vicissitude [və-ˈsi-sə-ˌtüd, vī-, -ˌtyüd] n. - a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.

Sehun woke up with a smile on his face, his ears still ringing with the soft words Mihyun had whispered to him the night before.

I really, really, like you too.

He glanced down at the small figure that was curled next to him, and shifted his body to the side so he could get a better look at the girl. The dim light that fell through the window signaled that the sun was only beginning to rise, so Sehun would have a good hour or two to enjoy the time before Mihyun was to wake up.

Sehun paused momentarily, mentally debating as to whether watching the girl sleep would be socially acceptable or not. He shrugged it off – he never really like society to begin with. Slowly, he slid his arm from underneath Mihyun’s head to prop up his own. In all honesty, his entire arm had gone numb after having the weight press against it the entire night, but he would never admit it.

He frowned at the stray strand of hair that brushed against Mihyun's nose, and contemplated as to whether or not he should brush it aside.

“Sehun, I’m not sure how I feel about you just watching me while I’m sleeping,” Mihyun’s voice chimed. Sehun’s arm slid from underneath him in shock, and his face hit the covers with a quiet “umpf!” He quickly picked his head back up and glanced at the girl with alarm. “Are you awake?”

“No, I’m sleep talking,” Mihyun responded, which would have been believable to some extent seeing as how her eyes had remained closed the entire time.

“If you were awake you should have said something earlier,” Sehun muttered under his breath with embarrassment, his face flaming at the idea of being caught.

One of Mihyun’s eyes finally peeked open, and she let out a fluttering laugh, “That wouldn’t have been as fun, now would it?”

“Because watching me embarrass myself is your idea of fun,” Sehun rolled his eyes.

“Your words, not mine,” Mihyun smiled as she reached over to pat the boy on the head. She lifted her arms up above her head, stretching her whole body like a cat before relaxing. “What are you doing up so early?”

“Dunno,” Sehun murmured; he’d rather die than admit that he was going to stay up to watch her. “Just not sleepy anymore.”

“Sure,” Mihyun smiled knowingly. She tossed him a side glance. “That’s why.”

The blush in Sehun’s cheeks flamed hot, and stretched all the way to the tips of his ears. “Just go back to sleep!” he grumbled as he flopped back into bed, making sure to turn the opposite direction. He flushed even darker when her tinkling laughter entered his ears, and he nudged her gently with his elbow, “Stop teasing.”

“I’m not teasing,” Mihyun responded matter of factly. “I think it’s cute.”

Sehun let out a loud snort as he turned back around to face her. He slipped one arm underneath his head, and with the other reached over to flick her against the forehead. “You’re such a liar.”

“And you’re such a creep,” she responded without skipping a beat.

“Mihyun!” Sehun let out a loud whine of protest.

“Okay! Okay,” Mihyun laughed as she reached over to cup his face with both of her hands. She brought forward her thumbs and pinched the boy’s cheeks apart, laughing when he let out a strangled sound of protest. She let go of his skin and gently patted the boy’s cheeks, “Cute.”

“I’ll show you cute,” Sehun growled as he scrambled on top of her to press her against the bed. His hands immediately went to her sides, his fingers skittering softly against her skin to make her burst out in laughter.

“Stop! Stop it!” Mihyun laughed as she tried to pull awake from his threatening hands. “Stop tickling me!”

“Why? Isn’t it cute?” Sehun called out mockingly, digging his fingers even deeper into her skin.

“Okay! O-Okay I get it!” Mihyun giggled as his hands finally came to a stop. “I don’t like being tickled,” she whined in protest, reaching up to squeeze the boy’s nose.

“Exactly why I like doing it,” Sehun responded, his voice coming out in a nasally tone.

“Ew, you sound gross,” Mihyun scrunched her face, immediately letting go of the other’s nose to allow him to speak normally.

Sehun laughed loudly, cutting off sharply when Mihyun pressed an abrupt kiss to the corner of his mouth. He stared down at the girl in surprise, pressing the tips of his fingers to the area, “What was that for?”

“Just cause,” Mihyun smiled slyly.

Sehun rolled his eyes, “If you’re going to do it, do it right!”

Sehun pecked her lips before she had the chance to respond, shyly glancing away immediately after. “L-like that.”

Mihyun arched an eyebrow, “If you’re going to teach me, then you should teach me properly.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but his thoughts were immediately cut off once Mihyun pressed her lips against his. Her small arms wrapped tightly around his neck, completely eliminating any gap of space between them. Sehun molded his lips against hers, a small, quiet voice in the back of his head pleading to not have any unnecessary excitement in his nether regions that would have ruined the moment.

A loud clatter snapped the two apart, and each of their heads turned to the door way. Sehun’s eyes widened once he saw Luhan standing there with a gaping mouth, his white board that was lying against the ground was the obvious source of noise. Sehun turned back to look at Mihyun who was equally as mortified, and immediately jumped away to increase the proximity between the two.

“I hope Luhan didn’t just see what I think he was seeing,” Jaesuk let out a little growl as he stepped in behind him. He stared at how shocked Luhan appeared, and narrowed his eyes at the guilty Sehun. “You little weasel.”

“T-there’s nothing wrong with kissing the girl that I love!” Sehun protested, flinching against the dark look Jaesuk was shooting his way.

“Kis-kissing?!” Jaesuk shrieked, his hand flying to his chest in absolute mortification. “How dare yo- come here!”

“Y-Yah!” Sehun exclaimed, jumping away from Jaesuk’s outstretched arms and onto the other side of the bed. He shot past him in lightning speed, almost knocking Luhan over when he flew out of the bedroom. “I’ll go get ready to leave first!”

“That little piece of –” Jaesuk cut himself off, glancing back at Mihyun who had grabbed a handful of his shirt.

“Jaesuk,” Mihyun said slowly, gauging his reaction to see if he was still upset with her.

Luhan immediately realized the situation and quietly slipped away to allow the two a moment of privacy.

“I’m sorry, Agashi,” Jaesuk sighed as he kneeled down at the side of her bed. “I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday, it was completely inappropriate.”

“Don’t apologize, Jaesuk,” Mihyun shook her head. “You had every right to be angry. This is a lot of responsibility I pressed on to you with no forewarning.”

“No, it wasn’t that,” Jaesuk explained. He stared down at the ground for a few seconds and took a deep breath. “I just… I just didn’t like the idea of you dying, that’s all. I wasn’t upset at you; I was upset with the circumstance. I was upset at the fact that there was even a possibility that you could die. I took that out on you, and I apologize.”

“You shouldn’t be apologetic, Jaesuk,” Mihyun shook her head. “If anybody should, it should be me. I’m the one who brought this onto myself, after all.”

Jaesuk cracked a small smile. “Agashi, just… just promise me that you’ll try.”

“Try what?”

“Try not to die?” Jaesuk offered.

Mihyun laughed, “Because I wouldn’t have tried otherwise, Jaesuk.”

Jaesuk let out a small smile as he reached over to dishevel the girl’s hair. “You’re the only family I have, Agashi. I mean sure we’re not blood related, but we might as well be. You’re like my mother, my elder sister, and my dongsaeng all mixed into one. I’m really, really glad that you found me in the ally that day 10 years ago.”

“You’re not the only one,” Mihyun smiled at the recollection of the memory. “I think I’ve gained more out of this relationship than you did.”

Jaesuk shook his head and chuckled, “Just try to be safe, okay? And stay out of as much trouble as you can?”

Mihyun rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow, “You act like I’m the one who goes looking for trouble, Jaesuk. It should be the other way around; trouble is the one who always has a way of finding me.”

“We need you to come with us.”

Mihyun’s whole body tensed as she slowly turned to look at the intruders in the cage. Her heart clenched in her chest as she recognized the pair of official badges pinned to the collars of the men, and forced smile across her face, “What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?”

She held out her hand to stop Sehun from advancing, shooting him a sharp warning glare out of the corner of her eyes.

“You’re being detained for treason, Miss Han,” one of the men spoke up in a gruff voice. He took a step forward, “Please come with us.”

“Under what grounds?” Mihyun asked calmly, hoping that the boys behind her wouldn’t act out rashly. She knew exactly what she was being suspected for, and inwardly swore for not being more careful about the whole thing. Somebody must have told, and she had a rather big hunch as to who the rat was.

“You’ll find out when you come with us,” he responded simply. “Now please follow us or else we will have to use force.”

“Don’t you try to threa—”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mihyun smiled as she clenched her hand around Sehun’s arm to hold him in place. She turned to look at the other boys, smiling reassuringly at the horrified expression that crossed Jongin’s face, and the tears that were threatening to spill from Baekhyun’s eyes. “I’ll be back soon, okay guys?”

“Mi-Mihyun,” Baekhyun stammered, not knowing what to say about the situation at hand.

“Tell Jaesuk what happened immediately,” Mihyun whispered into Sehun’s ear as she pulled him in for a hug. “Tell him to tell Yixing.”

Sehun let out a low growl when Mihyun was yanked away from him, but stood his ground when Mihyun shot him another look.

A tense silence took over once the footsteps of the three faded away, as everybody was at a loss as to what they were supposed to do.

“What are they going to do to her?” Baekhyun choked quietly, falling to the ground as his legs lost their strength.

“Oh , oh , this was all of our faults. Oh god,” Chanyeol cried as he began to pace back and forth.

“No this wasn’t our fault. I know exactly who’s fault it is,” Jongin let out a low growl as his hands curled into tight fists.

Sehun’s head shot up immediately once he processed  Jongin’s words, and the pair of them tore out of the cage with lighting speed. Their footsteps clattered against the walls of the hallways as they sped to the cage they were looking for.

“Hey guys what’s up—”

“You ing little rat!” Sehun shouted angrily as he slammed Youngjae against the wall.

“Hey what do you think you’re doing?!” Yongguk exclaimed as he shot forward to rip Sehun off of Youngjae. He was shoved aside by Jongin, who glowered at him with barred teeth.

“You ratted us out, didn’t you?! You squealed!” Sehun exclaimed as he slammed Youngjae repeatedly against the wall.

“Get off of him!” Himchan exclaimed as he and Jongup worked together to pull the raging Sehun off of Youngjae.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Himchan exclaimed as he tried restraining Sehun.

“No, what the hell is his problem?! He snitched on us to the guards! They just came to take Mihyun away!” Sehun raged as he thrashed against the others’ holds.

All eyes turned to Youngjae who now seemed extremely nervous against the questioning eyes.

“Is it true, Hyung?” Junhong spoke up softly, his eyes darting back and forth from Sehun to Youngjae. “Did you really tell?”

Youngjae opened his mouth to deny it, but decided against it in the last second. “What did you expect me to do?! They would have gotten us killed! I didn’t tell them everything, I only said that that was trying to get us to rebel but none of the Noyes would stand for it.”

“You ing bastard!” Sehun shouted as he tore forward once more. This time neither Himchan nor Jongup did anything to stop him. Sehun slammed his fist against Youngjae’s face, not even being the slightest bit satisfied with the audible crack that sounded. Blood gushed out of his nose, coating Sehun’s fist as he smashed it once more against his cheek.

He pulled his arm back for another punch, but was stopped momentarily when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his arm. He let out a loud growl, and swung his arm blindly to release the restraint. A loud “Umpf” sounded in his ears, and he froze once he processed who it belonged to.

His crazed eyes shot back and forth from Luhan to Youngjae, back to Luhan and then once more at Youngjae. He let out a loud growl and let go off Youngjae’s collar, allowing the male to crumble down to the ground in a fit of moans.

“I’m sorry, Hyung,” Sehun muttered in a small voice as he helped the elder back up this feet.

Luhan gave him a shaky smile and patted his head to signal that he was fine. He looked around for the white board that had scattered to the ground, and quickly picked it up. We have to call Jaesuk.

“Yeah,” Sehun nodded his head, inhaling a sharp breath to prevent him from attacking Youngjae again.

“How could you have done this?” Yongguk asked with a strained voice as he stared down at Youngjae, not even bothering to help him up.

“I-I di-di-did th-this for u-us!” Youngjae cried as he tried climbing up to his feet.

“No,” Yongguk replied with a disgusted expression, “You did this for yourself.”

“Come on Jongin, we have to go save Mihyun,” Sehun nodded to Jongin who taking a step towards Youngjae.

“Just let me get in one punch,” Jongin replied as he snapped his clench fist forward to pummel Youngjae’s lower stomach. He pulled back with a refreshed smile, satisfied by the loud yelp of pain Youngjae emitted. “Okay now I’m done, let’s go.”

“Wait, before you guys leave,” Yongguk called out. His face was filled with shame as he lowered his head to the boys, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” Sehun responded in a dry voice. “So am I.”

“I’ve already called Jaesuk to come,” Minseok informed the trio when they returned to the cage. “Mihyun left her bag in the corner, so her phone was still here.” He eyed the blood that was dripping from Sehun’s hands, and stared firmly into his eyes, “Did you get him good?”

“Not as much as I would have liked,” Sehun admitted as he nodded to Luhan to take Mihyun’s bag, not wanting to dirty it with the filthy blood of the rat.

Sehun glanced down when he felt a tug at his sleeve, and frowned at the words Luhan had scribbled across her board. You don’t think they’ll hurt her, do you?

“Don’t worry, Hyung,” Sehun reassured the elder as he rubbed him gently on the back. “They know that they can’t lay a single hand on somebody as important as Mihyun. We’ll get her back quickly, Hyung. We’ll bring her back quickly, safely, and unharmed.”

Mihyun bit down hard on her bottom lip to contain the scream she wanted to let out. She would never give those bastards the satisfaction of her pain; she refused to.

“I hope you all know,” Mihyun stated calmly, wiping the blood off the corner of her lip. “That you’re all going to be sued the minute, no, the second I step out of this place.” Her eyes flashed darkly at the men in front of her, and she let out a low growl when one of them stepped forward. “What? Haven’t had enough fun beating around a tiny teenage girl?”

“We’re just doing our job,” the man growled in return, daring to take another step forward.

“Come closer and I’ll upgrade it to death penalty,” Mihyun growled as she stood her ground. “I think you guys are underestimating how powerful I am in the outside world.”

The man hesitated to move forward, exchanging glances with the other occupants of the room.

“Let me guess,” Mihyun scoffed as she eyed each of the men’s poor clothing and dirtied skin. “You guys are either low life thugs or random poverty stricken people who was offered a quick way to get lots of cash, am I right? Do something as easy as beat up a little girl and you’ll get a good sum of money for it. Stupid, aren’t you? Didn’t you suspect anything? Do you really think the money you get from this will be worth the long term? Why do you think you were hired to do a small, dirty job when these people easily could have done it themselves? There’s obviously a catch, don’t you think?”

There was a lengthy moment of silence in the room as they processed what Mihyun was saying. “Wh-What do you mean?” one of the men finally dared to ask.

“You all apparently don’t ask for any details, don’t you? Stupid,” Mihyun scowled as she ran her hand through her hair. “They hired you because they’re too scared to do it themselves. You all are clearly unaware of who I am, which is why you are willing to freely impose harm on me without any fear for the future consequences of it.”

“My name is Han Mihyun, heir to Han Corporations,” Mihyun stated firmly. Her gaze narrowed and her voice went cold, “And you’re all going to go through hell once I get out of here.”

“Han Corporations?” a hushed whisper went through the room.

“That sounds familiar.”

“You idiot! It’s that big company, the one that owns that huge tower next to Namsan!”

Similar fear stricken faces slowly turned to face her, striking absolutely no pity with Mihyun.

“Now that you’ve realized you should leave before you make matters any worse,” Mihyun let out a soft growl. “And tell your employer that he is going to go to hell.”

The small group of men immediately fled the room, making sure to lock the door tightly behind them to retain Mihyun in that small room.

Mihyun let out a loud sigh as she leaned her back against the cold wall. She massaged her aching jaw, flinching when her fingers came in contact with the dark bruises she knew would quickly form. She mentally cursed herself, how could she have been so foolish as to follow the men?

The badges that dawned their suits were undoubtedly real, but they must have been hired to lure Mihyun out and away from the others. Once she stepped foot of the grounds of the Noye house, she had been immediately blindfolded and gagged before being roughly thrown into a car. She knew exactly who was behind this, that bastard Jaemin, his dirty father, and most likely her own.  Mihyun glanced around the small room she had been thrown into shortly after the car ride, and bit down on her bottom lip in search for an escape.

The sound of footsteps met her ears, and her head shot over to the door as it slowly opened, revealing one of the men she was itching to kill. She let out a soft growl, clenching her fists at the sight of Jaemin.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this, Mihyun,” Jaemin spoke softly as he stepped into the room, closing the door with a soft click behind him.

“Don’t give me that bull,” Mihyun scoffed as she pushed her hair out of her face.

He frowned once he saw her bruised cheeks, and bit down on his bottom lip with shame, “Please, you have to understand why we have to keep you here.”

“No I don’t, so leave,” Mihyun replied coldly, her heart retaining not even a drop of sympathy for Jaemin any longer. “You won’t get away with this for much longer.”

“This is my life, Mihyun! This is my family’s life! This is my family’s business! If you ruin this, how are we supposed to survive? We couldn’t, Mihyun. I couldn’t let you take away the only thing that was letting us survive,” Jaemin tried to explain. He threw his hands up into the air with exasperation.“Why couldn’t you just listen? Why couldn’t you just let everything be as it was?!”

“That’s great,” Mihyun responded in a dry voice. “Then continuing surviving, Jaemin. Continue surviving by stepping on the corpses of others.”

“You would do this if you were in my shoes, Mihyun,” Jaemin choked in a shaky voice as he stepped towards her. “You would do this too if it was the only way you could survive!”

“No,” Mihyun growled, her eyes flashing with loathing and hared. “I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t degrade myself to be as disgusting as you are.”

Mihyun’s face snapped to the side, her cheek burning with the fresh pain of the slap Jaemin had just delivered. She clenched down hard on her teeth to prevent herself from crying out, and snapped her head back to glower at Jaemin.

“You want disgusting?” Jaemin asked, his eyes glazing over with a frightening glint. He gripped the front of Mihyun’s shirt and pulled her up to shove against the wall. “Then I’ll show you something you’ll really be disgusted with.”

With those as his final words, he dropped his arm and stomped out of the room, each of his footsteps kicking up the dirt on the ground. The door slammed behind him with a loud bang, allowing Mihyun to finally release the breath she had been holding.

She dropped down the ground, gently rubbing her aching face. The room had dropped several temperatures, and she pulled her knees to her chest to gather as much warmth as she could.

“I have to get out of here,” Mihyun murmured under her breath as she rested her head against the tops of her knees. Her heavy eye lids slowly drooped to a close; the rest she had postponed for over 24 hours finally claimed her as victim. “I have to get out.”