“WHAT??” Chanyeol gasped as he stared at Baekhyun in disbelief “Forget about her? … W-what? … I don’t understand! W-Why?”. Suho sighed in defeat “Don’t think of it the wrong way, Chanyeol. We’re just …” he paused “… looking out for you”

“Looking out for me??” Chanyeol finally snapped “Why are you all acting like the girl’s cursed or something?”.

“She might as well be …” Baekhyun murmured, dropping his hand from Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Hyung … that noona …” Sehun sighed “… do you like her?”

Chanyeol was a bit taken aback by how his friends were acting. Why were they acting like she was someone not worth talking about? Not worth looking at?

Clenching his fists, he blurted out “Yes! I like her! Why? Got a problem with that?”

His five friends deflated.

“What do you know?” Chanyeol asked, narrowing his eyes at them “Tell me …”

He didn’t mean to challenge his friends and create a negative atmosphere when he had just returned and reunited with them but seriously, what was this? His friends weren’t the kind of guys to be judging people so badly.

There was silence for a while.

“So you won’t say anything then?” Chanyeol scoffed “What’s this? I’m kinda disappointed, guys … I thought--”

“She’s the butterfly girl, Chanyeol …” Suho finally spoke, cutting him off. Chanyeol just looked at his hyung confusedly, urging for an explanation.

“It means she changes guys a lot …” Kai added “… like a butterfly who jumps from one flower to another”  

Chanyeol couldn’t sleep a wink that night.

It just didn’t make any sense! How could this be? How can someone who looked as angelic as Soojung be described as a … butterfly, of all things!

“We hope you heed our advice, Chanyeol …” Suho’s words echoed in his head “… if you don’t want to get hurt, stay away from the butterfly …”. Chanyeol groaned and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.

So that was why people were giving her strange looks, that was why girls and guys alike whispered and murmured when she was around, that was why no one ever dared to talk to her or even come near her during class.

Chanyeol’s expression darkened. He may not be an expert in discerning people’s personalities but he just had that gut feeling that Soojung wasn’t the kind of girl everyone was accusing her to be. And there was another reason, actually. Something he didn’t want to remember or think about anymore …

For the past year that he stayed in London with his parents, Chanyeol had experienced the same.

Just because he was a foreigner, people thought of him as strange; different. No one dared to come near him, much less make his acquaintance. Every day, he sat alone; whether it was during class or break time, he was alone. He wanted to make the first move and make friends himself but even that was difficult because no one responded to his advances the way he had hoped. He wasn’t bullied, no. But the isolation and lack of treatment in general made it feel like he was.

If he hadn’t convinced his parents to send him back to Korea with his sister, he would probably still be dealing with all that right now.

And he didn’t want that to happen to anyone else. It was the worst feeling ever; to feel unwanted and invisible and judged. Maybe he was speaking out of bias for Soojung because he fell for her at first sight but the determination of saving someone from that kind of experience was real. Very much real.

“I’ll help her … I’ll catch the butterfly girl …” he mumbled to himself before finally allowing sleep to drift him away.

“Are you sure about this, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun’s voice was full of concern for his best friend. Chanyeol nodded and his group of friends sighed in defeat. The six of them were hanging out in the school gardens early the next day.

“Don’t worry, guys … I won’t drag you in to this. And I won’t ask that you understand me or anything” Chanyeol scratched the back of his head “… I just want you to let me.”

Suho pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. How were they supposed to react to this? Their friend, who was gone for a whole year, comes back, falls in love