Put your walls up, I'll knock them down.

One by one. Even if you put them back up.

I'll always be there ready to push them back down.

Suyeon knew this wasn't a smart idea. She knew she shouldn't overthink the entire situation. Unfortunately, if Choi Suyeon had one flaw that really just screwed her over, it would have to be her anxiety and overthinking things and situations. Like how she was now. 
She just couldn't help it.
    And what was making her this overly anxious and worried? None other than the infamous Lee Taemin who walked into her life almost two months ago, insisting to be her friend. And now he was getting made fun of because of it. He didn't seem to mind, telling others to shove off or use other crude language (which Suyeon had irridicated from her vocabulary ever since Hyeonwoo came along), but it bothered Suyeon to no end.
   
 "Hey Taemin, planning on being a baby daddy anytime soon?"

"Taemin, how's Suyeon? Is she an easy lay?"

He didn't take kindly to those statements, nor the questions on why he was being her friend. He mostly told them off. And she appreciated it, sure, and since it was people they didn't really know, it didn't really get to her...
But now his friends were in on it too. She shouldn't have strayed behind his Music class that he had with them, trying to ask him about babysitting Hyeonwoo next week. That's when she heard.

     "Come on, Tae! You really expect us to believe you're just friends with her?" Jonghyun snorted, rolling his eyes at the raven haired male as they strode by Suyeon, not even registering her presence.

"Yes, I do!" Taemin shot back, brows furrowed and looking throughly irritated. "I don't understand what you mean. Suyeon is my friend!"

     "Yeah, 'friends'. Why didn't you come home the last two times you went to babysit her kid?"

"I usually fall asleep there and we just go with it. She doesn't want to kick me out at three, she does the same thing with Onew!" 

     "Whatever you say, man."

The sounds of he and his friends bickering over her continued as they rounded the corner. Suyeon didn't follow them. She was shocked, rooted in her spot in the hallway. Were they... insinuating that they were friends with benefits? Because Suyeon didn't do that. At least not anymore... She shook the thoughts from her head, blowing her bangs out of her face. 
    But the thoughts of the small teasing kept eating at her. She noticed all the comments directed at Taemin more, shocked to find the amount was obscenely more than necessary. She started to feel guilty. This was her fault, wasn't it? If she had just kept pushign him out... 
He wouldn't have to deal with bullying.
He wouldn't have to explain himself.

He wouldn't have to defend her.

In her mind, she was being a burden. So she did what she did best. 

She ignored him. Just upright avoided him whenever she saw him, whether it be at school, around the park when she was with Hyeonwoo, the diner...

She also tried to ignore the crushed look in his eyes when she would turn and scuttle away. 'It's for his own good...' She'd think to herself every time she's turn the other way, running away from Taemin for the nth time. For his own good...

      It was two weeks before Amber finally got fed up with it, seeing Suyeon immediately duck behind the counter, into the kitchen, to take over Seulgi's table if he or any of ShinEE came in. On a Saturday afternoon, it happened again, all of the boys sauntered in and Suyeon immediately disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Seulgi to do most of the waitress and hostess duties. Amber sighed heavily through her nose. Enough was enough. It was time she found out what the avoiding business was about.

"Alright, babe, what'd the heartthrob babysitter do now?" She wasted no time getting to the point when she finally cornered Suyeon, who was trying to justify making the food as they were the only three people working. Amber pointed out that Krystal and Jessica would be there soon, who were the sisters usually working the kitchen and keeping to it, hardly ever venturing out because of their sheer disinterest in making any friends. Suyeon still insisted on helping the girls out, but Amber was having none of it. Her diner, her rules.

    "Seriously, what's going on? You get paler at a glimpse of Taemin, and no one's complimenting your skintone this time around." Amber rolled her eyes, hands on hips. Suyeon faltered, biting her lip.

"He's... he's getting a hard time from people because of me." Suyeon finally admitted. It sounded more reasonable in her head.

   Amber raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding me right now. You are absolutely ting me and you're just playing a cruel joke and the real reason is actually valid enough for you to be flat out acting like Lee Taemin does not exist."

    "I'm really not though," Suyeon sighed, "I just... His friends are even askign him if he's slept with me. It's overstepping the line and it's not fair he has to deal with it because of trying to be nice to me."

"Do you hear yourself right now?" Amber pinched the bridge of her nose, mumbling something about how people needed to communicate better.

    Suyeon nodded, "Yes and I feel like I am perfectly justified. Jinki got enough flack thrown at him in high