Shinae’s daily routine never seemed to fail her because she came soaring down the gravel path leading to their school's entrance; her ratty shoes scraping obnoxiously against the scattered pebbles. Her uniform’s skirt went flying haphazardly, the button’s on her shirt were once again only partially done up and put together in a half-assed mess, and her hair was once again falling from its very messy and loose bun.

Her backpack is ped, all her belongings on full display for those who sprawl across the school’s lawn. Her folders bounce with each step, and small slips of paper that aren’t well hidden go flying with the breeze that rushes past her racing form. Her small hands have gone white at the knuckles as they hold onto her phone with a vice-like grip.

She bounds up the front steps, her eyebrows draw in tightly, her forehead creases and each footstep is lined with a strange determination. She pushes past the heavy double doors and races to her locker, her heart pounding hard. But when she arrives to find the space by her locker void of any familiar face or person, her shoulders immediately slump and the fire in her eyes dims ever so slightly; she had decided last night she’d talk to Yixing and Luhan today about what happened yesterday.

Her eyes drift down to her phone as she quickly locks the screen, promptly hiding all the worried messages from last night. Looking back at it now she realizes that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to leave her two best friends hanging after the way she stormed out. She just needed time to breathe, away from everyone. The moment after she left work she decided that she would try to be mature about this situation and work with Baekhyun.

At least when she would work with him she wouldn’t be alone, the rest of his friends who were at least tolerable would be there and their partners-two of which just so happened to be her friends. She could do it, and she knew it, even though her stomach wound up tightly every time she thought about being in an enclosed space with him.

She inhales slowly and shoves her phone into her backpack’s side pocket and quickly begins to open her locker. She drops the heavy pack onto the floor by her feet and starts to rummage through everything she wouldn’t need for the first part of the day and begins to unload. Her mind was so jumbled and all over the place that she didn’t even notice a small slip of paper resting at the very bottom of her locker. She stood up abruptly, her eyes scanning the halls hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends before she went to homeroom; but to her chagrin, they were nowhere in sight.

She turns back to stare dejectedly at her mess of a locker and prepares to shut it, but strangely enough her eyes are pulled down. She feels this odd crawling feeling creep up her spine as though someone is watching her, she recognizes it almost immediately. But this overwhelming urge to grab the little note overrules the instinct to turn and see who is watching her. Her paling fingers pinch the crinkled corner and she lifts it up and is greeted by an elegant script:

Small problems can grow into big ones, and big problems can shrink with time and effort.

The words make no sense but something in the back of her head is telling her they somehow do.

She swallows hard and quickly shakes her head, willing herself to snap out of this sudden trance. With a weird abruptness, she comes back to the present and that creepy feeling of being watched squeezes itself into the pit of her stomach, weighing it down. She quickly turns and the air is pulled rapidly from her lungs, like a swift punch to the gut his gaze slams into her. He is the man from lunch yesterday, the one who stared at her so intently that instead of the look being just a soft brush; it was a hard hammer, very real, very present, and extremely powerful. The hairs on her arms stand on edge, the muscles in her body tense so violently she felt a massive cramp just preparing to hurt her if she went on any longer with this.

His deep dark eyes managing to ignore every student that passed between them and stay completely focused on her and nothing else. She had never seen him around before, until yesterday, she had figured he was a transfer student or just new-but she already did not like him. She turned and slammed her locker shut planning out in her head how to confront him, but her plans were quickly foiled by a certain school monitor.

He slithered out of his little dark hole and just appeared next to her locker as the door slammed shut. Shinae’s whole body hiccuped upon seeing the oddly tall and lanky man glaring down at her, his beak-like lips pulled into a knowing sneer. His beady eyes scanned her body from her ratty slightly undone shoes to her messy bun that is now beginning to slant off of her tilted head. His greedy fingers work eagerly, flipping through pink slips till he lands on an empty one and begins to write earnestly in sloppy letters, filling up the sheet before he rips it off and holds it out to Shinae.

Her body is buzzing like an excited bug, her feet tap non-stop, and her relaxed fingers reach out for the sheet. She was expecting this, the man had it out for her and always would have it out for her. His posture straightens and his hungry need to fine her for her misbehaviors is easily replaced by a look of complete superiority.

“This is a warning meant to be given to your parents,” that last word sent another ill chill wrapping itself around Shinae’s empty stomach but he continued on; thinking the lack of color in her features was a result of the slip and not the responsibility that now lay on her shoulders from it.

“This is the second time this year you have shown up to school wearing your uniform incorrectly and not up to code. If it continues on you will be given detention, and you know the steps after that,” he smirked, “also once your parents have signed the slip return it to me in the attendance office.” He promptly turned leaving her alone with the slowly forming dread that balled up in her chest.

She turns hoping to catch sight of the strange man from earlier but he has already vanished, and sadly her impending doom had not. She swallows harder than before and rushes off to class shoving both the note and pink slip into her backpack. She enters the noisy classroom and feels all the tension that rests in her muscles leak out slowly upon catching sight of her two friends sitting in their usual spots. She rushes past the other desks and plops down into the seat between the two. Yixing’s body stiffens slightly upon her arrival and Luhan’s doesn’t fail to imitate his friend’s posture perfectly. They both manage to roll their eyes to the side to stare at Shinae without directly looking at her. The air that settles between the two was suffocating at best, and downright lethal at worst.

“Look,” She leans into her desk and peeks over at Yixing, his ears perk slightly at the sound of her voice.

“I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls or respond to your texts last night,” she turns her head slightly to acknowledge Luhan; who has now turned around to fully face her. His eyes shimmer with a weird desperation, his lips tug downwards, his forehead creased as he waits for her to finish.

“I just needed time to think on my own and I was exhausted after work last night,” she finishes her little story. The long pause after her words have flown into the air is dense and full, almost suffocating in its demeanor. But moments later Yixing’s body relaxes into her own and he smiles joyously, Luhan’s reaction is almost similar in its depiction except he stares at her intensely as if waiting for something more and there is more.

Shinae’s lips twitch at the corners before sticking up in an atrocious smile, she turns to look at Yixing knowing he’ll be the one most satisfied with what she is about to say.

“I also have decided, on my own, to give working with Baekhyun a chance.” Yixing’s at ease expression blossoms into one made of a wide pride-ridden smile, his cheeks pushing into the bottom lid of his eyes making the most precious half-moon shapes. But Luhan’s body seems to shoot uncomfortably. Shinae turns to face him but he isn’t facing her, instead, his large doe eyes narrow slightly as they bore into the empty space that is typically occupied by their oh so lovable pal, Baekhyun.

Shinae sighs, “Luhan it’s just for a proj