SMASH.

The loud sound momentarily startled the young girl from her toys. She tentatively looked at the door, alarmed at the sound of plates smashing coming from the kitchen. Slowly getting up, her stuffed teddy bear still firmly in her arms, she peaked out of the door.

"Hand over some money. Now! I need more booze!" the loud voice of her father resonated through the small apartment.

"No! Let go of me! You’ve already had enough!”

"I said give me money!" he yelled, slapping her harshly across her face, her body instantly crumbling to the floor.

The young girl started tearing up when she saw her mother fall to the ground, her hand tenderly touching her face.

"Where's all the money from your job?" she asked quietly. 

"Those bastards fired me two weeks ago. Didn't know what they had if it slapped them in the face."

"You lost your job? Again? What the hell is wrong with you?" she screamed, getting back onto her feet, only to be slapped again.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" he yelled, staring down at her menacingly. He kneeled down in front of her, roughly ripping her shirt as the buttons flew off in different directions.

"No! Get your hands off me!" her mother screamed, doing whatever she could to get him off, the smell of alcohol hitting her in the face.

"Shut up! Shut your mouth right now," her father slapped her again, not caring about the bruises that were developing on her face. 

"Mommy?"

"Joohyun! What are you doing up? Go back to your room! Now," her mother called out. 

"Mommy... I'm scared," she started to cry, hugging her stuffed teddy bear to her body. 

"Joohyun, go to your room now, okay? Please!"

The little girl ran to her room and shut the door, before jumping into her bed and covering her ears, trying to drown out the loud screams coming from the other side of the door.

***

She bolted upright in her bed, her body drenched in sweat. She couldn't control herself when she started crying, thinking back on the harsh memories of her childhood. Roughly wiping away her tears after a good few minutes of crying, she quietly crawled out of bed in search of her mother, in desperate need of a hug to comfort her.

"Again?" she sighed to herself and wiped her remaining tears when she found another hand written note from her mother. Rubbing her face tiredly, she went back to her room to get ready for school.

Another day. Another nightmare. The dark circles under her eyes were getting worse with each passing day as more nightmares from her past came to life. It was like her life was a nightmare 24/7. When she was at school. When she was asleep. It was all the same and it was starting to take a heavy toll on her.

'Come on Joohyun-ah. Stop thinking like that. Only one more year,' she thought to herself. She told herself the same thing everyday, although it didn't really seem to help anymore.

Stepping off the bus, she instantly felt multiple sets of eyes on her, just like she did everyday. Whispered insults. The demeaning things they said about her. It was always the same.

"Watch where you're going Irene," Seulgi said, shoving her to the ground right by her locker, the contents of her bag spilling onto the ground.

"Oh no! Look what happened to all your things. You have to stop being so careless Irene," Wendy clucked, shaking her head disapprovingly.

 "Yeah, you don't want people to accidently step on your precious things, do you?" Joy asked sarcastically, crashing her foot down on Irene's pencil case, the sound of her pens and pencils breaking. "Omo! Oh, I'm so sorry. I guess I'm just getting so clumsy these days," she giggled.

"Please be more careful next time Irene. We don't want to accidently break anymore of your things," Wendy said, sickeningly sweet. They walked passed her, not before kicking some of her books further down the corridor.

She looked up at the laughing cohort, some students even throwing their rubbish at her. She tried her best to control her tears as she gathered her things, feeling scraps of paper and apple cores hitting her every so often. 

When the sound of laughter died down behind her, she looked up through blurry eyes as students looked down the corridor, occasionally whispering to each other. She watched as he picked up some of her scattered books and placed them in a neat pile above her locker. She clumsily stood on her feet and watched as he opened his own locker, just going about his morning routine. 

"Hurry up and get your things for class," she heard him mutter, not once glancing at her. 

She nodded her head and subtly dried her tears, quickly getting the books she needed for her first set of classes. She turned to him, only for him to nod his head in the direction of their classroom. Understanding what he was getting at, she briskly walked, shielding her eyes from the stares directed at the two of them. 

Mino looked towards the courtyard, seeing the looks he was given by the student body. He just smirked and shook his head before following after her. 

Their steps feel into a rhythm as they quietly walked side by side, Irene chancing a glance at him every so often. She had a lot she wanted to say but she just couldn't find the courage. "I-" was all she could get out before she was cut off. 

"We should get in," he said, opening the door for her. 

She just nodded; not meeting his eyes as she walked passed him towards her desk. 

"How come those two loners are coming in together?"

"Oh! Maybe they became friends because no one else wants to be friends with them!"

Irene tried to distract herself by opening her books and going over the work that needed to be done, trying to drown out the not so subtle conversations going on around her, but it wasn't working very well. She chanced a look to her right, seeing the smirk that he always had plastered on his face. It was like he thrived on other people talking about him.

He was a mystery to her. He had only been in the school for a week now, but he always seemed to be around when she needed him. Each morning, she would anticipate her morning 'greeting' from Red Velvet and each morning, he would casually and silently help pick up her books and place them on top of her locker, before walking away without another word. 

Today was slightly different though.

Today, he'd actually talked to her. Well, it wasn't like they'd had a conversation. He hadn't even looked at her when he spoke, but he spoke nonetheless.

She wanted to thank him somehow. As much as she wanted to think of herself as an independent person that didn't need to rely on anyone, especially since that was what her life was like the first two years at the school, she was grateful that he was there for her, even though they had no special relationship.

***

"Alright, alright. Settle down. Settle down," Mr Choi called over the loud students. "I know you're all excited to get out of here and start your weekend already, but we just have to get through the next hour and then you're all free to go. Understood?" he asked, receiving obedient nods from the students. 

"Before we continue on the question set that I assigned you for homework last class, I'll let you know about your first major assessment for the semester," he continued, receiving worried murmurs. "Now I've got your full attention, huh?" he chuckled to himself. 

"Take one and pass it to the person behind you," he instructed, handing a small stack of papers to each row. "Now, as you can see on the paper in front of you, you'll be working in pairs and this assignment will be worth 30% of your overall grade..." he droned on as he read over the instructions for the class. 

Mino lazily looked around the classroom at the other students who weren't really paying attention either, some playing games on their phones, others just doodling on their notebooks, doing whatever they could to stay awake. He just smirked and shook his head, not surprised at their behaviour. Looking to his right, he found Irene looking over the paper thoroughly; her eyebrows creased in worry as she attentively listened to Mr Choi. 

"It seems I've lost some of you," he mumbled to himself when he noticed that his students were no longer listening to him. "Alright, listen up!" he called out loudly, instantly gaining their attention. "Like I said earlier, you'll be doing this in pairs and, since I'm so incredibly nice, I'll let you all choose who you want to work with."

At his words, nearly all the students immediately perked up, turning to their friends and whispering excitedly, trying to figure out whom they would be working with. Mino looked at his fellow students with his arms crossed over his chest, watching as they excitedly talked about how well they would do on the assignment.

"When I call out your name, please tell me whom you're working with," Mr Choi instructed as he began writing down each pair as they called out to him. "I'm a bit worried about some of these pairings," he mumbled to himself when he looked at some of his more troublesome students. "Hm... Song Mino-shi?" he called out.

Mino immediately raised an eyebrow when he saw almost all of the students turn in their seats, snickering and whispering about him. "I don't have a partner yet sir," he said lazily, arms still crossed firmly over his chest.

"Quiet down, quiet down," he shook his head at his student's behaviour. "That's alright then. Since there are an even number of student, you'll be paired with the other person that doesn't have a partner yet," he informed kindly.

Mino raised his eyebrow at this, realising straight away that his partner was going to be Irene. He saw out of the corner of his eye Irene looking at him nervously, apparently coming to the same conclusion as him.

"Irene?"

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she fiddled with her pens nervously, some students laughing at her predicament. "I-I don't have a partner yet, Mr Choi," she said meekly, not looking up from her desk.

"Wonderful! Looks like you'll be paired with Mino-shi then! Oh, and you're already sitting next to each other. Splendid!" Mr Choi said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. 

Mino merely nodded his head, acknowledging the arrangement.

***

"Alright, I want these questions answered by the time I see you next week, okay? And don't forget about that assignment," Mr Choi said over the loud students as they all quickly packed up their belongings and rushed out of the door, eager to start their weekends.

Irene slowly put her things away, not in any rush to get home like the rest of her classmates. Noticing that she was one of the last two people in the room, she saw Mino quietly putting his things away as well, now donning his trademark headphones. 

Taking a deep breath and trying to gather