At the end of the school day, I remembered I didn’t have to go in to work for another two weeks. I let out relieved sigh, but when I realized that meant I had nothing to do, my overjoyed sigh returned to its original depressed state.

I debated what I’d do as I sat through my last class. I could go to the library and work on homework so I would be really free, or I could go do something out in town on my own. There were dozens of possibilities and I wasn’t sure which of them would be the best.

When the bell rang for the school day to end, I was the first to leave the classroom. I only had to stop by my locker to get my backpack and then I would go to the orphanage and talk to them about possibly moving out early.

Just as quickly as I opened my locker door, someone had slammed it shut. At first I thought it was Kai again, and my eyes snapped over to whoever it was beside it. It was Jimin and a whole bunch of other girls than fawned over EXO.

“This is the that almost slapped you?” One of them asked, and she tugged at my hair.

“Yeah! She slapped Baekie, too!” Jimin replied with a whine, and though I cringed at the nickname she gave him, the other girls were starting to crack their knuckles.

All at once, there was pushing and shoving and kicking. I wanted to fight back, trust me, but when I tried to, I remembered Kai’s warning. And Suho’s disappointment. That’s why I let them push me to the ground and kick me until I curled into a ball. That didn’t stop them, of course, since they kicked at my back and my sides in high heels.

“You’re not so tough now, are you?” Jimin snickered, leaning down to pull my head up by the hair. I tried glaring at her, I did, but someone had kicked me again and the breath was knocked out of me.

It was a good thing I was given vacation then, wasn’t it? And was it just me or was the world spinning? I shut my eyes tightly as Jimin let go of me, bracing myself for their next attack.

“What’s going on here?” Luhan’s voice. I opened my right eye just slightly to watch him, and he had walked over to the group of girls to pull them apart. Upon seeing me, he sighed and wrapped an arm around Jimin’s shoulder.

“Minnie, what did we tell you earlier?”

The girls had stepped away from me easily, instead surrounding Luhan and the other EXO members that were with him. I didn’t watch, but shakily got onto my feet and staggered off in the opposite direction towards the bathroom.

No one had noticed me, thankfully, so it was my only chance to escape. Why had they come? Did they think I wanted to be saved by them? They were the reason I had been in such a situation. I wanted nothing to do with them.

As I walked, someone hurriedly rushed after me and wrapped an arm around my waist to guide me. I didn’t look up to find out who it was, because I knew immediately that it was an EXO member. I tried pushing him off of me, but he was adamant in taking me to the nurse’s office.

“Should we take you to the hospital?” Lay asked. I refused to look at him, since the last two times I was hurt and looked at him something strange had happened. There were footsteps following us, but it was only Lay that spoke to me.

“We’ll get you some water to keep you hydrated.”

He had somehow opened the door to the infirmary without assistance and hoisted me up onto the bed. My gaze was on my lap, as everything ached and I was sure I was bleeding somewhere. Someone else had held out a glass of water and I ignored it.

“Does it hurt?” The voice belonged to Tao. I remembered that earlier on in the day, when he had seen me, a flash of irritation had filled his eyes. Right now, however, his voice was gentle and worried. Why?

I ignored him, because it was EXO’s fault that I was in the predicament. I sat and watched as Lay wrapped up my wrist in a bandage. I wasn’t sure but it might have sprained when I fell. When he told me to take my shirt off, I hesitated for a moment before taking it off. I was in a bra, but they were still boys.

I was only comforted being undressed when Tao and the person who had come in with him, Xiumin, looked away awkwardly. There was a gash on my hip, and with a light sigh, Lay had taken some disinfectant and a bandage and quickly dressed it.

“Thank you, Myung Ji.” Lay whispered, and when I looked at him, the pain started vanishing once more. I wanted to know why it was like that, since it was the third time looking at him made me feel better.

“We’ll make sure they don’t do that again.” Xiumin added on, and after bowing his head, he slipped out of the infirmary.

“Put your shirt back on. We’ll be outside waiting for you.” Lay instructed me, and even though I opened my mouth to argue, I was too late. Tao and Lay had somehow been fast enough to slip out before I could say a word.

Why was I being so obedient? Because Lay seemed like he knew what he was doing? The group of them were nothing but trouble for me so why was I listening to them?

I slowly got down from the bed, wincing as I stood and fixed my uniform. For a moment, I wondered if it were possible for me to escape undetected by them, but I didn’t think that would be possible. I could hear their voices outside of the infirmary.

Slowly, I opened the door and stepped outside, noting that the twelve members of EXO were outside like they said they would be. I bowed my head immediately, clutching my side as I stumbled through the hallway. Someone had suddenly grasped onto my arm, and though I wanted to push them away, they suddenly moved their arm to around my waist and walked with me.

“Why do you keep following me?” I asked the group of them as I stopped walking forward. The person who was walking with me was Lay once more, as he had more medical experience than the others.

“We are responsible for your injuries, so we’ll take care of you.” Suho had caught up to Lay and I and put a hand on my hair, ruffling it. I knocked his hand away and Lay’s as well before I continued on.

“If you want to take responsibility, you can do it by leaving me alone.”

“We didn’t want to do this, but…” I was surprised when I was lifted off of the ground. I wanted to thrash around, since they had no right to touch me, but I decided not to when I caught the eyes of the person holding me, Kris.

“Tao, get my keys.” Kris ordered, and I watched in silence as Tao shoved his hand down Kris’s pocket. When he fished the keys out, a grin spread on his face and he ran off with the keys.

“Kai.”

Kai let out a groan before he ran off after Tao to retrieve the keys. He wasn’t alone, either. Behind him were Sehun and Chen. They were also laughing as they ran, though I wasn’t sure of why.

“Chanyeol will take you today, right?” Suho asked, and though Chanyeol had grunted from behind us, Suho nodded and grinned down at me.

“Kai is the only one who knows where you live so it would be best if you were with Kai and Chanyeol.”

I wanted to say it would be best if I were allowed to go home on my own, but I was starting to feel lightheaded as Kris carried me.

“I’m sitting up front with Yeol. I already got slapped once today.” I glanced over at Baekhyun who was rubbing at the spot on his face that I had slapped him. Part of me felt guilty, but it was his own fault for interceding and taking a hit that wasn’t meant for him.

When we got to where the Tao and the others had run off, I was surprised to know both vans had somehow appeared in front of the school. Kris was annoyed with Tao, by the way he sighed in Tao’s direction. Tao himself was smiling sheepishly and fidgeting within Kai’s grasp as the keys to both vans dangled in Chen’s hands.

“You can let me down now.” I muttered in embarrassment, but either Kris ignored me or didn’t listen. It was the same either way, since he was a jerk, but I had sighed at his unwillingness to cooperate with my requests at all.

“Let’s head out.” Chanyeol walked passed Kris and I without sparing us a glance and was quick to enter his van. Baekhyun ran after him, claiming shotgun like he had earlier.

Kris waited until Suho opened the door and put me into the seat before he would actually leave, and I groaned as he walked away. Would they be mad if I kicked Kris? No one said anything about beating him up, right, or did I miss something?

Suho sat beside me with a gentle smile, leaning over to buckle me in. I wanted to remind him that I was perfectly capable of buckling my own seatbelt, but it seemed he also forgot I knew how to speak. D.O. had dragged Kai and Sehun into the back while Kris pulled Tao into his own van by the ear.

“Where are we going?” Chanyeol called out as he started the engine. I was about to tell him when Kai leaned forward and put a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s two blocks down from the café.”

Why didn’t he just say it was the orphanage? There was only one in the area anyway and it wasn’t like I was embarrassed to say I was from there. No, on the other hand, the bitterness that I felt had to be shared. I wanted everyone to know I had lost everything that they had ever taken advantage of.

“Myung Ji, are you hungry?” It was D.O. asking from the back. He leaned forward and held out an apple for me. I stared at him for a moment in confusion, then leaned away from the apple he offered.

“You can at least decline politely.” Chanyeol’s tone was angered. I already knew he wasn’t too crazy about me, but the way his grip on the steering wheel tightened, I didn’t think it was a good idea to speak.

“I’ll eat it if she doesn’t want it.” And the apple was pulled out of D.O.’s grasp by Sehun. I turned my head just slightly to look at him and caught him staring at me with a smirk on his lips.

“Do you really think I’ll give it to you now?”

Just as my mouth opened to retort, Suho had reached backwards and hit Sehun on the head. With a sigh, he turned forward again and crossed his arms over his chest.

“No one wants anything from you, Hun.”

“We’re here…?” Chanyeol’s voice trailed off as he pulled over at the curb in front of the orphanage. I looked around the street to make sure no one was around to watch me get out of the vehicle.

“Thank you.” I quickly pulled the seatbelt off and opened the door I was sitting by. I wanted to dash inside before they stopped me with questions, but my fears came true when they all climbed out of the van with me.

“This is where you live?” Asked Suho, and I turned his way, seeing Kris’s van pull up behind the first one.

“Until I turn eighteen.” I answer simply, heading towards the staircase. Suddenly, as I started climbing up the stairs, I noticed I wasn’t alone. Kai had decided to go up the stairs with me, and I stopped to stare at him.

“Where are you going?”

Suddenly I found myself being pushed up the staircase, stumbling as I went. Kai’s arm was around me to make sure I didn’t fall, but I was surprised in knowing they were still there.

“We’ll explain to whoever is in charge.” It was Suho again and I turned my head just slightly to see the remaining EXO members had trailed up the stairs behind me.

“Can’t you please just leave me alone?”

I was ignored by all of them, this time. I was tempted to shut the door after me when I stepped inside, but the twelve of them were definitely stronger than I was and let themselves in despite my protests.

Yanking Kai’s arm off of me, I pushed myself further into the house. There were children and toys scattered in various places and those few women that took care of the children. The women looked up as we walked in, and though they saw my wounds, they ignored them.

I had been shoved to the side by one of the women so they could see the EXO boys and gush over them. I let out a sigh as I waited there for the twelve boys to leave. They didn’t seem to be too particularly fond of the ladies, I could tell. Some of them glanced over at me, and though the ones that had been irritated with me earlier were among those who turned to me, I noticed another emotion was in their eyes as well. Was it pity?

“Hello boys!” The elder caretaker cooed, and as the other caretakers surrounded the remaining boys, she glanced over at me in confusion and back to them.

“Has she been causing you trouble?”

“No, it’s the opposite, actually.” Suho bowed his head with a chuckle,

“I’m sorry we’ve caused her to get hurt.”

The caretaker waved it off and laughed as she turned back to me. I don’t know what it was in her eyes but suddenly, they seemed dim. Before this, the caretakers merely ignored me. Much like the girls at school. Why was it that because of EXO’s sudden attention, everyone else was suddenly turning against me?

“She doesn’t look harmed at all, does she?” She asked the other caretakers, and immediately the others had agreed with her. Why were they acting like my life didn’t matter at all? It seemed that the EXO members also grew to be irritated with the women when they turned their attention back to the boys.

“What can we do for you, boys?”

“We’re fine. Take her to her room.” Kris was looking over to Lay and Luhan, his face contorted into a scowl like it usually was.

Why were they so keen on staying with me?