Kai’s house is huge. Seriously, I’m not kidding. It’s a freaking mansion. I stood there outside the gates, gawking, for a long time. I couldn’t make my feet move. In the end Kai had to physically drag me inside the house; he didn’t let go of me until we were upstairs in his bedroom. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy when I saw how magnificent his dwelling truly was – considering I myself lived in a tiny apartment.

“We’ll get changed and then we can have a snack, if you want, before the others get here.”

 His statement brought about many questions in my mind. “They’re coming here?”

“Of course. There’s a basketball court out the back.” He said it simply, as if it were no big deal; I, on the other hand, choke on the air when he said this.

“Are you serious?” When he nodded I decided to just leave that subject and focus on the more serious matter at hand. “I… didn’t bring any clothes. It’s not a thing us commoners usually do, sorry.”

He rolled his eyes. “Ok, enough with the rich jokes. Junmyeon’s richer than me, anyway.” I choked again. Great. “You can borrow some of my clothes.” I choked for a third time and I wasn’t even eating anything. This guy was really just too much.

He ignored my spluttering and opened a door in the corner of the room. Behind that door were rows and rows of clothing racks. His wardrobe was a room! He disappeared into the wardrobe-room for a few seconds before he emerged carrying a red T-shirt with the number eighty-eight printed on it and a pair of blue sweatpants. He handed them to me and said “You can wear these. You can get changed here and I’ll change in there.” He pointed behind him to the wardrobe-room. I nodded and started changing as soon as he disappeared again.

He came back a few minutes later (wearing the same clothes as I was) and we went back downstairs to the kitchen together. He’d just started cooking some kimchi spaghetti when the doorbell rang. Since he was in the middle of cooking (and he probably didn’t trust me enough to leave me unattended in his amazingly posh kitchen) Kai asked me to answer it.

I opened the door to an owl. Well, not literally, he just looked a bit like an owl – a lot like an owl, actually. He looked confused for a moment. “Hi, I’m Kyungsoo. Is Jongin here?” Said the owl… I mean, Kyungsoo.

I was stunned for a moment, too. “Jongin? Oh, you mean Kai. Yes, he’s here. He’s in the kitchen, cooking spaghetti. Come in.” I opened the door wider so he could step in. “Oh, I’m Yeongi, by the way.” 

Orange. Orange and yellow and red. That's what we found waiting for us in the kitchen. That and a shrieking Kai. "Kyung hyung, Yeongi, help!" He pleaded.

Once the flames had died down (mainly thanks to Kyungsoo) Kai stopped squealing. "Don't tell me you tried to impress your new friend with my signature dish." Kyungsoo accused him. Kai only whimpered in response. "Cheer up. I'll cook for you both, ok?" We nodded and I resumed tending to Kai's burns; they weren't in the least bit severe but I could tell they still hurt.

It wasn't long before the others had arrived, and all 8 of us were gathered at the basketball court. We were all dressed in the same clothes, except that four of us wore different colours to the rest. During our game, the fact that I really couldn't play ball games immediately became clear, but oddly, nobody got mad at me. Even those on the other team encouraged me to try my best. I actually think I improved a little. I'm certainly more confident, anyway.

After we played a few games we went out for ice cream. The curly haired boy that the god passed the note to earlier that day sat next to me. He freaked me out a bit because he kept twitching and in all honesty he looked less interested in eating his vanilla ice cream and more interested in eating me. "So... Sehun tells me you have a crush on our Baekhyun."

“Huh? Who’s Baekhyun?”

“You like him yet don’t even know his name? He’s the guy you sit next to in homeroom – the one with the purple hair.”

“Oh… So that’s his name.” Baekhyun. His name was just as perfect as he looked.

“I’m Chanyeol by the way.” The curly haired giant awoke me from my trance with his freakishly deep voice – it really didn’t match his baby face. I didn’t really have a reply to that so I just slurped up my mint ice cream and fell back into my daze.

I didn’t want to go home that evening; my apartment was small and solitary, and I felt no connection with it at all.

Over the course of the next few days I was escorted to my lessons by Kai and the occasionally antagonistic Sehun (who were now both regarded my students and teachers alike as my two personal assistants). After a while, I gradually began to notice a strange, surreptitious presence. Seven days after I met him, whilst Kai and I were indulging in a delectable lunch of cheese tteokboki, I questioned him about the presence. At first he looked confused, but then he just laughed – he probably thought I was joking or something.

Then I saw it. I didn’t just feel it in the air around me, I saw it. I’m sure that’s what it was.

It happened the day after I mentioned it to Kai. I was on my way home (if you could call it ‘home’) and both he and Sehun had already gotten off the bus. When the heavy vehicle reached my stop I pushed my way to the front and thanked the driver before getting off. Out of the corner of my right eye, I caught a glimpse of a black shadow. No-one else was around and it couldn’t have been my shadow (I could see mine right in front of me) so whose was it? To whom did it belong? No-one. It didn’t belong to anyone.

Possibly the strangest thing about it was that it moved on its own, ahead of me. Instead of going home straight away, I decided to investigate. I followed it.

What’s even weirder is that I followed it to a little shack in the middle of the woods. I was in danger. I had to get out. That – according to my instincts – was the only way I could survive.