I wasn’t quite sure what happened next. All I know was that they kept trying to make Donghae stay away from me, but I didn’t understand why. I mean, it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t trying to hit me. Hell, I was about to freaking deck Siwon myself for the way he was treating my poor fishie! And besides. They all seem to forget that I was in a relationship with Troy for two and a half years of my life. Compared to what Troy did, Donghae’s inadvertent punch seemed like a little slap on the wrist. Aish, stupid blood! I hate the taste of blood!

“Uki, are you okay?”

I turned to see Alex and rolled my eyes at her worried expression. Why was everyone so worried about me for?!

“Alex, I’m fine,” I reassured her, rinsing and spitting one last time, the pinkish water finally turning clear again. I wiped my mouth with a towel and turned to face her again. “It was just a punch. And it was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it, and you saw how Siwon was acting!”

“Uki, quit making excuses for him,” Alex said softly. “Even if you’re not gonna get mad at him for punching you, you still have the right to be angry at him for yelling at you. You were worried about him. All of us were.”

I sighed. “Well, worried as I may have been, it really wasn’t his fault that his note got stolen. My pissed off mood was kinda talking for me and I really don’t blame him for getting upset.”

“Aish! Stop making excuses for him! Is this how you acted with Troy?! Did you make excuses for him, too?!”

I blinked slowly at her as her eyes widened and her hand went to her opened mouth.

“Oh my goodness, Uki, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that! I didn’t—”

“Your brother’s nothing like Troy,” I interrupted her quietly. “Nothing.”

“I know he’s not, Uki,” Alex responded softly, putting her hands on my shoulders. “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just…I’m kinda pissed off, worried, angry, upset, and scared of what might happen all at one time. And it shocked me—shocked all of us actually!—when he hit you. I don’t wanna see you get hurt.”

“Aish, Alex. He’s your brother. Don’t talk as if he hit me on purpose! It was an accident! And look! No more blood, no mark, no nothing! It’s as if it never happened. So it’s okay.”

She let out a breath. “I know he didn’t do it on purpose. Aish. My mind is just so clouded right now. Ever since you told the story of finding those notes all over the place, it suddenly hit me that all my Post-It Notes are gone. That creepy weirdo was in my room!”

I bit my lip and nodded. “C’mon. We needa figure all this out. I don’t feel like living in fear for the rest of my life.”

I walked back to the living room to see that everyone was sitting ram rod straight, tense expressions on all their faces. Donghae, on the otherhand, was slightly hunched over in his seat, a red handprint on his face. I almost started crying at the sight of my fishie so sad< / 3

“Donghae?” I asked softly.

His gaze flickered to me, his eyes full of nothing but regret and sorry.

“Uki, I—”

“It’s okay,” I gently interrupted with a slight smile. “I’m not mad at you, Donghae.”

“How can you not be mad?! He freaking hit you!” Siwon suddenly yelled.

I whipped my steely gaze to him. “All because of you! Of all the people who’s yelled at me before, you freaking choose him to tackle and scold?! And you act is if he did it on purpose! He was trying to hit you for God’s sake! Hell, even I was about to hit you with the way you were behaving!”

Siwon’s eyes widened at me, his face slowly blossoming red. “I can’t believe this! You’re taking his side over mine?!”

“You’re freaking acting ridiculous! We’re all just hyped up and scatterbrained right now, which is why none of us are thinking clearly! It was not Donghae’s fault! He didn’t do it on purpose!” I yelled defensively.

“Uki Seohae Choi, you’re so blinded by ‘love’ that you’re taking his side over your own brother’s?! Is that what happened with Troy?! Is that why you allowed him to beat and abuse you for so long?!”

“Can we please stop talking about Troy?! He made up for his mistakes!” I shouted, ready to knock someone out with all the stubborn tension going around the room.

“Alright, that is enough!” Soo Man suddenly shouted, an irritated look on his face. “We all need to just calm down and think logically.”

“Thank you,” I said, letting out a frustrated breath. “First things first. Did you find anything else on that note?”

Agent Yi shook his head at me. “Tony’s still being held. We have no leads as of right now. You said that you recognize the handwriting?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve seen it somewhere before, I just don’t remember where.”

Agent Yi sighed. “Well, get to thinking on that, and we’ll dive more into the case. Until then, I’m posting my guys in your dorms 24/7.”

I sighed and nodded. “Arasso, arasso. Second, I think all we needa do is simply get some sleep. We’ve had our freak out moments for the day and I think some sleep is all we really need to get us going again. As of right now, no one is thinking clearly, which is obviously an issue concerning our behavior.”

“I think Uki’s right,” Alex said, crossing her arms and sighing. “As of right now, I’m on the verge of killing every single one of you. We’re just all pissed and on-edge. We just need some time to calm down.”

“How can you even think about sleeping at a time like this?! What if that psychopath is still in the dorm?!” Sungmin exclaimed, furiously running a hand through his hair. “I’m seriously on the verge of murdering someone right now!”

“Aish. The agents are all here. I’m sure that they’ll be able to stop someone if any funny business goes down during the night. Before you go to bed, do a thorough check of your room. Holler if anything seems outta place,” I instructed.

“Uki, how are you acting so calm during all this?! I’m about to go insane!” Eunhyuk yelled at me.

“I dunno. I’m just tired and all that happened today kinda took all the energy right outta me. Aish. We all just needa rest. Siwon…Ugh, I’ll deal with you tomorrow. Donghae, c’mon. We really needa talk.”

Donghae opened his mouth to say something but let out a breath instead. “Arasso.”

He stood up slowly, enduring painfully angry glares from Siwon. I glared right back at him.

“Don’t even think about giving him any hell for this,” I said coolly. “I already said it wasn’t his fault.”

“Uki, you don’t have to make excuses for me,” Donghae told me as I walked up beside him.

I smiled and looked up into his eyes. “Aish. Don’t cry. You’ve done nothing wrong, Donghae. Don’t let them convince you otherwise.”

I opened the bedroom door, and was seriously relieved to see that everything was normal. No creepy Post-Its, no hidden clues, no stolen necklaces, no open closet doors. Normal. Donghae shut the door and climbed onto the bed to sit cross-legged in the center, giving me an expectant look. I smiled slightly and went over to sit next to him, making sure that I was facing him.

“Donghae…What happened today?” I asked quietly, fidgeting with my hands in my lap.

He sighed and laid down instead of answering me right away, resting his head on my thigh and giving me those puppy dog eyes of his. “Honestly? I don’t know. I usually have better aim than that and I never miss my—”

“Aish, Donghae, not that,” I interrupted, rolling my eyes at him. “I could care less about that! I already told you that it wasn’t your fault. I’m talking about the yelling.”

The corners of his mouth pulled down into a slight frown as he sighed again. “Oh. That. Well, to be honest with you, I was looking for an excuse. It killed me knowing that I worried you all so badly today, so I was clinging onto the one thing that I thought would save me, which was that note. I didn’t count on it being stolen before you could get a chance to read it, so I didn’t think I’d need to explain anything beforehand and I definitely didn’t think you guys would freak out so badly.”

I sighed and bent forward, staring right into his eyes as I said, “You do know that I love you, right?”

“Correct,” he responded.

I smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Then no harm done. And you know what I’ve decided? That I’m freaking getting you two phones due to the fact that you and technology just don’t mix very well together.”

His eyes widened as he shot straight up and looked me dead in the eyes. “You forgive me?! You seriously mean it?! That quick?!”

I nodded, smiling at him. “There’s nothing to forgive. It was an overreaction on all our parts, which was partially due to the high levels of stress and anxiety going on in the house on top of our own stubborn feelings.”

He smiled widely at me, throwing his arms tightly around my neck. “I love you, Uki.”

I smiled and hugged him back. “Please don’t make me so worried again. As scared as I was about you disappearing, you yelling and screaming like that, acting like a completely different person…”

He pulled back and looked right into my eyes as he frowned slightly. Then he leaned in and kissed me gently on the spot where his punch had landed as he softly whispered, “I promise you that I will never turn out like that guy. Never. What happened tonight is something that will never happen again, and you’ve got to know that it’s seriously killing me inside knowing that I did that. I promise, Uki. I will never hurt you again.”

I smiled and hugged him, not needing to say anything more seeing as how he’d said everything for me.

Donghae’s POV~

Crap.

I needa make things right.

Okay, so I didn't want you guys hating Donghae too badly, so I started work on this chapter super duper quick. :3

Lol. I like all these guesses you guys are making about who the stalker is. Some of you have got it right on the bull's eye. I just won't tell you who. ;D

Hahaha. Any who, I've got one of the six upcoming competitions tomorrow, so wish me luck! We're definitely gonna need it! ><"

Aish. Fishie! I can't tell if he's crying or not in that pic! ><; Don't cry, Hae! We love you!<3