"Let me carry that for you, noona." Zelo appeared out of nowhere and whisked So Eun's large back pack away from her.

She blinked in surprise as Yongguk appeared as well and took her other smaller bag. "I'll help you carry this then." he offered, grabbing the pink clutch from her as if he did it every single day.

So Eun looked at them in confusion as they fussed over her like mother hens and ushered her up the bus. Himchan and Jongup helped to put the luggages up on the space at the top of the bus while Zelo and Yongguk passed the bags to the former two.

"Have fun at Busan, So Eun." Mrs Kim smiled at her daughter.

The whole gang was at the bus terminal at eleven in the night because of the impromptu trip to Busan and So Eun was surprised to find out from her parents that the other boys had indeed consulted them about the trip the night before. They had apparently pleaded to let So Eun go.

Strange.

"This came out all of a sudden really." Mr Kim rubbed his temples. "I never even had the chance to run through with you those Taekwondo moves I learnt. You must bring a pepper spray with you everywhere, So Eun." he said seriously.

So Eun laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry appa, it's not like I'm going there myself. I'll be going with six well functioning guys, I don't think they'll abandon me when danger arises. At least..." she glanced at Daehyun. "I don't think Daehyun will." she whispered to herself.

Mrs Kim caught what she said and smiled knowingly. "Have fun, really." She patted So Eun's head. "Buy back some of those grilled eels if possible, I really like them." she grinned. "Do you have enough cash?"

"Yep." So Eun nodded. "Don't worry." She glanced back at the bus when the driver hooted the horn. "I guess it's time to go. Bye umma, appa! I'll be back in a couple of days!"

So Eun ran back to the bus where Daehyun was waiting by the door and he helped her up the steps. He glanced back at the parents and gave a curt nod, his eyes meeting Mr Kim's. He bowed and went up the bus as well.

Mr Kim twisted his lips and tapped his chin. "I think I'm beginning to like that Daehyun kid."

Mrs Kim raised her brows and looked at her husband. "What? Does that mean you didn't really like him in the first place?"

"No." Mr Kim laughed and shook his head. "I'm a father, yeobo. When a guy gets too close to my daughter, my natural instinct is to feel protective. Do you know how I suffered when our daughter decided to have five male best friends. Seriously." he rubbed his temples at the memory. "At least they're all friends."

Mrs Kim laughed. "If you want to think that way..."

"What?" Mr Kim immediately snapped to attention. "What do you mean by that? Do you mean So Eun isn't just friends with one of them? Like something beyond friends? Wait, I can't let that happen!" he looked back at the bus. "Yah Kim So Eun! Come back here right now!"

But the bus rolled away and turned the corner. Mr Kim's jaw dropped and he stared at his wife accusingly. "I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier!"

"It's you who never noticed anything! Don't blame me for your blindness!" Mrs Kim laughed.

-----

"The wheels on the bus go round and round~" Himchan sang even though it was nearing twelve at night. The bus journey to Busan would take more than four hours and after reaching there, they would have to take another bus to reach the hotel. They estimated to reach the hotel at 5 to 6 in the morning.

"Can you kids please shut up?" an ahjusshi snapped from the front. "We're trying to rest."

Himchan paled. "Sorry!" he squeaked.

Youngjae laughed and elbowed Himchan. "Loser." He looked over at So Eun and saw that she was trying very hard not to fall asleep. "Yah keep it down guys, she's falling asleep." he whispered.

The BAP boys immediately shushed themselves and looked over at So Eun, whose head was bobbing up and down with the rhythm of the bus. Daehyun watched her with a soft smile on his face, their hands interlinked as she slept.

He moved closer to her and rested her head against his shoulders, her hair softly. He hummed a soft soothing tune that didn't seem familiar to any of the other boys, maybe because its sounded really ancient and not from this century.

So Eun snuggled up his side and Daehyun wrapped an arm around her, kissing her temple. "Good night." he whispered.

The boys instantly looked away when Daehyun looked up, busying themselves with whatever they had on their hands. Yongguk pretended to play with his phone, Youngjae reading a book, Himchan a magazine, Jongup a gameboy, and Zelo...with nothing on his hands, pretended to play with his fingers. Oh zelo...

Daehyun chuckled softly at their reactions and turned his attention back to So Eun. His beautiful beautiful girl.

Just nine days left.

"WE'RE HEREEEE!!!" So Eun beamed at the hotel. She had slept through the entire bus journey to Busan and even continued sleeping when they changed buses to get to the hotel.

Daehyun carried her on his back while the other boys took her bags, and So Eun slept through the entire way. Amazing.

The boys were slightly sleepy but seeing how So Eun was so full of energy, they didn't want to go back to their hotel rooms to rest. They checked into their rooms first to put away their luggage, washing their faces and changing their clothes.

It was a cheap hotel but the good service made up for the lack in decor and luxury items. Daehyun and Youngjae shared a room, Yongguk and Himchan, Zelo and Jongup. So Eun had a room to herself.

The boys took the rooms to So Eun's left and right, and Daehyun and Youngjae's room was directly opposite of hers. They surrounded her in every possible way, if you could imagine.

They washed up and met at the lobby, looking every bit like tourists even though they were koreans through and through. "Why isn't So Eun down yet?" Jongup frowned. "She's taking a long time."

"Do you think something happened to her?" Himchan gasped dramatically. "What if she fell in the toilet? Worse, banged her head against the wall or something and cracked her skull? Oh my god!"

Daehyun immediately paled.

"Don't scare us." Yongguk muttered. "I don't think she's that clumsy. She's just taking a long time like the girl she is. I think we're so close to her that sometimes we forget that she's a girl and she needs to do girly things."

"True." Zelo nodded. "Oh look, noona's here."

All heads snapped in So Eun's direction and she blinked in confusion. The boys were behaving really weirdly the past few days, fussing over her like mother hens. They never let her leave their sight and were immensely protective all of a sudden. It was like they all turned into Himchan but worse.

They joked around her, that never changed, but the things they said sometimes made So Eun slightly suspicious of what they know. They said things like "you're the best friend I ever had", "you're really clever, So Eun" and "Wish we could go back to our childhood days"...

And when things like that came out of Yongguk's mouth, you couldn't help but feel suspicious, right?

So Eun decided to push aside her suspicions and she turned to Daehyun, meeting his gaze. His eyes kept on her face the entire time, not even moving to look at her hair or dress or shoes or bangles. They didn't even drift of to her chin, much less inappropriate places.

When she reached him, he smiled lightly and took her hand. "You look pretty."

So Eun frowned. "You never even looked at my dress today, you liar." she whispered. Daehyun laughed and shrugged. "Does that matter? If I look at your dress and say you're pretty, I'm commenting the dress. I don't intend to." he squeezed her hand. "I'm complimenting you, not the dress."

So Eun blushed pink and she slapped his arm. "Glib tongue."

"HELLOO." Himchan waved his hands. "Oh will you look at that? You two are not alone!" he rolled his eyes sarcastically. "So will you two stop behaving like you two are alone? We're here you know!"

"Sorry." So Eun reddened even more. "So, uhm." she cleared . "Where are we going? We HAVE to go to the Busan world cup stadium."

"And the beaches, definitely the beaches." Jongup added.

"The famous beaches of Haeundae, Gwangalli, and Songjeong definitely!" Zelo chirped in. "Let's go jet skiing and swimming!! WHOO!"

"I guess we know where we're going now." Yongguk grinned. "Let's go, breakfast is on me."

"YAYYYYY!!!!"

-----

The gang visited the Busan World Cup stadium in the morning, then had the famous Granny Kim Hee-dae's Original Cauldron Gukbap, a mouthwatering treat.

 Then they went to the beach and had fun the entire afternoon, only returning to their hotel after it was dark and all of them were tired out. Yongguk ordered grilled barbeque food from the nearby eatery and all of them went down to a nice spot to have their campfire and food.

A great fiery flame was lit on the logs and the gang surrounded the fire, staring into it's attractive orange light. They were unexpectedly quiet for once, all of them deep in their thoughts.

So Eun looked around at them and raised her brows, not knowing what was on their minds. Was this the right time to ask about why they were behaving weirdly? "So uhm," she broke the silence. "I've got something I want to ask."

"Ask anything, we'll answer." Himchan smiled.

So Eun flinched. Yes exactly, that. Why were they so nice to her all of a sudden? Overly nice. Even this trip itself was suspicious. "Will you guys please just revert back to normal?" So Eun huffed. "You guys have been overly protective and overly nice to me this past days. It's weird. Did something happen?"

"We're nice to you because you're our best friend, So Eun." Yongguk told her reasonably.

"Exactly!" So Eun pointed at him. "Don't you guys see anything wrong? It's Bang Yongguk telling me that I'm one of his best friends. Is that strange or what?"

The other boys didn't say anything. So Eun looked over at Youngjae and frowned. "Youngjae, you should know what's going on."

"I..." the brainiac faltered, lowering his gaze to the ground.

It was the maknae who spoke up instead. "We don't have enough time to show you how much we care, noona." he sniffled. "We never said it out loud, so now it's time to say it before there's no chance to do it."

So Eun stilled and she snapped her gaze back to Youngjae. "I can't believe you told them!" she shrilled.

"What? That you might be dying for a thousand year old curse?" Youngjae snapped back. "I'm sorry but I value all our friendships and I don't think they'll want to be kept in the dark as well. I'm sorry I can't keep my mouth shut but all of us want to spend as much time as possible with you until...until..." he choked.

So Eun broke into tears rather suddenly, although she suspected she was just waiting for the chance to do so these past days. "You guys are mean." she whispered. "I'm not going to die okay? Stop treating me like I'm going to."

"You aren't." Jongup nodded sadly. "We have to believe that."

They lasped into silence, all of them tearing up.

"Since it's out in the open," Yongguk spoke up first. "I just want to say, you really are the best female friend we had. No screaming and squealing and stuffing chocolates and marriage certificates in our faces. You're our best friend, So Eun."

So Eun laughed softly while wiping away her tears. She leaned up against Daehyun and he rocked her side to side in a soothing rhythm.

"You maybe clumsy sometimes, and a tad annoying when you beat me at the tests at school, but I always enjoyed studying with you." Youngjae admitted. "One reason why I studied so hard for every test was because of our competition, and I actually liked us competing."

"Me too." So Eun confessed.

"I may always act like your mother and all," Himchan choked out. "But I'm still a guy. I can't take care of you like a mother does although I hope to. When we're not around you, you've got to take care okay?"

So Eun nodded while crying.

Jongup shifted, sniffling. "You're really my best female friend, So Eun. So much that I thought I liked you, remember?" All of them laughed at the memory. "Even though that didn't turn out well, I still consider you my first crush. You'll always be my first crush, So Eun."

"Noona," Zelo's bottom lip trembled. "I...I don't know what to say." he hiccuped. "Thanks for the chocopies and..and..please don't leave us!"

"Zelo..." So Eun burst into another round of tears. She sniffled while Daehyun her hair. "I'm not going to die alright? All of you will be here to protect me. We'll break out of the curse and Daehyun will stop being the immortal freak he is," she laughed softly and Daehyun smiled. "And happily every after. See?"

The boys remained silent.

"Oh what is wrong with all of you? GROUP HUG!" she announced.

The boys grinned and jumped out of their seats, attacking her in a massive group hug. So Eun cried silently against Daehyun's chest and hoped with all her heart.

She hoped that her words wouldn't turn out as lies.