While Gun was confronting Lee Do Joon, Hyuk drove Yeo Ri to her school on his motorbike. He drove as fast as he could while still simultaneously looking out for harm. He had a passenger with him, so he toned down on his recklessness.
Hyuk dropped Yeo Ri off at her school.
"Wait for Oppa to pick you up, okay?" Hyuk says.
"Mm." Yeo Ri nodded obediently.
Hyuk stared at her with a complicated gaze. After hesitating for a while, he finally moved. He gave her a hug and kissed her forehead as he said his farewells. "Don't worry, Oppa will protect you," he muttered quietly.
"I know," Yeo Ri gave him a small smile.
After seeing Hyuk off, Yeo Ri lost her smile.
She stared emptily into the air as she walked to her classroom. Unlike usual, she ignored the noisy fanboys.
Even when Min Chae came into the classroom and greeted her, she pretended to fall asleep. She didn't have any motivation to speak, much less converse with other people.
Yeo Ri was so out of it to the point that she could barely concentrate on her exams. The hours passed by in a blur. Before she realised it, the school day had ended. All the studying that she had done the day before seemed to have been flushed down the drain; she couldn't even remember if she was able to answer properly.
'What does it matter,' she thought sardonically. So what if her grades fell? It wasn't as if she had a future.
Yeo Ri laughed emptily at the thought.
She was just 14 years old, but her life can already be considered as over. She doubted that it could get any better.
"Yeo Ri-ah?" Min Chae noticed her strangeness. Throughout the whole day, Yeo Ri hadn't been herself. She was worried that something might have happened to her best friend. "Did something happen? You don't look very good."
"...It's nothing. I'm fine," Yeo Ri lied, faking a cheerful appearance. "It's just that... I think I studied too much and didn't get enough rest. When I saw the papers, my mind completely went blank," she grimaced and sighed.
Min Chae's eyes glowed with understanding, "I get what you mean! I studied a lot yesterday, but nothing seems to come out in my head when I was answering the questions just now," she cried.
"What are you guys talking about?" Jang Mi asked as she joined them as they headed to the school gates to go home.
"Nothing much. Just about how difficult the exam was," Min Chae sighed with a pout.
"Difficult? I thought it was pretty easy. Even a few of the questions that Gun-sunbaenim spotted for us came out," Jang Mi commented.
"...You b*tch..." Min Chae glared at Jang Mi exasperatedly. Did she have to flaunt how smart she was all the time? Min Chae looked as if she was ready to throttle the other girl.
Jang Mi was not the least bit intimidated by Min Chae. She simply shrugged, "But anyways, Yeo Ri-ah, is Gun-sunbaenim going to tutor us again today?"
Yeo Ri paused in thought for a second. Then, she shook her head. "I don't think we can today. Maybe next time."
"Oh," Jang Mi muttered in disappointment. However, she quickly gathered herself, hiding her reaction.
"Why not?" Min Chae asked.
"That—" Yeo Ri struggled to answer Min Chae, but luckily, she was saved from answering the girl. Seeing that Hyuk had already been waiting to pick her up as he had promised, she quickly excused herself. "Sorry, girls. My Oppa is here; I need to go now. See you tomorrow!"
"Ah—wait, Yeo Ri—" Min Chae called out to the girl. However, she was already far away.
The two girls watched as Yeo Ri approached Hyuk who was leaning on his motorbike. Seeing her closing in, he got up, picked up the other helmet, and helped her put it on after exchanging a few words. The two drove away immediately after, letting the onlookers eat the bike's fumes as they speculate on Hyuk's identity.
The sight of the school idol getting on some guy's bike riled up the boys. Those that had been interested in her could not help but wail in anguish. Was that her boyfriend, they thought.
Judging by how they acted with each other, it was clear that they were close. Those who weren't in the know could only imagine what their relationship was.
That day, unbeknownst to Yeo Ri, she had broken many hearts.