyes just in time.
If not, her mechanical pencil would have pierced through her black pupil.
However, she felt a warm substance flowing out through her nose.
Is it blood?
She got up slowly and touched her nose with her fingertips, only to see patches of red liquid on it.
"Don't you dare tell anyone about this or the next time my friends and I will come for you."
He threatened and just in time a teacher walked past the classroom.
Taeyang noticed the taller figure outside of the classroom and used the penknife to cut his palm before dropping it onto the floor.
"BYEOL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOURSELF?!"
Taeyang pretended to be concerned for Byeol and started to wipe her tears.
"BYEOL!"
The female English teacher, Mdm Eun hastily ran over.
"What happened?"
Mdm Eun asked Byeol but, she was unable to form words out of her mouth while the blood flowing out from her nose, slowly trickled down to her lips.
"I don't know! When I reached the classroom, I saw her emptying her pencil case and hurting herself. I tried to stop her but, she wouldn't stop from doing so."
Taeyang explained and suddenly winced at the pain in his palm. What a great actor.
"Taeyang! Did you injure yourself?"
Mdm Eun noticed the huge cut on his palm.
"It's alright, Mdm Eun. We should bring Byeol to the med bay first. I'm fine on my own."
Taeyang reassured and Mdm Eun nodded while the both of them supported Byeol to the med bay.
= [ time skip ] =
The nice med bay nurse helped Byeol treat her wounds gently which made Byeol tear a little.
She cleaned the ink from Byeol's face, gave Byeol a new set of uniform to change into, tied her hair into cute braids, gave her some small snacks and told some stories to her.
"Byeol, you are very pretty so, don't cry okay?"
The nurse patted her head and she sniffed while she nodded profusely. It felt as if Byeol's grandmother was taking care of Byeol herself that kind of feeling.
The nurse was about fifty to sixty years old, an only child whose husband passed away a few years back and did not have any kids, making her the only one left alone.
Byeol knew about her backstory because this was not the first time she entered the med bay already and the nurse told her about it.
Usually, Byeol would sneak into the med bay and the nurse would give her what she needed like bandages, plasters, ointments and more. It was just only this time, that the case was more serious because a teacher caught sight of the commotion between her and Taeyang.
Byeol's grandmother passed away when she was seven years old.
Her parents were always flying overseas and her grandmother would always be the one who took extreme care of her when she was young. Maybe because she was young, she felt more connection and love whenever she was with her grandmother.
The nurse also trusted Byeol hence, she told Byeol about her problems and Byeol would sometimes share her problems too but, never once about the Taeyang thing.
"Byeol, can I have a word with you privately?"
Mdm Eun walked in and Byeol nodded while the nurse excused herself and left the teacher and the student in the room.
"Is there something going on?"
Mdm Eun asked and Byeol shook her head while Byeol stared at the usual beige coloured floor tiles.
"You know that you can always share with me what's going on. I will always try to the best of my ability to help you out."
Mdm Eun promised but, Byeol remained silent. Byeol knows. No teacher was ever going to help a student out other than telling his or her parents.
My parents do not need to know about this.
"Is it about your condition?"
Mdm Eun guessed.
If I do not reply to her, she will be asking me even more about it. I don't think she will end her so-called 'consultation talk' very soon unless I give her an answer.
That was only when Byeol nodded her head, still unable to mutter a single word yet.
"I do understand that it's very difficult to cope with that kind of situation. If you can, do find someone that you trust to talk to. I'm not the best at advising about this but, I can be your listening ear anytime you need."
Mdm Eun comforted Byeol warmly but, Byeol was not having a slight bit of it.
"Thank you. Maybe I will open up about it sometime later. Just not now."
Byeol lied and Mdm Eun nodded, trying her best to understand Byeol as much as possible.
"Are you fine to head back to class, right now?"
Mdm Eun would like to confirm with Byeol and Byeol got up, signalling that she was all fine already.
"Mdm Eun, can you not tell anyone about this, including my parents. I do not wish for them to worry about me."
Byeol requested and Mdm Eun nodded.
= [ time skip ] =
"Byeol! You're late for class!"
Mr Ha noticed when Byeol knocked on the classroom door but when he saw Mdm Eun who was standing next to Byeol, shaking her head profusely, he gulped.
"Ah, I see. Come in, let's continue with the class!"
Dr Ha quickly smiled and Byeol entered the classroom with eyes all on her.
Everyone was curious about what happened to Byeol hence, everyone started to gossip and whisper to one another.
That was also when Mdm Eun walked to the centre of the classroom.
"I called Byeol out for some while because she will be awarded the Best Student Of the Year award at the end of this month."
Mdm Eun's words stunned Byeol whose eyes immediately lit up.
This award was the perfect award to get one into his or her favourite or desired school.
University, college or high school.
Everyone applauded and cheered for Byeol profusely as a bright smile appeared on her face.
"Congratulations!"
Both the teachers said in unison and turned to look at each other and looked away as they giggled.
Byeol's smile then disappeared when she caught her eyes on Taeyang who was clapping his hands with a smirk on his lips.
= [ time skip ] =
"I'm going to go kill him."
Hyunjung got up from the lunch table and was about to stomp away but, Byeol pulled her back.
"Don't."
She pleaded and shook her head profusely.
"Why not? Do you think what he has done was not enough?"
Hyunjung glared at Byeol and her voice earned the attention of the rest of the students.
"Hyunjung! Sit down! You are making a scene!"
Ja Yun hissed and then only Hyunjung sat down reluctantly.
"I don't want anyone else to know about it. I don't want to bother my parents any further."
Byeol pleaded and Hyunjung's anger toned down.
"Can we think of another way instead?"
Ja Yun asked as she placed herself into Byeol's shoes, trying her best to side with Byeol.
"I don't think Byeol wants this to result in violence. Because if we've killed him, you and I will be in jail. Who would be there for Byeol?"
Ja Yun told Hyunjung and calmed her down.
"You are- You are right."
Hyunjung guilty said and lowered her head.
"It's alright."
Byeol's smile lightened up the mood for the three of them.
"Now, let's think of a superb idea to solve this! We have three brains! It should be more than sufficient!"
Ja Yun moved on from the previous topic.
"Come to school at a late time? Come to school with us instead?"
Hyunjung muttered out whatever was in her mind.
"He still can hurt Byeol after school for the first one. For the second one, he can bring over his friends and hurt the three of us instead."
Ja Yun said in dismay.
"We need someone who he's afraid of. But, it seemed like no one can even make him feel intimidated."
Ja Yun sighed.
Taeyang was among the top five most popular guys in the school right now. That even made it more difficult for people to make him feel intimidated. It will most likely be the other way around.
Just then, a crowd came running over.
"Oh my god, Niki's fans..."
Hyunjung groaned and everyone including Byeol, turned to look at Niki who was holding onto his tray of food, talking with his friends.
Abruptly, Taeyang was running and bumped into Niki and Taeyang spilt his apple juice onto Niki's white uniform.
Everyone gasped and Byeol knew what Taeyang did was on purpose.
It was because of that day when Niki helped her at the airport.
The sticky yellow drink got stained onto Niki's uniform and he glared at Taeyang.
"Sorry. Accident!"
Taeyang apologised with a smirk.
"Sorry. Accident."
Niki pretended to be shocked at his strength.
"It sounds the same. It's on purpose."
Byeol thought to herself as she continued to watch the commotion at the front.
"It's alright."
Niki replied monotonously and his friends, Jay and Jake helped him to clean his back a little.
"No need."
Niki reassured them and they nodded.
Niki was then about to walk away but, Taeyang stopped him in his tracks.
Niki took a step back and stared at Taeyang aimlessly, wondering what did the actual hell Taeyang want.
"Remember me, Niki?"
Taeyang snapped while he raised his eyebrow.
"No. Do I have to?"
"We met at the airport a few months ago."
Taeyang tried to help Niki recall the incident.
"Okay, so?"
Taeyang got a bit shock by his words. They were just a few syllables yet, Niki was intimidating.
"You were kind of rude to me. Don't you think it's time for payback?"
Taeyang's words surprised Niki.
It had been quite a long time since Niki heard that someone wanted to challenge him.
However, Niki was not in the mood for it.
"Money? How much?"
Niki was about to take out his wallet when Taeyang threw a punch at him.
Feeling a metallic taste in his lips, Niki wiped away the blood using his thumb.
And the next moment, to everyone's shock, Niki threw his tray of hot curry rice onto Taeyang and Taeyang screamed when the heat made contact with his skin.
He fell to the ground as he cried in pain.
"Sorry. Accident."
Niki scoffed and walked away, not forgetting to step on Taeyang's hand, cracking his knuckles before he left.
"Woah..."
Ja Yun and Hyunjung stared in awe.
"Karma, should I say?"
Byeol thought to herself and headed back to look at her phone.
"HOLD ON! I GOT AN IDEA!"
Ja Yun suddenly jumped up which startled Byeol for a moment.
"Okay, so the plan is to get Niki to be your a fake boyfriend!"
She whispered so that people would not hear her.
"OH MY GOD, SINCE WHEN DID YOU BECOME SO SMART, JA YUN SSI!"
Hyunjung gawked and praised Ja Yun who flipped her hair back confidently.
"N-Niki?"
Byeol stuttered.
"Come on! He is the only one Taeyang would get scared of. Unless you want to continue getting bullied by Taeyang."
Hyunjung encouraged.
"I'm sure we can think of another idea-"
"Your choice. Get bullied again or take a risk and get saved?"
Ja Yun cut off Byeol's sentence.
Both of them are right in a way. No one wants to get tortured.
It would be so dumb if I answered 'get bullied again' to them.
But, would Niki ever agree?
"A- Alright then. I'll try..."
Byeol stammered.
"YES! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"
Both of them cheered.
"But, how?"
Byeol asked and they gave her a 'chill, sis' look on their faces as they started to scroll through their phone again.
"Oh, by the way, what dorm room are you at? Mine is 0304. Today, we are going to be assigned to our dorms."
Hyunjung asked the two.
"0201."
Ja Yun replied.
"0503."
Byeol pouted when she realised that her dorm was way further than her other two close friends.
"Never mind. We can still meet each other whenever we can!"
Hyunjung comforted Byeol.
"HOLD ON! HAHA!"
Ja Yun's eyes suddenly brightened up when a notification rang on her phone.
"What's wrong?"
"Guess what?"
Ja Yun seductively raised her eyebrow.
"Your room is next to Niki's room which is 0504."
She whispered.
"HUH?!"
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Next Episode
Episode 05 - How Am I Supposed To Meet You
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