HANNI & HER WAYS || Bbangsaz

Desire

Jake postponed Secret Santa. I asked him why, and he made an excuse about his relatives coming over that day. I thought it was a lame excuse, and tracked him down at lunch in the school's Commons to see a nasty bruise on his left jaw.

He didn't give me details of what happened, but Sunghoon' dad, Mr. Park had hit him last night when he was hanging out with Sunghoon. I was so angry that I was starting to yell profanities.

"I'm angry too Hanni, but can we please not make a scene?" His voice low, his head hanging down while he stared at his lunch.

Mr. Park, the Spanish teacher walked by and wouldn't even dare look in our direction. Jake tensed, and gave me a warning look. I was going to give that motherfucker a piece of my mind when Jake took hold of my arm to stop me.

"Hanni, please." He begged. "Just stop it."

"We need to do something." I told him, still glaring in Mr. Park's direction. "He hurt you."

"Sunghoon looks worse." He said, gritting his teeth. "When I left, he had a bleeding nose."

"More reason why we should tell someone." I said. Jake took a deep breath, and shook his head.

"Sunghoon doesn't want to." Jake said painfully.

He told me that Sunghoon has ignored his text messages and calls. Eventually Sunghoon answered his texts saying that he needs some space. Jake knew that it was because his dad will beat the crap out of Sunghoon if they ever hung out again.

"I tried everything." Jake said and finally taking a bite of his sandwich. "I tried talking to his dad again, but he acts like he doesn't know about me and Sunghoon. I really think it's over, Hanni."

He ranted for a while. I let him rant, and I listened. I was so angry that I considered going behind his back and talk to Mr. Park myself. Jake knew me too well and warned me not to do that right after I thought of it. He said that it will make things even worse.

"I hate this." I finally said, after Jake told me everything.

"Me too." He replied.

"Everything alright?" Minji approached, sitting beside Jake and across from me.

"Definitely not." Jake answered Minji, and picking up his things. "You can tell Minji. I'm done repeating that story. It makes me upset just thinking about it."

Before I could ask where he was going, he said that he's just going to the gym for the rest of the lunch period.

"I'll see you whenever." He said when he left.

Minji gave me a questioning look but didn't ask.

"That is quite a bruise on him." She finally said.

"He told me once that the world is genuinely starting to become a more accepting place." I told her, sighing. "Why do people still hate that we can love whoever we want to love?"

"Such fools." Minji replied. "But there are many reasons. For starters, religion plays a big role. People strongly follow what they believe in."

"But that's full of crap." I said. Minji smiled at me, and shrugged her shoulders.

"It doesn't matter what they think of your kind of love. What matters is that you are being true to yourself. You can love whoever you want, but there would always be people out there who would think that it's wrong."
I stared at Minji, and I became scared. She sensed this and held my hand. I gripped hers tighter.

"I don't- Minji, I don't want that to happen to you or me- Or to anyone." I said.

"Me too." She said. "I won't let anyone hurt you."