For a few days, Hyoyeon made sure not to go anywhere near Kai. She stayed in the room for the rest of the week. Her body demanded rest anyways. But staying indoors was not her style and she was craving to go meet Sooyoung that weekend like they had planned.

It was a Friday night and Hyoyeon had gone to freshen up. When she returned back, she found Chen, Lay’s friend, checking her phone.

“Yah!” Hyoyeon half yelled and lunged forward to grab her phone out of Chen’s hand and the latter moved back and held the phone up high. “Your contact is full of girls’ numbers!” He teased. “You seem innocent and unpopular but in real, you are a sought out playboy, aren’t you?”

Hyoyeon jumped several times to snatch her phone but failed. Chen threw the phone to Lay who caught it easily and started scanning through the phone.

“Woah! You phone is full of this blonde girl’s photo! Who is she?! Your girlfriend?” Lay wondered and the girl turned to Lay to get her phone but he kept on avoiding her.

“No! Give it back!” She demanded.

“Then who is it if she is not your girlfriend?” Chen asked.

“My sister! She is my sister!” She groaned. “That might be true. You two do look similar.” Lay agreed and threw the phone back to Chen. Hyoyeon stomped her foot and turned to the guy holding her phone. “Who is this tall girl standing next to your sister? She looks good.”

“I found the sister more beautiful.” Lay shrugged.

Hyoyeon glared at the two. “May be she is his girlfriend!” Chen stated and Hyoyeon denied it immediately. “Sooyoung?! Girlfriend?! Eww..no!”

“So her name is Sooyoung.” He smirked and gave the phone back. “That will be enough for today. I will get going then Lay.” He winked at his friend and left. Hyoyeon scoffed at him and snuggled into the blanket with the phone in her hand. It had to be kept safe!

The next day, Hyoyeon wore casual boys dress, a t shirt and jeans with sneakers and left her dorm. She arrived at the mall where she was supposed to meet Sooyoung and got into a ladies toilet to change. She changed into a plaid shirt and skinny jeans. It was not much different from what she was wearing while pretending to be Kim Jaehyo but with her lose blonde hair and no bandages hiding her curves, she looked like Kim Hyoyeon. She stood in front of the mirror and took out the makeup set she bought from a cosmetic shop after coming to the mall.

Hyoyeon, being a tomboy, was not into makeup but she had to buy it to hide the scars Kai gave her that week. Hence she applied the concealer on her wounds and stuck a band aid on the wound on her lips.

“I guess this will do for now.” She looked at her own reflection in the mirror.

“Hyoyeoniee!!” Sooyoung screamed as she ran to her best friend and grabbed her for a tight hug.

“Ouch.” The blonde uttered as she let her friend hug her. Her body was still hurting from all the punches she received. “Are you okay?” The tall girl loosened the hug and looked down at her friend worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Hyoyeon gave her a V-smile and Sooyoung smiled back.

“Have you applied makeup?” She raised a lone brow.

Hyoyeon gave an awkward smile. “Uhh…yeah. Kinda. Does it look bad?”

“No.” Soo removed her hands and placed them on her hips. “You are not the type to wear makeup. What happened?” She looked suspiciously at her friend.

The short girl shifted on her leg. “Just like that.”

“It looks good on you.” Sooyoung smiled brightly. “I have always told you to wear makeup. You look more beautiful now my Hyoyeonie!” She hugged her bestfriend and Hyo bit her lips when she felt hurt again.

The rest of the day, the girls had fun watching movie, eating out at the food court and playing at game station. After spending a gloomy week, Hyoyeon finally laughed wholeheartedly that day. When the day came to an end, she didn’t want to go back.

“Call me when you reach!” Sooyoung shouted while waving frantically at her blonde friend who smiled sadly at her.

“Bye.” Hyoyeon muttered back. Sorrow was evident in her voice. She didn’t or  more like couldn’t tell her friend about what was happening at the school So whenever Soo asked her about new school and friends, she either changed the topic or just replied ‘It’s okay’ and changed the topic.

Hyoyeon walked to the restroom to change into Jaehyo. That was probably the longest walk she had ever had in her life. Once she changes, she will be treated like by the whole school. She will be shoved, laughed at and punched till she bleeds. No one will lend her a helping hand. No one will smile at her. No one will even give her a friendly stare.

As she walked with heavy steps, on the way, she noticed a familiar. Her heartbeat increased when she realized the group of handsome guys.

It was the devil group.

Hyoyeon’s eyes met with Kai’s who was casually scanning the mall. Their eyes met for a second and Kai looked somewhere else. Relief washed over her but then she felt a pair of eyes on her. It was Kai’s friend Kyungsoo. He was staring at her and nervous beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

You are Hyoyeon now, not Jaehyo. Don’t be nervous. She told herself. Hyoyeon looked down nervously and walked past them.

That night, when she lied down to sleep, Hyoyeon felt depressed and hopeless. Not only is she far away from being friends with anyone in Luhan’s group, she had managed to be the main target of the school’s bullies.

The thoughts of quitting came into her mind. She stood up immediately and without disturbing Lay who was sleeping peacefully while hugging his unicorn plushie, she walked upstairs to the roof. She lied down on the roof and gazed at the sky that was filled with twinkling stars.

In this vast universe, where Earth is as tiny as a dust particle, I’m just an atom. So tiny. So irrelevant. My problems are even smaller. If I quit now, I will be always known as the one who quit.

Years later, I will think back and regret this day and my decision.

Do I want that?

No.

So don’t quit Hyoyeon-ah. You can do it!

Hyoyeon entered her head with her head hung low. The students started gossiping as they saw her. To be honest, none of them expected her to be back. She was absent for the rest of the week after the incident at cafeteria.

The boys stopped talking as they saw EXO K walking in. They gang went past the wangta. Sehun bumped onto her shoulder purposely before taking his seat.  Kai sat down and raised his legs to rest them on the desk. Kyungsoo sat to his right and Baekhyun to his left. Sehun and Chanyeol in front of them and Suho sat to the extreme left.

After the six handsome devils took their seats, Hyoyeon realized that there was not seat for her to sit. She was looking around the class like a lost puppy when her homeroom teacher walked in. “Please take your seat Mr Kim.” He said in a cold voice.

Hyoyeon faced her teacher not knowing what to do. Seeing that she hasn’t obeyed him, he peered at her through his round spectacle. “What’s wrong Mr Kim?”

“My seat..”

“He threw his seat out of the window sir.” Kai said while smirking.

“Really?” The teacher looked at Kai and then back at Hyoyeon. “Did you really do that Mr Kim?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t sir.”

“Sir.” Chanyeol raised his hand. “I saw Jaehyo throwing his seat out. In fact, we all saw, didn’t we?” He eyed the class. The whole class nodded against Hyoyeon as they feared EXO K.

“You can see it for yourself sir. Just look outside of the window.” Sehun pointed a window and the whole class including the teacher and Hyoyeon went up to the said window. The short girl tiptoed on her legs to see a desk and chair lying on the ground.

“Mr Kim..” Her homeroom teacher narrowed his eyes at her. “Go bring your desk and chair!”

She nodded her head. “Y..yes sir.”

By the time she was back with her seat, the class had ended.

“Woohoo..PE man!” She heard one guy yelling excitedly. She was tired and now she had to attend PE. But most of all, how will she cha