Safe || Im Changkyun

영/ zero

Chae Jieun

I woke up by the sound of my alarm telling me it's time to go to school. I put some clothes on and exit my house with only a lollipop in my hand and my backpack hanged on my left shoulder. I walk down the almost dead neighborhood feeling like the only living creature in it. As soon as I had the school building in my sight i sighed and put my hand in my pocket, reaching out for my locker's key.

At the school entrance, my key fell. I got down to grab it and when I got up, I bumped against someone.
"Ah I'm sorry." The person said with a very deep voice.
"Watch it." I replied coldly not even looking at the person and walked away.

I entered the school, put my stuff in my locker and headed to my first class. Science. The most boring class that has ever existed. I entered the class room and plugged my earphones in. I look outside the window and slowly shut my eyes looking like those boys who always act like they never care in dramas.

Through out the whole lesson i was sleeping. I stood up from my seat to go to my locker. I check what class i have now on my schedule and sighed as I saw it was math. Since I don't understand a tiny bit about math, I'll just skip class. I grabbed my cigarettes and made my way to the rooftop. There was some guy sitting there with his loud ass music coming from his earphones, even I can hear it. Ah, it's him again. No wonder he's here. Doesn't this kid go to class? I grabbed a cigarette and lit it up. I took a glance at the sleeping boy and then turned around so I can face the city, leaning on the fence in front of me.

'Where are you dad?'

The question kept going on in my head. Exhaling the smoke out of my mouth, I throw my cigarette away and lit up another. I forgot myself and smoked a few more cigarettes till it got dark. I grabbed my stuff and made my way home and the guy on the rooftop was following me home as usual. I know he won't harm me or something because he followed me ever since I got to this school. I was scared at first and tried to walk home as fast as I could but day by day I saw how he had no will to harm me. But isn't it weird that he follows me home everyday?

Im Changkyun

Is she smoking again. Heh, that kid has nothing better to do. Though if I tell her that it's bad she won't even listen. I kept my eyes closed and waited for her to finish smoking so we can go home. As I heard the door get closed causing a huge echo on the rooftop, I opened my eyes to confirm if she was gone before standing up and exiting. I followed her home and started thinking how she never noticed my existence.

She was about to enter her house when she suddenly stopped for a few seconds, then turned around. My smile slowly started fading when I realized she was looking at me. I stood stiff for a moment but then got myself back together. I just looked at her and she did the same. Until she opened her mouth to say something and I was scared she would tell me to go away.

"Who are you?" She asked softly but loud enough for me to hear.

"Let's say I'm your guardian angel." I said half regretting it.

She then turned her face ninety degrees and started scanning me. I didn't know you had to be this cute for scanning people. "Hmm..." She squinted one eye and walked forward. I started panicking and took a step back. Shouldn't she be the one scared since I am the one stalking her? She started poking my cheeks then shivered. "hhh your cheeks are so..so.... I just wanna poke them all day." I looked at her and blinked a few times. She just smiled cutely. Why was I even nervous, this girl is so weird. "It's evening." I said. She looked at me like she wanted to slap me then blinked and returned to the main reason why she walked up to me.

"So, how are you my guardian angel?" She asks. "Is it because you stalk me 24/7?" I just widened my eyes at what she said and tried so hard not to stutter with what I was going to say next. "Since when do I stalk you 24/7?" Yes goal achieved, I haven't stuttered. "Uh since day one." She said it and felt so dumbfounded. "I thought you haven't noticed." I said. "Ppfftt, of course I have. But are you always on the rooftop? Whenever I go there I see you." "Yeah it's because I know you always skip math and-" The words came out of my mouth just like vomit. It just spilled out. She started laughing at me. "You even know what class I skip?" I started blushing so hard. I hate being a shy guy.

"Well you should go home Jieun, have a good night." I said and immediately walked away so Jieun wouldn't say more. I turned my music on and put it on full volume. As I inserted my earphones, I turned around to check if Jieun was gone. I stopped in my tracks and smiled peacefully when I saw her entering her house. She made the first move. I entered the dark alleyway. Then next thing heard was someone screaming above my music. I unplugged my earphones for a few seconds. The only sound was coming from my earphones. When I heard nothing, I directly put them back in. I walked back home not realizing there was actually someone screaming and that person is: Chae Jieun.