“Ah umma, I’ll be taking today off of work  to finish my project at a friend’s house, is that alright?” April chimed into the phone.  

            After successfully getting her mother’s consent, she hung up and quickly caught up to BaekHyun, who was waiting patiently a few steps ahead for her—giving April all the privacy and space she needed. As soon as she reached him, they began their journey back to his place—taking an alternate route in order to avoid running into his brothers.

            April’s jaw hung open when the enormous house came into view. Although there were a few other houses down the block, this one was isolated from them and was slightly hidden by the ample green trees and bushes that were planted around the area.

            “Wait for me out here. I’ll be back,” BaekHyun promised before hurriedly heading inside.

            He found his mother scurrying around in the kitchen as usual—humming enthusiastically while making her sons’ favorite dishes for supper. The sly boy snuck up from behind his mother and wrapped his long arms around her shoulders, slightly startling Nara out of her cooking daze.

            “What do you want?” she asked with a hint of irritation in her voice, although it was obvious that she was unable to hide the smile that played on her lips from her son’s unusual affection.

            “Omeoni…” BaekHyun whined like a child while swaying his mother back in forth in his embrace—hoping to persuade her to follow his needs, “I brought a friend home today to work on our school project. She’s human, but—”

            “BWOH?” Nara quickly snapped out of her son’s grasp and abruptly turned around to face him. “No, this is not okay. You know we have to keep a distance from mortals. This is not acceptable BaekHyun; go out there and take her back home. Please don’t make this harder on—“

            “Umma, please!”

            “No means no, BaekHyun. Don’t—“

            “The girl’s going through a lot of hardships right now and our project just got completely destroyed and it’s due in two days and I can’t just let things be like that. Just once, umma! Just as long as you don’t mention it to any of the hyungs or appa then we’ll be fine.”

            Nara sighed and rubbed at her temples. She knew her son well—acknowledging the fact that there was no way the stubborn boy was going to leave what he already started, unfinished. She looked up to find his pleading us staring back at her, and decided that she would let him off the hook just this once.

            “Alright,” she exhaled in defeat. “But just this one time, understand? The next time you—“

            “Thanks umma. Love you,” BaekHyun interrupted before she could finish her sentence and swiftly planted a peck on her cheek before he headed back outside to get April—knowing that there wasn’t much time left until his brothers arrived home. 

            Still intrigued by the house’s surrounding beauty, April jumped when she felt a strong hand pulling her inside. She followed BaekHyun up the stairs and into his room, watching as he shut the door closed and locked it.

            “I-Is everything okay?” she whispered.

            “Oh. Yeah. My parents just don’t like me having friends over,” BaekHyun fibbed. “Uhm, anyways, let’s get going.”  

            The two dived straight into work—not daring to let a minute go to waste. April alternated from the unfinished essay on her portable laptop to assisting BaekHyun with the model. As the sun began to set, April felt her energy slowly beginning to drain along with the endless hunger that scratched from within her empty stomach.

            “HYUNG!” a muffled voice suddenly hollered out from behind the door after nightfall.

            “Bwoh?!” BaekHyun answered back, immediately recognizing that it was ChanYeol.

            “Aren’t you gonna go down to eat? We gotta train afterwards too.”

            “Ani. Leave me alone. I got things to do.”

            “YAH! KAI COME HERE!”

            “BWOH?!” another voice joined into the conversation.

            “COME HERE!”

            “What do you want?”

            “Listen closely… I think BaekHyun Hyung’s watching dirty videos…”

            “Seriously?”

            “Yeah dude. He never tells anyone to ‘leave me alone’ because he has ‘things to do.’ Must be da videos man…”

            BaekHyun’s face began to burn in embarrassment as he looked away from April—who was now stifling in her laughter.

            “YAH! SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO AWAY! I AM NOT WATCHING—“

            No longer able to contain herself, April let out a giggle.

            “OMG KAI DID YOU HEAR THAT?! THAT WAS THE SOUND OF A GIRL’S LAUGHTER. DUDE YOU ARE WATCHING RIGHT? DON’T DENY IT HYUNG; IT’S OKAY WE STILL LOVE AND ACCEPT YOU EVEN IF YOUR MIND IS EVEN MORE POLLUTED THAN THE EARTH,” ChanYeol teased.

            “AISH!” BaekHyun hissed under his breath, frustrated with his brothers’ childish behavior.

            “Mianhae…” April quietly apologized for taking part in his embarrassment.

            “A-Ani… It’s all right. But uh… It’s not true… You know, what they said, it’s—“

            “I know, I know. It’s fine,” April grinned understandingly at the boy.

            Strangely, BaekHyun felt his heart clamping up at the sight of the girl’s sweet smile. He swiftly averted his eyes to the floor and resumed working on the project to avoid feeling the odd sensations.

            “BaekHyun,” an austere voice—capable of sending chills down your spine—called out from behind the door an hour after the brothers’ visit.  

            Promptly identifying the person as KyungSoo—one of the brothers he respected and was intimidated of the most—and quickly escorted April into his closet. After she was safely hidden, he opened the door and met face-to-face with his brother’s stern face.

            “Aboji’s home. He wants you to come down and train,” he monotonously informed.

            “Thanks for letting me know Hyung, but I’m kinda busy right now...”

            KyungSoo glared at his brother, slightly bothered that he refused to obey their father’s orders. However, instead of further pushing and encouraging the bull, KyungSoo simply left without a word to save himself the trouble of having to deal with his brother’s fixed attitude.

            BaekHyun let out a sigh of relief as he watched his brother leave down the stairs. He quickly closed the door and headed towards the closet. Before he could reach it, however, the door suddenly busted open. BaekHyun turned to find his father’s piercing stare penetrating right through him.

            “Come downstairs. NOW,” Han commanded.

            “Aboji… I…“

            BaekHyun’s words trailed off into silence as he watched his father viciously sniffing around his room. With pure divine blood, Han had much sharper instincts and senses than his half-breed sons, and therefore, he was easily able to detect a human’s blood and presence.

            “Jesus Christ BaekHyun, don’t tell me you have a—“

            The boy placed a finger to his lips, indicating that if his father were to say another single syllable, the whole family would be placed into an extremely dangerous and risky position if the girl happened to be listening. Understanding his son’s message, Han stopped himself. However, the flames of fury burning from within him were inextinguishable at the moment.

            “Aboji… Let me ex—“

            Before BaekHyun could finish his sentence, he felt a strong palm colliding against his cheek. A sharp pain rang throughout his flesh as he came into realization that his father had just slapped him. In complete disbelief and shock, BaekHyun was speechless.

            “You… You incompetent bastard. How could you just jeopardize your family like this…? I am so disappointed in you, BaekHyun…” Han whispered under his breath—seeing nothing but an unskillful and dishonorable son that stood before him. Realizing that he was no longer able to tolerate BaekHyun’s repulsive behavior, Han stormed back downstairs.

            BaekHyun shut the door and mindlessly plopped down onto his mattress, still unable to believe what had just had happened. Out of his eighteen human years of life, his father had not once slapped him—but instead, used his words to chastise and teach his son. However, today was different; his father’s temperament had grown to a whole different level—catching BaekHyun completely off guard.

            Still lost in his own thoughts, BaekHyun was too unfocused to realize that April had already left the closet. 

            “Oh my god, are you okay? I'm so sorry; I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble... I’ll leave,” she genuinely apologized before collecting her belongings and heading towards the door.

            However, before she could reach the handle, BaekHyun held her back. He swallowed a few times—hoping to buy time for him to think of what he truly wanted to say. But at the current moment, his mind was too much of a jumbled mess to stir up anything.

            All that he managed to whisper out was, “Stay."

Sorry for the long chapter guys! ;~;  There actually was a little more that I had planned to write for this chapter, but it was getting too long so I decided to cut it off here. Oh well, hope you guys enjoyed anyways! ^_^;;