•How long till you start falling apart?•
Min Sehyuk, a new transfer student from the U.S. joins Hanhwa university and entangles himself with the resident bully after defending a student. He becomes the new target, taking each punch with a smile, ask...
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With goal-oriented steps, Kihyun walks towards the lecture hall, stopping at the foot of its door. He leans on the wall, glancing at the wristwatch he's wearing. One minute to nine. He waits for the students in the lecture hall to file out, studying each face that leaves.
"Im Mina!" Kihyun yells, alerting the girl in a ponytail, a bag on her shoulder, wearing a simple hoodie and jeans.
Im Mina, the girl Sehyuk had protected from being harassed. "Can we talk?" He asks, approaching the girl. "It's important."
"Uh..." She tilts her head in confusion, they have never interacted before. "Sure?"
"Let's move to a quieter area, please." The boy gestures to her with his hand and she follows till they reach the bleachers of their university ground.
Kihyun takes in a deep breath and folds his arms over his chest to calm his nerves. "I need a favor from you."
"Like that?" The girl raises a brow, pointing her chin towards Kihyun's hands.
He loosens his grip and lets his hands settle by his sides. "I want you to explain to the president how Min Sehyuk protected you from being harassed. You're a victim, so—"
"I'm sorry, what?" Im Mina chuckles but Kihyun notices the way her eyes avert from his gaze. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She's about to leave but the boy grabs her by her arm.
"He doesn't deserve the suspension and you know it."
"What proof do you have that it was me?"
"I don't have proof. That's exactly why I'm asking you to come forward and confess so Min Sehyuk could not be wrongly punished."
Mina bites the end of her lower lip, a conflict washing over her face. He understands it is not an easy issue to deal with but they have no other option other than playing dirty to get Sehyuk back into the university. And Kihyun wants to solve this problem before he visits the blond and understand why he asked him to get lost. It must have been embarrassing for him, Kihyun thinks, just as he had witnessed Sehyuk crying when his legs were paralyzed, the suicide attempt may have been one such thing.
"I'm sorry, I cannot help you. What you're asking me to do might not even be taken seriously." Mina mutters, clutching onto her mobile phone. "Find someone else to help you."
As she walks away, the retreating figure of the girl mocks him. How is it that things don't go his way, always playing hard to get? If Mina doesn't help him, he's not sure the plan he had formulated with Jinyoung and Kim Jisoo would even work. And to be honest, he doesn't want to take the risk of letting Jisoo into this mess.
"Sehyuk tried to kill himself!" Kihyun yells and Mina stops in her tracks, snapping her neck to look at him in shock. "The suspension was too much for him to handle."
Mina's eyes pool with tears and Kihyun pities her, hating himself a bit for guilt-tripping the girl but this is only right. She sniffs and wipes her tears and with a final shake of her head, she flees, and runs as fast as possible, leaving Kihyun back to square one. Hopeless and confused. His body sags, shoulders falling in defeat and feet dragging in the simmering anger that the situation has brought on. As he walks with no destination in mind, he collides with someone.
