Troublemaker - Kang Daniel

18 - Secret

There's no one in my brother's class when I got there. So I searched around, until I heard my brother's voice from afar.

"Please, leave her alone," he said weakly.

"Brother!" I ran then hugged him before Dongho launched a punch on him which ended up landing on my back. I squinted my eyes when I felt the jolt of pain.

"Please don't tell mom and dad. They'll be worried," he said before he fell, unconscious.

"Please, don't hurt my brother. I will do anything, but stop hurting him, please, I'm begging you," I begged as I knelled down to Dongho and cried.

"L-L-Let's get him to a hospital first," Dongho stuttered.

"Dongho, what are you ...?" his friend asked.

"Shut up!" he yelled before he carried my brother on his back then ran to the nearest hospital.

"Hey. He's gotta be fine," Dongho said as he held my hands when we're waiting for my brother being examined. "Is your back okay? I'm sorry, I didn't know that you'd come and block my fist. I would never do that to you, if I knew," he continued. Then I yanked his hands.

"But you did that to my brother. That's even worse! Look, thank you for carrying my brother here. But don't act like you're a nice person, now. Let's not forget that you're the one who beat him up! And you know what? He'll never tell anyone about it and so can't I!" I said before I left him.

After my bother regained his consciousness, we went to his room. The doctor said that fortunately there's no internal bleeding. But he insisted to call my parents because judging from his condition, he suspected that it was caused by beating up.

"Please don't call our parents, Doctor. I'm fine, really. I was just playing with my friends and it went too far. They didn't mean it," my brother explained.

My heart was broken. Even in that situation, he was still thinking about other people first.

"I hope you're happy, Dongho," I mocked as I glared at him before I approached my brother.

"(y/n), remember, you can't say anything to anyone, okay? I'll make something up. Don't worry, I'm fine. Let's go home," he said.

When we got home, he told my parents whatever it was that he said to prevent their suspicions. I was really mad because I didn't know what to do. My brother didn't want me to tell anyone about what happened, and I couldn't avenge him, because then I'd be expelled.

The next morning, I went to the school by myself, because my mom didn't let my brother go. When I came into the class, I was surprised when suddenly everybody was acting so nice to me.

"What happened? Is it true?" Daniel asked suddenly as he pulled me to his desk. His face was tense.

"What is?" I asked confused.

He showed me a picture of Dongho, holding my hand, at the hospital yesterday, on his phone.

"Hhh. It's not like that. Something happened," I sighed.

"What thing?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you. Just ignore it, okay? It's just a nonsense. Why would I date him?" I said.

"Congratulations (y/n)! I heard about the news. You guys look so cute together. I'm so happy for you," Jojo suddenly said.

"Fuck off, will you?" I said coldly. After what she did, I don't wanna have anything to do with her, ever! Two-faced bitch! Then she left grinning when he saw Daniel was unhappy.

"It's nothing. Really," I convinced Daniel. Then we got back to our seat when the bell rang. I was worried because Daniel was still sulking, but I still had another thing that I needed to think about. My brother.

The whole day I was thinking hard on how to protect my brother from another attack. Then at recess I decided to meet Dongho.

"I wanna talk to you. In private!" I said when I saw his friends were about to follow us. Then he told them to stay.

"Alright, what is it?" he asked when we got into an alley.

"I wanna make a deal," I said.

"A deal?" he asked as he put his hands in his pocket.

"Yeah. I want you to protect my brother," I said.

"Hahaha. I don't understand the way you think. Now why would you want me, the person who beat up your brother, to protect him? You're delirious," he said as he folded his hands on his chest.

"Exactly. Because you're the only one who could cause the biggest pain for him. So I want you to use that ability to protect him instead," I explained.

"And what will I get in return?" he asked as he leaned in.

"You could punch me instead," I said lightly.

"Nah, I don't beat up girls. What about you be my girlfriend instead?" he asked as he put his hand on the wall beside me.

"What? Are you nuts? Why would I?" I asked.

"Well, if you don't want then that's okay," he said as he turned around.

"Wait wait. Alright. But I have three conditions," I said.

"What are they?" he asked as he turned back to face me.

"First, you have to make sure that no one will ever touch my brother and that's including you. Second, you have to stay away and stop sending letters to Pamela. And third, you can't touch me" I mentioned.

"What will be the fun if I can't touch you, sweetheart?" he asked as he's about to graze my cheek, but I slapped his hand.

"Then you can forget it altogether," I said as I turned around.

"So you wouldn't mind if I or someone else do something to your brother?" he asked.

"Well, I'll just show up as much as I can and protect him myself," I said as I turned back.

"Hahaha. How will you protect him if you can't fight? As it will get you expelled, remember?" he mocked.

"Who said I'm gonna fight? I'm just gonna take the beating instead of my brother, just like what I did yesterday," I said before I walked away.

"Wait wait, alright," he said as he grabbed my hand.

"So, do we have a deal?" I asked as I turned around and yanked his hand.

"Yes. But only if you really act like you're my girlfriend, and you can't tell anyone about our deal," he said.

"Alright, deal. I can't believe I'm saying this to you, but thanks for taking the deal. And I hope that you'll keep your promise, because I'm gonna keep mine," I said as I pulled out my hand to shake his hand.

He took my hand then pulled me into a hug. He chuckled when he felt that I wasn't resisting his hug. "Since you're being such a good girl, I'm gonna tell you a secret," he whispered.