Were they waiting for Somi to come out so they could bad mouth her to her face? Hell yeah, they were. It was blatantly obvious. But Somi was persistent; she sat tight and refused to move from her stall with her phone in her hand, recording everything they said to each other to attack her indirectly. They were giving her more information, so she wasn't going to complain about the pins and needles attacking her legs.

She was so persistent that the pair left with a scoff and a flick of their hair that Somi watched through the sliver of room between her door and the next stall. With them gone, Somi stopped filming and let out a deep breath, putting her phone away and racking her hands back through her hair. Thoughts were racing through her mind a million miles an hour, but at the same time, her mind felt empty.

"I knew I wasn't imagining things" She was right. Finally, she was right about something. A whole array of emotions swam within Somi and made her stomach churn, but before the anger could come, there was pride.

I've gotten something right.

For what felt like the first time in a long time, Somi wasn't wrong. She had her facts right, nearly all of them. And even though she had gotten them by digging around and waiting her time out in a toilet stall, she had gotten the answers herself. She had successfully pulled herself out of the dark instead of having anyone else take the blindfold off for her.

Then came the hard part.

"I have to talk to Hyungwon," No, Changkyun first, Changkyun will be better to talk to first.

She nodded to agree with herself. After all, Changkyun had all of her answers on the tip of his tongue, he was just biting down on it because Hyungwon didn't want him to speak, and his word was law right now with Hyunwoo not being in the picture. Somi stood up, admittedly it took her legs a moment to move from the stall, and when she left the bathroom, she caught a glance in the mirror at the state she was in but quickly looked away with more important places to be.

Her mind screamed at her legs to move faster, but they couldn't take her towards her dormitory any quicker than they already were. Somi looked mad, out of her mind running back to the dorms for anyone that cared to look her way. There was no time to waste, though. She had to get Changkyun in front of her. Somi had not to be alone with the thoughts that followed the newfound knowledge that she had.

In the privacy and safety of her room, Somi's knuckles knocked and knocked against Changkyun's card with a lack of patience, her breathing proof of the dead sprint she had thrown herself into to get herself to her dorm and so loud in her ears that she couldn't hear when Changkyun was behind her.

"I am here Somi, why are you fretting? What has happened?" Instantly Changkyun moved closer with his hands reaching towards Somi. She startled and snapped her body to face Changkyun, who was also startled, still sensitive.

"When you were going to tell me what was being kept from me-" Somi a breath in "-were you going to tell me that our time together was only temporary too?" She questioned, her breath bated now as she watched Changkyun blink, no amount of composure able to interfere in time to stop the confusion he felt being visible on his face.

"Who told you of this?" He inquired. His brows turned in, and they scrunched with concern. Somi swallowed, pulling her phone from her pocket.

"If only I could walk around knowing that this butler won't be following my every move all my life" Laughter echoed through the phone, and Somi looked away from the phone to seek Changkyun's reaction.

"Try having more than one, Krystal's sister is worse than she is, and the money I earn goes straight to my parents"  Somi didn't stop it there. She let the recording play from start to finish, watching Changkyun. He stared back at her, not denying the words said or reacting to the audio. He watched her the same way Somi was watching him until the talking stopped, and the two of them were staring at each other, waiting for who would speak up first.

"Everything you heard is true", Changkyun breathed in, the action making his shoulders rise and fall with the intake and release of the deep breath.

"Now that you are aware, there is nothing that I can keep from you. Your mother and father placed you in the lowest of grades in Moonstar Academy because they did not wish to risk your safety or have you live a life of danger" Changkyun straightened out his sleeves, removing any creases in the fabric.

"The people you heard talking participate in jobs with their cards. They are not simply butlers for them. These jobs are dangerous but high paying jobs that can be anything from saving a hostage to discovering the location of a prison camp. They are trained more rigorously and longer than you or I are trained, and most of the students make a career out of the job because it is to be kept secret amongst a small society of people; they are always on the lookout for recruits."

"What does this mean for you and me? Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Because Mr and Mrs Han do not want you to take jobs as such on, they want you to live a normal life. Thus, Hyungwoo, Hyungwon and I will be with you until the day you graduate successfully" Changkyun bowed so he could lower his head. Somi looked away, blinking her eyes heavily and clucking her tongue. She didn't want to cry over this. 

"Why do they continue to keep things from me?" She questioned herself.

"To keep you safe, Somi" Changkyun answered her in a quiet voice. Somi looked at him again, and he was standing straight as a pole again, meeting her eyes.

"And if I want to change class? If I go up in grade, train harder, stronger and for longer, what will happen to us then?" Somi's lips trembled, unable to handle that Changkyun's eyes were going red from held back emotions.

"Then, granted you really wish too, the principal of Moonstar Academy has high hopes for you, Hyunwoo has explained in the past."

"But what about us? Where do you go?" Somi waved away the hopes of her principal; she didn't care for that information.

"Wherever you are, until retirement or for good, if that is what you wish for, or," Changkyun swallowed, "to anyone you pass me on to, if that is also what you wish" He finished and Somi shook her head.

"May you have a seat Somi? There are a lot of emotions swaying you. Take your time to think your thoughts through properly" Somi sat down on her bed as requested, looking at Changkyun so he would do the same. They sat in a long pause of silence for a long while, both of them exhaling heavily. Somi slumped to fall back on her bed, and Changkyun's arm gently intercepted, holding her weight as he looked into her eyes.

The eye contact was kept between them, even after Changkyun had sighed, relieved that she hadn't passed out. Somi let Changkyun hold her and moved closer to put her head on his shoulder.

"I don't wish for you to leave for anywhere that I'm not going to be", Somi muttered into the air, and Changkyun hummed.

"You must know what the sacrifices for your wish are first." 

"Hyungwon and I already talked about working harder, getting stronger for all of us and moving forward."

"Yes," Changkyun agreed, "but at the time, you did not predict it would be to the lengths that you are wishing to go now."

"I'll do it" Somi was resolute.

"I will push harder, make us all stronger. When Hyunwoo gets back, I'll follow all of his commands with no complaints," She continued.

"Spend some time calming yourself, and then think about what you really wish to do in life", Changkyun advised, looking at Somi the best that he could.

"Because I will be holding you to your words Somi" The warning was promising, and Somi nodded against his shoulder.

"If you think I should spend more time thinking about it, then I will."

"Until you talk to Hyungwon and your parents when they have come to return Hyunwoo to us", Somi breathed out but nodded, complying with Changkyun.

Already, I don't know what I would do without Changkyun here.

"You should change into something that is more comfortable for you" Changkyun pointed out the uniform that Somi was still in, and she looked down at her outfit.

"Right," Somi agreed and moved to stand up. Changkyun left her in her room to wait for her in the living room. When Somi came out, Changkyun his feet to face her, trying to smile at her gently.

"Are you hungry?" He worried, and Somi's head shook.

"I don't think I could stomach any food right now" Changkyun nodded as she sat down with his eyes following her.

"I understand" He walked away to the fridge and came back with a bottle of water just as Somi breathed out heavily and closed her eyes.

"For you" Changkyun held the cold water towards her, and Somi opened her eyes again.

"Oh, thank you Changkyun," Somi honestly didn't believe her stomach could take any water either, but to show Changkyun that his thoughts were appreciated, she snapped the cap open and took a couple of sips from the bottle. It soothed with its coldness, and Somi found herself drinking more than she had expected out of the bottle. Seeing Somi do so had pleased Changkyun until his quick eyes picked up the blemish making themselves visible on her neck that he hadn't seen earlier.

"Why is your neck bruising?" Triggered by the dark marks forming in the design of fingers around her neck Changkyun was instantly on his knees, leaning in close to Somi. A gasp was let out, and Somi ripped the bottle of water away from her lips, wide eyes staring at Changkyun. His gentle fingers braced under Somi's chin and lifted, giving him a better view of the bruises coming up.

"What happened?" He asked. He was mad, absolutely furious that something could have happened to Somi while he was not with her.

"It's nothing" Somi weakly tried to avoid the subject, flustered by how quickly Changkyun caught on, his attention to the bruises only reminding her of how they were hurting.

"This is simply nothing. You have the marks of a person's hands around your throat; this does not occur from nothing happening," Changkyun refuted, seeing Somi swallow. He looked up, and Somi avoided his stare by looking at the ceiling.

"It's fine", She decidedly huffed out, brushing Changkyun's hand away and lowering her head.

"This is not fine" Changkyun stood up in denial and walked away. Somi's fingers wrapped around the water bottle, mouth opening to argue back. But Changkyun returned as quickly as he had left with a vitamin K ointment in his hand, where he knelt in front of Somi and raised her chin again.

"Someone out there has clearly caused you harm. The reason we are here is to prevent that from happening, and we have failed you, Somi."

"You have not failed me Changkyun, you weren't even there", Somi bit back, cringing at the chill of the ointment meeting her skin.

"Who was it?"

"No one important, I'm fine."

"I want to know who has done this to you when you are under my care."

"I wasn't under your care; I was walking around campus alone" Changkyun put the cap back on the ointment, discarding it on the coffee table before turning back to Somi. His warm fingers pinched Somi's chin, bringing her face back down and effectively making her look into his eyes. They stared. Changkyun trying to pull a name from Somi's lips, and Somi silently trying to make Changkyun drop the subject by refusing to speak.

"Tell me who it was" There was an edge in the quiet voice Changkyun spoke in. His breath warmly brushed over the skin of Somi's lips and cheeks. She swallowed and bit down on her lower lip to stop any words from coming out.

"Who put their hands on you, Somi?" Changkyun asked again, thumb pressing down on Somi's chin to pull her bottom lip from between her teeth. His hand on the sofa moved closer to her hand that had dropped to her side. His eyes pierced right into hers, looking for his answer.

"You do not want to tell me?" Changkyun hummed, smirking crookedly. Somi didn't answer again, even with her bottom lip free from the trap that was her teeth. Changkyun's energy left her too stunned to speak at the sight of this new person before her.

"Fine, let us see how Hyungwon reacts" He stood up and walked away. Somi let out a deep breath, foolishly relaxing now that there was a distance between the two of them. Changkyun entered her room, and he quickly returned the sight of what he had in hand making Somi jolt up.

"You're not allowed to touch that" Her eyes widened with bated breath. Changkyun looked up from what he held to meet Somi's eyes again, lips twitching arrogantly.

"You know how to speak again", He commented knowingly, and Somi swallowed; he had ignored her statement.

"What are you doing?" Changkyun approached again, lowering himself to one knee in front of Somi, his other legs pressing against hers as he looked through the bangs that loosely hung on the left side of his face. Without having to look back down, he opened the hard tin lid of Somi's card case, revealing Hyungwon's card still sitting within it, uncalled upon. Changkyun pulled out the card with his pointer and thumb and offered it to Somi.

"Knock on his door" Changkyun smiled, and Somi's breath tremored, hand reaching for the card.

"This isn't like you", She breathed out the remark.

"No?" Changkyun amusedly answered her as she looked down at the card.

"Sooner rather than later, would be best advised", Changkyun spoke lowly, and Somi swallowed, unsure of why she was complying with this new side of Changkyun she was meeting.

One, two, three.

Three knocks, and Hyungwon knew that Somi was looking for him.

"Here we go" Changkyun took Hyungwon's card and put it away safely, setting the card on the coffee table next to the vitamin K ointment. 

Hyungwon didn't appear right away as the two of them waited. Somi looked up in time to see Hyungwon walking out of her room, looking around for her and realised he went straight to that room out of habit. It was where she asked for his presence the most often because if his card wasn't in her hand, it was on her desk. Hyungwon was quick to spot the two of them, and with careful steps, he approached them whilst Changkyun stood up and took a step back.

"Would something be going on?" Hyungwon asked, thoroughly suspicious about what he had been called into. Changkyun took another step back and gestured to Somi. The young woman he gestured to swallowed, a foreboding sense of nervousness creeping up her spine. Hyungwon's eyes strolled back to Somi, squinting to take a good look at her.

One, t- Changkyun counted in his head.

"What has been done to your neck Somi?" Not even two seconds in and Hyungwon had noticed what was off with Somi. He placed himself in front of her on hurried feet now and bent forward, unlike Changkyun, who knelt in front of her. He was identical in his approach of pinching her chin to tilt her head back; however, Somi found herself swallowing, finding her ability to speak running away from her again.

"Why these are finger marks! Someone has bruised you with their filthy, dirty, good for nothing, absolutely going to be ripped off and burnt before their very eyes, disgusting hands!" His voice got loud, and though it was her second time seeing Hyungwon break character, this development was as new as Changkyun's felt, and she couldn't stop her body from jumping the way it did in response to his aggressive tongue twister of fury.

A blaring ringtone shot through the room, but Somi was the only one to jump in shock. She stuffed her hand into her pocket and pulled the device out, swallowing as she looked to see who was calling her.

"And now your phone is ringing?!" Somi flinched, eyes snapping back up to Hyungwon. He was pacing left to right in front of Somi.

"Answer, answer" He waved to the phone, and Somi nodded.

"Dad", Somi breathed out with the phone to her ear.

"Somi dear! How has your week been?" Mingyeol chimed down the line, full of life as always.

"It's been good, dad, you?"

"Good, good, I've really enjoyed spending the week with Hyunwoo. He even came to work with me a couple of times during the week. We've done a lot of talking, and say, Somi, he has only been with you a short few months, but he already has a lot of stories to tell. You shouldn't be so stubborn, you know? You're both not helping each other with those hard heads of yours."

"Mingyeol" Hyunwoo, Somi heard Hyunwoo's voice in the background. Despite how exasperated he sounded because of her father, hearing his voice still sent a shiver down Somi's spine that caused her to sit up straight.

"I didn't answer the phone to be lectured, dad", Somi huffed.

"I know, I know, but I had to say my thoughts while I still remembered them. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Hyunwoo is ready to come home. He said he'd done some good thinking, and he's ready to work hard with you, personally, though, I think he just doesn't want to spend any more time with his old friend," Somi's father joked. She tried to hide it, but the news had Somi nervous.

"He's coming back?" Changkyun and Hyungwon paused, both snapping their heads towards Somi.

"Yes, it's Friday, isn't it? Yes, it is. I have tomorrow off, so your mother and I will be in the car first thing in the morning to bring him back, no later, according to Hyunwoo and your mother," Mingyeol explained, and Somi smiled softly.

"I look forward to it."

"Ok then, we'll see you tomorrow, dear", Mingyeol chuckled, and Somi hummed.

"See you all then."

"Hyunwoo will be coming home?" Changkyun questioned once the phone was put down, and Somi nodded.

"Tomorrow", She confirmed, and Changkyun nodded.

"Ok, this still does not tell me who has done this to you" Hyungwon raised Somi's chin to get another look at the bruises. Somi huffed, gently pushing Hyungwon's hand away.

"You do not have to worry, both of you. It's finished now. Just let the bruises heal, and we will all move on from this" Somi waved her arms to gesture to the two of them who were acting out of character.

"Nonsense", Hyungwon refuted.

"I need to know who has done this to you and why."

"It's fine Hyungwon, Changkyun"

"It is not fine" Heatedly, the trio went back and forth, two against one as Somi tried to get the pair to move on from the topic, though no new subjects could be moved onto.

"It was Seungyoon, alright?" Beyond exhausted, the conversation continued until suddenly it halted. A strange look passed across Changkyun's face, the same sort of look Somi had seen when she saw him for the first time, hiding amongst her clothes in her closet. It became stifling to sit in the room together as the air only grew tenser after Somi put a name into it.

"Seungyoon did this?" Quietly, Changkyun spoke. Somi looked at him and then let her head nod.

"Seungyoon..." He breathed out the name again, looking conflicted.

"Changkyun", Somi muttered the males name, reaching out.

"That card abusing bastard did this to you!" Seethed Hyungwon.

"Hyungwon! I don't think you're helping!" Somi hissed, smacking her hand in Hyungwon's direction to soothe him.

"When did this happen?" Changkyun asked, and Somi blinked at him, not catching his question.

"When did he put his hands on yo