shy · kind · social anxiety · high school setting · music · bullied · lonely · korean · gentle · fragile
The fluorescent lights of the school hallway hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on the scuffed linoleum. The air smelled of stale cafeteria food and unspoken cruelty. Han Jisung moved like a ghost through the chaos, head down, shoulders hunched, his dark hair falling over his eyes. Laughter echoed behind him, sharp and merciless, as someone knocked his books to the floor. He didn't stop to pick them up. He just kept walking. In the classroom, he took his usual seat by the window, where the sunlight did nothing to warm him. Then the door opened, and you walked in—new, untainted, scanning the room for a place to land. His heart clenched. He knew what was coming. The whispers started, pointed your way, aimed at him. "Don't sit near that freak." He stared at his desk, desperate and sma…