my alarm goes off at an ass 'o clock in the morning and i groan, switching the wretched thing off- but compared to the dragon lady's screeching this sounds like a lullaby to the ears.

i take a breath in and just lie sprawled across the bed, contemplating whether my education and not getting yelled at by the dragon lady is really worth it.

the latter of my thoughts causes another groan to escape my lips. i roll over to the edge of the bed and collapse onto the floor, lieing there for minutes on end until the coldness of the ground finally starts to seep into my bones. i agonizingly get up and grab my uniform, the cupcakes and i hastily pack up my book bag before exiting the outhouse.

i drop my stuff on the bed of the guest room that i was in last night. since my outhouse doesn't have a bathroom or shower, i use this one. i proceed to brush my teeth and i have a quick shower and get dressed into my white shirt and black skirt. i put a top knot hairstyle and throw on my blazer.

i head to the laundry room and begin folding and sorting out the clothing that's used by mrs. hyungsik and ah ro. seokjin oppa always does his own laundry. he's so caring. i stare at the two piles of clothing in victory. i take the clothing in both my arms and deliver them outside their respective bedrooms.

i go back to the guest room and grab my things then head downstairs to the kitchen where i see seokjin oppa preparing breakfast, "morning oppa, what's on the menu today?" i smile.

"soo yeong ah~, did you sleep well?" he asks and i nod sweetly. "and i'm making your favourite; pancakes. also, your lunch is on the counter." he motions with the spatula.

"you're the best oppa!" i yell putting my lunch away. i quickly grab a pancake and set up the table for the dragon lady and ah ro and as if on cue they both walk in whilst talking about something unbeknownst to me.

i scan ah ro, she's petite and tall- taller than me actually and i'm a year older than her. she's also adorned in a school uniform that's identical to mine, well, except her skirt which is alot shorter than mine and she's applied some make-up which i really believe she doesn't need because she looks really pretty without it.

i watch as they both take their seats at the table not even bothering to greet seokjin oppa or me. it's completely fine if they don't greet me but having the audacity to ignore seokjin oppa infuriates me to no end- he deserves to be acknowledged and appreciated.

despite their cold behaviour seokjin oppa places their breakfast in front of them with a smile but they shoo him off. i narrow my eyes at their rude actions wanting to just tear off all of the hair from their head. the man infront of them is so precious, gentle and kind! how can one treat him like that?

since i cannot vent out my anger on them without receiving a punishment, i just let it slide and so to compensate for my brewing anger i go to rinse off the utensils which seokjin oppa used earlier to prepare their breakfast but with oppa being oppa he appears beside me and does it instead. i stare at his side profile with a frown and just stand awkwardly beside him, hearing the water splash against the dishes as he srubs each one.

"soo yeong," the dragon lady suddenly speaks- finally acknowledging at least one of our presence. "did you complete the chores i had set for you?"

"yes mrs. hyungsik." i state, dryly.

"good, now take these dishes away." she pushes her plate, with her half eaten pancake on it away from her.

i go up to her and pick up her plate then i slowly shuffle toward ah ro, seeing as she's done with her breakfast unlike her mother but she does something totally unexpected.

just as my fingers are about to touch the plate from her grip, she releases her hold on it and it falls toward the ground and upon impact it shatters into pieces, startling me.

she's never done anything like that before- normally we don't interact with one another nor do we get into each others way since we aren't blood related. i look at her and her red stained lips form a small smirk, "try and be more careful next time soo yeong." her voice is stern and i notice her mother get up, unbothered by her daughter's behaviour and she makes for the door.

as i stand i look over at the sink where seokjin oppa is and he slowly shakes his head obviously not wanting me to pick a fight with her so instead i crouch down to get all of this cleaned up before somebody gets hurt. i carefully pick up the little shards of glass, being weary to not get hurt when suddenly ah ro gets up from her seat.

i make to look up at her but she hastily dashes straight into me causing me to slice two of my fingers against the sharp shards. i wince in pain, instantly dropping the glass shards as i notice the red liquid begin to ooze out, dripping to the floor.

"ah ro darling, hurry up. i need to get to my botox appointment, i can't miss this one." the dragon lady crowes from the doorway, completely ignoring my painful situation.

tears swell in my eyes but i try to hold them back when i'm faced with ah ro staring down at me- i know i'm weak in front of her and her mother but i'm not pitiful.

"coming mother," ah ro calls and crouches down infront me but i look away from her, "we promised to stay out of each other's way but if you hurt dansae again then next time it'll be alot worse than this." her voice reflects coldness. afterwards, she heads over to the doorway where her mother is waiting for her.

even though there's a one year age difference between ah ro and dansae they still hang out with each other during lunch. i don't exactly know what their relationship is with each other but those two put together is a disaster made in hell.

once she and her mother are out of sight i collapse butt first to the ground whilst holding my hand up in the air hoping to try and ease the flowing blood but it's not helping all that much.

luckily, seokjin oppa drops beside me with tissues and a first aid kit- i didn't even notice him gathering all of that in my ordeal. nonetheless, he does all of the necessities whilst comforting me in my crying state.

lastly he wraps the bandaids around my two fingers and i wince softly, "i know you're madly in love with this luhan boy so when you look at these the luhan effect will take over." seokjin oppa chuckles trying to cheer me up and he does. he wipes the tears off my face and i smile weakly. i'm so thankful to have him in my life. "and i'll take care of this, get to school or you might be late."

i wipe my own tears and softly say, "thank you," i quickly hug him and get up.

"make sure you eat something, you lost a lot of blood so you'll be weak." he informs with concern. i nod my head in understanding and exit through the back door.

• • •

i arrive at school a little earlier than i had anticipated- since i literally ran here- so i made my way to the library after i had fetched my journal from my locker. there wasn't any sticky note in there so i concluded that the person probably doesn't show up for school so early.

as i sit on the library floor, i take a bite out of my roasted beef sandwich and look at all the poetry books along with my jounal that's scattered across the blue carpeted floor.

i've been searching through these books for a while now and i got zero leads. maybe this person is actually writing these notes straight from the heart and not plagiarizing. i sigh softly and flip threw the pages one more time but i still find nothing so i lean against the shelf, bringing my hand up infront of my line of vision and staring at the two luhan bandaids causing a sudden feeling of déjà vu to overcome me.

"i'm sorry miss," a soft voice makes me look up in the direction of the said voice. it's the librarian. "you aren't allowed to sit between the isles or eat in here."

"i'm so sorry." i repeat while putting my lunch away and closing up all of the poetry books, putting them back where i took them from.

i get up looking at the time and see that it's almost time for my math class to begin. i grab the cupcakes and quickly make my way toward the exit but in my haste to get to math class i don't realise that i leave behind something important- my journal.

• • •

"iron man!"

"the hulk!"

"yahh, soo yeong ah~!" jungkook and jimin yell in sync, turning in their seat to face me. "thank you thank you," they repeat and adore the red velvet cupcake i had given them.

"now i'm contemplating whether i should eat this or put it in a glass box." jungkook states in awe.

"hoseok hyung is a true artist." jimin compliments.

"of course, hobi is the best." i state proudly, "and you better eat it kookie or i'll do it for you." i laugh evilly.

jungkook looks surprised and immediately bites into the cupcake meanwhile jimin's almost done with his. jimin looks over at me and he notices the bandaids over my two fingers, "what happened to your hand?" he takes my hand in his and jungkook stops eating and looks down as well. "is it alright?"

"i got cut on a plate i dropped this morning. it's fine. no worries." the truth is partially untold. "see," i wiggle my fingers a little but jimin stops me and stares at me with sympathetic eyes almost as if he knows something he shouldn't.

"are you sure?" jungkook asks, "i'll give you my cupcake if it makes you feel better?" jungkook puts the cupcake near my face.

"yahh! jungkook ah~, if i wanted it i wouldn't have given it to you." i laugh pushing his hand back towards his body, "but thank you."

they both smile a sincere smile and turn to face foward when the teacher arrives. the teacher settles his things on the table, and gets a student to pass out some worksheets while we wait for the rest of the students to file in. i notice taehyung walk in with his usual contagious smile, which can obviously light up the world.

he places his bag over his desk which is just adjacent to mine and both the desks are separated by a little gap unlike the other classroom settings where they're directly next to each other. he carefully moves to take his seat but his butt is thrusted outwards and his upper body together with his legs form a almost acute angle.

then he proceeds to slowly descend finally taking his seat. i ponder his odd behaviour for a second but immediately expell of it because it isn't odd for him to be weird. he faces me and quickly strikes his signiture pose as a greeting so i simply smile at him then turn to face the teacher.

the class begins but throughout the lesson i notice taehyung acting really strange and he's also fidgeting alot. currently, he's leaning back in his chair while holding tightly onto his maroon blazer.

he opens it up a few times, ever so slightly and looks inside of it. i pout feeling very curious about his actions but i decide to just ignore him and avert attention back to the teacher instead.

"for the next question, i want one of you students to answer it." the teacher announces, preying for his victim as his eyes scan the classroom.

i look down at my notebook feeling somewhat assured because if he asks me this question i should be fine since it's simple bodmas but that is unless my anxiety kicks in- public speaking is not my thing.

"jungkook." he points and i hang my head in defeat- it's always him.

jungkook mumbles under his breath, "again, why is it always me?" i watch him analyse the problem and it seems like he looks shooketh. this child.

"jungkook." i whisper and he straightens up, "multiplication first." he mouths an oh at my words.

"min soo yeong!" i look up at the teacher and gulp, "is there something you want to share with the class?" he asks and i begin to sweat nervously as the class goes dead silent and they all turn to stare at me.

"uh..." my mouth hangs agape and taehyung's coughs are the only thing that can be heard.

"huek- 246!" jungkook suddenly yells. "the answer is 246." jungkook repeats as the teacher directs his attention back to the said boy marking his answer as correct. he proceeds onto the next question and i breathe in relief- jungkook saved me.

i note down the answers and fill in the corrections where needed be but i cannot fully concentrate simply because taehyung keeps on distracting me with his constant movements and his obvious fake coughs that he lets out at different intervals.

i analyse his form from where i'm seated when i notice something move within his blazer. my eyes narrow with much more curiousity and taehyung sits frozen almost as if nothing happened. i go to question his weird behaviour but a certain sound coming from the said blazer stops me dead in my tracks.

i stare at him with fascination but in return he laughs nervously suddenly coughing again while proceeding to re-adjust his blazer.

a/n: kekeke, two updates in one day! lol hope you guys liked this.

i suppose to be preparing a speech for my brother's 21st party which is tomorrow, (and i had months to prepare for it) this is what you call true laziness. i need help, honestly.

oh yes, here's a picture of tata which i kinda drew. (i'm to lazy to crop it, i'm sorry).

~author-nim 💜