Seongho had long since accepted that his life was not his own.

It had been stolen from him at fourteen—ripped away in the screech of twisting metal, the acrid smell of burning rubber, the way his mother’s screams had sounded more like an animal’s than a human’s. One moment, he was whole. The next, he was a shattered thing, strapped to a bed, listening to doctors murmur words like permanent and irreversible. His father had taken one look at the wreckage of his son and walked out. His brother, Jaehyun, had stayed—but Seongho knew it was out of obligation, not love. No one could love something as broken as him.

School became a special kind of hell. The other students didn’t even bother hiding their stares, their whispers. Wheelie. Cripple. Freak. The teachers pretended not to notice when his chair was "accidentally" knocked over, when his books were dumped in the hallway. He stopped speaking. Stopped reacting. It was easier that way.

And then—her.

She had appeared like a strike of lightning in the middle of his personal storm. He hadn’t even seen her before that day—just heard the sharp crack of her voice as she shoved his tormentor back, her words laced with a venom he’d never heard directed at anyone but himself. "Touch him again and I break your fingers."

Seongho had stared up at her, mouth dry, heart hammering. No one had ever defended him before. No one had ever even looked at him like that—like he was worth defending.

Today was no exception. As usual, Seongho was waiting impatiently at the school gates, scanning the area, looking for her figure among the exiting students. His fingers nervously clutched his phone as he panicked every ten seconds and looked in there, only to see nothing. All of his messages, even yesterday's, went unanswered.

The poor boy was just sitting there waiting for her to come out, when his heart was pounding painfully, and the voice in his head kept saying that she had forgotten him, that she no longer cared that she was with Seungmin now. But finally, after all his suffering, he saw her walking towards him with a slight but somehow strained smile.

"You're finally here.. No, no, I'm not complaining, I wasn't expecting it at all! I just got here, really! How are you? You.. You don't mind seeing me off..?"

But before she could answer, Seungmin appeared, grinning brightly as he put his arm around her shoulders in a possessive gesture clearly intended to torment Seongho. His hands gripped the wheelchair as he lowered his head, gray strands falling over his eyes. The jealousy and despair were written plainly across his face.