PARK SOOMI'S POV

It hurt.

I hadn't realized it at first, but one of those weak guys actually had the guts to throw an off-key punch to my face which only begun to hurt the day after.

Jimin wasn't at home, thankfully, since he would've made a ruckus if he knew I had a fight with some people. I mean, I'm not a kindergarten kid anymore.

It was their fault to begin with.

"Hey."

A voice snapped me back to reality as I'd almost bumped head-first with someone in the campus. After looking up, it was Kim Namjoon.

"Hello," he crooned, tilting his head. I was still in a reverie, thinking to myself.

"What?"

"What, what?"

"You don't have a class scheduled today, so what?" I snapped as I clearly didn't have enough energy to amuse the guy.

"Because I saw that you hurt your face the other day." He had a can of coke in his hands and he held it towards me.

"I didn't."

"You did. You're hiding it with your hair."

I quickly rearranged my bangs. There was indeed a bump on the side of my face and it had turned pale-blue yesterday. Jimin had gone to a trip with Taehyung, and Jungkook joined them too, so nobody noticed it. I restrained from going to the trip because unlike them, I wanted to focus on my studies.

"What do I do with the coke? I'm not thirsty." I furrowed my eyebrows asking him.

"Put it where it hurts. The can is cold. I couldn't find ice."

I almost rolled my eyes, taking the can from his hand. "You didn't have to, but thanks."

He pulled a spray medicine out of his pocket suddenly. "You can use this later too."

He had a small smile on his face and for some reasons I felt a little annoyed. "I'll buy my own medicine, why do you care?"

"Because you're my student?" He cocked an eyebrow at me. "Yesterday when you were fighting them I immediately knew you'd hurt yourself."

Embarrassing.

I forgot he was there too.

"Maybe you can visit a doctor if it's bad."

"No, I don't, it isn't that bad. Did you come all this way to tell me that?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He shoved his hands inside his pockets making a face like he was trying to remember something.

"Oh, I have this friend, his name is Yoongi and he was there with me. When you know, you were fighting those guys in the cafeteria." He threw in some punches in the air and I had the urge to roll my eyes again.

"Yeah, so he thought it was funny too?"

"No, why would he?" Namjoon frowned. "It was actually something opposite, I was surprised. He said-"

"Unnie!" A sudden scream made both of us turn our heads towards the sound. A girl, standing a few feet away was huffing, bending her upper body and holding onto her kneecaps.

"Soomi unnie, is that you?" She straightened up and said. I cringed at the word 'unnie' like I always did. "Oh, you were talking? Go on!" She shouted again from afar, looking at our faces dumbfounded.

"You know her?" Namjoon asked me.

"No. But it looks like she was looking for me. Bye then." I left without hearing another word from him.

"Take care of yourself! Visit a doctor!" He screamed from the back, as I ran towards the girl.

Man, he's embarrassing. Just like a dad!

"Hi?" I awkwardly said, slowing down my pace after approaching her.

"I'm really sorry if I interrupted your conversation," she said, fixing her big glasses and tugging in a tendril of her unruly hair behind her ear.

"No. It's okay! And you are...?"

"Oh, you don't remember me. I'm Jung Hyemi. The other day in the cafeteria-"

"Oh, so you saw it, and you're here to mock?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

Since this morning, I'd been noticing people whispering and pointing at me in the campus. Maybe someone shoot a video and posted it on the university website. Who knew? 

"No. I'm the girl you saved the other day." She fixed her glasses again and without another notice she made a ninety degrees bow.

"You're my hero! Please accept my thank you gift!"

"What thank you gift?" This time, I was the one dumbfounded.

"Could we perhaps, go somewhere else?"

She shyly asked and I had to raise one eyebrow.

***

"Wow it looks delicious but I don't know if I should accept this. It's your blood, sweat and tears and all!"

I awed over the lunchbox she had given me. It was filled with fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat,. Everything looked extravagant in shapes and sizes.

She giggled clasping her mouth with her hands. "You're making this a big deal unnie."

"I can't cook shit so it is a big deal for me. And, please, don't call me unnie," I said.

"Why?" She asked, her expression becoming serious in the process.

"I don't know, that word makes me uncomfortable. Maybe because, I've been boyish my whole life, I'm not used to feminine terms for myself. You can call me by my name."

"No, how can I do that! You're a senior. Is sunbae* okay?"

She probably was in her first semester, and probably did enough research on me to know I was a senior only by a semester.

"Yeah, I guess." I scrunched up my eyebrows, thinking to myself. "Or just call me Soomi, I really wouldn't mind."

"Can I make lunchboxes for you some times? I mean, I'm a food and nutrition major, and I like cooking for people." She suddenly got excited by herself.

"What?" I choked, seeing her sudden outburst of excitement.

"Please?" She imploded with her eyes. I couldn't help but wonder why she was getting so attached.

"No, I don't want you to overwork yourself. Since you're thankful, I'll consider this lunchbox and eat everything but no more. This is enough."

She pouted a little looking ahead. "I don't even make lunchboxes for my own brother but I had to for you. You know, you were really cool yesterday. Those people have always been bothering me but no one ever stood up before, you were the first."

"If they ever disturb you again, tell me. I'm gonna slap those motherfuckers real hard."

"You're funny." She let out a soft giggle. "I'm really thankful for what you did. C—can we be friends? I mean, I don't have any friends. It's really hard for me to approach people but it was different for you. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I found out your name today, and I wasn't afraid to ask people around. Though, I get anxious just by talking to strangers other times."

I was shell-shocked, and silent for a second. It was a lot to take in.

"Um, thank you Hyemi. But I'm not your hero, you are your own hero. You took care of everything by yourself today and talked to strangers even though it's hard for you. I wasn't there you know. So you should be proud of yourself."

She was looking down on her bony hands that were planted on her lap, and she nodded after a moment. 

"S-so my brother would worry if I go home late. Please eat everything in the lunchbox and tell me if you liked it."

"Okay!" I held onto her lunchbox, a smile towards her. "Be careful on your way back home."

"Yeah." She got up but stood there for a second holding onto her bag.

"I changed my mind. You said people call you oppa right. Then, can I too?"

I nodded in the affirmative. I never really minded masculine terms. Those felt home to me.

---
A/n: sunbae means senior if anyone doesn't know.

And no I'm not a koreaboo, I just feel it's more natural to use some words in romanized korean. Example: oppa and big brother wouldn't sound the same, I've tried it before in my other fics.