We didn't have any problems and arrived at home safely. I thanked Jongmin, sending him home for the day, it was 8pm after all and he shouldn't always have to worry about us. I promised him that we wouldn't leave the house anymore and that he could return to his wife, which he did after another meaningful glare he shot Zelo. Great, how everybody likes Zelo here. Gosh, what was so bad about him? They didn't know anything!

Well, I wasn't the one to talk, I guess... However, after we had entered the house, Hye-sun stood in the middle of the hallway, blocking the path, and raised an eyebrow. “Where have you been for the past six hours?”, she asked, examining my expression first before moving on to Zelo.

I looked at the ground in repentance. “We should have told you, we already ate...”

“You ate... for six hours?” Zelo and I nodded, glancing at each other. It was clear that he didn't want me to mention the orphanage, but it would make this seem kind of shady if we didn't find a good explanation.

“Well, we...walked down a few roads and passed by some shops, but yes, actually, we only left to eat something”, Zelo explained with a yawn and I think I might have believed him, but Hye-sun didn't and I saw in her eyes that she was about to scold us.

“Zelo fell asleep!”, I tried to save this conversation. “I didn't want to wake him up and let him sleep in the restaurant...that's it, sorry for not contacting you... He's pretty sleepy now... Oh, I should go check my mails!”

Hye-sun sighed. “Fine, I'll let you off this time. Don't you ever leave without telling me again, understood? I'm worrying about you!”, she muttered and I nodded.

“Sure! I just forgot the time today! Sorry!” And with these words, I ran up the stairs and Zelo was quick to lock himself in his room before she could decide that she should scold us anyway. I took a deep breath and my phone rang.

From: stick-figure

“Are you always this controlled when leaving your house?”

I chuckled to myself, because he didn't even dare to come out of his room. Hye-sun's glare seemed to have hit him hard. “When I don't tell her where I am, yes. It's like that sometimes when I'm out with Jongup.”

“No wonder you never went to a club or anything. It would be a disaster if you came back late at night!”

“But say, could you send me the picture we took with the kids?”

I grinned and did as he said, pressing 'send' when I got an idea. I opened the feed with Yongguk's messages, sending him the same picture. “We ate pizza together~”

It was interesting to see how he always replied within a few minutes. I checked the news of the day online when my phone buzzed.

“Wait...That girl...You seem familiar? Strange, but I don't remember where I've seen you before...maybe I'm wrong. The kids look so happy and Zelo seems fine, I'm glad °v°”

I stared at the tiny screen in disbelief. It wasn't the fact that he seemed to know me somehow (okay, I was a little confused), but the sudden appearance of an emoticon. Yongguk had only replied in a few short sentences, which was the maximum, but now....suddenly, a “°v°” appeared. That man was full of surprises.

“Hm...I'll try to convince Zelo of visiting you with me in a few days, maybe he'll agree and we'll find out then~ Yes, the kids were sooo happy (\^o^/)”

“You think he'll listen to you?”

“Maybe, why not?”

That seemed to make him think. Maybe he wanted to find another explanation beside “Because you're not me” and I waited for his answer. Yongguk stayed quiet for a few more minutes and I smirked in satisfaction while going through the daily news. Wait, Jin-oppa had posted something. “Psy is so popular in America, I can't believe it. Whenever I tell someone that I'm Korean, they'll immediately start singing Gangnam Style... Let me tell you that they have no talent concerning the korean language at all. NONE of them! *cries in a corner*” Poor Jin-oppa. Surrounded by foreigners. I should visit him when I have some time to spare during vacation time, I thought, making it a point on my To-Do-List.

I raised an eyebrow and thought about what Zelo had told me while eating. Seokjin. Choi Seokjin... It can't be, right? They don't look alike...do they? Should I look at some pictures or ask him-NO. Zelo doesn't want to know it yet and I won't try to find out on my own. That'd be wrong.

Pling. I grabbed my phone, banning the thoughts about Jin from my mind. Not now, maybe later. “He doesn't listen to anyone...But if you can do it, you have my respect.”

“Alright, I'll try to convince him. Would Sunday be okay with you?”

“Euh...yeah...I'll get going, bye. Thanks for the pic, I like it a lot.”

“Sure, byebye~~”

Ha. This was fun. I didn't know whether I should tell him that I knew everything or not. It was more fun if he didn't know, I figured after a short time of thinking, chuckling silently as the door creaked and made me spin around. “Stick-figure! Ever heard of knocking?”

Zelo was peeking inside my room, his hair wet from taking a shower. “Why? Do you have anything to hide?”, he replied teasingly and I gritted my teeth while switching off the phone's screen unobtrusively. “So you actually are hiding something? You're a bad girl after all, I knew it”, he kept teasing and my eyes widened.

“Yah, what are you thinking?! I'm not a ert!”, I exclaimed and he raised his hands with a smirk.

“Joking, girl. Joking”, he reassured me, glancing through a curtain of damp hair that was almost covering his eyes and I leaned back on my chair.

“It's Soora. Please memorize it. So, what do you want?” I had finally figured out that he was often teasing me before asking for something casually. It was obvious that he did it this time too.

His expression changed from superior to shy and he bit his lower lip. “Oh...nothing...Just looking how you're doing-”

“If there wasn't anything you wouldn't be here right now. Spit it out.”

He sighed as he realized that I had seen through him – it took me 2 whole weeks, he had been hard to crack – and scratched the back of his head. “Fine, you got me. Could you bandage my chest again? It's not easy with just one hand...I think I won't need it very long, the pain is going away pretty fast....and if you don't have time, it's okay, I don't really-”
I rolled with my eyes, but thought that his shy behavior was very interesting to observe at the same time. “Just shut up and take off your hoodie”, I ordered, noticing too late how mistakable that sounded, even in my own ears, and earned a meaningful look from Zelo. . Stupid comment in 3 – 2 – 1...

He raised an eyebrow, glancing at my bed before frowning half-heartedly. “You gotta do better than that to make me undress.” Idiot.

“You know what I mean, goddammit!”, I shouted, blushing in embarrassment and turning to the computer screen to hide it. That guy would drive me crazy one day, I knew it.

Zelo snorted and muttered something like “innocent lamb” and “no fun” while taking off his hoodie and giving me the white bandage. I sighed, the tips of my ears still burning as we both sat down on the bed and I started wrapping the cloth around his chest as tight as possible to stabilize it. “You have to tell me if it hurts, alright?”, I mumbled absentmindedly.

“Don't worry, I'm tough”, he replied, looking straight forward, avoiding to look at me and I smirked.

“Yes, I know”, I agreed and he frowned at my blunt answer. “I know you're tough.”

It stayed quiet for a few seconds and I guessed that he was processing what I had just said, until he spoke up after clearing his throat. “Uhm...I...have to go to my own house in a few days, I'll go and get some things from Yongguk-hyung, like my laptop, if you don't mind...” I cocked my ears. My, that was easier than expected.

“Let's go on Sunday”, I suggested casually, my eyes not leaving the bandage to make sure it would stay like that.

His eyebrow raised even though he didn't do it on purpose. “Who said you'd come along?”

“Why would you ask for permission if you didn't expect me to do so?”

Bingo. I grinned in satisfaction. “Fine, Sunday then...”, he grumbled, angry at himself for being too predictable. Then, when I attached the end of the bandage to the rest, I noticed something and stopped moving for a second, my hands still resting on the layer of cloth.

Zelo turned around now, his frown deepening. “What's wrong? Did you mess something up?”, he asked, trying to figure out why I was staring at him intensely, but I just shook my head slowly, reaching out with my hand. He got it too late, which is why I was able to take and examine his hand with big eyes.

It was cluttered with scars. Tiny, white scars. So many fights. You wouldn't notice the markings if you didn't know about them, but if you did, they were clearly visible on his already pale skin. My cold fingers slid up his arm until they reached his shoulder and he followed the movement with his eyes, swallowing audibly. There weren't many scars there, but my gaze kept wandering until I saw the one on his belly and I suppressed the urge to touch it. And the urge to cry.

The one he talked about earlier. I couldn't see it that well back then, but it was shining like the other scars now. It was about 10 centimeters long and my eyes widened in sudden realization. He had endured so much more pain than I could actually imagine and I felt sorry for that. Sorry and anxious. Why would anyone let someone else endure so much pain? Those...Untouchables seemed devilish.

I looked up, almost flinching when I met Zelo's piercing eyes that reflected the same fear that I felt at that moment. Fears of the past. Fears of the present. And those of the future. It only lasted a split second, but I felt as if I had finally seen what Zelo was, somewhere deep down in his heart: A child. A damn child that didn't know what to do anymore. Someone I needed to protect instead of having him help me.

I blinked and when I looked at him again, the vulnerability was replaced by disgust. Not directed towards me, but himself, and he stood up in a hurry, picking up his hoodie from the ground as he walked up to the door. I raised too, grabbing his wrist to stop him. “Zelo, wait, let me understa-”

“Leave me alone.”

Zelo broke free from my grasp, leaving without another word. After he was gone, the minutes passed. I couldn't move, processing his words while ignoring the new message on my phone. 'Leave me alone.' “He didn't mean it”, I whispered, knowing that I was right and wrong at the same time. He was longing for someone to help him, and yet he hated it, maybe because he was ashamed. He thought he shouldn't need help, but he wanted it. “I will help you.” The words came out more confident than anything else I had said in the past. I don't know how, but I'll do something to help.

'Leave me alone.' The last words he said until Sunday.

Zelo's POV

“Idiot, why did you ask in the first place?” It had been fifteen minutes since I left that girl's room and I was running up and down my own little chamber like a mad man. Too much had happened. Not only in the evening, but in the afternoon as well. I was doomed. I wanted to punch something, but I figured that my hand would never heal if I kept smashing it against a wall and controlled myself by walking instead.

“You told her everything!” That wasn't the worst that had happened, but I had decided to do this step by step. “Everything! From the beginning up until now. And then you cried.” I stopped for a second, looking at myself in the mirror. Right, I cried. Was my pride hurt? Of course. Did I regret it?...No. And that was the actual thing that confused me. Keep walking, boy. Don't smash the mirror.

I turned away from the reflecting glass to keep walking. “Then, you told her even more! About Seokjin and... I want to know where he is so baldy, but I'm so angry at him at the same time!” He had left me alone after all. Well, where would I have been now if he hadn't brought me to the orphanage? Probably dead in a river. But how dare he not showing any sign in more than ten years?!

“And then...you asked her if she could help you. YOU asked! And then...” I sat down on my bed, my face buried in my hands as I took a rattling breath. “She saw your eyes.” Why was I even talking to myself, it was weird? Some people say you're lonely if you do that. Yongguk-hyung says so... Maybe I should go and apologize. Wait, I didn't do anything wrong, I won't say sorry! But still: She had seen the fear in my eyes when I realized that she saw the scars. I didn't really care about the little ones, but the one on my belly was the sign of my helplessness. I touched the spot where it was hidden under the hoodie and took another deep breath.

“She knows you're not invincible, get over it” I groaned and lay down on the bed, my feet peeking over the wooden edges since I was too tall. “Stop thinking about it. She's not worth it.”

I tried to distract myself by picking up my phone from the nightstand. Would she really come along if I went on Sunday? Maybe I would be able to scare her then. She'll be disgusted when she sees how I'm living, right? It's old and shabby and ugly. She'll hate it, right? She's a rich snob after all, right? Right?! I dialed the number and held the phone against my ear.

“Are you alright?”, Yongguk-hyung's deep voice buzzed in my ear and I felt my body relax a little. His voice had something that calmed me down every time I heard hit.

“Hi, hyung”, I replied. “Yes, I'm fine...Say, would you mind if I came by on Sunday? I still have to get my laptop, it's boring here. Okay?” Yongguk hesitated for a second and I frowned. “Are you alright?”

“S-sure, everything's alright. Yeah, Sunday will be okay.”

I smirked a little, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. “Hyung... Is it okay if I bring someone along? She is... I want to show her how I am living, is that fine with you?”

“Yeah, I-” Yongguk broke off, coughing before correcting himself. “Wait, did you think that...through? I mean, are you sure? And a girl on top?”

The image of her big eyes flashed in my mind and I tried to get rid of it by squeezing my eyes shut, but it didn't work. “I am.” I rubbed my temples with the damaged hand. “Hyung, I have a headache, see you on Sunday...In the morning. Bye.” I ended the call without waiting for a reply and threw my phone back on the small table to my right.

Why wouldn't that stupid girl go out of my mind?! “She saw your fear”, I whispered to answer my own question, laying an arm over my eyes to get rid of the bright lights. “She peeked past the mask of Zelo and spotted the actual me.” No matter how legit my reactions seemed, I felt weak. Too weak to do anything on my own. I had always needed someone else's help, endangering those who I loved because of the deal with the Untouchables.

That's why I didn't want to love them anymore. The word 'love' was banned from my vocabulary for so many years and now, the words just came out without me noticing it. “Leave me alone”, I whispered, my eyes closed. I forgot how to like the people around me. “I didn't mean it the way she probably thinks.” Why did I say it then?
Maybe, because she's just a random, kind of nice person. I can't even say that I liked her when we first met! But did it change? That girl... Is there a reason why I should like her? They are all just pretending to be nice anyway! One wrong action and she'll throw me out. Everyone's the same when it comes to me! They just shut you out one day, afraid of what might come. Everyone's the same! But...

“Leave me alone”, I breathed again, afraid that anyone might hear me through the walls. “Or should I say: Don't get involved.” Why was my mind such a mess when I thought about it? I shouldn't care, but here I was, thinking about that girl. The last time I had told someone to leave me alone, it was while talking to Yongguk. At the very beginning of our brotherhood. What did it mean back then? The answer was obvious, but I had to hear the words in my ears to believe them.

“It means that I don't want you to get hurt.”

UPDATE! Before I start school tomorrow OTL

Thank you for the nice comments and all the subscriptions, have some fluff in return <3 Oooohhh....Is Zelo actually feeling the way I think he does? °v°

~Kirin