Chapter 3

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Taehyung walked down the sidewalk, his head low and his arms wrapped around himself. He kept close to the wall, that went around the school, to keep people from pushing him when they tried to walk past.

He moved his hand to cover his nose as it began to hurt from the cold. Ah. He said in the head. I still have his sweater.

He stopped walking and turned around. Most of the students have already gone. Only a few remained, those who didn't want to go home right away.

He sighed and continued to walk home.

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He walked down the almost empty sidewalk. A few people walked passed here and there but, they paid no mind to Taehyung.

He felt a bit relaxed but, soon tensed up when his house came into view. He begged to himself that his father wasn't home. He bit his lip as he walked up the driveway.

Quietly opening the door, he held his breath. He stepped inside and closed the door. He peeked into the living room. Once he saw that it sat empty, he gave a sigh of relief.

He walked to his room and set his backpack down by the door. He laid down on his "bed" and covered up in his "blanket".

He didn't really have a bed. It was just an old thin futon set on the floor and his blanket was a sheet. He didn't mind it cause he could've been sleeping on the hard floor so, he chose to be grateful.

He laid there with his eyes closed as he waited for sleep to wash over him. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep as his body was sore and tired.

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He was startled awake by a loud bang. He sat up and began to listen. Once he heard the sound of the TV turn on he gave a sigh of relief but, he was still tense knowing who it was.

He laid back down and stared at the ceiling. He didn't feel tired anymore. Especially not after that scare.

He sat up again and pushed his blanket to the side. He crawled over to his backpack and opened it up. He pulled out his homework and began to work on it.

-

The next day he did his usual routine. He got up and got ready making sure not to wake his father, grabbed his backpack and left quietly. He headed over to his usual bench to take a nap as he doesn't get much sleep at night.

And again that Jeongguk kid came and woke him up. Why is he here again? Why is he being nice? What does he want from him? He doesn't have anything for him to take.

"Do you always sleep on this bench?"

Taehyung gave a tiny nod in reply.

"Why is that?"

"I don't get much sleep." he looked down. Why is he talking to me again? Taehyung thought. "Oh, here's your sweater." he began to take it off but was stopped by the other.

"It's fine. Keep it." he smiled.

Taehyung looked at him confused. Keep it? Why?

"Let's start walking."

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Taehyung couldn't help but think about Jeongguk. He was nice to him which Taehyung thought was weird. It was just out of the blue. He wanted to know why he was being nice to him? No one treated him that way or even tried to so, why him? What made him decide to talk to him?

So many questions were running through his head that he didn't realize how fast the class went by. The bell rang pulling him from his thoughts. He quickly put away his papers, put his backpack on and left the class.

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Soon enough lunch came around.

Class ended and Taehyung sighed. He was in no rush to leave the class, like the rest of his classmates. He took his time putting his things away. He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the class.

He walked down the hall in the opposite direction of the cafeteria. He didn't want to deal with those bullies of his again, even though they would find him anyways but, at least he can have a little more peace before they do.

He made it to the back of the school and made his way towards a large tree.

It was an old tree. From afar it didn't look like it but when you got close up to it you could. It had a lot of markings and carving of people's initials with hearts around them, people's names, graffiti, small comments and what not.

Poor tree. Taehyung thought as he put his hand on the cut bark. You don't deserve this but it's okay you're not alone. The only difference between us is that only I deserve the pain.

He sighed as he set his backpack on the wet grass and sat on it leaning his back onto the tree. He looked out at the gray cloudy sky and thought.

He was actually pretty grateful for Jeongguk and his actions. He let him keep his sweater and because of that, he wasn't cold. He wasn't sure if he was happy. He never really experienced true happiness but right now he had a weird feeling in his chest. It was warm and it tingled.

Is this happiness? He thought as he put his hand on his chest. It's a weird feeling.

"Hey, punching bag." he heard a voice say making him look up. "Thought you'd be here."

"Can't hide from us." another said and laughed.

They never fail to find him. No matter where he hides.

"Let's play." they cracked their knuckles and smiles spread on their lips.

-

Under Taehyung's eye was purple, his cheek was bruised, the cut on his lip reopened, a bruise formed on his chin, deeper cuts were made, his body ached and small tears fell from his eyes from the immense pain. He hated this daily routine. He hated it so much but he couldn't do anything about it. He was too weak to fight back.

He began to cry into his elbow. "I hate myself," he whispered through his tears. "I hate myself," he repeated.

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"Why can't I just leave this place?"

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"Why can't I just disappear?"

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