Eun-kyung meticulously examined Ha-rin's beguiling features, her straight raven tresses cascading down to her hips, the colour of her eyes resembling an emerald jewel, a button nose, heart-shaped lips, and a curvaceous body. Ha-rin could effortlessly pass as the female protagonist, the object of obsession for male leads. Too bad U-jin was a vengeful protagonist that couldn't love himself much less another, but she remembered in the novel that Ha-rin was to be engaged to him after college but it didn't happen because U-jin had finally grasped control over his life, which led to his family relinquishing their hold over crucial decisions, and as a result, Ha-rin ended up only as his partner in business. Ha-rin was merely a supporting character in the novel that's why her brother didn't explain much about her but only emphasized how much she treasured her friendship with U-jin.
Looking up at the girl she liked pairing with U-jin, she couldn't hold her excitement. But she could not fathom why Ha-rin detested Ji-woo so much. From what Eun-kyung had observed, Ji-woo was kind, caring, and a superb friend โ practically the opposite of her.
"If you keep on staring at me like a creep, I might as well pluck out your eyes" Ha-rin glared at Eun-kyung, but even with that expression, she still remained stunning. Eun-kyung was much more resolved to make U-jin fall for Ha-rin, and hopefully, the genre of the novel would transform into a romance. However, changing U-jin's perception of love would be a daunting task, considering he believed that love was a waste of time and that true love is a myth.
"Heh, get down to earth, what the hell are you thinking about" Ha-rin snapped her fingers in front of Eun-kyung's face. Getting out of her thoughts she faced Ha-rin with a smile. This only pisses off Ha-rin.
"Are you contemplating suicide, and plotting a way to die before anyone can rescue you again?" Ha-rin's outburst caused laughter to erupt in the classroom. Feeling content, Ha-rin walked away, only to stop at the door when Eun-kyung spoke up.
"I was considering how beautiful you look this morning, what kind of perfume are you wearing? It smells... refreshing." Eun-kyung grinned at her.
Everyone present was gobsmacked, and even Ha-rin was surprised at Eun-kyung's unexpected response. She turned to her friend that was next to her and inquired, "It was Ji-woo that spoke right" Ha-rin thought she must have misheard.
"Yes darling it's me, missed me right" Eun-kyung was enjoying the whole scene happening in front of her, the students were already murmuring, she rose up from her seat and proceeded towards Ha-rin, seizing a strand of her hair which she brought closer to her nose to sniff it. Ha-rin jerked her hair back, questioning whether she had gone delusional.
"Rose," Eun-kyung responded.
"What?"
"Your hair was washed with rose water." Everyone became silent as they were all stunned at what was happening in front of them.
"It seems like you've lost your sanity after staying in the water for so long," Ha-rin laughed and the rest followed suit.
"No, I want us to make a truce," Eun-kyung leaned on her desk and folded her hands.
"You must be joking," Ha-rin was now certain that Ji-woo had lost her mind. "Not a chance."
Eun-kyung anticipated that response, so she moved on to the next question, "Since you don't want to make a truce, then why do you dislike me?"
"I don't dislike you, I hate you," Ha-rin closed her eyes for few seconds to calm her mind down.
"Too bad, I really want to know in order to know what to do for you to not show up in front of me again," Eun-kyung said as she checked her nails.
"You really want to know?" Ha-rin stepped closer to Eun-kyung.
"Yes," Eun-kyung responded.
Ha-rin leans close to Eun-kyung's ear and whispered "Then stay away from my U-jin"
She walked away but stopped at the door, "I look forward to your actions, my dear Ji-woo." Eun-kyung unexpectedly shuddered. 'Ha-rin is a snake indeed,' she sat down on her chair while everyone continued what they were doing, some were still murmuring about what happened.
"Ha-rin must be tired of handling this white lotus" a girl said.
"Ji-woo must have gone mad, I bet the water that gathered in her brain when she tried drowning herself is still there" the other one joined in.
"Shut your stinky mouths, I bet they must be stinky as a skunk. I would have done the same thing Ji-woo did, she probably want to continue studying for the rest of the year in peace" a guy with eyeglasses on sat up and cautioned them.
It seems not everyone was against Ji-woo, but what Ha-rin was asking for was probably impossible. It was U-jin that came to Eun-kyung on his own volition, and she does not even hold any affection towards him. If she needs to avoid U-jin to survive, she would surely do it.
Following the first period, Eun-kyung resolved to undertake an inspection of Ji-woo's locker, situated at the rearmost position of the classroom, alongside her peers. Upon opening the locker, she detected numerous papers and wrappings, in addition to leftover snacks. Her gaze fell upon a folded paper which displayed a reddish stain, upon unfolding it, she discerned the message it bore, "Why didn't you just die, bitch?".
After scrunching the note, she proceeded to place all of the belongings in the waste bin, harboring the intention of cleaning the locker properly tomorrow, she sat back on her seat but before she could lie down on her desk, the same trash she saw in the locker was now on her desk, she looked up and found a guy with the waste bin grinning.
She stood up fast making her chair to screech "What's your problem" she shouted angrily, she thought it was only girls that bullies Ji-woo but it seems like Ga-ram forgot to include this guy in the list.
The bully responded with a threatening stance, asserting, "Do you think because you survived, makes you a changed person, Ji-woo we aren't done with you yet" the guy spat in her face.
Eun-kyung grabbed him by his collar with her two hands "Yes we are"
The guy chuckles "Feisty, I like it"
"Leave her alone" The two of them turned to the direction of the voice. "Oh, would you look at that little Diego needs attention" the guy said removing Eun-kyung's hand from his collar and begins to walk towards the interrupter.
Eun-kyung remembers the guy as the one that stopped the girls from talking about her. She quickly grabbed the bully's hand "It is me that you have a problem with, leave him out of this"
"No, let him come at me" everyone faced the guy with glasses in shock.
'Has he gone mad, he doesn't need to play the hero' she thought. The boy has a small build so facing the bully is like an ant facing an elephant, no wonder he was called little Diego.
Little Diego raised his hand revealing his phone "I recorded everything right here, if you continue to threaten her I would send the video to the School president, and you know what punishment you will take for bullying her" he smiled.
Eun-kyung was shocked, so as everyone, she saw the bully step back and left the class. She looked at the boy and thanked him.
"Are you alright" he looked at her from head to toe.
"Yes"
"Thank God" he sighed in relief, "Just know that you're not alone in this fight" he said and went back to his seat.
She also sat down after clearing her desk, she didn't know why the guy helped her, then she smiled when she remembered his last word. It was really touching.
Later on, during lunch break, Eun-kyung rushed to the cafeteria, famished due to the tension earlier in the day. She struggled to contain her appetite when dishing out her meal, with an aim to request more, but the woman serving the food pitied her and gave her an abundance of food probably because she heard of the suicide.
She almost skipped to one of the table that was unoccupied and sat down. She was about to eat when she heard noises from the entrance of the cafeteria, she saw the bully she encountered earlier walk in while laughing loudly with two guys and a girl. They didn't go to stand in line but went to seat, the bully sat on the table and crossed his legs on the chair.
The girl in the group called the two girls that were eating at the table next to theirs.
"Get me and my friends the meals that are on today's menu and also ask for a bigger share of rice for each of us" she ordered them.
"But the chef wouldn't agree" one of the girls shakingly said.
"Shut up, go get the food now, and if you're not here in ten minutes, you would face consequences" the bully shouted as the girls scampered away.
His group laughed but one of the boys stopped and nudged the bully on his arm.
"Yong-rae, here comes your new friend" Yong-rae looked towards the direction his friend was looking and a large grin was shown on his face. Eun-kyung glanced that way too and saw little Diego walking to a table while carrying his plate and pressing his phone.
She sensed danger and stood up but she was too late as Yong-rae put his leg in front of little Diego which caused him to trip and fall face flat on the ground, his meal fell to ground too and his cellphone laid on the ground with a cracked screen. Yong-rae and his friends laughed and everyone around the scene laughed too. Little Diego looked towards them with anger and Eun-kyung saw that one side of his glasses had broken and cut the skin near his eyes, she was became enraged.
"Sorry, it was a mistake, why are you still on the ground, get up or do you want me to help you" Yong-rae faked a concerned face, and little Diego tried getting up. Eun-kyung noticed Yong-rae sending signs to his friends.
She picked up her plate as fast as she could and went towards their direction.
She saw that Yong-rae raised one of his legs up ready to put little Diego's head back to the ground. She ran and pretended to slip on the meal that was on the ground and threw her plate in Yong-rae's direction thereby splashing her meal on his face, some of them even landed on his friend's uniforms.
Everyone gasped as Yong-rae managed to clean off the rice from his face and glared at Eun-kyung.
"Ji-woo, you..."
"Oh dear, that was a mistake, I slipped over this food on the ground, what the hell happened here" she said with a shocked expression, "Little Diego, what are you doing on the ground" she proceeded to help him up.
Yong-rae saw the scene and realised that she did it probably to save little Diego. Yong-rae's eyes grew bloodshot with rage as he cried out, "Ji-woo, I shall end your miserable existence!" In the blink of an eye, he seized Eun-kyung by the neck, attempting to strangle her with all his might. Diego scrambled to her aid, attempting to wrestle Yong-rae off her trembling form, yet even with all his might, he could not overpower the sadistic young man. The girl in his group became frightened and she yelled at Yong-rae "Yong-rae that's enough" but he wouldn't listen to her.
As Eun-kyung felt the life force draining out of her, she resorted to digging her nails into Yong-rae's hand, hoping he would relent. Alas, it was to no avail as he bore down on her with increased fervor, reveling in her agony. 'I'm so done, isn't this supposed to be the part where the brave knight would appear to save the damsel in distress' but this was not a romance novel, she's going to really die today.
With a final gasp, Eun-kyung gave in to fate, closing her eyes to await the embrace of death. Yet, as she felt the chilling presence of oblivion at her doorstep, a hand flew to Yong-rae's face, breaking his hold on her neck. Caught off guard, she couldn't steady herself and she tumbled backwards, not to the ground but to a broad chest, the owner wrapped his hands around her and lifted her up carrying her in bridal style.
He held her tight as she gaped at him in disbelief.