Saying that you were surprised was an understatement. You never thought someone like San would even look at your direction, but there you were. After San's little confession, you felt flustered and at the same time intrigued. You wanted to understand what he could have seen in you, that made him act nice for what seems like the first time in his life.
You were a bit skeptical thought. You knew about his reputation and you knew the things he did. You didn't like that side of him and just the fact that he was nice to you a couple of times, didn't make that part of him disappear. You wanted to give him a chance, but at the same time you felt that it wasn't a good idea.
You were walking in the hallways of the school, when someone pushed you and then dragged you till you hit your back to the lockers. You winched a little and looked up, to notice seven scary boys.
Yeosang was the one in the front, with a hand on your collarbone, keeping you to the wall. They were looking at you like they were predators staring at their next prey. You felt the anxiety rise up.
《So you're the one who's bothering San, uh?》 he said 《We should probably teach you a lesson》
《What are you guys doing there?》
Hearing San's voice, you turned to look at him, desperate for him to help you. At first he didn't even see you, since Ateez was surrounding you, but when the boys turned to look at him, he noticed your tiny figure. When he saw you, you could clearly see the change in his eyes.
《What the hell》 he said, coming closer 《Leave her alone》
San pushed Yeosang's hands off of you, and you took a step back, trying to slowly distance yourself from them.
《San, what are you doing?》 asked Mingi, annoyed and confused 《We're trying to help you》
《Yeah, you said she was stalking you》 added Wooyoung
《She's not stalking me》
《But you said-》
《I lied!》
The boys looked at each other, then at San. Since San was distracting them, you thought it was better for you to go away. Your legs were feeling weak and you knew it was a matter of second before they would give in.
《I should go》 you whispered
San still heard you, and turned around in time to watch you ran away. He wanted to reach out to you and stop you, but you were too quick to ran away, for him to do that. He sighed in defeat.
《What is going on?》 asked Hongjoong, confused
《I didn't want her to get involved with you so I lied when Seonghwa and Wooyoung saw us together》 San admitted
《Why did you lie to us?》 Yunho asked, hurt
《I'm interested in her and I didn't want you to ruin it》 he replied
《How could we ruin something you care about?》 said Wooyoung 《You know we are friends, we wouldn't hurt you intentionally》
《I know but... It's already hard for me to get close to her because of our reputation》
《We're sorry about scaring her》 said Yeosang 《But if you told us the truth this wouldn't have happen》
《I know》 San said, exasperated 《But I don't have time to talk about this now. I need to find her and talk to her》
Before they could reply, San ran in the direction you ran to just a couple minutes before. After looking for you for a while, he saw you out of the school, sitting on the ground, trying to calm down. San approached you and crouched in front of you.
《Are you okay?》 he asked
You jumped at the sound of his voice and looked at him like a deer in the headlights.
《I'm sorry that they sacred you, it was my fault》 he said 《I should have told them about you》
You got up and tried to walk away. He grabbed your arm to stop you.
《Where are you going?》 he asked, confused
《I think it's better if we stay away form each other》 you said
《What?》
《I can't handle you guys》 you said 《I can't handle your reputation and the fact that you scare the hell out of me》
《Please don't》 he begged
You gently took his hand off your arm.
《It was nice meeting you, but we shouldn't see each other again》
You walked away, leaving San standing there, confused and hurt.
For the next couple of days, every time you saw San walking your way, you changed direction. Every time he looked at you, you looked away. You felt bad, but you knew it was the best decision. Nothing good would have come out from a relationship between you two.
After a while you thought your life was going to go back to normal, since San seemed to give up and only look at you from afar, but then Jaehyun decided to start bothering you again. You noticed he kept an eye on you in the lasts days, and once he realized that you and San weren't even talking anymore, he felt safe to finally do whatever he wanted.
One day, after school, he waited for you outside the building and made sure to bring you were no one could see you or even hear you scream. He beat you up and threatened to do it again, every day, until you learned what your place was. Once he was done, he walked away satisfied, leaving you on the ground, bruised and bleeding. When you went home you tried to treat all your bruises and hide them, but it was really difficult. It was evident the fact that you were beaten up.
The next day, when you went to school, you wore a hoodie and put the hood up, hoping no one would notice the state your face was in. But someone noticed.
San saw that you were not walking normally, but you were hobbling, and he also noticed you were wearing the hood and you were looking down more than usual. He had a bad feeling about it, and couldn't hold back. Since you were looking down, you didn't even notice San walking to you. Once he arrived in front of you, he took your hood off.
《Hey!》 you yelled, but then froze when you noticed who it was
San's eyes widen and his jaw clenched.
《What happened to you?》
《It's nothing》 you said, trying to walk past him, but he had no intention on letting you go
《Y/N, I asked what happened》 he said 《Who did this to you?》
《Jaehyun》 you admitted, looking away
《He's dead》
He started walking away and your eyes widened at the realization of what he was going to do. You ran after him, but it was hard to keep his pace. San walked out of the building and saw Jaehyun getting off his car. He walked to him, and before his victim could even notice him, he punched him in the face, making him fall to the ground.
《What the fuck》 said Jaehyun, looking up
He looked a bit intimidated by San, but he still chose to challenge him. He got up again and smirked at him.
《I told you to stay away from her》 San growled
《Maybe I didn't hear you》 said the other, in a mocking tone
That was the last straw. San was so furious that he basically jumped on Jaehyun. You saw them fall on the ground and you watched as San sat on Jaehyun and started repeatedly punching him. Jaehyun was trying to get him off, but San was too strong for him.
You tried to walk to them to stop San, but someone else stopped you.
《You shouldn't get close》 said Wooyoung
You couldn't bear to see San beating someone up, but at the same time you couldn't take your eyes off the scene. You knew that what he was doing was bad, but a small part of you felt satisfied seeing him beat Jaehyun like that. It was the payback for what he did to you, and you secretly liked it.
At some point thought, you saw that Jaehyun was almost unconscious, but San looked like he had no intention on stopping. You forced yourself out of Wooyoung's grip and ran to him.
《San, please stop!》 you yelled, grabbing the arm that was going to punch Jaehyun one more time
He stopped and looked at you, out of breath and with fire in his eyes.
《Please stop》 you repeated
You forced him to get up from over Jaehyun and you looked around, nervous at the fact that the whole school stopped to watch the scene. Then San took your arm and dragged you away. You stumbled after him and you finally stopped when you arrived at the back of the school. As soon as he stopped, he took you in his arms and hugged you tight.
《I'm sorry》 he said
You couldn't help but hug him back, and you felt the urge to cry.