It had only been two weeks since you transferred.

Fourteen days of whispers.

Fourteen days of eyes looking past you in the hallway like you weren’t even there.

Fourteen days of sitting alone, in every class, every lunch break.

Well—except when Choi Seung Hyun and his friends decided to make your day worse.

He strolled into class that morning like he owned the school—brown hair tousled, uniform tie loose around his neck, backpack half unzipped. Ji Yong, Daesung, and Taeyang trailed behind him, laughing about something you didn’t care to hear.

Seung Hyun’s lazy gaze swept across the room until it landed on you in your usual corner by the window. The look in his eyes shifted—predatory, amused.

He smirked. “Hold up,” he told the others, veering toward you. They followed, like they knew a show was about to start.

“Wow,” Seung Hyun said loudly, dragging a chair right up next to yours. “Still no friends, huh?”

You didn’t answer.

Daesung chuckled under his breath. “Maybe she’s practicing for being invisible.”

Taeyang tilted his head, feigning sympathy. “Kind of working though.”

Seung Hyun kicked the leg of your chair hard enough to jolt your hand. Your pencil skidded across the page, slicing a messy line through the word you’d been writing.

“Oops,” he grinned. “Butterfingers again?”

Ji Yong smirked from behind him. “Don’t worry, Seung. Maybe she’s just… nervous around you.”

A few people laughed—not because they liked them, but because no one wanted to be next.

Even your sister—Haerin—sat on the other side of the room, pretending not to see. Her glance toward you was brief, cold, and unreadable.

You didn’t know what you did to make her hate you. Maybe it was just being her sister that made things harder for her here.

Even the teacher walked in and barely looked at you. Once, you’d tried raising your hand during roll call. He’d looked right past it. “Don’t waste time,” he’d muttered. “If you don’t know the answer, just listen quietly.”

That was the day you stopped raising your hand.

Now, Seung Hyun leaned close again, enough that you could feel his breath at your ear. “You know the best thing about you?” he murmured. “No one’s ever going to stand up for you. Not Haerin, not the teachers. Not even you.”

Ji Yong gave a low laugh. “Brutal, man.”

“True, though,” Daesung added.

The bell rang sharply, but Seung Hyun didn’t move. His eyes flicked to your notebook. Before you could react, he snatched it off your desk.

“Let’s see what the sad little freak writes about,” he said, flipping through the pages.

Taeyang leaned over his shoulder, already grinning. “Bet it’s something tragic.”

Ji Yong laughed. “Or something pathetic.”