If love has been a competition, then the results have already been set since the beginning. 

Zelo was covered in sweat and he was trying hard not to groan in pain. His face twisted from time to time when our family doctor touched his ankle. It pains me. I looked away, holding in my tears. Jihye squeezed my shoulders giving me her best support. 

Just what did he do to deserve all this? Screw this.

Daehyun appeared at the door, his expressions hardened as he saw Zelo, then he met my eyes there was only pain and more pain. Everyone in this room had that devastating painful expression, Like being slapped by Haraboji, by his barbaric sneaky moves. He had hurt our friend, injured Zelo and now we ain't backing down without a fight.

'L.joe, you're up next.' Daehyun seemed calm and collected now. But I know, that wasn't calm at all. That was plain acting and I'm sure everyone else knew that. He looked at Chunji who laid a folded towel on Zelo's forehead and nodded once. They were obviously having some silent conversation that I didn't know of. Then Chunji followed L.Joe out of the room. 

The 'Battle of Intelligence' was next. 

'Memory test.' Daehyun muttered putting a hand on L.Joe's shoulder and exchanged glances. I almost saw a smile flashed across L.Joe's face. Then Chunji turned to look at me. 

'You wanna watch?' He asked making a quick glance at Zelo, who was already slowly drifting into sleep. 

I exchanged glances with Jihye. She smiled and gave me a push towards Daehyun. 

'I'll be here. I'll tell you if anything happens.' She added easing my worries. If not for the look in her eyes, I wouldn't have agreed to leave. 

Daehyun wasn't moving when I walked past him. But his lips did. And I know exactly what he said. 

He wouldn't be up till the last round. He can watch Zelo for the time being, he has entrusted me with Chunji, the only other calm person among us. 

I didn't want to leave without him, but I know I have to watch the remaining matches. I am the only one who can stop Haraboji, and I will if he does anything scheming again. And I will not forgive him for doing this to Zelo, or any of the others. 

* * * * *

The battle was moved to the main hall. Our family crest hung magnificantly on the north wall. Somehow the eagle looks strangely intimidating today. 

L.Joe and Niel stood face to face. A huge rolled up banner was hung over the wall behind them. I met Mr K's eyes again and he gave me an assuring nod. Haraboji shot a glance at me, as though using his eyes to say 'do anything stupid and I will punish you too.' Looks like I really do need to see Mr K when I have the time.

I sat down on my seat and eyed Niel. He smiled brightly in my direction. I couldn't imagine Niel or any of them doing anything bad. I wouldn't want to imagine them teaming up with Haraboji to play cheap. 

I smiled half heartedly and looked at L.Joe. His gaze was fixed on Niel. I've never seen him so serious before, his eyes were dead serious. Everyone was seriously doing their best for my sake. Yet all I could do is to sit here and hope for their victory. Frustrating, but what else can I do?

Mr K was standing in the middle again, waiting to commence the match. 

'Round 2. Starts, NOW.' Right after his words, the banner behind unscrolled itself. A massive paragraph of words was revealed. I saw a smile on L.Joe's face. A smirk maybe.

'30 seconds.' Mr K announced and both of them had their eyes fixed on the scroll. 

'Don't worry, that's something L.Joe does best.' Chunji assured behind me with a smirk. 'This round should be as easy as ABC for him.' 

30 seconds was up in a flash, and both Niel and L.Joe were given a stack of papers. Niel seemed equally as confident too, like he had expected this all along. I frowned and kept my eyes on L.Joe. His expresson wasn't hard, he looked rather relax. 

'Write the passage shown previously down, including punctuations, spaces and paragraphing. Not timed. Whoever finishes first gets to be reviewed first, however person with the least mistakes wins.' Mr K continued and placed two pens on the table. 

L.Joe took it immediately and started writing, or scribbling. Niel was euqally as competitive, as good as it seems. But he paused suddenly and took a look at L.Joe. If I wasn't wrong, that must be panic. 

I didn't realised I was so nervous that my nails have been creating horrible dents on my palms. Myungsoo realised it instead and passed me a bottle of water pointing at my hands. I suddenly thought of Jihye, then Zelo popped into mind. 

I looked in the direction of Haraboji, he had his usual poker face on, no weird grins. I heaved a sigh of relieve while L.Joe lifted his head up from the papers and smiled with a click of his tongue, confidently. 

10 minutes passed and the hall so silent you could even hear a feather drop. I exaggerated. But what happened in the Dojang seemed to be something of the past.

Shortly after, L.Joe was the first to put his pen down. Behind me I heard Chunji's soft and short laugh. Suddenly someone tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, naturally brushing the side of my cheek with the back of his fingers. It made me shiver but I knew who those gentle fingers belonged to. I turned around and indeed, it was Daehyun.  

'How is he?' I asked, not to mention the fatigue on Daehyun's face. I wondered what the doctor told him. Anyway Jihye was back too, with two cans of coffee. She gave Myungsoo one, throwing me and apologetic look. Right, not forgetting her crush even at this point of time. 

Daehyun smiled, however a forced one. 'He's sleeping. It wasn't bad, he will recover in a month time.' 

A month. A month meant the injury was serious enough without a doubt. I glanced in Haraboji's direction. He wasn't paying any attention to Daehyun or Jihye's entrance. My inner fury had taken over my sense of rationality once again. 

Is that how he's going to treat these boys he'd chosen? Chosen for me? Because of them - 'potential husband's to be' ? Is it that important for me to get married?!

L.Joe passed the stack of papers to Mr K who then handed it to Haraboji. I was totally focused on the old man now, but in the corner of my eye, Niel was done too and his papers were passed to Haraboji right after. Mr K stood beside him, watching closely as he evaluated the papers. I held my breath again, naturally.

'May the results be in your favour.' Haraboji commented with another insincere smile to both sides. I sneered. 

L.Joe looked in our direction and raised a thumb with the same victorious smile. We smiled back in unison, confident that we're getting a win this round. 

After a few more nerve-wrecking minutes, Haraboji stood up slowly a grin across his face. He eyed both L.Joe and Niel but his gazed focused on Niel a little more longer than usual. I grabbed Daehyun's hand. This doesn't feel good. 

The silence was dreadful as though everyone held their breaths. I glanced at Yongguk whose expression wasn't looking exactly good about his previous win. He avoided eye contact with me consciously. 

'I've decided...' Haraboji caught the attention of everyone. I heard a gasp from Jihye who was standing beside Myungsoo all these while. 

'The winner for this round is...' He continued and the suspense was killing us. He was speaking slowly as though in purpose. Haraboji inhaled deeply and announced the winner. 

Across the hall, Jinyoung and Yongguk's expression hardened. Even the ever calm looking Siwan's eyes widened. Daehyun's grip on my hand tightened. Both Chunji and Myungsoo were beside Daehyun at once. 

Tears formed at the brim of my eyes. I looked at Daehyun, my sight was blurry. I couldn't quite understand how the actual results did to me. In fact, I supposed everyone felt the same feeling. 

I looked at L.Joe across the hall, his expression was unreadable while Niel smiled. Unexpectedly. 

'The winner for this match is L.Joe.' Haraboji's voice echoed in my ears. We've all expected this. We were so confident, but actually hearing it from Haraboji was different. 

L.Joe ran towards us and broke into a group hug with the boys. Chunji ruffled his hair saying 'well-done' repeatedly. On the other hand Niel walked back to Yongguk and smiled. Yongguk was finally able to look at me then, with a wide grin. 

'Congrats.' I lip read from him across the hall. 

'Next battle in the Entertainment Room upstairs.' Mr K announced and followed Haraboji out of the Hall. I was glad he did not cheat though. But what he did to Zelo was unforgivable.

Daehyun took me in his arms in a swift motion catching me by surprise. 

'Hey! The others are looking.' I panicked, trying not to notice the gazes.

'I'll win.' He said looking at me in the eye. His eyes formed into cresents. His smile so bright I could only smile. He pressed his forehead against mine and smiled contentedly ignoring the gazes from every other people in the same room. 

'We'll win.' He added and unexpectedly pecked the bridge of my nose quickly. So quick I bet nobody caught it. Then he was back in the middle of the group hug leaving me stumped.

It's a draw now. They're going to win this, because they are my bodyguards.