Norae's POV -Sunday Evening

"Eodi are you going Norae? You look cute" asked my mother as she saw me putting on my ugg nock-offs.

"Out.....with friends." I said cautiously not wanting to mention that I was not only going to be hanging out with my crush, but the rest of his group too.

"Okay, but where are you going? It's already dark." She prodded.

"I'm meeting them in Hongdae -why?" I challenged

"I really don't like you going out alone at night like you have been -there's bad people out there!" she cautioned.

"Omma! I'm not a little kid anymore. I can take care of myself." I said crossly pulling on my grey wool poncho coat, white knitted pom pom hat, and grey argyle mittens. I headed towards to door without waiting to hear her protests, but I heard her call after me "Don't stay out too late and be safe!"

I scoffed at her words. She didn't really care about me or dad -she left him lying lonely in the hospital only visiting every few days, sure she was working, but why can't you make an effort to at least see them once a day if you truely care about them. This was the man she supposedly loved and chose to spend all her days with. 

At least I made an effort to see him. Every day after school I would rush there to spend some time with him -tell him stories that happened during the day, read to him, do puzzles, play games, play my guitar for, and most of all sing with. He had a voice of gold and missed how our voices used to blend together into something magical. Tears started flowing as my memories of appa started whirring by.

His smile when I would walk through the door made my day brighter than anything else. My friends abandoned me, since I spent all my time with him, but how could I not? Those so called friends spread rumors that I was working in the red light district. People would whisper as I passed and although the rumos didn't bother me much, I turned into a shell of my former self -cold, impenetrable, and silent other than the time I spent with my appa. Oh, how I miss him so!

He was so proud of me when I got accepted into the high school I wanted and later on the University he had painstakenly helped me study to get into the best he could. All my tests and assignments I would happily show him my marks if they were good, and he conforted me and helped me learn from my mistakes if they were bad. On graduation day I joyfully showed him my diploma and took a picture with him kissing me happily on the cheek.

When he asked me if anyone had given me their top button he seemed a little sad, since he had given omma his top button on their high school graduation day and had married her after they finished college. But who would? All my crushes were out of my league anyways and were completely oblivious to my existance. Or they were all celebrities, which would never happen in a million years even if we had the chance to meet. Of course now meeting Kevin was a miracle in and of itself, but for him to actually like me? That would nearly be too much to hope for. He'd never like a girl like me. 

I thought university would be better, but so far it hadn't proved to be true. Former classmates had kept up rumors, and those that didn't know me treated me like I didn't exist. In class I stayed silent unless spoken to or called upon and jealously I would watch other girls chatting about who knows what, they guys goofing off with each other, and the studious ones quietly studying by themselves not wanting to be disturbed. The only people that payed attention to me were the greasy guys looking for a fun time due to the rumors, and that wasn't going to happen no matter how desperate for attention I was.

I kept wiping my tears as they trickled down my cheeks freezing in the frigid night air in hopes that they would stop. I knew better though, because once I started thinking about appa they wouldn't stop for a long time. I pittered down the stairs to the subway to ride to hongdae to meet Kevin and the guys, but I missed the one I had wanted to catch so I had to wait 10 minutes.

I texted Kevin 'I missed the train I wanted to catch, so I'm going to be a few minutes late. Mianhae! -Norae'

Kevin's POV

My phone buzzed when we were almost to the Trick Eye Museum and I read Norae's message. I texted her back 'That's fine! We'll wait for you inside. -Kevin' "Hey guys, Norae said she's going to be a little late."

"Okay, but I hope she isn't too late. It's cold!" said Dongho pulling his fuzzy coat collar closer to his neck and rubbing his arms.

"Well I'm going to take some pictures guys. I'll meet up with you guys later" kiseop said wrapping his scarf around his face before waving and taking off with his camera.

"Well let's head to the museum. I told her we're going to meet her in the museum." I told them.

"No let's grab some dukbokki first" begged Soohyun.

"Fine, but make it fast." I said crossly.

"Someone's a bit crabby today." said Xander.

"Yah! I'm not crabby! I just don't want to be late." I defended.

"Ooh did you hear that guys! He's worried about being late to meet his girlfriend." teased Xander.

"She's not my girlfriend! Go get your Dukbokki now." I said pushing Soohyun towards the first street vendor I saw regardless whether it was dukbokki or not. Thankfully it was and soohyun quickly bought a large serving of it. He happily munched as we walked along and offered to share some of it, but we all declined since we had eaten before we left.

As we turned a corner I heard a familiar voice "Stop it! Let me GO!" and then I saw her and froze. "What's wrong Kevin?" asked soohyun when they saw me stop. "Norae...." was all I could spit out.

Norae was pinned against a wall by a playboy while his friend looked on. "Come on it won't take long and the hotel's right over there. Plus I'll pay you good." crooned the playboy. "I'm not that kind of girl! Let go of me!" she angrily exclaimed. "Sure you aren't sweetie. Just give me one little kiss and then I'll let you go." said the playboy. "You promise?" she asked and he nodded. "Fine, just one kiss, but you have to let me go immediately!" she agreed. "Sure thing." he said crookedly and leaned in for the kiss. That's when I couldn't take it anymore and ran over.

Norae's POV

All of a sudden I felt the playboy get jerked backwards and he loosed his grip on me out of surprise. This gave me an opportunity to wriggle out of his grasp and bolt to the center of the alley. As I ran past my savior my jaw dropped "Kevin?!" Most of the U-Kiss guys were standing close behind him as well, so I ducked behind them.

"Are you okay Norae?" Kevin asked and that's when the playboy took the opportunity to punch him. Kevin flew backwards and landded on his . Angrily he got up and was going to run at the playboy to give him a punch back. However, Soohun Grabbed his arm."Kevin, think of the scandal this will cause if you fight back."

He shrugged Soohyun's arm off and ignored the playboys' tants "Too afraid to fight? Mamma's boy?" Kevin chuckled a little as he pulled out his phone "Let's see what the cops and reporters have to say about attacking an innocent girl and a celebrity." The guys eyes got wide at the mention of cops, and took off into the night as fast as they could.

He turned around and parted his friends to get to me. "Are you okay?" he asked turning my head this way and that with his hand and looking me over head to toe.

"I'm fine thanks to you, but look at your lip! Will this cause you any problems?" I gasped with concern seeing that it was all swollen and bruised. I stupidly touched it which made him flinch.

"I'll be okay. I need to call our manager now though to let him know what happend." he said. I just about swooned right there. 'What a sweet and resonsible guy!' I thought to myself as I watched him dial a number on his phone.

Kevin's POV

Honestly Norae's concern was making me embarassed, so I decided to escape by calling our manager right away -even though I knew there would be some consequences.

"Hi Manager it's Kevin. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. What's up?"

"Well I had a bit of a situation in Hongdae."

"What kind of situation?"

"A friend was getting threatened by some guys and..." 'how should I say this?' I wondered.

"And....? What happened?"

"I pulled a guy off of her and one of them punched me."

"Did you fight back?"

"No, Soohyun stopped me and the guys fled when I threatened to call the cops and reporters."

"Good. Are you hurt?"

"My lip's a little swollen and bruised, but otherwise I'm okay."

"Hopefully the press doesn't get wind of this, but I'll cancel your schedule for a few days until your lip is better to keep things quiet. Also, all the cancelled events will be docked from your paycheck."

"I understand."

"Go--Wait did you say your friend was a girl?"

"Yeah....." I said a little sheepishly.

"Kevin, you know our dating policy." he said in a warning tone.

"We're just friends. Plus most of they guys were with us."

"Well we'll talk about this later. Even if you are just friends. I suggest you head back to the dorms ASAP unless you want more trouble"

"Ne, I understand. We'll head back right away."

"Is everything okay?" asked Norae.

"Yeah, my schedule is going to be cancelled for a couple days until my lip is better and to keep things quiet."

"I'm sorry! This is all my fault." she said apologetically.

"It's not your fault Norae. Guys like that are always looking for trouble." I brushed it off.

"But still I feel bad." she said apologetically.

"You don't need to. They were in the wrong and what happened, has happened." I said.

"Thanks Kevin! It means a lot to have a friend like you. I wish I had more though." she said gratefully.

"You have us too, and remember the more friends you have the less you can trust with everything." said Xander.

"Very true and thank you....Xander is it?" she asked.

"Yeah, and this is Soohyun as you probably know, and Dongho. Kiseop went off by himself to take pictures and Kibum went to go swimming by our dorm." said Xander introducing everyone that was present.

"Nice to meet you all." she said bowing.

"Mianhae Norae! Eodi did my manners go?" Kevin said scratching his head and frowning a bit.

"It's okay Kevin. You didn't really have time to before anyways." she said.

Well Norae, our manager said we need to head back now because of the incident, but we'll send you home first." I told her.

"Okay." she said a little dissapointedly.

We walked silently to the subway and while we were waiting for her train I spoke. "I hope next time won't be quite as much of a fiasco."

"Yeah, same here." she said.

"Next time we'll pick you up, so we won't have this problem again." I said.

"That would be really nice, but you don't have to! I travel to and from university all the time by myself." she replied.

"Even so, we want to see you safe and sound, and if picking you up is the best way, that's what we'll have to do." I told her changing the I's I was thinking in my head to we's so I didn't make my crush too obvious. Her train pulled into the station then.

"Well, it was nice meeting you guys! Annyeong!"

"You too Norae." everyone chorused together. "Annyeong!"

After she was wisked away by the subway all the guys started teasing me about her. "Kevin has a girlfriend!" "So when's the wedding?" "How many kids are you going to have?"

"Yah! Stop it guys." I pouted "We need to let Kiseop know we need to head back now."

"Okay, I'm on it." said Soohyun whipping out his phone.

Kiseop's POV

I was enjoying myself wandering around Hongade taking pictures when I felt my phone buzz. 'Meet us back at the Van now, we need to head back -Soohyun' 

Curious I texted back 'Okay heading back. What happened?'

'When you see Kevin. You'll know ;) -Soohyun.'

When I got back to the van I immediately notice Kevin's lip. "What happened to you?" I asked him.

"He got punched by a guy defending his girlfriend." answered Dongho for Kevin.

"Yah! I told you she's not my Girlfriend! Plus I'll have problems with the company if you keep teasing me like this." said Kevin crossly.

"Wow, I never expected something like that to happen to you." I said surprised to hear that Kevin had gotten defensive over someone.

"Yeah, this is the first time we've ever seen him so angry. It was kind of scary." said Dongho and Soohyun nodded in agreement.

"He would have punched back if I didn't stop him." said Soohyun.

"That's crazy! I wish I could have seen that. Kevin being angry, wow!" I said buckling my seat belt.

"Yeah, tell me about it." said Kevin with a sigh as our driver started the van headed back to our dorms.

*Annyeong! I thought I'd give you a little insight on why Norae is the way she is and some of what's happened with her in the past. Hope you liked it! <3 ~AA