As autumn got closer, the days got shorter. The sun was already setting below the distant horizon, and the streetlights outside our house flickered on and off. Our family still didn't have dinner yet, thanks to my stupid brother.

"Mi-hyun, where in the world is Luhan?" My mom half shouted across the living room as she continually dialed the school's number.

I shook my head and checked my phone for the idiot’s response for the hundredth time, "I honestly have no idea. A friend gave me a ride today and Luhan took the bus by himself. I don't know where he went."

"That boy, I hope he isn’t in any trouble... It's 8 o'clock..." My dad said and heaved a sigh. "I should drive out and look for him." And just as my dad was about to walk out of the house, the front door opened.

Luhan stepped into the house with exhaustion printed on his flawless face. Wiping his forehead with his arm, he changed his shoes and put his bag on the floor. My parents were staring at him, clearly expecting an explanation.

Luhan looked up and met their stern gazes with his angelic, apologetic smile. "Sorry Mr and Mrs. Rim, I was hanging out with some friends and forgot to text Mi-hyun," he said.

"We called you at least 5 times. Why didn't you answer?" My mom questioned, not showing any sign of softening. I could see she was really pissed.

"I probably had my phone in my bag and missed your call..." He replied sincerely apologetic.

My mom sighed in defeat, "Alright, next time, do tell us if you are going somewhere."

Luhan nodded and immediately fled to his room. For a moment, I forgot all about our fight from before and quickly followed him. He opened the door to his room and walked in. I was pleased to announce it was still a very organized room. Throwing his bag onto the ground, he collapsed on his bed and looked at me from the corners of his eye. "So annoying," he muttered.

"Mom was just worried about you, I swear she practically called everyone in the neighborhood just to learn where you were," I replied gently as I stood by the door, watching him.

He let out a dry chuckle, "Exactly why it’s annoying. I'm not a baby anymore, why can't she just give me some space?" Luhan said before rolling over on the bed to face me, "You too Mi-hyun."

"What?" I exclaimed and suddenly recalled our previous conversation at the bus stop, "Right, I had forgotten I didn’t want to talk to you anymore." With this said, I left his room, slamming his door closed behind me.

The night was awfully quiet without any conversation between my brother and I. It felt wrong, uncomfortable. I thought back to my daily life before Luhan's company, but could not remember what I did alone around the house. I suddenly realized, Luhan was deeply engraved into my life. I couldn't imagine not having him by my side. Dinner with the entire family was silent as well. My mom and dad tried to start a conversation at the dinner table, but it always ended up awkward, with someone trailing off.

~~~~

The next morning, I got up early and decided to leave for school before Luhan, to avoid spending time with him. Sitting alone on the bus, I gazed out the window and watched people and houses passing by, becoming little blurs as we sped away. The bus trip seemed longer than usual without anyone to talk to.

After the bus arrived at my destination, I got off and walked toward the building. Suddenly, I remembered that students were required to pay $50 of student fee for various school resources. I took out my wallet from my bag to check if I had enough money.

My wallet was rather big for a wallet. Sky blue on the outside, light pink with white polka dots on the inside. This thing contained all my important things, including my student ID card, a credit card my parents gave two years ago with a balance of at least $200, multiple gift cards to different stores, my house keys, and a silly picture of Mina and I took a few months ago.

I was walking as I dug through my wallet, and I regretted my actions very much. You shouldn't do two things at once, therefore I shouldn't have walked down the road and looked into my wallet at the same time. As my eyes focused into the contents in my wallet, I tripped over a broken piece of cement on the ground. Before I had the time to react, I face planted onto the ground.

"Ouch..." I said weakly as I struggled to stand up. I dropped my bag when I fell. Everything in it, papers, textbooks, pencils, a calculator, a ruler, and a water bottle scatter on the ground. I cursed under my breath and tried to quickly gather all my things. As I was busy picking up the stuff I dropped, another pair of hand helped me pick up my pencils. I looked up prepared to say thank you and move on but found myself staring into Xiumin's eyes. I flinched a little before taking my things from him.

"Thanks..." I muttered quietly and avoided his gaze. I stood up and my left knee burned as soon as I regained balance. Looking down at my knee, I found a hole on my jean. The skin on my knee was scratched and raw, a tiny blood droplet formed.

"That looks pretty bad." Xiumin said, motioning to my knee and took out a band aid from his bag before handing it to me. I hesitantly took it and put it on my knee.

"Thank you so much," I said again, a little louder, a little more confident than the first time.

Xiumin nodded as a smile flickered on his lips, "Sure. No problem."

I smiled back and resumed walking. Wow, so even the great demon Xiumin can be a nice person ... I was very grateful for his help. Maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all.

As soon as the bell rang, the disaster began. As the teacher walked down the rows of seats to collect the student fee, I went to grab my wallet but found it to be nowhere in sight. It wasn't in my bag, it wasn't in my sweater pocket, nor was it in my desk. I shamefully said I forgot the money as the teacher passed by.

First Luhan goes crazy, then I trip on the road, and now I lose my wallet? That moment, I felt so done with school, nothing was going my way. I longed for Sehun's presence. However, the seat beside me was empty, Sehun was absent, and I was alone for the next two weeks. He was on an oversea business trip with his dad.

I couldn't focus on the lesson at all. I was sad, lonely, and teary... I wondered how Mina was doing in her homeroom class. Minute by minute, the hellish torture slowly passed. When the lunch bell rang, I got up and stretched. As everyone started rushing out of class for their lunch break, I too slipped out.

My first destination was Mina's class. I rushed downstairs to her homeroom and found her packing up by her desk. I looked around the almost empty classroom before walking in. "Mina," I called out to my best friend.

She looked up and beamed a bright smile at me. "Mi-hyun, I missed you so much! This class is so boring I could die!" she complained and walked over to me.

As the two of us walked down the hallway, I told her about everything from Luhan's strange behavior, to Sehun's departure, and of course, how I lost my wallet. She said she would help me look for it. I was glad to have a good friend like Mina.

The two of us went to the lost and found box located in the main hall. Walking up to the stuffed boxes, Mina wrinkled her nose in disgust, and I didn't blame her for it. The box was piled with everything you could really think of in a school, lunch bags, books, water bottles, pencil cases, and of course, stinky gym clothes. I inhaled a deep breath before walking up. I dug around in it but didn't find my wallet.

"It's not there, Mina," I said to my best friend who furrowed up her eyebrows.

"Let me think... Why don't we go check the office? Sometimes people pick things up and give it to the office," Mina suggested, trying hard to keep my spirits up.

I nodded, "Okay, I don't see what else I can do..."

The two of us went and asked around in the office, but the teachers all said they never saw it. I walked miserably down the hallway with Mina by my side, trying hard to comfort me, but it wasn’t helping. The wallet was important, it held my money and identification. I don't care about the amount of money I lost, but if the wallet falls into the wrong hands, my house might be robbed and my whole family could get murdered ...

I was almost going to cry when I noticed Xiumin, Lay, Chen, and Luhan standing on the opposite of the hallway, gazing at Mina and I. Lay gestured for us to come over and Luhan said something to them, making them laugh. Damn, Luhan's actually hanging out with them now?

With no other choice, I slowly walked over to the boys. Mina followed me and gave my shoulder a squeeze.

As I approached them with a depressed spirit, the boys smiled and surrounded the two of us. "What's up with the sad face?" Lay questioned with a laugh.

"Could it be that you lost something?" Chen added.

I stood there, unable to move. Could it be that these boys got a hold of my wallet? Gosh, that was even worse than losing it... I opened my mouth to speak, "Can you please just give it back?"

Luhan spoke up this time, revealing a different side of him that I've never seen. "Poor little Mi-hyun, it's your turn to get yelled at this time. I wonder what your parents would say to you if they found out you lost everything to some strangers? I can totally imagine them blabbing throughout the night," my brother laughed at me with a strange expression.

I was rather dazed by the things happening right now. Mina, who was standing beside me, tensed up. She looked at me in confusion and I didn't know how to respond. "Guys, I need my wallet back, please..."

Xiumin smirked and took out my wallet, "Okay, here you go," he held it out to me. When I tried to retrieve it, he pulled it back and laughed, "Just kidding, it's your own fault for dropping it this morning. You should have seen your face when you fell. How about this, we'll give it back to you if you become our dog for a day."

I wanted to slap myself for thinking that Xiumin might have been a nice guy, because he definitely wasn't. No. Scratch that. I didn’t want to slap myself, I wanted to slap him.

I felt the inside of my nose wetting up as tears began to build in my eyes. I took a deep breath to calm myself and squeezed them back. With a shaky voice, I tried again, "Stop the joke, seriously, it's not funny anymore, give it back."

Xiumin raised an eyebrow, "I am serious, be a good dog, and we'll give it back to you." The rest of the boys laughed, including Luhan.

"I will go tell the principal about this if you guys don't stop it," Mina piped up in my defence.

"Go ahead, if you do, the wallet is going down the sewers before the teacher arrives," Chen said.

Mina and I went quiet. I looked at Luhan with pleading eyes as I took a step toward him. "Luhan, please, tell them to stop..."

Luhan looked at me for a second and something flashed through his eyes.

"Luhan, are you going to take her side?" Lay threatened. For a second, Luhan didn't reply and glanced at my somber expression once more.

Xiumin placed a hand on Luhan's shoulder, "Come on dude, it's going to be fun. You'd like to see Mi-hyun-ah become an obedient little puppy right? She'll do anything we say for the entire day."

Luhan nodded at Xiumin's words and the same cold expression returned to his face when he looked at me. "Mi-hyun, if you want it back, just do it," he said, a teasing smile lingering on his face for a second.

With no other choice, I nodded. "Fine... One day."

The four boys high fived each other and grinned at me. "Okay, for an entire day tomorrow, you must do whatever we tell you to, just like a dog" Xiumin said.

"Get ready, because I will punish you for ually harassing me last time," Chen said.

"It wasn't on purpose..." I murmured, but he didn't hear me, or pretended not too.

I turned to face Mina with a helpless expression, she shrugged and patted me on the back. I was actually afraid of the things they might make me do.

What will happen to me? They wouldn’t really do anything… would they?