However, Zelo was still there the next day. And he woke me up as always: by taking my blanket and not returning it until I was so mad at him I was completely awake. I can't believe I let him do that with me, but hey, I hadn't been late for two weeks straight and that was kind of a new record, so who was I to blame?

Sohee ran up to me at school as if the world was about to end, telling me how worried she was when I didn't show up at school and I had to laugh at her. I pretended to be sick, it was no big deal. Well, actually I had really been sick, but nobody except for Daehyun and Zelo knew so why should I tell anyone?

Back home, I sat down to do my homework – I know, me doing homework, but the teacher had forced me to, because I had to turn it in during the next lesson. I hate my teacher. I was about to have an existential crisis and had my head on the table, when Zelo came out of his room to steal some jelly. However, he noticed me with a frown before he could walk back into his room and walked up to me instead.

“Are you alright?”, he asked as I ruffled my hair with a sound of frustration.

“I hate math”, I growled helplessly when I felt him sit down next to me.

“Come on, let me have a look at it.” I glanced up from the corners of my eyes to find him with a spoonful of jelly in his mouth as he forced me to raise my head so that he could get to my book. “Which task?”

“Number 2. Come on, this is advanced mathematics in its most evil form, you can't possibly-”

“Just because I dropped out of school doesn't mean I wasn't smart”, he interrupted me, too concentrated to notice that he had just revealed something about himself. Sooo, he had quit school earlier? Why? And who had payed for the education in the first place? Have to ask him about that later, I thought while watching him take the pencil with a confident gesture.

He's just showing off. Why would he know how to deal with vectors, he can't- “Look, this is the result, it's easy.” Zelo pointed at a number on his sheet of paper.

Wait, what? “How did you do that?!”, I exclaimed in surprise, staring at him as if he was some kind of weird alien. Who knows, maybe he was? “I mean, I was literally sitting here for half an hour and you just solved this damn problem?!”

He grinned at me. “Sorry that you're stupid.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Come on, I insulted you so often already, when are you going to accept it as the truth?”, he mumbled with an evil smirk. “But look, this is how it's done...” Zelo leaned over, scribbling something on my notepad and I backed away a little when he came a little too close. His gaze was mocking me. “You're too predictable, it's no fun teasing you at all”, he pouted before leaning back to give me back my space and started explaining the problem.

He was right. After about five minutes, I got what he had done and after another ten minutes, I got the same result. Now that was interesting, how come he was explaining everything way better than my own teacher or even better than Daehyun?! The latter had tried to explain it earlier, but I didn't understand a thing and now here I was solving math problems? “And then you just have to use this as reference point. Got it?”

“I-I think so”, I mumbled.

“Are you less stupid now?”

“Yah, stop insulting me!”, I shouted in frustration, but he just laughed.

“Teasing you makes my time here pass by more quickly. I can't wait to be free again so don't take away the only fun I have, okay?”, he replied with a wink and I hesitated for a second.

“Don't you feel safe here?”, I asked with a silent voice.

Zelo raised an eyebrow while standing up and stretching his back. “That's not the point. Being safe doesn't imply you're free. It's the other way round: Safety means being imprisoned. That's what I learned during my childhood, you know?” He took his empty package of jelly to the kitchen before returning and leaning at the door frame.

It was time to ask him then. “What exactly happened in your childhood?”, I asked carefully, examining his expression to guess what he was thinking and I saw an inner conflict. It had been the same with me when I wanted to tell him about Mom. He was wondering whether he should tell me or not.

Zelo looked at his, still badly injured, hand with a sigh. “Tomorrow.”

“Huh?”
“I'll tell you tomorrow when we're at the orphanage, okay?” We stayed quiet for a few seconds with me staring at him in disbelief and him staring back. “I-If you come along...Only if you're really that interested, of course. I can also just leave it the way it is and-”

“No, no, it's fine. I just didn't think you'd tell me anything, because you seem to hate me”, I interrupted him in a hurry and he snorted.

“You want me to tell you the truth? I didn't think I would either. And I think it's not hate anymore. More like...'not yet convinced'...”, Zelo mumbled with a shrug before turning around to return to his room but I spoke up once more. Convinced of what?

“Then...would you mind telling me your actual name? Zelo is kind of weird...”

He looked back at me with an amused face. “Sorry, but hell would have to freeze over to tell you my name, girl.” Seems like I need to ask heaven a favor then. The door to Zelo's room clicked, signalizing me that he was back in his room and I glanced at my homework. I was done! Thanks to him, I was done with my homework!

A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth as I put the stuff away and went to the sofa, scrolling through some news on my phone. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

Did I really want to know why Zelo was chased? Probably not.

Would I still listen attentively? Probably, yes.

The familiar sound signalized me that I had received a text and I took out my phone.

From: Yongguk

“How's Zelo doing?”

That mysterious guy. I wasn't quite sure whether I should like him or not. I mean, he seemed to support Zelo in any way that was possible and I still didn't know whether he was a thief or not guilty at all. It was difficult with both of them. Still, I stuck to my promise and told Yongguk something about Zelo every once in a while.

“Fine. Eating jelly as always. Did you know he was good at maths? He's really smart!”

“Just because he dropped out of school doesn't mean he's an idiot, you know?”

I smirked, barely holding in a chuckle. “That's exactly what he told me too. You've got a nice foster brother, no matter what he has done in the past. We should meet some day too, you know?”

“Right, we should. Maybe in a few days...We'll see. You know what day tomorrow is, right?”

“Sure, I'm coming along.”

“That's good. Help him a little, the kids are hard to tame, you know?”

“Yes sir! °^°”

I didn't get another message which is why I just shoved my phone into my pants' pockets, thinking about what type of guy Yongguk might be. According to how much he cared about Zelo, he was probably a bit overprotective. On the other hand, he let Zelo run around and knew that he was chased, which is why he seemed careless too... And why did he know the kids from the orphanage? I didn't know how to judge that man, I couldn't even imagine what he looked like.

“Zelo?”, I shouted through the house just to hear the door open after a few looong seconds.

I heard him stop walking for a split second, but he then shuffled into the living room with a bed head and a yawn scratching the back of his head. “What?”, he mumbled.

I snorted a little at the sight. “Don't tell me you fell asleep in twenty minutes”, I chuckled, but he just glared at me... A glare that lost its effectiveness after another tiny yawn of his and he signalized me to keep talking. “What does Yongguk look like?”

He frowned, suddenly wide awake. “Why do you want to know? He looks like a human.”

I rolled with my eyes while he was sitting down on the other side of the table, facing me. “You don't say, stick-figure. I mean, do you have a picture or anything like that? I'm curious!”

“Way too curious, girl”, he mumbled, resting his head on his hands with a tired blink.

Think of something! Anything will do! “I mean...”, I started with an amused grin. “He has to look like a dwarf compared to you, right? Does he have a beard or anything? It would be funny. You know, like in the Lord of the Rings!” I really had that thought on my mind, to be honest: A little, bearded, dwarfish man of maybe 30 years who was always looking gloomy. It was an interesting image, come on, admit it!

Zelo raised an eyebrow in confusion, his mouth twitching as if he wasn't sure whether he should laugh or be angry at me for that statement of mine. “He's still taller than grape-head, you know?”, was his only comment before he rolled with his eyes and turned away once more. I could still see a tiny smirk.

“But he has a full beard?”, I kept digging, making Zelo snort as he couldn't hold in his amusement anymore.

“No! Yongguk-hyung is no dwarf! He's...aish, you're irritating me. I'm not sure whether I should actually tell you anything when you're-”

“Okay, I'll keep quiet!”, I shouted with wide eyes and started up. “I won't say another word until tomorrow, I promise!”

Zelo chuckled, walked up to me and poked my forehead. “Good girl”, he replied before sitting down on the sofa to watch some TV. “You don't know what things I could do to you if you didn't stop talking”, he growled with an evil undertone and I wasn't sure whether he was joking or not...both was possible.

Still, I kept my promise, I made sure to do so. I didn't want to lose this chance to get to know Zelo a bit more after all, right?

We ate, I talked to Hye-sun and pointedly only to her and I'm sure he noticed, because he sometimes glanced at me with an amused sparkle in his eyes, but he didn't say anything. The day ended quietly...

...and the new one began.

Once again, Zelo stole my blanket, exposing me to the cold air and waking me up immediately. After I got up slowly, Hye-sun asked me whether we had become close friends by now, but we both denied it in a hurry. “There's no way I could befriend that stray. Nothing but my servant”, I mumbled with wide eyes, glancing at Zelo.

“Right, she's not even pretty”, he murmured in reply, making me glare at him – the most evil glare I have ever managed to produce.

“Excuse me?!”

“Nothing but the truth”, Zelo replied with his hands held up high as if he'd surrender, but Hye-sun smacked him on the head.

“This time it was really rude, young man”, she scolded him half-heartedly and winked at him. “But I'll let you go for once.”

“Unnie!”, I shouted, earning nothing but laughter from the other two, causing me to pout. “Kch, you're all stupid.”

Zelo raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “If you want something positive ask grape-head or rainbow-hair-man”, he suggested and even though I knew they were joking – they were, right? – I decided to do exactly that when I arrived at school to test my oppa.

I didn't say another word until I sat in the car and Jongmin drove me to school. “Hey, Soora, how are you?”, I heard his voice behind me and I turned around to face Daehyun, as cheerful as always.

“Dae-oppa, am I pretty?”, I asked bluntly and he froze for a second, his eyes becoming extremely large.

“S-Sure...I mean, of course!...W-why would anyone say no?”, he stuttered along and I grinned at him. Such a gentleman, this guy. He was really just like Jin-oppa back then...

I shrugged. “Just thinking about some things and I was wondering what others think of me”, I mumbled, but I felt the familiar warmth inside that appeared when I was with Jongup or Daehyun. It was just the unconventionality of our conversations that made me feel at ease sometimes. Still, I don't know why I was so obsessed with having somebody tell me I'm pretty...I guess it's a thing girls do, but I don't know. “Let's go to our class, I even did my homework!”, I shouted, grabbing Daehyuhn's sleeve to drag him along.

“You did your homework? How?”, Daehyun chuckled in disbelief and I glared at him jokingly before facing forward again.

“Zelo helped me.”

“That guy knows mathematics?”, the other kept asking and I was sure there was some kind of condescension in his voice...just a teeny tiny bit.

“Yah, you knew it before you came here, too. Just because he's not wealthy-”

“I know, I know. Still not convinced”, Daehyun mumbled, but we didn't keep talking about that topic.

I don't know why, but it seems like there's some dunamental mistrust between Zelo and Daehyun...Not even Jongup, who knows in what miserable state Zelo arrived at my house, is judging me for letting him live with me, but Daehyun...It's complicated.

The bell couldn't ring fast enough. Just when the sound of freedom could be heard, I clapped my book shut, stuffed it into my bag and almost ran out of the classroom to get to Jongmin before all the other cars could block our way. I almost ripped the door open and threw myself on the passenger seat with excitement sparkling in my eyes. “Let's go, let's go!”, I squealed, biting my lower lip when I noticed Jongmin's confused stare.

“Are you sure you're...alright...Miss?”, he mumbled slowly and I nodded, embarrassed because I couldn't conceal my feelings.

“Ehem”, I coughed. “S-sure...I'm just...Ah, no problem. Just drive me home please.” He blinked a few times before accelerating a little, a concerned look on his face. “Why are you frowning?”, I asked after some time, because it was rare to see something like that when it came to Jongmin.

“You've been telling me everything since I work for your family. Why do you keep quiet now? It seems important.” My eyes widened. Jongmin had listened to all my complaints and opinions, every time I talked? And now I was keeping a secret from him, because I didn't want to concern him with Zelo.

“It's something I don't want to bother you with. I can't always tell you everything, I found out recently. Everybody has his little secrets, right?”, I replied shyly, looking out of the window, but I could feel Jongmin's glances even though I didn't see him.

“I guess you're growing up then, hm?”, he asked after some time, but it was more like a statement, no real question. I thought about it for a moment.

“Maybe”, I whispered distantly. Only two weeks ago, I had had nothing to do with the poorer people's problems, I had experienced nothing but good things, except for Mom's death. Then, Zelo came and I found out that this world isn't sugar and rainbows for everybody and my way of thinking changed. Maybe I was growing up.

But on the other hand, maybe I was just a kid, trying to understand what it couldn't.

The next chapter will be very important, I'm not good at filling the gaps in my story, I'm sorry xD

Random chapter image is random xD