1.2 | The Fighter ✓

[4] Marks

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Minhee hated going home late at night. But she didn't really have a choice for that matter, since she desperately wanted to learn to play guitar. Aside from school and tutoring Jungkook, she fulfilled her time of the day by leaving her fingers to trace the strings of her favorite instrument.

She had always admired the people who knew how to play. She loved the way they would just use simple movements to produce that blessing sound for her ears.

And suddenly one day she decided to learn it herself, and nothing was going to get in her way of accomplished that, not even a little darkness. After all, she was a fighter.

She clenched her hands tightly around her two bags; one filled with papers with music notes, and the other contained the guitar. Holding them close to her body, she had quickened her pace.

Just a few more turns and I'll be home. She kept going with that thought on her mind.

That was until she spotted a familiar figure from the other side of the road, hidden behind his signature hoodie.

Jungkook.

"Hey, Jungkook... Jungkook!", she yelled after him, trying to catch up.

But he didn't bother to turn or even made any kind of movement regarding her yelling. It was like he didn't even hear her. Instead, he kept walking away, with his head bowed.

"Hey, I called you twice already. Did you not hear me...", Minhee said while she held his wrist trying to get his attention.

When his eyes finally found hers, there was confusion in them. It was like he didn't even sense her presence until she had stopped him.

But it was true, he was so lost in his own thoughts that he was moving like a robot. His body had long ago learned the way towards his home on its own and his legs were just moving along mechanically.

Like always, he was lost in his own world, blocking all the noises and sounds around him. He had learned to be like that ever since those rumors had started. He just turned them off.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you."

It was the first time he had apologized to her and Minhee was a little surprised, but she didn't have much time to think about it. Her mind was very much preoccupied with the thing she had in front of her.

A yelp escaped her lips, when the street light illuminated him and now she was finally able to see his face better. Or more like the damage that could be seen on it. His face was well decorated with marks and scars covered with flash blood around them.

"What happened to you? Did someone rob you? Let's go to the police", she began to panic pulling his wrist, trying to remember which way was the damn police station.

"Minhee, stop. No one robbed me, I ... hmm fell." He said it with a piercing tone, which stopped Minhee immediately. It was the first time that he had ever called her by her first name and she liked it. She loved the way her name sounded with his voice.

But in her mind, she scolded herself a thousand times because of her thoughts. This was neither the place nor the time for her to have them.

"Fell, my butt. Don't lie to me Jungkook. Did you fight with someone?"

A few seconds had passed, but Jungkook didn't answer her back. He was just staring at the ground beside her feet, like he was trying to dig holes in it with his eyes.

His silence only affirmed her suspicions. So he did fight with someone, but the bigger question was 'with who'. But knowing Jungkook she was sure that she would never find the answer for that question, at least not from him.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to a hospital."

There was a sudden change in his tone and Minhee caught it right away. He sounded as if he was disgusted by the thought of visiting a hospital.

But Minhee didn't know that Jungkook actually hated them. He hated the hospital's smell, he didn't like the plain and white walls, they were suffocating him, but most of all he hated the beeping sounds.

"I'm not taking you to a hospital; we are going to my house actually. Come on, don't be like that. Even my parents are not home, so I don't need to explain to them why you are in this state when I don't even know the true reason, myself."

With that said she tagged his hoodie's sleeve and pulled Jungkook after her. She wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer from him. She wasn't going to give up, even if she had to drag his butt all the way to her house.

********

"You, play?", Jungkook asked after seeing her return in the living room with a first aid bag.

'Jungkook making small talks, that's a first.' she thought amusingly while approaching the couch where he was sitting.

"I try", she admitted honestly, but it was the truth. She did try her best to learn to play, and she liked to think that she was getting better and better with it. "Do you?"

"No", he answers quietly still gazing the instrument. There was something in his look, something that Minhee couldn't read. A nostalgia, maybe?

"Turn your face towards me, please. This may sting a little but I'll try to do it as gentler as I can."

She said while tracing the cotton covered with the cleaning alcohol over his forehead. With her other hand, she held his chin nearing his face towards hers for a better view. He didn't even blink when the material connected with his skin, as if his face couldn't feel the pain.

She was busy, cleaning his scars to see the situation that they were in. Their faces were only centimeters apart. If she leaned just a little more, their noses would touch.

There was a long time since Jungkook had been this close to another person. Her soft, warm fingers holding his jaw were leaving a hot trace on his skin.

From this distance, Jungkook was able to see her face clearly. From her small nose, to her round cheeks, her big almond brown eyes and her small pinkish lips, her little imperfections, he could see it all.

Jungkook liked her.

He liked the way she was blabbing about school stuff, math formulas, and science projects. He liked how she wasn't afraid to approach him; how she didn't judge him like the others. For these past three years, he hadn't felt like that about someone else, aside from his Hyungs.

A friend.

The other students from the school didn't even deserve a glimpse from him, after all those things they were saying about him.

A lot has changed since three years ago. It was like they forgot the Jungkook from before and everyone was just accusing him, without knowing the true story. And he hated them, he hated them all.

But Minhee was another story.

She was different.

She was refreshing.