at home...

iBall Hybrid Dual.

That was the pen drive Yerin showed me and fortunately I happened to own one myself too.

Pulling out the drawer beside my beside table, I took it out. I was gazing at it for an abnormally long time until suddenly an idea hit me.

Getting up from my bed, I grabbed my laptop from the study table and went back to the earlier location.

"case cafe 9 : HAEYOON"

I searched for the exact file and clicked on it. Inserting the pen drive, I got it transferred in there.

Two birdies one stone, you know.

...

TIME SKIP~7:20 p.m.

I checked my wallet for the umpteenth time. It was stacked with 600 bucks and now I was debating whether I should stuff in more or not. Ultimately after much inner conflicts, I pocketed a few more bucks rounding up the total to 1000.

That big mouth can't be trusted at any cost.

Brushing my hair for the last time, I grabbed the car keys and headed out to the garage.

Taking in a deep breath, I pushed the engine to start and moved out.

One more hell of a ride, I swear.

...

Stopping the car in front of her house, I honked the horn loudly.

Getting no response, I fished out my phone from the pocket to call her when suddenly I heard a female voice saying, "Bye mom!"

I was dumbfounded by the way she was dressed because it was heavily designed and most importantly, too short. I was honestly looking like a servant beside her.

"Eeeeeeeeeeek!!!! What the fuck did you wear!!?" Yerin screamed as soon as she opened the car door.

I looked at myself in shock because of her reaction. I was wearing a plain blue shirt and black trousers, nothing out of the ordinary.

"It should be me asking you-"

"Oh so now you're gonna teach me dressing sense when you yourself show up like a peasant? Oh wow how funny."

My grip on the steering tightened.

"Yerin, don't ruin the day and just sit. Where do you wanna go?" I said in my super cool tone.

"Wherever you wanna take me to..." She said seductively.

"Okay then let's go to the $1 sushi conveyor belt."

"Wait what. So you think I dressed up in my best attire to go to a sushi house? What do you exactly think of me, huh!?"

"Okay okay madáme, chill. Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm...some fine dining restaurants? How about Vellorá's?"

I already saw it coming.

"Alright, let's go." plastering a fake smile, I drove off to Vellorá's.

...

After what felt like an eternity, we finally reached our destination.

Holding her wrist, we went inside to the reception table.

"Good evening sir and ma'am, welcome to Vellorá's. How may I help you?" The man at the reception desk greeted us.

"A table for two please."

"Sure, this way please." He led us into the restaurant.

"Here you go sir." He pulled out the chairs and placed two menu cards, "Complimentary water and fruits will be served right away." He bowed and left us.

The last minute decision of stuffing some more bucks actually turned useful because my eyes literally popped out while browsing the menu seeing the prices.

"I'll have the grilled beef course with lobster bisque and one bloody mary. What about you?"

"Oh I uh...." I was so busy in knitting my plan that I forgot to choose my meal and now I was looking for the cheapest food item on the menu.

"I'll have the capresé salad and a caramel milkshake." I said closing the menu card.

"Seriously Joshua? You're gonna have milkshake here!"

"Yeah what's wrong? It's printed over here-"

"Printed my ass. Do you even realize how embarrassing it is to order a milkshake at a fine diner?"

"No I don't. If it suits my taste, I'm gonna have it. Waiter!" I signalled for the waiter while she continued to grump about over god knows what.

The waiter took our orders and went away.

"I can't believe you. You are from such a high-profile family yet you're so....so shabby. I'm trying to upgrade you yet look at yourself."

"Babe does that affect us? Love is indifferent of choices, right?" I sugarized my words as much as possible.

"Yeah but... it looks so embarrassing sometimes..."

"Aww babe don't worry I'm sure we'll work this out." I held her fingers romantically.

She blushed.

Nice shot.

"Your orders sir." The waiter began placing the plates on the table, "Enjoy your meal." He bowed and left us by ourselves again.

"Wow this looks so good. Let's- JOSHUA HONG WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!!?!!"

"Oh my my! I'm so sorry! Here tissues-"

"Gosh, you're so embarrassing!! Aaarghh!" She grabbed the tissues and rushed to the washroom.

Well actually, the toppling the milkshake on her by me made her scream like a lunatic. Even though I said it was on accident, it was actually a part of my plan, so yeah, y'all can understand that "the mistake" was on purpose, not accidental.

As soon as she disappeared into the restroom, I didn't waste a minute more in grabbing and digging into her purse.

Finally after some minutes I finally got the magic wand, the pen drive.

Quickly sliding it inside my pocket, I replaced it with my pen drive and kept the purse back in its original position. That's when her voice startled me.

"Joshua what were you doing with my purse?"

"Oh I uh...um..I actually couldn't find my phone so yeah I was searching in your purse uh you know..."

"And did you get it?"

"No. Could you maybe give me a call please?"

"First you show up like a homeless, then you spill your goddamn milkshake on me and now you're asking me to literally search for your phone? Joshua Hong, how much pathetic can you be!?"

"Babe it's okay let's just eat then-"

"No. I won't. You're so disgusting! I now understand why you fell for that slutty shoes."

And that's it. She took the risk of pulling my last straw.

"Get out."

"What? What did you just say?"

"I said GET YOUR ASS OUT, SEO YERIN." I said loudly while trying to control my anger.

"No. I won't. You can't tell me to get out when it's you who is wholly at fault."

"Fine then. Stay here alone because I can't stand seeing you anymore. And being a man, I'll do the favour of paying the bills for your food wastage. Don't worry about it. Goodnight." I purposely bumped my shoulder against hers and walked out.

The thought of leaving a girl alone in the night didn't sting me this time, not even for a second.

...

at home...

Without even changing my clothes, I plopped down on my bed and inserted the pen drive in my laptop. Out of all files, one file stood out the most.

15-03: First success.

It was the date of our presentation. I clicked on it nervously and a video started playing.

I wasn't ready for this type of content.

My palms held my agaped mouth while horror flashed in my eyes.

How can a person be this cruel?

Out of the whole population why did she target her?

For the whole 2 and a half fucking hours she was locked inside that tiny cubicle by that motherfucking bitch and when the janitor opened it, they began spreading the rumour. Where are we living in?

My mind was going nuts, the more I thought what went on inside her within those 2 ½ hours.

I was almost about to call her but stopped myself.

Not until tomorrow.

I changed into some comfywear for the night and grabbed my phone. Blocking and deleting Yerin's contact, I placed the pen drive beneath my pillow as I switched off the light for some shut eye.

Let's turn the tables tomorrow, Seo Yerin.

...

TIME SKIP~NEXT DAY

7:45 a.m.

Slinging the backpack over my shoulder, I headed out for the big day, I mean school.

I stopped by the familiar cafe. The glass windows gave me the clear view of her head that was kept down on the counter.

A smile crept over my lips as I saw her.

Without much thought, I entered even though not much time was left.

The sound of the bell made her look up.

"Good morning sir. What can I get-"

"Fuck those honorifics Haeyoon and get ready. 10 minutes are left."

"Just order and go." She said reluctantly.

I clicked my tongue as a stupid idea popped up in my mind.

"Alright, then I'll have the usual with a side of you."

She turned her head in the speed of light eith widened eyes.

"Excuse me, what?"

"Dumbo 5 minutes are left. You don't want another detention, do you?"

"It doesn't matter-"

"It does matter! Now are you going to change or shall I drag you like this?"

"What the, okay give me a minute."

"Hmm okay."

She went to change. Literally after a minute she came out.

"Let's go." I smiled as I interlocked our hands and once again like an Olympic race, we dashed off to school.

Just in time.

Luckily Mrs Hwang hadn't entered the class yet. We panted hard, catching on our breaths while I felt death glares being thrown at us.

"Why did you-"

"Oh shut the fuck up Yerin! Not your hysteria again." I spat out carelessly while still trying to calm down.

She continued to blabber whatever which I didn't give a damn about. Finally Mrs Hwang showed up.

Finally.

"Good morning class. Sorry I'm a bit late. I was scoring your presentations and the results will be declared today." She said which caused an uproar among the students.

"And the best presentation title goes to..."

"Excuse me ma'am. Pardon me for interrupting you but this is really important and I need to tell you before you announce the results." The whole class including our teacher got bewildered.

"Alright state your problems. But please keep it short."

"I'm afraid it isn't short." I walked out pf my seat and and went to her desk, "I want you to watch this." I said handing her the pen drive.

"What's this-" Mrs Hwang got cut off again by Yerin's shriek.

"My pen drive!! H-he stole it!!!"

"No it's mine. Yours in your purse." Turning back to miss, "its the truth of the rumour that is currently going around. I want you to watch it."

"Okay..." She inserted the pen drive and the video began playing on the smart board.

The whole class fell silent as the video played.

"Th-that's not m-me-"

"SHUT UP YERIN!!! YOU SABOTAGED A GIRL FOR NO REASONS? WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!? You're coming to the principal's office with me right now! Thank you Joshua for showing this." Mrs Hwang said.

"There is one more ma'am."

"One more?"

"Yeah. This one is about the killer scandal about the same victim. Yerin, would you please check your purse and tell me if there is any pen drive or not."

She dug into her purse and took out my pen drive.

"How come-"

Without paying heed to her words, I took it from her hands and gave it to our teacher.

"The real story is here."

Mrs Hwang looked at me nervously before she began playing the video.

The whole class was left in tears.

My eyes darted off to her direction.

She sat rock-still, her face pale as if she had seen a ghost.

Suddenly from my peripheral vision, I noticed Jeonghan slowly standing up. In a low yet loud voice he said, "It's so shameless of me to say this but I got to know everything that day. And yet I didn't take the tiniest step to stop the rumour that was once started by me. I'm... I'm really sorry...everyone-" He abruptly cut off in the middle when suddenly Haeyoon ran out of the classroom.

Without any second thought, I chased her, not caring about the punishment for bunking the class. My mind was only filled with her.

She is okay.

She won't do anything stupid.

She won't, right?

No matter how loud I called out her name, there was no response. She was nowhere to be seen.

Negative thoughts were welling up my brain when suddenly I felt I knew where she could possibly go.

I sprinted off to the storeroom and harshly slid open the door.

Scanning the room my heart finally calmed down when I saw her sitting crouched down in a dark corner of the room.

Getting inside, I closed the door and walked up to her.

Ouch.

She was a crying mess.

I sat down beside her and gently caressed her hair. As soon as she sensed it, she looked up at me with glassy eyes.

And once again, she hung her head low and broke down.

I pulled her into a tight hug as she continued to downpour on my shirt.

"You are doing great Yoonie. Don't cry. Your tears are precious." I said to her while patting her back.

After some time, she somewhat seemed to calm down.

Wiping off her tears she asked, "You...why didn't you believe anyone? A-aren't you annoyed...? I called you by so many nasty names...even said shit to you..then why did you..?"

Pulling her closer to my chest, I said, "I never believe until I see the matter for myself. And why would I be annoyed when I know that you didn't say those words from your heart?" I smiled at her while she looked at me questioningly with her bambi eyes.

"H-how did you know...-"

"I'm your friend Yoonie, how would I not know? Did you really think you could get rid of me by saying those little lies, mhm? The answer is no. You aren't escaping from the Hong arena any soon. Now tell me, what happened that night after you left me in the rain and ran off?"

"Uh...I...I reached home and....and uh..." She held the side of her head as she scrunched her eyes shut.

"Yoonie? Yoonie are you okay? Yoo-" her head collided over my chest.

I lightly tapped her cheeks and called her.

She was not answering.

She fell unconscious.

Immediately placing one hand behind her knees and the other over her back, I picked her up in bridal style and rushed to the infirmary.

Gently placing her on the bed, I pulled a chair beside her and sat.

So simple, so serene.

So turbulent yet so gentle.

So strong yet so broken.

So tough yet so soft.

So cheerful yet so lifeless.

I tucked the strands of hair that was covering her beauty behind her ear and continued to gatekeep her.

"You made it through everything."

"You're so strong."

"You're so courageous."

"You're so kind."

"I'm proud of you, Haeyoon."

"You're my hope, my light, my everything. Never give up please."

I gently held her hands.

"Always remember someone is always rooting for you."

I paused for a moment.

"And that someone is me. I'll never leave you stranded."

My intrusive self wouldn't be able to say this ever but the next thing wasn't a result of my intrusive thoughts.

I don't know what happened within my heart but my head slowly bent down and pressed the lips on her forehead for a mere few seconds but I should admit it was the best seconds of my life. It was something that I was shy about but never regretted to do.

She was unmoved yet her sleeping face was driving me crazy to do it again but somehow I controlled myself because I was afraid that I might wake her up.

Caressing her face ever so lightly I said with a wide smile even though she wasn't seeing, "Get well soon. We've got a long way to go."

I finally got you back, my Haeyoon.