Querencia

43

She should have known when she kept sneezing this morning before leaving the house for classes, the sun probably did not shine for the day and her life won't be any different either.

She even skipped breakfast just for Eric who came knocking on her door at dawn announcing that he needed to go early just because he had a report to submit as soon as the office opened.

To ask why she obeyed and followed him all along, she did not have any answers for that.

Hana thought she could kill the time by doing self-study before her class started. But turning her day worst, her class was canceled, abruptly.

She thought it was the worst day she ever had. But nothing could have beat this moment when she was dragging her feet along the hallway just to run away from that certain boy who seemingly would never get tired of chasing her.

She purposely did not turn around when he called her name - pretending not to hear as she put the earbuds on both sides of her ears. However, little did she know, the boy seemed never to care, he kept following her.

As she passed the locker area, her arm was yanked a bit rougher, the person who did that later shoved her against one of the lockers - a loud thud was produced as her body made contact with the metal thing.

She had no time to process as the boy was now trapping her, looking down with his crazy eyes that seemed mad for no reason.

"I just want to talk", he got furious by the fact Hana was ignoring him. He reached for the earbuds and threw them down on the floor, scoffing. "You don't even have any music on. Are you trying to deceive me?"

Hana was trembling in fear at the intimidating stare, but she did not want to be seen as fearful. That would be the worst in this state.

"For the record, I have nothing to talk about with you", she glared into his orbs, now only she noticed the scars on his face which for a moment she was glad he had. "I'm sure you've tasted the bitter taste of life when Juyeon gave you those bruises, right Minho?"

The boy was upset, too upset that the girl he had a crush on was talking to him bitterly. The way she looked at him, smirking as she pointed out the thing he hated the most absolutely did nothing but make him more enraged.

"No one ever talked to me like that Hana", he whispered into her ear, sending chills down her bone. "I'm not happy with your attitude."

"Not my problem", she nonchalantly shrugged as if his attitude was nothing to make her interrupted. "Can you move? I need to go now."

"Not so fast."

"Why not?"

It was then, that another voice erupted not so far from them. It was familiar but somehow sounded foreign with the anger laced inside it.

The two turned their heads to the source resulting in two different emotions portrayed on their faces respectively. The presence was an angel for Hana but a demon for Minho as he took a step away from the girl, not to cause any ruckus.

"I'm asking, why Hana can't leave?" Juyeon asked again, scooting closer to the demeanors in front of him. "Or maybe you can leave instead."

Sighing, Minho readjusted his bag's strap over his shoulder rather aggressively, admitting his defeat. He took two steps backward before completely giving his back and left without sparing any glances.

It was not like he was afraid of Juyeon but he had a reputation to care of since only a few months were left before they graduated. Both of them won't be able to graduate if their school records are bad.

Seeing Minho slowly disappearing from her view, Hana closed her eyes whilst heaving a big sigh, banging her head against the locker. The pain somehow was helping to distract the uninvited anxiety that had enveloped her earlier but soon she realized, the hard metal behind her was not hurting her.

Opening her eyes to kill the curiosity was a big wrong move when she was greeted with a pair of big eyes that were looking right into hers, Juyeon's smile was killing her. His long arm was snaking behind her head, his large palm was the thing that had saved her head from severe injury.

"I absolutely can handle him", she put on a facade of a strong girl which would never be hers, taking down his hand from the back of her head.

"You'd never", he shook his head, pocketing his hands as he looked at her. "He didn't hurt you right?"

He was about to inspect any injuries on her when she strongly denied, gapping herself from him. Though they had been friends for a decade, having him too close was burdening, her system might have failed, too engrossed in his visual.

"It indeed was a long day", she said lowly, raising a palm in the air which made Juyeon confused. His mouth was slightly apart, the question was about to escape his lips when suddenly Hana turned around, dragging herself away.

"Where are you going?" he asked, hands still in his pockets.

"Home!" she turned around for a good one second to answer it, turning back forward and walking away. She heard Juyeon shout 'Wait for me' but she absolutely couldn't care less, she had gone through such a rough day to tolerate requests.

However, little did Hana know, that her hard day had not met the ending point yet. It was raining and she did not have any umbrella with her. She felt so down with all the hardships she experienced in half a day, that tears started brimming in her eyes.

She hypnotized herself that it was the raindrops and not her tears but when an umbrella was spread over her head and her eyes were still misty, she was certain that the raindrops were not at fault.

"Let's go home together", Juyeon announced, already joining her under the umbrella he held. "Eric told me to walk you home, he's aware that you don't have the umbrella."

Silence.

Hana wondered how she could have forgotten all the bad things she went through today upon hearing his voice as if it was a medicine to all pains. Like he was able to heal her.

Being alone with him under the umbrella, accompanied by the sound of the rain hitting the ground was too comfortable that she hoped it could last long.

She was too engrossed in admiring his features, skimming the faded scars on his face. She did not realize that Juyeon was nudging her softly, worries crashing over him as the girl had not budged even one bit nor responded to him.

He almost believed that she had turned into a statue.

Eventually, they both trailed the path towards the main gate, together under the same umbrella. Both hearts were skipping giddily inside their chests by the small gap between them but none was aware.

And none of them noticed the onlooker in the rain who sadly watched the two. Kevin's heart cracked but he still managed to pull up a smile, putting up a facade.

For he had expected to experience this broken state once again.