As the EXO-K boys and Sunmi walked into school the following Monday, Sunmi immediately felt the strange atmosphere amongst the crowd the moment she stepped through the gates.

In fact, she already felt the weird glances being directed at her from the moment she boarded the bus with her friends and some of the other students from the same school as them boarded the same bus as well. She had no idea what was happening but something, just SOMETHING must have happened.

There was something in the way people started to stop talking when Sunmi arrived, the way their immediately continued their conversations in soft whispers when she turned away, the way they immediately looked at her when she appeared.

Sunmi checked her reflection in the mirror when she passed one. What? Did she look weird that day?

"Is it me or is everyone looking at me today?" Sunmi whispered softly, slightly burdened. "Am I imagining things?"

Kai looked around the students and narrowed his eyes, scowling. "On usual days I'd say you had a knock on your head but today, there really seems to be something off with everyone." he noted. "Wonder what it is."

D.O. nodded in agreement, his eyes slightly large in awareness. Suho patted Sunmi's shoulder comfortingly. "I don't think it's anything big. We'll find out soon enough. It'll turn out to be something really lame."

Sunmi forced a smile and nodded. She sure hoped it would turn out that way.

It was during the first period that Sunmi finally realized what had caused this whole commotion between the students. She hadn't really gotten it when she noticed Sehun receiving the same sort of whisper treatment when he entered the classroom, too confused in her own case to notice anything else.

Sunmi was trying to concentrate on what Teacher Jung was talking about, trying not to notice how people were looking at her a little too often and whispering about her behind her back. A girl called Yoona sitting beside Sunmi tapped on her shoulder when Teacher Jung's back was turned.

Sunmi looked over at Yoona with raised brows, since Yoona and Sunmi weren't exactly close. "I heard you're dating Sehun. Is that true?" Yoona whispered, leaning over to Sunmi's desk in interest.

Sunmi's eyes widened in alarm and she blinked several times. "What made you think that?" she whispered back. "We don't even talk, I hate Oh Sehun." she "kind-of" fibbed. Well she hated Oh Sehun the Devil version, but she didn't hate the Angel Boy version, so....

"Then what about the photos?" Yoona looked confused. "I really thought you and him were dating from the photos. That's what everyone was talking about."

"Photos?" Sunmi straightened in alarm. "What photos?"

"The photos on Twitter of course. It's going viral and hashtag sehunxsunmi is actually trending right now." Yoona whispered back.

Photos. WHAT PHOTOS? Sunmi wanted to scream as she dug into her bag anxiously, pulling out her phone. She hid the phone under her table as she opened her Twitter app. She wasn't too into Twitter and didn't go on it often. The EXO-K boys weren't that into Twitter as well and some of them didn't even have accounts.

She logged in and the first post she saw made her still in shock.

"Oh Sehun and Kim Sunmi....dating???"

What in the world. Sunmi clicked on the picture and cursed as it took ages to load. Damn, wasn't she paying bucks for the data connection? Why was it loading so slowly? Sunmi's heart thudded quickly as she tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.

The picture finally appeared and Sunmi took a sharp intake of breath.

It was a picture of Sehun and her on that boat ride in the Insadong shopping mall. At that point it didn't seem like anything funny, but from the picture, Sehun and her were looking quite cosy and couple-like. A romantic boat ride for two. Hmm.

Sunmi scrolled to the next picture and felt a shiver down her spine. It was the part where Sehun had leaned closer to her, most probably to beg her to tell him who she liked. The angle of the picture made it look as if he was kissing her tenderly, looking sweet and almost dream-like.

The next picture was of the both of them laughing and squealing while they splashed water at each other merrily, looking like they were having the time of their lives.

Oh. My. God. So this was what the others were talking about? No wonder there was such unrest amongst the girls. They thougth she stole their Oh Sehun oppa from them. Sunmi paled and she swallowed hard, shivering. "Hey,  you okay?" Baekhyun whispered from her side.

Sunmi shook her head and passed her phone over to him discreetly, glancing at Teacher Jung. Baekhyun took the phone in confusion but his eyes immediately widened in shock when he saw the pictures. He showed the pictures to the other EXO-K boys and they immediately understood the strange atmosphere in school that day.

No wonder.

Sunmi peeked behind her, wondering if Sehun already knew what rumors were flying all about the place about the both of them. She unexpectedly met his eyes at first glance and from his panic-striken look, it seemed he already knew about it.

Sunmi slumped into her seat and sighed softly again. What were they going to do about it? Mostly, how was she going to survive?

The power of the rumors was especially evident during break time. Even as Sunmi walked with the rest of the EXO-K boys and thrived in their protection, some of the other girls still managed to knock into her and bump her a little too hard as they passed.

"Oops sorry." one girl cooed fakely as she knocked the books out of Sunmi's hands. "I didn't mean it." and she walked away without a backward glance, stepping on Sunmi's Physics textbook in the process. What a .

Chanyeol pushed Sunmi to stand in the middle as the boys moved to surround her. "Sheesh these people. They're just a few photos, it didn't mean anything." he frowned.

D.O. looked at Sunmi. "Well the second one was kind of suspicious because the angle really made it look like you two were kissing." he tapped his chin. Sunmi sent an exasperated look at the umma. "Please, as if I'd kiss Sehun. You said it yourself, it's the angle." she groaned. "Why did this have to happen to me?"

The EXO-K boys escorted Sunmi to the cafeteria and they took a table for themselves, glad that they filled it up nicely without having to share it with any other nosy students. Sunmi tried to ignore the whispers and rude gazes cast in her direction and she drank her soup quietly.

Just what was wrong with these people? So what if Sehun and her were dating (which they so weren't, but yeah.)? It wasn't any of their business.

A girl walked behind Sunmi and her collided with Sunmi's back so hard that Sunmi knocked her chin with her spoon, soup spilling down her shirt. And it just HAD to be the thick cream of mushroom soup that day too.

"Ugh." Sunmi reached for a piece of tissue and tried to clean her shirt as best as she could. "This is embarrassing."

Baekhyun passed a few more tissues and sighed, frowning. "I wonder who was the stupid that took such paparazzi photos of the two of you. Professional, really." he muttered. "That's an invasion of privacy."

Sunmi felt sick at the thought that someone was watching them while they were having fun and talking about personal stuff. It just seemed so....erted. She looked at her soup and set down her spoon, not feeling up for food at the moment. Rumors were really deadly stuff.

"Oh, so here's the ." Lee Jina sauntered over to their table, snickering as she watched Sunmi. "The who can't even eat properly." she eyed the stain on Sunmi's shirt.

Sunmi's cheeks flamed red and she narrowed her eyes at Jina. "Don't call me things I'm not, Lee Jina." she hissed.

"Oh?" Jina sneered. "So how can you explain those photos? You must have lured Sehun oppa out some way. Seduced him, poisoned him, misled him, whatever. Why else would he be out with you? He hates you."

"And I him." Sunmi snapped back, growling. "Just because you can't get Sehun to go out with you doesn't mean he doesn't have interest in anyone else."

Jina winced. Yes, she couldn't get the Devil to go out with her no matter how hard she tried, but this Sehun was different. "You really are a sly . The way you act like you're so different from everyone else, saying things like how stupid we are to tag behind Sehun and being the only rare girl to hate him so openly. That was all a plan of yours to attract Sehun oppa's attention wasn't it? It was a trap." she scowled.

Sunmi gaped. What? How could she think that? She had genuinely hated the Devil with the passion, a hatred that burned from the core of her being. That was an act? Oh please if it was, she would have won the KBS drama acting awards or something.

"Sehun oppa would never have taken a liking to you." Jina sneered. "Look at yourself. You're so unattractive. Do you think, for a single miniscular second, that you might actually deserve someone like Sehun oppa? Please think again, Kim Sunmi. Your standard can only get one of those nerds over there." she casually waved.

Sunmi hissed softly. This girl was just annoying when she wasn't talking, but when she actually engaged in a conversation with Sunmi, low and behold the A class everyone. "You're not that fantastic yourself so I don't think you're in a position to speak." Kai muttered, scowling.

"Sunmi's a much better girl than you are." Chanyeol added, puffing out his chest proudly.

Jina rolled her eyes. "Who cares what you loser guys think. Sehun oppa's standards would never be lowered to this level. she eyed Sunmi in disgust. "You must have drugged Sehun oppa somehow."

"I totally agree." one of Jina's y friends added, sneering. "A girl with your standards can never with worthy of someone like Sehun oppa. He deserves someone like us-"

"AHEM." Jina cleared , rolling her eyes.

Her friend faltered and bit her lip. "I mean, he deserves someone like Jina. Not someone like you. Just get it in your stupid head that nothing will ever come out of that stupid fantasy which you had conjured between the both of you."

Sunmi clenched her fists, glaring dangerously at Jina and her friends. Just because she didn't spend all her day talking about nails and clothes and shoes...

"Hey, how can you say that to her!"

All eyes snapped towards the person who said that and Jina let out a small sigh of relief to herself when she replayed the conversation and found that the last few sentences weren't said by her. Phew.

Sehun frowned angrily at Jina's friend. "Take back what you said to Sunmi." he muttered. "You're mean!"

"Sehun." Sunmi whispered, shaking her head. Did he forget? They were supposed to hate each other in school. And with rumors like these flying about everywhere about the both of them, what he was doing then wasn't helping at all.

Jina's friend immediately paled and she bit her lip. , she just offended the god himself. "I mean...well." she swallowed visibly, panicking.

"Say you're sorry immediately." Jina nudged her friend. "You really did it this time, Mira. Sunmi is obviously not that type of girl."

Sunmi's eyes rounded at Jina. Wait what? That two-faced bitc-

"But Jina you also said-" Jina's friend, Mira looked close to tears. She bit her lip nervously and glanced at Sehun's thunderous face. "But Sunmi isn't worthy of Sehun oppa. You agreed."

"I said nothing of that sort." Jina quickly denied with an innocent expression. What the...

Sehun frowned at Jina's friend. How could she say that of Sunmi? Sunmi was such a nice, kind, pretty girl, much better than her in Sehun's opinion. "You're wrong." Sehun found himself defending Sunmi even as the person in question was tugging at his sleeve discreetly to keep him from talking. "I think Sunmi is very worthy of me."

Sunmi mentally smacked herself. What was he saying!

"I think it is I that isn't worthy of her." Sehun blurted, not knowing when to stop. "Why are you girls bullying Sunmi just because of this? I'll have you know that if you want to bully Sunmi, you'll have to go through me first!"

Sunmi wanted to hide under the table. Great. Just great. Keep talking Sehun, and the entire school would know about it by the end of five minutes. This was going against their theory of keeping the Devil's life as untouched as possible. Sehun was just making major changes everywhere.

"But Sehun oppa," Mira glanced at Sunmi with absolute jealousy. "I thought you hate her!"

"I don't!" Sehun blurted. Without thinking much, Sehun grabbed Sunmi's hand and interlaced their fingers. "So think before you say anything to my girlfriend!"

....

Oh. My. God.

Oh Sehun. What have you done?!?!?!