The Badboy And The Nerd | ATEEZ

Chapter 2 : The Cherry Blossoms

After the bell rung for the last time, all the students went out of the building, together in the same small groups and continued the chitchat. The topic were the incident back in the school's hallway, where Seonghwa were beating Jihoon and locked him inside the restroom, none of them knew why Seonghwa so suddenly acted this way.

San didn't wanted to dive too much into it all, as he were frightened of Seonghwa and the rest of his gang members. Their reputation around school were definitely not to be messed with, but yet San couldn't help but think of why Seonghwa were acting this way, what was his motive and reason for his actions?

After school, San decided to walk down the path as he wished to see the cherry blossom trees blooming for the first time this year. As he walked lonely down the path, he were silently listening to the birds chirping and the sweet scent of the flowers filling the air around him. The soft wind blew gently through his tick black hair, causing it to softly wave in the air.

He hummed as he inhaled the sweet aroma of all different kinds there filled the air around him. The atmosphere were light and gentle, making him slowly close his beautiful, dark brown eyes behind the broken glasses.

Only a few feets away from his spot, were Seonghwa walking alone as he had to go on an visit at his aunts house there were laying in the centrum of the city.
He stopped halfway as he noticed San standing all by himself, lost in the sweet aroma of the blooming cherry blossoms, there just had started blooming.

The sight of San standing there all alone had made his heart skip a beat, a soft sting made him gasp. He were confused by why his heart kept beating so fast whenever he sees this young, nerdy boy in front of him. Seonghwa had been trying to avoid the feeling that had clung onto him since this morning where he saw San getting bullied by Jihoon.

He had been witnessing many of Jihoon's bullying of San, but for some reason, this time were different. When he saw how he intentionally threw the thick basketball at him, causing him to fall and become the target of everyone who have been standing in the yard, something happened deep inside Seonghwa, something he were unable to explain in words.

San stood, frozen to his spot when he heard the well known voice of the same boy who had been defending him earlier today and slowly opened his eyes to find him standing next to him and looked up at the beautiful flowers there waved in the air on the thin branches.

"It's rare to see how the cherry blossoms bloom this early in the year, but despite that, they are as beautiful as always." His voice were softer and more gentle than usual, when he looked back down at San, who stood speechless by his sudden presence.

San gulped and silently nods at his words, "y-yes.." he spoke in an voice barely above an whisper as he tried to avoid Seonghwa's stare. Seonghwa easily noticed how San began to feel nervous and insecure around him and he tried to show less of his usual attitude that could scare every living being there crosses his path.

He cleared his throat, making San flinch a bit, "I'm sorry if what happened earlier today scared you, it wasn't my intention.." he lowly muttered under his breath, causing San to look back up at him with a shocked face. Seonghwa have never spoken this openly to him or anyone for that matter except for his gang members.
San nods and gulped as he were insecure of what words to use in case not to end up just like Jihoon, "uhm, n-no.. it's..it's okay.." he stuttered at every word that he spoke.

San had always been shy and extremely vulnerable, so it was easy for Seonghwa to see that he were lying. He sighed as he tried hard to get his attention, "well, see you tomorrow at school." he didn't wished to frighten him more, so he decided to just leave him.
San remained silent as he watched Seonghwa leaving him alone, letting him finally breathe freely again.

His nervousness had taken the best of him and he felt his heart skip a beat by Seonghwa's presence by his side. He never expected him to freely approach him without any of his gang members by his side. He decided to just shake off any thoughts and just continue walking down the path until he finally reached his house, where he were greeted by his little sister there hugged him tightly and his mother there worriedly examined his face and spotted his broken glasses.

San had never been speaking of how the time in school were going and that he were getting bullied every single day, he came up with an lame excuse every time as he knew that it will only be worrying his mother and make his father annoyed as he stayed in the believes that an real man should fight back those who goes against him, but San were just unable to do so, because of his sweet and gentle soul there never could hurt anyone physically.

"What happened darling?" His mother asked as she gently cupped his cheeks and turned his head from side to side to get a better look at the small bruises on his face and the glasses that have gotten broken. San softly forced a smile upon his crimson lips and answered, "it's nothing serious, I just tripped over an stone and fell, don't worry so much mom." A chuckle sounded from the stairs where his brother were sitting once again with his phone in his hands and spoke, "what's the point with glasses when you can't even see an stone in front of you?" He asked teasingly.

San simply shook his head, not giving any attention to any of his questions as he knew that he were only teasing him.

Their mother sighed, feeling relieved that he hadn't gotten hurt badly, but never did she knew what actually had happened through the day at school and he never intend her to know either. Suddenly the voice of his little sister interrupting had made him look back down as she were embracing his leg, "Sannie, come play with me!" San smiled and nods, "I will, as soon as I'm done with my essay, I will play with you until the evening." She happily clapped her hands and giggled before she ran off.

After San entered his bedroom, he went towards his desk where everything were organized, his pencils and pens, his notepads there were laying in an small pile in the corner and his laptop there were placed in the middle of the table. He sat down on the chair and opened his laptop to start his writing on the essay, when suddenly he got interrupted by an sudden message that he received on his phone.

The small vibrations from his pocket had made him feel more curious and he found his phone there were hidden deep down in his pocket. An unexpected message had popped up on the screen, making him raise his eyebrow as he saw an unknown number texting him, "hello San, I'm sorry if today had frightened you so much, it was never my intention to scare you, I hope that you will be able to forgive me?" He didn't knew who were the owner of this unknown number.

As he closely were analyzing the words in the text, he came to an conclusion of who it might be.
"Seonghwa?" He silently mumbled for himself as he kept reading the text over and over again, still unable to clear the mystery of how he had gotten his number. San were hesitant, he didn't knew if he should respond to his text, but took a deep breath and let his fingers slide over the screen to write, "it's okay, I'll forgive you." He send an smiling emoji at the end of his sentence before he send it.

He put his phone on the table beside his laptop where he soon began to write on the blank page, until another 'ding' sounded and the vibrations from his phone had caught his attention once again and he grabbed his phone to take another look, to see Seonghwa responding to his text, "thank you. I had been thinking if it could be possible if we could be friends?" His question had made San freeze, he had never managed to make any friends as he were so shy and introverted. He were hesitant as he didn't knew what to answer, but finally spoke while he texted, "sure."

Unable to believe what just happened, San kept looking at the screen as he saw three small dots down at the bottom of the screen waving as Seonghwa were texting back. Soon another text popped up, "great! See you tomorrow San." With those final words, there became silent.

San took a deep breath before he put his phone away and went back to his essay, but for some reason, he were just unable to concentrate on his work. An mixed feeling had filled him as he were happy to had finally made an friend, but at the same time, it were Seonghwa, the school's Badboy and the leader of a gang.

He slightly closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair as he let his mind wander back to the moment they met at the cherry blossoms, how he nervously tried to avoid him because of his reputation and his gaze there drilled through his body and soul.

He covered his face with both his hands and silently lets out a low groan, "urgh, what have I gotten myself into?"