Taemin hopped down the stairs. Hands deep in his school’s navy blue slacks, he skipped his way over to his locker, oblivious to all the looks he received. Just as he opened his locker, another two lockers down the row beside his, opened. Taemin turned his head to greet the student good morning out of habit only to regret that he ever turned his head. There stood Lorita, his “hater”, tossing in books after books into her locker. However as he continued watching her every moves, he realized that Lorita has delicate features. Taemin was simply awed by how tall she really is and how her side profile seemed to have him hooked. She reminded him a bit of Alice. Despite her rough actions, he noticed a slight grace to her movements. Lorita can in fact look very feminine and Taemin was surprised that he could actually admit to such things.

But just as Taemin came into terms with that conclusion, the image smashed into millions of irreversible pieces as he realized that he was indeed staring straight into a hard glare. Lorita smirked when Taemin whimpered like a kicked puppy as he shoved his head into the depth of his locker, hoping that it would just swallow him up. His face felt hot as he peeked from his locker and watched as Lorita slammed her locker extra hard, making the whole row of lockers beside hers tremble. He winced as the sound of colliding metals ring in his ears. She did that on purpose.

“I must apologize to her someday,” he sighed.

XXX

“Oh god Cleo, there you are!!” Cleo jumped out of her skin before shutting her eyes tight in frustration after realizing who had found her. She sighed deeply. Slamming her locker shut, she gave him a small smile before turning away, speeding down the crowded hallway. She hardly made through half of it before her elbow was caught in something warm and firm. She was spun to face the boy that she had been trying so hard to avoid, all day if she could. She could not look at him without giving herself away. She was not even sure that her make-up was enough to conceal any of the cuts and bruises on her face, especially the long deep cut on her right cheek. Thus the floor has never been so interesting to look at till then.

“You’ve literally avoided me all morning. Even when I waited for you right in front of your house. And when I knocked, your aunt said you left. What’s going on?” Cleo could feel guilt gnawing at the edge of her heart at what Jonghyun had said, hardly louder than a whisper. She stood there stupidly. Not knowing how to escape cause she knows that if she does not any time soon, something was going to slip through her lips.

 “Is everything alright?” Cleo groaned inwardly, knowing that running away from Jonghyun was absolutely futile. She peeked at him through her lashes and found him watching her intently. Jerking her attention back to the smooth cement floor underneath her feet, Cleo bit her lip and nodded her head slightly. After mumbling something about being late for class under her breath, she her heels and continued down the corridor towards her class. Feeling his presence beside her once again, she expected the next question.

 “What happened yesterday?” Cleo continued making her way through the crowd of students, not once lifting her eyes off the grey floor. She had to give him an answer or he would not drop the topic.

 “I got flu so I decided to head home,” Cleo winced at how her voice sounded so weak, breaking against the stiff air around them. Jonghyun blinked.

“Without your stuff?” Cleo sighed.

“I have a weak immune system, so I have to rush home before anything worst would happen, sorry,” Cleo glanced at him only to find him still staring at her, hard. She swiped her sleeve across her nose and sniffled to provide prove for her lie. She was grateful that he decided to finally drop the topic or maybe just decided that he did not care. Her heart throbbed at the latter thought. She frowned.

“But you didn’t have to avoid me,” Cleo nearly stopped in her tracks at how accusing Jonghyun sounded.

Was the boy really going to blame her?

Cleo gritted her teeth as she tried hurrying her steps, hoping that Jonghyun would just fall behind. But who was she kidding? Even though Jonghyun may not be the tallest Korean male idol out there, his legs were still about twenty freaking centimeters longer than hers. She held back the urge to slap herself. In the midst of mentally speaking like a sailor, throwing colourful vocabularies around in her head, everything stopped when she felt a warm hand the back of her head. Cleo then literally stopped in her tracks as she stared up at the boy beside him with wide eyes. She instantly felt warmth flooding her whole neck and face.

Kim Jonghyun continued to her hair in such a gentle and loving manner that all she could do was to just stare. He too had stopped walking and was facing her. He bent his back slightly so as to subtract the extra twenty centimeters height difference between the two of them and smiled ever so warmly at her.

“I know why you avoided me,” Cleo gaped before confusion greeted her.

“Y-you do?” She stuttered. Jonghyun nodded his head; his fingers had threaded their way through her soft brown locks. Cleo didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried that he knows about Stacey.

“You didn’t want me to get the virus,” he chuckled before pinching her cheeks. A sharp gasp left her lips when he pinched the bruise on her cheek. However, the sound did not reach his ears. Cleo tilted her head to the side. What did he say?

“Thank you for your concern, Cleo but if avoiding me all day is what you have to do to protect me then please let me get sick,” Cleo could not think straight. What the hell is Kim Jonghyun saying? Her lungs seemed to have lost all the oxygen as she stared at him, a cheeky smile on his lips. Cleo’s heart was a beating mess. She was still not used to all these emotions for the boy before her as they coursed through her veins, especially not when she came into terms with them just yesterday.

 In an instant, wings of butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach. She finally smiled for the first time that day. Turning back to the front to continue their way to class, her eyes caught something dreadful. She caught something pink, lots of it. And they were making their way over to them. Her heart instantly dropped to the pit of her stomach beside the now dead butterflies. Her body trembled slightly as she gasped for air, nearly hyperventilating in awful terror. How much have they seen or heard of their conversation? However, she was relieved to find out that Stacey and gang have yet to see her. Cleo knew she had to escape. She could not be seen with Jonghyun, especially not by Stacey or any of her other pink beings. She turned and was ready to bolt from the scene when a firm grip held her arm, preventing her from taking more than a step. Cleo tried tugging her arm away from him. Knowing that he would never let go from the way his face was washed in worry and eyes swimming in concern, Cleo covered and pretended to gag. Instead of letting go of her arm like what she expected him to do, he only tugged her closer to his body as he brought the both of them down the corridor in hurried steps. Cleo was confused but also relieved that they went the opposite way of Stacey and her friends. She was lucky that the corridor was then lacking in the number of students as most had found their way into their respective classes. However, it only means that there was a higher chance that Stacey would just glance ahead and catch SHINee’s Kim Jonghyun with his arms wrapped tightly around her petite form.

When they had finally turned a corner and Cleo could see that very familiar pink door against the wall just ahead, she barged straight into it, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her before Jonghyun could even step in. The knocks came raining down the pink door as he shouted out her name. Cleo muttered a weak, “I’m going to be fine” as she stepped away from the pink door, shuddering slightly at the colour. She swore that she had never in her life get frightened so much over such a harmless feminine colour. She guessed only Stacey and her friends could do that.

Making her way over to the sink, she leaned her whole entire body against it. It was cool against her sweaty palms. All energy drained from her as she tried to catch her breath. Turning the tap on, she splashed water onto her face repeatedly, hoping the cool water would calm her down. Water dripped down her face, off her chin and wetting the front of her school blazer. Her head hung low as she could feel tears building under her lids. Cupping more water in her palms, she rubbed her face in frustration. She nearly erupted as the bruises on her face wept at the violent actions her hands were inflicting on them and maybe even had accidentally reopened the cut on her right cheek. She could no longer care less.

“This is bad…this is bad. I can’t do this anymore. I gotta stay away from him—“

A cough was heard and Cleo could literally feel her soul jumping out of her skin. Snapping her eyes to her right, they were met with a female student with long black hair pulled into a loose ponytail, an image of what Alice would look like in the parallel world. Of all people to bump into at that very moment, it just had to be the most hostile student of all South Korea. Cleo turned away quickly as Lorita flicked the access water off her hands and turned to face her. From the mirror she saw how Lorita had a smirk on but her eyes were dark and empty, void of any emotions save for anger. That was all Cleo could picture of her since the incident. Lorita had never shown any feelings apart from anger, anger and more anger. Cleo actually felt sorry for her knowing exactly what made her like that. They were after all neighbors and once upon a dream, friends.

“They’re all the same aren’t they? Only know how to hurt others,” Cleo’s eyes grew wide for the second time that day.

“Wh-what?” Lorita simply smirked as she pointed to the mirror beside them before she brushed passed her as she headed over to the door. It swung open even before Cleo could look at the mirror. She heard a loud sigh before they were replaced with Jonghyun’s voice laced with worry. Hands grasped her shoulders before she could feel her body being turned to face the very boy her heart throbbed for.

“Cleo, you’re that sick? You shouldn’t have come—your cheek....“ Cleo raised an irritated brow when Jonghyun had somehow lost his voice and was staring at her face intently. Cleo sighed tiredly. She was indeed extremely tired with all this. Just as she was about to say something or snap, Jonghyun’s hands grabbed onto both sides of her face, lifting it up. She tried pushing his hands away. It hurts. The bruises on her face were screaming in pain and she could then taste a very strong metallic liquid on her tongue. What the hell is going on?

! Her face!

 Lorita’s words from earlier and the image of her pointing at the mirror with a smirk were like a slap to her face. Cleo had washed her face and she bet she looked just absolutely disgusting. She had totally forgotten about hiding all that from him. Mustering whatever energy she had left in her body, she pushed out of his grasp.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing. You know how clumsy I can get, and the fact that I live in a house with stairs. You shouldn’t be surprised if you know me so well,” Cleo snapped. Ah . She did not mean to snap at him. It was not his fault after all, wait, what the hell is she saying?

Not his fault? She had to get out of there, away from him.

But luck was definitely not on her side as the door to the girls’ lavatory swung open and pink flooded in. Cleo and Stacey stood a few feet away. Stacey’s eyes jumped from her to the boy behind her, Jonghyun. She panicked. She could feel her heart thrashing about in the confines of her ribcage.

No..no..nooooo….Stacey was not supposed to find her with him, especially not alone in such a place.

She could feel that she was about to hyperventilate just by staring at Stacey who had now walked in further into the toilet.

“Oppa? You do know this is the girl’s lavatory right?” Stacey walked passed her but Cleo was still not able to relax cause her other friends were still right in front of her. In fact, they were staring directly at her, smirks mirroring each other’s’ faces. Cleo glared at the floor, chanting for a black hole to open up and swallow her.

“Yeah I know. Sorry, but Cleo was really sick and was just really worried for her,” Cleo groaned inwardly at his words. She would have swooned like crazy knowing that Jonghyun cared so much for her but being in that situation, she hoped that Jonghyun had in a way, miraculously, forgotten how to speak.

“Oh, Cleo honey is sick?” well Cleo literally felt sick instantly when she heard the endearing term attached to her name. Could she just make a run for it? Like at that moment.

Her thoughts froze and so did her heart when she felt a skinny hand on her shoulder. Feeling manicured fingers digging slightly onto the side of her neck, she knew the hand definitely did not belong to a man. It belonged to a devil, of course. She felt Stacey pressed herself against her back.

“You alright there, Cleo? Want us to accompany you back home?” Cleo trembled as the hair on the back of her neck stood up, her ear tingling under Stacey’s hot breath. Cleo shook her head.

“I-I’m fine. T-Thanks,” She then pushed herself forward and just rushed out the door, ignoring the calls from a certain member of SHINee. She had to get out of there. She knew she was not safe. Making her way down the then empty corridor, she began debating with herself whether or not to just skip the rest of her classes for the day or to just pretend nothing had happened.

From the way she was hyperventilating, she knew the answer. She had to grab some air before she could face anyone. Not even Alice even though she definitely could use her best friend’s calming presence. Thinking that god had in fact made up for the incident earlier, her eyes caught side of shoes, a female’s shoes.

“Alice thank god—“her blood drained from her face. Why must she be so stupid? Hadn’t those pink shoelaces given it away enough?

“Told you to stay away but instead you went to him for comfort. What a brave little you are,” Stacey’s voice literally dripped with sarcasm.

“Girls, I guess the lesson we gave her the last time was not that hard. We should teach her harder so that she will remember it, forever,”Cleo’s front blazer was grabbed before she was dragged down the hallway and into the empty science laboratory.

XXX

“Where’s Cleo?” Jonghyun froze in mid-action of taking a seat and stared at his maknae.

“What? She’s not with you guys?” Alice glanced up from her book.

“Isn’t she always with you?” Minho could not help but to notice the slight ice in her tone. Jonghyun cleared his throat.

“No. Like I said, I’m not her bodyguard so I won’t always be with her 24/7.”

“Oh really? Cause every time when I see her, you’ll be perched by her side like some clingy monkey,” Minho tilted his head. Is Cleo still the main topic of the conversation now?

“Clingy monkey? Seriously now? It’s just that we happen to have similar schedule timing, that’s all,” Jonghyun said pointedly.

“So that’s why you decided to fetch her from her house so that the two of you could walk to school together? How sweet,” Alice said before, what Minho believed to be, stabbing a carrot with her fork. He saw Jonghyun flinched slightly at the action.

What the hell is—

“What the hell is going on here?” ONew seemed to have verbally spoken his mind out for him.

“Nothing,” Jonghyun said quietly as he looked down at the two bottles of apple and orange juice in his hands. He bought Cleo the apple juice cause Cleo love apple juice and she was sick so he decided to get her something sweet knowing that a sick person does not eat much. Minho caught Alice staring at the bottles too before deciding to stab another victim on her plate.

Could the day get any weirder? And talking about weird, he wondered what happened to Cleo. It had been about two days now that he last saw her, and he had to admit, he missed her dearly.

“You know, I had a friend once that used the same exact keychain as you do on her phone too,” ONew’s eyes flicked to the two beside him. He watched on how Bell smiled flirtatiously at the boy right beside him. Something was bubbling inside him however it soon dissipates when Key simply gave an uninterested “really?” before continuing to tap away on his phone. ONew had a smug on his face as he hung his arm over the said boy’s shoulder. It only grew wider when Key left it there and Bell was glaring slightly at his arm.

“Try harder girl,” ONew muttered in his head.

They had just left the auditorium and were now heading to grab some bubble tea.

“Have you given her a call?”

“Yes, Minho. I’ve given her a call but she wouldn’t pick up. Relax will you? I bet she just went home sick again like what Jjong oppa said. Sheesh,” Minho nodded his head before eyeing his own phone. He was disappointed to see that he had not received any reply from the brown-haired girl. Taemin watched his hyung with knowing eyes.

“Don’t worry hyung. I bet she’s fine,” Minho turned to his maknae and gave him a small smile of gratitude. However his heart was still heavy. He just felt as if something was wrong. Something was wrong with Cleo. He tried pushing the thoughts away as they had finally reached the bubble tea shop. The ahjumma behind the counter had a toothey grin as they approached.

“What lovely boys and girls we have today. How can I help you dears?” Her words faded into the background as Minho saw a familiar small figure across the street, slouched low as she sat on the bench. Her head was hung low as he saw how her shoulders were shaking despite the distance between them. But what stopped him was the hair, they were brown and long, cascading down her back. He could not see her face as her back was to him. He squinted against the sunlight to see clearly and even took a step closer. Just as he was about to take another step, his arm was yanked back.

“Hyung, let’s go and sit,” Taemin yanked harder. Minho glanced at him and noticed the rest had found a booth deep in the shop and was calling them over. He turned his attention back across the street but was met with an empty bench. The girl had gone. Minho raked the park, hoping to catch the girl again. She couldn’t have gone that far.

“Hyung, what are you searching for?”

“I thought I just saw….N-Nothing Taemin ah…nothing.” Minho let Taemin guide him into the little humble shop and pulled out a sit for himself. Placing his chin on his fist, he could not get the image of the girl from his mind.

“Was that Cleo crying on the park bench?” Minho thought to himself before snapping out of his thoughts when the ahjumma from before approached them with a smile, a notepad and a pen in her hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I swear this is my longest update.

LAWL.

hehehe