Perfect Strangers | jjk ff

Safe Hands

~ Hana's POV ~

The double doors of the school felt like they were getting heavier everyday, particularly because I didn't want to be here and be obligated to exist in such a horrid place with people that made me feel invisible.

I was currently strolling down the hallway in the direction of my locker, all alone and avoiding meeting anyone's eyes as usual.

But for the first time ever in a while, I sensed this group of individuals approaching me from ahead, but they peculiarly gave off a threatening and pernicious aura.

Clutching onto the textbooks in my arms as hard as I could for some sort of protection, I looked up to see Yerim with her slaves following behind her, Aeri being one of them.

"Hi Hana." their boss greeted me with a combination of a simper and a grimace plastered on her face, glaring down at me like I was a cockroach she was ready to stomp on.

"I heard you're dating a loser who got expelled?" she chuckled tauntingly with her fingers over her crusty lips, unnecessarily bringing up Jungkook and referring to him with an insulting name.

Oh right, she doesn't know that we broke up.

But that was absolutely none of her business.

Inspecting my surroundings in an exaggerating behavior as if she was seeking for my peers that used to be beside me, Yerim pouted mockingly and asked, "Aw, wasn't he your only friend too?"

"Did you really think anyone would want to be friends with a loner like you now that you're single and back to a nobody?" she mentioned my detrimental effects of breaking up with Taehyung, her arms interlaced and her body leaned towards me.

The moment she said that, I took a glimpse at Aeri who was shrinkingly hiding behind Yerim's figure, and she cowardly looked away once our eyes met.

But I guess I'm a coward myself, because I couldn't fight or say anything back.

Yerim's words pinpointed every aspect of my insecurities and emotional misery, and I knew I would break down if I dared to argue back while in such a fragile state.

Gasping dramatically, the demon in front of me suggested with excitement, "Oh, I know! I have an idea that would benefit both you and everyone else in this school."

But with her cheerfully lit up expression transforming into one blazing with hatred, she squinted her eyes at me and presented me with her "considerate" advice.

"I think you should follow him and get the fuck out of this school too."

But right as that domineering phrase left her mouth, a tall, male figure stood in front of me in a defensive manner with his back facing me.

From his distinct posture and broadness of his shoulders, I was able to acknowledge the person as Jin.

"Isn't that something you'd like to do yourself, Yerim?" he asserted back strongly and intimidatingly, as if he was a translator that spoke my mind for me.

"J-Jin..." Yerim faltered as she suddenly became a frightened chicken, equally as shocked as I am to see her ex-boyfriend standing up for a complete stranger like me.

"After all, you're the one who got rejected by Jungkook, not Hana." Jin exposed her of her clandestine crush on my ex-boyfriend, instigating multiple gasps from the enormous crowd of curious students around us.

After a few seconds of silence, the audience began to snicker and whisper amongst themselves about Yerim's embarrassing secret.

Unable to take the intolerable humiliation, Yerim scurried away from our sight with flaring cheeks as red as her crimson lip tint.

As the commotion subsided and the students returned to their own businesses, Jin turned around and worryingly asked, "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah, thanks." I smiled at him in appreciation, feeling slightly better with his help.

"You still keeping in touch with your boyfriend?" he spoke about his best friend, his random question explaining the mystery to why he defended an unacquainted individual like me.

Knowing Jungkook, he probably made sure before he left that I was in safe hands by someone he trusted most, which happened to be Jin.

And this is why it's so damn hard to forget or get over someone like Jungkook.

"He broke up with me two days ago." I informed Jin, this being my first time telling anyone about it.

Regretting his action of bringing his name up, Jin hastily apologized, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"It's fine. It's over. Everything's over." I said to him, reminding myself of the changeless facts that I struggled most to accept ever since he left me.

I tried so hard to camouflage my distress by displaying a smile assuring I was okay, but the corners of my lips started to quiver inevitably and drifted downwards as my vision began to blur with tears that were nearly about spill out.

Once he saw that my eyes were beginning to water, Jin stared at me with clear panic evident in his widened eyes.

Despite being reluctant at first, he resorted to the form of comfort that works on everyone.

Stiffly but gently, he enfolded me in his arms and relieved my rambunctious emotions.

Even though it wasn't the same alleviation I got from Jungkook's hugs, it felt nice to be reassured by someone who genuinely cared.

Wordlessly listening to the sniffling mess in his embrace, Jin gradually separated his body from me after a while.

"Hana, you should tell your parents about what Yerim said to you." he encouraged me to confide about me getting bullied, but I briskly shook my head as a "no."

"I-I can't Jin. They can never find out about this."

I don't want them to worry about me over such an immature thing like this.

Yerim just has to grow the fuck up and graduate that "bullying" phase that she should've gotten over by eighth grade.

"But they can help you! They can think of something to save you from this hell you face everyday." Jin made a great effort to persuade my choice, but I swung my face side to side once again.

"Thanks for worrying, I really appreciate it. But I'll be fine. I promise." I said as I gave him a friendly, polite grin, then hurriedly headed to my locker so I wouldn't be late for class.