“ Joon, how is the medicine holding out?” G.O asked. For about a week now I’ve been under G.O’s extensive care which consisted of on-the-dot check ups, and smothering to an extreme. I was pretty sure he had yet to finish his other work yet, but it felt nice to be taken care of so I said nothing.

Anyway, he had given me a container of some sort of medicine that eased off the pain. He told me I can only use it once a day at the most,  so I don’t become extremely addicted like before. At times where I felt the need to pour a handful, G.O had clicked a rectangular box, which I learned to be a magical remote, and turned this wide- screen on in front of me. Originally he played some shows called Soap-Operas, but after seeing my discomfort he switched to a more childish station. The shows that were on though entertained me for hours on end.

“ Great.” I whispered. My throat had become a bit sore from all the crying I had done.

“ That’s good, I’ll make you some lunch, come down to the kitchen when you want it.”

I nodded, turning my attention back to the cartoons.

During this time, staying at his house and everything, I decided to actually figure out the layout. I was in such a state of shock when I first came, I hadn’t paid any attention to the house. I was practically bedridden since then too. The building though was incredible! I found myself hovering from hallway to hallway, outdoors then back in, constantly. G.O’s house was surrounded by a huge patch of freshly cut grass, with a few trees here and there. It was a three story house with a basement. On the third floor there was a balcony that circled around; I found this out the same time I figured I was on the top floor. The walls were pearly-white, inside and out. In one corner of the house, on the second floor there was two walls just made out of windows; This wall pointed towards the backyard, thankfully.

When you first walked in there is a long hallway, with a black carpet. A small table stood in the middle, a vase full of flowers adorning it. If you turned left, right as you walked in you would cross through an archway into a lovely common room. There were many books and bookshelves. It seemed a little dusty. This didn’t shock me though; No one seemed to have the time to clean. If you looked to the right, when in the common room, you would find a dining room. The dining room was also connected to the hall by an archway. Across the hall from the common room was a study. Across the hall from the dining room was a full blown out kitchen. I really liked the kitchen to say the least. Everything was marble, with the exception of the cabinets which were made from oak. There was a small island-table in the middle, that was in the shape of a ‘C’. Stools surrounded it. I later found out on the inside of the island, there were mini cabinets filled with alcoholic drinks.

 When you finished with the main hallway there was a huge room, with a staircase in the middle. Behind the staircase was a small wall, covered in family photos. If you passed the wall, there was the ending wall,  covered with mirrors. I found out Mir liked to dance there. He promised to show me one afternoon.  The second floor wasn’t as intricate to my dismay. It was filled with many offices, and printing rooms. G.O and Thunder had their bedrooms on this floor. There of course was a bathroom, but it was at the end of a hall.

Then the third floor was more ‘fun’. G.O apparently first made the floor as a room of walls, to let Thunder go on and paint when he was stressed. So many walls were random paintings of, well, randomness. When G.O had taken in Mir,  he built three rooms up there; A bedroom, a second bedroom ( Which was originally for guests.) and a bathroom. Thunder still paints, and occasionally asks us to join him. I always denied. I don’t know why I do so though.

 When the show had ended, I groaned and moved from my bed. I glanced at the bottles of pills on my bedside table, before stumbling out of my room. When I made it to the kitchen, Thunder was skipping through the front doors. I could hear his laughter echo throughout the house.

I never understood Thunder.

Ever.

It was like he was on Happy Pills everyday of his life. Lucky.

“ Hey, welcome back. Did you bring my coffee?” G.O asked as Thunder slid into the room. The younger nodded and handed him the drink, which only had half of the contents left. G.O gave a little glare, but let it go, returning back to making my lunch.

“ HEY! JOON! I got you a present.” Thunder cheered, sliding into the stool next to me at the Island-table. He dropped a few magazines in front of me, smiling brightly. “ I remember you had read the magazines in the car when we drove here. I picked up a few more. I know it’s really boring here and-”

“ I wasn’t.” I muttered. Thunder leaned in close tilting his head.

“ You weren’t what?”

“ I wasn’t reading them, I just flipped through the pictures.”

Thunder pouted and opened one of the magazines. “ I mean I guess that could work to pass the time but I mean that was over a four hour car ride. You definitely read some of the articles. You looked very interested.”

I shook my head, opening one of the magazines. Some of the models inside were beautiful, and I admired the clothing and accessories. “ I can’t read well.”

“ REALLY?! B-but.”

“ I can read a bit, but not well.” I repeated. Thunder and G.O both had their eyes glued to me. I leaned back, weary from their stare. “W-what?”

“ Really?” Thunder questioned once more, his eyes wide. I nodded. The two exchanged glances.

 Is reading a big deal here? It never was before. Is not reading like a sin? Are they going to leave me now? B-but they said they would save me... maybe you have to be able to read to be saved...

My fingers curled around the magazine, a lot like beforehand.

Are they going to hit me if I can’t read? Are they going to send me back?

My  own eyes dilated at the thoughts, and I leaned in close, over the counter. “ I’m Sorry! I’ll learn to read quickly. Don’t leave me.” My eyes started to moisten. I brought one of my hands up to wipe the tears away. I saw their faces covered with shock, and worry. Thunder’s hand reached out towards me, and I jumped back.

Don’t send me back. Don’t give up.

“ We won’t.” G.O stated. I turned my head towards him. His eyes had grown soft. That’s when I realized I had spoken my last thought out loud.

“ S-stop crying.” Thunder stuttered, moving up from his seat to me. I stumbled back. I didn’t know what to do, defense? Offense? Believe them? Trust them? Put up my walls? Let them down? Happy Pills.

“ W-why are you crying? Are you ashamed? Don’t be ashamed! We are just shocked because we thought you could read, we weren’t worried about it. Now we know what else to help you with.” Thunder said softly.

“ I-I don’t... I don’t know what to do.” I cried out, curling myself into a ball on the ground. “I don’t understand.”

I heard hasty footsteps, and suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I flinched.

I heard G.O’s voice. “ You’re thinking too much. Take in a deep breath, and we can chat in the common room.”

“ Don’t you need to get back to work th-” Thunder was interrupted.

“ Family matters are first. You know that.” When I looked up I could see a thankful smile upon Thunder’s face.

A couple minutes later, I found myself on one of the black couches in the common room. A blanket had been placed on and around my shoulders. Thunder sat adjacent to me, while G.O sat in an armchair across.

“ We aren’t leaving you. Trust me. Trust Thunder.  If we ever do you have the right to find us and throw all the magazines you have at us.” G.O winked. “ Mir will stay too. I don’t think you could get him to leave even if you wanted him too though. He’s grown quite attached.”

I nodded, cuddling into my blanket. Thunder had begun to my back.

“ You are still new to this I guess. Not everything is going to end up with someone being hurt. You are not and will not ever be hit by me, Thunder or Mir, because you made a mistake. We will not ever force you to go out of your safety boundaries, unless need be. I swear on my life.” G.O noted. I smiled a bit.

“ And you not reading-”

“ I’m sorry.” I quickly stated.

“ About?”

“ Not being able to read well and-”

“ We don’t mind Joon. We’ll help you. We’re a family. Now my only question is, seeing how we were planning on sending you to school next week, do you still want to go? We will still help with reading, but people there will be a lot farther than you academically and if you are uncom-”

“ Mir will be with me right?” I asked.

He nodded. I smiled softly. “ Then I want to go.”

G.O smiled. At that time the door swung open.

“ OH MY GOD! G.O! SOME IDIOT MADE AN EXPLOSION IN THE CHEMISTRY LAB TODAY AND EVERYONE WAS SENT HOME And- is everything okay?”

My smile widened when I saw Mir come in. He had ran all the way down the hallway before awkwardly walking back to us. He spotted me and grinned back. Thunder covered his mouth as he laughed.

“ We are fine now. Joon, at least I think so, had a panic attack right before lunch.” G.O explained.

“ Joon?!” Mir came sprinting towards me, flinging his bag in any direction after ripping it off his shoulders. “ You’re okay now?”

Mir kneeled next to me, looking me in the eye. I nodded. slightly.

After the first night with my withdrawal, Mir and I have both tried to just be happy around each other.We both apologized throughout the night; Mir had slept over in my room. He took the left side of my bed, while I took the right. It was that night I realized Mir liked to cuddle, in his sleep.

Mir promised, since that day, he will try his best never to lose his mind when angry again, if I promise to work on pulling down my barrier when he’s around.

“You sure?” He asked, holding out his pinkie. I curled my own around his, smiling softly.

“I want to be good friends with Joon, like Mir!” I heard Thunder complain to G.O. I chuckled and turned my head to him. Holding out my other pinkie to Thunder, his face brightened. As he connected his pinkie with mine, Mir karate chopped them apart.

“That’s mine and his thing.” Mir stuck his tongue out.

“ Aaaw but Mir!” Thunder whined, stomping his foot. I smiled.

For the next week before school, G.O made me read everything insight: Ingredients, the magazines, instructions. Everyday I spent two hours learning vocabulary. To say the least, well, I hated it. I could hardly remember the last time I was exhausted. I found myself falling asleep before Mir even came home ( The school decided to just block off the Science wing instead of canceling school for who knows how long.).

“ Are you sure you want to go?” G.O asked over dinner. It was about two days before the agreed date in which I would attend school.

I nodded.

“Positive?”

Once again, I moved my head.

“ I mean, I could easily cancel the admission! I cou-”

“ He wants to go. G.O.” Thunder interrupted. “ ...hyung.”

“ I know. but-”

“Don’t worry Joonie, G.O hyung did the same thing with Mir. It was worse actually.” Thunder announced turning his attention to me. I tried to give a smile but my mouth was filled with the delicious pasta G.O had whipped up. The two ended up laughing.

Soon after the front door opened. Thunder grinned and jumped up from his seat, dashing out into the hallway. Mir trudged past the archway of the dining room, before giving all of us a tired head nod.

“ Don’t you want to eat Mir?” Thunder asked.

With a dismissive hand wave, Mir walked up the hallway stairs.  I finished chewing and gazed at the now empty hallway. I couldn’t help but let the corners of lips fall. Was he okay? Was he sick?

Thunder tapped my shoulder softly, “ Don’t worry Hyung. He probably got a bad test grade or something.”

I sighed and nodded before pushing my plate to the center of the table. It was my sign to say I was full. At that moment though, I was pretty sure I was still hungry but all my energy had just left . Softly, I excused myself and set off to follow Mir. His bedroom door was closed. Raising my hand, I hit the door a couple of times.

“What?” I heard a strangled groan. My eyes widened and I quickly opened the door.

“ What’s wrong?” I asked quickly, running over to his position against the backboard of his bed. He raised an eyebrow.

“ Nothing.”

“ But-”

“ If it’s about dinner, I’m not hungry.”

“ Mir. You’re voice sounds strained. Does your throat hurt?”

“ Why would it hurt?”

“ ‘Cause you had strained it?” I mumbled. I heard a small chuckle. I glanced up and Mir’s arms and legs were spread out wide.

“ What?” I asked. He pouted and flapped his arms and legs around making hideous whining sounds.

“ Huuuuuuuuuug.” He groaned. I smiled softly and shuffled over to him. He wrapped his arms around me tight. His body was ice cold compared to my skin. I sat down beside him, gently squeezing him back. I heard him mumble a few words but they sounded like jibberish to my ears. He followed with tousling his hair around in my neck. I squeaked and he giggled.

“ Mir.”

“ Yes?”

“ Why are you upset?”

“ People are bad, Joonie.” He muttered. “ Even away from your old place, my place, any place, there are people who are bad.” He dug his head deeper into my shoulder. That’s when my gaze focused on a purplish mark on his back. My eyes widened.

“You’re hurt Mir.”

“ Don’t say anything more Joonie. I’m fine. Just stay with me, okay?” Mir growled gently. I tensed up slightly before I felt his fingers gently my back. “ Please.”

So I did.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note:

Hey  my little giraffe babies! I'm here again with a very long chapter. I'm sorry I've been absent. There hasn't been a day where I do not think of this story. 

I've been very busy with a lot of drama, friend attempting suicide, mother going ballistic and going to a fro a hospital, my sister's cutting, and my weak immune system can't handle it when I get very stressed so I get very ill sorry T.T 

 Thing is I have school in two days xD I needed to update this.

 I'm sorry it is horrible but I tried to get a lot into this chapter because I didn't know when it would be out.

 And all of you thought THUNDER was going to be the one who had been bullied?

 Oh sweety. 

 Thunder has a completely different story. (Hint hint, try guessing it xD I bet you won't.)

 I'm literally exhausted ( I have had trouble sleeping even though I'm sick. When I'm sick, even though I want to sleep I can't.) so yeah... 

 I have new story ideas though that I hope you enjoy. They are different couples of course because I can't just stick to one OTP or one group.
Myungyeol (Infinite)
Krishan ( EXO)
Changji/capjoe ( Teentop)

And there will be Setao (EXO)

 MY life. 

 But I will try to make this story my top priority because you guys are all amzing ^>^ 

GOODBYE MY GIRAFFE BABIES! :)