“Stop it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“No seriously.”

“Yes.”

“No seriously, stop it. It’s not funny.”

“For the last time, I am not using my power!”

“Sure you aren’t,” Hyerin scoffed. “Be a real man and fight me without any dirty tricks, Tao,” she said before charging towards him with her own wooden stick.

Tao countered her attacks with his own stick, skillfully holding it with one hand while the other rested behind his back. Seeing this, Hyerin felt her temper rise.

She spun around, sending a roundhouse kick towards the boy’s way. Once she felt his wooden stick collide with the back of her thigh, she wrapped her leg around it and pulled, prying it out of Tao’s hand.

“Smart,” Tao remarked, grinning wickedly.

Hyerin attacked with two sticks in hand, giving Tao no choice but to use his forearms to counter.

“You’re pretty good at this,” he said, crouching down to avoid getting hit on the head.

“Maybe,” she said, slightly out of breath. “What’s it to you?”

Tao chuckled, attempting to swipe his leg under her but to no avail. She reacted fast, jumping over it in time.

“It’s nothing to me. You do know I’m going easy on you right?” he teased, although he was getting worn out himself.

“Shut up. You’re such an arrogant bastard. I just wanna kick you in the face to shut you up!” she exclaimed, running towards him.

She aimed at his upper body. Tao arched his back, easily dodging the attack. When he got back up, he got a hold of the wooden sticks and pulled it towards him along with Hyerin at the other end.

He threw the weapons to the side and pulled her against him. Getting caught off-guard by the sudden action, she collided with his chest.

Slowly, he tilted her chin up to meet her eyes. “We’ve only been fighting for fifteen minutes yet I already know your weakness,” he said, eyes glinting with mischief. Hyerin glared at him in return.

He leaned forward. “Your temper gets the better of you,” he whispered in a sultry voice.

“Yah, yah, yah!” Chanyeol made his way towards the two. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Freaking erted bastard,” he said, pushing Tao away. “This is training time, not flirting time!”

Tao snickered, picking up the two sticks from the mat. “That was fun, Hyerin. We should do it again next time,” he said, winking at the girl.

“Yeah and by that time I would be kicking your ,” she retorted. Chanyeol’s hand made its way around her shoulder for the umpteenth time that day. Hyerin pried it off.

“Yah,” Chanyeol pouted. “What is with you? You keep pushing me away!”

“I’m not pushing you away, Chanyeol. I’m pushing your hand away. Okay? There’s a difference. ‘Cause apparently your hand likes to be all touchy.”

“What’s wrong with being touchy?” he questioned in defense.

Hyerin sighed. “What’s wrong with you?” she returned, taking a towel from a nearby chair and wiping her sweat with it.

From the beginning of the week onwards, they have been separated into groups in order for their training to be less difficult and more efficient. Some were sparring inside the training area, some were in the weapons area, some were in the intellect center and some were at the gym. It was the best way to manage their time in each section.

As she took a sip from her water bottle, she looked at the group of boys messing around with each other. Baekhyun and Lay were having a quiet conversation while Chanyeol was in the process of trapping Chen into a headlock. Kyungsoo was clutching his stomach, laughing at the sight.

Hyerin didn’t understand what her father wanted her to do. How could she possibly insert herself into their life? How can she fit in when they were perfectly fine on their own? She had gotten close to some of them, but she never got rid of the feeling that she was unwanted. What was her use?

At the spur of the moment, Kyungsoo managed to catch Hyerin’s stare.

His face lost all the hints of laughter and instead glared at her. “What are you looking at?”

This was exactly what she was talking about. How could any of this work when one of them despised her already?

“Nothing,” she mumbled, looking away. She was about to finish off the contents of her water bottle when Kyungsoo decided to push her further.

“Nothing, you say. Didn’t your parents tell you it’s rude to stare for no reason?”

Hyerin took in a huge breath. “Actually, maybe I do have a reason.”

“What? Planning your little scheme as to how you’re going to humiliate me?” he said, walking over to her. “That’s it right? So you can bring me down.”

“As good as it sounds, I have no time for such childish things. That’s something you would do,” she retorted, turning around to leave.

“But you already did, didn’t you?” he scoffed. “When we were at the shooting range. Isn’t that what you wanted? To be the center of attention and to be the one in charge?”

“Hey man, stop,” Chanyeol warned, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Kyungsoo shrugged it off, his glare unwavering.

Hyerin turned to face Kyungsoo, patience running out. “That day, I was trying to help you. But no, you didn’t want to, ‘cause hell, you knew what you were doing right?” she chuckled bitterly. “And you’d be happy to hear this, but I got in trouble because of your stubbornness. If you think that helping you out was my way of wanting to be the center of attention then fine. I don’t care. I don’t care about you and what you think.”

“Then so be it,” he hissed. “You keep saying that you want to finish what your mom started and that you want her to be proud of you but looking at you now, I’m pretty sure she’s disappointed about the outcome.”

“Cut it off, Kyungsoo!” Channel yelled angrily.

Having the last straw, Hyerin stormed over to Kyungsoo, throwing the empty water bottle at him. She pushed him as hard as she can and his back collided with the wall.

“Hyerin, stop it!” Chen demanded, attempting to pull the girl away but to no avail.

“What’s going on in here!?” Suho questioned, as he and the boys arrived from their training.

“You shut the hell up!” Hyerin yelled, grabbing Kyungsoo by the collar and pushing him further into the wall. “You are not in the position to talk about me like that. You don’t know what I have been through and you know nothing about my mother!” she growled. “Talk like that and I will kill you with my bare ing hands right now!”

Kyungsoo scoffed, on a tooth arrogantly. “Try me. By then, I may have crushed you already.”

Hyerin looked him straight in the eye. This has gone on for too long. Sighing, she ran her tongue against her bottom lip, wearily looking down. “Look. I just. I don’t know anymore. I have no goddamned idea why you hate me so much,” she said, quieter this time. She bit the inside of her cheeks as she felt her eyes starting to moist. “What did I do? Please. I don’t understand. If this is about that gun incident then I'm sorry. I really am.”

Kyungsoo stared at her in surprise. Her hold on his shirt loosened as she tried to blink away the tears.

“I have been trying so hard to not be a bother but I don’t think anything I do is working. Tell me what I’m doing wrong. Please, I don’t want to feel so unwanted all the time,” she said quietly.

Kyungsoo's eyes softened as he watched the girl furiously blink away the oncoming tears. He opened his mouth to talk. “I-”

“That is enough!” Suho growled, pushing them away from each other. “Kyungsoo, how can you be so immature to pick a fight like this? Keep your words to yourself!” he shouted, face reddening from anger. “Take Hyerin outside.”

“C’mon, Hyerin," Sehun quietly said, pulling the girl outside with Xiumin and Baekhyun trailing behind.

---

Sehun rubbed Hyerin’s back. “You okay?” he asked worriedly.

Hyerin sat down on the ground, back to the wall. “Yeah. Just got a little heated up is all,” she mumbled.

Xiumin laughed, shaking his head. “Man, you totally owned his out there. I better check on him. He must've been freaked out,” he said, winking at her. “Take it easy, girl.”

Once Xiumin left, Sehun crouched down in front of her. “Are you sure you’re okay? What did D.O. say anyway?”

She shook her head. “It was nothing. We've been on each other’s throats for quite a while now so this was the last straw, I guess.” She gave him a small smile, shrugging. “It’s not a big deal.”

Sehun frowned at her. “Are you sure?”

“I’m fine, Sehun. Thanks.”

He sighed. “Well, if you say so.” He stood up. “I’ll go back inside to check up on the situation. They must be murdering D.O. by now.” Sehun gave her one last smile before heading back in.

Sighing, she leaned her head back against the wall wearily. “I screwed up, didn’t I?” she asked the last person left with her in the hallway.

From his leaning position against the gym's door, Baekhyun walked over to Hyerin, sitting in front of her with his legs folded under him. “Everyone has their boiling points,” he said. “You just reached yours.”

She propped her arms on top of her knees. “Tao was right. My temper gets the better of me. I’m always causing trouble,” she said. “Sorry.”

Baekhyun scoffed lightly. “Aren’t you saying sorry too much lately?”

“I am.”

“So stop.”

“I can’t when the most of you guys hate me.”            

“We don't hate you, okay? Nobody does. No one," he said. "I don’t hate you.”

Hyerin glanced up at Baekhyun. He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, obviously flustered. “I’m just…I-I don’t get too close to people. I’m not sociable or anything like that. That’s why Luhan and Tao are the only ones I really talk to,” he started, avoiding her eyes. “So back then when I snapped at you, I was just surprised when you suddenly talked to me out of nowhere. I’m not used to things like that. And it got even worse when you knew that I was in a band,” he said. “And speaking of bands, I don’t get much sleep because of it, resulting to my usual crankiness.”

Hyerin grinned. “That explains it,” she said. “But your fangirls…they say you’re really sweet and kind. What’s up with that?”

“Well duh, that’s just a front. That way, they won’t bother me.” He shrugged. “So don’t think I’m calm and gentle and all that crap because I’m not.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t think I could ever think of you as someone gentle,” she mocked, feeling just a little bit better.

“Yah!” Baekhyun shouted defensively. “I’m not that bad either,” he said.

“Yeah.” Hyerin smiled at him, nodding. “You’re not bad, Baekhyun.”

---

“Tonight we’re having fun!”

“I don’t think your type of fun is the same as mine, Xiumin,” Hyerin said. “I’ve learned my lesson with you.”

“There’s definitely nothing to worry about, Hyerin! We’re just going to hang out at this cool boba place called Tea Madness. We’ll enjoy the food and you know, just chill,” Chanyeol said as they reached the restaurant.

“No more crazy places,” she warned.

“Definitely,” Xiumin reassured, opening the door for her. “After you, my lady.”

Hyerin gave him a suspicious look before entering inside.

The place was lit with string lights and decorated with lava lamps and oddly designed ornaments. It was packed with teenagers from their school and a few adults here and there. The music was loud, but tolerable. Hyerin liked the place way better than URBAN.

“Let’s go look for the others!” Xiumin suggested, pushing Hyerin in front of him.

After passing numerous tables, they finally found the other boys.

“Guys!” Kai called out while Sehun and Lay waved their hands up to them.

Xiumin and Chanyeol went over to their table, greeting them with high-fives and fist bumps. Hyerin trailed behind them.

“What’s up guys? How’s it hangin’?” Xiumin asked, sitting opposite the three while Chanyeol and Hyerin followed suit. The table was already filled with food and drinks.

“Oh, you know, slightly to the left. It rarely hangs, though,” Kai said, wriggling his eyebrows. The others shouted profanities at his suggestive joke.

“Dude, shut up will you!?” Sehun laughed, throwing a french fry at Kai.

“Damn, I haven’t been here in a while,” Xiumin sighed, placing his arm behind Chanyeol’s seat and looking around in content. “How long has it been? Two years?”

“More like two months,” Lay said.

“Well, whatever.” Xiumin shrugged, taking a hot wing and dipping it in ranch. “What’s important is that Hyerin is with us today!” he said before taking a bite.

The others cheered while Hyerin shushed them, looking around to see if anyone was staring at them. She straightened up, placing her arms on the table. “Why did you bring me here anyway? What’s the occasion?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Chanyeol said in a singsong voice. “We just wanted to chill you know? Training and school are pretty stressful. Especially school,” he scoffed, sipping his coke.

“That's just you, Chanyeol. Everything is hard for you,” Kai commented dryly. He dodged an onion ring his way.

Hyerin raised a brow. “No, seriously. What is this about?”

Sensing that she was being serious, Xiumin chuckled nervously. “Well, you see…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his head.

The table quieted as the boys looked towards one another.

“Why?” Hyerin asked. “What’s wrong?”

Sehun looked at her worriedly before speaking up. “The others told us what happened when you and D.O. fought.”

Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Xiumin stared down at the table as Sehun continued.

“Hyerin, we don’t hate you,” he said.

Realizing what this was about, Hyerin gulped and looked down at her hands.

“If that’s what it looks like, you’re wrong. We don’t hate you. We’re really not the best teammates so we didn’t realize that some of us have been acting very stubborn and complicated that it came out to you the wrong way.”

Sehun hesitated at first, but proceeded taking her hand in his. “We like you a lot Hyerin and although we may not all get along together, we’ll work on it. From now on, we’ll take care of you,” he said, smiling softly at the girl.

Hyerin glanced up at them through her eyelashes. Kai, Sehun and Xiumin were smiling at her while Lay gave her a reassuring nod. Chanyeol looked at her expectantly.

She took in a deep breath. “We’ll take care of each other,” she agreed, nodding, “from now on.”

Hearing her answer, they smiled at one another as if agreeing on an unspoken deal.

“Awesome! Now let’s eat!” Xiumin exclaimed before digging in.

Hyerin sighed contently as she picked on her food. Just the simple gesture of bringing her to this place to make her feel better made her feel at ease. Right at that moment did she realize that not all of them were bad at all, that in a way, she can actually fit in. In the back of her mind, she thought that maybe she could give the rest of them a chance.

As she talked to the others animatedly, Hyerin felt a hand creep up on her shoulders, and she knew right away whom it was.

Chanyeol smiled down at her, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

She normally would have brushed it away, but this time, she let it pass.

She looked up at him and gave a sincere smile. “Thank you,” she timidly whispered to him before going back to talking to the others.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened. Wow.

His eyebrows knitted together, feeling his chest ache blissfully at the sight of the girl’s rare smile. Confused, he lifted his hand up to touch his chest but thought otherwise.

“Huh. What’s up with that?” he whispered to himself before shaking his head to dismiss the thought.

Trying to forget about it, Chanyeol continued conversing with his friends, subconsciously sneaking glances at the girl from time to time.