“Thanks for the amazing dinner. I really enjoyed it, but I have to go,” Jaein said as she stood up from her seat.

“It’s only 9pm. Stay a little longer,” Baekhyun insisted.

“I have to re-organize my notes and get ready for tomorrow’s classes. And I need to shower,” Jaein replied, picking up her textbooks from the couch.  

“No jaem!” Jongdae exclaimed as he took another bite of his food.

“Just promise us that you’ll reply our group chats,” Junmyeon said.

“And let’s hang again tomorrow. This was fun,” Sehun added.

“Premed students can’t make promises,” Jaein said with a slight chuckle.

Kyungsoo stood up from his seat and opened the door for her.

“Thanks for the delicious dinner. I haven’t had a homemade meal in forever,” she said to him before waving to the other guys.

“I’ll be happy to cook some more for you. Walk back safely.  And use the back door of the building to go out so no one sees you,” he replied to her before closing the door.

“She’s gone already. You can smile now,” Baekhyun said as he saw Kyungsoo suppressing a smile. 

Kyungsoo threw him a glare before cleaning up the kitchen. He was really happy that she liked the food he made. She was the only person who has tasted his cooking other than the boys and his family. It made him more confident.

“Do you think she likes him too? Because I think it’s just her nature to be kind to people,” Jongin asked the group.

“Well, they just met.” Junmyeon said.

“That didn’t stop him from crushing on her,” Minseok replied.

“I am surrounded with knives and I’m not afraid to use them,” Kyungsoo warned loudly from the kitchen.

They all scurried to their rooms before anything could go down.

♦♦♦

Oddly enough, there wasn’t a single day where Jaein wouldn’t meet the boys. They would always find a way to locate her after classes and persuade her to hang out. Of course, she mostly studied and read her textbooks when she comes over to their dorm. But that would only last an hour or two before the boys were able to distract her with their crazy antics.

She has to admit that hanging out with them was a stress-relief. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae would entertain her while the others were amazingly good to talk to. They got caught sneaking Jaein in the other day by one of the dorm supervisors, but they convinced him that she was Chanyeol’s close cousin who came to pick up some laundry to send back to his mom.

Something that has been bothering her lately was the constant feeling of being watched. At first she thought it was one of her mom’s ‘friends’ keeping an eye on her, but even she wouldn’t tell her ‘friends’ to keep an eye on her in the bathroom too. That’s just creepy. 

♦♦♦

As she walked out of the library, the sun had already set and she thanked the university for having so many streetlights because it got really dark. The feeling of being followed and watched rushed through every inch of her body again. She was seriously getting tired of it. She her voice recorder on her phone before confronting whoever was following her.

“I have an unregistered gun in my bag and I will use it if you keep following me,” she said out loud.

There was no response, but she knew that someone was still watching her.

“There are security cameras everywhere. I will involve the police into this if you don’t show your face now,” she warned again.

“Do you really have a gun?” a woman’s voice asked as she walked towards Jaein.

She was probably her height, had bobbed hair, very pale skin, and a smirk that Jaein would really want to wipe off her face.

“Maybe. But I know how to cut people up without making a big mess,” Jaein replied.

The girl chuckled.

“You don’t know who I am, but I know you very well. Song Jaein, premed student from New York, stays in the single dorm building unit 221A. My name’s Aeri by the way.” The girl said in a very creepy tone.

“So what? You probably got that off of my file,” Jaein scoffed.

“A lot of girls have been complaining that you hang around a couple of boys too much and they don’t like it,” the Aeri said.

“You mean Junmyeon and his crew?” Jaein asked.

“Wow, you’re so uncultured. It’s Junmyeon oppa and his crew,” Aeri replied.

“Of course I’m uncultured. I lived in a country where there were no honorifics whatsoever. Chill,” Jaein said, clearly annoyed. 

“Just stop hanging around them. It’s weird seeing an average person hang out with them,” the Aeri replied.

Average my . She’s just asking for a death sentence.

“I had a very bad day today and your creepy obsession with me is getting on my ing nerves. You tell your ‘friends’ to shove their complaints up their asses and talk to those boys themselves rather than being and sending a representative to talk to me,” Jaein said, “And this isn’t high school anymore. You shouldn’t have time to threated other people over some boys. Grow up will you.”

Aeri just giggled. Her smirk got bigger and Jaein wished that she had really brought her unregistered gun to shoot that annoying smirk off Aeri’s stupid face.

“We’re all watching you. You should be scared of us,” Aeri threatened.

“So is the NSA, and I’m not even scared of them.” Jaein replied, already getting tired of this .

Jaein realized that it would be better to just walk away rather than wasting her voice talking to crazy eyes. So she did, which made Aeri call her name. Jaein kept walking as Aeri kept calling her. After Jaein was already out of Aeri’s line of sight, she opened her phone and dialed a number.

“I don’t think it worked, but we’ll try again.”

♦♦♦

Jaein was pissed that she now has to add that crazy Aeri girl to her list of problems. She knew girls like her would not stop until they get what they want. Her mom’s already biting her . She doesn’t need more biters in her life.

♦♦♦

“Do you guys feel like someone’s following us?” Baekhyun asked as he, Kyungsoo, Yixing, Junmyeon, and Jaein was walking to the University cafeteria.

Motherer. Jaein mentally cussed. It’s been a few weeks since her encounter with Aeri, but the stalking did not stop. She didn’t tell the boys yet though. From that day on, she carried a self-defense stick in her bag. She did taking boxing back in New York, but she didn’t want to knock the girl out. Probably a few fractures would be fine.

“Do you guys possibly have bat--crazy fans here?” Jaein asked as they kept walking.

“Definitely. There was this one time where this girl waited for me outside the dance studio and skipped all her classes that day,” Yixing replied as he reminisced that awful day.

“They’re a bit scared of Kyungsoo though because he always has this scary gaze,” Baekhyun said.

“But that didn’t stop them from stealing my music sheets, did it?” Kyungsoo huffed.

“He was so angry that he filed a complaint to the university and the girl got caught and was suspended for a whole semester. Kyungsoo even yelled at her group of friends,” Junmyeon continued.

“Did they do anything to you?” Baekhyun asked.

Did they? Kyungsoo wondered as he glanced at Jaein.

“Why would you ask that?” she asked back.

“They’re bat--crazy like you said. I mean, they should know better since we’re in university already. They should’ve left those bad habits back in high school,” Yixing answered.

“It’s not anything major, but I think they’ve been following me for a month or two,” Jaein said.

Junmyeon stopped in his tracks.

“And you didn’t tell us? Any of us? We could’ve stopped it Jaein,” he said.

“I thought they would stop after I confronted one of them. She followed me at night after I left the library a couple weeks ago. I got so irritated so I told her I would shoot her if she kept following me,” Jaein explained.

“Shoot her? What?” Baekhyun was confused. Like literally shoot her? He thought.

“My exact words were: I have an unregistered gun in my bag and I will use it if you don’t stop following me. But I was only bluffing. They don’t permit guns in the dorm.” She said.

“What did she say next?” Kyungsoo asked, not liking this whole thing already.

“She said some of her friends were not happy that I kept hanging around you guys. I recorded the whole conversation.” Jaein replied as she took out her phone and opened the recording file.

The recording lasted for 8 minutes. Junmyeon made sure Jaein emailed him the recording.

“I’ve heard of Aeri. I think she’s like the ‘leader’ of the pack,” Baekhyun pointed out.

“Let’s bring this to the higher ups. I’m sure they’ll do something about it,” Yixing said.

“I said I owned an unregistered gun in this campus. Even though I lied about it, they would probably search my room and put this on my record. I don’t want a record” Jaein replied.

“I do agree with her about the oppa thing,” Junmyeon said jokingly.

Jaein shot him a glare.

Suddenly, her phone rang with a caller ID that says: Mom.

“I have to take this. I’ll see you guys later,” she said, but Kyungsoo grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay alone? One of us can come with you,” he suggested.

“It’s fine. I have to discuss some personal things with my mom,” she replied.

“Go somewhere with a lot of people. It’s safer,” Yixing said as Kyungsoo let go and let her walk away.

  “We have to call a group meeting,” Junmyeon said as they headed for the cafeteria.

♦♦♦

“What is it?” Jaein asked her mom as she went to the library.

“Did your brothers contact you? I’m really worried about them,” her mom replied.

“I told you this a million times. They need some space from you. I would do the same thing if I were them,” Jaein said.

“Tell them to contact me. I will not give them any more money if they don’t call me,” her mom said angrily.

“They have stable jobs. I’m pretty sure they can live without your funding,” Jaein replied with the same angry tone.

“What did I even do to them? Why are they so ungrateful,” her mom said.

“You enforced what you wanted on them. You never cared about what they wanted to do in life. They wanted to take over the company, but because you hold a grudge against dad, you want them to pursue something they don’t want to be,” Jaein explained, “And I’ve told you this a lot of times too but whenever we have these conversations, you’re always not sober.”

“Do not say that I am drunk. I am never drunk around you,” her mom replied.

“Keep saying that to yourself. I’m pretty sure you won’t remember this conversation tomorrow,” Jaein said.

“This is what happens when you listen to your father. You become wild, ungrateful, and rude. I only want what’s best for you; I want to be here for you. I love you all so much, ” Her mom replied.

“No, you don’t. You don’t care about anyone’s happiness except for yours and you were never here for me; you will never be. You can’t just ignore your children and not give them the affection that they need when they were kids. Jihoon oppa, Jihyuk oppa, and I grew up without any affection from you. Then you suddenly impose it and blame us for not reciprocating.” Jaein exclaimed.

“You know I needed to work and-

“You could’ve at least taken the time to care for your own children. Dad’s company was and is still doing well. Instead, you throw us to nannies and caretakers,” Jaein interrupted.

“I’m very disappointed in you. You’re my one and only daughter, but you don’t act like it. Anyways, I have to end the call. My head hurts from this talk.” Her mom said, “But I think I might pay you a visit. Who knows-

Before her mom could finish her sentence, Jaein ended the call. She was annoyed, mad, irritated, and completely devastated. Of course she kept close contacts with her brothers; they text each other every day. But she didn’t want to burden her brothers with their mother’s nagging and complaints.

Jaein always wondered why she was born into such a family. What wrongs did she do to deserve this life?