She looked into the mirror, her own reflection staring back at her. She realised she look worse than ever. She was already in her uniform, contemplating on whethee to go, or stay. Her stomach was stinging in pain whenever she touched it.
She sighed, not really sure if she wants to go to school. The memory of what happened yesterday left a scar in her brain. But she can't stay here forever. And what will she tell her mom when she's back? Another sigh escaped her mouth as she stood up slung her backpack over her shoulder.
She walked to school like any other ordinary day. But of course it's not ordinary anymore. She is bullied, and Jihoon had stopped speaking to her. Tough. Her heart was thumping very loudly as she took a step into school.
There were not only whispers as she walked through the hall, but also weird stares. She pull her gaze down to the floor and stopped by her locker. Once she pull it open, all sorts of things come flooding out.
Papers, bottles, and the worst is: water. Which smells like trash. She heard laughters and turned around to see everyone laughing at her, eyeing her weirdly.
Of course. It's Haejin. She was just out of school for two days and look what happened. She bent down and pick up the rubbish that fell out. Each paper has a note written.
'Bitch. Why the hell are you still alive? Go and die!'
'Jihoon, then Sungwoon. And now what? Daniel? Aren't you ashamed of yourself, hoe!'
'You slut!'
'Didn't Haejin beat you up enough?'
She wasn't really sure why she read it all, but she just did. And she would be lying if she says it didn't hurt her feelings. She was picking each one of it when a pair of familiar hands took the gathered pieces of paper from her and crumpled it all at once. She looked up and met eyes with Sungwoon.
She gave him a small smile but he only gave her a worried look. He threw the paper into the nearest dustbin and she stood up, grabbing all the things in her locker to the trash can. She cringed at the awful smell of he locker. Sungwoon wasn't having any of it and he slammed her locker shut, which caused Saebyeol to jumped a little due to shock. He shut his eyes and grabbed her wrist before opening them again, leading her to the back of the school.
After a few moments of silence, he finally turned around to face her. He noticed how dull her face was, tears trapped in her eyes. He sighed. It hurt to see her hurt. He heaved out a sigh and held her shoulder.
"I heard what happened." he faced her. She looked at him, her eyes widened.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. She went silent. Too silent. She doesn't know what to say. The words trapped itself in her throat. Another sigh from Sungwoon, and he held her chin up, facing him.
"Look, I will be here for you, alright? I promise." she lowered her gaze and shook her head no. Sungwoon scrunched his nose, confused. She let out a weak smile, pushing off his hands that was resting on her shoulders. "Don't make promises you can't keep." she turned and walked away, but was pulled back by Sungwoon's sudden grip against her arms.
He turned her around, facing him. Her small body that was too weak to fight back, went with the flow. She could see anger and confusion in his eyes after those words slipped from her mouth.
"What do you mean?" he asked, obviously angry. She chuckled and simply shrugged. "Jihoon said that too. No, he promised. And look now what happened." Sungwoon was intimidated. "But I'm not Jihoon. When did I ever broke my promise towards you?" the volume of his voice was slowly raising without his realisation. "Not yet. And I don't want you to feel sorry when you can't fulfil it in the future. Promises are just lies to comfort people anyway." she smiled and walked off, leaving him alone with his own thoughts. He was sure hurt to see that she no longer trust him, when all he wanted was to let her know she can rely on him.
