We exited the coffee shop, rounded the corner and there it was: A black mini-van from the time before Daehyun's dad had come by some money. It was perfect to go get the things they needed for the café and I was happy that they had kept it. That car had some kind of comfortable feeling and it smelled of coffee and Daehyun's hair colorants.

We just sat there as he was driving me home and I eventually started staring at him. His concentrated face made him look very sincere and you wouldn't think that he was actually a rather shy young man. He noticed my stare after some time and glanced at me for a second. “What is it?”, he asked casually.

“Dark-blue and brown.”

“What are you saying?”, he chuckled nervously as he didn't get it.

I clarified my answer. “The hair-color I liked the most so far was brown. But that dark-blue hair you have at the moment makes you look handsome too, I can't really decide.” He frowned, his gaze still fixed on the street. “To answer your question from earlier.”

“Ah, I see. I like these dark ones too, that's a good thing to hear.” I noticed that I hadn't told him about Zelo yet and wanted to start when his phone rang through the car. “Could you put it on speaker mode?”, he asked me and I nodded, taking his phone and accepting the call.

“Where has my little Daehyunnie gone off to?”, I heard the voice of his mum and he dropped his gaze for a second with an embarrassed smile on his face.

“Umma, I'm taking Soora home at the moment. I'll be back in a few minutes”, he replied, leaning over to the phone.

“Hi, Jung-ahjumma”, I said shyly. “Sorry if this caused trouble, I'll take full responsibility if you needed the car...”

“Ah, that's not it. If it's you it's fine. I just thought he had run off to get away from his homework or something. Right, Daehyunnie?”, she mentioned, making Daehyun even more embarrassed.

“I'm already done with homework, I'm not that unreliable, you know?” The car slowed down and I noticed that we were already there.

“Alright, he'll return now. Sorry again and until next time, Misses Jung!”, I tried to save him and she forgot about teasing him on the spot, which made me earn a thankful smile from Daehyun. “See you tomorrow then, bye bye, Daehyun-oppa”, I whispered while giving him his phone and closing the door.

I stared after him as he left with a smile before sighing and walking up to the front door. He had such a caring mother – Jongup did too. I was the only one who didn't.

There wouldn't be anybody at home, because dad was actually planning on staying at the company from now on until his exhibition ended. No Jongmin, no Hye-sun, as she was helping with the preparations, and no nice person in general.

When I took out my phone there was the feed of Zelo popping up again and I bit my lower lip before sending him another text. “Are you alright?”

But there was no reply.

And that's how the days went by.

Every day was the same: Getting up, getting ready for school, going to school, going to Jongup, sleeping.

That was pretty much it and I just wished that dad's exhibition would finish soon even though I knew it would go on for another month. I sometimes checked my phone, hoping for a message from Zelo, but I didn't exactly know why. I guess I was just too worried about him. Had he been caught already? And what for? I didn't seem to be able to think of something else. He was a stranger, why did I even care?

My phone remained silent.

Then, about a week after the Zelo-incident, Himchan called and I happily accepted it. “Hey sis”, I heard his deep voice buzzing through the speakers and I couldn't help smiling.

“Himchan-oppa!”, I almost squealed, earning an amused chuckle from the other side. “I'm so lonely here. Dad took all the personnel with him to work!”

“Oooh, don't cry little princess, you know I'm there in case you're lonely? You can call anytime!”

“I know, but it's not the same... How is it going in Japan and why are you calling?”

“Everything's fine here. I have a lot of things to do, but I can do it somehow. D-Do I need a reason for calling at home?”

His voice sounded as if he was nervous. “You wouldn't call for nothing. Spit it out!”, I ordered with a laugh.

“Fine... uhm... I wanted to tell you something, you won. You're the first one to know so please don't tell Dad in case you'd see him, okay?” I agreed with a hum, growing more curious with every second.

He hesitated for another moment. “Well...Soora-yah, I found someone I like here. She is like an angel, seriously, and I wanted to tell you that I'm going out with her by now... Uhm... I hope I can bring her with me the next time we meet or you can come visit us...I...well...”

That was kind of bad. No – It was really bad. Dad would be furious when he found out, because Himchan was almost bound to the daughter of some big company's owner. Himchan had played around with other girls quite a lot when he was still in Korea, but it seemed serious this time. “You'll be in trouble. But I'm happy for you”, I answered as I tried to push my doubts aside and I could hear how he sighed in relief.

“I thought you'd be angry or something like that, because of that other girl I don't know. The one I should have married in a few years... Just don't tell Dad before I come to visit again, please.”

I rolled with my eyes even though he couldn't see it. “Be careful, I'll be waiting with my baseball bat when you get here!”

“Soora!”, he answered in shock, making me laugh constrainedly.

“Oh, please. I'm not the one to be mad, it's the old man. If it's love it can't be helped and I sincerely wish you the best of luck with her. I'll stand up for you when you tell Dad.”

“Don't mention it, that will be a very long and unnerving discussion”, he hummed in dissatisfaction when my phone started vibrating in my hand all of a sudden. Of course I thought of Zelo first, my excitement rose. “Oh, Oppa, there's someone else calling me. I'll leave you to your darling then. Please try to visit soon, I miss you! Bye bye~”

“Don't tell me you have a boyfriend? It's strange!”, he growled all of a sudden. “Why are you so excited?”

“I don't. And I don't know, whom it's from, myself. Well then, bye!”

“I'll believe you for now. Don't you dare lying to me! Bye princess. Stay hea-”, he answered, but I hung up in irritation because the call was urgent. I had always been his little princess and eventually, Jongup had started to call me that too. My two overprotective big brothers~

I accepted the other call when I saw the number I had stared at for the past days.

“Yong...guk-hyung? My ph-phone's bat-ttery is l-low”, Zelo's voice breathed at the other end of the line and I frowned. He had called the wrong person, I assumed. But his voice sounded full of pain and it was merely a hiss. “One of them g-got me... Nam-Yeon park. Help.” And then, he hung up. I didn't care whether he had picked the wrong number or something, I couldn't leave him there just because the message wasn't meant for me. I had to help him. (Not that I wasn't curious...)

I called Jongmin in sudden worry. He had to be in real trouble, I figured. “Yeah, Jongmin? Could you take me to Nam-Yeon park? I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I have to get there quickly!”

… “Please, it's about a friend of mine!” He agreed in the end and only a few minutes later, our car stood in front of the house.

“Thanks, I'll pay you back for sure, it's just very urgent”, I kept repeating until we got there. I almost jumped out of the car, scanning the empty benches for the tall boy until I noticed a head of brown hair in a bush. “Zelo?”, I asked carefully and took a step closer when the bush answered with a groan. As I came closer, I could see why he hadn't replied properly. In the bush there was a badly injured Zelo, his lower lip was bleeding as well as his knuckles and he had a black eye.

“Oh ”, I whispered and called for Jongmin to help me. The driver stared at me as if I was insane and froze on the spot.

“He's a stranger.”

“I- No, he's not. Well...I'll explain later, I promise! Zelo-yah, can you hear me? Did those guys do that to you?”, I said while waving in front of his eyes and he glared at me, which made me uncomfortable.

“Why...are you h-here?”, he groaned and tried to push my hand away. His arms were covered in bruises too. “I didn't call you...”

“I'm sorry, but you did. Even though you wanted to call that Yong...Yong...that other guy. And I am here instead of him to help you so get up, I'll bring you to my house.” I reached out with my hand again and pulled him to his feet while I was completely aware of the weird stare Jongmin gave me. “See? I'm not gonna hurt you.”

But Zelo pushed me away once more, weaving a few steps away from me. “No! I don't want your help! Girls like you are no good!”, he hissed and tried to look me in the eyes through his own, half-opened ones. Why was he so agitated? Girls like me? “I don't need you”, he repeated while blinking as if he was dizzy.

Maybe I was too kind, but I really wanted to help him, no matter why he was looking like that. “I can see that you do, so get in the car and-” But I couldn't finish my sentence, because Zelo collapsed all of a sudden, falling to the ground unconsciously. “Z-Zelo!”, I shouted and ran towards him while glancing at Jongmin. “Jongmin, please, help me get him into the car!”

But the driver didn't seem convinced yet. “He said he didn't want your help and I'm quite sure you shouldn't-”

“Well, I'm quite sure that this boy needs my help!”, I retorted while pulling the stick-figure with me with a grunt. I had never been so sincere while talking to Jongmin and he seemed to get the message, even though his mouth became a thin line. He helped me carry him to the car and drove us back to my house without saying another word. That shouldn't have felt any different from what it was like usually, but it was, because I knew he was really mad. His knuckles turned white as he was clutching the steering wheel tightly.

Still, I didn't care much about what he was thinking at that moment. There was only one person keeping my mind busy and I glanced at him from the corners of my eyes. Zelo...what did you do and what did they do to you?, I wondered when Jongmin stopped in front of the big house.

By the way guys, did I ever show you my house? That's what it looks like:

We have 3 floors and a cellar, but we don't use the 2nd floor because that's where Mum's old things are stored... Here I drew it for you, I hope you can read my messy handwriting! D:

There we go, chapter 4! Yay, Zelo! And...poor Zelo, what has happened to him?! D:

Again: Thanks for the subs <3