If being stuck in a quiet room with a brooding teacher and a bunch of strangers wasn’t the most dreadful thing that could ever happen to a student, she didn’t know what was.

Hyerin was slumped in her chair, staring off into nothing. She just received her third detention of the school year. She didn’t remember it being this boring, and maybe that was because she was with the other guys during her second detention. She remembered them playing tricks on the teacher supervising them, with Kai teleporting behind the teacher while the latter wasn’t looking, or when Tao stopped time to place the cup of coffee on the desk a little closer to the teacher so when he moved his hand, the coffee toppled over and spilled all over his suit.

She chuckled at the memory, earning a few glances from the students with her inside the room.

Hyerin raised an eyebrow at them, daring them to say something, to which they just bowed their heads and focused their attention elsewhere.

She raised her chin up in content, sharing eye contact with Hyeseul at the corner of the classroom. She presumed the she-devil was staring at her since the start of detention, seeing that the fixated glare on her face didn’t even waver when they met gazes.

Hyerin stuck her tongue out to irritate the brunette further.  She was the one who got her into detention after all.

It was just a normal Tuesday morning for Hyerin during her P.E. class when Hyeseul decided that maybe throwing dodge balls at her was a mighty fine idea. Hyerin, as per usual, got pissed. So what did that lead to? The janitor finding Hyeseul trapped in a locker for an hour.

Both were in offense, so both got detention.

Hyeseul was the first to break their eye contact. She ripped a piece of paper from her notebook to scribble on violently. Hyerin, on the other hand, fished out her phone when she felt it vibrate inside her skirt pocket. She was surprised to see it was Kyungsoo who texted her.

From: cooking mama lol

suho told me to text you even though he can obviously do it himself.

anyway he says to come eat dinner with us at home

I cooked

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:19 PM

She pressed ‘Reply’.

To:  cooking mama lol

K

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:19 PM

“Who’re you texting?”

Hyerin jumped when Chanyeol leaned towards her to take a look at her phone. She moved back, pushing the boy’s face away from her.

Right. She almost forgot Chanyeol was there with her.

“Shush!” She glanced up to see if the teacher was looking. She wasn’t.

Hyerin still couldn’t understand why Chanyeol was there in the first place. What’s even weirder was that it was intentional. Once he learned that Hyerin was going to detention before dismissal, he punched a random kid in the hallway to join her.

She knew Chanyeol wasn’t the smartest person out there, but this was way overboard. In his defense, he said that there might be attackers within the detention room, and that no one was there to protect her.

And to think that being an agent under M-LX would make him a tad more mature. Oh, how wrong she was about that.

A paper ball landed on Hyerin’s desk. She looked up and saw it came from Hyeseul’s direction. Reluctantly, she opened it.

You’ll pay for what you did earlier.

Hyerin placed a hand on , trying to suppress her laughter.

Is that like your official tag line or something?

You always say that but end up doing nothing anyway.

Come on now. Try me.

After writing on the paper, she crumpled it and threw it towards Hyeseul. It landed beside her feet.

Her expression was priceless, like how it always was every time Hyerin successfully pissed her off.

With a face turning red from anger, she scribbled violently on the paper before throwing it to Hyerin, hitting her above the chest.

Your cockiness will do nothing good for you, Kim.

I’ll ruin you I ing swear

Hyerin rolled her eyes.

Well your false threats will do nothing good for you too…whatever your last name is.

So stfu before I think about shoving you into a dirty locker again

She glanced briefly at the teacher who was slowly drifting into sleep before throwing the paper ball. It hit Hyeseul on the forehead. Hyerin snickered. Hyeseul flipped her off.

Hyerin was oddly having fun with this little game she and Hyeseul were playing. She was extremely angry at her for ruining her dress back at the winter formal, so maybe insulting and mocking the girl would be a nice but simple way to make her blood boil.

Her phone vibrated on the table, telling her she received a text. She frowned, not expecting anyone to contact her at this time when she saw that it was from Kyungsoo again.

---

Xiumin’s thick eyebrows furrowed as he watched his friend with concentration, arms folded and ankles crossed on top of his desk.

Kyungsoo was silently staring down at his cellphone with a frown, thumb grazing the surface of the touch screen. The boy was not one to be a big fan of technology but he never really showed his frustration over it.

“Hey.” He used his foot to nudge the boy beside him. “What’s with that face?”

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo deadpanned, eyes not leaving the screen as he dusted off his pants that Xiumin dirtied with his shoe.

“Nothing you say,” Xiumin snorted. “You know if you’re having trouble with using your phone you can just ask. We all know how dumb you are when it comes to electronics.”

“Shut up, bun face,” Kyungsoo irritatingly retorted. “That’s not what I’m worrying about right now.”

“Then what is it?” Xiumin asked, leaning forward to take peek at the boy’s mobile. In return, Kyungsoo pushed him away.

Xiumin scoffed. “What the hell? What are you hiding, huh? Usually you don’t mind me looking at your texts!”

“It’s none of your business!”

“Bull! You’re hiding something! Is it a girlfriend? Give it to me-” He lunged at Kyungsoo and quickly grabbed the phone. “Hah!”

“Hey! Give it back!”

Xiumin snickered mischievously as he turned his back on Kyungsoo, crouching on his seat as he scrolled through the boy’s phone.

“Stop it! Give me the ing phone, Minseok!”

“Hell no! At least not until I see something interesting on here,” he said. He scrolled up to the recent messages and saw, at the very top of the page, the name that he least expected to see.

“Holy ,” he laughed in surprise. “You and Hyerin are texting?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. “No, we’re not! That was just today! I was just texting her ‘cause Suho-”

“Excuses, excuses! Jesus Christ, Kyungsoo, this is the first woman to ever have a place in your contacts!” Xiumin laughed. “But c’mon, man, you’re lacking moves.”

Kyungsoo buried his face deep into his palms. “It’s not what you thi-”

“I mean, I gotta say, man, using Suho as an excuse just to invite her to dinner is kind of a move.” He shrugged innocently. “No offense, bro.”

“But Suho was the one who invited her to din-”

“No worries, though! I’ll help you! Let’s see,” Xiumin read the short exchange between the two, “’K’? ‘K’!? That’s all she says? ‘K’? What the hell? No wonder you looked so troubled earlier! Hm. Ah! I know, I know.” He proceeded to type rapidly on the on-screen keyboard.

“Xiumin, what the hell are you doing?” Kyungsoo demanded, attempting to get the phone only to fail because of Xiumin’s reflexes. He wasn’t one of the fastest guys out of all of them for no reason. “I swear to God, if you try somethi-”

Xiumin beamed. “There! Sent!”

“What? What did you-” Kyungsoo finally managed to snatch the phone.

To: Kim Hyerin

‘K’?????

That’s all you have to say?

 :( T^T

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:29 PM

“What the  is this ?” Kyungsoo demanded, kicking Xiumin’s seat. The latter barely gave him any attention as he laughed.

“It’s called moves. Just watch.” He took the phone from the angry boy when it rang.

From: Kim Hyerin

well what the hell do you want me to say then

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:20 PM

“Ooh, snarky.” Xiumin whistled, shifting in his seat as he concentrated on constructing a reply.

To: Kim Hyerin

Something longer! >:3

I don’t like short replies! :P

What r you doin? ^0^

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:20 PM

From: Kim Hyerin

Idk I’m at detention right now bec of hyeseul

threw a dodgeball at me

I shoved her into a locker

Chanyeols with me too

u?

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:21 PM

Xiumin titled his head back, laughing. Kyungsoo frowned at him before asking, “What now?”

To: Hyerin

LOLOLOLOL!! ROFLMAO nice!!! XD

Me? Oh you know just sitting here

thinking bout you ;) <3 <3 <3

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:21 PM

“Kim Minseok,” Kyungsoo said in a warning tone, “I swear if we weren’t in public, I would be throwing you out the window right now. Give me the damn phone!”

Xiumin held up his hand. “Hold on, hold on! She replied!” 

From: Kim Hyerin

what

Sent: Feb. 11, 2013, 3:22 PM

Xiumin doubled over in laughter. Kyungsoo folded his arms, not sharing the same amusement. “ you. What did you say?”

But Xiumin ignored him and continued to laugh until he slid out of his chair and down to the floor. Kyungsoo hit the back of Xiumin’s head before finally snatching the phone from him.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, unlocking the home screen. “What are you laughing about?”

---

Hyerin frowned at her phone.

This day was getting weirder and weirder. First, she gets into detention with Hyeseul, and then gets involved in a paper ball shade-throwing fight with her—to which the latter gave up on after Hyerin started getting really into it and when the teacher shot up awake when Chanyeol fell from his seat because he fell asleep—but that was not the end of it. Now, she was in the middle of a text conversation with Kyungsoo that turned into something interesting.

Firstly, she did not expect the boy to excessively use emoticons, let alone think of using them at all. Kyungsoo was not one to be into those kind of things, she knew that much.

So what the hell was this? The last time she checked he was a sarcastic little . Well, a sarcastic little that was her friend.

The bell rang and everyone stood up at once. Chanyeol’s head whipped up from its original position on the table as he wiped the drool decorating the side of his mouth. There was saliva on the surface of the table and he wiped that, too.

“Is detention done?” he asked groggily, stretching out his long arms.

Hyerin’s phone beeped again but seeing that she wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible, she decided to check the message later.

“Yeah. C’mon, sleepyhead, let’s get out of here.” She packed her things up and made a beeline towards the door.

The hallway was crowded when they got out and at times like these, Hyerin wished she were with Kris or Kai to make everyone move out of the way to let them pass through. Not saying that Chanyeol wasn’t extremely good-looking because he was, but he didn’t have that big of a following compared to the other two. She was sure this hallway would part like the Red Sea for the two popular boys if they wanted them to.

Once they got out of that, Chanyeol and Hyerin immediately slipped on their thick coats to fight off the cold weather greeting them from the outside.

The both of them were immersed in their conversation when Hyerin heard someone call her from a distance. Hyerin looked to where the voice came from.

Hyerin almost dropped her books when she saw who it was.

“Hyerin!” Jonghyun yelled, flashing a big grin as he waved his arms around to get her attention. “Hyerin!”

“Oh ,” she muttered.

“Who's that?” Chanyeol asked.

Hyerin sighed. “My brother.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “That’s your brother? You guys look nothing alike!”

She wasn’t surprised for him to say that. Jonghyun took after their father’s looks while she took after their mother’s.

“Let’s just go,” she grumbled, pulling Chanyeol by his sleeve and walking over to Jonghyun.

“Hey, squirt!” Jonghyun said, enveloping the girl into a hug. “How have you been!?”

“Hey,” she greeted. “Uh, good, I guess. What about you? What are you doing here?”

“Well, I finally managed to snag a day off and I thought I’d come by your school and meet up with you.” He looped an arm around his sister before adding, “And for other reasons, as well. Who’s this?” Jonghyun’s eyes darted up at the tall boy in front of them who looked on curiously.

Before he was given an answer and before she could ask what were the ‘other reasons’ for his surprise visit, the other boys managed to spot them and decided to come stop by.

“Hyerin!” Sehun shouted, sprinting towards the girl.

Hyerin swore under her breath, pretending to not know the boy running towards her direction.

“Hyerin!” he yelled again, dropping his arm around her when he finally reached them. “We passed by your classroom but you weren’t–oh my god,” Sehun was stunned into silence. “O-Oh my god.”

“What?”

“Aren’t–Isn’t…Isn’t that Kim Jonghyun?” Sehun stuttered.

Hyerin gave him an incredulous look. “Yes, Sehun. He is. Didn’t I already tell you that he’s my bro-”

“Oh my god!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down while the others caught up.

Everyone was also surprised to see the famous model there. Suho was quite hesitant at first, but thought otherwise as being polite was a must to him. He bowed ninety degrees before saying, “It’s very nice to see you here, Jonghyun-ssi.  Hyerin told us a lot about you.”

“Not really,” Hyerin entered.

“My, my, my,” Jonghyun droned, giving Hyerin a teasing eyebrow raise. “Now who are these fellows? Hyerin didn’t tell me anything about getting new friends.”

“We expected that,” Xiumin chuckled bashfully while Sehun shamelessly stared at Jonghyun, star-struck. “Hyerin never really talks about anything.”

“Ah, well, that’s true.” Jonghyun grinned. “Anyway, I’m Kim Jonghyun. I’m Hyerin’s older brother.” Jonghyun nodded at them as they, in return, bowed. They introduce themselves one by one while at the same time, quite intimidated and fascinated that someone relatively famous was there with them.

“We really admire what you do, Jonghyun-ssi,” Suho beamed. “It’s an honor to speak with you.”

“Oh, the pleasure is mine. It’s always nice to meet Hyerin’s friends.”

“Oh my god, he acknowledged your compliment!” Sehun giggled excitedly, clutching Suho's sleeve.

Hyerin was rubbing her temples the whole time. Seeing that they were done with introductions, she cut into their conversation. “So what were you saying earlier about visiting?”

Jonghyun stopped talking to the others and turned to his little sister. “Ah, right! Well, you see-”

Just then, someone appeared behind Jonghyun and looped their arm around his. Surprised, Jonghyun turned around.

“Hey.” Hyeseul smiled at him.

Jonghyun’s eyes lit up. “Hey, you.” He leaned down to peck her on the lips.

Hyerin, including the others, stared at the two in shock. What was happening here?

Jonghyun looked up at Hyerin with a big boyish grin on his face. “This was the ‘other reason’ I was talking about earlier. Hyerin, I’d like you to meet Hyeseul.”

“Hyerin? Wait, wha-” Hyeseul grimaced at the sound of that particular name and whipped her head to the front. Her jaw dropped when she saw the said girl standing right in front of her, mirroring the exact same expression she had. “She was the little sister you were talking about!?”

“Yeah!” Jonghyun chuckled. “Hyeseul, this is my sister, Hyerin. And Hyerin, this is Hyeseul, my girlfriend.”

Hyerin felt her whole entity being crushed as she stared right at those pair of evil, loathing dark brown eyes. This was what he came to school for? Unbelievable. Of all the girls he could date, and of all the girls he could possibly waste his time on, it had to be her. Why did it have to be her?

“You’re dating that ?” Hyerin and Sehun chorused.

“Who are you calling a , you dirty little-”

“Woah, woah, woah! Hold on a minute!” Jonghyun stood between the two. “What the hell’s wrong with you guys?”

Seeing that the situation was getting offhand, Luhan nudged Xiumin to do something. It took a lot of convincing before the chubby-faced boy stepped in.

“Uh, no, it’s just, um, their way of showing endearment to each other!” he reasoned out. “Uh, you see, Hyeseul and Hyerin are at that stage where they’re really close to the point that they call each other insulting names. I mean, it’s actually really cute if you ask me so don’t misunderstand, they’re really close friends-”

“I’d rather die than to be-”

Xiumin stepped on Hyerin’s foot to shut her up. The girl cried out in pain.

He smiled cheekily at the model. “Really, really close friends.” 

Jonghyun was quite the blockhead and had a tendency to believe false stories easily, including this. His face relaxed, sighing in relief. “Oh, thank god. I thought there was really something going on between you two! I would really be disappointed if that were the case,” he chuckled.

Hyerin and Hyeseul quieted at this while Jonghyun continued to speak. “Anyway, if you don’t have plans for tonight I’m throwing a party at my place around nine. I didn’t really plan on inviting any more people but you guys can definitely stop by! It’s going to be really awesome,” he said. “You think you can come?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Sehun and Hyerin glared at each other.

“We’re not too sure, but we’ll definitely try to come around if we’re able to.” Suho nodded. “We’ll see.”

“Fantastic!” Jonghyun laughed, wrapping a protective arm around Hyeseul. “I’ll see you guys later then! We’re going to eat out right now so we need to go. Bye guys! Take care, Hyerin!” And with that, they left.

“Well that was,” Kris smirked, “an unexpected turn of events.”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I got to see Kim Jonghyun in real life!” Sehun exclaimed.

“Yup. You also managed to lose quite a few pounds of your masculinity,” Kai said.

“This is horrible,” Hyerin sighed. “Absolutely horrible.”

“Aww, it’s alright, Rin! I’m sure everything’s going to be okay.” Tao rubbed her back. “Hyeseul couldn’t be that bad.”

“Are you joking with me? She’s the worst!” she snapped. “And we are not going to that party by the way!”

“Oh, don’t be like this!” Sehun whined. “It’s my–our chance to meet famous people! We can be friends with them after this or something! How cool is that!?”

“Then you guys go and I won’t,” Hyerin said with finality. “I’m so sick of doing ridiculous with you guys every damned week!”

“But-”

“I’m not going.”

“Wai-”

“I said I’m not going!”

---

Hyerin unwillingly opened the door to Jonghyun’s condo unit with her spare key with the twelve boys waiting behind her.

 “I’m so excited.” Sehun swayed his shoulders giddily.

Once the door flung open, they were met with the modern home of Kim Jonghyun filled with people bobbing their head to the loud music while holding red plastic cups.

Hyerin led the others inside. It was quite crowded and the air felt warm and completely uncomfortable. It reeked of alcohol, cigarettes, and other things that were probably illegal.

After a few moments of just standing there watching everyone having fun, Jonghyun finally came around to greet them, a bottle of Corona in hand.

“You guys came!” He patted each and every one of them in the back. “I’m glad you decided to stop by! C’mon, let’s get you some drinks,” he said, leading them through the mass of people in the middle of the living room. Hyerin stayed back as she did not feel like consuming anything at the moment.

She scanned the area and immediately spotted Hyeseul standing beside the mini-bar. She was drinking a beer while conversing with someone that looked several years older than her. She assumed it was probably one of Jonghyun’s model friends.

Without much thought, Hyerin walked over to them, excusing Hyeseul from the guy she was talking to. Hyerin pulled her by the arm towards the bathroom.

“Ow, what’s your problem!?” Hyeseul screeched.

“You,” she retorted, locking the bathroom door.

“My god, you don’t have to be so ing rash!” she complained.

Hyerin whipped around to face her, crossing her arms. “I want to make something clear. If dating my brother is your little stunt to make me really pissed, I swear, I will break your arm,” she threatened.

“Give me a break! This is absolutely none of your business.”

“It is. Jonghyun is my brother and I don’t want him getting hurt just because you want me to get upset.”

“This is not a stunt okay!?” she exclaimed, getting more and more frustrated. “He was the one who came to me first! I was at a coffee shop near school and he happened to be there, too. He approached me and that’s how it all started. FYI, not everything is about you.”

“I'm not saying that everything is about me. It’s just that-” Hyerin paused, the weight of the things she was about to say dawning to her. Hyerin was known to be very blunt and sometimes even mean, but the words that she was about to blurt out sounded a little bit too much even for someone like Hyeseul.

The fact that Hyeseul wasn’t the prettiest, smartest, sweetest girl out there made Hyerin wonder why Jonghyun chose her. She wasn’t implying that anyone who planned on dating her brother had to be perfect, but there were girls who were way better than Hyeseul.

This kind of thinking was exactly what made her stop talking.

She was about to say that all to her face. She was about to say how she was not within Jonghyun’s standards, and that she should just get lost.

Although this was Hyeseul, probably the most hated girl in school, she felt extremely upset at herself for thinking that way. What did she know? Who was she to know who the real Hyeseul was?

She brushed those thoughts away yet still remained wary of the legitimacy of their relationship. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

Hyeseul’s shoulders dropped, looking quite tired. “Look,” she started, leaning back against the sink. “I know we both hate each other with a passion, but I’m serious about this. Just give me a break. Why don’t you just think about it this way? At least now I wouldn’t be all over your boys and might even possibly get over them, too. Now, wouldn’t that benefit us both?

“I really don’t want to say this, especially to someone like you, but no one really likes me. I know you know that. He’s really the only one who ever gave me a chance and looked past the me who was a crazy, obsessed that everyone knew. So I’m not playing around, alright?”

Hyerin bit her lip as her gaze fell down on the tiled floor. “You really genuinely like him?” she asked quietly.

Hyeseul rolled her eyes, seemingly embarrassed. “I do, okay?”

Hyerin clenched her jaw. Damn it, she thought. Why did Hyeseul have to use this convincing sob story to make her allow all this to happen? She sighed in defeat, although her stern tone never went away.

“Fine. Do whatever you want,” she said, unlocking the door and stepping outside to leave. “But this doesn’t mean I won't be watching you.”

---

“So when do you plan to stop staring at her?”

Kyungsoo jumped in his seat as Luhan joined him in the couch, grinning slyly like the devil he was.

“What are you talking about?” Kyungsoo glared at the boy, leaning back on the couch with folded arms.

“It doesn’t take a genius to notice how you were staring at her. Save the dumb act for someone else,” Luhan said, shaking his head.

“Staring at who?” Kyungsoo asked defensively.

 Luhan rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable.”

Just a few moments ago, Kyungsoo was practically boring holes into Hyerin who was across the room, sitting quietly at the bar with a drink. Luhan saw it himself, and it was not the usual look of annoyance that the boy wore whenever he talked face to face with Hyerin. It looked like he was observing her actions carefully from afar, like if someone tried anything on Hyerin, he would make sure that he was the first one to be there. It was quite uncharacteristic of Kyungsoo, but Xiumin was sensing some things between the two as well, so he figured this was just the beginning.

Luhan let out an airy chuckle as he spread his legs, propping his elbows on top of them. The amusement never left his face as he watched Jonghyun's friends sway to the loud music. “You know, you should really do something about that.”

“About what?”

“There are only two ways this will end. It’s either you keep it and step up, or you just forget about it and move on. It’s really very simple,” he said. “But deciding which one to do is the hard part.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” Kyungsoo’s brows knitted together, looking at the boy with puzzlement. In return, Luhan gave him a mysterious grin.

“As expected from the dumb athlete.”

“Hey!”

“C’mon, Kyungsoo, do me a favor and try not to live up to the stereotype,” he scowled, only to have the Cheshire grin back. “Don’t worry. You’ll understand when the time comes.”

Kyungsoo grimaced before turning his attention back to the front. “Cryptic son of a ,” he mumbled under his breath. It wasn't like he meant to stare. He just happened to see the girl storming towards the bar and sitting there with a displeased expression, making him curious. That was the only reason why he was staring, the only reason why he was looking at her longer than he was supposed to.

As if he hadn’t learned his lesson, his gaze found its way back to the girl. Luhan saw this and used his fist to cover the grin on his face.

He watched Hyerin sit there with a blank expression as she looked at the people dancing in the middle of the living room. Everything was fine, until her face paled in shock which made him sit up straight in confusion. His brows furrowed as he saw a tall muscular boy make his way towards Hyerin. It was Minho.

Kyungsoo immediately stood up from the sofa, about to storm over to where the girl was when Luhan pulled him back.

“What?” Kyungsoo questioned, his dark eyes glazed with fury.

“It’s alright,” Luhan reassured. “She’ll be fine. She can take care of herself.”

Kyungsoo’s gaze went back to the girl then down to the ground. He was unconvinced at first, but after thinking about it, he knew that Luhan was probably right.

---

Hyerin couldn’t control the grimace on her face as she watched Minho saunter his way over to her, his distant pair of eyes boring into hers.

He stopped in front of where she sat, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards so subtly that no one would hardly notice it.

“Sorry about your arm.”

“You’re not.”

“No,” his grin widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “I’m not.”

 “Where’s Key?” she asked nonchalantly, leaning back on her seat. “Is he hiding here somewhere, about to pounce on me like he did a few days ago?"

“No. He’s got a lot on his hands right now.”

“Well, please do tell him when he’s not busy to go himself,” she deadpanned. “Tell him to stay away from me or I’ll kick his so hard it’ll reach hell where he belongs.”

“I’ll make sure to deliver your message.”

“So what happened the other day? Why’d you disappear all of a sudden? Too afraid to get your whooped?”

“We figured we should stop before we end up killing any of you, or worst case scenario,” he chuckled. “All of you.”

Hyerin scoffed, getting tired of his retorts. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Believe it or not, I’m actually invited to this party.” She didn’t notice the can of beer in his hands until he paused to take a sip. “I’m good friends with your brother, if you didn’t know.”

Something about this newly found information made her anxious. She didn’t want Minho anywhere near Jonghyun.

Nevertheless, she did not show her discomfort since she knew this would only amuse Minho further.

“That’s funny,” she chuckled humorlessly. “You and your brothers don’t even attempt to stay low in the human world despite being a bunch of freaks.”

“There’s no point.” He folded his arms on top of the bar’s glass surface, tracing the mouth of the beer can with his thumb. “When the time comes when Seoul is finally in ashes, there’s really nothing to hide anymore, is there?”

Hyerin’s gaze shot up to meet his. She was not so sure what to say about that.

“I hate to be a downer but there’s nothing you or anyone can do about it. This will affect everyone. This isn’t like any of your normal missions where you save the world and clean up your mess at the end of the day like nothing happened. This isn’t anything you’ve encountered before. This is something else.” He looked at her intently. “And like I said, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s really happening.”

Hyerin didn’t know if it was her imagination—she hoped it was— but for the first time in a long time, she actually felt a sense of fear. The impact of his words hit her to the core, and it was frustrating her. It didn’t help that Minho, who she considered as an enemy, looked as afraid as she was.

“What are you trying to say? What are you trying to be?” She didn’t know if he was warning her, threatening her or what. She had heard this a thousand times already and he probably knew that, too. So what is he doing? What did he get from telling her this?

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he mumbled. “I just thought you needed a wake-up call. It seems like lately, you and the others are getting a little distracted.”

“Hey, guys!”

Hyerin and Minho looked up to see Jonghyun making his way towards them with a big smile on his face.

Minho returned the smile. “Hey.”

“Ah, I see you’ve met my little sister!” He lazily dropped his arm around Minho’s shoulder. It looked quite awkward because of the height difference. “She's cute, isn't she? Isn't she?”

Minho’s attention darted back to her. He smirked before saying, “She’s lovely.”

Jonghyun laughed. “Of course, she is! C’mon, you giant, let’s get to the others.” He winked at his sister before dragging the too tall boy away.

Hyerin didn’t realize she was holding her breath the whole time. She slumped in her chair, running a frustrated hand over her face. Her conversation with Minho was giving her a headache.  She needed someplace quiet.

Standing up on her feet, she abandoned the noisy living room and went through the hallway at the right. She walked over to the door at the very end of the hall, which was Jonghyun’s bedroom. She opened the door and stepped inside.

“-you’re a good for nothing ! I hate you!”

Hyerin jumped as the loud voice from the room’s balcony echoed in the air.

“What the heck?” she muttered.

“You’re useless and stupid and a jerk!”

With a frown, she made her way towards the open sliding glass doors. She pushed away the thin curtains and peeked inside.

There, sitting down on the floor with his legs slipped in between the railings was Kai, furiously shouting as he held his phone tightly unto his ear.

Hyerin’s eyes rounded. “Oh my god, Kai!” She ran to his side. “What are you doing?”

But Kai didn’t seem to pay any attention to her as he continued to scream into his phone. His words were a mix of insults and incoherent mumbles, but even though she couldn’t understand most of them, she knew none of it was good judging from his tone.

For a while she had let him be, but as his words got worse and extremely hurtful she quickly reached for his phone.

“Kai, stop! You can’t just say that to your own father.” She took the phone from his grasp and looked down at it. The word ‘Dad’ was displayed on the screen with the time of how long the call has been going under it.

She pressed the phone unto her ear, only to hear the monotone voice of a girl telling her to leave a message after the beep.

Kai wasn’t talking to his dad. He was leaving him a voicemail.

Hyerin lowered the phone, noticing several empty beer cans scattered around the boy who now had his forehead resting on the railing, eyes closed. She also just noticed his flushed cheeks, messy hair, and disheveled clothes.

Kai was drunk.

She placed the phone down on the ground, inching closer to the wasted boy. She gently placed a hand on his arm. “How long have you been leaving your dad messages?” she asked in a hushed tone.

“Since an hour ago,” he mumbled, not moving an inch.

She sighed, watching his legs sway from the balcony. “Kai, we need to get you home. It’s getting late and you’re drunk-”

“Sometimes I wish I knew why I feel so miserable all the time.”

Hyerin’s shoulders sagged as she waited for him to continue.

“I mean, I don’t even need to think about it. I don’t need to think about my family, about my dad, but I just find myself doing it at the end of the day anyway. If I take my mind off them, I would feel happy. But I just can’t for some reason. I-I just, I hate it, I-”

He clutched the metal railing tightly and opened his eyes. He stared at the blur of cars below. “I don’t want to feel like this every time I happen to think of them, because the only thing that comes up in my mind is how they expect so much from me and that the only way for them to ever really accept me is by being something I’m not.”

“Kai-”

“Why is it like that? Why does it have to be this way just for him to be proud of me? Kris and Chanyeol can do whatever they want–their parents are still proud of them. Baekhyun and D.O too. Their parents don’t expect anything from them at all, yet they love them so much. But how come I’m different? Nothing I ever wanted to do was enough for them. Why? Why does it take so ing much for them to be proud of me?”

Kai’s eyes were full of confusion and sadness that Hyerin couldn’t help but pull the boy into her arms. She held him tightly as he continued, “I don’t get it. What do I have to do to make me enough for them? It so ing depressing, I hate this. I hate this, I really do. I don’t like feeling this way. Why am I feeling this way?”

Hyerin bit the inside of her cheeks before answering quietly. “Because it matters. It only hurts because it matters.”

“It only hurts because it matters,” he repeated, feeling the back of his eyes heat up. “Of course. Because it matters. Because they matter.”

She felt Kai clutch her shirt, shaking violently under her hold. She rubbed his back soothingly when she realized he was crying.

“Kai, it’s okay,” she whispered.

It terrified her how the strong-willed boy she grew to know broke down just like that. She couldn't imagine someone like Kim Jongin to lose himself so easily, but here he was now, so tiny beneath her arms as loud, unrestrained wails erupted into noiseless sobs.

It broke her heart. Jongin was just a kid, and he was capable of getting hurt like anyone else. He wasn’t a robot that was void of any kind of emotion and accepted everything the world threw at him. Jongin was only human.

“Hyerin, please help me. I don’t know what to–I don’t know what to do,” he cried desperately in between sobs. “I don’t know what to-what do I do, Hyerin? Please, please tell me. I don’t know what to do-”

“Shush. It’s okay,” she whispered, rocking the boy gently. “I’m sorry. It’s going to be alright, Jongin. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

She could practically feel the pain herself. She just wished she had the ability to magically make everything alright. But she didn’t and she was powerless. Powerless to the agony that was slowly consuming Jongin every single passing day that they let through with not fixing this problem they had.

She could only wish things would turn out okay someday. Hopefully, soon.

That night before going to bed, Hyerin took the time to call her dad to tell him some things that were said too little and kept too often.