Dahyun knows better than anyone that the number one rule for having a peaceful high school life is by minding her own business, and not getting in the way of those popular students at her school. Unfortunately out of the bad luck that Dahyun still regret to this point of day, is for embarrassing herself in front of some of those popular students.
It happened a couple of months after she moved to Japan for her family business, choosing to go along with it since she really doesn't have any choices left. Moving in to a new country that you know very little about it is terrifying for the 8th grader Dahyun. They moved when she's a 8th grader in middle school and had to repeated a year because they moved at the middle of the semester. And so, Dahyun managed to continue her 8th grade with a whole different language in a country she isn't familiar with. Thankfully, back then there's another Korean who also in the same class with Dahyun, her name is Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung was all giddy when she heard the news of another Korean in her classroom, almost immediately clasping Dahyun's hand with excitement after the transferee sat down to her chair. Dahyun, of course, is thankful for having Chaeyoung at her side— translating the Japanese words that isn't familiar for Dahyun's newbie ability, teaching her how to say the simple words with the right pronunciations, then so on until they graduated middle school together. The two of them promised each other to continue to the same high school so they can keep sticking to each other like a glue, and if they're lucky, maybe they got to be in the same class!
Well, of course, it doesn't work that smoothly. Chaeyoung got listed to class 1-A, while Dahyun got into 1-C, and boy, the same anxiety Dahyun had when she have to introduce herself in front of her new classmates is getting worse than what she remembered. For the first few days since she's in her new class, her classmates— especially the girls, tend to gather around Dahyun's desk and for Dahyun concern, is getting a little too friendly for her comfort zone. Such as asking personal reasons if there's a hidden reason of why she'd moved to Japan, being all buddy up to her, and sometimes asking her to come with them after school to hangout. Dahyun, of course, reject the offers politely and hoping it makes them back down for almost stepping into her zone. The hype died down after a week had passed and they left Dahyun alone like nothing happened, as if Dahyun wasn't in the class in the first place, as if they choose to ditch Dahyun away for being such a goody two shoes in their eyes. It's a harsh truth she comes to learn and accepted as time goes by.
Dahyun was sure enough that she keeps herself low in her class to prevent any dramas, but God, her teacher is making it difficult for her to keep that low profile. The truth is, Dahyun started to read some literature books to expand her vocabulary (and also her understanding in Kanji), sometimes even bringing it to school so she could continue it after having lunch break with Chaeyoung. Her intent is straight forward wanting to learn the language better so she could catch up with the others and maybe get along better with them after she learn more, but of course, she was too naïve. There’s this Japanese Literature teacher who one day picks Dahyun to read a sentence from their text books, and Dahyun, surprised the whole class with her smooth explanation about the meaning behind the sentences. Dahyun sat back down on her seat after getting praised by the teacher and smiled a little to herself, the smile immediately turned into a frown as she heard someone scoffed not that far from her seat.
“God, I thought she’s a complete cutie but turns out she’s just another teachers pet. Psh, lame.”
Dahyun nibble on her lower lip, trying to find the courage to peek over her shoulder to see who exactly throws that comments. It’s the same voice who asked her to hang out with her after school but she turned down the offers since she had cram school. The girl is pretty much wanting Dahyun to hears that from the way she said it out loud.
The voice continues. “I bet she read those boring books just so she could take the spotlight. Not only she’s a Korean, a smart one too—and now, she’s trying to draw more attention with her so called ‘fast learning skills’. Gross.”
“I saw her hanging out with the tiny girl from the other class. Seems like she haven’t make any friends here, pfft.” Another voice of a girl. This time is pretty deep than the one before.
Someone groaned. “Guys, shut up. Ninomiya-Sensei will caught us, and probably will make you two to read the same sentence out loud but with a different explanation.”
The first voice of the girl huffed. “I don’t care, Mina. I just want this class to be over with so I don’t have to see her face again after this class ends.”
Dahyun clenched her hands into tiny fists under her desk. With the amount of hours, days, weeks, she had to spend for studying whenever she can both at home and at school to learn better at this language, the venomous words those girls spitted out does makes a crack on her poor heart. She just wanted to adapt herself faster by doing so called reading boring books, she even had to skip reading her favorite webtoon just to read those literature books in foreign language she’s not familiar with. She was trying her best—so why..?
The last bell rings as Dahyun keeps her head low to avoid other people seeing her on verge of tears. She hide her face behind the curtain of her dark hair falling down, hearing the shuffling movement of her classmates getting up from their seat to grabs their stuff and get ready to leave. She heard giggles coming from the direction of the girls from before, hearing the sound of their chairs scraping against the floor before it turned into a footsteps that Dahyun was certain that they were going to confront her and dragged her to the corner—but, they didn’t. The sudden adrenaline rushed in to Dahyun’s mind. Maybe it just how they are, maybe they’re not the mean girls that Dahyun think they were, maybe it was just her pessimist thoughts making her worrying over nothing. With the sudden courage from God knows where, Dahyun turned her head to where the girls are.
Really, Dahyun wasn’t expecting to get caught red handed by a pair of honey brown eyes staring back at hers the moment she turned her head over. Dahyun feels her throat drying up at the intense stare the brunette girl gave her, the girl lifted her brows up and rolled her eyes, as if she already figured what was Dahyun doing for glancing at her. The girl fixed her holds onto the sling of her school bag as she took a last side glance at Dahyun, “What?”
God. Even her voice held a mocking tone.
The girl doesn’t wait for Dahyun’s response nor that she even care about getting one. She simply walked out of the classroom and joined her two other friend, leaving the tensed up Dahyun by her desk.
Just as much as Dahyun hate to admit the irony and the cliches, that was the first encounter she had with Sana before everything went downhill.
----
The each passing day feels like eternity as Dahyun keep getting side-glanced plus sarcastic comments by Sana and her two friend. At first, she shrugged it off like it was just another breeze that went in and out of her ears. But once again, she can’t keep that forever because the comments Sana thrown at her is slowly but surely is starting to hurt her feelings more than she can imagine it to be. She even started to questioned herself whether her gesture or her uniforms is looking strange each morning that Sana somehow always found a way to make fun of her, then laughing it off with Mina and Momo (Dahyun comes to learned from the attendance book when she got cleaning duty for the day). She didn’t tell Chaeyoung just yet, of course, yet the smaller one noticed how Dahyun flinched whenever she mentioned ‘classmates’ when they ate lunch together at the rooftop of the school. Dahyun shrugged it off as a joke that she accidently ate the pepper on her stir fry so she flinched, “I’m okay, Chaeyoung-ah, just need to drink—” she said as she reached out to grabbed her milk tea, sighing in relief that Chaeyoung doesn’t ask any further.
Out of the culture difference between Japan and Korea, one keeps getting on her nerves the most.
She comes to hate the first day of the week which is Monday, that is something new that Dahyun had to accept. The reasons? The class leader had to change the cleaning group for each weeks and wow, does that make Dahyun got cold sweats all of the sudden for thinking what will happens if she get in a group with Sana and maybe her minions if she get bad luck (No, but really, Momo looks like that one in the movie with the way she wears spectacle).
Once again, as if the universe is trying to makes her more miserable than what she already is, they got in the same group for Tuesday cleaning duty (minus Mina and Momo), and Dahyun immediately looked down her at indoor shoes as her ears picked up the sigh coming from Sana and audible mumbles of, “What a great, fucking news.” Before the brunette rolled her eyes and flopped back to her seat as the teacher for the first period went in. Dahyun tried her best to focus her mind to the lesson, her left finger tapping the desk lightly from the sudden nervousness filling her mind off. She tries to read the notes she just wrote but fails as she keeps repeating the same sentences over and over again, gritting her teeth frustratedly.
“Sensei, it seems like Ms. Kim over there want to answer your question.”
Dahyun lifted her head and blinked. That was Sana’s voice. She furrows her brows and hesitantly turned her head over the direction of the brunette, gulping and turning her head back at her teacher after getting the cold shoulder from her. Her teacher—a middle old woman who had her gaze at a book, turned over to Dahyun.
“Oh, that’s great to hear that you’re paying attention, Ms. Kim, unlike your other friends who is not.”
“I..”
Dahyun averted the gaze and looked at her notes, shit, she doesn’t even remember the slightest of the question that her teacher just asked them. She bit her lower lip out of frustration, rising her hands timidly.
“I’m.. sorry, Sensei. No, no I—I didn’t catch what you just said.” Dahyun managed to say in a audible mumble, lowering her hand and keeps her head hanging low. The whole class giggled and whispered to each other, making the class filled with noisy mumbles and Dahyun feel like she could die from the embarrassment right there, right now. She also could hear Sana’s cackling laughter from her seat, followed with Mimo’s laugh and God, Dahyun could sense the smug smile even when she’s not looking directly at them.
She nervously fiddling with her pen as she bit her lower lip, blinking away her tears that threatening to fall in any moment now until her teacher shushed down the class with a whack of the whiteboard markers over the teacher’s desk.
“That’s alright, Ms. Kim. At least you have the guts to say that you didn’t hear my question, unlike your other classmate who choose to laugh at you but not knowing the answer either.” She say with a warm gaze at Dahyun, but then shooting a piercing gaze at the rest of the class. She flipped back to the previous page and looked back at the class. “What’s it called the year before 1 AD called? Anyone want to try answering rather than laughing at Ms. Kim?”
Someone raised their hand, her teacher nodded as approval and let them talk. “1 BC, Sensei.” A deep, slightly hoarse voice said. It was Yuto.
“Very good, Mr. Adachi. As I expected for a class lead.” Her teacher nodded. “Now, open to the next page, we’re going to discuss about..”
The satisfied giggles from Sana didn’t died down though, and Dahyun could feel her ears getting red, ashamed, but can’t do anything about it. She hears a tiny scoffed from the brunette, “Pfft, loser.”
Before Dahyun realized, the day ended in a blink of an eye. Maybe it’s because she tried her best to distract herself from remembering that she have a cleaning duty with Sana tomorrow, or, maybe she just got immersed at the thought of having Chaeyoung come over to a sleepover these weekend. The thoughts keep her wide-awake that night, she rolled her body over and over again on her bed hoping the clear image of Sana shoving her onto the trash can would disappear along with her negatives thought about what will Sana do tomorrow to makes fun of her. Should she just skip school tomorrow? But, if she does, then she could get scolded by her parents for skipping school with no reason at all. Obviously she can’t tell them that she’s getting bullied and wanting to skip school to chicken out. She won’t hear the end of it too if she does. With a sigh, Dahyun closed her eyes. Hoping there’s a huge storm tomorrow so she can’t go to school.
Turns out there’s only a few people who shows up for after school cleaning duty with Dahyun, they probably just went home, ditching and leaving her with only three people—including Sana. The brunette, surprisingly haven’t say anything (beside a “I’m stuck with losers”, of course) after the last bell rang, she simply opened the storage closet at the back of the class to grab a bucket and a cleaning cloth, then walking out of the class. Probably going to fill it with water from the nearest water taps.
Dahyun stand on a chair as she erased the whiteboard filled with the last notes with the eraser, sometimes peeking over her shoulder to see if Sana came back since she obviously don’t want to fall down out of the chair with any trick Sana have on her sleeve. She flopped down with a little step, pulling the chair back to where it’s belong and put the eraser on the corner of the whiteboard. She lifts her brow up when her eyes noticed a crumpled paper at the corner of the seat near the window, crouching down to see what it was before she felt something damp against her hair. And then she realize.
It was water, dripping down until it reached her chin. Soaking her dark hair that she spent about twenty minutes to be fixed this morning. Slowly but surely dripped down and soaked her shoulder.
“Oh wow, I didn’t see you there!”
A shiver ran down her spine as she immediately recognize who’s the owner of the laughing voice. It hit her harder than what she thought it would, tumbling down her dam of what she’s been holding in for a long time. The tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down again and again and doesn’t seem it will stop in any second. The dam had broken. The dam of the many times she hold herself not to let her heart cried out. Even after the hundreds time she told herself to strengthen it better.
Despite all of that, it still tumbled down. By the same person who had made her to build that wall.
Dahyun feel her chin trembled followed with hiccups from her throat. Her breath got labored and all she can think right now is how Sana’s laugh echoed in her eardrums. She didn’t even turned her head towards the voice and keep sobbing. Doesn’t have the courage to meet her eyes—even though she could hear the faint voices of her other classmate yelling out “You’re going overboard, Minatozaki!”.
“Oh, isn’t that cute, ‘Ms. Kim’, that you have someone standing up for you?” A thud can be heard not that far from the place she’s crouching down. Next thing she knows she felt a wet cloth land on her head. “Teacher’s pet like you should be told a lesson. Or two. Do you hear me?” Dahyun fall down to the side after a light push by her back, she keeps her head hang low as Sana continue. “Can you even speak? Oh, so now I’m talking with a statue, is that it?” Dahyun shooks her head rapidly, sobs and hiccups in between. “You should be grateful I didn’t dump a whole bucket of water and make you walk home soaking like a pathetic wimp. God, you think you’re so good among all of us, don’t you? Just because you could grasp the lesson faster than even a native speaker could?”
Dahyun shook her head once more, “N—no..” fuck. Her voice cracked by the sobs.
Sana scoffed, rolling her eyes in mocking manner. She folded her arms in front of her chest as she keeps looking down at the soaked, sobbing girl. “You wanted attention so bad, that I even ‘land a hand’. Well here you have it, nerd. Look forward for the next ‘attention’ I’ll give you everyday.” The brunette grabs her bag and sling it up her arm, sliding open the class the door and left. Not even taking a last look at Dahyun who’s still sobbing her heart out on the floor.
----
The following day, Dahyun had to keep her gaze down the floor because she noticed how everyone keeps looking at her as if she got caught red-handed for doing something she isn’t doing. Was it because her eyes? But probably not, since she already applied eye-cream to reduce her swollen eyes the night before. She slide open the door to her class, lifting her head to roamed her eyes around the class to see if they were also looking at her, sighing in relief when they didn’t. Dahyun walked to her seat, pausing when she noticed a writing on it.
‘GO HOME, WIMP’
‘SHOULD GET A LIFE RATHER THAN STUDYING SO MUCH’
‘OH WAIT, YOU ARE ATTENTION SEEKER AFTER ALL, PFFT’
Dahyun nibble on her lower lip, feeling the familiar burn on her eyes and blinked back her tears. It was obvious that it was Sana who are responsible for the horrible words written on top of her desk. Dahyun just hope it wasn’t using permanent markers. She sat down and rummage through her bag to grab her other handkerchief she always bring incase of—something bad, like this for example, happens. She let out a deep sigh as she wiped away the scribble, grimacing at how the ink get smudged all over her desk by the constant wiping. And now, she have a dirty handkerchief she need to wash off when she got home. Dahyun sat down on her seat, her leg restlessly bouncing under the desk. She hate how she just let Sana looked down on her and not having the courage to stand up for herself, even not having the courage to tell Chaeyoung about it, even though the short hair girl is willing to do anything when it comes to Dahyun. Maybe Sana is right—that she doesn’t have anything better to do than study her ass off. Maybe the only thing she’s good at is just.. studying. Dahyun sighed again, lifting her head up as the bell for the first period rang through the tiny speaker in her class. She held back the thought whether to tell Chaeyoung about it or not and starts to focusing on the lesson.
.
.
.
“Did you cried over a movie or something?”
Chaeyoung asks, when they walk side by side to the train station after school ends. The two had been used walking together to the train station since they were midde-schooler, though they take different train.
Dahyun averts her gaze to anything other than Chaeyoung’s gaze. “I—Yeah, yeah I did!” god, that came out too breathy. She bit her inner cheeks, hoping Chaeyoung didn’t notice. “It’s—um, an anime I watched last night.”
Chaeyoung hummed lightly as a response, her eyes never leaving Dahyun’s face. “Huh, really? I thought you hated emotional genre?” She furrows her brows together. “Which one? Maybe it just some minor character death and you’re just being a crybaby over it.”
Dahyun whined, smacking her arm lightly. “I’m not and never a crybaby!”
“Yeaahhh… Remembered back when we just graduated middle school? And you cried while hugging our homeroom teacher because you don’t want her to forget about you? Yep, never a crybaby, yeah sure.” Chaeyoung snorted with laughter when Dahyun smacks her arm again. “But really, what do you watch this time?”
Dahyun giggled a little, completely forgot the thing she lied about to her. “Oh, it’s—uh,” She trailed her eyes restlessly at anything she comes across, walking a bit faster as she tries to come up with any random titles. She wasn’t that much of an anime fan like Chaeyoung but she did watched some! Like the legendary Spirited Away, Wolf Children, My Neighbor Totoro..
“You know—that, the one where.. uh, a music club,” She mumbles as they reached the ticket gate to scan her card and walk through.
“Really? I don’t remember there would be something to cry over in a school club life,” Chaeyoung added and keep walking. “Or is it an anime I don’t know about?”
Dahyun bit her inner cheeks. “Y—yeah, if I remembered correctly the title is—”
Chaeyoung keep glancing at the pale girl with this curious expression on her face, brows furrow together as she seems to doubt Dahyun even more.
But before Dahyun would be caught lying for not being good at it in the first place, an announcement could be heard by their ears—telling that the train Dahyun take will be leaving in any minutes now. Dahyun sighed in relief as she turned her body facing Chaeyoung, grinning widely.
“Oops, sorry, Chaeyoungie! Gotta goo!!!”
Dahyun dashed immediately without waiting for Chaeyoung to react, giggling to herself when she heard a small faint of ‘Dahyunnie, you’re not fun!’. She entered the train with a sigh, considering herself lucky for having the universe on her side after she told that tiny white lie.
-----
It’s not often that Dahyun couldn’t find her indoor shoes in her locker and have to go to the teachers lounge to asked for a new one with a deep bow, ashamed for not knowing where it went even after the third pair they gave weeks ago. Sometimes it’s her gym clothes, and sometimes it’s her notes—that Sana threw to the school pond, and she had no other choice but to went in the pond to picked it up. “Yeah good, that’s exactly where you belong.” Sana shoot her a disgusted look, before she snickered and walk away like nothing happened.
This time, though, Dahyun went to school a little bit earlier than the usual to saves her indoor shoes before anyone—which mostly be Sana, or her minions, hide it away from her. Dahyun sighed again. The effort to get up early and catch the first train is pretty worth it considering the times she had to feel guilty and embarrassed when the teachers asked what happened to the other pair of missing shoes, choosing to lied about it with every reason she could come up with it. Dahyun looked at her wristwatch, it still 06:30, and the school is pretty much still look empty. She could go over her notes for the day to keep her busy while waiting for the others to come. Right when her feet steps onto the entrance of the school—where the shoe lockers located, she could hear someone rising their voice, followed with a familiar voice exclaiming back.
“The fuck is yourproblem, you little shit? You think you can just butt your ass into something you’re not involved in? Funny.”
“I already reminds you, Sana-ya, that you’re going overboard!”
It was.. Sana, and Chaeyoung.
Dahyun froze on her place, clutching to her bag desperately. She could just step back and hide somewhere until they’re gone—but this is Chaeyoung, and, Sana we’re talking about. She can’t just leave her best friend like that with her bully. And if she did, she would feel guilty for it for the rest of the day. As Dahyun got herself in a dilemma, a loud slap rings around the calm air. The next thing she know, Chaeyoung were boiling with anger as she keep her hand up right, while on the other side—Sana is winching at the sting on her cheek, holding it with her hand and doesn’t seem would back down even after the shorter one slapped her.
“Oh, you want a fight that bad, you lil shit?” Sana growled, her brows furrowed at Chaeyoung. “So what, Chae? I don’t care even if I’m being too ‘overboard’ in your eyes, or other people. Can you see? They didn’t even report me—she doesn’t tell you either, right?” She scoffed as she gripped Chaeyoung’s collar up and threw her to the floor harshly. “You and your people choosing to turns blind eye is fascinating. Really.”
If brows could get stitched together from the constant furrowing, then maybe Chaeyoung’s would be one. She clenched her hands into tiny fists as she gritted her teeth, her jaw starting to clench and trying not to pop out a vein. Chaeyoung stood up and fixed her collar. “If you lands a hand on her, then I would. I’ll gladly make that smug face of yours turns into a guilty one for sure, you bitch—”
“Chaeyoung-ah!”
The shout of a worried Dahyun makes the two turns their head and widened their eyes.
“Dahyun?!” Chaeyoung holds Dahyun’s shoulder as the paler inspected her face. “What are you—”
“Oh, great, I didn’t know you loved to eavesdrop people,” Sana rolled her eyes. “And please, I just pushed her to the ground. It’s nothing like the slap she gave me.”
Dahyun sighed in relief when she didn’t find any bruises on Chaeyoung’s skin, turning her head towards Sana and with the frustrated energy left inside of her—she glare at the brunette, her hands clenching on her side. Maybe she’s just tired with all things that Sana had gave her and making her days into a living hell, and now, with her best friend getting shoved to the floor and the conversation two of them had? Dahyun could feel fire rising up her head. “What is your problem, Sana?” She choked out, tears threatening to fall in any second—but not because she was humiliated like usual, but with the boiling anger. “Not satisfied enough to see me suffer with the living hell you gave me?”
“Dahyun,” Chaeyoung squeeze Dahyun’s hand as a warning gesture. When Dahyun just shook her head and keeps her gaze forward at Sana, Chaeyoung grabs her by her wrist hard to get her attention. “Dahyun, please. What are you doing here? You can’t just—”
“I can’t just what, Chaeyoungie?” Dahyun tugged off Chaeyoung’s hand, her jaw clenching together. “You never told me you know her personally.” She couldn’t feel the relief in her like when she founds her indoor shoes is still in the lockers, yet she could taste the bitterness from what she conclude out of the short conversation she overheard earlier. Chaeyoung and Sana are somewhat acquaintance. Chaeyoung, and Sana. It was more than enough for her to gritted her teeth together, feeling the heat from the boiling anger spreading through all part of her body. Probably she looks red like a tomato but she couldn't care less. Not when she felt this betrayed.
Sana shrugged, still folding her arms in front of her chest, clearly unbothered by the heated arguments in front of her. "Well, we're not really friends if that what you're worried about, wimp. What, never knew that your little buddy there hanged out with the girl you hates the most?" She snickered sarcastically, "You're so fucking naive, Dahyun. Makes me hate everything about you."
Dahyun hates how she can't come up with anything to denies Sana's statement. Gulping restlessly as she blinked back her tears. Really, she should've notices from the start. From the moment Chaeyoung brings up the classmates topic when they had lunch. From the way Chaeyoung somewhat appears whenever she almost tear up from the humiliation that Sana gave her.
"Can you just shut the fuck up for a second?!" Chaeyoung shouted. Mad enough to makes Sana snorted and lifted her brows.
"Ooh, scary," Sana laughed. "Shouldn't you be worried about your little friend there? If you don't know, you look fucking pathetic right now, just saying." Dahyun flinched at Sana's words, obviously the words are directed to her, and not Chaeyoung. Every words that comes out of Sana's mouth somehow always stabbed directly into her heart, as if the brunette knows every inch of Dahyun's weaknesses and uses it to back stabbed her. She does looks pathetic, can't even holding back the tears that's been forming around the corners of her eyes, and finally flowing down her pale cheeks. Dahyun steps back hurriedly, using her arm to covered up her sobbing face. Not really helping when she hears another snickered from Sana.
"You're going to be sorry for saying that!" Chaeyoung's tone was going uphill. Even without seeing the tinier girl, Dahyun could sense that she's going to blow up like a volcanic eruption, and dumping all the magma fluid into her words.
"Why should I?" Sana asked nonchalantly. Almost too relaxed. "Isn't she's just a crybaby to begin with? Don't dump the blame on me, Chaeyoungie." Sana was about to walks closer when suddenly Chaeyoung grabs her by her collar, and the next thing she knows, she was wincing from the abrupt throbbing pain on her jaw. Sana shoots Chaeyoung the death glare, using all her strength to pushed and kicked Chaeyoung away until the shorter is back on the floor, wincing and clenching her fists. Chaeyoung hurriedly stood up, her eyes showing none other than wrath towards the brunette.
All of the sudden, Dahyun's running steps was the only thing they could hear in the death silence of the school. Dahyun ran with a firm grip on her bag as if her life depends on it, the tears in her eyes slowly turning into a huge storm that flowed down again and again onto her wet cheeks. She doesn't looks back, even as Chaeyoung desperately calling out to her. She slammed the restroom door and went into one of the stall, crouching down as she can't handle her tears, and began to cries her heart out. It's too much. She can't handle another day living like this. Like the bullying isn't there in the first place. Like she was okay. Like she wasn't affected with the constant humiliation Sana had gave her. It's too much for her to keep pretending.
----
Dahyun doesn't go to school the next day, or the day after tomorrow. She finally had the guts to tell her parents a tiny white lie that she wasn't feeling well. It works, of course, but not long. After three days of having a lone, me time at home, Dahyun shows up the next following day because there's a field trip to Asakusa for the whole day. They were assigned in small groups, and Dahyun was more than relieved that she's not in a group with Sana nor Chaeyoung. Though, she got grouped together with Mina. Talking about Chaeyoung, Dahyun haven't replies to her messages after the fight they had that day, choosing to left her on read and archived her bubble chat.
They arrived after thirty minutes on the road with a bus, and the teachers gathered them to make sure there isn't anyone left in the bus.
"Okay, everyone! We're going to visit some historic temples dedicated to the goddess of mercy. After that, you're all free to visits some places near here along with your group. Don't forget to call the teachers if there's someone missing!"
Three hours passed in a blink of an eye after they strolled along the Sensoji Temple, taking the sight of the colorful gate and hearing the explanation about the details from their history teacher. Dahyun was amazed, of course, by the differences of Japanese’s temple and Korean’s temple. She got her mind preoccupied by each facts and the new culture she learned just by visiting one place, probably would get more excited at the next destination they’re going to headed after having lunch. Dahyun averted her gaze when Mina sat down beside her, trying not to give a damn to the other girl presence and keeps eating her dango quietly. Neither opened their mouth to strike a conversation, but Dahyun feel somewhat intimidated—since, well, Mina is Sana’s friend. Although before she could get more restless, she hears the teacher calling them to gathered around, Dahyun stood up, thanking the God for the intervention and walk hurriedly. Pretending she didn’t catch any of Chaeyoung’s guilty gaze at her when they continue walking.
They visited the Museum specializing in Japanese textile culture. Once again, two hours passed already like the time is in fast forward. Dahyun looks at her wristwatch, it’s almost 3pm, about the time where they’ll be given the chance to visit the shopping street to buy whatever catch their eyes as a souvenir to bring back home. Not like before where they went along in huge groups, this time they have to go with their small groups—which reminds her that she have to stick by Mina’s side this entire visit, whether she likes it or not.
“Dahyun?” Dahyun flinched and lifted her head up, finding Mina’s concerned face. “Are you listening?”
Dahyun gulped. “No—sorry, can you repeat it?” She fiddles with her hands.
“Oh,” Mina blinked. “Relax, okay? I’m not into making fun of people for my own satisfaction like Sana did.” She gave a reassuring smile, patting Dahyun’s shoulder gently. “And I was just saying that you shouldn’t wander off by yourself, especially in this crowd, since technically you’re still new.”
Dahyun blinked twice. Was she’s sure that Mina gave her a smile?? One of the minions of her bully?? Smiling at her?!
“Oh, um—” She scratches her not even itchy nape, nodding. “Thank you.. I think I could get a little tour guide here if you don’t mind.” She let out a nervous laugh. Obviously she wouldn’t want to be seen in the missing children center. It would be more embarrassing than the times that Sana had make fun of her at school.
Mina chuckles, “Sure. Just try not to get distracted by the displays—because some are just a way to attract tourist like you who doesn’t know the exact use of the items they’re selling.” They started to walk side by side, Dahyun’s eyes wandered around the huge entrance gate and the pretty lamps they hang. “And probably it’s going to be useless and—see? You got distracted.”
“Sorry—it just, too mesmerizing.” Dahyun said, voice full with awe. “Oh and, can we.. uh, windows shopping first?? I don’t wanna to spend my money just right off the bat..”
Mina nodded. They started to walk slowly towards one store to another. There's so much stuff that Dahyun never seen before, from antique shops who sell unusual things that she never seen in her daily life, to a shop who displays Japanese swords that she almost immediately got hooked up by the craftsmanship. Unlike Dahyun who's hesitating to buys stuff— Mina, on the other side, buys a few of locals snack as souvenir (she said “It's for my families, don't judge me,”). After taking a whole ass time walking around, Dahyun finally made her mind (finally!), and went to buy it to the shops. Her hands were full with paper bags, a huge satisfied smile on her face. They were about to get back to the entrance of the shopping street before Dahyun got distracted by a cat latching onto one of her smaller bag and ran off.
Without even looking back, Dahyun chase after the cat. Completely forgot that she's supposed to stick with Mina. She stops running when the cat ran into the small alley that she can't reach, huffing as she tries to catch her breath. She looks back and realize that she's lost in some neighborhood that she guessed was not that far from the shopping street. Dahyun turn her phone on and slides to the map, sighing in relief that her guess was right. She looks at her phone screen and back to the street, walking uncertainly to follow the directions, when all of a sudden she hears a loud, hoarse voice, coming from some alley that's not too far from her. Dahyun flinched at the guy's voice.
"Guess your parents didn't teach you manners. What a shame. You have a pretty face too."
"Don't fucking touch me, you asshole!"
Dahyun's face dropped. It felt like her stomach had sunk, like a stone in a pond.
It was Sana's voice.
With all the courage she had left, Dahyun peek over the alley and founds Sana cornered by two bigger build guy, and probably reek of cheap colognes and dyed hair. One is getting too close to Sana that Dahyun is certain she's going to kick him in any second now, while the other guy is leaning towards the power pole, probably keeping watch. Dahyun gulped at the sight— at how Sana looks so helpless, yet the brunette keeps talking back to provoke them. Then, Dahyun notices. That's exactly how she looks like when she got bullied by Sana—Brow furrowed, hands gripping tightly onto her bag, and voice cracked. The only difference is that Sana doesn't let them look down on her, unlike Dahyun— who'd chicken out and letting Sana continuing to embarrass her.
The guy gripped onto Sana’s jaw to keep her gaze at him, her eyes widened as she winced, her nails clawed the guy’s arm as hard as she could to tugged off his grip. The guy snorted into laughter. But in Dahyun and Sana’s ears, it brings nothing but goosebumps that turned into shiver down their spine. Dahyun taps her legs restlessly as her brain remains freezing to the sight. She have to do something. Anything. But before she could realize what she’s doing, her legs already made their mind to rushed to the alley, yelling out a “sANA!” and receiving a same volume of yell with a little bit of shock by the other, “Dahyun?!”
Dahyun feels coldsweats trailed down her forehead when she’s face to face with the two guy who have this unamused face by the sudden presence. She bit her lip, trying not to get her voice shakes. “Let her go!”
“Aw, how cute. You bring your friends over?” The guy snickered and keeps his hand at Sana’s jaw that Dahyun feels it starting to get on her nerves.
“Nice, right? Now we’re even.” Sana clenched her jaw, eyes narrowed and sends her leg flying to pushed off the guy from her, but it doesn’t really pushed him like she expected to be. He hissed at the pain, and grips Sana’s face until her lips puckered and she winced at the harsh grip. “Bitch.” He scowled.
The other guy, the one who’s leaning onto the power pole looks at Dahyun, clearly irritated. “Who the fuck are you? This isn’t the right place if you want to play heroes who saves the day. Turn away and pretend you didn’t see anything.”
“Why do I have to listen to you? You’re the one who’s supposed to turn away,” Dahyun managed to provoked. If they’re not in a threatening situation, she would’ve celebrates for being able to talk cockily like that.
“You talk big for a midget. How about you fuck off before you have some bruises on your pale face?”
Dahyun gulped. She glanced back at Sana, and founding the same honey brown eyes looking back at her with concerns. Although unlike the times Sana had gave her a scoffed, smug smile—the brunette gave her a dumbfounded look.
Sneakily, Dahyun grabs her phone from the pocket of her school’s blazer, stepping back a little and put in right beside her ear like she’s calling someone. “Hello, police? There’s some thugs ganging up on a high school girl—”
Apparently a fake call is enough for the other guy to charges forward towards Dahyun, while the guy on Sana’s side got startled and eventually loosen his grip. Dahyun hopes—deeply, that’s her fighting knowledge she get from video-games would work correctly in real life. She immediately turns to the side, making the guy who’s rushing towards her bump into the wall of the alley, cursing and wincing. Sana, on the other side, took it as a chance to pressed a hard blow of the guy in front of her with her knuckles to his jaw, the guy loosen his hold quickly and Sana lands another kick to shoved him to the ground, rushing towards Dahyun and yelled out, “Behind you!”
Dahyun cursed under her breath for not having a quick reflexes and felt a throbbing pain on her jaw. She winces, holding the place where the previous guy successfully landing a pretty hard hit that’s probably going to be all purple. Sana gasped and growled with fury towards the guy, but before the brunette could land another smack to the guy’s face, Dahyun grabs her by her wrist. “Run!”
They ran until they’re out of breath, until the yelling of the guys vaguely heard on their eardrums, stopping right after they saw the shopping street. It was Sana’s turn to hold Dahyun’s wrist, the paler one lifted her face up with confusion.
“Dahyun, I..” Sana muttered. “I know I’ve been a total bitch to you yet you didn’t leave me back there. So, Dahyun, I—I wanted to say... Thank you, for saving my ass.” She sighed, now dragging Dahyun in to the convenience store across the street.
Dahyun blinked, completely taken aback by the sudden apologize. “Your.. welcome.” She gulped down the bitterness from her own words, it feels unusual. “It’s nothing, though. I barely save my own ass.”
“Dahyun, you almost got a black eye. Because of me.” Sana said worriedly, facing the paler girl as they stops in front of the households goods shelves. “It’s also not ‘nothing’, considering the times I make fun of you.” She grabs some painkillers there, then approaching the freezer to grabs an ice pack, turning her body again to face Dahyun.
“But it’s really not—”
“Shush. I’m buying these whether you likes it or not,” she gestures to the ice pack and painkillers. “You could buy some.. snacks, if you want.” Sana continues timidly, scratching her not even itchy nape, feeling all strange for getting 'all-friendly' to Dahyun—the person who's been getting all the bad stuff just because Sana need to relieve her overflowing frustration.
Dahyun noticed her awkwardness, so she choose to nodded along and went to the snacks section. Her eyes trailed along the sweets shelves, trying to find some choco pies that she loves the most, quickly grabbing few of them when she finds it on the middle shelves. She stops for awhile, peeking through the shelves to steal a glance at Sana who's currently still on the beverages section. Dahyun turned her head back at the sweets shelves, grabbing a strawberry sandwich and holds it with her hands. It would be impolite if she didn't think about buying some for Sana.
They went to the cashier with each others item in their hold, Sana lifting her brows up at the amount of snacks that Dahyun placed on the counter. "You eat a lot but you didn't even get taller." She mumbles as she watches the employee scan their items. "Oh, shit. Sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine, I'm used to it." Dahyun shake her head lightly, then hurriedly adding as she notices. "I— I mean, not all of them are mine. The sandwich is for you."
Sana fetches out her wallet and pays for both of them, also shaking her head as she catches up. "Oh. That's.. thank you, Dahyunnie." She smiles a little, then sighed. "It's clearly my fault for being a bitch to you, you don't have to feel guilty about it," she mumbles, then sitting down on the bar stool inside the store, patting the seat next to her for Dahyun to sat on, and she did. "I'm.. sorry, Dahyun. For tons of shit I gave you." She muttered as she wrapped up the ice pack with her handkerchief, and push the painkillers to Dahyun's direction.
"Sana.. I already said it was fine, it's okay." Dahyun takes the painkiller and gulped it down with water, flinched at the sudden throbbing pain coming back because her movement. Sana hurriedly checks if it gets worsened, but Dahyun only replies with a shake of her head.
Sana sighed, biting her lower lip as she get a better of view of the bruised skin. "This wasn't supposed to happen to you.." She mumbled, then gently holds the ice pack covered handkerchief to the bruised area of Dahyun's jaw. Hearing the paler one hissed at the sensation.
"Sorry. Does it hurt that bad?"
"N-not really. It just sting at the first second but it's alright now."
An awkward silence filled between them as Sana kept holding the ice pack against Dahyun's jaw. Dahyun fiddled with her fingers and doesn't dare to steal a glance, because obviously the abrupt closeness between them is enough for her to feel uneasy. She opens up the choco pie then, the tearing sounds of the plastic packaging is loud enough for Sana to notice. Right when she's going to take a bite, she stops.
"Um.. Sana?"
"Yeah?"
"Want some?" She asks, but her eyes were casted downwards, gesturing to the sweets on her hand.
Sana blinked. That was probably too out of nowhere judging by how it takes Sana a few seconds to answers.
"It's okay. I have this, remember?" Sana picks up the strawberry sandwich and shows it to her, her lips curving into a tiny smile. She lower down the handkerchief and starts to tear up the plastic surrounding the sandwich to take a bite, humming in delight at the taste.
Dahyun let out a nervous chuckles. Thank God she didn't accept it, since it just for formality like the way she usually does with the others. She take out her phone out of her blazer, turning the mobile data on and munched on the choco pie. She almost chocked on it when a lot notification comes from Chaeyoung, and an unknown number that probably from the teachers. She looks at Sana hesitantly, and Sana shows her the same confused expression.
"Did you tell the others yet..?"
"I.. I haven't."
"Me neither."
---
Weeks had passed since their field trip and Dahyun's unexpected encounter with Sana. It's also been a week since she noticed that the bullying gets lessened and lessened every single day, and the fact that none of her stuff isn't missing nor teared apart? Dahyun probably could get used for having them safe and sound in her place. It's also been weeks since she finally made up with Chaeyoung— especially when the number she used for doing that fake call is Chae's (No shit, Chaeyoung almost hugged her until she's out of her breath when they're gathered back at the shopping street, and Mina nagging at Sana at the background for being reckless). Although, Dahyun wasn't sure with what's going on between her and Sana. Sure, Sana's sarcastic comments got lessened, but not completely, sometimes she would get a “Stop studying so much and get a life, geez.” —Dahyun thought maybe she just couldn't help it. Maybe.
It's another day where they have their homeroom teacher on the first period, talking about class related stuff that Dahyun doesn't really pay much attention because her mind is preoccupied with how her favorite manhwa is going to get another season. She lifted her head when she felt something hit her shoulder. It was a crumpled ball of paper. She frowned, glancing over her shoulder to see who's throwing that, and found Sana met her eyes.
Oh?
Dahyun opens the crumpled ball of paper and finding a cute handwriting of what she's assume is Sana's.
Hi, it's Sana ヽ(•ㅂ•)/
I know you're probably getting tired of hearing this, but I just couldn't help to. I know that the scars i made to your poor heart won't healed instantly just because a simple 'I'm sorry', and a 'It's okay' from you. I know that they won't change the fact that i hurt you, Dahyun, a transfer student. God, I'm so fucking stupid for giving you those scars even though you didn't do anything wrong.
Dahyun blinked. A dumbfounded expression on her face. She flipped the paper over to continue.
And as much as i hate cliches.. Hey, Dahyun, would you give me another chance? To make it right? I really, really, want to be seen as your friend. Not your bully. I hope you'll forgive me in the end.
Oh, and answer with a scratch on your neck as a yes. And tap your pen to the desk as a no. I don't want you to be caught for throwing papers back (´-﹏-`；)
Without any thoughts to do so, Dahyun smiled. A warm one. Her hand reaches up to brushed her hair to the side and making her nape to be seen, scratching lightly at the skin.
Although Sana had warned her already, Dahyun couldn't help but to turns her head to the direction of Sana's seat. Finding a pair of the same honey brown eyes looking so soft, with a bright smile that's probably as bright as the sun this morning.
Just as much as Dahyun hate the irony and the cliches, that's how's it goes for her to discover the other side of the mighty Minatozaki Sana.