"Hey ugly!"

Receiving the usual smack in the head with a ball like always, I cowered as I hovered my arms over my head, protecting myself from the multiple balls charging at me.

Although this happens in every physical education class, it still sucked to be the target for everyone to bully.

I'm Kim Aera.

That ugly dweeb with messy pigtails and gigantic round glasses.

Or at least that's what I'm referred to as from everyone in school.

As I was reaching for a ball on the ground, I was struck with another ball directly on my hand, causing me to wince in great pain.

Followed by the sounds of hysterical laughter in the background, a pair of pastel pink nike shoes stopped right in front of me.

I looked up to see Lee Chaeyeon, the "queen" of this school.

"Oops sorry, I meant to aim it at your face." She arrogantly said as she shrugged her shoulders, and walked away from me.

Still feeling a major stinging pain in my hand, I decided to go to the nurse.

Timidly entering the nurse's office, I politely bowed at the nurse and situated myself in the seat in front of her.

"You injured your hand again? What do you always do that causes this?" The nurse curiously asked as she examined my now slightly purple hand.

Not wanting to cause any problems, I just decided to keep the fact that I was being bullied a secret.

"I-I'm just really clumsy.." I reluctantly said as I laughed it off.

"Geez, you need to be more careful Aera." She said as she began to wrap a bandage around my hand.

After the nurse was done treating my hand, she suddenly stood up from her seat and sighed.

"I'll be right back. I need to get something from the office so just stay here and make yourself comfortable." She said as she walked over to the door and exited the room.

I let out a deep sigh, just staring down at my now bandaged hand.

Suddenly, the door vigorously opened, causing a loud bang to echo through the entire room.

There stood a relatively tall, good-looking guy in his PE uniform, irritatedly scratching his head as he looked around the room.

"Where's the nurse?!" He eagerly asked me, his eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

"S-She just left a few minutes ago..." I timidly muttered, fearful of this extremely aggressive person.

The guy groaned as he stomped over to me, grumpily situating himself in the seat in front of me.

He suddenly stuck out his hand to me, and I noticed a large cut with blood slightly dripping out located on the palm of his hand.

"Treat it." The guy rudely ordered as he stuck out his hand closer to me.

Although I was offended by his hostile tone, I felt bad for his bleeding hand so I hurriedly grabbed some disinfecting wipes and a roll of bandage.

I lightly took his hand and began to clean the blood off of his palms, gently stroking it so I wouldn't hurt him.

His hand was so big and brawny compared to my tiny, pale hands.

"H-How did you even get this cut?" I asked him, trying to break the awkward atmosphere in this room.

"I fell while I was playing soccer." He said as he innocently shrugged his shoulders.

After a few minutes, I finally finished treating his hand.

"There you go." I said as I returned the bandages back in the cabinet.

"Hey, what's your name? You look really familiar." The guy curiously asked as he began to briefly examine my face with his large eyes.

"M-My name's Kim Aera." I nervously stuttered, blushing from his intent stare on me.

He suddenly gasped, pointing at my face as if he had just remembered something.

"I know you! You're the girl who always gets bullied!"

Ouch.

That hurt.

I mean, he wasn't wrong, but knowing that my reputation was known as "the girl who always gets bullied" was pretty embarrassing and sad.

A weak smile displaying on my face, I slowly shifted my gaze to the ground, not knowing how to reply to his sudden remark.

"Why don't you ever fight back?" He curiously asked.

I fearfully clenched my fists as I reluctantly bit my lower lip.

"I-I'm afraid..."

The guy let out a scoff.

"Of what?" He asked.

Of course he wouldn't understand.

He would never understand all the torment and misery I had to go through all these years.

He would never understand how much pain I've had to endure.

"I'm afraid of being hurt, more than I already am. I'm so sick and tired of being judged and labelled as 'ugly' and 'worthless' by everyone." I muttered, my voice slightly trembling as I expressed my sorrows into my words.

The guy stayed silent.

He probably thinks I'm an idiot, right?

That I'm so stupid for even thinking that I wasn't a loser.

I slowly shut my eyes as I prepared myself to receive hurtful comments from him.

But instead, I felt a gentle pat on my head.

"It's okay, Aera."

I slowly looked up at him, taken back by what he had just said to me.

"That's how they control you. They force you to believe that you're almost average at best. And with this, you forget about your worth."

He gradually brought his large hands down to my cheeks, lightly caressing it as he gave me a warm, assuring smile.

"Don't let them control you, Aera. Don't let them define you or set your limitations."

The guy softly cupped my right cheek, causing my heart to feel this weird sensation that I've never experienced before.

"And besides, you're not ugly at all. You're fucking beautiful."

My cheeks immediately flared up, instantly turning into an extremely dark shade of red.

Who is he?

Is he an angel?

How could someone be so whole-hearted and cause so many emotions to spark inside of me with just his words?

I had to know who he was.

"C-Can I ask you some-"

But before I could ask him anything, the door forcefully opened in a rather aggressive manner, causing the two of us to hastily shift our attention to the door.

There stood another relatively good-looking student in his PE jacket, holding a soccer ball in one arm with an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

"What's taking you so long Taehyung?!"

Tae...hyung?

I'm guessing this guy in front of me was Taehyung?

"Ah, sorry Jungkook. I'll be there soon I promise." Taehyung said as he shooed him off with his hands.

That Jungkook guy suddenly gave me a dirty look, probably disgusted at the fact that a loner like me was even talking to his friend.

With that, he walked away with the door open for Taehyung to follow after him.

Taehyung stood up from his seat and placed his hands in his pocket.

"Well, thanks for treating my hand Aera. See you around."

He gave me one last smile, and exited the room.

I just sat there with the sound of my heart thumping echoing through my body, just shocked from everything that just happened within this short period of time.

Tae...hyung.

Tae..hyung.

Taehyung.

Just the sound of his name caused my heart to flutter like crazy.

I mean, why wouldn't he make me feel happy?

He just came into my life out of nowhere, painted a rainbow onto my distressed heart, and actually made me feel better about myself.

I took a deep breathe, plastered a big grin on my face, and headed out of the room to go back to class.