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 F I F T E E N 

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“W-What did you just say?” I asked, my voice cracking, fragile like glass.

He lay there, still and quiet, pretending as if he were in a slumber. Silence hung in the air like a thick fog until I yanked the comforter off of him and hit his cheek lightly. “Yah, what the did you just say?” I growled, feeling myself bristle with warning, anger, and fear. No one told him – Himchan swore on his life to protect my secret – and as far as I knew, Yong Guk wasn’t a mind-reader. There was no way he could have known – I’d taken meticulous steps to prevent any discovery of my identity from happening. “How do you know that’s my real name?” I yelled at him as he ignored me again. He shrugged, burying his face into the pillow, and shaking his head into it. “Yah, you , stop ing around with me right now. What the hell did you just say?” I snarled at him, daring him to answer me, and was taken aback when he suddenly turned his head and stared me in the eye.

“You think Himchan would have hidden that from me?” He smirked, staring at me. “You must take me for a fool, _________ –“

“! Don’t ever say that name again,” I said, pressing my palms to his lips.

“Girls shouldn’t use such crass language,” He said, grinning, while I gaped.

“What?” I said, speechless.

“Girly boy,” He said, chuckling.

“You think this is a joke?” I yelled at him, angry that he was taking it so lightly, but somehow feeling more lighthearted knowing that he saw me as a girl. For some reason, I trusted him. I knew that he would protect my secret, and Yong Guk had seen so much in the streets that I’d expected him to find out sooner or later. In my heart, I knew that if it was anyone who had to discover my secret, I would have chosen Yong Guk first. Even I agreed that I was a lot shorter compared to the other boys, and didn’t eat half as much as they did. Though I was already considered on the heavier side for a girl, I was still slim compared to the burly B.A.P members, which made me worry that my disguise was flawed. “You can’t tell anyone!” I glared, but he just smirked. Raising his voice, he opened his mouth to yell out my secret, and I clasped a hand over his mouth. Glaring at him, I shot daggers into his eyes. “Don’t you dare,” I snapped, while he turned to his side, holding his chest in laughter.

“Don’t worry. You’re so unmannered and unladylike that no one would dare mistake you for a girl. After all, girls are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice,” He teased, looking me up and down in disdain.

“YAH!” I snarled, lunging at him, preparing to slit his throat, but he easily flipped me over and pinned my back to the bed.

“Be careful, little girl,” He said, grinning as he lowered his face to mine. My heart stopped when his lips almost touched my nose, almost brushing them gently. I’d never had a boy put his face so close, with his body placed in such contact towards me, and turned red from the new feeling. I could feel his body heat radiate from him, his energy channeling into me as his eyes never left mine. When I was in such close contact with him, his sweet breath tickled my face and the scent of him made me go dizzy. With his leg over my leg, and his hands gently brushing at my hair, his expression was gentle, unlike his hardened expression when he dealt with the other gangs. “I’ll make a deal with you,” He said, not moving his body, his frame still covering mine. I could barely make out any words – I have a Yong Guk laying on top of me! – but I managed to warble a response. “What?” I croaked hoarsely, too intoxicated by him to argue.

“I’ll keep your secret, but only if you promise to never do anything like that again.”

 Feeling as if he underestimated me now, I raised my voice in order to get my point across. “I can make my own decisions. I’m as masculine as any of you guys-“

He shook his head and lowered his lips. “I’m warning you,” He said, his mouth getting closer to mine.

I turned my head to the side, and he laughed.

“Please?” He asked me, not caring that I tried to avoid his touch, and aiming for the side of my face.

“Okay, okay!” I snapped, glaring at him. I tried to push him off, but he just held me down and shook his head. He smiled wickedly, and then pressed his lips to my cheek, a jolt of electricity shooting through me when it happened. Frozen, my eyes widened and my mouth fell agape as he left his lips there for longer than necessary. After a couple seconds, he stopped, but whispered in my ear. “Thanks for taking care of me,” He said, ruffling my hair as he turned back into his blanket cocoon. A sneaky butterfly who decided to brush its wings at my cheek, I was completely taken aback and was about to snap a reply at him when the door banged open. The loud sound jarred me from the mattress, making me almost flip onto the floor, but Yong Guk grabbed me with his arm and pulled me to him. His face close to mine again, I turned to the direction of the sound and gaped. It was Himchan, who was bristling with anger and looking displeased with the position we were currently in.

“Io?” He asked, looking at me in surprise.

“Hi?” I said, warily, as Yong Guk grinned at his gang member. “I think my fever’s gone,” He said, while I closed my eyes in embarrassment at his untimely response.

“What the are you two doing?” Himchan said, rushing over to me and wresting my arm from the bed. “Why are you two sharing the same bed?”

“I was just helping him fix his bandages,” I said, trying to cool down the situation. I knew that Himchan wanted to protect me from anyone discovering that I was a girl, but I knew that Yong Guk wasn’t going to be of any harm to me. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it already. Protecting me from the bullet and making sure that I was okay – that wasn’t really in the criteria for serial killer. “I’ve never seen a first-aid procedure that involved two people lying on a bed together,” Himchan said roughly, his gaze furious, shooting lasers at Yong Guk, while I sat up and crossed my legs on the sheets. “It’s okay, Himchan. He knows I’m a girl – he won’t do anything to me,” I said, trying to appease him, but it only seemed to make his anger spike. “Yeah, that's what makes me angry - he knew from the start that you're a girl, and yet he let you into his bed?”  He exclaimed, staring in shock at Yong Guk. “Get off,” He snapped at me, yanking me off of Yong Guk’s bed as he stared at the older boy.

“You may be the leader but that doesn’t give you an excuse to play around,” He glared, frowning at Yong Guk.

“You’ve known me for so long already. How do you know I’m not serious?” Yong Guk snapped back, standing up shakily and walking over to Himchan.

“Don’t around-”

“Stop being so overprotective and let Io decide what she wants to do. Are you safe, Io? Did I hurt you? Are you okay?” He asked, keeping his gaze on Himchan.

I nodded my head, and for some reason, that only seemed to tick Himchan off again. “Don’t make any moves on her, Yong Guk. I was the one who brought her here, I have responsibility for her as well.”

“Who says that I can’t be responsible as well?” Yong Guk suddenly said, crossing his arms as he stared Himchan in the eye. Standing towards each other face-to-face, I suddenly realized that although Yong Guk was gentle with me, when angered, he was dangerous and deadly. Even Himchan, who’d been all smiles and well-mannered around me, was brash and rough when it came to his emotions. Both boys were like electricity, Yong Guk’s lightning shooting small but irritable sparks through the atmosphere, while Himchan’s thunder tended to roar and boom with clashing noises. I didn’t want both of them as enemies, and I didn’t want them to fight against each other either. Walking over to both of them and getting in between the middle, I glared at both of them. “Stop this! I don’t know what the hell you’re fighting about but it’s ing juvenile! The only person taking responsibility over me is myself,” I snarled, making sure they understood my point. "I'm here for one reason - to avenge my dead brother. And that reason only. 

But I also don't want to be scared anymore. Yong Guk, if you rat me out, I will get you back," I said, glaring at him. "I hate the desicions you make sometimes, I hate how you're doing this right now to tick us off, and I hate how you won't let me get revenge - but I trust you," I said, looking at him fiercely, before looking at Himchan. "And Himchan," I said softly, "Without you I wouldn't be here. So I'll listen to you, both of you - but stop being such s, guys - I'm thankful for you two, but I'm not expecting to be taken care of here." There was silence when I stopped, and I felt relief at having eased off our tension - and also provide some boundary lines as to how far both of them could go for me. They had their own burdens already - I refused to become merely an extra mouth to feed in the gang, because I was beginning to enjoy being part of a family. 

And just like a real family, we had to work together - not against each other anymore. 

Otherwise we'd never find Zelo.

“Wait, Io - who told Yong Guk your name?" Himchan said, eyeing Yong Guk strangely as Yong Guk turned his guilty face to the side.

“You did, didn't you? Before I came here, into BAP?" I asked, feeling a wierd tension start in my stomach. 

“Io – I – I never told Yong Guk that,” He said, looking at Yong Guk in shock.

I turned to Yong Guk open-mouthed, feeling betrayed and wondering how he’d gotten that information about me. Looking at him with a stunned expression, I felt Himchan grow tense and place his hand on Yong Guk’s shoulder and snarl at him. Taking his hand off, I made Himchan back off, wanting to get the answers myself. “Tell me how you know,” I said, wanting answers from the mysterious leader – who I knew nothing about, but who seemingly knew everything about me. “Tell me how you found out!” My voice was chilly, icy, yet furious with fire that he’d lied to me and used Himchan as a scapegoat. Before he could say his explanation, however, loud footsteps crashed into the room, sending a stack of CDs shuffling to the floor. A flurry of noise was heard from the outside, and I heard the other boys frantically trying to set up something with the TV. “Io! Himchan! Yong Guk!” Daehyun said, his boyish face wrinkled with fear. He was panting and sweating, and he looked even worse for wear than this morning, if that were even possible. His hands shaking, he pointed out the doorway into the living room.

“NU’EST would like a ransom for Zelo. They’ve held him captive,” He said, in a voice of utter defeat.

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A U T H O R ' S N O T E # T H R E E  

Thanks to Effloresence (secondary poster)  & -xblurmelon (cchart & main poster) for their gorgeous posters. 

Please check their sites out! :) 

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 Wow, thanks to all my awesome old & new subscribers! <3

It feels so strange looking back &  having written this out, 

because when I started this story I had no idea it was going to turn out like this. 

Thanks for all your support, guys ! :) 

Hehe anyways I just wanted to brag about my posters. :)
 

Aren't they pretty?  

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