unpretty

28

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains scenes that some may find disturbing, especially those who had been past victims of stalking. Please prioritize your mental health by skipping the parts where you may feel uncomfortable reading. Thank you.

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:continuation

June 21, 2012

"Why did you call for me Mr. Bin?"

"Well, I wanted to inform you that you have a failing grade in history," he spoke quietly while walking to his desk and opening his class records. He fixed his spectacles and looked at me, "I advice you to take remedial classes under me."

A failing grade? From what I remember, all of my tests and assignments have got high scores. "May I ask, how did I get a failing grade, sir?"

"Well first off, you weren't able to do your project," I didn't fail to notice that there was a hint of malice in his tone. My heart suddenly pounded faster against my chest when he slowly walked towards me with a creepy smirk on his face.

"What project?" I tried to speak with a strong voice. Somehow, my guts were telling me to get away from the situation.

Something's wrong.

I looked around the office, hoping to grasp a sight of a weapon that I could use, however, what I found was a familiar camera with its cracked lens sitting on top of a shelf on the corner. I immediately recognized it and looked at the man.

Oh, no.

I felt fear creep up my system. Despite this, I did my best to step towards the door and tried to twist the knob as quickly as I could. To my horror, it was stuck and the door wouldn't open.

I'm trapped.

"What's the matter, Ailee?" Mr. Bin smiled with sinister when he found me helplessly trying to get the door open. I'm going to die.

He harshly grabbed me by my arm and pushed me against the wall. I never felt more harrassed when I felt his hand reach my leg and caressed it as his towering figure hovered over me. He positioned his other arm on my side and put his hand against the wall, leaving me trapped with no other opening to escape to. I felt my tears start to run down my cheeks thinking of the uncertain future that was ahead of me.

"Let go of me, you freak!" I shouted as I tried to shake his arm hand off me, but he was really strong. He managed to cover my mouth with his palm regardless of my efforts to yell and squirm away from his hold.

I'm really going to die now. He's gonna kill me.

There was a loud, sudden bang against the door from outside.

"Boksung!" We were both startled when the door fell over the floor, revealing a tall figure of a man with his foot left in the air from kicking the object on his front.

Hoseok.

When he saw what we looked like, he didn't think twice to charge on Mr. Bin and land a fist against his nose. The feeling of fear left me all of a sudden and it was replaced with a feeling of safety. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to recover from shock immediately as I watched Hoseok repeatedly hit the man on his face, his eyes filled with rage. Nevertheless, I regained composture and pulled him away by his shoulder when I saw that he wasn't planning to stop with his violence.

When Hoseok turned to me, the furious look on his eyes was soon replaced with tenderness.

"Boksungie, are you hurt?" he asked.

"I-I'm okay , Hoseok," I smiled at him when I saw how he was worried for me.

He looked at the fallen man, making sure that he was down and unable to escape. Soon after, he pulled me into a tight hug. I also put my arms around his bear-like figure, knowing to myself how I have never felt safer than that moment.

--

"Here," Hoseok offered me a drink and sat beside me. We watched as my sister and my friends talk with the police about he incident as soon as they arrived and arrested Mr. Bin.

"Thank you," I took a small sip of the soda and somehow enjoyed its refreshing flavor.

I noticed Hoseok watching me on my side, "What?"

He shook his head slightly, "Nothing. It's just--"

I held his hand tight with my free hand, "Thank you, Hoseok."

He seemed startled by my gesture. In that minute, he then held my hand and locked his fingers intimately with mine, "No need to thank me. You have to know Boksungie, you are my priority now."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I like you. It took me quite some time to figure it out, but I'm sure of it now."

Wait.

"I like you very much, Boksung."

I looked at his brown eyes to see if he was sincere about what he said. True enough, there wasn't any hint of mischief in it and he had a rather serious, unreadable expression.

"Then... Ailee?"

"Well, I was confused at first. But I thought about it for some time and I realized that what I felt about her was a mere infatuation of a less-mature version of me. But I believe I'm past that stage."

"Oh."

"One more thing. I always knew that you were the one eating the chocolates that I've been giving Ailee."

"H-how did you know?" I suddenly felt my face flush at his statement out of embarrassment. He knew the whole time?

"I saw you eating them everytime at your front yard. I just pretended to walk away because I knew you wouldn't eat them if I was around. I-I'm sorry. It's just that, I knew you'd stop eating them if I told you. To be honest, it felt good to see you enjoy tasting my sweets. A-and I didn't want you to stop, that's why I didn't tell you--"

"Hoseok?"

"--Yeah?"

"I like you, too."