You werenât popular. Easy as that. Girls would talk about you behind your back, guys would throw insults to your face. Itâs been like this ever since you tranferred to this new school. Being the new girl isnât easy. Itâs not like they had any other reasons to pick on you, except the fact that you were an easy target.
Your two closes friends, Yeri and Dahyun, would tell you to ignore them. They always had your back no matter what. They werenât in any of the popular groups either, so they had found each other. And now, you had found them. The three of you made up a nice group. You knew for a fact that with them, you were safe from Cheng Xiao. She was the stereotypical queen bee of the popular girl group. One year older than your trio, and with one word she would have you all destroyed. She knew everything about everyone.
However, the girls wasnât the worst. They were only words, and no action. No, the bad ones was that boys. They were a solid gang, who would not be afraid to make your life a living hell. And the one at the top, the worst of them all was Hwiyoung. The mere thought of Hwiyoung sent shivers down your spine. The stories you had heard of him, what heâll do to people he doesnât like. Thankfully, you had never encountered him yourself. All youâve dealt with from the boy gang was insults, and maybe the occasional knocking-books-out-of-my-hand. And never done by Hwiyoung, just mostly Zuho, Jaeyoon or Taeyang. No real threaths, just try-hards willing to do everything to be at the same level as Hwiyoung.
The fact that youâd never encountered Hwiyoung before was about to change today.
It seemed like just any normal day, if not better than a normal one. Youâd made your way from the school gate to the lockers and then to the classroom without a single remark or insult thrown your way. You hadnât even had a single person bad-eye you. What you didnât notice however, was the fact that as soon as youâd pass by, people would start whispering. Something was in store for you, something you werenât aware of. Yet.
School continued on, and you had a boring math class and a nice lunch with your friends.
«Today seems like a good day, y/n.» Yeri said, while streching out at the lunch table. You hadnât been the only one to notice the lack of teasing and nasty glares.
«Maybe people finally realised that being a jerk is ass-twat, and moved on to become better people.» Dahyun said, cheeks filled out with tofu. The sight made you chuckle the slightest.
«Or maybe someone else is getting it today. Either way, I will not take this day for granted.» you said, before stuffing your face with some kimchi.
The rest of the school day went by just fine, as the beginning. When the final bell rang, a weird feeling went through your body. Relief? This day felt completely normal. Youâd packed your backpack, and was heading out. Yeri and Dahyun was already outside the school, waiting for you, because you had to stay behind to clean the classroom. The school was practically empty by the time you finished up. As you exited the buildingâs door, someone grabbed your wrist. Confused, you turned around and was met with Jaeyoonâs face. Oh no.
«Youâre coming with me. Donât you dare run or scream.»
Desperatly, you turned your head to the school gate, to look for any desperate help. All your eyes met was Chani and Inseong, both at the school gate, arms crossed, and clearly not planning on letting you out. Quickly, you looked back at Jaeyoon, who violently jerked at your hand, making you follow him around the school. His other hand was in his pocket, fiddling around with something made of metal. You felt your heart beat grow faster. You did not want to know what was in his pocket.
Once you arrived around the school, in a small alley where the janitors would throw away trash and used wood boards, you eyes were met with 5 other boys: Zuho, Youngbin, Rowoon, Taeyang and Dawon. Hwiyoung was nowhere to be seen. Your heart beat got faster and faster. You wanted to run as far away as you could, and never look back. Only seconds after you arrived at the scene, Chani and Inseong arrived behind you.
«Let me go!» you desperatly said to Jaeyoon, with tears in your eyes. You were terrified.
The only response you got was a âtchâ, before he threw you against the wall. The 8 boys quickly gathered up around you
«Y/N... why do you have to be such a fucking annoying bitch? If you could just be normal, we wouldnât even look at you.» Taeyang started off. Scared as you were, all you could do now was turn your head to the ground and watch the tears hit your shoes.
«Or maybe you could have been decent-looking? But no, youâre so fucking ugly.» Chani continued.
With each comments, they moved closer and closer. You could now see Jaeyoonâs hand. He was holding what he had hidden in his pocket earlier. A knife.
«It would be better if you just disappeared, you whale. Out of sight, out of mind.» Youngbin followed up, making Jaeyoon laugh, and raising his knife.
That was the final straw, you fell to your knees, terrified. Your tears were falling fast and you couldnât help but the sob loudly. Zuho violently grabs your upper arm and tries to pull you up.
«Get on your feet, bitch.»
Afraid of resisiting, but also afraid of standing up, all you could do was sob.
«P-pl-please d-dooo-ont!» you managed to get out, while being forced up on your feet again. As soon as you had gotten you up, you felt your whole body tremble with fear. The only thing you thought of to do was close your eyes. You felt helpless.
«Hey! What the fuckâs going on?!»
Suddenly, the hands holding you all let go, and you fell to the ground.
«Hey, Hwiyoung! Look who we got, y/n-»
«I donât care who the that is, what the fuck are you doing with a knife Jaeyoon?!» anger was filling up Hwiyoungâs voice, you heard that. Youâre glad Hwiyoung and you finally crossed path, something youâd never imagines that you would be.
«Wow, bro, relax,» Jaeyoon said, now with his hands over his head. «weâre just gonna cut off y/nâs hair. And give her a nice scare at the same time.» he said cheekly, while spinning the knife around.
Hwiyoung looked down at you, where you were sitting on the ground in a ball, pathetic and pitiful. Hwiyoung only snorted at you, before walking over, slowly but surely. When he was finally next to you, he took out the lollipop he was sucking on, and dropped it to the ground.
«Stand up.»
Terrified, you managed to get yourself up on your feet. Your whole body was shaking, and you didnât even dare to look up and meet Hwiyoungâs eyes. And then it was silent for a long time, untill Hwiyoung turned around and looked at the other boys.
«What made you think I would think this was okay?»
The boys all looked between them, before Zuho spoke up.
«Sheâs a fucking outsider bro. Nasty little bitch who don-»
«Zuho. Shut up.» Hwiyoung interrupted him, before turning around to you again, who was still shaking in fear.
Suddenly, he had grabbed your wrist, and started dragging you away from the group. The rest of the boys looked shocked.
«Hwiyoung, wha-»
Hwiyoung turned around, still holding on to your wrist.
«Never touch y/n again. Get it?»
He continued to pull you away from the now confused boys, untill you were outside of school. Here, he gently placed you against the school fence. Silence again, while your head was spinning in a hundered different directions. âWhyâ was the main question. And what were he gonna do now? His intenstions canât be good, can they? You kept your head down, avoiding any eye contact, while the tears kept on falling.
«Hey.... y/n, are you okay?» Hwiyoung finally said.
What?
Why did he care? It would have made even more sense if he had been the one to put together this whole thing, and here he were, being the one saving you from it.
«Iâm fine.» was all you managed to get out, between your silent hulks and gasps for air.
«They didnât hurt you, did they?» You noticed now that he was leaning his one arm on the fence behind you, and he was dangerously close to your face. You felt his breath hit your cheek, and so you let yourself look up a bit. There it was, real concern on his face.
Why was he concerned? He had tormented people for years, making people change school, skipping classes, stealing and smoking cigarettes and much more. Why was he caring about a loser nobody?
«Why?» you got out. «Why do you care?» you didnât intend for that to come out rude, but it did. However, he didnât seem faced by it. Instead, he was smiling a small smile, and leaned away from you. Hearing you make a comment like that, he understood you were fine, only scared shitless like they intended. He handed you your backpack, which you had unknowingly abondened when Jaeyoon first grabbed you. Startled, you quickly grabbed the bag, before finally looking into his eyes. Beautiful, brown eyes, thereâs no denying that.
«They wonât bother you again.» Hwiyoung simply said, before leaning in to tuck your hair behind your ear. Making you blush, you quickly looked down on your feet. This only made him chuckle, before he started walking away.
Slowly, you raised your head and watched hin walk away. Hwiyoung, the schoolâs biggest bad boy, had just saved you from his own group.
Could he possibly... like you?