Jihye was upset. She wanted to talk to Renjun and opened her phone, only to realize she didn't even have his number. Sighing, she closed it and walked to the convenience store.

Grabbing stuff she needed, she wanted to reach for the box of cereal bars yet it was on the highest shelf. She sighed, jumping up to hopefully grab it.

It was all in vain, until it eventually fell to the ground. Looking behind as if on instinct, she deflated realizing there was no one. Shaking her head, she grabbed the box and muttered something along the lines of "reading too much fanfictions these days..." as she faced the cashier.

Walking on the sidewalk absentmindedly, it was dark with only the streetlights as her source of light. She was thinking so much, walking slowly as she took in the night's fresh air. Was it really wrong for her to get close with Renjun?

Her thoughts slowly dismissed when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. Stopping, she heard the footsteps stop as well. Jihye got aware that someone was following her, and decided to walk quicker. The footsteps were quicker as well, and she got scared. It wasn't like she was actually strong enough to fight, and the streets were too silent that anything could happen to her and no one would notice.

Taking a sharp turn at a corner, she waited for the person to come. Hearing the footsteps louder, she swung her fist at the unknown person as a form of defense.

Only to have her wrist grabbed stopping the blow, and a familiar person looking down at her. "Nice defense attack, but even I can predict it. You shouldn't be walking out at such a time. Who knows what'll happen if I wasn't the one who followed you?"

Throwing her wrist down, Renjun looked to see Jihye staring at him. Without another word, a pair of arms encircled his waist, head on his chest.

"What...?", He was taken aback, not really sure on what to do.

"Hey, what are you doing-"

"Shut up and just let me hug you", her voice cracked, eyes on the verge of tears.

Renjun didn't question further and hesitantly raised his hand, patting her back. He was clueless, and a bit curious. But seeing that she wasn't in the state to talk, he kept silent and let her sobs surround the atmosphere.

"Are you okay now?", It was weird, weird for him to speak this softly again. He thought he already lost the ability to speak in such a tone, but nevertheless it was fitting for the situation seeing that Jihye eventually stopped crying. Shirt wet due to her tears, that didn't matter when the girl looked so broken.

"Let's sit down, come on", Grabbing her wrist gently, Renjun pulled her to the nearby park and together they sat on a bench.

No one said anything. It was dead silent, except for the occasional sniffs coming from the girl. The silent kept them both on edge, and Jihye decided to break it.

"My brother...", She started. "My brother talked about you. He said that you weren't a good person and that I should stay away, but I defended you and fought with him. Now we're here, me a complete mess"

"Your brother is right though. I'm not a good person"

Jihye turned to face his side profile. "Are you sure about that?"

"You heard the school. You heard what all those fuckers said. I'm a bad person", She shook her head at the statement.

"The school doesn't know. Those are just rumours, not facts. They don't know who you really are"

"Then do you know who I really am?", He turned to face the girl.

She remained silent, thinking carefully on what to say. "No one knows who you really are, not even me. I just know you're not always like what the school thinks"

"They say you cheat, even I said that. But then there were so many times I saw you in the library, focused and busy. Not like I was stalking you or anything", Jihye waved her hands in defense. Renjun only scoffed, "Never said you were but okay, go on"

"Never?? You didn't even let me become your friend because I'm a 'stalker'", she mocked and glared. Renjun only chuckled.

"Okay butterfly, I get it. But I repeat, go on"

She sighed. "They say you smoke, but your breath doesn't even smell bad and your teeth shine brighter than my future. And also smokers supposedly have dried lips, I don't think yours look that...dry...", Jihye looked down to his lips, and stared for a bit before Renjun licked them.

Shaking her head, she exhaled deeply. "And unlike some of the other students, you actually bother to clean up. And I respect that", She crossed her arms and lifted her head up.

"...So what's your point?", Her jaw dropped.

"What I'm trying to say is! You're not a horrible person, Injun", she stopped for a while, the name that she used for the first time feeling foreign to her. Nevertheless, she continued.

"I can tell that you are like us too, but just a bit different in some ways. Those rumours are shit. You just don't care a lot like the others"

"But I do care. A lot", He muttered. Jihye heard it, but pretended not to in case she wasn't supposed to hear it.

"The reason why, I was so quick to defend you against Jaemin...was because no one did the same to me before", Jihye sighed remembering her past.

"Back in Busan, I was bullied. A lot. I was labelled a weirdo, a kid with a broken family, a kid who no one cares, a accidental birth. Some of them were true, but so many of them were lies. At first, I told myself to not care. But they got worse. Things at my house weren't going well either. My father pressured me to study, so I didn't really grow up with a good childhood. I smiled through the pain, told myself it was gonna be okay. But it just kept getting worst. The rumours broke me little by little, and my voice drowned in the countless lies. I was weak, I didn't defend myself and neither did anyone"

"I know how it feels when rumours spread, you try to say you don't care when it actually breaks bits of you. It fucking hurts and that's why I did it", Jihye didn't realize she was crying again until a warm hand gently wiped her tears away.

She looked at Renjun with broken eyes.

"I believe you're nothing like what they say, Injun"

Renjun stared at Jihye for a bit, before laughing.

"Why are you laughing! I'm serious", The girl puffed her cheeks as she looked at him threateningly.

"So were you also serious when you looked at my lips then, butterfly?"

Turning red again, she slapped herself mentally. "N-no! I just tend to, tend to look at other's lips out of habit!", She lied as a defense.

"Looking at other's lips, thinking how they'll feel against yours?"

"NO!", Jihye got up and walked away. Renjun couldn't but let out a big laugh. The loudest Jihye had ever heard, and it made feel... warm? It was comforting, the laugh sounded so pretty for some reason.

"I'm just kidding butterfly, but then you can always try mine if you're curious", Renjun caught up to her and moved his eyebrows up and down.

"Ugh...", she facepalmed before hearing him laugh again.

"Learn your place", she pointed a finger at him. "I've never told anyone about this before, not even Jaemin", she crossed her arms and glared. But unconsciously, a smile reached her lips.

As for Renjun, it wasn't like he actually wanted to laugh. But Jihye spilled so much, especially about her getting bullied that for the first time, he was speechless. He didn't know what to say, and the atmosphere was so gloomy that he forced himself to laugh as a way to lift up the mood.

But then he genuinely laughed later on. And it was the first time he did so ever since that happened.

Felt like giving a few more updates~ we're halfway through this story btw