Zelo's POV

The whole apartment consisted of two actual rooms. There was one big bed settee in the middle of the main room we stood in and it was buried under a pile of like three blankets. In one corner, there was our TV, next to a cupboard and in the other corner, there was a small built-in kitchen. The room next to the big one was the bathroom and that was it. I could see it in her eyes: She didn't know how to react. I knew it now: She would leave me alone, run away. Was I glad? Well, at least I knew I shouldn't trust her now. But I was disappointed as well. Why? Don't ask me.

“Let's sit down for now, okay?”, Yongguk-hyung said and I casually made my way over to the fridge, looking inside to find a pile of jelly-packages. A little smile played around the corners of my lips and I took out one of them. Yongguk-hyung had been waiting for me to return and that made me happy. When I looked at hyung and the girl again, it was even more confusing that they seemed to know each other, since they couldn't be any more different. The girl was obviously feeling uneasy, still standing at the door, while Yongguk had casually sat down on the pile of blankets I had missed so much in the past weeks and I walked up to him, sitting down with our backs leaning against each other. His scent made me relax – it was the scent of safety. Sorry, that sounded kind of gay and no, I'm not interested in my own Hyung.

“I missed you, Hyung. The fancy people are difficult”, I mumbled while stuffing my mouth full of jelly and Yongguk chuckled.

“I can imagine it, little one. So, Soora-sshi, why don't you sit down?”, he replied with warmth in his voice and I frowned, turning my head towards her. And now he was even being polite? Okay, Yongguk was always polite, but it was somehow upsetting to me.

“Come on, sit”, I ordered impatiently. “Where do you know each other from?” It was really bothering me that I had tried to keep her away from Yongguk-hyung and now it came out that they already knew each other. It's a strange small world, huh?

The girl blinked a few times and swallowed before taking a step towards us, but she then kicked an empty energy drink by accident that made some noise. I hadn't noticed it until then, but the ground was full with clothes or more blankets, making the actual ground almost invisible. One of our chairs was even knocked over. So that was her problem. And it was confusing me too. I put on an unconcerned expression, and tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but it was. Yongguk was a neat person and this was unusual. I glanced at him and saw a dark bruise on his jaw, almost throwing away my jelly when I spun around in a hurry. This wasn't just a normal mess, something had happened. Something bad.

“They got you, right? Were they here?”, I asked urgently and didn't care that the concern in my voice was clearly audible. That girl should think whatever she wanted to, I was willing to let the emotions through when it was about my hyung. I touched the mark and he flinched, forcing me to stop.

“It's okay. He was a newby, this was just a lucky punch, because I didn't recognize him as one of them”, he assured and tried to calm me down when the girl at the door, whom I had forgotten for an instant, started talking.

“Uhm...I...I need air”, she stated silently. “I'll be back in a few minutes, sorry.” And thus, she stormed out of the door, leaving me alone in the mess with my bruised big brother and the still unanswered question, why they knew each other. I could hear her loud footsteps on the stairs and grinned a tiny bit. It had worked. My plan had worked. She wouldn't stick her nose into stuff that didn't concern her anymore and that was all I had wanted to achieve. But...my insides seemed to cramp at the same time.

“Hey”, Yongguk-hyung's deep voice sounded and I met his eyes, flinching immediately. They were reproachful and I childishly raised my head a bit more. “What's with that girl? Why did you bring her here?”

I shrugged, trying to calm down. Hey, everything's good, right? Right. But I had to frown at the tone of his voice. Was he...concerned? “Who cares? But tell me: How did you know her? Come on now, tell me!”

Yongguk stood up and I almost fell over as I had been leaning against him. “On the day you ran away from home, we...saw each other.”

“I didn't run away”, I pouted, eating the rest of my jelly. “I just grabbed the chance to stay alive. What's wrong with that? But you like that girl, don't you? You seem concerned.” Yongguk looked away from me, scratching the back of his head. and I raised an eyebrow. “You only do that when you're embarrassed. Tell me!” I grew more and more impatient, but who wouldn't in my situation?

“She...she gave me food”, he admitted, still avoiding my gaze and I snorted.

“Food? That's it? What's there to be embarrassed about? I got food from her for the last two weeks and-”

“I'm not a beggar, Junhong”, hyung retorted angrily and I flinched when he called me by my name. And how did living at the girl's house make me a beggar? She had made me stay in the first place! “I was running from the Untouchables, unable to get home for a whole day and a half and I had no money with me. She gave me something to eat and I'm very thankful because of that. And now tell me:” He leaned closer to me, his eyes piercing mine. “What did you want to achieve by dragging her here?”

Soora's POV

I needed air. I had to get out of that house. I didn't think about what to do to get back into that...room Zelo had called his home, but that wasn't important. I had to walk. To think. To process everything. I didn't look at the houses around me, but I had a goal: The jungle-like park I had seen before.

“This can't be it, right? This can't be a normal life. Right?”, I mumbled over and over again. Okay, you may judge me, but I was completely shocked by the conditions Zelo lived in. I had seen some messy rooms already. Himchan's, Jonguppie's...they were all a little...hard to get used to, but this was too much for me.

I had just passed by the small and run down gate of the park, absorbing the scent of the flowers that were still blooming, even though it was October and most of them should have died by then. “How can anybody live there?”, I asked silently, sitting down on a bench that was overrun with moss. For someone like me, someone who didn't know despair, it was hard to believe it.

Still, the way he was acting in front of Yongguk made my heart warm up a little. A tiny blue flower to my right attracted my gaze and I bent down to look at it while my brain was working and working. “I guess there can always grow something beautiful”, I whispered, taking a look around. “Even in a place like this.”

I was trying to understand it. I really was, but I actually knew couldn't completely get what made this place seem safe to Zelo. How come he wasn't feeling well in my house? It was big, warm, clean... and Yongguk isn't there. Could that be it? Yongguk? But why would the presence of someone change your opinion of what was safe and what wasn't? One person couldn't keep you from getting wet when it rained, either.

I closed my eyes, leaning back on the bench. There was something I had missed out, I was sure. Did I even know how this world worked? All this time, I had thought that Zelo needed to be taught what it was like to trust and to be trusted, but in the end... In the end...

A sad sigh escaped my lips and I glanced at the flower once more. “In the end it was me who didn't know anything, right?” I looked up at the sky, a tear escaping my eye. “Right, Mom?”

Zelo's POV

“What do you mean by: 'What did you want to achieve'?” I tried to get out of this situation by denying the facts. “I felt like it. Got a problem with that?”

My rebelliousness was crashed only moments later, when Yongguk squinnied. “Junhong, you're a liar.”

I sighed in distress, standing up so that I could look down on Yongguk-hyung instead of having it the other way round. “Fine! Yes, I had an intention!”, I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air while kicking one of the empty cans through the whole room. “I wanted her to see our apartment. I wanted her to see how I live. She's rich, you know? She doesn't know what it's like to be the way we are. She doesn't know a thing!”, I exclaimed, sudden anger rushing through my whole body as I felt the urge to kick or punch something. All there was within reach was Yongguk and I raised my right hand, the bandaged one, but took a deep breath while remaining in that position. You mustn't punch your Hyung, Zelo, are you nuts?

“Go ahead.” My eyes widened and I stared at Yongguk, whose eyes were as calm as before again. “Hit me if it makes you happy.” He raised his chin, pointing at the dark bruise on his tanned skin. “Right here. If it makes you happy to be like them”, he continued, looking at me without any emotion on his face.

I lowered my fist in a hurry, looking at the ground. “Hyung, I'm sorry. I didn't think-”

“When did you actually think during the past weeks?” My eyes returned to his once more and this time, I was hurt. He glanced at my wounded hand, grabbing it and examining it. “Was your purpose accomplished?”, he asked silently as he started scanning the bandage with a frown.

“Yes...No...I mean”, I groaned, sitting down on the couch and hyung followed me. “I don't know.” What did I just say? Why didn't I know it? I had wanted to shock her with the apartment, right? Well, that had worked better than I expected. But why was I feeling guilty and not happy?! “Basically, I wanted her to be creeped out”, I explained, not knowing what to look at. Yongguk stayed quiet, but I couldn't stand the silence. “I'm a bad guy, right?”

“You are.” His mouth was nothing but a thin line and I felt myself shrink in my seat as Yongguk unwrapped my arm, revealing the bruised knuckles. “Does this hurt?”, he asked as he applied a little bit of pressure to the hand and I flinched with a hiss, because of the sudden pain.

“I...yes...”, I admitted quietly, biting my lower lip.

Yongguk nodded. A few more seconds passed until he spoke up again, the mood becoming more and more gloomy. “You don't seem happy about the fact that your plan worked.”

I swallowed. “I'm not.”

“Then why are you sitting here, talking to me, when you could actually run after her?”

I pulled my arm back, looking at Yongguk. “I don't know what to do. I don't know anything.”

He lightly smacked the back of my head, standing up and setting me on my feet at the same time. “Then I'll tell you: Bring her back here and I'll clean up this mess... Now move. Understood?” I nodded as he pushed me out of the room, through the door. “You got your keys?” I nodded once more. “Okay, see you later then. Drawing in your horns isn't allowed here. You should know that.” Thus, he closed the door, leaving me in the silent stairway and I blinked a few times before beginning to move.

Bring her back... If only I knew how to convince her. But I don't want her to intrude... Zelo, be honest. Aren't you looking for someone you can trust? Now move those stick-like legs.

“Girl?”, I shouted over and over again, not caring about the neighbors I'd wake up that way. How come I still hadn't called her by her name? It was hard for me to say the name of someone who wasn't my friend. That's why I didn't even try to memorize them in the first place. “Hey, where did you run off to? Come on, just give me a sign, I know you're here somewhere!” I sighed and let my shoulders fall when I reached the park. What if she had run home? Probably not, that was too far away and she didn't know where she was.

I wanted to raise my voice again, but then, I spotted someone inside the so-called jungle. “Hey?”, I asked while slowly walking up to the person. It was her. She spun around with wide eyes, as if she was a rabbit that was about to be eaten by the snake.

“Hi”, she mumbled, putting a strand of hair behind her ear as I sat down beside her, not exactly knowing what to say. We sat there for about a minute and I glanced at her to find her listening to the birds' singing with closed eyes.

“Yongguk and I aren't actually pack rats”, I started carefully and she opened her eyes with a sigh, but didn't say anything and I felt like I had to keep talking. “I heard you met him on the day we met?”

She nodded. “I didn't know it was him though.” I swallowed, trying to think of something else to say.

“Are you getting why I didn't want you to know about me or my past now? It's no world for you”, I mumbled to make her understand my actions, but she shook her head.

“I don't understand it.” I was about to say something else, but she raised her hand to stop me. “I don't understand why this place is creeping me out.”

I remained serious, staring at her while she was looking at a flower to our right. “Are you afraid?” She nodded slowly and my body tensed up. There, she had confirmed it.

“But shouldn't I...” She took another deep breath. “Shouldn't I just accept things the way they are instead of forcing them to fit into my own imagination? So what if I'm afraid, as long as you feel safe here, why should I judge anything?”

That's when she turned to look at me and my breath stopped for a second as I tried to get her words. The warmth in her eyes was confusing me, because there was the trail of a single tear that had dried on her cheek at the same time. Didn't she say that she's afraid just now? Then why isn't she running from me? “Ex-Excuse me?”, I asked and she shrugged, stretching her back.

“You like this place for a reason I can't understand, but why should I stop trying to? You see that flower?”, she said, pointing at the tiny blue thing to our right and I nodded with a frown.

“I think Yongguk-hyung calls it cornflower, why?”

“You're too scientific, that's not the point. Don't you think this park has gone wild?” I nodded again, not knowing where this was leading to, but she just smiled, some kind of sadness in her eyes, confusing me even more. “Never mind, let's go back...You said you weren't pack rats? Then why was your apartment a mess?”

I frowned, standing up and following her to the park's exit. Why was she suddenly talking about it so casually? This girl was hard to understand and I figured that this was how she was seeing me too. I wanted to know what she was thinking and so did she probably think of me. “It was one of the Untouchables”, I stated and the girl spun around with wide eyes.

“They know where you are living?”, she asked, causing me to chuckle.

“They know my phone number, of course they know where I live. I'm making Hyung's life quite difficult, I guess...”

The girl slowed down to walk beside me, putting her hands into her jacket's pockets. “He didn't seem to be bothered back then. He was only worried about you.”

I casually raised an eyebrow to cover my actual surprise. “Back then? You mean, when you fed him?”

She flinched with a shy smile. “Ah, that... I didn't feed him, he was just hungry and I-”

“Thank you for that.” I couldn't hold back a grin when she stared at me, wide open. “What?”, I asked with a chuckle. “Am I not allowed to say thank you anymore? Is it something a beggar shouldn't say?”

“You're not a beggar!”, she retorted in shock, obviously thinking that she had done something wrong. “Neither is Yongguk. I just...I'm sorry for reacting like that earlier...I couldn't handle that atmosphere and-”

“Never mind”, I interrupted her with a wave of my hand. “Everything's fine the way it is now. Neither of us were killed by the Untouchables and that's what counts, beggar or not. Now let's go, Yongguk-hyung was embarrassed, because you saw that mess after he was defeated by one of those pigs, but now that I know that you don't care about that, we can leave it the way it is and live in a pile of trash. Yay!”

She didn't seem to get my sarcasm, stuttering a silent: “I wouldn't mind if you cleaned up a little” and I snorted as I took out my keys to get back into the house, not noticing the person that was peeking out of one of the houses across the street.

This one's really long, I apologize, but I didn't want to split it after I already had to split it from the next chapter xD

I love all my readers and I will try to be more active, but I just didn't have the time, I'm sorry! ;^; Still, I know there are some of you who will wait, no matter how long and that makes me happy <3

Now, Zelo, don't be that prejudiced, what's your problem?! He's really hard to convince of anything, that's the thing with tsundere-characters, but it's so much fun writing this xD

Thank you for reading, I love you~

Kirin~