Baek-Hyun's memory of Hae-won went far back as to when they were still in middle school.
At that time, the majority in his class were Alphas and Omegas. While the young Alpha's tried to look their best and win the attention of those delicate and frail looking Omegas, Betas were few and were easily bullied.
But the appearance of this Beta, it was different. He stood in front of the class with a face that outshined all the omegas out together and his face was beaming with a wide smile.
He was beautiful and confident and he was a Beta.
"Hello, I'm Park Hae-won. There are a lot of things for me to learn so I hope you can put me through it all. Thank you and please take care of me." Once again, he smiled.
"Whoa, did you see that?"
"Are you sure he's a beta? He's too pretty."
"I think I'm into betas now, haha"
While the Alphas joked about this, the Omegas sensed a new threat to their attention. Baek-Hyun stared at Hae-won in an intriguing way.
"Oh, by the way, Hae-won is a year older than you all. He missed a class due to health issues so please take care of him and don't bully him, okay?" The teacher announced.
"This is exciting!"
"That means we have to call him Hyung, is that it?"
"I'll call him Hyung. It'll be fun."
"Hae-won, take a seat next to Baek-Hyun." The teacher said and he looked at her.
"Who?"
"Baek-Hyun, raise your hand." Baek-Hyun raised his hand and Hae-won smiled.
"Okay." He went to sit next to Baek-Hyun and said, "Hello, I hope we become friends."
"Wow, the beta wants to become friends with an Alpha, big dreams." Someone mocked but Baek-Hyun stayed silent and just turned to the window.
"I'll take that as a yes."
From that day, Baek-Hyun and Hae-won became seatmates and Hae-won followed him everywhere simply because he felt he was too lonely.
"Can you stay away now?" Baek-Hyun asked seeing him approach.
"But we're friends." Hae-won said.
"You said it, not me."
"But you didn't disagree either." He took a step forward. "I hate that you're always alone."
"And what do you care? You don't even know me. You're just a tiny beta." He barked at him. "Just stay away, okay? You'll only get hurt if you insist on following me."
Hae-won couldn't get what Baek-Hyun was talking about and stubbornly kept following him but one day, he stopped. He even changed seats and started seating at the other end of the class. He no longer ran up to Baek-Hyun each time he saw him and he didn't have lunch with him either.
'I guess it's finally quiet.' Baek-Hyun thought in relief but deep down, he was concerned. 'Did he stop coming to me because he got bored? I am a boring person, afterall.'
He couldn't voice this out as he couldn't just walk up to him and ask. Besides, he was the one who told him to stay away so going back to him now looked stupid.
But it didn't look like he had gotten over him or he got bored. Rather, he was avoiding him. He always ran the opposite direction each time they happened to walk on the same path and he avoided eye contact.
It was suspicious and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"Alright, everyone, choose a partner for today's P.E exercise." The teacher announced and Baek-Hyun took this as an opportunity.
He marched towards Hae-won and seized his hand.
"Teacher, I've found my partner." He announced.
"That's good. Everyone, find a partner and…"
"What are you doing? Let go." Hae-won struggled, quietly, to free himself but he wouldn't let go.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not." He said but it was clear he was lying. "You… you're the one who said… who said I should stay away." He kept his gaze down, afraid that Baek-Hyun would see through him.
"Then don't stay away anymore." He said. "Play with me and disturb the way you used to, I won't push you away."
Hae-won raised his head. But then he remembered.
"I… I can't." he said.
"Why not? You didn't have a problem before, what now?"
"I, I just don't want to be anyone's burden." He said and suddenly met eyes with the girl behind Baek-Hyun and he shrieked. "Anyway, I'm not feeling too good. I need to go to the infirmary." He said and successfully freed himself and ran off.
"Hey!"
The girl standing behind Baek-Hyun suddenly got in front of him, intentionally blocking his path.
"Oh, I see you no longer have a partner. I don't have one too so we can be partners, is that okay?" Min-Ji smiled but he couldn't stop staring in the direction Hae-won ran in.
She looked over at Hae-won's retreating figure and frowned.
At the end of the day, Baek-Hyun decided to shoot a few hoops in the gym since nothing was going his way, when he heard voices.
"You think you're all good because Baek-Hyun pays attention to you, huh?" It was Min-Ji's voice and she was talking about him but who was she talking to?
He decided to go closer to see what was going on.
There were three students, including Min-Ji. While two of them were holding Hae-won down, Min-Ji stood in front, addressing him lightly.
"Didn't I warn you last time that you shouldn't get close to him? You're a beta, you shouldn't get close to him. You'll only ruin his reputation and he won't be able to inherit his father's company in the future, do you want that?"
"I stayed away. I really did."
"Oh? Then what was that stunt you pulled during P.E class?" She asked.
"I didn't mean to. I… "
"You didn't mean to but I guess your pretty face and nice skin is way too good for you. Maybe we should fix that." She snapped her fingers.
Haewon's eyes widened. What were they going to do?
"Let's fix this pretty beta's face."
"What the hell?" Baek-Hyun yelled, frightening them. "What the hell are you doing to him?"
"Baek… Baek-Hyun, it's not what it looks like." Min-Ji tried to lie her way out of it.
"This shit… I heard everything. You're threatening him not to come close to me and with lies like that?"