Physical Education. I really hate this period. Because I’m pretending to have a condition, I just sit out in whatever activity the teacher prepares for us.

Today, it’s dodgeball. It’s supposed to be a thrilling game to watch, but I’ve been struggling not to doze off for the past thirty minutes. I’m already getting a headache. I have come to the washroom to wake myself up, but nothing’s working.

My wet face in the mirror stares back at me. My eyes are bloodshot, embellished by dark bags underneath. I look like a zombie. I splash more water in my face although it really isn’t doing much.

I haven’t been sleeping well since… the incident. Whenever I head to bed, possibilities of what JaeHoon will do rush through my mind. The other night, I think I just passed out from exhaustion.

In any case, sleepy or not, I must head out of the washroom now. I’ve been here for a while. I don’t want our PE teacher, Sir Kang, to think something has happened to me, when I’m not even playing.

I drag myself back to my seat, a collapsible chair on a corner of this gymnasium used for dumping the other PE equipment. I sit myself and slapped my cheeks. I need to—Owww!

Something hits me, straight on my forehead, toppling me to the ground. The culprit bounces away as my back crashes on the stack of things behind me. I hit the floor with a thud and an avalanche of items I don’t recognize follows; my arms, acting as my only shield. Shouts of my classmates fill the background.

“Shim MinSeok, are you ok?” Sir Kang screams, as he scrambles to my side.

Some of my colleagues follow suit. Oh no. I can’t let them think I’m too hurt. Else, someone will help me up. Someone might touch me. I push myself up to sit. I feel some pain on my back and forearms, but I endure it until I am seated upright.

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” I tell them off.

“No, you’re bleeding,” Yoon SuBin, our class president, exclaims.

I notice the cold on my thigh. A tear as long as my hand opens on the left side of my pants; streaks of red taint the exposed skin.

“Let’s get you to the nurse’s office,” the teacher orders.

He poses to lift me, and my whole body tenses. I need to think of an alibi. Panic swells within my chest as his arms approach me. What should I do? The seconds expand. Like I’m in slowmo.

“Let me do it, Sir!”

A booming voice makes everyone turn their heads to the source. Seo JaeHoon.

“I’ll bring him to the nurse’s station”

Sir Kang looks confused.

“No need. It’s my responsibi—”

JaeHoon cuts him off, “SuBin will help me.”

He taps his friend on the shoulders.

“Huh? Ah, y-yes!” SuBin responds, obviously unsure of what’s going on.

Without letting Sir Kang speak more, JaeHoon moves and crouches in front of me, gesturing for me to hop on his back. Between the two, I guess it will be safer to go with the one who has already seen my secret.

I place my hands on his shoulders, ready to hop on. However, a slight but sharp pain stabs me on my thigh. I grimace at the sensation.

Suddenly, hands support me on my sides. I gasp. SuBin is helping me lift myself. I shiver at the fact that someone’s hands are on me. His hands lay on my shirt, so he won’t be able to see my soul, even if he’s a Perceiver. Still, it isn’t the least bit comfortable.

“He isn’t,” JaeHoon whispers, assuring my anxious thoughts.

“Okay, in a count of three,” SuBin signals, “one… two… THREE!”

I push myself from the floor, and SuBin assists me. Landing on JaeHoon’s back, I am given another decision point—where to place my arms. Before I can decide, however, JaeHoon places his hands under my thighs, avoiding the wounded area, and immediately lifts me up. He stands in an instant, like my weight is of no consequence, and starts running to the exit. My arms remain dangling above his shoulders.

“Hey, wait!” SuBin shouts.

“Bring our stuff!” JaeHoon shouts back.

Cold wind hits my face as soon as we exit the gymnasium. The shock of the events is still evident in my tense body. JaeHoon starts slowing down, panting.

“I’m sorry,” he begins. “I thought you’d be more uncomfortable if Sir carried you.”

“Why?” I blurt out.

“Huh?”

“Why are you keeping it to yourself? My secret?”

He stops walking.

“Didn’t you read my letter?”

Letter? What letter? He waits for my response, but I don’t answer.

“I placed it in your desk drawer last week,” he continues. “I saw you put it in your bag.”

“The card?”

“Uh, well… it’s not actually a card. I just folded it in half.”

Oh! It wasn’t from YooJin, but from... JaeHoon. What did that letter contain? Is the answer to my questions in that letter all this time? That letter. The letter I have not read.

Ah!!!... The letter I forgot to throw away.