That strong resolve lasted for about three minutes before Hyunjin realized he had no idea where he was going.
"Crap," he breathed out, reaching for his phone. Dialing Woojin's number, he drummed his fingers on his leg impatiently. After four rings, the older boy picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey hyung, it's me. I'm guessing Chan filled you in on today?" Hyunjin asked.
"Yep. And I'm guessing you need me to find out where that girl lives?" Woojin replied. Thank heaven he wasn't being too petty about it. Hyunjin muttered a confirmation. "Ok. Let me work my magic."
After asking him several questions about her appearance and the colours of her school uniform, Woojin had found the girl. "Here we go. Lee Nari."
Hyunjin's heart lurched a bit after hearing her name for the first time. If he wasn't careful, that name would be on the list of casualties caused because of him.
Woojin continued, oblivious to Hyunjin's worry. "She's seventeen. Lives with her uncle. Her brother disappeared from home five years ago, right after her parents'... " he trailed off.
Hyunjin raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? Her parents' what?"
"Their death."
Oh. Momentarily stunned, Hyunjin opened his mouth, then closed it. "Oh," he stuttered lamely, repeating what had just run through his head.
"Looks like her uncle is an alcoholic," Woojin continued grimly.
Eyes narrowed, Hyunjin asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It seems like he started drinking a few weeks after his sister and her husband died; Nari didn't have any other living relatives, so all custody rights went to him. His tabs at the local liquor store and bars are insane. I doubt she gets anything from him."
He began to grow impatient. "Can you find her address?"
Woojin calmly replied, "Yeah, she lives on Lincoln Street. It's about a twenty minute drive from where you are now."
The older boy knew this because, as the group's 'man in the chair', he had installed trackers into each of their phones.
"Copy that," Hyunjin said. "Thanks, Woojin."
Hanging up, he proceeded to type the address into the GPS app on his phone. Following the directions on foot was slower than in a vehicle, but Hyunjin's fit body managed just fine. Within a half hour he had reached her neighbourhood. Barely fatigued, he looked at the house number again and blended in with his surroundings.
Finding the house was easy. Hyunjin slipped between two trees as he caught sight of the building and slowly approached, being wary of any possible onlookers. He peered in one window and circled the house as he searched for signs of the girl. Finally, Hyunjin saw her.
Well, her back. She was sitting on her bed, fiddling with her phone. After a moment, she threw it down, seeming frustrated. She stood and stomped into a smaller adjoining room, the bathroom, Hyunjin assumed.
She grabbed a toothbrush and began to aggressively scrub at her teeth. Hyunjin was actually worried about her poor gums for a moment.
When she finished, she slammed the brush down and looked in the mirror. To Hyunjin's dismay, she began to cry. Quietly at first, but then her body began to convulse with sobs. Slowly, the distraught girl made her way back to the bed, where she collapsed and eventually fell asleep.
After seeing this, Hyunjin simply stood there. More than anything in the world, he could relate to this. The solitude, the pain, the endless tears. It was more familiar to him than his own face. It never showed, of course, and that was long ago, but the memory felt painfully fresh in the boy's mind.
But he shoved away those memories and locked them in a steel cage. Never again would those days haunt him.
Willing his hands to stop shaking, Hyunjin grabbed his phone and dialed Chan's number. The leader picked up right away.
"Yes?" he asked, his voice tired.
Hyunjin cleared his throat. "I found her."
"Excellent."
° ° °
Nari's p.o.v.
Beeeep~beeeep~beeeep~
The blaring alarm woke Nari, and she threw her hands over her ears.
"Nooooo," she moaned. She slammed her hand on the clock, punctuating each smack with her words. "Shut. Up. Stupid. Siren. Of. Death."
When it finally stopped buzzing, she rolled over, rubbed the haze of sleep from her eyes, and yawned. How dare sunrise come this early. Didn't it realize she needed a few more hours of sleep? How insensitive. School wasn't going to wait either though.
Legs flailing, Nari tumbled out of bed and pulled a fresh uniform out of her closet. Smoothing the wrinkles out, she recalled when her mother had done this for her, and packed her lunch too. Brushed her hair, bought her ribbons. She had done a lot of things Nari had taken for granted.
Brushing memories aside, Nari went into her bathroom and turned on the shower, causing the steam to fog up the mirror. She hopped in and carefully washed her body, being gentle around the bruises on her wrists, shoulders, legs and waist. How did she get them? Sometimes bullies, and sometimes she wasn't able to make it to her room after school before running into her uncle.
Stepping out of the steam, she dried her hair and got dressed, wearing several bracelets to hide the marks on her arms. Nari glanced at the clock, which read 7:42. School started at 8:15.
"Crap!" she yelped. Being late for school happened more than it should have for her. But sometimes one couldn't help their natural talent for sleeping.
Grabbing her backpack and phone, Nari raced out of her room and plucked an apple from the kitchen counter on her way through. Just as she reached the door, a rough hand grabbed her wrist. A bolt of fear went down her spine, but she stayed still.
"You come straight home after school, you hear me?"
The greasy man behind her squinted. Nari could smell the alcohol fumes radiating off of him. "I expect you to answer when your uncle tells you something," he rumbled, shaking her wrist firmly.
Nari swallowed hard. "Yes, uncle."
Apparently satisfied, he released her arm and trudged back somewhere in the house. Nari let out a shaky breath and left the building.
She almost sprinted all the way to school in fear of being late. The gate whooshed past her. The front doors, the hallway, the lockers. Finally, she made it to her class and slowly opened the door. The teacher was still absent!
She made eye contact with Jisoo, who was frantically waving her over. Quick as a rabbit she slid into her desk. A few moments later, the bell rang. Nari sighed with relief and then tried to catch her breath. Her friend turned to her.
"That was close," she said teasingly. Her eye smile slipped for a second. "Was it because of your uncle?"
Shaking her head, Nari replied, "No, not this time. I just took a bit too long."
Jisoo nodded understandingly, and straightened in her chair as the teacher, Mrs. Maeng, entered. Students muttered curiously; she was carrying a stack of student edition books. That meant new students.
Mrs. Maeng set the books down on her desk and faced the class. "We will have four new students joining us today. Please welcome them and make sure they feel at ease."
She tilted her head towards the door. "Come on in, boys."
A small hum of excitement went through the class at the mention of boys. Nari clicked her tongue in disgust. The boys filed in, and an obvious gasp from the girls arose. She wanted to bang her head against her desk.
But even with second-hand embarrassment, she had to admit, the boys were pretty attractive. Very, very attractive. Nari let her gaze wander to the third one until she let her eyes drop. The first boy stepped forward.
"My name is Felix," he said calmly in the deepest, roughest voice Nari had ever heard. Felix had very sharp features, his blonde hair contrasting nicely with his dark eyes. Nari would have been lying if she said she didn't envy his full lips and sharp cupid's bow.
"I'm Seungmin, nice to meet you," the second said, his dark hair flopping a bit when he bowed. His voice was very calming, and his puppy-like face almost made her coo.
"You can call me Jisung," said the third with a smile that reminded Nari of a squirrel. His hair matched the second boy's, but he seemed very flirty, winking at a girl in the front row as he introduced himself.
Nari glanced up right as the last boy stepped forward, and her heart skipped a beat. No way, she thought. No freaking way.
The tall, graceful figure with beautiful eyes and an endearing beauty mark bowed and said, "My name is Hyunjin, please take care of me."
On the last word, his eyes met hers, and for a moment they shared a look of panic. Then he glared and looked at the floor.
"Let's treat them well, yes?" Mrs. Maeng was saying. "Now, Seungmin, you're here, Felix and Jisung over there. Hyunjin, you can sit next to Miss Lee."
Pure dread was what washed over Nari as she felt every girl's jealous stare, minus Jisoo's, land on her while the boy from the convenience store walked over and set his bag down.
He slid into the desk and drummed his fingers on top of it. Almost hesitantly, he faced her. "Hi, I'm Hyunjin. I guess we'll be desk mates from now on?"
Nodding, Nari attempted a smile. "Yep."
They sat awkwardly for a moment before Nari asked, "If you want, I can show you around and help you learn where everything is?"
Hyunjin's eyes widened for a moment, and Nari was almost blinded by the beautiful smile he gave her. "That would be great, thank you."
By the end of class, they had talked comfortably about small nothings, bits of personal life mixed with dumb jokes.
As he left for his next class, he gave her a small wave. Nari offered a wave back, and he left. Jisoo seemed absolutely amazed.
"What the heeeck? My girl had already caught the most gorgeous guy in the school?" she squealed. Rolling her eyes, Nari laughed.
"As if. I'm just showing him around," she defended. Suddenly serious, Jisoo nodded.
"You might want it to stay that way. Some of these girls looked like they were about to rip your hair out."
Sighing heavily, Nari agreed. Her popular female classmates would do anything to get close to an attractive male. Even though she wanted to question him about their previous encounter, it might be better just to stay away.
That would be easy, right?
Hello
I miss Woojin :(
edit: for those who didn't check to look, this chap was published right after he left the group. i kept the comments above as a lesson. i don't follow his work anymore, but i still respect him as a human being