The five boys and Eun Mi were all smiling and waving goodbye to you as you slowly disappeared in the bus. You waved back enthusiastically until you finally couldn’t see them anymore. Sitting back in the corner of the bus, you smiled, extremely ecstatic with how today turned out.

When the bus was finally out of the group’s sight, the smiles disappeared from their faces and a frown appeared on Key faces. He looked at the other 4 boys and noticed that same look was on their faces as well.

“You all noticed didn’t you?” Key asked in a small voice. The four boys solemnly nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about.  

Jonghyun picked up Eun Mi as she started to drift off to sleep. She laid her head down on her brother’s shoulders and began to doze off.

Onew sighed sadly and all five boys started to walk to the direction of Jonghyun’s house.

“I’ve never seen anyone look as sad as Ji-min.” Onew said. Throughout the day, he has noticed everything about you. The way you kept your gaze to the ground, as if you were afraid to look up at anyone. He noticed the way you would flinch whenever one of them got to close to you. The way you were almost afraid to say what you were thinking. He noticed it all.

“I know. Did you see the way she reacted when those girls said those horrible things to her? She didn’t even react or get angry! She just accepted the crap those girls said without even defending herself. It was as if she was already used to that treatment.” Taemin answered in barely concealed anger.

“No one should ever be used to treatment like that.” Minho added quietly. In all honesty, throughout the whole ordeal with you, you reminded him of a scared and injured puppy. You could barely even look at them in the eyes when they talked to you and you mostly interacted with Eun Mi. You didn’t even initiate any interactions with the boys, like you were terrified of something they would do.

“I don’t understand why. From what I could tell, Ji-min is an extremely kind girl. She definitely is not someone who would deserve treatment like that.” Jonghyun added in. Like the four other boys, he was well aware of the way you acted. And he definitely did not like it one bit. He has grown a soft spot for you. Anyone who can treat Eun Mi with such gentleness and kindness like you did deserve respect and care.

“Did you hear the words they called her? God just because someone is a bit chubbier, it gives people full reign in making them feel even worse.” Key added in disgust.

“That’s why I hate these people. They’re so damn shallow.” Jonghyun said softly, controlling his emotions and trying not to shout out. He had a small girl sleeping in his arms that he definitely did not want to wake up.

Taemin nodded his head at that. He couldn’t stand the way those two girls kept blabbing on, saying such painful words without regard to how much pain it was causing you. He likes you. You were such a gentle and sweet girl that definitely needed to have a permanent smile on your face. He thought that when you smiled, it made you look so cute, so loveable.

“She seemed so used to having people ignore her. Did you hear what she said? She questioned why we were kind to her.  She questions something that is common courtesy. Who does that?” Onew asked in disbelief.

“Someone who’s not used to kindness that’s who. It seemed as if our treatment of her was completely foreign to her, not something she experiences every day.” Minho added with a frown. He was starting to feel angry in your behalf. The more they talked about you, the angrier he felt.

“She said that she doesn’t deserve kindness because she was fat. What kind of life does she live that makes her think like that?” Key said with a sigh. He didn’t even want to imagine or think about the life you lived.

The boys were quiet for a moment as they let themselves collect thier thoughts. Taemin sighed and made up his mind.

“I want to be her friend. I’m going to be her friend. I don’t think I can live with myself if I don’t do anything to make her stop thinking like that.” Taemin added with conviction. The boys looked at their maknae with soft smiles on their faces.

“We are all going to be her friends. Someone like Ji-min deserves to have that and more.”