"Seohyun, is she home already?"

"Ne, hyung, she texted me to say she reached home."

Leeteuk sighed and rubbed his shoulder as he collapsed onto the nearest bench, his heart aching for his dongsaengs.

Donghae and Yesung carried their packed dinner over to them, handing them theirs.

"Thank you," Leeteuk murmured while his brother bowed to them.

"Hyung, why so formal?"

He smiled softly.  "I'm not."

Yesung checked his watch.  "Seohyun's lessons should have ended long before now, and its about five now.  She'll be safe at home?"

Siwon chewed thoughtfully.  "Going by his schedule, she is safe at home.  He comes home late at night now."

"Lessons end in about an hour's time, you'll have time to protect her okay," Donghae assured him.

She had been on her way home when she decided to drop in at her favourite bookstore.  She sighed, she definitely had a lot of reading she wanted to do, and heaven knew that with all the trouble in her life now she would do well to immerse herself in books.

The bell jingled as she made her way into the store, smiling brightly at the ahjussi behind the counter as he nodded to her with a wide grin.

"Seohyun?"

A head popped out from behind one of the bookshelves, then a muffled "ouch!" as another head leaned over as well.

"Sungmin oppa, Shindong oppa," she acknowledged, bowing.  "Have you eaten?"

"This kid, still so formal with us," Shindong chuckled as she walked towards them.

"Oppa!"

Sungmin laughed and ruffled her hair. "What are you doing here, dongsaeng?"

Her tone softened.  "I needed...  I needed to escape for awhile," she admitted, looking down.

"Do you want to come over to our house?"

She shook her head quickly.  "It's okay, oppa, I'm just here to read and then I'll be off."

"Tell us when you're done, and we'll walk you home, arraso?"

"Oppa," she protested but got cut off.

"You wouldn't want Teukie hyung and Siwon to kill us, would you?"

Laughter emerged from behind the bookshelves as the trio jostled one another playfully.

"Was your lesson okay?"

Donghae nodded and elbowed his hyung.  "Come on hyung, its not like I don't pay attention."

Yesung laughed and threw an arm around his shoulder.  "You're not known for being able to study."

"Hyung!"

Siwon grinned while Leeteuk laughed.  "He's right you know.  Lee Donghae...  Studious...  What a joke."

"Dongsaeng help me!"  He tugged on Siwon's shirt.

"Don't drag me into this, hyung," he laughed, as Donghae pouted, looking for a good comeback.

Yesung turned back.  "We're going for ice cream, want to come?"

Siwon shook his head quickly as Leeteuk answered him.  "Seohyun..."

"Yes, yes, you should go," Donghae quickly said, feeling his stomach curl.

Yesung nodded.  "Next time then," he said.  "You guys should get home now."

The two brothers nodded and strode off quickly.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Donghae muttered as they watched the two hurry off.

Yesung shook his head.  "When will he stop?"

Her assignments were spread out on the table in the living room when they arrived home.

"Seohyun?"  Leeteuk called out, as Siwon went into the kitchen to look for her, worry creasing his forehead.

He reappeared in the living room.  "Hyung, she's not there."

This was unusual, because whenever they returned home, she would hear them and run to greet them with hugs, putting down whatever she was doing.  She had adored her oppas as much as they had adored her.

His eyes widened as he noticed the pair of black shoes which were lying near the shoe rack.

"Hyung," he whispered as he nudged Leeteuk, unable to speak.

He turned and saw what the shoes; their eyes locked with each other as they registered the meaning.

"He - "

He got cut off by the screaming from above, and he knew only one person who could scream like that.

"SEOHYUN!"

They raced up the stairs two at a time, and tried to wrench their sister's room door open.

"Seohyun!  Open up!"

They could hear the sobbing coming from inside the room, and the scream that emitted from within.

"No Appa no!  Please I said no!"

Leeteuk's eyes widened as he started hammering on the door, with Siwon hammering hard besides him as well.

"APPA, YOU'RE HURTING HER!  OPEN THE DOOR!"

They could hear her wails of agony, and they pounded harder.

"APPA, UNLOCK THE DOOR!"

A minute later, the door opened and he came out calmly, looking dishevelled as he grinned at his sons.

"I had to teach your sister a lesson, so that she won't be like your mum.  You won't ever leave me right, Seohyun," he chuckled as he made his way down the stairs.  "I won't be back tonight," he called to them.  "I need to go for a night meeting."

Siwon had already rushed into the room without hearing what he had to say.  "Seohyun, are you alright?"  he asked worriedly.

A pair of frightened eyes stared back at him from below her blanket, her eyes red and swollen, her hair messy.

Leeteuk entered the room and walked over to her, holding his arms out to her.

"We won't hurt you," he murmured as he made his way to her slowly.

She gave a scream and closed her eyes tightly, shaking under her covers.

Siwon toned down his voice.  "Its okay, Seohyun.  Oppas are here."

She nodded, unable to speak.

"Can you sit up?"  She got up slowly, wincing as she sat up.

They both sat on her bed, talking to her softly.  "Did...  were you hurt?"

Tears formed in her eyes.  "I tried to fight back oppa, but he was just too strong and..."  she sobbed, burying her face into her hands.

Siwon took her arm one at a time, looking at it closely for inspection.  Her arms were filled with bruises, and her lips were swollen.  And was that a love...  He hissed loudly as Leeteuk shook his head.  What a beast.

"And my lower body hurts," she whispered.

Then suddenly, tears filled up in both their eyes as they looked at her, knowing that they failed to protect her.

He pulled her into a hug.  "Oppa's sorry, we're sorry we couldn't protect you," he sobbed as he felt her tears hot against his shirt.

He could see Leeteuk's tears falling down his face as he tried to put on a brave front,  but to no avail.

"Mianhae Seohyun...  dongsaeng."

"He did what?"  Heechul snarled into the phone.

Hankyung looked up from his book, curious as Eunhyuk and Ryeowook looked at each other.  They've been through it before.  They knew not to disturb Heechul whenever he had that tone, and especially if his face looked dark and intimidating.

"He...  he...  son of a -"

He fell silent as he heard the urgent whispering from over the phone.

And then, in front of his dongsaengs, they saw the tears started to gather in his eyes.

Kim Heechul, the hyung who never cried, who had always put on a strong front whenever someone from the members were in pain, was crying now.

"And there's nothing we can do?"  He nodded, his voice muffled.  "Arraso, I got it.  Take care, alright."

"Heechul hyung, what happened?"  Kibum asked.  "Is Teukie hyung okay, are they okay?"

He tried to stop his tears from falling as he swallowed thickly.  "Teukie hyung and Siwon hyung are okay...  But Seohyun...  she got...  she got hurt."

Understanding dawned on their faces one by one as they understood what was the meaning behind his words.

"Seohyun got what, hyung?" a voice broke in angrily from the door, confusion on his face as he watched his hyungs slowly break down one by one, their arms wrapped around each other.

"Kyuhyun..."  Heechul trailed off, and he was unable to find the words to tell him what exactly had happened to her.

How could he, when he knew that the maknae had fallen for the maknae when he saw her for the first time.

Author's Note: I apologise for the late update, and I think this chapter is shorter than the first.  Sorry, and I will be unable to update this story as well as my other one as I have some family matters to attend to.  Also, my apologies if I went out of a little character for the members of Thirteen.  They're just very close to Seohyun, they treat her like their real biological dongsaengs as many of them are the only child in their family (in this story) and have no younger siblings.  But that aside, I truly hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and any comments are appreciated as well :D

Of course, to my subscribers, thank you so much for subscribing!  Really appreciated ((: