A/N: DOUBLE UPDATEEEEE! LONG UPDATEEEEEE! A lot of drama in this chapter, especially the beginning. Remember, guys, to read between the lines if you want to understand the characters. There's a lot more to them than meets the eye...that's all I'm sayin'.

14

“What the hell’s going on here?” Baekhyun asked and I tore my eyes off Kyuhyun to look at him. He was accompanied by the other boys, and Taeyeon and Tiffany behind them. “Nara, what…” His eyes flicked between me and Kyuhyun. “Did he…”

“He was slamming her against the wall and everything!” Tiffany blurted out. It dawned on me that either her or Taeyeon, or both, must have went searching for my friends and brought them here to deal with the situation. I couldn't say I wasn't eternally grateful.

“Look at her, she’s shaking like a ing leaf!” Taeyeon growled, shooting daggers at Kyuhyun from behind the protective wall composed of Kai, Sehun, Jongdae and Baekhyun.

“I apologised,” Kyuhyun said, as if that somehow fixed everything. Kai was silent but his knuckles were white and his jaw was clenched so tightly it looked painful. I knew what was coming next, whether or not Kyuhyun managed to recite the most poetic, beautiful apology that existed. “I used to go to anger management classes.”

“You obviously didn't complete the course,” Baekhyun spat. Sehun's eyes twitched. “You just crossed a major line, pal. You’re not getting out of this one unblemished.”

Kyuhyun snorted, “Did you not hear what I just said?”

“Apologising doesn't just get you off the hook,” I barked and his eyes flicked to me, darkening. “You have to mean it and then you have to prove your regret. That’s how you truly apologise.”

“Maybe you should shut up before I get angry again,” he growled. I clamped my mouth shut and hugged myself tighter. Jongdae rushed to my side and despite my anger towards him and the others, I was far more afraid of Kyuhyun than I was annoyed at my friends.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around me and soothed my hair. “You ing bastard. You have the nerve to lay a finger on her? What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“I said I was sorry!” Kyuhyun yelled back. Kai seemed to snap but he didn’t have a chance to attack Kyuhyun because Sehun beat him to it. The blond lunged at him and grabbed him by the collar, ramming him so hard against the wall that the plaster cracked under the weight of his head.

“Don’t you ever ing touch her again!” Sehun roared before slamming him into the wall again. He repeated the action over and over again, like Kyuhyun had done to me except a hundred times harder and a hundred times more violently. Kyuhyun’s rats tried getting him off but he fought them off him, landing crackling punches on all of their faces.

The entire time, my eyes were wide and my heart was almost convulsing in my chest. I’d never seen Sehun so angry and out of control — it was like he was a completely different person. It was like he was consumed by anger and burning hatred.

“Sehun, that’s enough!” Baekhyun shouted. He and Kai grabbed the blond and yanked him off Kyuhyun, who he’d went back to attacking. Kai put Sehun in a headlock and forced him to the ground whilst Baekhyun checked if Kyuhyun was still conscious.

“ing…psycho…” Kyuhyun wheezed, telling us all that he was indeed alive. Baekhyun snorted and got up from his crouching stance. He walked over to Sehun and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at him. 

“What the hell was that, huh?” he demanded. Sehun’s face had returned to normal and he no longer looked enraged. He looked drained and somewhat annoyed. He smacked Kai’s arms and the bronze-skinned male released him from the headlock. Sehun stayed on the ground whilst Kai dusted his knees.

“You lost it there, Hun,” he said, eyeing our friend. “I haven’t seen you like that since middle school.” My brows creased and I looked at Jongdae. He seemed just as confused as I was. Baekhyun, too. “I thought you were better.”

“I am,” Sehun answered gruffly, rubbing his neck that had went red from Kai’s hold. “I’m better…I just lost it for a bit.” He looked at me when he said the next words, “I’m sorry.” My brows lifted in both sock and confusion. 

“Yah, Oh Sehun, what the hell got into you?” Jongdae asked, still holding me in his arms. Kyuhyun had staggered to his feet and left with his rats, but not before shooting me and the guys hateful glares. “You looked like a total psycho. You could’ve killed the bastard! I mean, I wouldn’t have cried over it but, y’know, jail and stuff.”

I shot him a glare but he was too busy rambling off to Sehun to notice. 

“I just— I saw our Nara shaking and Kyuhyun threatening her and I just…I snapped,” Sehun explained with a strained voice, moving his hand from his neck to his eyes, rubbing them tiredly. “I’m sorry…I didn’t ever want you to see me like that.”

Something told me that those words were meant for me.

“Hey, it’s alright, man,” Baekhyun said, crouching down and patting him on the back. “Sometimes our anger gets the best of us. Just be thankful that you didn’t hospitalise him. That wouldn’t do you or your family any good.”

“Yeah,” Sehun sighed, shaking his head slowly. “God, I ed up.”

“Yah, yah, enough of that,” Kai grunted, gently kicking his leg. “Get up and stop being a little . What happened, happened. You didn't go too far, we stopped you. Just…just try not to let yourself go off the rails again. You don’t want to be sent back to that place.”

“No, I don’t,” the blond muttered. He sighed before getting to his feet and dusting his knees. Baekhyun continued to pat him on the back. “You’re right. Thanks for pulling me back before I did some serious damage.”

“What are friends for?” Kai smirked, slinging an arm over his shoulders. It was one of the rare times that Kai showed any sort of affection for his friends — one that wasn’t myself. His eyes then slid to me and his smirk fell. “Uh…are you— are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I answered quietly. Jongdae pulled me tighter against him and I rested my head on his chest. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for— for saving me.” 

“What wouldn’t we do for our girl?” Baekhyun cooed, rubbing my cheek affectionately. “We’re sorry, Kim Nara. Please forgive us...you honestly mean the world to us.”

“I know,” I murmured, smiling up at him. “You guys mean the world to me, too.”

“So you see, learning can thus be associated with consequentialism,” I explained as I flipped the page and continued to write down my words. “We learn not to lie because we’re often punished for doing so. We learn that darkness ensues after switching off a light. So, after we learn these concepts, we apply them to our memories and generate reactions.”

“We try not to lie because we don’t want to be punished,” Luhan offered and I nodded, “and we turn the light back on or find another source when there’s darkness.” I nodded again, grinning proudly. “But why do we learn?”

“Survival is the best conclusion we can come to,” I answered. “Learning isn’t restricted to just humans. Animals learn, too, and for the same primitive reasons. They learn to hunt so they don’t starve. We learned to make clothes so we didn’t freeze to death. We learned to walk so we weren’t killed by other predators and, also, so that we could get things done. Understand?”

“That’s pretty awesome,” he mumbled, seemingly in awe. I laughed and playfully nudged him. “Wae? What’s so funny?”

“You’re easy to impress,” I told him. He smiled and shrugged, not finding it a negative trait. I didn’t either, to be honest. My phone buzzed and I checked it.

From: King Kai

Where are you? Meok-ja.

I replied with a simple: Library, studying. Meet in the catering building?

His reply came back in a matter of seconds.

From: King Kai.

Arasso. Hurry up, we’re starving.

“I’ve gotta go,” I reluctantly told Luhan. His smile fell and he nodded sullenly. “Aigoo…sunbae, don’t be sad. Let’s have lunch tomorrow.”

“Jinjja?” he asked. I nodded, standing up. He helped me put my things back in my bag. “Thanks for being with me today.” He always thanked me, even if I’d repeatedly told him for the last three weeks not to bother. 

In those few weeks, I’d given up on my silent treatment to my friends. Or, more accurately, I'd forgiven them. As awful as they could be sometimes, I couldn’t stay mad at them and I couldn’t live a day without them. They were also glad I was talking to them again. They showed it by spoiling me with gifts — I didn’t bother declining them, either.

“No worries,” I replied to Luhan. “Where will you go for lunch?”

He shrugged, “Just anywhere. I’ll get food from the court then eat somewhere…away from people.” My heart sank at his words but there wasn’t really anything I could do right now. I couldn’t abandon my friends for another one. But wasn’t that what I was doing to Luhan?

“Sunbae,” I said, looking up at him. “Would you like to have lunch with me and my friends?”

He immediately shot me down with a shake of his head, “Aniya but thank you, Nara-ya. I’ll be fine on my own. I don’t think your friends like me.”

“They don’t know you,” I said.

“They don’t need to know me to hate me,” he countered. “It’s natural. I heard them that day, they told you to stay away from me.” His eyes softened as he said, “thank you for…not listening to them.”

“I’m my own person,” I informed him, smiling. “Are you sure you won’t eat with us?”

“I’m sure.”

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