-Sehun’s POV-   I haven’t heard any news about Aerin the whole night after getting home so I figured that there wasn’t any improvement in her state. I went to school the next day only to be met by a prefect with Chan Yeol hyung walking close behind him. Apparently, we were being called at the office. The prefect walked ahead of us. Hyung walked beside me and I was having a hard time ignoring him. He kept glancing at me as if he wanted to say something.   I sighed. “Out with it. The suspense is killing me,” I said quietly to him.   He glanced at me. “You told them? How could you?”   Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. Honestly, did he really thing I’d do that? “Has it ever crossed your mind that Bae Eunmi could have possibly done it? I haven’t even said a word of it to Aerin’s mother and even if I had, could you blame me?”   “Sehun-ah, why are you being like this? You wouldn’t even allow me to see Aerin and now this?”   “I didn’t do it. Aish!” I ranted then walked ahead of him until we got to the office. The moment we got in, the prefect told us to sit and wait for the headmistress. I willingly took a seat in front of the desk and hyung sat across me, still throwing daggers. I looked away from him the moment he made eye contact. I wasn’t’ about to continue the argument he started.   “Good morning, boys. I think we all know why you’re here,” Ms. Lee said, the usual smile on her face gone as she eyed us.   “It’s about Aerin.” I sighed.   She nodded. “Yesterday, while we were asking Ms. Bae and her companions, she mentioned your names. I don’t want to believe her until I hear your side of the story. How did your names come up?”   I raised my hand and the headmistress nodded at me to proceed with my explanation. “She hangs out a lot with me. As you know, I am Mrs. Kwon’s ward and I felt the responsibility to at least keep an eye on her to compensate their kindness towards me. I’m afraid this isn’t the first time this happened. As far as I was concerned, it’s the third time they came after her. I was with her, too, the time she got beaten up by those Gen Ed seniors. I was just too late this time.”   The school head shifted her gaze to Chan Yeol hyung. “And how does this implicate you, Chan Yeol-ssi?” she asked hyung.   He sighed. “I’m afraid I caused Ms. Bae Eunmi to do it to Aerin. You see, the ‘dating sessions’ I’ve been conducting for a year now got out of hand and Eunmi was one of the regular comers. I don’t think I have any reason to doubt that she was jealous because I was quite close with Aerin. I’m so sorry for that. I’m willing to take whatever punishment you’re going to put me under.”   How pathetic! What the hell was he thinking?   “That’s good, Chan Yeol-ssi. Thank you for making this as easy as it could get. You’ll be getting a month’s detention and you’ll have to shut down your dates.”   Chan Yeol hyung nodded, but I didn’t like the punishment he was getting at all. In fact, I don’t want him to get punished by the school and get detention at all. If he was going to suffer for it, I want everything to come from me. I just wanted the headmistress to call on him so he’d feel what it was like to be humiliated. The headmistress’s decision to abolish his ‘dating services’ was just right, but I wasn’t about to allow him to get punished.   “I’m afraid I have to disagree with the detention, Lee-sonsaeng-nim,” I said as politely as I could.    Chan Yeol hyung eyed me, confused. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” he demanded, frowning.    I shook my head. “No. Not at all. In fact, I didn’t want you involved.” I then faced Ms. Lee. “Ma’am, Chan Yeol doesn’t deserve the detention.”   “Why is that?” she asked. As usual, she was willing to listen to what I had to say.   “He didn’t know about what was happening until I told him and it wasn’t his fault that those girls were coming after him, particularly Bae Eunmi. It’s clear from the start that the dates were nothing but games and mock situations. It’s also clear that it’s just for entertainment purposes, like a stress-reliever. There’s nothing personal about it. It’s just another case of getting carried away,” I explained, glancing at him, making sure he understood what I was saying. “It’s not his fault.”   The headmistress smiled at me. “Well put, Sehun-ssi. You’ll do well in law school. I’m letting Chan Yeol-ssi off the hook, but I’m afraid I have to stay firm on making him quit his activities.”   “That’s good enough, ma’am. I think it would help reduce such incidents in the future,” I answered.   Ms. Lee then shifted hr gaze to hyung. “You’ve got a good friend, Chan Yeol-ssi. Keep him close.” She then began clearing papers on top of her table. “That would be all, boys. You may attend your classes now.”   We both stood up and went out of the office. The moment we were at the hallway, hyung placed a hand on my shoulder. I glanced at him.   “Thank you for defending me, Sehun,” he said, smiling slightly.   I jerked away from him and smirked. “Don’t get me wrong, hyung. You might be off the school’s hook, but you’re still hanging on mine.”   “What do you mean?” he asked. “You practically saved me from punishment.”   I sneered at him. “Don’t think, even for a second, that I did it for you. It’s for Aerin. She wouldn’t be too happy if I ostracized you from her and it’s for me as well. I want a good competition with you. If your detention and dates get in the way, you can’t possibly perform to the best of your abilities, now can you? It’s on. I’m not turning back.”   He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re on, Sehun.”   I smirked and tapped him on the shoulder. “Good,” I said then left him.     -Chan Yeol’s POV-    I held a basket of carnations on my hand, letting it dangle as I sat on the wooden bench outside Aerin’s room. All the boys were now inside, waiting for Sehun who went to the nurse’s station to go get something. He just passed by me several times like I didn’t exist. I wish he’d just quit it and let me see her. He wasn’t being fair. Finally, he came back and went inside the room. Baekhyun hyung was looking at me through the glass walls, telling me to come in. I just shook my head then glanced at Sehun who busied himself with a magazine as he sat beside Aerin. I don’t know how long he was planning to keep it up, but I was definitely getting sick and tired of his childish acts. I’ve been staring at him for a while until he looked up from what he was reading and out eyes met He smirked at me then turned to Baekhyun hyung.   “Close the blinds,” he ordered.   Baekhyun looked at me ruefully then closed the blinds. He was just too cruel. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life. He really hated me for not listening to him and he was going through lengths to get rid of me. I guess he valued Aerin that much, but then, so did I. What happened to her was beyond my control. I just shrugged when I felt someone tap me gently on the shoulder. When I looked up, I saw Mrs. Kwon smiling down at me despite of her confusion.   “What are you doing here?” she asked and glanced at the glass wall. “Everyone’s inside right? What are you waiting for?”   I shrugged. “There’s just a little complication. I’ll probably come in later.” I saw her looking at the flowers.   “Carnations…That’s my Aerin’s favorite. Is that for her?”   I nodded.   “Then get inside and give it to her. I know she’ll love it,” she prompted me, but I just shook my head. When I didn’t make a move to go inside, she pulled me up and dragged me towards the room, opening the sliding doors.   “No, ma’am. You don’t understand,” I protested.   She smirked. She really resembled her daughter. “What don’t I understand? Just go already.”   I saw the boys looking at us. I tried to get out, but Mrs. Kwon shoved me inside. “I’m not allowed to come in,” I blurted out. Sehun arched a brow at me. I glanced at Mrs. Kwon and rolled my eyes at him.   “What?” Aerin’s mother asked. She looked at Sehun who just shrugged. She stared at me, waiting for an answer.   “Yeah…” someone said in a weak voice. “Who says you’re not allowed to come here?”   We all looked at Aerin who was suddenly awake and trying to sit up, blinking slowly after she spoke. We all stared at her in stunned silence. She stared back, arching a brow, evidently in pain. She still managed a weak smile. “Hey.”     -Aerin’s POV-   Was I regaining consciousness? Somehow, I’ve reached a point in the darkness where I could vividly see and hear things. I found out that I was actually in that place because I was unconscious. I felt like I’ve been there for too long and all I wanted was to wake up, snap out of it. I already figured out that I was lying in hospital bed after I got beaten up by those bastards. I usually would be up and about instead of being dormant, strapped up into a bed except that I felt like my whole body was falling apart, throbbing everywhere. It was worse on my head. It felt like I was being hit repeatedly with that baseball bat. It’s exactly what brought me to this unending darkness in the first place. I guess the sedatives helped, too, but it’s not even enough to cause me to spiral down into a coma. I was glad that I still have my ability to reason logically.   My mental state, however, was the least of my concerns. I remembered Sehun coming to my aid that night. How long was I lying on the bed anyway? Damn it, I still didn’t have any sense of time. What the hell? What day was it? On top of that, where was Sehun? Is he even alright? If I wasn’t hallucinating, I knew I saw him throwing punches himself, helping me fight off Bae Eunmi’s cronies. I sighed inwardly as I remembered that voice telling me those crazy things. I really got my head hit hard. That baseball bat-bearing hooligan was going to get it once I manage to get back up on my feet.   “Close the blinds,” someone said to my right. I’d know that voice anywhere. It was Sehun and now that I think about it, his voice was relatively similar to the voice that was speaking to me while I was unconscious. Wait a minute! Was I actually hearing him? I forced myself to regain consciousness of my surroundings. After much effort, my eyes flew open. White walls again. White light flooded my vision along with moving shadows. What caught my attention were two people moving around by what seemed to be a glass door. I moved my eyes around and my vision became clearer. I saw D.O., Kai and Suho oppa seated on the sofa to my left while Sehun flipped