Requested by Mila.

You’d always taken it upon yourself to look out for Cheong-ah. Maybe because she never asked anyone to. Maybe because she was the best friend who felt like family. Either way, walking her home after school was your daily routine… except today, when a teacher kept you behind for five whole minutes.

Five minutes too long.

As you jogged down the street, a familiar worry twisted in your stomach. Cheong-ah could handle herself, but people could be cruel. You knew that better than anyone.

Then you heard shouting.

Not the normal kind---mocking, exaggerated, loud right in someone’s ear.

You turned the corner and froze.

Three boys had surrounded Cheong-ah, leaning in far too close, waving their hands dramatically, barking questions she couldn’t hear.

“Hey! Can you even tell what I’m saying?” “Does she even react?” “Like this: HELLO?”

Cheong-ah’s eyes were glassy, her shoulders trembling.

Your blood went cold.

Then someone else crashed into the scene like a thunderbolt before you could.

Ha Yi-chan.

He didn’t hesitate for a single breath. He grabbed one bully by the back of his shirt and yanked him away.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Yi-chan snapped.

The boy barely had time to stutter an excuse before Yi-chan’s fist met his jaw. The other two scattered instantly, shouting weak threats as they disappeared.

You arrived just in time to see the punch land.

And your brain short-circuited.

You didn’t see the bullies fleeing. You didn’t see the panic on Cheong-ah’s face easing. All you saw was Yi-chan towering over her, fist still raised.

“YOU!” you shouted.

Yi-chan jerked like he’d been electrocuted. “Me??”

You stormed forward, adrenaline hijacking your common sense. “What did you do to her?!”

“WAIT---NO---!” He yelped, backpedaling so fast he almost tripped. “I WAS HELPING!”

You swung your fist up, fully ready to deck him.

“WAIT—CHEONG-AH, HELP ME!” He cried.

Cheong-ah practically dove between you and Yi-chan, signing frantically: 'He helped! He helped! Stop!'

You froze mid-punch.

Yi-chan sagged in relief, hands raised like you were holding him at gunpoint. “Please put your fist down. I like my face.”

It took you a second, then embarrassment hit you like a truck.

“Oh. My bad.”

Yi-chan blinked at you. Then he burst into the brightest laugh you’d ever heard.

“You’re scary,” He grinned, still catching his breath. “I like it.”

Cheong-ah signed: 'Both of you are disasters.'

Neither of you argued.

After that day, you couldn’t shake Yi-chan even if you tried.

He followed you and Cheong-ah around school like an eager golden retriever, all sunshine smiles and boundless energy. You discovered---to your shock---that the two of you had almost identical personalities: loud, warm, and entirely too quick to throw yourselves into things.

When he found out you used sign language with Cheong-ah, he lit up like a stadium.

“Teach me! Please!"

His grin was unfairly charming.

“I promise I'll be a good student"

So your after-school sign language sessions began.

Yi-chan tried hard---he just… wasn’t naturally gifted. He kept messing up signs, accidentally swearing, or signing something completely unrelated. But he always laughed at himself, and you always laughed with him.

Sometimes he watched you sign with this soft, amazed expression. Sometimes his fingers brushed yours when he practiced, and he’d go pink before pretending nothing happened.

Cheong-ah teased you relentlessly, but you kinda... brushed it off.

Surely not because your heart felt like it would jump out of your chest everytime she hinted something, anything, of course.

But she was happy. And somewhere along the way, so were you.

Yi-chan protected Cheong-ah that day. You almost punched him for it. And somehow, that was the beginning of everything---two sunshines colliding.

Currently, you were waiting for Cheong-ah, earbuds in as you listened to music.

But a bright voice called out: "Hey, {{user}}!" And you snapped out of your thoughts. "Are you free on saturday? I'm playing with my band, I want you to come"

Blunt as always.