The days went by quickly for Yoojung with her newfound friends making her senior year the most exciting year by far. Soon, the leaves had fallen off of all the trees and Seoul had experienced its first snow already. With the end of the first semester approaching, it meant midterms and end of term projects.

"Since you're seniors, I can trust that you to pick your own groups AND work productively, right?" Mr. Yoo said as he passed out papers with the term project details on it.

"Yes," the class mumbled as they immediately started sending glances across the room to reserve their groupmates.

Yoojung gave a shy smile as Hyemi, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongdae all turned to give her the look reading, "You'd better be in a group with me." Jaeho, much to Yoojung's surprise, did not turn around to glance at her despite her being his only close friend in school. Unlike Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongdae, he remained mainly introverted in school and had not made many friends other than her.

Yoojung had a gut feeling that he was trying to be considerate and not pressure her to pick him as a group member with the tension going on between him and the other three boys. She was not oblivious to the subtle tension that was present in any small interaction between them, and she was slightly touched that Jaeho would be so considerate about it.

"Now, get into groups of three and get started on the project for the last five minutes of class. The deadline will be December 19th. You have one week," Mr. Yoo concluded after briefly explaining the assignment.

"Groups of three?" Hyemi pouted, "That complicates things. I call dibs on Yoojung!"

"No way, what about the rest of us? We'll let Yoojung pick," Chanyeol suggested in hopes that he'd be picked.

"I don't mind which group I'm in," Jongdae offered, hoping it would ease Yoojung's mind.

Sehun too didn't care what the combination was, all he knew was that he did not want to be in the same group as Hyemi. Even though she was a kind girl, she could be a little too much at times.

After quick thinking, Yoojung decided, "I'll be in a group with Sehun," knowing how he felt about Hyemi. After a pause she added,"... and Jaeho."

Jaeho jerked his head towards the group, clearly surprised, while Sehun showed little expression.

"Sorry, Hyemi! You know Jaeho doesn't have many friends in the class. I couldn't leave him out. Besides, now we can have two even groups of three now!" Yoojung said apologetically to the pouting Hyemi.

She leaned towards Hyemi and said in a low whisper, "You wanted to get closer to my 'attractive' friends anyways. This is the perfect chance."

Jaeho did not know what to say other than, "Sure, sounds good." The truth was, he was deeply touched that Yoojung had thoughtfully rearranged the groups in order to include him when he hadn't even asked to be included in the first place. He smiled to himself in private.

Jongdae glanced, concerned, at Sehun. Sehun was the one who got along least with Jaeho and he was worried that Sehun wouldn't be able to control his temper. He made a mental note to talk to Sehun after school.

Riiinnng! The school bell rang before they even had time to start their project. School was finally out and the group minus Hyemi, who was busy with activities yet again, made their way out of the school. As they approached the school gates, they were interrupted by a man walking towards them from a couple feet away.

"Jaeho!" the man called. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and was dressed fashionably.

"Uncle..." Jaeho replied, looking quite uncomfortable.

Always quick to greet her elders, Yoojung bowed, "Are you Jaeho's uncle? My name is Yoojung Lee. I'm your nephew's classmate. It's very nice to meet you."

She nudged Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongdae to greet Jaeho's uncle as well. They managed stiff bows, but even Yoojung could not ignore the thick tension in the air. To put it simply, the boys looked rather horrified, as if they had seen a ghost.

"Ah, so you're the famous Yoojung who my newphew can't stop talking about."

"Uncle!" Jaeho hissed, motioning for him to stop talking.

Yoojung blushed, not sure what to make of his words, "Has Jaeho mentioned me before at home?"

"Of course! You're his only friend in school. Thank you for that!"

"No, sir. It's a pleasure to be your nephew's friend! He's a very great guy. You've raised him well."

"I'll tell you what. How about you come to our house for dinner today? Think of it as a thank you present for being so welcoming to my nephew in school!"

At this news, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongdae's bodies tensed even more - if that was even possible.

"Oh, no. It's fine! I wouldn't want to impose like that," Yoojung said while shaking her hands. She felt rather uncomfortable with the sudden invitiation especially when the atmosphere was so thick.

"I inisist!" Jaehyung persisted.

Not wanting to go against an adult's words, Yoojung managed to agree, "Well, if you say so..."

Sehun opened his mouth to protest, but Jongdae put out his arm to stop him. He gave him a look that said, "Stop, there's nothing we can do right now." 

"My car is parked right over this way," Jaehyung said as he led the way.

Jaeho reluctantly followed along and jerked his head at Yoojung to follow him. Yoojung gave a quick good-bye at the other three, wondering what was bothering them so much, and followed after Jaeho and his uncle.

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"We saw one of the founding scientists, Park Jaehyung..." Chanyeol said in a low voice.

"That's actually not possible," D.O muttered, completely caught off guard, "I thought they all died in the incident."

"Technically we didn't check any corpses ourselves... It is possible that he lived through it. Does that mean he's the one who's been hunting us down?" Yixing countered.

"Guys," Sehun added, "We're forgetting one important thing here. He looks like he hasn't aged a day and realistically speaking, it's been 104 years. That means he took it too. He's one of us. There's no other explanation."

Looking troubled, Suho and Kris tried to calm down the situation.

"Let's focus on the immediate problem here. He took your friend Yoojung?" Suho asked the three who were there.

"Yes, and he looked pretty intent on it too. I swear it was like he had some underlying purpose," Jongdae said as calmly as possible.

"Honestly," Jongin interjected, "just ditch her. It's what's best for her and best for us."

"How could you say something like that?" Chanyeol rose his voice, "She could be in danger."

"Think about it. Jaehyung has no reason to mess with Yoojung if not for her relation to us. Technically we're the ones who got her into this. If we just leave her alone, he'll get the point," Jongin reasoned.

"Enough," Kris said, "We'll do no such thing. Since she's involved now, we have a responsibility to protect the innocent."

Jongin rolled his eyes, "Did I or did I not say that she would bring trouble?"

"I say that we take turns on guard outside his house. Listen for any signs of trouble," Baekhyun suggested.

"That's a good idea," Luhan said as Minseok nodded, "It's the best we can do right now."

"EXO-K, you take the first shift. EXO-M, you take the second. We'll alternate every two hours," Suho instructed, "Hopefully, there'll be no need for us to get involved...."

--------------------

"So Yoojung, tell me about yourself! Have you lived here a long time?" Jaehyung asked before taking a bite of his food.

"My dad and I moved here from America four years ago, so I guess it has been a long time, but not too long." Yoojung replied, trying not to feel bothered by the awkward atmosphere.

"Ah, I see. I have been looking forward to meeting you. Jaeho talks so highly of you," Jaehyung smiled widely. Jaeho tensed at this statement, but continued to eat.

The small talk continued with mainly Jaehyung asking questions and Yoojung offering answers respectfully. In all honesty, she was thankful for the kind gesture, but she wanted to get out of the awkward situation as soon as possible. She hated small talk and having grown up in America, she felt uncomfortable interacting with adults because of the "respecting your elders" aspect. She was nervous to slip up and say something not traditional. 

Throughout the meal, Jaeho noticed his uncle's expressions when Yoojung wasn't looking. At first he seemed perplexed, then he looked stone cold with determination. He had lived with his uncle long enough to read his expressions and loosely understand the progression of his thoughts. It was time for him to step in.

He wiped his mouth with his napkin and interrupted his uncle, "Thank you for the meal, uncle. Since Yoojung's at our house anyways, we should get started on it."

Yoojung looked at Jaeho gratefully and said her thanks as she eagerly left the awkward dinner table. Jaeho gestured her to follow along and they went to Jaeho's room. As soon as Jaeho entered the room, he immediately played music from his stereo. Yoojung opened to speak, but he put his finger to his lips to silence her.

He grabbed a notepad and pencil and wrote,

Don't talk. Thin walls. Please listen to me this once and don't ask questions, okay?

Although confused, Yoojung slowly nodded unsure of what to expect. Jaeho flipped the page of his notepad and continued to write:

I need you to pretend to go to bathroom, but leave immediately. No need to say good-bye to my uncle.

Yoojung looked really suspicious of the situation now, but one look from Jaeho and she could tell this was important. Although a peculiar request, she nodded in agreement.

Jaeho raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Ready?" and they both went out of Jaeho's room and into the hallway. The tricky part was passing by the dining room to get to the door, but she supposed that Jaeho would create some sort of distraction since this was his plan afterall.

She decided to walk confidently if she had to pass by the dining room anyways. It would look less suspicious. In this way, she made her way down the hallway. 

She successfully passed by the dining room unnoticed and reached the door. As she quietly turned the doorknob, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Startled, she jumped and let out a small shriek.

"And where might you be going? We haven't even had dessert yet," said Jaehyung's voice sounding rather distant.

She turned around, accepting that she got caught, but what she saw next made her wish she hadn't.

She saw Jaeho's uncle all right, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw his arm stretched beyond any length humanly possible all the way to her shoulder. She wished she could scream or make any noise, but she stood frozen in shock.

"I-I..." was all Yoojung could manage to say.

She watched horrified as Jaehyung appeared in the hallway and walked towards her, retracting his arm, if that was even possible. Yoojung snapped out of her shock and her adrenaline kicked in. All she could think of was to get out of this place. She flung the door open and ran into a body. She tried to kick away, but the person was too strong.

Finally, the person let go of her voluntarily and she felt even more disoriented than before. She was in another room when she was certain she had been outside just moments before.

She looked at the face of the person in front of her and was shocked to see that it was Jongin.

"I'm going to go get the rest of them," Jongin turned around and faced the others in the room. She recognized Jongdae, Yixing, Minseok, and Luhan. 

With that, he disappeared, right before her eyes. She reached out only to grab at air.

Are they with Jaehyung? What the hell is going on. I need to go. I need to leave right now.

She eyed the door and tried to make her way.

Within moments, Yixing appeared in front of her.

How did he appear so suddenly? that, I don't have time to think right now.

Yoojung tried to dodge him, but wherever she tried to swerve to, Yixing would appear milliseconds later.

"Get the away from me!" Yoojung yelled as Yixing reached out to touch her.

The minute Yixing touched her, her anxiety calmed down. She wasn't sure how, but she suddenly felt calm and rational. Yixing hadn't originally planned to use his powers to heal her anxiety, but it seemed like there was no choice at this point. This was a lot for anyone to take in, and they had a lot more explaining to do.

{A/N} I apologize for the long hiatus. I was going through some personal things and too pre-occupied with real life. You might have had to reread the chapters to refresh your memory, but here's an extra long chapter to make up for my hiatus! A lot finally happened this chapter. As always, thank you for reading, subscribing, and commenting/upvoting this story C:  xoxo -- JS ♡

PS: I started writing a new story that's a little different from this story. It's realistic fiction, but I really hope you'll give it a chance! CLICK HERE TO READ!