The 1 Rule - haobin

truth reveals

"Hanbin! Hi" says Ricky, walking up to me

"Hey" I reply

"You ok? Is Jude ok?"

"She's fine" I respond

"Are you?" Ricky asks. I look at him quizzically

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" I ask

"I don't know. I thought maybe you felt overwhelmed after what happened yesterday" Ricky replies

"Not at all. Thanks, man" I say, patting his back and then walking away. 

I need to find Cho. 

Luckily, I see her looking at some papers on the wall, examining them with narrow eyes, resting on one for a while, and then trailing onto another one. There she is, next to her brother that is reading a book like the perfect boy he is. I walk up to them, noticing that she hasn't noticed me just yet.

"Cho," I say from behind her. She gives a start but quickly composes herself

"Hey! How's Jude?" 

"Fine," I say

"What about you?" she asks

"Oh my god, why's everyone asking me that?"

"I don't know. I was just genuinely concerned. I thought that maybe you felt surprised at what happened yesterday."

"I'm good, don't worry," I say. Cho nods, before going back to inspect the papers hanging on the clean school walls. Hao still hasn't looked up from his book despite me being here, right in front of him, almost as if I'm invisible or as if he just doesn't care about anything that happens around him.

"Cho?" I ask, turning away from her brother

"Hm?"

"What exactly did Jude do?" I ask. Cho doesn't turn, but I see her stop studying the papers.

"She hasn't told you?" she asks

"No. She refused to talk to me"

<flashback>

"Jude, what the fuck have you done?" I shout, running toward the kitchen. I feel angry at Cho, for not telling me what she has done, but I don't completely blame her

"What?" Jude asks, turning away from the fridge and looking me straight in the eyes

"What did you do to Yujin?" I ask

"I don't know what you mean" she replies, her face expressionless. I suddenly feel a wretched sense of anger overcoming all of my senses. I stomp towards Jude and shove her ever so slightly, even tho I want to punch her harder than those bullies ever have

"What did you do to Yujin?!" I repeat, my voice harsher than the last time

"It's none of your business," Jude says, unfazed by my sudden outburst. She pushes past me, bumping against my shoulder slightly, and doesn't look back. 

<end of flashback>

"Well, I have nothing to tell you then," Cho says, starting to walk away slowly, probably knowing that I won't let go of the subject

"Cho! Please, just tell me. I want to apologize to Yujin myself"

"Apologize? Why would you apologize?" Cho says, stopping

"Because I know that Jude never will. I just want to know how she hurt him so that I can properly apologize" I reply. Cho looks at me with a blank expression and then shakes her head vigorously

"Oh my god, no Hanbin. Jude didn't hurt Yujin at all! On the contrary, she helped him!" she says

"Huh? But then why didn't you want to tell me what happened?" I ask, really confused

"Because I just simply think that it's none of my business"

"Cho, it is your business. You helped us out there, so you're involved too. But, how did Jude help Yujin?"

"If I tell you, you have to promise that you'll talk with Jude after, and then you'll talk with Yujin. He wants to apologize to your sister"

"Ok, I promise. What would Yujin apologize for though?" I ask, curious about this abnormal situation. 

"Ok, so practically, Jude had seen how much Yujin was being bullied, to the point that she decided to help. The bullies told Yujin that all he had to do to stop getting bullied was to join them once and team up against Jude, and then he would be left alone. Apparently, from what I understood, Jude told Yujin to do it, since she didn't want him to get bullied anymore. She formed a pact that she would let them bully her whenever they wanted, as long as they left him alone. Nevertheless, they got tired of her at one point and asked Jude to do the same thing as Yujin; pass the bullying on to another person. You know yesterday, there was a reason as to why they were mad at her. It was because Jude didn't want to do it" Cho says, catching her breath after finishing. I stare at her blankly

"So what you're telling me here is that Jude volunteered to get bullied for the sake of another person?" I ask, and Cho nods "Well, that really doesn't sound like something she would do" Cholaughs and shrugs

"I don't know her, but she seems nice"

"She literally gave you the definition of a side-eye yesterday, and you think that she's nice?"

"She just rejected my handshake. And honestly, it makes sense" she says

"How?"

"Hanbin, people who get bullied are obviously scared of being touched. It's called trauma for a reason" says Hao, looking up from his book. I look at him and shrug

"Thanks, genius," I say "but I guess that's kinda true" 

Cho nods and looks at Hao with a sort of... angry expression?

"I need to go. Hao, I think you should get to class as well," says Cho, giving him one last look and walking away. Hao sighs and bows his head towards me before starting to walk away. I suddenly remember something and grab his hand. The boy turns his head sharply and looks at my hand holding his. He then looks up at me with a questioning face

"Oh, sorry," I say, letting go of him "I just wanted to say thank you"

"For what?"

"For helping my sister out yesterday. That could've been a really bad punch if you hadn't stopped it" I say, smiling. Hao doesn't smile, but he does shrug, not that it makes the situation any better. I wonder if he doesn't like me. He clearly took Cho's orders to not talk to me too seriously.

"If it wasn't me, then who else would've done it?" he says curtly, then turns to walk away.

♡♡♡

Jude didn't do anything bad yayyyy

Also, I'm glad that I was able to double update bc I genuinely thought it probably wouldn't happen, but here I am.

I hope that yall can start looking forward to haobin since there will be more moments between them from now on! Please look forward to it!

Also, please check out my other haobin book called 'the Start of the End'!

See you tmrrr :)

(stream 'eyes on me' by tbz)