It was lunch time at school. I finally managed to dodge the six unholy terrors and ate lunch in the caf with Gaesuh, Heemin, and Jinae.

Suddenly, girls started whispering excitedly, shrieking, and fanning themselves. A few even whipped out little mirrors and gave themselves once-overs, before quickly assuming poses as though they were models instead of high school kids sitting at a cafeteria table. I snorted.

Beast was here.

Ignoring all the girls, even the queenkas, Beast bought lunch before walking straight over towards our table. They plunked their trays of food down and sat around the table. Girls glared our way jealously. Gaesuh, Heemin, and Jinae all giggled to each other with flushed cheeks and smiled brightly at me. I shrugged back, way too used to this.

"Hey there, Ringo-ah," Kikwang said cheerily, and adding, "Gaesuh-ah, Heemin-ah, Jinae-ah."

"Omo! He knows our names!" Heemin whispered giddily to the other two. I rolled my eyes.

"I remember all the pretty grls," Kikwang said flirtatiously.

" off, Kikwang," I said sharply as I took a vicious bite out of my apple. I mostly said that for Gaesuh's benefit, because the poor girl looked like she was on the verge of fainting.

"See, Ringo-ah?" Yoseob gestured to the three girls. "You should be more like them. THAT'S how girls act around us."

"Oh, I must have forgotten the memo," I snapped. I looked at them uneasily. They didn't walk me to and from home anymore, mostly because they were worried Teen Top or DBSK would be stalking them around (they never forgave DBSK for the whole cheesecake incident. Personally, I enjoyed it and couldn't wait to do it again. Eating the cheesecake, I mean, not hanging out with DBSK).

They were also injured, too. Yoseob had gauze wrapped around his blonde little head, and several band-aids were stuck onto his arms and cheek.

Junhyung had gauze around his head too from the gash from before, and one of his fingers were broken and had a splint on it.

Hyunseung looked unharmed besides several shallow cuts and slices on his face and arms.

Doojoon had bandages wrapped around his arms and a band-aid on his forehead.

Kikwang had bandages around his arms too, and band-aids on his neck and cheek, and his full bottom lip was cut. 

Dongwoon had his hands wrapped up in bandages, but looked otherwise unharmed.

Although they all had bruises of several interesting sizes and colours, and they all looked like . So.

"By the way, Ringo-ah," Doojoon said seriously. "We're going at war again today."

"Oh, goodie. Somebody pinch me," I said in a bored voice, taking another bite out my apple.

"So stay home," Junhyung continued. "Don't let them see you. We'll be back before midnight."

"Don't care."

"Don't you worry, we'll beat them today," Dongwoon assured me.

"Not worrying."

"If you miss us, you're free to go into the Garden when we're gone," Kikwang said with a wink. "Just pretend we're there with you."

"Not gonna happen."

Yoseob pouted, giving me the full blast of his big, brown, puppy-dog look. "Ringo-ah......you sound really indifferent....." He started to tear up. "Could it be........you don't care about us? At all?"

How the HELL did he get his voice to crack at the perfect time? Was this guy a genius actor or something?

Girls began to glare at me, their voices rising from a hiss and getting louder.

"Who the hell does she THINK she is?"

"How dare she? Can't she see that poor Yoseob-sshi is crying?"

"Poor Yang Yoseob-sshi. Look at the little angel."

"She has no heart."

"She's a demon."

Gulping, I sighed and awkwardly patted his head. "I am worried, okay? So there."

Yoseob contemplated this. "Hmm....I'm satisfied." He smiled smugly and leaned away, all traces of sadness gone from his face.

I turned to Hyunseung in exasperation. "And you said Dongwoon was the genius!"

Hyunseung shrugged, tossing a coke can in his hands. "Yoseob is a master at the art of interrogation and torture, remember? He doesn't always need to threaten or blackmail them. Sometimes, a dose of his 'aegyeo' is all it takes to have some gangsters spill the beans."

"That is the very definition of creepy."

His cold eyes met yours. "Tell me about it."

For a second, we just looked at each other, both awkward yet strangely comfortable and understanding at the same time.

It was broken when Kikwang slid between us. "Yah, if you two keep going on your little conversation, I'll get jealous. I thought you didn't like her, Hyunseung."

"I never said that," Hyunseung said coolly. I flushed a dark red. Kikwang's eyebrows shot up. "Oh-ho! So you like her, then, hyung?"

"I never said that either," He said calmly, without a change in expression. I looked away, feeling furious and embarrassed at how red I was and how much my heart was pounding. For a second there, I actually thought he said he.......

"Junhyungie's jealous."

"Shut your mouth, dongsaeng." Junhyung sulked.

Dongwoon didn't shut up. "I think you ruined any chances with her when you tried to kiss her that one time ---"

"BWOH??!!!" Gaesuh, Heemin, and Jinae shrieked. They never heard about this before.

In unison, Junhyung and I both had our hands around Dongwoon's throat.

"I can just snap his neck, and it'll all be over," Junhyung said darkly.

"No, that's not enough punishment." I snarled evilly. "I'd rather throttle him to death -- it causes more pain and suffering."

"No deaths during wartime," Doojoon said smartly, looking at his watch. "Let's move out. We need a battle plan. You guys can kill each other later."

Junhyung and I released Dongwoon, who didn't look affected or scared at all. In fact, he was laughing his head off, much to the confusion of everyone in the room who sensed our killer intent.

I suddenly blushed, remembering I did all this in front of my only friends. They looked a little shocked, but at the sight of Dongwoon laughing, they smiled too. They probably thought it was a joke.

"I thought you were going to actually kill him there, Ringo-ah," Gaesuh joked teasingly.

I smirked and right back, trying to diffuse the situation into a stand-up comedy. "I would have, but I'd like to finish high school with a clean record."

"Well, see you later, Ringo-ah," Kikwang said cheerfully as they stood up. "Be careful, arasso? Don't do anything we wouldn't do."

I raised my eyebrows at him. He grinned cheekily. "Alright, alright......don't do anything we WOULD do."

"Later," I sighed, and watched them leave.

Gaesuh poked my arm. "Hurry up and wish them good luck!"

"H-huh?" I stammered.

"You pabo, they were obvously waiting for you to wish them luck on the war!" Heemin giggled. "You're so clueless!"

"B-but....that is....w-why....."

"They care about you! It's obvious they wished you cared about them as well!" Gaesuh rolled her eyes and poked me more urgently again. "Go on, Ringo-ah!"

I staggered out of my seat and rushed after them out of the cafeteria.

I caught up with them easily. "Y-yah! Beast!" I yelled after them.

They looked back at me. "Is there something you forgot, Ringo-ah?" Doojoon asked.

"Y-yeah...." I panted, turning red and refusing to look at them. Man, I was certain my face was the same color as my hair now. "D-don't......don't get ed up too badly or....or a-anything. And, uh.....good luck, I guess........"

Uncertainly, I peeked up at them. I was pretty shocked to see them with all these huge-, goofy smiles on their faces (besides Junhyung and Hyunseung, who were too cool for that).

"YAAAAAAAY!!!! RINGO-AH DOES CARE ABOUT US AFTER ALL!!!" Yoseob shrieked, pulling me into a death glomp.

"Yeah, we thought you hated us." Dongwoon said, patting my red curls. "Yoseob was practically crying the other day, saying how you thought we were so annoying and you wanted us to get hurt."

"N-no!" I gasped. "Never, I...." I quickly shut my mouth before I said anything too embarrassing or cheesy.

Grinning, Doojoon said, "Should we all do a 'Hwaiting', then?"

"That's so middle school," Junhyung rolled his eyes.

"Don't be such a spoilsport," Kikwang shot at him.

"Um....could we.....do it?" I asked timidly. They all stared at me, and I turned an even darker shade of red. "I-it's just I.....uh, never did that before, so um....."

"Never?" Dongwoon said incredulously. "What kind of a loser were you back then?"

"Shut your ing trap!"

"Alright, hands in the middle!" Doojoon ordered. Everyone pushed their hands into the center of the circle. Taking a deep breath, we all chanted loudly,

"AJA, AJA, HWAITING~~~!!!!"

"Later!" They chorused, looking happy and spirited as they dashed away. I watched them leave once more, a soft and pleased smile on my face.

At the last second, Hyunseung stopped to look at me. His eyes searched mine curiously, and I felt frozen on the spot.

Then he turned to leave.

I felt a wave of sudden sadness wash over me. Hyunseung's eyes were cold and empty, yet.....burned. Alive.

When he looked at me, it felt as though he was looking for something he knew he would never find.

***********************************************************************************************

Hmmm, it's starting to be centered around Hyunseung now :/

Well, to be fair, I haven't done a Hyunseung fic in forever. I mean, as the main love interest. It's been......what, since Find My Voice? I remember those days....... *thinks of flashback when I updated He May Be a Bad Boy, But He's MY Bad Boy three times a day during the summer because I had no life* Those were the days...........sigh...........

What was I talking about again?