Broken

English class was next on the timetable and the duo had been making their way there but that was until Jungkook and Jimin pounced on Taehyung midway.

The expression on Taehyung's face said he was ready to give it all up and die but Sooyeong on the other hand looked confused especially at the two boys sudden jolliness.

"Can we not do this now?" Taehyung whined as the two boys leeched on him. They were like two high school girls wanting the hot tea to be spilled but Taehyung wasn't ready to spill it just yet.

"Live in the moment hyung. We don't know if we'll get tomorrow." Jungkook sprouted wisdom as Jimin tugged at him. "We'll probably be a little late for class noona." He added and all Sooyeong could do was watch them in utter bewilderment.

"Please~ save me from these two Sooyeong ah~." Taehyung cried while being dragged away, and passed homeroom.

"She will do no such thing!" Jimin's stern voice faded in the distance and soon they turned a corner which opened into a staircase. Then they disappeared out of sight.

Sooyeong only sweat dropped at the odd yet familiar event that brought on a pinch of nostalgia in her mind. She remembered when those two cracks dragged her away to question her about her hot chocolate deliveries to Taehyung.

"Oh no."

Something struck her and it struck her hard.

"Maybe I should save him? What if they start hacking on him because they found out he bought me hot chocolate?" Her mind drew circles in her head. And after a short moment, she mumbled to herself. "I definitely should..."

With no clear-cut plan of action on how she intended to rescue him, she quickened her pace in their direction nonetheless but to her utter dismay things turned sour faster than the likes of the golden snitch - somehow her misfortunes just kept building up to the point where she was convinced that the earth wasn't spinning properly on it's axis anymore.

As she passed homeroom, in her haste, she felt a sudden tug on her left arm, which then harshly pulled her back. At the gripping contact, she gasped. And consequently, the styrofoam cup let loose from her hand allowing the wonderfully divine contents of it to meet the cold floor down below.

The remaining hot chocolate, which Taehyung had ever so thoughtfully purchased for her, laid splayed on the floor and the only thing she could do was stare at the now luke warm liquid. Her heart twisted at the sight of it. It may just be a simple cup of hot chocolate to everyone else but to her it meant so much more than that.

It was a shot at reconnection between her and the one her heart was so deeply smitten for; Taehyung. Heavens! They even shared the toasty treat with each other which of course increased her cardiac output to a staggering amount because it's like a literal indirect kiss but that's the least of her worries now.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

The voice was stern and gruff yet unbearably familiar. But once she pulled herself out of the mournful thoughts of her hot chocolate and her body was at a standstill, her hazel eyes met slightly dark blue ones which pierced through her soul.

That little eye contact was enough to tell her who had stopped her in her path of rescue. It was Ahro's distasteful boyfriend as well as Taehyung's close friend; Dansae.

Since her eyes were already locked with his, she took a closer inspection of his features. She noticed his attractiveness.

He had very distinct cheekbones, a sharp jawline, pink cupid bow lips that tangled into a smirk, pointed nose and blonde hair which raked across his head, and naturally cascaded over his forehead.

"Let go off me Dansae." Sooyeong demanded, and she tried to tug her arm away from his obviously much stronger body but it was all in futile attempts.

"Don't be like that, I have something to give you." He nonchalantly spoke then roughly released Sooyeong, and she noticed two other boys that stood with him. "Everyone seems to be giving it to you so I thought I should too."

He looked to his friend, who Sooyeong marked as Jae Minho, and after a head nod which had been given to him by Dansae, the boy then placed an orange sticky note into the blonde's palm. All three of them smirked and it only made Sooyeong's tummy churn because Dansae only meant bad news.

"I thought of anonymously pasting this on your locker but then I thought what's the fun in that," he explained then stepped toward the weary female. "So that's when I got the idea of a much better place to paste it."

Once more his hand harshly gripped onto hers, seizing her. His other hand then rose up to her head level and she flinched. He smirked in satisfaction at her submissive demeanor before suddenly forcefully pasting the sticky note onto her forehead.

She squealed softly and the few students out in the hallway did absolutely nothing to aid ordeal because they knew better than to interfere in Dansae's quarrels since he was well known around school for being an excelling student with a wealthy background - which meant money was the solution to all his problems.

"That makes you look so much better. Don't you think boys?" Dansae asked with a laugh and of course his henchmen agreed, rather dumbly.

Sooyeong felt the tears swell in her eyes and her trembling hand agonisingly reached up for the note which obscured her vision.

"I think that's enough, Dansae." A firm voice was heard in the background but unfortunately enough the individuals heroic attempt had been halted when he was held back by Dansae's minions.

"Shut up Eunwoo and go back to reading your books." Dansae insolently dissed the one and only person that tried to stand up for her.

Amidst the new quarrel, Sooyeong flipped over the sticky note, and brought it to her eye level but when she read what was written over it, her eyes became wide and teary - soon to stream uncontrollably.

"I attract death."

She threw one hand over her mouth and unconsciously crumpled up the sticky note in her other hand. From those words, those three words, she felt so broken. So battered. So unwanted. As if she was a heavy burden to be carried around or worse, as if she was the reason her parents died.

While in her broken state Dansae moved closer to her petrified form and he whispered, "I heard Hyungsik ssi fired the housemaid and now she's got you doing the dirty work." His breath chillingly hit against her neck, "If that's the case I guess you won't mind cleaning up the mess you made with your hot cho-"

"That's enough!" Eunwoo finally reached his breaking point, and broke out of the hold to pull Dansae away from an emotional Sooyeong. "Stop intimidating her."

"I'm done with her anyway." Dansae shot back as he and his crew watched Eunwoo take her inside the classroom.

Eventually, she settled down in her seat, after Eunwoo had calmed her down, and the whispers around her grew as everyone waited for the teacher to arrive.

She wanted to run and hide. To go somewhere far away where she wouldn't be found again but she felt her body too weak to accomplish it all. So, she just sat there, hopelessly, as her mind burned with painful thoughts.

Slowly as more of the students started to file in, Sooyeong angrily shoved the crinkled sticky note into her blazer pocket then she let her hair loose, allowing it to fall over her shoulders. She then rested her head over the desk and used her hair to partly veil her face as she really didn't want to face anyone right now especially the trio that ran off earlier.

A short while later spent with her depressing thoughts, they made their comeback. She knew it was them because she could hear their happy voices getting closer while ranting on about their English teacher who they saw near the staircase just a while ago. Soon after, they reached her circle of radius and Taehyung immediately whined to her about having abandoned him despite his cry for help.

"You really left me to die, Sooyeong ah." He plopped in his seat and the other two boys did the same.

She ignored him.

Little did he know, she was the one that needed saving.

"Sooyeong?" His tone was splashed with concern since he got no reply. "Are you alright?"

Once more she ignored him and her hands fisted, unnoticeably, beneath her weight.

"The hot chocolate must have put her off to sleep." Jungkook piped.

"Or she remembered her dad. Just let her rest up." Jimin added soon after and Taehyung nodded his head in acknowledgement.

But that didn't sit so well with him because when he was with her, only minutes ago, she seemed to be in a good head space with a warm smile. He wondered if something must have happened to drastically alter her mood like that.

"Everyone please settle down and take your seats."

Taehyung's thoughts were suddenly slashed by the teacher's voice and he looked up.

His eyes met with a rather tall and youthful male all decked up in a dark turtleneck together with dark jeans. His hair was chestnut brown and combed to part in an eight by five fashion.

It was Kim Namjoon, the one and only in the flesh.

And everybody knew that it was very unlike him to be fashionably late so he must have some excuse, Taehyung thought.

"So sorry for the delay but..."

And here it comes.

"There were conflicting opinions at today's lunch meeting because some students didn't like the idea of new seatmates. But. Despite that, it's still going of be enforced by rule of majority." His tone was rather formal, then he adjusted the specs he wore. "Now, onto more important things. For this semester, in terms of poetry we will be analysing no less than six poems. Each with their own meaning..."

Taehyung drowned Namjoon's voice out and let his gaze falter over a still seemingly asleep Sooyeong. He was worried and tried checking up on her a few times, in between his note-making. And this went on well into the next the three periods but the most he got out of her was a soft groan and if he was lucky, a slight head readjustment.

He couldn't take it any longer so he drew his head closer to her desk (unnoticeably by her) but just as he was going to gain her attention she readjusted herself, her head now elevated to the same level as him.

Taehyung felt his heart stop and his eyes widened as he stared at her eyes through her lose strands which veiled her face. She was frozen too, her intention of finally asking him something (and giving him the attention he wanted) long vanished from her brains horizon.

But as if almost immediately she dropped her head on to the table with a low thud, embarrassed at the proximity they just shared. And Taehyung, still a little surprised leaned further down.

"Yah." He whispered, huskily, and it made the hairs under her blazer sleeves stand. "Do you need to go to the nurses office or get a drink of water?"

"Hmm..." She hummed, still face down and her cheeks burned. "C-Can I just..."

She started and peeked a little at Taehyung from behind her hair. He was close. Very close. But then unexpectedly, his hand suddenly unveiled her face, and her cheeks were drowned in red mostly due to the fact that his fingers just brushed against her cheek as he did so.

"What do you need?" he asked then tucked it behind her ear.

She died, internally.

"Y-Your phone..."

"My phone?" he repeated in a whisper, seeing as Math class was going on.

"Your phone case." Her voice was more steady. "Can I see it?"

He smiled and without any delay his smartphone was in front of her.

She looked at it - her eyes analysed each swirl of colour behind the transparent casing.

When things didn't sit right, and if sleep didn't help, she'd always find comfort in the sky as well as the stars, which seemed to be so cluttered together yet so distant. Be it the actual sky or just this masterful piece of artwork. All of it had become her comfort zone.

"I have Subway Surfer on there if you wanna play?" Taehyung suddenly cut her thoughts with his innocent voice. He worried that she was getting too lost in her own world.

Her eyes shot toward him, a little laugh wanted to leave her lips because of how random his question was. Nevertheless, she handed him back his smartphone along with a light nod so he could unlock it.

And so, for the rest of the period Sooyeong spent her time virtually collecting golden tokens in a subway station with the main objective of beating Taehyung's high score.

But all throughout the lesson Taehyung stole a few glances at her and every now and then he'd notice her nose cutely scrunch up whenever she lost or her lips would form into a bright smile when she got a booster pack.

In that moment, he drowned in his own thoughts. He couldn't believe that he actually let his beautiful friendship with her deteriorate to the point where his feelings towards her had submissively tucked itself away, almost becoming seemingly non-existent.

Suddenly all of his choices made no sense to him.

Mostly because all of that time he had lost with her, he could have in fact spent with her; growing very much closer to her by learning more about what her other interests were so he could then integrate it with his own.

All he could think about was how he missed being the reason she would cutely laugh, playfully hit him, pout or even smile whenever he cracked a silly joke. And seeing her now, after she transitioned from a despondent state to a more subtle state of happiness, he realised that her emotions were his emotions. Whatever she outwardly felt, he did too.

"Hyung!"

Jungkook's sudden whisper was followed by a sudden kick to the back of Taehyung's chair.

Instantly, Taehyung jerked from the sudden contact, which broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned to face Jungkook with disbelief wiped over his handsome features.

"Stop staring at her, it's creepy." Jungkook leaned forward and spoke in a low tone but Jimin slapped the back of his head, disapprovingly.

"Aish..." Taehyung brushed them off with a little shy chuckle then turned to face forward again.

He picked up his pencil, and from his peripheral vision he stole one last glance at her soft smile.

'I want to be the yellow paint in your palette which you had lost Soo ah, so I promise to be the reason that you'd keep smiling.'

A U T H O R ' S N O T E
I really felt like updating so I hope you guys liked this chapter. And please let me know your thoughts on this book so far, it would really motivate me to keep going.

Thank you for reading, I purple you.

Author, Lu 💜