Song of the Chapter - (Cyberpunk, Ateez)

Rose POV

I was studying in my room when my mom shouted from the stairs, "Chaeyoung, can you help me buy medicine at the pharmacy?" I put my pen down and got up, going downstairs to meet my mom. Once I was in front of her, she handed me her card. She immediately wrapped herself in her blanket before walking toward the living room.

I didn't say anything after that – my mom is a person who catches colds easily, so it was normal for her to ask me to buy her medicine late at night.

It has only been three days since we moved to the neighbourhood, but I was already used to the lonely street leading to the nearest pharmacy. Most of the streetlamps wouldn't light up since they were either gone or burnt up. I increased my pace when I realized that my mom's headache might get worst if I don't hurry.

After jogging for five minutes, I finally arrived at the pharmacy. It was almost empty when I entered it – only one guy was in it, and he was wearing a black hoodie and a face mask. The only thing I could see was his eyes as he walked around while picking out things as if he was picking out groceries. I decided to ignore the person and walked to the counter, asking for the medicine my mom needed.

"Just a moment," the pharmacist smiled before picking the medicine from the rack behind her. After a while, she put the medicine on the counter and I paid for it before thanking the pharmacist and leaving the store afterwards.

As soon as I stepped out of the pharmacy, a group of men surrounded me while smirking, "hey, looks like we scored a jackpot tonight," one of them said to the others before reaching for my hair, "you lost, baby girl?" he asked. I glared at him before pushing his hand away.

"Get lost!" I growled.

Another one of them stepped up with a smirk, "looks like we got a fighter," he exclaimed before grabbing me by the wrist. He was about to use his other hand to caress my cheek, but then someone hit him on his face.

I looked at the assailant and remembered him as the hooded guy inside the pharmacy. He looked at me, "are you alright?" he asked through the mask, so his voice was quite muffled. I responded by nodding before being pulled behind the hooded guy's back.

"Oh, look at this! Her boyfriend is protecting her," the guy exclaimed before wiping the blood off his lips.

I furrowed and peeked through the guy's back, "he is not my boyfriend," I replied. The hooded guy turned to look at me briefly before facing the men again. He didn't say anything as he gently push me away.

"Go," he whispered to me, and I nodded, running away from the scene.

Y/n POV

*The next morning*

I woke up the next morning and got ready for school. Once I was done, I went to the lobby of the hotel, and my mother's workers immediately got in my way, "sir, if you would consider living together with your mother, the offer still stands," one of them said.

I sighed and crossed my arms, "aren't you guys tired of telling me the same thing over and over again for days?" I asked, looking at the workers in disbelief. The workers didn't say anything, so I continued, "no, my answer is still no. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go to school," I stormed out of the hotel and decided to take the bus to school today since I don't feel like walking.

*At school*

As soon as I entered the school hall, students started whispering to each other after seeing me. "Look at that... isn't that Y/n?"

"Why is he so early today?"

I stopped walking and looked around, studying the scared expressions on the student's faces as they look at me. The murmuring stopped right then too.

"Look at the way he looks at us," said one of the female students to her friends as she eyed me cautiously. I looked at her, and then at the others before flashing a smile.

"Is there anything wrong with the way I look at you guys?" I asked – they were shocked to hear me talk because I usually don't engage in conversation with people I don't know. Since none of them answered me, I decided to continue walking, and after reaching the 4th floor, I immediately entered our class.

Once inside, my eyes immediately landed on Chaeyoung and Lisa who were talking about something. I walked closer to them and quietly listened to hear what they were talking about.

"And then, a group of men tried to do something to me, but thankfully that guy helped me," said Chaeyoung, and I might be fooling myself, but I was pretty sure she was admiring me. After all, I was the one that gave those men a beating last night. Yup, I was the guy Chaeyoung was talking about.

Lisa cleared her throat, "so, do you remember anything about that hoodie guy?"

"Not much. All I know is that he is quite tall, and he was wearing a..." Chaeyoung thought for a while, tilting her head. "...was it a dark blue mask?"

That was the moment when I finally interrupted their conversation. "Actually," I cleared my throat. "It was black. It appeared dark blue because of the lighting outside the pharmacy," I corrected Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung gasped and looked at me in shock before averting her eyes from me. I looked at her in confusion, "did I..." I looked at Lisa afterwards. "Did I say something offensive?"

Lisa shrugged, "I don't know... I think she's scared after seeing what you did to the poor guy yesterday evening," she explained. Then I remembered the incident with that dude back in the alley yesterday.

"I uh..." I scratched my nape before looking at Chaeyoung again, "you're not scared of me... are you?" I asked, hoping that she was just shocked because I know about the incident that happened outside the pharmacy, or it was because of the alley one.

Before she could answer me, someone pushed me away from her seat. "Aren't you tired of disturbing the new student, Kang Y/n?" I didn't even have to look at who it was to know it was Chanyeol who just pushed me. He picked me up and grabbed me by the collar, "Lay a hand on her, and I will make sure you spend the next three days in detention," he threatened.

I gently grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand away, "I just wanted to talk to her," I said before looking at Chaeyoung. "But if I can't even do that, how am I supposed to apologize," I added. Chanyeol ignored me and immediately went to check on Chaeyoung. 

"Are you alright, Chaeyoung?" asked Chanyeol as he examined the new student's face. I never thought about it before, but when I heard Chaeyoung being called just now, it sounded familiar, but then I realized that it was because our teacher kept on picking on her yesterday.

I scoffed and looked at the way Chanyeol was taking care of her, "Are you alright, Chaeyoung?" I mocked him before going to my seat.

After a few minutes, Jin entered the class and with the same energy he always had, greeted me with a huge smile. "Good morning, 4D!" I sighed and shook my head before watching him take a seat beside me.

Rose POV

I was immediately reminded of the hooded guy's voice when I heard Chanyeol, but I didn't give it much thought and decided to focus on the note we were given in advance instead.

I tried to focus on the note, but Y/n's voice keep distracting me – I never expected that he was the same person that he was yesterday. "I never thought Y/n could be this loud," I whined before turning to look at Y/n. He was a few seats away from us, yet his voice was loud enough for me to hear.

"Like I said yesterday, Chaeyoung. You will get used to it soon," I looked at Jennie. "It's normal to see him being loud from time to time," she continued.

"So, he has extreme mood swings?"

Jennie shook her head, furrowed her eyebrows, and then shrugged afterwards. "I'm not sure," she replied. I nodded and decided to just focus on my note. "By the way, what's our first class?" she asked not long after.

I took my phone out and checked our timetable, "our first class for the day is Physics... and then, we have P.E. afterwards. After that... let's see..."

Jennie stopped me immediately and shook her head, "alright, there's no need to read the whole schedule for today," she said.

I looked at her, slightly upset that she cut me halfway through reading the timetable, but Jennie just laughed it off. "Aww, our chipmunk is upset," she said before gently pinching my cheeks. I continued to glare at her, but it does not affect her. Unlike Jennie who could make a baby cry just by her resting b face, my glare looked more like I tried to act cute even though that wasn't what I tried to do.

*First Class Ended*

After our first class was over, we went to the football pitch. Our P.E. teacher announced our group chat that our class would be having an exhibition match. For some reason, I was looking forward to seeing Y/n play since he is the captain of the school's football team.

Before playing, the teacher asked if we would like to play as a mixed team or just boys against boys. Almost all the girls agreed not to play since they are scared the boys would go hard on them.

"Alright then, team A led by Kang Y/n against team B led by Park Chanyeol it is," the teacher said before blowing his whistle, "remember, the losing team will have to stay after school to clean the pitch for the next three days."

The boys groaned and looked at each other before entering the pitch. We, the girls sat on the bleachers to spectate them play.

"How long does a match take?" I asked Jisoo, who happened to be sitting beside me. She looked at her watch before looking at me.

"If it's a real competition, each half would take 45 minutes, so 90 minutes overall. But since our P.E. class is only an hour, I reckon 20 minutes each half?"

I nodded and turned toward the pitch, trying to find Y/n, and Chanyeol on it. I could tell Chanyeol was one of the four players toward the back since he is tall, while Y/n, it took me a while to see him standing on the small circle in the middle of the pitch with his left foot on the ball. 

*Thirty minutes later*

Ten minutes into the second half of the match, the match got fiercer, and the score was 2-2. The most impressive player on the pitch was Y/n – I was amazed at how he was able to run even after being tackled by the opposite team's defenders.

Even then, the girls were cheering for team B which happened to be Chanyeol's team.

"Hey, it's a penalty!" shouted Lisa, pointing at someone on the ground in the penalty area holding his stomach. Players quickly started to surround the guy and after that, we couldn't see what was happening.

Y/n POV

"Dude are you okay?" asked Jin as he pulled me up from the ground. I groaned before placing my hand on my stomach, glaring at Chanyeol at the same time. He looked at me with a slight smirk before walking away.

I could tell that he intentionally kicked my stomach – he wasn't aiming for the ball that Baekhyun kicked from outside the penalty area.

"I'm alright," I said to Jin before gently taking my arm off his hands. I looked at our teacher, who was looking at me worriedly.

"Y/n, change with Kai!" the teacher shouted from the sideline, but I refused and took Baekhyun's place to take the penalty instead.

Rose POV

After the match was over, there were 20 minutes left before P.E. ended. As soon as the boys got off the field, Y/n went to the school infirmary. I decided to follow him, wondering why he wanted to go there.

Once I got there, I peeked inside the room through the small window on the door to see what Y/n was doing. I quickly looked away after he took his shirt off as I felt my cheeks blushing.

The door opened and Y/n walked out of the room with his shirt in hand, "what are you doing?" he asked. I scanned him from head to toe but paused when I saw his toned abs in all their glory.

"I uh..." I struggled to form a sentence as I continued to stare at his abs. He immediately covered it with his shirt when Y/n caught me staring.

"My eyes are up here," he snapped his fingers and I blinked, finally raising my head to meet his eyes. "Why are you staring?"

"Sorry," I said, short and simple before looking around the hall.