Episode 3

JING LI POV

Taehyung stops and turns around to look at me. He has a confused look on his face. "Are you sure?" he asks me.

I nod. "Well, I can't date you unless I know who you are. Like come on, I don't even know your last name." He chuckles a little and walks back to me, sitting down beside me. I begin to eat one half of the sandwich and offer him the other. He hesitates. "Okay, you seriously cannot be scared of me. I'm offering you a sandwich, half of your sandwich."

"Thanks." He takes the other half and we both eat.

After we finish I decide it's time for us to finally learn about each other. "So," I begin, "tell me about yourself."

"Well, my name is Kim Taehyung, I was born on December 30th and I have an older brother called Taehyun. I was born and raised here in Korea and my favourite colour is green."

I look at him. "Nothing interesting?"

"Interesting? Like what? All I have ever done is bully little kids, attend school and hang around with the boys. I have never even been arrested; despite all the stuff we get up to."

"And what stuff would that be?" I raise my eyebrow.

He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Smoking in public."

I laugh. "Are you serious?" I continue to laugh. "Sorry, but there is no way you would be arrested for that petty little thing. God, you are nothing like me."

"Fine. If you're so bad ass, tell me about you." He states. I'm pretty sure he got a little bit annoyed at me mocking his 'bad ass' ability.

A sigh escapes my lips. "Are you sure? You won't want to pretend to date me after you know."

"Come on, it can't be that bad. I told you about me so it's your turn."

I take a second. "Alright. My father left us when I was only 11 years old. I was so upset that I ended up acting out like any normal kid would, but I never grew out of it. In China, I skipped school, been in too many fights to count, argued and punched my teachers, stole a lot but got caught a few times, I've been driven home in a police car on a few occasions and been in three different gangs." I take a look over at him and his face has grown pale. "I knew you would be scared of me."

He shakes his head. "No, no. Sorry, I just can't believe you've done all that and that you're so open with me about it."

"It's bound to come out eventually when people start searching my name online to figure out who I am and why I was transferred here part way through the year as a Chinese student."

"So, why are you in Korea then?" he asks.

Taehyung seems calmer thankfully. "Well, I was such an asshole and in trouble with the police so much, we couldn't find any school that was willing to take me. Eventually, we found one in Taiwan that was for troubled teens and I was sent there but –" I stop and pause, remembering what happened.

"Jing Li?"

"Long story short, I was put in Juvie for 16 months."

His eyes open wide. "What?" He exclaims but he notices my body shake. "Hey." I places his hand on my shoulder, and I jump a little. "It's okay. Sorry, it was just a shock." I hear the bell go and I go to stand up, but he stops me. "Talk to me. I don't know you and I am still here after hearing all that happened in China. We may not have started off on the right foot this morning, but you need someone."

I look up at him and I can see how concerned he is. "No. I can't."

"Jing Li. You are doing me a huge favour by pretending to date so let me do you a huge favour and listen to you so I can understand who you are. Let me be your person. Please."

"Promise?"

He nods. "I promise."

"While I was in this school in Taiwan, I ended up joining a group of friends, but they ended up being a gang. I've been in gangs before, and they were fine, but this gang was something different. All of them had been arrested at least once for arson and the leader had shot someone and he was never caught. One day, they made me help them rob a bank to prove my worth. I did the usual of pulling out a gun and asking for the money."

I pause for a second to look at Taehyung who is looking at me, trying to keep a straight face but I can see the emotion in his eyes.

"I knocked out the security guard and grabbed an innocent woman and held a gun to her head. I never pulled the trigger. The police arrived and I dropped the gun instantly and surrendered. To this day, I still can't understand why I acted that way because I would never hurt an innocent person. After weeks of court hearings, I was sentenced to 16 months which was longer, but I admitted to my crime and showed remorse."

My whole body was shaking from the memory, and I couldn't calm myself down. Why was my body reacting in this way? I squeeze my hands together and take a deep breath. Calm down Jing Li.

"Wow..." is all Taehyung utters.

"Are- aren't you scared?" I ask, my voice now shaking.

He shakes his head. "A little but that happened in the past and you've served your punishment now." He hesitantly places his hands on mine to relax me. "You want to change, right?"

"I do." My body slowly stops shaking and my breathing slows down. "I don't want to be this person anymore. I want to be better but it's so hard." A tear slips down my cheek.

"Shh, it's okay." He comforts. Where did the other Taehyung go? "If I can change then so can you. We may be pretending to date, but we can still be each other's support. I can help you stop being an asshole and you can stop me bullying little kids."

I laugh a little and see him smiling when I look up at him. He wipes the tear off my face and continues to smile.

"Thank you." I say quietly.

However, his demeanour changes and I notice his face growing closer and closer to mine. Am I being played by the biggest player in the school? His face is so close that I can feel breath.

Oh my god...