The next day, Haknyeon was leaving the boy's dormitories and ready to head to class when he heard some guys walking past mention Mikyung's name. At least, that's what he thought he heard. Checking his watch, he decided to kind of follow them to see what they were saying.
"Mikyung? She's the quiet one, right? I hear she just transferred here."
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Bet you can't get her to your house."
"Are you kidding? Of course I can. I bet it'll be easy..."
Haknyeon balled his hands into fists as he heard the rest of the disgusting bet they were placing on her. His heart pounding in his chest with fear, he kept quietly following them, pretending to be on his phone but secretly recording them and being able to hear their whole plan.
One of the boys was going to ask her after class to tutor him. From there, he was going to try to convince her to go to his house. And then...
Haknyeon resisted the urge to punch the boys, knowing that it would probably be more effective to just report them.
He watched as they entered their classroom.
The class they had with her.
Haknyeon had never skipped class before. Not once.
But today he decided to do just that. He sent an email with the recording to the disciplinary committee, and then he waited.
***
"Hey, Mikyung!"
Mikyung looked up, surprised to find one of the boys in her class running up to her. She eyed him warily, trying to remember his name, but she couldn't. The class was a really big, lecture-style class, so she didn't know everyone's names. Honestly, she was surprised that he knew her's.
She was more surprised that he was talking to her.
"Do you have time to tutor me after school today? I heard you got a good grade on your paper," he said, flashing a charming smile at her as they walked through the threshold of the door.
That was true, she had gotten a good grade. Her professor had written on her paper that she'd gotten one of the highest grades in the class, which had filled her with pride. But she didn't have time to tutor this boy. She had too many other things going on.
"Um..." she said, wanting to tell him without being rude.
As she stepped through the door, someone grabbed her hand. She looked up, surprised to see Haknyeon, who was glaring daggers at the boy who'd been talking to her. Haknyeon pulled her towards him, standing slightly in front of her in a protective manner.
"She can't," Haknyeon said flatly. "She's busy."
The boy scoffed. "Who are you to-"
He was cut off when Haknyeon swung a punch at him with his free hand. Mikyung gasped, and Haknyeon squeezed her hand once before turning and leading her away. The boy and his friends were yelling but Haknyeon didn't pay them any mind, he just kept walking until he found an empty classroom and they walked in, closing the door behind them.
"Ow, that hurt my hand," he muttered, smiling sheepishly at her.
"Why'd you punch him?" she whispered, reaching out and gently brushing her fingers against his knuckles. "What did he do?" she asked again when Haknyeon failed to respond.
"I just wanted to. Would you believe me if I said I was jealous?" he tried.
Mikyung laughed, shaking her head at him. "I know you better than that. You wouldn't behave that way out of jealousy, and honestly, why would you be jealous in the first place?" she joked.
He smiled at her, his eyes flickering down to their hands. She hadn't realized they were still holding hands and quickly let go.
"They said some stuff about you," Haknyeon explained. "They were... They were making bets on you," he said, his eyes full of anger.
"Oh," she said. She didn't say anything else after that, and they just stood there in silence for a moment as she processed that. He didn't give her any more information, but judging from his disgusted expression, the boys must have said some pretty awful stuff.
Mikyung hesitated for a second before stepping forward, wrapping her arms around Haknyeon in a hug. "Thanks for watching out for me," she said softly, closing her eyes as she felt his arms wound around her as well, holding her tight.
"I'll always be here to watch out for you."
