The next morning, Areum was peacefully eating breakfast with her grandparents and mom. Eating the side dishes from the plates in front of her, the young girl listened to the conversation between her mom, Dr. Son Yeri, and her grandparents.

"Eomma, Appa, this morning I'll be going to Incheon for the medical conference for five days. So, I'll be leaving Areum here. Please take good care of her." Areum's mother informed.

"Aigoo. Don't worry, dear. We've been taking care of the two of you for the last eight years. We know how to take care of our precious granddaughter." Areum's grandfather joked as he put some of the leftover beef (that Areum brought from yesterday's dinner at Suhyeok's house) to Areum's plate. Areum glanced at his grandfather and instantly smiled at him as a gratitude.

"I know but ever since I've transferred here, I've been too busy. I've always left Areum with the two of you." Dr. Son sighed as she felt guilty for leaving her daughter with her parents while she was busy doing her work at the hospital.

"Isn't that the reason why you accept the transfer, dear? So, that Areum would not be alone whenever you're busy. That's alright, dear. We've understood your situation. Besides, we love spending time with Areum." Areum's grandmother reassured her daughter.

Watching the time on the wall in front of her, Areum took her last bites of rice and rushed to the sink to put all of her plates into it. Then, she made her way back to the dining table and chugged down her water from the glass.

"Areum-ah, drink slowly, sweetheart. You'll choke yourself." Dr. Son warned when she saw her only daughter drinking her water in a hurry.

"I can't, Eomma. I'm going to be late for school." Areum claimed as she went to the living room to take her school bag. Just before she left, her grandmother called her and gave the young girl the lunch bag that she had prepared earlier. Looking down at the lunch bag, Areum noticed that there were two lunch containers.

"Halmoni. This is too many." The granddaughter uttered as she stared at the elderly woman.

"Then, share it with Suhyeok. I'm sure he'll like it." the elderly woman smiled. Areum thanked her grandmother and went to the hallways to wear her shoes. Just before leaving her house, she bid them goodbye and went to her school.

***********

Arriving at the school two minutes early before the teachers stopped any late comers at the school gate, Areum was enjoying her morning walk until she felt someone wrapped their arm around her shoulder. Whipping her head to the right to see who it was, Areum smiled as she stared at the black eyes of her childhood friend.

"Morning, Suhyeok." Areum greeted as he returned the smile.

"Hey, morning. Do you sleep well?" Suhyeok grinned as he put her loose hair behind her ear. She nodded her head as she tried to content the butterflies in her stomach.

"Areum-ah, why don't you go to the class first. I'll catch up with you later." The tall boy muttered when he caught the sight of two students following a group of bullies. Hearing his sudden request, Areum frowned her eyebrows and gazed upon her friend. His eyes were focusing on them as he watched the group of bullies and the other two students headed to the construction site.

Areum followed the direction of his eyes and spotted the group of bullies. She gasped when she noticed the two bully victims followed them to the construction site and she had an instinct that something bad might happen to them.

"No. I'm coming with you." Areum sternly said as she started to leave Suhyeok behind. Suhyeok quickly grabbed her right hand and pulled her back, making her stop her movement.

"No. I'm not going to let you do that. I don't want anything to happen to you. I've promised myself to not let you get involved with them. It's too dangerous." Suhyeok muttered as he stared at her brown eyes with worry.

"Suhyeok-ah. Please let me help them. Let me help you stop them" Areum begged as she gently removed his hand from her, making the tall boy stare at her in disbelief. She continued her journey to the construction site leaving the tall boy behind.

"Areum-ah. Get back here." Ignoring his shout, she began to take the stairways to the construction site. Suhyeok sighed in defeat as he followed her from behind, trying to catch her footsteps.

"Aish. This girl will be the death of me." The tall boy mumbled to himself. Finally matching her footsteps due to his long legs, Suhyeok intertwined their hands together. The black hair girl stared at him as he told her something which made her smile at him.

"Let's go together. You've better stay beside me, okay?"

***********

Arriving at the construction site, Suhyeok led Areum towards the room that he suspected the group of bullies would be by following their muffled voices. Halfway through the building, he turned his attention back to Areum, checking on her well-being. Areum just smiled at him as she silently told him that she was fine, fully knowing well what was on his mind. Once they reached where a group of bullies and the two students were, Areum silently gasped in shock when she watched the scene in front of her.

The female student who was topless sat defenselessly on the concrete floor while the bullies pervertedly watched her crying. In her peripheral view, she saw one of the bullies, Gwinam, roughly gripping the boy's cheek as he said something to the boy.

"That's enough." Suhyeok announced, making the three bullies turn their gaze toward the pair. "Stop it." Once again, he warned the bullies as Gwinam roughly released his hand of the scared boy. Looking at their startled faces, Areum took the opportunity to approach the defenseless female student however she was blocked by a figure in front of her.

"Fuck off." Areum grimly told him as she boldly pushed Gwinam away, causing him to stumble back due to the harsh push. Unknown to her, Suhyeok had watched the whole exchange as he silently amazed with her bravery. Not many students were able to stand up against the group of bullies, especially Yoon Gwinam, who was considered to be the most intimidating and ruthless student amongst the bullies in Hyosan high school.

"Shit. Son of a bitch." Areum heard one of the bullies mumble as she approached the female students.

Once she was near the female students, Areum helped the young girl by grabbing her shirt on the floor, crouching down on her eyes level and helped the girl cover her top body. Ignoring the commotion behind her, Areum continued to check the girl's condition.

"You used to party with us. Just because your girl has changed you, don't act all holier-than-thou, you hear me? Fuck off." Myunghwa scoffed as he stood in front of the tall boy. Hearing his words only made Suhyeok glared at his former leader group.

"You need to grow up." Suhyeok commented, making the short boy scoff at him again. Turning his attention toward Areum and the other two students, he said, "Get outta here."

"Go ahead. You might be safe." Myunghwa told them, looking back at the female students, then back at Sukyeok. Helping the female student standing up, Areum put her arms around Eunji (Areum asked her name after checking her condition) protectively and moved away from the bullies.

"Move." She noticed from her sight that Suhyeok pushed Gwinam away as he picked the school vest that she assumed belonged to Eunji and grabbed the scared boy's elbow as he ushered him to go. "You always gonna be like this?" Suhyeok rhetorical asked. The four of them then began to leave the group of bullies using the stairwell of the building until a voice stopped them from walking away.

"You look really sexy in this. Should I send it to your mom? You know I'm friends with her on Facebook." Gwinam threatened, and his two other friends laughed at his joke. Hearing the words of the bully boy, Areum watched as Eunji silently cried due to fear and embarrassment that she would face if she did not follow whatever the bullies said.

"What kind of weirdo makes friends with an old lady?" Areum and Suhyeok heard one of the bullies comment. After hearing the comment, Eunji let go of Areum's arms around her body, causing the three students beside her to stare at her.

"I can't go." Eunji claimed defeatedly.

"It's okay. You can do it, Eunji." Areum reassured as she tried to grasp her arm, hoping that the girl would listen to her.

"She's right." Suhyeok claimed as he stared at the two female students. Areum was disheartened when she watched Eunji shake her head as tears started to come down from her eyes.

"It's not okay. Because if I leave now, it'll be worse tomorrow." Eunji sobbed as she removed Areum's hand from her arm and grabbed her school vest from Suhyeok's. She then returned to the bullies as her friend started to follow her as well, leaving the pair behind.

"Hey. Beautiful girl, why don't you stay and join us?" Gwinam provoked. Areum saw how Suhyeok ball up his fists tightly as he was trying his best not to let his anger out of him. Trying to calm him down, Areum grabbed his fist and started to soothe him by rubbing her thumb in a circle on his hand.

"Ignore him. Let's go." Areum whispered as she pulled him out of the building, leaving the two students behind with disappointment.

***********

Once they were out of the construction building, Areum and Suhyeok walked their way to the school building. Areum worriedly observed Suhyeok.

"Are you okay now?" Areum asked as she was still soothing his hand using her thumb. Looking at her friends, Suhyeok smirked when he saw how disheveled her hair was after they tried to help two students from the unfortunate situation.

"Yeah. I'm okay. Thanks to you, I'm able to control my anger after hearing Gwinam's provoke. Otherwise, he'll be groaning on the floor if you don't calm me down, Areum-ah. I'm really grateful that you're there beside me when I need you." Suhyeok confessed, raising his free hand in an attempt to smooth down her hair. Areum's eyes widened when she felt Suhyeok's hand smoothing her hair down, which caused a blush to appear on the girl's cheek. Trying to hide her blush, Areum's hide her head away from his view and pretend to cough in attempt to slow down her heart rate. Unfortunate to her, Suhyeok saw her attempt to hide the blush as he chuckled at her little action. Satisfied with her reaction, Suhyeok continued their walk toward the school building as he ushered Areum forward by pulling their intertwined hands.

Not noticing Onjo was also on her way toward the building. Onjo had spotted the pair and frowned when she saw their intertwined hands. Letting her hair down from her usual ponytail, Onjo attempted to approach the pair.

"Suhyeok-ah, Areum-ah." Onjo called, making the both of them turn toward the voice. Seeing Onjo, Areum smiled at her but once she saw Onjo's appearance, her smile disappeared as she curiously stared at the girl.

"Hey. Morning." Suhyeok simple said as he continued to walk toward the school building, completely forgetting Areum was beside him.

"Onjo-ah, you look very pretty today." Areum complimented as she tried to keep up with Suhyeok's fast pace as their hands still intertwined with each other. Upon hearing her voice, Suhyeok slowed down his pace and apologised toward his friend.

As the pair were walking up the stairwell, Areum and Suhyeok were once again stopped by Onjo. Startled with the girl's appearance, the pair were staring at Onjo, patiently waiting for her response (well, this is only applied to Areum's case).

"What?" Suhyeok asked as he stared at his classmate. Before answering his question, Onjo shamefully turned her head to Areum as the said girl looked at Onjo in confusion.

"Areum-ah, can I talk to Suhyeok alone?" Onjo muttered, making Areum realised that Onjo wanted to speak to her friend about something important. Several times, Areum had caught Onjo sneaking glances at Suhyeok whenever she hung out with Onjo and Isak. This 'something important' that she mentioned earlier was where Areum assumed about Onjo's confessing her attraction to Suhyeok. Areum started to feel something she did not like in her stomach when she started to think about it as she considered the girl in front of her as one of her friends. Therefore Areum decided to leave the room before she made something she might regret later.

"Oh, sure. You can talk wi-" Suhyeok cut her off. Areum turned her head and glared at the side of his head.

"No, it's okay. If you have something to say with me, you can say it in front of Areum too." Suhyeok mentioned, ignoring the glare he received from the girl he had developed feelings for. Seeing the panic in Onjo's eyes, Areum quickly removed her hand away from Suhyeok, causing the boy to frown while he looked down at his hand, already missing the warmth of her hand.

"It's okay. You two can talk alone. I'll be heading to our classroom. See you two in class." Areum barely managed to escape from Suhyeok, leaving the two of them at the stairwells. Before completely leaving the stairwells, Onjo flashed the thoughtful girl a smile toward the thoughtful girl, showing her gratitude for her understanding.

***********

Entering classroom 2-5, Areum was greeted by the chattering of her classmates as they were conversing and joking with one another. She greeted Isak who was sitting alone on her desk as she walked past the girl's desk.

"Morning, Isak." She greeted Isak, averting Isak's attention away from her phone to her.

"Oh, morn-." Isak's greeting was interrupted. Yang Daesu and her cousin, Jang Wujin, called her when they spotted Areum entering the class alone. It was a normal thing for the students of class 2-5 to see both Areum and Suhyeok walking to the school as well as entering their classroom together. So, when Areum walked into the classroom alone, it perked the attention of other students such as Daesu and Wujin.

"Hey, class vice president, where is Bare-su?" Daesu asked while Wujin nodded along with his question.

"Oh, he's on his way to class. He should be here in a moment." Areum smiled as she walked toward her desk. Seeing her seatmate already sat on her desk and revising her study while also hearing the blasting music on earbuds, Areum happily continued her short journey. Placing her school bag on the table, Areum took out one of the earbuds from Namra's ear, causing the class president to spin her head toward the smiling girl.

"Morning, Namra-ya. What are you studying?" The smiling girl asked as she sat on her chair. Namra smiled at the girl as she greeted her back and raised her left palm toward Areum, wanting her earbud back.

"Morning, Areum-ah. I'm studying science for next week's exams. Have you studied yet?" Namra mentioned while Areum placed her earbud on her left palm. Placing the earbud on the table, Namra listened to her friend's response.

"I've already studied all of them. You know how my grandfather always gave me at least five quizzes before I went to bed." Namra nodded her head as she remembered that funny event when she went to sleepover at Areum's house one day. "Yesterday, he asked me ten questions about the origin of viruses. I can't sleep unless I answer all of his questions." Areum yawned as she laid her head on her desk. The class president smiled in amusement after hearing her seatmate's eventful night.

"Well, that's shown your grandfather cares about your education." Namra uttered as she continued her studying.

"I know that but at least he should have warned me that he'll be given ten questions yesterday." Areum mumbled as Suhyeok entered the classroom. Landing his eyes on his childhood friend, where she laid her head on her desk while talking to her seatmate, Suhyeok shakes his head in amusement as he walks to his desk. After putting his school bag on his desk and waking his seatmate, he went to his group of friends and conversed with them.

"Hey!" A shout grabbed everyone's attention. Areum's quickly raised her head to see Nayeon stormed her way toward her desk, where the group of boys stopped their chat once they heard her.

"Get off there. You stink." Lee Nayeon harshly said once she reached Gyeongsu, who had sat on her desk. Areum could see the hurt flashover Gyeongsu's face at her insulted words, however he quickly hid his emotion before others could see.

"Oh, okay. My bad. What's the big deal? Sorry." Gyeongsu muttered as he wiped the non-existent dirt on her desk. Disgusted with his action, Nayeon once again shouted as all of the students in class 2-5 watched the two of them.

"Cut it out! You're so dirty." The pink sweater girl screamed which led to Gyeongsu becoming angry as he moved forward toward the raging girl. Cheongsan put both of his arms around Gyeongsu preventing another fight to happen between the two.

"Nayeon-ah. You can talk to him nicely. No need to be harsh." Areum advised when she watched the commotion between the two of her classmates. Nayeon rolled her eyes when the class vice president tried to interfere.

"What the hell is your problem?" Wujin added as he moved toward his desk. Then, the whole class of 2-5 heard the school alarm, signifying the lesson will start soon. Soon enough, Ms. Park Sunhwa, their English teacher, opened the classroom door and spotted some of her students were not in their seats.

"Hey, you punks. Come on guys. Take your seats. Come on, move it." Ms. Park instructed as she went to the podium in the front class. All of the students then sat at the perspective seats as Ms. Park placed all of her things on the podium desk.

"Hello." The English teacher greeted the students with a smile. All of the students of class 2-5 greeted her back. "Hi, good morning. Time to hand in your phones." Areum heard most of her classmates were groaning as they went to place their phone on the safety bag. She walked to the podium and inserted her phone according to her number. Ms. Park smiled as the young girl went back to her desk.

"Who's in touch with Hyeonju?" Ms. Park asked her students. When she received no answer from them, she questioned them once again, "Nobody? So none of you have tried calling her today?"

Oh Joonyeong cleared his throat before he began to speak, "Uh, we cleaned the science lab together yesterday but I haven't seen her since." Listening to his reply, Ms. Park sighed, worried about the whereabouts of her missing student.

"Okay. If anyone hears from her sometime in the next few days, let me know right away, okay?" Ms. Park said.

"Okay." the whole class responded.

"Exams start next week so get your acts together." The English teacher said as she took her phone from her blazer and typing something on her phone. Suddenly a cellphone chime could be heard through the classroom. All of the students turned their attention toward the chime noise, in which Daesu was seated as he turned his head toward the class president in an attempt to avoid being suspected by their teacher.

Namra coldly stared at the suspected boy as he fearly moved his head back to the front while Wujin lightly punched his arm. Areum saw their interaction which caused the beauty to giggle.

"I heard that." The English teacher announced as she stared at Daesu.

"Why didn't you silence it?" Wujin asked his seatmate.

"One more time. Hand over your phone, please." Ms. Park sternly said. Both Daesu and Isak hand in their phones to their English teacher. Once they gave the real phone to the English teacher, Ms. Park spotted something from the safety bag, she took a phone and inspected it.

"Onjo-ah." She called, glanced at the named student. "This is your phone from last year. Take it, please." The whole class started to laugh at the girl when their English had caught Onjo's action. Onjo only blinked innocently toward the teacher as Ms. Park told her to take her old phone, making the whole class laugh again.

***********

Enjoy reading!!

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