"I can't do this, Oppa. I'm seriously going to strangle someone... Probably Miyoung. Any of her harpie legion would do just as good though." Lunch had just finish and now you had some free time. You had decided to hide out the back of the pension, in what would one day be a lovely garden (at the moment it was just a bunch of tilled earth), away from everyone else. The purpose of your self induced seclusion was to call Suho without having to worry about any unwelcome ears that may be prying into your conversation. Suho had answered on the first ring and it turns out that he just happened to be with everyone else, so he put you on speaker and everyone listened as you told them about everything that had happened since you left them. They all voiced their distaste with your having to stay away from Lay and the others, but agreed that it was a wise decision. Suho seemed particularly happy that you had chosen to be passive for once.

Most of it was just you whinging about earlier that day, but to be fair, it was hell. You had spent the better part of the morning hammering nails into a fence under the hot sun, listening to Miyoung complain at you. Yes, she was complaining at you. Her friends had been given another task and the closest people to you were a group of people who liked Miyoung as much as you did. Meaning that you got stuck with her, only getting sympathetic looks from the others as they shuffled further away from you and the irritating girl. With no one else to turn to, she settled with her only remaining option and went on a rant to you about how terrible the school was and how far beneath her the work was. "I mean, it's okay for you to do it. You were adopted. I come from a very long line of strictly upper class men and women. My great great great great great great grandfather was even knighted by the Queen of England. I don't know why, but he was." That was how she went off on a tangent about old people and how she thinks the Queen is secretly a witch because she is so old.

It took all of your restraint not to start slamming your head against the fence.

To make matters worse, she had unconsciously followed you during lunch and ended up sitting next to you, her annoying friends joining the table soon after. So you were stuck in the middle of them for another hour, and it got so much worse. Your friends strutted in, as godly as ever. It didn't help that a light sheen of sweat rested on their skin, dampening their fringes and the little hairs on the back of their necks. It had been hours since you had been in the same room as one of your Forces, and the side effects of seeing them now made you remember what it was like at the start, when you first met them. That tingle went up your spine, just like the first time you saw Suho. Heat soon followed, seeping out of your top two marks and flooding your body, making you flush. It was then followed by an odd shiver. You seriously questioned what was going on with your body, especially when a wave of want came crashing over you. That was when you decided that you needed to call Suho.

Ear piercing squeals nearly shattered your ear drums as Miyoung and her friends started fangirling over the boys. You didn't resist this time and let your head fall forward, slamming your forhead onto the table with a startlingly loud bang. The girls continued to babble utter nonsense despite the loud noise, getting louder once the boys looked over towards you. They didn't even need to search for you, their eyes just seemed to naturally know where you were. Their eyes reflected their concern, a tinge of guilt over not being able to help you get away from the annoying females, also a bit of amusement at your reaction, but mostly concern. Concern that grew once they saw you get up and stalk out of the room, leaving behind a plate of food that had barely been touched. Which brings us full cirlce, to where you were now, sitting on a step with your phone pressed against your ear. "Ugh I can't wait to get back home. I demand a long snuggling session with all of you when I get back. I will kidnap you all if I have too."

That wonderful, boisterous laughter rang into your ears, it was severly lacking without Chanyeol and Chen's derpy input, but it was still enough to make you smile. "I don't think you will have to kidnap anyone, more like you will be struggling to pry us all off of you." You laughed along with them at Luhan's prediction. "So what have you all been up to, apart from pining for me?" You giggled, hearing some chuckles in return. "Not much. We trained this morning, Xiumin sparred with Sehun which ended really well." Kris' sarcasm was practically dripping through the phone. "Hey! Suho Hyung said I did good!" More laughter sounded, along with some rustling and grunting. It sounded like the phone was changing hands, and your suspicion was confirmed when Sehun's voice became louder. You heard shouts for him to come back with the phone, the boy had clearly run away with it. "Noona~ they're being mean." You missed your baby Sehun. "Poor Sehunnie. Tell them I said stop, and if they don't, go and help yourself to my secret stash. It's in the second draw in my bathroom, but don't let the others know."

"Really Noona?! You're the best!" You giggled again. "Of course I am, I'm your Noona!" Sehun joined you in your giggling. You chatted with him for a while about total nonsense before he said something really interesting. "Ah, I almost forgot to tell you. My parents are going away for a week tomorrow and they are making me look after my siblings." Your brow furrowed at that. "You have siblings? I didn't know you have siblings." "Neh, A younger brother and sister. They are still really little, that's why you never saw them, and now I have to look after them for a week. It's not fair." Well if you didn't already feel guilty about them being torn away from their families for all of this stupid Tree of Life , you certainly did now. "Sehun, you will be fine. Use this opportunity well and spend some quality time with your dongsaengs. I'm sure they miss their big brother." "Noona you don't understand. They are really annoying." An exasperated sigh escaped him, and you got a bit annoyed yourself. "Yah, having siblings is a great thing! Don't take it for granted." He was silent for a bit before he spoke in a meek voice. "Sorry Noona."

You sighed and told him it was ok. Then asked for him to give the phone back to Suho so that you could say goodbye. After a minute of shuffling and rustling, Suho's calming voice drifted into your ear. He could still feel every little emotion that ran through you, so he knew exactly what you wanted to say, which was good because you had no idea how to say it. "You'll be alright Ahri. Just three more nights and you will be back here." You nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see you. "Ahriiiiiiii! Your Xiuminnie Oppa loves you!!!!!" "Yah, Xiumin! You're crushing me!" "Psh, deal with it Suho. I need to talk to mah baby." "Hey! She's my baby! Ahri! Tell him that you love your Lulu Oppa most!" "NOOOOO! Noona loves me most!!" "Nuh-uh." "Yuh-huh." "Nuh-uh." "Yuh-huh." "Nuh-uh." "Yuh-huh." "Nuh-uh." "Yuh-huh." "SHUT UP AND GET OFF!" "Oooooooh Suho's mad." "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Several loud thumps and much shouting later, you were left in silence. "Um, is anyone still there?" Que more rustling sounds, followed by a very quiet voice. "Noona."

You throat constricted, breath catching, heart thumping, blood rushing. "Jongin." It was silent for a bit, you could hear him breathing and it was giving you goosebumps. "Be safe Noona." His voice was hushed but rough and deep, you shivered violently at the sound of it, almost dropping your phone in the process. Your own voice struggled to come out in reply, sounding croaky and unusual. "N-neh. You too." Then it got awkward, and you let out a silent breath. "Uh, I gotta go. Talk later?" You only got a quiet grunt in reply. "Ok, well bye." You hung up after that and dropped your head into your knees. Why did you get flustered whenever he spoke to you? Mind you, that was only the second time that he had directly said something to you since you reunited. You were glad that you were sitting because your jelly legs definitely would have given up beneath you.

"Boys. They never grow up." A voice scoffed from behind you and you whirled around to find Mrs Lee waddling towards you, looking uncomfortable with the size of her stomach. She was trying to sit down next to you but was having a lot of trouble. "Omo, don't sit out here. You may get sick." You said as you scrambled to your feet, rushing to help her back up from the odd squatting position she was in. She waved a hand dismissively but stood up anyway. "Ugh, I can't wait to get this baby out. If for no reason other than to be able to walk like a normal person again." She turned to you with an exasperated look on her face. "Men just don't understand. Trust me, they don't grow up. Even when they hit their thirties." You let out a giggle. "It's nice to see you smile Ahri, you should do it more often." You perked up in surprise when she said your name.

You thought she looked familiar but you just couldn't place where. She let out her own giggle at your furrowed brow as you tried to figure out who she was. "Don't strain yourself. Despite my friendship with your Mother, you and I have only met once before, and I hardly expect you to remember me since you were in mourning at the time." Your face brightened in realization. Both her and her husband had been present at your Mother's funeral, and she was right, you barely remembered any of the faces that you saw during those days. Especially since your life got completely consumed by Suho and the boys so soon after. Another frown took over your features as thoughts about the boys and all of your issues flooded back into the front of your mind. Mrs Lee sighed and patted your shoulder. "After your afternoon activity is over, go to the restaurant. I want to show you something." She beamed at you and you nodded, she seemed very excited about it.

The teacher's voice echoed through the air then, telling you that the students all had to gather again. You took it upon yourself to help Mrs Lee to the restaurant, even through she protested the entire way. "I'm pregnant, not crippled!" She said for the hundredth time in the last five minutes. You seemed to be the last one to get there, but no one noticed since the teacher had already started talking. "Since you all did such a good job this morning, we decided to give you a break from work." Everyone cheered, you weren't so excited though because you noticed the sly grin on your teacher's face. "Instead, you will be playing a game of capture the flag. You have ten minutes to change to more appropriate shoes, then we will go. I'll explain the rules when we get there." Everyone scrambled away to change their shoes, thankfully you were already wearing your joggers so you opted to sitting on the ground while you waited for everyone to come back.

After the ten minutes were up and everyone was back, the walking started. At first you were less than interested, trailing behind the pack with a few of the teachers, but then you realized where you were being lead to, and you huffed out a sigh. Of course, it had to be a freaking forest. "Alright kiddies, I will now explain the rules. Within this forest, are several different coloured flags. You will be working in pairs with your buddy and before you enter you will be given a piece of paper, telling you which colour flag you are to find. Once you find your coloured flag, you must form a group with two other pairs that have the same coloured flag as you. Do you all understand?" "Yes!" "Good. Any questions?" You saw a hand raise up the front somewhere. "What if we get lost?" The teacher laughed. "Don't worry. This forest isn't all that big and there is a fence on the other side. If you go too far and reach the fence, just follow it and you will pop out either up here, or at the stables where there will be a techer to point you in the right direction. Everyone find their partner and come get a piece of paper."

As if this stupid trip wasn't bad enough, now you were wandering around a freaking forest with the most annoying person on the planet, trying to look for a purple flag. You swore to God that if she screamed at a bug one more time, you were going to crack it. "Ewewewewewewew! What IS that? It looks slimey. Ugh, my Father is definitely going to hear about this. Isn't this like child abuse or something?" You were far too worn out for this, Miyoung's constant chatter was wearing on your last nerve. "You do realize that this would all go much faster if you stopped whinging and actually concentrated, right?" She shot me a glare. "I don't see you making any effort either." You lifted your hand, which was holding three different flags, none of which were purple. You say flags, but really they were just strips of material that had been tied around tree branches and stuff. "Thay aren't even the right colour though!" You scoffed. "No they aren't, but someone is going to be looking for them and maybe we can trade them."

She huffed while you rolled your eyes. "Well you are probably used to conditions like this anyway." Ok, now you were getting really ticked off. "Oh my God! I was born in a hospital and left in an orphanage, you . Stop being so pretentious." She flushed in anger, biting back immediately. "You're the pretentious one! You think you're all that just because you managed to seduce Exo, but everyone knows that you're nothing more than a filthy !" You couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "You are so full of it! Do you even know what a is? I haven't slept with any of those boys!" Other than in the literal sense, but she didn't need to know that. "You are so hung up on them because they are attractive and popular, and you wonder why they won't spare you a second glance! You are narcissistic, pretentious, whingy, mean, stuck up, and possibly the fakest person I have ever met. Drink a cup of concrete and harden the up. Stop taking all of the wonderful things that you have for granted, before they all disappear and you are left with nothing."

You were mad, she had pushed all of your buttons, and you hers. Her face darkened, and this time you were positive you saw something in her eyes. It was like a flash of red that streaked across the black of her pupil, and for a moment, you felt like it wasn't Miyoung who was looking at you. It passed as quickly as it came though, and soon she was screaming in your ear. "Y-Yeah? Well at least I have parents! You will never amount to anything! I can't believe I was actually nice to you. From now on, our deal is off!" With that declaration, she stomped off into the forest. You just sighed and sat down on the leafy ground, not caring about getting dirty as you muttered to yourself. "Stupid girl. Is she seriously that thick?" You don't know how long you sat there for, mumbling about how thick headed Miyoung is, but it was probably a lot longer than necessary.

It wasn't until you noticed that it was unnaturally silent that you broke out of you little daze. Before, there was a low buzz as the other students coversed amongst each other, twigs snapping and leaves crunching underneath their feet as they walked. Now it was dead silent, not even a bird chirping or anything. You had a bad feeling and decided to get up and keep moving, certain that Miyoung would have gone back to the teachers to find her friends. Clouds must have rolled in whilst you were sitting down, because it seemed to be getting darker even though it was still early afternoon. Your suspicions were confirmed ten miutes later when it started raining. Hard. It was one of those rare summer rainstorms, the ones that came after a really hot day had already passed. You could see steam coming from the hotter patches of ground that had been sitting in the sun all day, it gave the forest a somewhat eerie feeling.

It was just your luck really, to be stuck in the middle of a forest, alone, while it's raining. This was exactly the kind of situation that you promised Suho you wouldn't get into. You couldn't get any more miserable, or at least that was what you thought until the ground disappeared from beneath your feet and you tumbled down a small drop. Seriously, you were one more mishap away from cracking it big time. With a frustrated sigh, and several mumbled curses, you heaved yourself off the ground and checked yourself over for injuries. Thankfully, you only had a few little scratches on your arms, nothing too serious. You were covered in mud and leaves though, you probably looked like a total mess and you were sure the boys would freak if they saw you. You trudged on, internally cursing the world. The forest just seemed to be getting more dense, and thus more dark. Seriously, what was it with your life and creppy, fog covered forests lately? You contemplated this as you stomped onwards, only to come to a screaming halt when you saw the one thing that could only make this whole situation worse.

Miyoung was laying on the ground, unconscious, and just as muddy as you. You let out a frustrated growl. "Seriously?! Of all the people that it could be, it had to be her!" You were muttering to yourself as you approached her. "I better get some peace and quiet after this." You checked her over, not seing any serious injuries. From what you could tell, she had tripped and hit her head, there was a large, bruised bump on the forhead, and given her spoilt nature, she probably passed out from the stress. With a helpless sigh you hoisted her up onto your back, glad that you still had the strength to do that despite your dwindling energy. She was pretty light, which didn't surprise you since you had never actually seen her eat anything before. You continued walking, going at a slower pace so that you didn't fall over and cause more issues. Hopefully, you would get out of this stupid forest soon, the teacher had said that it wasn't very large. You were hoping to find that fence soon at the very least.

After another ten minutes of walking though, that hope was dwindling. It was getting darker and wetter, both you and Miyoung were soaking wet. This was seriously the worst. You just wanted to go home and sleep, preferrably whilst curled up with your boys. You wondered what they were doing right now, surely it was better than walking around a muddy forest in the rain with your least favourite person on your back. Surely Suho and Xiumin must be feeling your frustration, it must be tiring to be constantly having to deal with the ever changing emotions of a teenage girl. All this thinking was making you more miserable. You really missed everyone already, especially Tao. What you wouldn't give for him to be awake and running around like a spastic again. Another sigh escaped your lips and you jumped, lifting Miyoung higher onto your back.

A shadow moved in your peripheral and you allowed your eyes to follow it. For a second, you didn't know what it was, but then you noticed the screwed up way it walked. You hit the deck, diving behind a bush that was big enough to hide both you and Miyoung. 'What the HELL is that thing doing here?' One of those awful creatures from your nightmare was prowling though the trees. You were seriously panicking now, there was no way that thing could possibly be real. Doing your best to be quiet, you took a peek through the shrubbery. The thing was still there, but it must have heard you when you hid because it was standing still, facing you and tilting it's head as it tried to catch another sound. You thanked the lord that the creature didn't have eyes and held your breath steady. Of course, right then and there was when Miyoung decided to stir. She let out a groan and wiggled a bit on your back. It was quiet, but it was enough for the creature to hear and it let out a piercing screech. You didn't hesitate and scrambled up as fast as you could, holding Miyoung tightly so she wouldn't fall off as you pelted through the forest.

You knew the creatures weren't very fast runners, how could they be with only those long talons to use as grip. So you were really hoping that this one didn't sprout wings and start flying, you would probably throw up if it did. Your legs were aching, having to work extra hard to keep traction in the wet mud and slippery leaves that covered the uneven ground of the forest. You were flat out exhausted and the moment that you broke through the trees and into the open paddock where your teacher was waiting could not come quick enough. You really didn't care much that the majority of your year were standing there, just as wet and muddy as you, staring in shock at your sudden appearance. "Ahri-ssi. What's wrong? Why are you running?" You couldn't cope at the moment, your heart and mind were racing far too quickly to answer the teacher's question. All you could do was double over and try to catch your breath, Miyoung still hanging limp on your back.

The blood rushing in your ears made it impossible to hear, but seeing Miyoung unconscious on your back sent her friends into a rage. They started screeching accusations about you, saying that you had done this to Miyoung. Of course Chen had to pipe up as he and the others rushed to your side, Lay checked on you while the teachers took Miyoung off your back and set her on the ground. "Are you stupid? If Ahri was the one who hurt Miyoung, then why would she be running to get her help?" They couldn't argue with Chen's logic, or sass, and shut up imediately. Lay grabbed your face, a furrow on his brow, you were freaking out and he had no idea why. "Alright, calm down everyone! The teachers will do a rollcall. Once your name has been marked off, you can head back to get yourself cleaned up. Anyone who didn't find a flag is in charge of dinner." Your teacher called out to everyone, making sure they all understood. Once the other students started moving off, he turned back to you and your group. "Yixing, if you would be so kind as to bring Ahri. We'll go figure this out elsewhere. The rest of you, please go get your names marked off." Chanyeol and Chen were about to argue but Baekhyun sent them a look that shut them up. They had no choice but to watch as Lay carried you off with the teacher and Miyoung.

You struggled to stay awake while the teacher drilled you about what happened. As far as he was concerned, you and Miyoung argued and split up, then you found her unconscious on the ground and ran to get help. It wasn't a lie at all, it just wasn't the complete truth. He would definitely think you were insane if you tried to explain that you were running away from the embodiment of all things evil. He said that he would ask Miyoung for her side, but that he believed you, and allowed you to leave with Lay once all your cuts were treated. Without a word, Lay lead you to the room that he was sharing with the other boys and as soon as you were in the door, you wrapped yourself around him. It wasn't quite the same as if he was bonded to you, but it still gave you some comfort. "Oh my God. I hate this." You burried your face into his chest and the two of you just stood there, hugging each other despite being wet and muddy. You only pulled away when you heard Chen's loud voice down the hall. "I have to talk to you guys about something, but not now. We can't risk outside ears. On the other hand, Miyoung called off the deal, so you guys are stuck with me for dinner. "Oh thank God for that. We are going crazy trying to stay away, I think Chanyeol was going to lose it any minute and just kidnap you." You giggled at Lay's silliness.