[Year 19 of Exile]

"Baek, can I have the syrup please?"

The boy slid the bowl over, his eyes not even lifting themselves to look at me. Baekhyun...?

It was only when I was chewing on my first piece of pancake did I realise that the kitchen had gone silent. Mm? What's up with this atmosphere? I chewed and swallowed.

Looking directly at Chanyeol who sat opposite me, I raised my brows and gestured to everyone. Why is everyone so quiet? He bit his lips and suddenly found his pancakes interesting. I pouted and turned to Yixing who sat beside him. He whipped out his phone and seconds later my pocket vibrated.

// We're just tired after yesterday's mass training. So don't ask. //

I read it and smiled. Mass training. Aww. I imagined the boys all slogging and training together in a mud field. How cute.

Wait, why didn't they call me!?

For the next few days, I hardly see the boys. Except for breakfast, I didn't even see them throughout the day at all.

I miss them. Wonder what they're up to.

Waiting in line for the school bus, I read my textbook quietly. Just then, I got shoved aside and onto the floor. My book flew out of my hands and my palms scraped the concrete pavement. "Oops! Guess I need spectacles!" I glared up at the culprit. Immature boys. My eyes darted sideways, snickering girls gathered. And es.

Great.

I got up and winced when my palms touched the pavement. Sitting back down, I lifted them up and found them bleeding. Ugh.

Sneakers stood in front of me. Mustering my best angry face, I looked up darkly only to be doused with a bucket of water. I spluttered in shock as the students laughed. "Not so macho without your bodyguards, sidekick?"

I gritted my teeth and got up despite my palms hurting like crazy. I glared murderously at them and the culprits flinched. "Cowards!" I hissed. "Attacking me only when the boys aren't here." I took a step forward and everyone took steps back. "And this is college, no longer high school. Don't you guys ever learn anythin–"

Another bucket of water landed on me from behind. I mentally rolled my eyes, trying to control my fast-rising anger. Jen, stop it. People will get hurt. Control. I regulated my breathing and was about to achieve peace and calm when a girl spoke the last thing I heard. ". Bet she's slept with all of them."

I went berserk.

[Luhan]

"Gramma!"

I burst into the room. "How is she?" I stood in the doorway, unable to take another step into her room when I read immense worry on the old lady’s face. The boys crashed into me from behind and we stumbled into the room. Gramma looked at us disapprovingly but smiled grimly when she turned back to Jen.

I got up and dusted myself. Sehun came from behind me and sat beside gramma. "How is she? What happened?" He looked at Jen tenderly before turning to gramma, worried. She motioned for us to get out and we relocated to the kitchen. I was the last to leave her room, and reluctantly closed the door after taking a long look at her. So pristine, so angelic.

But... What exactly caused her to sleep so soundly?

"Grandpa, tell us. What happened?"

Suho urgently asked as we settled into chairs around the table. Grandpa looked up from his newspaper and sighed. Folding it, he scanned the twelve of us before pursing his lips. “Even I don’t clearly know what happened myself. I just got a call from the college office requesting for me to rush down and collect my granddaughter. And when I got ther–” He choked on tears that started to well in his eyes. “She was just sitting blankly on the chair. The administrators refused to go near her, murmuring about her going berserk at students and causing serious damage to school property.”

He hiccupped and large droplets of tears plopped onto the dining table. “Apparently she was dragged into the office restrained by a brave male student with superstrength. He had trouble getting her there because she was in a rage and according to several students, the skies were dark, thunder ru