Kuro’s POV

Finally the day of the school festival arrived, and the school was bustling with activity. We were setting up our classroom to look like a Café, complete with decorations, tables, and chairs. It was really amazing how much work we did in 3 months, especially since the whole school expects the a lot from the X class during the festival.

Our little group decided to do a classic, and we decided on Alice in Wonderland. I was Alice, Kwangmin as the white rabbit, Youngmin as the Mad Hatter, Jeongmin as the Cheshire Cat, Minwoo and Hyunseong as the twins. Donghyun decided to help out our class, so he played the Caterpillar. My Alice costume looked like a red maid outfit, but there was a diamond shaped opening at the front, which showed my belly button. I had over the red and black striped over the knee socks and white, slightly heeled boots. “Hey.” I called Kwangmin over. “Can you zip me up?” Kwangmin took the zipper and pulled. I flinched. “Sorry. Are you okay?” He apologized. “You have cold hands.” I pointed out. He scratched his neck sheepishly. I grabbed the bunny ears out of the costume box. “You forgot about these.” I put the ears on him and pouted like I was angry. Kwangmin looked confused. “What’s wrong?” “You’re cuter than me.” I turned my head. He laughed and pulled me to face him. “Nah, you’ll always be cuter than me.” He pecked me on the lips. I smiled into the kiss, while Kwangmin’s hand wandered to the back of my head. I pushed him away. “Yah, we’re in public, what if someone sees us?” Kwangmin smirked. “I’ll see you later then.” I punched his chest. “Don’t be so dirty.” I stuck my tongue out.

“Hey. Make 2 mochas and a Café au Lait.” Minwoo ordered. I grabbed the tin of chocolate powder and began scooping it into two cups. “By the way, that outfit looks great on you.” He winked. I laughed. “Thanks, you look like you came out of jail, but decent. Go entertain those girls over there. Bring these with you.” I handed him the tray with the drinks. As Minwoo headed toward the tables I could hear the girls squealing with delight. I grabbed a tray and loaded it with more orders and walked over to a table where a group of boys were sitting. “Hi. Here’s your order.” I put the drinks on the table. I recognized them as the bad boys of our school. They were always causing trouble and skipping. The tallest one had his arm around a shorthaired girl. It was Minho and Taemin. They waved at me and smiled. I wish they wouldn’t hang out with the bad boys. They deserve better. “Hey there beautiful. It’s nice to see you again. Why not ditch the twins and be my girl? ” It was Jonghyun, the onefrom the Christmas party, and the one who keeps hitting on me. I smiled. “No, I’m busy and we’ve got a lot of work to do.” The other boys chuckled. I heard one of them say, “There she goes again.” Jonghyun stood up and snarled. “My word is law and I don’t take orders from a girl.” He grabbed my arm painfully. I twisted my arm and pulled downward, causing Jonghyun to fall and let my hand go. “I’m not just any girl.” I smiled coyly and stepped away from the fallen boy. Youngmin quickly rushed over. “Are you okay?” He said worriedly. I nodded. “It’s a bad idea to provoke those guys.” He warned. “They’re dangerous.” I laughed. “Not if you know how to deal with them. Oh hey someone over there wants to order.” I used that as and excuse to get away from my blond friend.

The rest of the day flew past, us busy with the café and the rest of the school entertaining visitors. The sun was starting to set, and the day drew to a close. I walked up the stairs and saw Kwangmin walking down. A boy with a bunch of heavy looking boxes was trying to make his way down, but slipped. The boxes tumbled down the stairs. I used my arm to block a stunned girl from the cascade of boxes. The boy was about to fall too, but I couldn’t stop him. Suddenly, Kwangmin grabbed the railing and used his other arm to catch the boy. I looked at the girl beneath me. “You okay?” I asked. The girl nodded and thanked me. Kwangmin helped the boy pick up the boxes and he apologized and bowed. Kwangmin didn’t say anything, just nodded. He turned to me. “Is your arm okay?” He asked. I looked at my arm. It was red and marked from where the edges of the boxes came in contact. I smiled sheepishly. “I’m okay, its no-“ I got cut off from the pain and winced. Kwangmin took my other hand. “You should go to the nurses office.” I shook my head. “I’m fine. How about you?” I grabbed his other hand with my bad hand and we both flinched. Kwangmin blushed. “I guess we both need to go…” I laughed. “Okay.”

He wrapped up my bruised forearm with gauze, and I was surprised how gentle he was. He tied up the loose ends and began to open a bandage. I took the bandage from him. “You should disinfect that cut first.” I took a cotton piece, put on some alcohol and dabbed it beneath his eye. He tried to close one eye, but the other ended up closing too. I giggled. “Can’t wink?” Kwangmin blushed. “No.” I applied the bandage and started wrapping his wrist. “There. All done.” Kwangmin gave a small smile and thanked me. I got up but my foot caught the chair leg and fell backward. Kwangmin tried to catch me but tripped and fell too. Now we were in the awkward position you would see in mangas. The worst part was that we were still in costume. I blushed and turned my head, which gave him a perfect view of my neck. “Is that an invitation?” Kwangmin smirked. My eyes widened. “No! I—” Kwangmin swooped down and kissed me passionately. I was surprised at first, but then I got into it and kissed him back. He put his hand on my jaw and tried to pull me closer. I grabbed his hair in a vain attempt to try and catch my breath. I arched my back into the kiss and he kissed me harder. He moved his kisses down my neck and I shivered. “S-stop…” I whimpered. Suddenly the door opened and we froze. We scrambled to sit up. The people in the doorway were Youngmin and Donghyun, eyes wide in surprise. Kwangmin stood up to leave but was punched in the face by his twin. Donghyun hurried toward me to check for injuries. He held up my arm. “Did he do this to you?” He had a serious face on, and I didn’t like it. “No! A bunch of boxes fell on me!” I yelled exasperated. I looked at Kwangmin. He nodded in agreement. Youngmin threw another punch at Kwangmin, his calm exterior wiped away. Kwangmin didn’t try to fight back; he was taking his punishment like a lame wolf from an alpha. “I told you to stay away!” He screamed as he punched. “I told you to stay away from her! I said I would kill you if you didn’t listen to me!” Blood was dripping from the side of Kwangmin’s mouth, but he didn’t make any move to wipe it away. I couldn’t take anymore of this fight, so I stood between the two brothers and caught a punch from Youngmin. “Stop it!” I pleaded. “Youngmin, stop punishing your brother who did nothing wrong!” He growled. “I saw what I saw. He was going to do something to you. Something bad!” I sighed. “He’s not that kind of person! Listen to yourself. I thought you realized that I should be with Kwangmin!” I turned to the brown haired twin. “Kwangmin, learn to fight back. You’re never going to get anywhere if you sit and let others decide for you!” Donghyun gently steered me out the door, leaving the twins facing each other. I looked back and saw tears in Youngmin’s eyes and Kwangmin looking hollow. I let a tear roll down my cheek and watch it fall to the ground.

I poured out my feelings to Donghyun, he was one of the people in the world who I could trust completely. I haven’t cried for 8 years, and that was when Gramps died. I didn’t cry very hard, it was mostly just quiet tears. Donghyun didn’t say anything, just listened. He knew that if he spoke, I would shut him out. He hugged me made sure that was I was okay. “Do you believe me?” I said quietly. Donghyun hesitated. “I don’t know what to believe, but I know that your feelings are genuine.” I gave him a small smile. A buzz came from my jeans pocket. I flipped open my phone and saw a text from Youngmin. It read: “Kwangmin. Trouble. Help. Meet there.”