Onew's POV

What a great time, guys. What a great in time. Don't you mess with me when I'm with Taemin. If you hurt him I'll ing kill you.

They approached coolly, couldn't we just get this over with?

I felt Taemin shaking behind me, his small body pushed against my back.

"Go back down the hall the other way. Don't stay here. Don't follow me." I murmured to him and pushed him away. I didn't look back to see if he left, he better have. I didn't want him to see me like this. He couldn't see me like this.

I took careful steps towards the group of five boys. The same younger guys who had given me this ing black eye. The way they stood there waiting til I was close enough almost made me fear them. Almost. Three more steps til I was in their arms length. It was too late to be scared.

As soon as I took that last step a hand grabbed onto the front of my shirt and pulled me up to the taller, but younger, male. Minho. God, he could never actually punch me. He left that to the other guys. He was just here to make sure the job got done. He didn't have the guts to hurt me. Good thing too. He was the strongest.

He just held me there as a guy came to do that work. He took Minho's place in front of me, smirking. I saw his fist raised high in the air before I shut my eyes tightly.

You have to deal with this Onew. Get through this year and help your Mom. Along the way make sure Taemin doesn't get hurt in any way. Not by these guys or Kibum.

His fist hit me square in the jaw, dislocating it for a bit. I moved it painfully, wincing. That was the easiest part.

The guy let go to let someone else do the worst. But kicked me in the stomach before moving on, causing excruiciating pain.

Taemin's POV

Every nerve on my body was buzzing with rage. I clenched my teeth. How could I just stand here watching this? I tried to turn my head to hide my eyes from this. I watched Onew heave over in pain after the guy kicked him in the stomach.

I wanted to protect him. But how? Those guys were massive compared to me. One of them looked a little familiar though...

Minho?

Red coated my vision. He was talking to Onew like a good friend yesterday after English.

He was Key's best friend. Did Key ask them to do this?

No. Key seemed too good.

He wasn't that low...

I heard Onew yell in pain and I looked back at the group. What should I do? The guy was straight out beating him up and all the guys around were encouraging him. All except one who stood to the side.

Minho was just standing there awkwardly watching. Staring at Onew with... Apologetic (?) eyes. Why wasn't he stopping it. I stared at Minho.

He then looked right into my eyes. He looked ashamed and sorry. He shook his head, turning to walk away. This jerk. He thinks he can just walk away with this going on? If he really felt bad about it he should do something, he must have some authority.

I took a step to go tell him off but something stopped me. Don't follow me. They couldn't hurt me though, right? I was Key's friend. It didn't matter if I got hurt. Onew was kneeling there helplessly and it would just get worse.

I ran over to the group and stood on the perimeter for a second, they didn't notice me. When I was closer I saw they weren't really that tall. Just thick.

One of them punched Onew in the head powerfully. Onew clenched his fists by his side and silently took the pain. Why didn't he fight back? If he didn't, I would.

Without thinking, I walked straight up to the guy and punched him in the center of his chest, knocking him to the floor. I hadn't even hit him that hard. I was about to laugh at my success put I noticed all eyes were on me. Most of the eyes felt like menacing glares.

One felt soft though. I looked down at Onew. He looked at me with tears misting his eyes. He looked at me like I had betrayed him. The way he looked at me made the very core of my heart scream in pain. I didn't let that show on the outside though.

The guy I had punched was up and standing now. He walked up to me, glaring down at me.

"So guys..." He was speaking in English. Bad English. "What should we do with this one?"

"I saw him with Key earlier..." Another replied in English I could barely understand.

"Were they interacting well?" He asked the boy who answered.

"I'm not sure." One said unsurly.

"Yes or no. If they are friends and we hurt him it will be the end of us." The end? Key wouldn't hurt someone...

"He doesn't look like they would be friends." That's what I thought.

"Yeah... He's kind of small." Small?

"He's not that handsome either." He examined me.

"Yah, I can understand everything you're saying; you s." I said in perfect English.

Their eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey kid." One came closer to me. He gestured to Onew, "Are you friends with this guy here?"

"Yes." I answered immediately.

"Oh, really?" He smiled as if he were the smartest guy on Earth. "You can't be Key's friend then." He smirked and his fist connected with my temple.