“Now show me a bit of your motivation! What's with that face, huh?”, I asked after enduring an hour of Zelo's totally pissed face. Jongup wasn't any better, what was wrong?

“You didn't tell me that he'd come along”, both of them replied pointing at each other at the same time, causing them to shoot me the other one endless glares.

I sighed. “Because obviously neither of you would have come along then. Am I right? Well, of course I am. But we did already find some nice sweaters, isn't that good?” Jongup snorted while Zelo shrugged and I massaged my temples to calm down when Jongup stood up.

“Okay, now that it's said, I'll leave first. There's nothing for me to do here and I still have to give another dance lesson today so...see you, princess”, he mumbled while stretching his back and I pouted.

“Why can't you just get along?”, I whined too silent for anyone to hear before nodding in defeat. “Fine, go then...I'll text you later...okay?” He tried to glare at me the way he did towards Zelo, but he didn't manage to do it and ended up smiling at me, his anger had vanished.

He just couldn't stay mad when it came to me and he really needed that kind of patience when dealing with me and my carefree decisions, I figured. “Yeah. See you later then... If he does something to you-”

“Stop, I don't want to hear it, but thanks for your care”, I interrupted him, pressing my hand on his mouth to stop him from talking and sighed once more. “We still have to go buy some pants for him and I know how much you hate shopping. Just go, I can deal with any difficulties that could come up. Alright?” I could feel him smile under my hand and I knew that I had won when he returned to his dorky self and said good bye.

I turned around to face Zelo with a raised eyebrow. “Are you satisfied now?”, I asked, my arms crossed in front of the chest and he shrugged again.

“It's better than before... You said I still need trousers, do you know how expensive they are in my size? Do I have to repeat myself concerning asking for help and stuff? I don't want to owe you something.”

He started to become impolite again, but I didn't let it affect me. “Don't worry, I don't care how much it costs anyway, so...just shut up. But I have to go to the print shop to print out some new pictures I took recently, you can go ahead, I'll find you.” Zelo hesitantly agreed, scrunching his nose before we left the shop we had been in for the past 30 minutes.

It was like going shopping with a kid and absolutely no fun at all, but I never broke my promises... I hate myself for these things. Too nice, too honest, what's wrong with me? I'm rich! I can do whatever I want to! But still... Ah, this isn't the time to think about that, nevermind.

I walked down the street, past some dark alleyways and could see the shop already behind the massive crowd that was moving like a river, when I heard something coming from one of the alleys. “Hey”, someone hissed and I turned around with a frown.

There were two people, dressed in black that were waving me closer and I glanced at Zelo, the giant I could still see in the crowd far behind me before taking a step closer to the guys. “C-Can I help you?”, I asked carefully and one of them nodded.

“May I know your name?”

I stiffened on the spot. Were they enemies of my father? It had already occurred that someone wanted to kidnap me when I was younger to blackmail my father, but it had been forever since then... I cleared my throat. “Sorry, I don't think this is of interest to you two. I'll leave then, bye.”

“Wait!”, the second one shouted when I was about to leave, glancing at his companion. “We just saw you with... our f-friend, you know? And since he d-doesn't tell us anything, we thought... uhm... that you could...maybe tell us something about his interests lately? Since it's...euh...his birthday soon and we need a present.”

I frowned before scanning the two guys who exchanged unsure glances once more. “Friend?” They nodded. “Oh, you mean Jongup-oppa? Sorry, but I don't think he's your friend. His birthday is in february-”

“No, the other one. The tall one”, they corrected me and my eyes widened. They were talking about Zelo. But what if they were lying? I kept being mistrusting.

“You're friends of Z- euh, that guy? I met him a few days ago and we...get...along quite well, why?”, I stuttered. We didn't...but something growling in my stomach told me not to trust them. Well, I could also be hungry, but you get the point, right?

“Oh, so you're rather close now?”, one of them kept asking with an intense gaze, making me feel uncomfortable. Why did they stand in the dark alley and didn't just walk up to us when Zelo and I had been standing together, huh? There was something fishy about these guys.

I tried to look back at the crowd, but couldn't make out Zelo anymore. Damn, where did he go off to? “Uhm, well... I don't know”, I mumbled while noticing their necklaces, wanting to distract them somehow. “Oh, you have these cross-shaped pendants too! I saw a similar one yesterday, a friend wore it. Where did you get it, I like it a lot!” I smiled at them, which seemed to confuse them quite a lot, but I kept glancing around to find out where Zelo could be found. Why wasn't that guy anywhere?

“The...the pendant...oh.” The guys looked at the thing hanging around their neck before watching me again. “They are a...symbol of unity to us. I don't know where you can get it, euh... a friend gave them to us...” I sighed in half-acted disappointment.

“Aish, too bad...well-” That's when my mobile rang. FINALLY! Something I could use to get away from these guys. The message I got encouraged my thoughts about them.

From: Zelo

“Get away from them. They're bad. I'll explain later, just go home for now.”

“Oh, it's this late already? I should really go or my father will be quite upset. Sorry guys, I... can't tell you anything about your friend right now, maybe we'll meet again. Bye!”, I babbled, turned around and wanted to go, but one of the guys grabbed my wrist.

“Wait. I'd really like to know your name...”

I bit my lower lip, but someone else grabbed my other wrist before I could respond. “None of your business”, I heard a familiar voice and turned to look up at him.

Zelo.

Zelo's POV

It's not that I wasn't happy about being bought new clothes – the only person to buy me clothes in five years had been Yongguk-hyung. But that grape-head had been glaring at me all the time and I did the same, because I was wondering why it had to be that girl I owed so much already.

Money. Again.

I didn't know how I'd pay her back as I was frantically looking for a way to get enough for the black-dressed guys in the first place. I mean I spent more than the last ten years on avoiding them to buy some time to collect what they wanted.

And still, it wasn't enough.

That's why I felt desperate when I was with that girl and her grape-head, being dragged from one shop to another where she'd spend money on me again. Money I didn't want to owe her.

However, her puppy-like, purple-haired companion left after some time and the girl and I separated, because she had to print out some photos or something. I'm sure it was for her crazy picture wall again... Okay, I have to admit, as much as her hobby crept me out, I thought of it as fascinating too, but I couldn't say that, because yet... I knew that digging into someone's past isn't always fun and fascinating. I was the best example for that.

I sighed while walking towards the shop the girl had pointed out – I hate trying on things – but stopped only after a few meters when I noticed someone standing in one of the side roads. I couldn't be mistaken, there was one of the guys who were chasing me. One of them. I frowned. Do they know I'm here? But why doesn't he look this way...? I was their main target, what was going on?

I craned my neck and followed his gaze to a small alleyway, squinnying to see what was so interesting about it. There were two other guys, dressed in black, most likely two of his friends and part of the organization, who seemed to search for somebody in the bypassing crowd. Suddenly, they started talking to someone and I recognized the girl, stopping in front of them. .

She looked back at me in uncertainty, I saw her short glance even from that far away, before shyly taking a step closer to the two guys. Don't go there, you stupid girl! I let out a hiss and massaged my temples for a split second before glancing at the third guy in black, the one I had spotted first, again. He smiled. That was a bad sign. I started walking. Walking fast. As much as I disliked that girl, I knew this was because of me.

It seemed to take me forever to get to that alley while I dragged the bag of clothes in my right hand along. Finally, I reached the alley, but I leaned against the wall at first so that I could hear what they were saying to the girl.

“You're friends of Z- euh, that guy? I met him a few days ago and we...get...along quite well, why?”, she just mumbled and I frowned. She had avoided my name. Did she know those guys weren't good for her? No way, she's too naïve for that.

“Oh, so you're rather close now?”, one of the guys asked her and my heart skipped a beat. They had tried to do this with Yongguk-hyung too, I had to interrupt her before she could say anything wrong. Those guys weren't supposed to know where I was living. It was already too fatal that they knew where I normally lived.

The girl hesitated and I took out my phone in a hurry, sending her a message as fast as I could while she replied. “Uhm, well... I don't know...” Very good, just don't tell them anything.

Send.

She started talking about necklaces all of a sudden and I had to suppress a snort. That girl, really. But why wouldn't the message arrive?! There! Her ringtone! She used the message as an excuse to get away from them, saying that her father would be mad if she didn't return home on the spot – an obvious lie to me, but the two other guys were too dumb to notice it. I almost started breathing again when I heard one of the guys asking again:

“Wait. I'd really like to know your name...”

Okay, enough, I had to step in before that girl made a mistake. Plus, they wouldn't be able to catch me as long as there were that many people walking up and down the street. I just had to lose them before we reached the girl's house and everything would be alright. I took a deep breath before stepping behind her to examine the situation.

One of my two opponents had grabbed her wrist and I took her other one to pull her away from him. “None of your business”, I hissed and I could contentedly see their eyes widen shock. Obviously two new guys to the organization, they didn't know I was badly injured because of that fight in the park. “I don't know you yet, let me tell you that you chose the wrong organization to be a part of.” I showed them an evil smirk that made me look more confident than I actually was. “Tell him, I won't stay your puppet, will ya?”

That's when I turned around, the bag with clothes in one and the girl's wrist in the other hand and started running. Running hurt, but it didn't matter at that moment. I just had to lose those guys, because I had seen from the corners of my eyes that they wanted to go after us. Not today.

“Who are these guys?”, the girl asked and I looked at her for a split second.

“I thought they wouldn't find me this fast, but let's just run for now. Just for your information: They are not my friends.”

“You don't say”, the girl hissed already starting to pant, but my clutch was resolute and I didn't let her have a pause until we reached her house.

Soora's POV

Good thing my house wasn't that far away. I didn't know what I'd have done if I had to run more than two kilometers. I didn't manage to open the door, because I was shaking, gasping for air and handed the keys to Zelo to help me. He, on the other hand, seemed to be just a little bit exhausted, his breathing calmed down after a minute or two. Good thing Hye-sun wasn't at home while I was wheezing like an angry rhino...

I kind of perished on our corridor's ground after closing the door as Zelo walked into the kitchen. Only seconds later, he returned and handed me a glass of water with an amused face. “Playing golf and riding horses? My , you should do marathon training instead.”

I hesitantly sat up and took the glass with a glare at him. “Your legs are too long, I couldn't keep up”, I tried to excuse my bad condition, but he just snorted with a raised eyebrow as I took a sip of the refreshing drink. “Thanks though”, I mumbled meekly.

“Yeah yeah, I don't care. You didn't tell them anything, did you?”, he skipped my accusations by rolling with his eyes and I shook my head before taking another sip of water.

“I didn't”, I gasped. “There was something fishy about them, it was quite obvious.” Zelo raised his eyebrow to show his disbelief and he didn't need to say anything to make me understand what he was about to ask. “No, I'm not too naïve to notice something like that, alright? Why is everybody thinking that of me?!”

He shrugged and lifted his hands as if to defend himself. “I didn't say anything”, he replied while starting to take of his shoes and I finally managed to calm down a little. “But say, what makes them different from me? Why do you think I am trustworthy?” I almost overheard him mumbling that, but as I did, I thought about the question. What indeed?

“Maybe it's the fact that you looked helpless back then while those two looked like complete noobs?”, I suggested, making him snort.

“How does that make them the bad guys?”, Zelo asked again, but didn't expect another reply.

I leaned against the wall with a crooked smirk. “Well, I've seen guys like them before, when I was still a child. They wanted to kidnap me to blackmail my dad. All they wanted was money. Stupid, huh? They'd land in jail anyway-”

“Kch”, Zelo interrupted me, seemingly angry. I frowned, he didn't look at me but at his clenched fists. “Yeah, stupid, right?”, he growled. “If only you knew how often these guys aren't caught... Well-” He stood up with a wheeze. “Maybe it's different when you have too much money.” He really seemed annoyed, but I didn't understand what he meant.

I sighed, confused by his difficult behavior. “Is your chest alright? Does it hurt?”

He shook his head and turned to leave. “It doesn't, so don't act as if you care.”

I took off my shoes too and stood up before grasping the bag with Zelo's new tops and handed it to him. “I do care... But I won't pester you with that topic now... Oh...” I glanced in the bag. “Too bad I didn't get to buy you some trousers. We'll have to go again soon...”, I mumbled and he took the bag away in a sassy way.

“I hate shopping”, he uttered, but bit his lower lip before turning around and leaving for his room. Just before he closed the door, letting me stand alone in the corridor, he stopped for a split second, glancing back at me. “Thanks though.” Click. Door closed.

But I felt kind of happy, just because I had finally managed to educe a sincere “Thanks” from the cold Zelo.

Yaaay, wild chases and stuff!! :D ....not, but well xD

I'm kind of done with positioning the basement, the drama is to come. I have a complete page full with keywords that only describe the main story's so please look forward to it! (It will take me some time to get there though. I don't want to end this when I'm halfway done, sorry. Be prepared for at least 20 more chapters ^^)

Uhm...yeah, I hope you like it, no matter how slow I am in writing and updating! I have exams coming up here in Germany and I'm already writing chapters in advance to be able to update at least once every two weeks ;_; So sorry for making you wait this long!!!

Have a nice day and leave some comments if you have some time to spare~~

~Kirin