I was really close in terminating this story because I was having trouble in keeping the story interesting, but when I saw how many subscribers there were (80+ with just 6 chapters) I felt that I shouldn't give up.

>U<

So, I will continue with it. I'll try my best not to let you guys down!

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

The three made their way to the front desk of the hospital where Chen was currently residing.

"Kim Jongdae. We are looking for Kim Jongdae." Kris said to the sir of the front desk.

"Kim Jongdae?" The man on the front desk checked his clipboard. "Right. Room 319. Thats the third floor --"

"Thanks!" Chanyeol said interrupting the man. They 3 made their way to the stairway instead of taking the elevator. Xiumin tried his best to keep up with the towering brothers, but comparing to his legs with theirs, they make it seem so easy.

'Who would do this to Chen…really. Taking down a new kid? That is low.'

Once they made it to Chen's room, Kris took hold of the door handle and slowly opened it. They heard the chatter stop and Tao was peaking from the corner.

"Kris? Chanyeol? Oh! Xiumin you are here too?" Tao made his way to the three. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked, but not before giving Kris a hug.

"We came once Kris told us what happened." Chanyeol said, with Xiumin slowly nodding along.

"Oh." Tao nodded. "Where is Baekhyun?"

"He is --" Chanyeol went wide eyed. "Ah, ! We left him at school! He is probably going to wonder were we are!!" Chanyeol said with a loud voice, only to have Kris smack his stomach.

"Yah, don't yell! We are in a hospital!" Kris hissed at his step-brother.

"I-I'll give him a t-text." Chanyeol rubbed his stomach and with his right hand, grabbing his phone to text his boyfriend his whereabouts.

Xiumin bit his lip, making the panda notice. "You want to see Chen?" The Bun started to feel guilty. If he wasn't so against the idea of Chen walking home, he would have been safe and well. He nodded at the panda who smiled. "He is right here." Tao motioned the corner.

Xiumin made his way and peaked from the corner. He saw Chen trying to cover his face with the blanket, obvious that he didn't want Xiumin to see him in this state. "Chen?" He said softly, but the other didn't respond.  The Bun huffed. "Chen…um, are you okay?"

"Hm." Chen nodded his head from behind the blanket. "F-fine."

Xiumin sighed and looked back at his friends.

"Why don't you talk to him." Tao whispered. "Go." He motioned the other to get closer to Chen. "He might feel better." The panda smiled. "We will be in the cafeteria okay." Not giving Xiumin a chance to respond, Tao ushered his boyfriend and his step-brother out. Once the door clicked, Xiumin glanced back at Chen, who didn't removed the blanket from his face.

"Chen stop that." Xiumin made his way over to Chen and grabbed a hold of the blanket. He pulled it down, only to widen his eyes. Chen had cuts on his face, a bad bruise at the corner of his left lip and eye, and the side of his temple contain a bandaged. His left arm had a brace and the palm on Chen's right hand was bandaged as well. "Oh…oh my god." Chen sighed, but let out a weak smile at the Bun. "H-how can you smile when you are like that?" Xiumin couldn't understand how Chen could still give out a smile. He was beaten up for a reason that Xiumin may know; he continued to look at Chen and started to feel guilty. 'I should have let him walk me home.'

"Its fine --"

"No its not!" Xiumin said, making the other shocked at his response. "You…look what happened!"

Chen blinked, before chuckling out loud. Xiumin furrowed his brow at the other. "You are worried about me!"

A tinge of pink started to form on his round cheeks. "I…o-of course I am worried you ! You just got beaten up last night and I'm starting to feel guilty for not letting you walk me home last night! If I did you wouldn't be laying here in the hospital bed and --"

"Xiumin." Chen raised his hand for the other to stop. "Its fine. I'm not dead --"

"But you're hurt --"

"I'm just hurt okay. I'm fine. I'm injured here and there, but I'm not dead. Actually, I'm glad that I didn't walk you last night."

Xiumin tighten his lips. 'He was what?'

"If I did," Chen continued. "Then you could have gotten hurt as well."

Xiumin widen his eyes. 'He…h-he --'

"Thats why I'm kinda glad that I wasn't around you." Chen folded his hands on his lap. "If they hurt you…hm…I-I don't know what I would do." He let out a sigh. "I couldn't defend myself from the 5 guys that --"

"F-five?" Xiumin looked up at Chen. "Five people beat you up?"

"Well…from what I remembered…there was five. They dragged me to a dark alleyway and started to punch and kick me." Chen nodded. "Yeah, but you know, thats okay." He smiled. "You are alright, which I am happy about."

Xiumin grabbed a seat from the near by small table. He scooted his seat closer to Chen. "I'm sorry Chen…I should have asked you to come and walk me home."

"Xiumin." Chen placed his hand on the Bun's head and started to pat it. "You didn't know that it is going to happen."

'But I may know who did it.'

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

"Baekhyun."

Baekhyun turned around, now facing Rome; he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "What?"

"Where is Xiumin? I haven't seen him all day. And where is your tall, freak of a boyfriend --"

"Hey!" Baekhyun snapped at Rome. "Don't call my boyfriend a freak okay. And for your information, I don't know where Xiumin is." He said, lying to the other. He received a text from Chanyeol a while back, and he was kind of disappointed as to why they didn't bring him along, but decided to shake it off. 'No way I am telling you, yah freak.'

"Hm." Rome eyed the other, but shook it off. "Okay, whatever then." With that, Rome walked away leaving Baekhyun standing in the middle of the hallway.

'I hope Chen is okay.'

Baekhyun started to make his way to class.

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

A couple days passed and Chen was able to go home. His parents were informed and were deeply worried for Chen's safety now, but the other told them that he was fine.

Xiumin and the rest didn't miss any school after that one visit. Chen told, but more in the lines of order, his friends and hope to be boyfriend to go to school. They refused, but Chen assured them that he is getting well and will return school soon.

"Now Jongdae," Chen heard his mother say. "The doctor advised you to stay in bed for another couple of days."

"But, I'm feeling fine." Chen said as he rubbed his arm that had a brace.

"Nope." His mother patted his cheek gently. "Stay home and rest." With that, his mother left, closing the door behind her. Chen flopped in his bed and sighed.

'What about Xiumin…I have to protect him from those…courting 5.' He bit his lip. 'What if Xiumin did come with me that day? How can I protect him…when I couldn't protect myself.' Chen started to feel a little bit down. 'I'm…so weak. Rome looks strong…and so does that Zico guy.' He shifted his head so that his face would be on his pillow. "Maybe Joon was right…I am scrawny. I have no muscle at all…how can I be Xiumin's knight? What if he likes strong guys?" Chen sat up on his bed. "I should start working out." He nodded to himself. "I should…Chen fighting!"

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

Xiumin looked all over the school to find the courting 5. He wanted to speak with them and confront them about Chen's incident, but Kris tried to talk him out of it. The dragon kept saying that he didn't have proof that it was the courting 5 that attacked Chen. He just didn't want Xiumin to get into trouble for accusing people that may or may not have done anything.

But now, Xiumin wants to confront them. He made his way, alone, to the hallway that they were standing in. It was after school, which didn't make anything better, but Xiumin was tough. He could defend himself.

"Xiumin!" Luhan smiled at the other, but Xiumin kept his expression raging.

"You." Xiumin said in a harsh tone. "What did you do to Chen."

"Chen?" Zico raised his eyebrow. "What are you --"

"Don't be stupid ZIco." Xiumin shot at him. "I know you guys did something to Chen." He eyed each one of the courting 5.

"W-what are you even talking about Xiumin?" Kyumin tried his best to calm the other down by placing his hand on Xiumin's shoulder, but quickly Xiumin shrugged it off.

"You guys know that Chen got hurt. He told me that 5 people beat him up."

"And you think it is us?" Rome said with a confused expression on his face. "Xiumin I…or --"

"I know it was you guys. You guys are the only ones in this damn school that doesn't know when to quit! I don't like any of you!" He pointed at each of them. "And you guys manage to go and attack Chen, who is still a new guy to this school! That is so low of you 5!"

The 4 out of the 5 were shocked to hear Xiumin scolding him, not from loving and teasing actions, but for an action that revolved around beating some person, that they didn't really care for, up.

"B-but BunBun dearest," Luhan quivered his lip. "W-we didn't do anything to --"

"Stop lying. I know you guys did it!"

"Why do you even care for that guy anyway." Joon said, finally speaking up. "He is just like us. Going after you as well. Why are you even defending him?"

"Because…because he is friends with my best friend's boyfriend! You hurt one of my friends…I swear, I will not hesitate to do something if you hurt him again." Joon sharply inhaled. Xiumin saw how he tighten his jaw, but didn't question anything about it. "Stay…away from him. Got it?" With that, he left the 5 standing in the hallway.

Once he was out of sight, Luhan started to tear up. "W-why is Xiumin mad…m-mad at us!" He hiccuped and rubbed his eyes. "Luhan didn't do anything! L-Luhan is a go-good boy!"

"Well, I didn't do anything." Rome growled. "I may hate Chen, but I didn't even hurt him!"

"I didn't do anything to this…Chen." Kyumin said softly.

"Neither did I." Zico clicked his tongue.

The 4 out of 5 looked at Joon, waiting to hear the same thing, but only to be shocked that he didn't speak.

"It was you?" Rome pointed out. "Y-you beat up Chen?"

Joon leaned back at the lockers behind him. "Okay fine it was me. I sent 5 people to follow and attack him…only."

"What the hell man!" Zico grabbed onto Joon's shirt uniform. "Are you crazy?! Why are you --"

Before Zico could continue, he was harshly pushed back, making Kyumin catch him before he fell on the floor. "Listen you piece of ," Joon's tone went dark. "Chen is definitely in the way. In fact, he is closer to Xiumin than any of us."

"B-but that doesn't give you a right to fully go on and beat him!" Luhan said, puffing his cheeks. "You know thats wrong."

"Okay, fine, whatever." Joon replied as he rolled his eyes. "Still, Chen is in the way. I am just simply lowering his self-esteem a bit. He will slowly realize that he is not fit to be beside Xiumin. We just have to work together and get Chen out of the scene."

"By that man…you mean not kill him right?" Rome asked, scratching the back of his neck. "Because, dude…I can't do jail."

"Of course that is not what I meant you dimwit!" Joon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, once Chen is out of the picture, the 5 of us will be able to get to Xiumin…with just the 5 of us again. At least I know we are suitable to be at his side."

"But he just said that he doesn't like any of us." Kyumin said. "How will Xiumin like any of us now? He just now accuses us that we hurt that Chen."

"We just have to be loving to him. More loving." Joon said. "Xiumin will eventually love one of us."

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

Chen was able to go back to school after a 3 day rest, but still had to wear bandages and his arm brace. Some students were shocked and tried to comfort the other, but Chen would just smile and politely refuse any help given to him.

"Chen." Tao smiled at the other. "Welcome back."

"Thanks." Chen sighed. "How are you?"

"Good." Tao nodded. Soon, Kris, along with Chanyeol and Baekhyun, came to greet the other.

"Hey you." Kris gave a small wave. "Feeling better?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around the panda's waist.

"I'm…okay. Still hurts a bit, but hey, better than being completely broken right?"

"Well, it is good to see you back." Chanyeol said as Baekhyun wrapped his arms around the taller's arm.

"Yeah. If you need or anything, we will be glad to give you a hand." Baekhyun said, but Chen shook his head.

"I'll be okay guys, but thanks."

Baekhyun pouted, but nodded his head. "Well, okay then."

"We will head to class." Kris said, grabbing onto Tao's hand. "See you at lunch?"

"You know it." Chen answered back. With that, he watched as the towering brothers and their boyfriends walk away, hand in hand. He sighed a bit; he wished that he could hold someone's hand. Preferably someone that has round cheeks. 'I'm not even close to them either. Kris and Chanyeol are tall and handsome. Kris has that mature vibe and is serious image thing going on, while Chanyeol is funny and cheerful all the time. I bet they are even fit. I wonder how Tao and Baekhyun ended up with them.'

"Chen?"

Chen's thoughts were broken once he heard a familiar voice. He looked over his shoulder.

"Xiumin." He breathed out.

The Bun tilted his head at the other. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah." Chen adjusted his backpack. "I-I'm going to head to class okay?" Before the Bun could say anything else, Chen jogged off.

'Oh…okay?' Xiumin sighed and started to head to his class.

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

As the weeks passed on, the courting 5 always gave their affection to Xiumin, who in return would reject them as always. Xiumin thought that he made it clear that he didn't like any of them, but figured that they were hard headed.

He found it also strange that his good friends and Chen were always hanging out with each other, and that he was not invited to come with them. It didn't bother him that much, but he just wished that they would at least ask him if he wanted to hangout.

It was after school and Xiumin was making his way to pick up his sister. He sat on the curb, resting his chin on his knees, waiting for the other. ''What is taking Sohee so freakin' long?" He checked his watch and it was already 20 minutes passed their release hour. Xiumin reached for his cell phone to see if he received any text from Sohee, but he got nothing.

"Xiumin?"

The Bun looked up to see Chen, with a worried expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Xiumin asked with a little hint of irritation. "Weren't you hanging out with my friends?"

"I…erm, well, we had to cancel today." He said softly In truth, Chen and the rest were practicing for the talent show, and since Chen didn't know the song very well, they had to practice a lot. "What are you doing here?"

"It is none of your --"

"Brother!"

"--business. God damn it." Xiumin stood up to see his sister, coming out with a boy following her. "Sohee." He pulled his sister close to him, away from the boy. "Who is that? Why did he come out with you at the same time?"

"Brother, stop it." She pushed him back. "This is Jiyong." She gestured over to the taller.

"Hello." Jiyong bowed at Xiumin, as well as Chen. "I was just helping out Sohee with some of the student council stuff in case you were wondering. She was slumped with all the work…I just thought that she would need some help. Plus, she looked worn out."

Xiumin eyed the other and checked on his sister. Sohee cutely yawned and rubbed her eye; Xiumin started to feel bad for her. He wished that he would have persuaded her to take less courses, but with her determined personality, she went for it. "Uh," He stated, facing Jiyong. "Thanks…I guess, for helping her."

Jiyong nodded. "Just looking out for her you know."

"Right." Xiumin grabbed Sohee's backpack, which he ended up dropping to the ground. "Whoa, that is really heavy --"

"Books." Sohee said. "I have a project that is due in a couple of weeks. Thought that I should get started you know?"

"Sohee." Xiumin shook his head. "You are going to get sick you know. There is a thing called break time…I should have convinced you to take less high level classes."

"I'll be fine. Can we please go?" She rubbed her eye again.

"Sure."

"Well, see ya Sohee." Jiyong smiled at her, making Sohee blush a bit. Xiumin puffed his cheeks and shooed Jiyong away. Chen watched as Xiumin went on over protective brother.

'How cute.' Chen chuckled a bit. He watched as Jiyong bid goodbye to the siblings. Xiumin tried to lift his sister's bag, but with his combined, it was difficult. "Do you need help?"

Xiumin turned his head to face Chen. "You're still here?"

'Ouch, love. That hurt.'

"Brother! That was mean!" Sohee made her way to Chen. "Sorry for my brother."

"Sohee!!"

"He doesn't mean it at all. He is so…hm, stubborn sometimes."

'Oh my god.' Xiumin pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Sohee…'

"Brother, my bag is really heavy…just give it to me --"

"I can carry the bag for you." Chen offered, reaching his hand out, but Xiumin shook his head.

"No, I am -- we are fine." Xiumin said with a strong tone in his voice. "We are leaving. Lets go Sohee."

"If you can pick it up, we can go."

"Fine." Xiumin tried his best to pick up his sister's bag, only to fail. He tried once more, but he just ended up making a fool out of himself.

"Brother."

"Y-yes."

"Give…erm," She turned her head to the other. "I-I'm sorry…I don't know your name."

"Its Jongdae, but Chen is okay too."

"Chen it is" She smiled. "Just let Chen carry your bag. It's light from the looks of it."

'Damn…it is.' "F-fine." He brought down his bag and handed it to Chen, who gladly took it. "Lets go." Xiumin sighed out.

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

"Thanks again for the food." Chen turned around and smiled at the Bun, who rolled his eyes at the other. Chen adjusted his backpack as looked at the other standing by his front door.

"Yeah, well, Sohee insisted."

Once they reached at the siblings' house, Sohee persuaded her brother to let Chen come in and have dinner with them as a thank you. Xiumin was against it, but Sohee ended up pinching her bother's rounded cheeks until he submitted.

Chen was happy that the other let him in with the help of Sohee; he now knew where he lived and what his house looks like. While Xiumin cooked, Sohee took the liberty in showing Chen round the house, and even some cute photos of Xiumin when he was younger, just to embarrass him. 

"Well…here." Xiumin handed Chen a small box. "It just left some leftovers all right."

'Leftovers! Xiumin is so kind!!' "Thank you!" He took the small box from the Bun's hands.

"Yah, whatever." A tinge of pink formed on his cheeks. "They are just leftovers. No big deal."

"But you made it…I get to taste your cooking…you are really good. Plus you welcomed me to your home." Chen smiled. "So thank you." The now, little red Bun, glanced down at the ground, not wanting to see the other in the eye.

"Hm. Well, it was the only way for Sohee to stop pinching my cheeks." He started to push Chen gently, further away from the door. "N-now get going because it is getting late. I-I don't you to get hurt again."

Chen nodded. 'He is absolutely right. I should get going.' "All right…I'll see you at school then." He leaned over and pecked the other on the cheek. "Have a good night! And tell your sister to rest well." He grinned before he left jogging.

Xiumin eyes grew as he continued to stand in place; he placed both his hands on his cheeks, which were now burning. 'H-he…he…he --' "Chen you son of a -- who gave you freakin' permission to kiss me!! Yah! I am going to kick your !!"

Sohee walked passed her brother, rolling her eyes. 'My brother…' "Xiumin stop yelling…the neighbors --"

"Will continue to hear me roar!! Chen!! You are dead meat you hear me!!" He yelled louder. Sohee sighed and made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She smiled a bit. 'Chen is pretty cool though.'

--- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) --- (XIUCHEN) ---

(>o<)v