Broken Deal | Choi Jiung

4

"woah... so cool..."

ji ung looked straight into her eyes as he heard her words. he raised an eyebrow at her which she copied his action, raising an eyebrow at him as well.

hearing nothing from ji ung, ba ram walked away, continuing her first purpose before it got strayed away at the bridge; to go home. after a few seconds, she heard footsteps and ji ung was already next to her, matching her pace.

they walked in silence for 10 minutes until ba ram was getting slightly annoyed and stopped walking. she turned to ji ung who's already looking at her.

"I can't believe you just follow me until we reach my house."

"i thought you want me to protect you."

ba ram looked at him, too speechless to say a thing. 'did he just?' before she's managed to ask anything, ji ung beat her to it.

"see you tomorrow then, ba ram." ji ung smiled and gave her a slight wave then walked away to god knows where, leaving ba ram stood in front of her house still trying to process what just happened.

she tilted her head, watching as ji ung's figure slowly vanished from her sight. 'i guess he agreed...' she thought as her feet walked itself in her house. her head still deep in thoughts when her mom who's preparing to go to work suddenly appeared in front of her, looking at her up and down.

the small visible bruises here and there on her skin made her mom alerted and pulled ba ram in for a hug. that's when ba ram was pulled out of her own thoughts, feeling the warmth of her mom's embrace.

"ba ram, you know how much i hated it whenever this happened. and it hurts me so much that I can't do anything to help you." her mom's voice was shaky, it was tough not to notice the tears that were wetting ba ram's shoulder as well.

"it's okay, mom. it's not long until i will finish high school. i will be fine." ba ram gently patted her back to calm her down.

her mom pulled away from the hug and look at her precious daughter's face. she caressed her hair, sighing. "if you want to transfer to another school, please tell me, okay?"

"don't worry, eomma. it's okay. it doesn't hurt anymore so, I'm fine. but, i am really tired. i just want to rest."

"okay, my love. i cooked your favorite soup today. when you wake up later, heat it up before you eat it, alright? i love you so much. i will buy you strawberry milk when i got home from work."

"i love you too, eomma. thank you. be careful at work." her mom gave her another tight hug and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving for work.

ba ram was too tired to do anything after her mom left that she passed out on the sofa in the living room. she was awoken by the sound of her phone blasting the morning alarm's sound.

her body was sore, blamed the sofa for being so uncomfortable but at least she had a good sleep. did all of her morning routine and finished the soup that her mom made for her, she made her way to the school.

it was a normal, usual day. the class was loud as she walked to her seat. she pulled out the things she needed from her bag and organized it on the desk, ready for the class to start.

the seat next to her was pulled and seated. suddenly, the class was too silent for her comfort that made her looked to her side just to be met with the eyes that she knew oh too well. it was ji ung, smiling a little bit too bright to her liking.

everyone's gaze was on the two of them as if they were the most interesting to watch. well, it is. ba ram was getting uncomfortable with the attention, especially from the three girls that she had to nudge ji ung's ribs and whispered, "what are you doing? go sit at your seat."

ji ung chuckled a bit and whispered back, "no." he then placed his arm on the back of ba ram's seat, pulling her seat closer to his and looked at everyone.

"from now on, if you dare to mess with my ba ram, i will kill you."