2. wannabe gangster

Never did Soojin expect Han Seojun, the wannabe gangster, lower than average IQ and ridiculously a jerk pull her along with him as he wanted to speak to her. Although hailing from the same school, Han Seojun and Kang Soojin hardly crossed paths, or that was what the school knew, considering how the two hot heads never held a conversation longer than two seconds. But, the duo had a little grudges of their own over the yesteryears, since Suho was their mutual friend, Seojun and Soojin were also at loggerheads more often than not.

"Ya, Han Seojun," Soojin was done being pulled across the ground, only for them to stop in the middle of it, "what is your problem!" She said, not really aloud, because being loud was Han Seojun's forte, hers was just plain old sass. "Speak what you want to and let me go." Soojin folded her hands across her chest, eyes still holding the fearless attitude and nose in the air as she waited for the lover boy to give her another earful for his dearly beloved's heartache.

However, what Han Seojun said next was something Soojin did not anticipate in this century.

"gwaen-cha-na?" He asked, taking a step closer from their five feet apart stance.

Soojin lost her speech in that minor second as she gawked at the guy standing in front of her, the wannabe gangster with little to no etiquette was asking her if she was okay when he knew that she leaked the video of the girl he doted so much on. She tilted her head, hands in her pockets of the comfortable black coat she wore over the uniform, wondering whether or not she heard him right.

"Huh?" She managed to reply, when he took another step closer, his eyes holding both care and concern and the way he looked at her made Soojin really uncomfortable. Was this really Han Seojun who once pushed her in pure spite and did not apologise even after being punished by his mother? Or the Han Seojun who often called her a nerd and teased her when they were kids.

"Kang Soojin," He asked, snapping her back to reality, "are you okay?" He asked again, clearly she heard him right.

"Yah," Soojin was back to her actual self, scoffing, "Han Seojun, I am really not..." She considered the possibilty of this being an insult, a witty remark or a sarcastic taunt, however, it was nothing but a simple question with silence as he waited for her to speak. "Wae," She asked, wondering what alternate universe this was, "why?"

"The community post about you..." Han Seojun said, softly as Soojin furrowed her eyebrows, "Also the fact that Suho was about to lash at you. I just did not want anyone to publically humiliate you." Soojin rolled her eyes, still not believeing whatever charade Han Seojun was pulling, "are you okay?"

"Ya Han Seojun," Soojin replied, hands withdrawn to the either side of her, "whatever this is, its not going to work." She hissed, their gaze intact even though he was half a head taller, "and you don't have to save me from anyone. I can handle myself." She moved past him, ridiculing this as some petty humor which she was too above to understand and opened the community page on her mobile.

To her suprise, there was a post about her, with her picture which stated horrible things about how she had leaked the bullying video on the site only due to spite, that she was a psychopath and needed to be shunned out of the school and that a bitch like her should suffer the worst there was. Soojin gulped, the way this post was blowing was not the scariest part as the way she felt the urge to rub the dirt off her hands. She logged off the page, the comments were downright horrific and rushed to the washroom where she rubbed her hands, washing them time and again with water and soap. She kept cleaning her hands until they burned, and she stopped, to lean on the basin and look at herself in the mirror.

"You are so pretty," Lim Jugyeong said when she first met Soojin, "Wow, truly a beauty."

"Have you looked at yourself," Soojin replied, instantly liking the new girl, because not only was she kind and soft spoken, she had a beautiful smile, and Soojin loved when people smiled. "Kang Soojin," She introduced herself, hand forward and Lim Jugyeong shook it, "welcome to Saebum, Lim Jugyeong."

Soojin looked at herself closely, and she did not see this pretty beauty which Lim Jugyeong mentioned in the reflection, instead she saw a slumped figure, burderned with dark circles, miserably dry hands and a low self-esteem bitch who would do anything to win. Soojin wiped the tear from her eye instantly, this was not how she was going to be, she was on the way to win in this world and the only way to win was to put others down.

That was what her father taught her, to win was to be ready to let go of others, even if it was by deceit.

"Is she not the senior, Kang Soojin from the post?"

Soojin wiped her hands with the paper towels and ignoring the girls who walked in on her, she rushed towards her classroom. The class had already started, and when Soojin walked in, the teacher let her in, "Kang Soojin," The teacher, a female in her late thirties spoke up, eyeing the girl while the rest of the class now sat back up. It was evident that everyone knew about the post since rumors and news in the school spread like wildfire. "Your grades are lower than the previous test, if I were you I'd focus less on the other things and more on your lessons." That was the way of the teacher to let Soojin know that she knew.

"Soojin is clearly interested in Suho more than anything," The voice from the backbencher made the class snigger at once, and while Suho intensely stared at the girl, Soojin averted her eyes from Suho to Seojun who once again, looked concerned.

"Ya," Seojun's voice was enough for the class to go back to being silent, the teacher continued with the lesson and Soojin looked at the guy who did something again to confuse her.

Their eye contact was short this time since Soojin sat down and faced the teacher, nevertheless her mind completely diverted from the class and back to the post on the page. She scrolled the page once again in the middle of class, this time curiosity did kill the cat since the comments about her increased, some wanting her to leave the school, many asking for a public apology to Jugyeong and those who called her a bully, wanted her to go kill herself.

To that Soojin scoffed, if she knew the last option was available, wouldn't she have tried it by now, however, the comments did not sit well with her. Soojin never regarded others opinion important enough to derange her sanity, but lately with the way her father was abusing her and her grades falling along with the fact that Suho did not like her, every single word that people spoke against her felt like a tiny needle piercing her soul.

The rest of the day went by slow. Su-ah, Soojin's best friend ever since the start of middle school refused to acknowledge her presence and Suho headed out of the door as soon as the last bell rang. Soojin was the only one to stay behind in the empty classroom, afraid to go back home with a report card that would now be a cause of another storm in her life. She was afraid not because she was scared of her father, rather, she was afraid because she was losing herself slowly, piece by piece and that scared her.

The books from her bench fell down when she turned to zip her bag, and she sighed, bending to pick them up only to touch fingers with the boy who immediately came to her aid. Soojin did not even get any time to react as Seojun helped pick her books and handed them to her. All she did was stare at him, wondering how soft his touch was and all he did was help her. She instantly pushed the books in her bag and got off the place, staying with Han Seojun was going to drive her up the hill and honestly, she had more things to worry about at the moment than him.

"Kang Soojin," Seojun called out to her before she could run away from the class, "you want me to drop you?"

Soojin turned, cringe evident on her face as she eyed the boy who asked her for a lift.

"Hajima," She said, warning him, her raised eyebrows were enough of a warning for him to not ask her again. "Stop whatever this is." And with that she was gone, just as the wind as she escaped the whispers and glares and headed straight towards the road.

"What was that?" Suho asked, when he confronted Seojun as they made they way out of school, "gwaen-cha-na?" He asked, placing his hand on Seojun, because clearly his best friend was helping the girl who bullied Lim Jugyeong, instead of raging at her.

"Ani," Han Seojun brushed his hands off his shoulder, "I am fine." He walked past the group of his classmates and sat on his bike and riding off.

"Hey Lee Suho," Su-ah requested the always silent Suho, "can you tell Lim Jugyeong that we all miss her?" Tae Hoon with the rest of the classmates nodding behind her.

Suho appreciated the kind words and nodded politely, walking past them and eyeing the boy who zoomed off on his bike. It was unusual for Han Seojun to hold back on his anger, yet, even after what happened, Seojun was over-the-top in helping Soojin, the girl he wanted to beat up just last night. Things would have been easily sorted by Suho if he had given that another thought but Lim Jugyeong's call distracted him from it and the matter left unsettled.

_

Soojin was once a very fun loving, always loud, and an ecstatic child, she would dance around the house, sing and yell, smile and laugh, and often her laughter would drown the noises outside. Things changed over the course of her life when she was nine and her little baby brother died from an illness, and ever since her father and mother kept bickering and fighting. The fights and yelling kept Soojin behind closed doors where she would study to impress her father so he would be in a happy mood, and would stop fighting with her mother, and thus the battle for Soojin to ace the tests began.

At the start, her father did appreciate the scores, the prizes and the results, but slowly, the appreciation switched into obsession and projection and Soojin was somehow battling something or the other in her academic life. Her father would not let her be at peace until she scored first in class which thanks to Lee Suho, never happened, and even though Soojin and Suho were friends from their childhood, this obsession to score higher than everyone did not leave her father's mind.

It was as if Soojin blinked, and the little girl who loved being happy and content and smiled at everyone was gone, and what remained was a girl with the tag of being the second best. She looked at her hands, after the earful and blatantly rude remarks her father had screamed at her for securing fifth in the class, a slap on her cheek to be reminded of what she had coming if she kept this unruly attitude and a silent pitiful look from her mother, her hands suffered the most as she scrubbed off the skin until it overcame the pain she felt from within.

It did not matter to her whether or not she was right, or whether or not Jugyeong was hurt or bullied, or whether she had any friends left, or whether Suho would ever talk to her again, because what mattered now was to surpass all of this and score higher than everyone. And if that meant throwing away all of the friendships and promises, and all of the happiness that came along with it, she would.

However a wannabe gangster interrupting her self destructive decision was not something she anticipated.

Not at all.

_