"You knew all along, didn't you?"

All of the members were standing around him in a circle. Kris was just finished with the police interrogations that took about 3 days to end. He was feeling lightheaded and deeply guilty. The last thing he needed was to be surrounded by the cold expressions of his friends- were they even his friends now? Now that they knew everything- including the issue about his father, and how he'd got accepted here in the first place.

Ofcourse they would already be informed by the police, but Kris thought that he had nothing to hide anyways- and that he'd have to tell them sometime soon, but he didn't think it would be revealed in such a crude way.. Not like this.

Taemin had died almost instantly and the authorities had discovered traces of deadly poison in the boy's stomach, which matches the one contained in his birthday cupcake's icing. That, could only scream 'murder'.

Kris showed them and told them everything he knew; even the text messages between him and his father. When they heard the recorded conversations they had on the phone, (He didn't have a single clue on how they did that.) the authorities finally believed him and pressed no charges against him since he didn't do anything against the laws.

Much to his dismay, the police were the only ones who let him off the hook. As for everyone else- it would be an understatement to say that they loathed him.

"Yes." he replied shortly.

All he needed and wanted now was sleep, can't they blame him for murder some other time?

Jonghyun flared up from his seat and pushed him back, jabbing a finger on his chest. "You're the one responsible for all of these s happening?"

Like all of the other times, Minho held him back, "Jonghyun- it wasn't him. It was his father." Although he said those words, the tall boy looked uncertainly at Kris, questioning him with his eyes.

"Look, I didn't know anything my father was planning when he sent me here. I didn't even know that Victoria's death was caused by him before what- a week ago? But if blaming me makes you feel any better about the situation, then go ahead; punch me, break my bones, deform me. But may I remind you all that I was the one who chose to confess about my own father, betraying his trust for me. And I did that for your sakes.."

He looked sternly at each one of them, "And if this is what I get in return, all I can say now is that I had expected better from you lot. You still let your emotions cloud your judgements- even though I've tried my best not to do exactly that. I didn't hold back and hide the truth because of the feelings and emotions I had for my father.. but if you couldn't do the same for me now, I guess I had made a horrible decision into thinking that at some point, we were actually friends."

He walked off into the hallways to ignore his so-called pals.

But before Kris could go farther, he felt his feet failing him as he sank down on the floor. Cold tears started pouring out of his eyes and he no longer felt any energy to get up from his position.

Wu Yifan never cried.

He barely shed a tear at his late mother's funeral,

He didn't sob when his father beat him up countless of times,

He never got teary-eyed even when he knew that he wasn't allowed to decide his own future.

But there was only so much a person could take; so Yifan cried, and cried to his heart's content- relieving the 22 years worth of pain he had kept safely within the walls of his pride.

For the first time ever, he cried himself to sleep.

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

 Taemin's funeral went by quickly and the whole time, Taeyeon felt as if she had been paralyzed.

She couldn't accept the fact that he wasn't there anymore. That Lee Taemin was gone for good. Ofcourse, the maknae's death had its nasty toll on her but people had it worse; like Bora. After the funeral and interrogations, Bora had stayed in her bed for days, mourning for the loss. Taeyeon had tried convincing her to do something- anything, but the poor girl had refused and sank deeper into her blankets.

Occasionally, Bora would eat or drink a little bit of the food her friends gave her, but in very small amounts. Taeyeon shuddered when she thought about how skinny the girl had looked the last time she visited her.

She got Bora's favorite spaghetti and juice to bring up to her room in a tray and was walking there carefully. Out fo everyone, she was the one who looked after Bora the most by bringing her meals each day.

Suddenly, she saw a figure nearing her from a corner and she stiffened slightly.

No, there is no way in hell..

Is that- coffee?

Please God- not now..

Not her..

Before she could run-away to react, she felt somebody grabbing her hand and pushing her against the walls, making the tray of food she was holding scatter across the halls.

"Running away somewhere?"

To her horror, she saw that the attacker was no other than Eunjung herself. Her pair.

"Ham.. Eunjung.." she breathed, slightly trembling under her cold touch. The girl infront of her looked stoic and calm- that is- until she laughed almost maniacally. Taeyeon could feel shivers going down her spine but stayed still.

Returning to her icy poker-face, Eunjung stared her down and when Taeyeon felt a cold touch of metal skimming the skin on , she gave out a little gasp. Eunjung pressed the knife closer to shut her up.

Not putting her years of self-defense training to waste, Taeyeon knee-d her opponent's stomach and then twisted her hand around the girl's arm, preventing the knife from getting anywhere near her face. With her other hand, she went ahead and punched Eunjung's chin, sending her stumbling back.

Although hurt, Eunjung smiled back tauntingly. "And I thought you'd be easy."

"Then you were wrong," she countered coldly. "Coward."

The words immediately affected Eunjung and a hateful glint passed across her eyes. Without notice, the girl lunged herself and round-kicked Taeyeon in her face. "You have no right to call me that." she continued, now kicking the crouched girl's ribs repeatedly.

Taeyeon let out a groan of agony as her hands reached out for the assaulter's moving legs, catching it and yanking it downwards. Eunjung fell on her and hissed as she kicked the hand that was holding it back, before letting it land on Taeyeon squarely in the face. She smirked when she saw blood on the edge of her rival's lips.

But when she let her guard down, A hand jabbed at her sides in unfathomable speed, resulting with excrutiating pain. She could feel the injured area swelling up as she threw her hands out and circled her fingers around Taeyeon's neck, choking her as hard as she could.

Taeyeon noticed the tray of food she dropped earlier and grabbed the fork, stabbing it into Eunjung's hands. A scream was let out when Eunjung retracted her hold from Taeyeon's neck and the injured girl dug her heels into the latter's foot.

Another pain-staking shriek was heard.

Finally, after much struggling, rolling and fighting, Taeyeon ended up on top of the girl, hitting her pretty face with her fists. Eunjung instinctively crossed her arms infront of her and brought it up against Taeyeon, sending the girl backwards as she climbed before her, taking her turn to savagely abuse her face with her punches. She reached behind her to have a go at her blade.

The petite girl saw this distraction and swung her fork towards the shoulder infront of her, sinking it in before hearing Eunjung holler in pain.

She awkwardly and hastily stood up, feeling the broken bones in her feet because of Eunjung's earlier attack. "I do. You didn't even challenge me to a proper battle- and you planned to attack me in secret. You ing coward." she stated in between ragged breaths.

Unexpectedly, a low chuckle was heard across from the girl.

"Is that how you'd prefer it?" she asked, "A measly little battle?"

Taeyeon gritted her teeth. Was it really necessary for my pairing to be a complete psycho?

"Isn't that how things work?" she questioned back.

She saw Eunjung slowly getting up and casted her an indifferent look. "Oh- Kim Taeyeon.. Who cares about how it works? All that matters is the result. And the result won't be much of a difference anyways."

"Wrong again." she asserted.

The two ladies held their gazes on eachother before Eunjung decided to open , "Alright then, if that is how you want it. Might as well grant you your dying wish." she sneered. Taeyeon clenched her fists, preventing every fibre in her body from smacking the horrid sight infront of her.

She turned around and limped away from the crazy girl. It would be best if she didn't see her for now because if she did, she would've been so tempted to end her life. But knowing that it was not the right thing to do, Taeyeon held back.

"I'll inform the trainers from both of our sections." She heard Eunjung remark. Taeyeon gave a last glimpse towards the girl and witnessed the cruel grin she had on her face, giving her goosebumps. "See you soon, Kim Taeyeon."

"Raging ." she muttered as she shuffled away from the insane girl.

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

"My God, Taeyeon! What happened to you?" Minho screamed.

She pushed his hands away from her face gently. It was covered in bruises and blood was evident at some areas. Minho didn't miss the fact that he saw her limping into their dorm and that her neck was covered in red prints. She winced as she laid down on her bed and he sat next to her to scan over her injuries.

"Guess." she weakly replied.

After being with her for so long, he can even claim that he's able to read her mind by this point. But looking at it now, he wished he was wrong; that he couldn't tell what she was trying to say to him because what she wanted to tell him now, was the thing that feared him the most.

He shook his head in denial, "Please say that I'm mistaken."

"I wish I could," she groaned, putting a hand on her stomach. He eyed it and touched the hem of her shirt before lifting it up slightly. A swollen up wounds were found there as a result to Eunjung's sadistic blows. Minho gasped at her condition and anger was seen in his eyes. She pulled her shirt back down for she was flustered at him seeing her bare skin.

Minho didn't even care about that at the moment. She was beaten up real badly for pete's sake! And before Taeyeon could complain about his actions, he slid his hand behind her back and the other under her thighs. He scooped up her tiny figure and carried her out of the room.

"Minho! Where are we going? Put me down!" she squirmed in his arms.

He paused his walk only to look deeply into her eyes, shushing her up. "Where else? You need to get treatment for this- and I can't let you walk."

She blankly looked at him as he stared straight ahead.

"Now it'd help me a bit if you don't dangle your hands down like that, and shut up." he said passively.

She nodded her head and looped her arms around his neck, "Better?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "You're less heavy that way."

Hearing no reply, he looked down at his chest and saw her sobbing quietly. "I didn't mean that, you know. You're really light."

"I know you don't." she muttered.

He gazed at her softly, "Then why the tears?"

She returned his look with a teary-smile and tightened her hold on him, "I'm just thankful that I still have you. Although I don't know for how much longer-"

"Wait- what do you mean?" he asked, puzzled.

She paused for quite some time before informing him, "Ham Eunjung challenged me for a battle. It's official now. I can't escape it."

She felt him pulling her closer, "You'll make it, Yeon-ah. You always will." Minho looked up for a moment to take a deep breath. Why are all the problems arising at the same time? First Taemin, then Kris, and now Eunjung. Does the universe hate him or something?

When they arrive at the infirmary, the nurse immediately cared for the girl's injuries and Minho stayed beside her the entire process, only to leave when the nurse wants a full check up on Taeyeon's body. Since there were alot of injuries happening in the institute, the infirmary was basically a mini-hospital with 3 doctors in-charge. One of the doctors named Shim Changmin treated Taeyeon's fracture in her foot and put it in a cast.

"She'll need to rest for a few days since the injuries were really harsh on her body." Changmin advised to Minho.

The latter nodded his head seriously and replied, "I'll take care of that, don't worry."

"So, mind me asking, but what happened?" the doctor inquired, "It's not everyday that two hospitalized students appear minutes before the other and having the same level of injuries."

Minho smiled when he glanced at the sleeping Taeyeon, "The same level? What happened to the other one?"

"There were harsh bruises on her face, a fracture of the right hand and a stabbing wound on her shoulder. Both were caused by a fork." the man said, shaking his head at the thought. "What a fight must it have been,"

The boy grinned proudly at how strong Taeyeon had sounded. "Yeah.. What a fight." he said in awe.

"So? what actually happened?"

Minho shrugged the answer, "The usual."

Hearing that, Changmin sighed, "Again? I can't believe how boring our world has become."

"Me neither."

Then, Changmin left the two youngsters in the room to take care of his duties. Minho sat on the bed next to Taeyeon as he played with the strands of her dark hair and was slowly learning to braid them. It only resulted in a tangled bird's nest. He smiled as he imagined the girl freaking out when she wakes up later with this mop on her head.

Fiddling with her fingers, he sighed. What was he worried about? She was the strongest person he'd met, but why was he so afraid of losing her?

Making a final decision to report to the trainers about Eunjung's attack, he stood up next to the bed to glance at her peaceful face. Again, he let out a breath and leaned in closer to her cheeks, brushing a kiss on it.

"Prove me wrong, Kim Taeyeon. Show me that I won't lose you." he whispered as he went away.

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