HERS: The winner takes it all

Chapter one continues...

By lunchtime, he hadn’t spoken to anyone apart from the group of girls who rushed to him immediately when the teacher left. They were asking like a million questions at once. He wanted to put them off and not reply, but that seemed to have backfired, as they thought he was mysterious and even hotter.

But then, he told them that he was on a scholarship. That seemed to have done the trick. The girls that had flocked around him scattered faster than flies. Some had even begun giving him the look of disgust. Of course, they were so angry that they had flirted with someone from his lower station. He had never planned on hiding the fact that he was a scholarship student. And he would be damned if he thought to appease them.

All he wanted was to quietly finish school, then leave, hoping to never cross paths with any of them again.

The dining hall was packed. He quietly collected his food and sat at an empty table in the far back, not wanting to mix with the crowd. They had bibimbap, kimchi, pickled r****h, tteokbokki, bulgogi and Saengseon-hoe. The food looked like it was made for royalty.

As he tasted the bibimbap, memories of his little sister Sarang tugged at him. It was her favorite dish. The thought tightened his throat.

A loud screech of the chair resonated around the whole dining hall. Everywhere suddenly became very quiet. A group of boys, about four of them, surrounding a young boy who appeared very timid and scared. He looked oddly familiar. Yes, he is his sleeping classmate.

They shoved a plate toward his face while everyone watched like it was some entertainment. Jungwon could feel his chest heavy and sweat drip from his forehead. He began taking deep breathes he shouldn’t feel scared. They can’t get to him here he is miles away from them now.

In the process of the struggle, Bongsu pushed the food tray to the ground, causing the bowl to shatter and its contents to spill on the floor. Gasps, whispers, judgement. Now they could react.

Why is everyone always blind to the times that the bully makes someone’s life miserable but when the victim reacts, he is suddenly the villain. What an upside world.

It seems that just made the situation worse. The leader wiped his stained jacket. Even from far you could see his neck veins popping. He ordered his guys to hold Bongsu down with his hands smugly in his pockets. He then extended his legs, showing his now dirty leather shoes.

“Make him lick it.”

Jungwon couldn’t watch this anymore. All his appetite was suddenly sated. He felt disgusted. Just as he stood to leave, he saw her

Haerin.

Standing calmly at the center of the hall with two girls beside her. Arms crossed, eyes emotionless. She, as well as others, looked unfazed at the t*****e someone was going through. Why does he care about what she does or how she reacts?

They made Jungwon feel sick. He hated how I felt at that moment. He hated her. He hated everyone in this school. He hated all these rich, spoilt brats, and he hated himself for doing nothing — just like the rest.

Soon after lunch, Mr. Tae came in to call out the class attendance: “Where is Kang BongSu? That kid, what am I going to do about him? Does anyone know where he went?” he asked the whole class, but no one knew or said anything.

Jungwon stared at the empty seat beside him till the gasp of his classmates pulled him out.

It was BongSu looking disheveled, soaked and spotting a large bruise on his right eye.

“What were you doing in the hall? Don’t you know it is time for class? This should be the last time. Go away,” Mr. Tae yelled while BongSu looked down nervously.

The bruise on Jungwon face was huge, yet Mr. Tae couldn’t question that. Rather, he ignored the obvious.

As BongSu returned to his seat, his shoes were making a lot of squishy noise, making the class erupt in laughter and Bongsu to fold more in shame.

How could anyone think this was funny, Jungwon wondered. The people must be insane by glorifying someone’s pain. After Bongsu took his seat, Jungwon couldn’t even turn to him. He felt guilt curl in his stomach.

After school, he retrieved his bicycle—untouched. Of course, these kids wouldn’t steal something as cheap as this.

He rode home to his uncle’s house. His uncle had agreed to house him for his school since he was the only person he knew in Seoul. Jungwon was extremely grateful. The house was nice. He even had his own room. His uncle had bought it when he was working for huge companies. Then, he had unfortunately fallen victim of a scam and lost his job.

His uncle and nephew were really happy to have him around his aunt. However, not so much. He remembered his mum always called her vain. She had been so happy with her uncle’s money in the beginning. Now all she does is complain and frustrate everyone.

His aunt ignored his greeting at first. That was odd, he thought. She should be at home. After all, she never tries to leave the house. When he got to the parlor, she was indeed at home seated casually on the couch as she ate a huge watermelon with a spoon while watching one of her usual TV series.

JunSeo, his nephew who was seated in a corner playing with his toys, rushed to him wrapping his arms around his long legs. Jungwon palmed his chubby cheeks so he could look at him. Junseo smiled back at him before handing him a paper — it was a drawing of him with the best big brother as the title. Moved to bits by his cuteness, Jungwon playfully ruffled his hair.

Honestly, he really liked Jungwon around. It was mutual for Jungwon. Junseo reminded him of his younger sister.

Finally, his aunt acknowledged him, “Oh you are back.”

“Yes ma’am,” she nodded, staring at him with an irritating look on her face.

“What are you doing here? Go and help your uncle at the store. You can’t keep free loading from us,” Jungwon nodded politely and quickly went inside to change out of his school uniform. He never wants to get them dirty. They cost a fortune.

His uncle runs a dry-cleaning store not far from his house. He had used his remaining savings to open the shop so he could have a new source of income. It’s not very huge, but his uncle spares effort in his hard work. There are no workers apart from his uncle and now, him. He had started to help his uncle the moment he had arrived in the city.

By nine p.m. the shop had closed, so Jungwon decided to take a quick shower before coming out for dinner. His uncle had also changed and was in a white shirt and some faded shorts. Everyone was already seated on the floor around the table, so he took a seat beside JunSeo facing my aunt.

“We can’t even afford braised beef again,” his aunt grumbled before he even got to put the first spoon of rice in his mouth. The air grew tensed. Everyone shifted uncomfortably, even the little Junseo looked nervous.

“You went ahead and brought your nephew to live with us when we were already managing the little we have. You don’t even care how me and your son would be doing. You just brought him here to free load from us.” She turned to his uncle and continued as her voice grew louder. For someone who always complained, his aunt was the most selfish, conniving b***h ever. She constantly runs the uncle dry with her limitless expenses. His uncle was always working trying to provide for her constant needs while she spent it all.

“He is just here for school, you know that, and you also know how much my late brother had been of help to us in the past. So, why won’t I help his own son too? Do you expect me to turn my back on him?” his uncle tried defending him. “Moreover, he also works at the store, so he is not freeloading.”

That just seemed to make his aunt even angrier. “He is family, so he is not doing anyone a favor helping you in the store. He is just helping as he should by eating our food and sleeping under our roof,” she huffed.

The matter was immediately escalating and could go further with both of them yelling at the top of their voices all night. That was what happened the first day Jungwon came to the city.

Jungwon just wanted a moment of peace. He didn’t want to watch Junseo watch his parents arguing because of him.

“Auntie, don’t worry, I have already applied to some restaurants and shopping stalls any moment now, I will get a part-time job and be able to help contribute to the house” apart from his aunt's blatant disapproval in him coming to live here and “freeloading”, he also needed to get a job so he could have money to send home to his mum and Sarang.

She finally calmed down. Jungwon awkwardly lifted a spoon of rice into his mouth. They all continued eating in tense silence. Noticing Junseo seemed extra sad, Jungwon placed his seasoned fish into his bowl. The little boy gave a cheeky smile that made Jungwon smile too.

Afterward, Jungwon studied in his room. He had a lot to catch up with in his new school, but his mind kept drifting back to Bongsu. He remembered when it was happening to him how he desperately wished for someone to save him.

He had initially tried fighting back, but when the whole school and town suddenly hated his family, who would save him? He was in unbearable pain that his whole body turned numb. It was so bad that he wished they would finally end him.

He could feel Bongsu wishing the same for himself. How could he turn his back to Bongsu when just a few months ago he was Bongsu? In as much as he wanted to ignore it, his good heart wouldn’t let him.