"So, I heard the news." 

“What the hell? Why is he here?”

Sora really wanted to exclaim that on this particular day where her birthday comes at night. She had asked for only one day of calmness, and that was her birthday. But right now it seemed her birthday wasn't going to be calm at all.

He was really close to her. Byun Baekhyun (cough bacon cough) is so close to her that she almost couldn't breathe. Is it just her or does he look different? Was it the light above them or was he glowing today?

But why would he? I mean a person who just came out from that place in the mountains isn't supposed to be this happy. Of course, no one had ever came back to be seen in the first place but still, them never coming back is enough proof that it isn't very pleasant right? Even for a royal.

"What news? And can you please step back a bit? You are really smothering me."

Instead of actually listening to what she requested, he took a step closer, making her (and the crowd who was watching) squeal in surprise.

His cursed smirk never fades away does it? 

"You know, the news about Yoora. I was surprised to tell you the truth, but I'm still a little confused you know. If she isn't the one, then who is?" He took a step closer, closing the distance between their nose so that they touched. She gulped at the closeness and hoped in her mind that she wouldn't lose her cool.

The words that came out of his mouth surprised her. What does he mean about all of that? Yoora is not what?

She slipped her hands away from his grip, and lifted them up to his chest to push him away from her with an annoyed grimace.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Even if he was annoyed that she managed to push him away, he didn't protest and arrogantly crossed his arms across his chest.

"I don't know you tell me."

"I really don't know anything."

He was rather confused with the worried look she gave him. She honestly seemed oblivious and unaware of what happened yet. He was away for more than two weeks and he knew about the news the moment he took a step inside the school ground. She who was there when it all happened seemed confused.

"Where were you when it happened?" Seriously, it freaks her out how his expression can change from a playful, flirty one into a serious, almost horrified one.

"When what happened?"

"You know, the birthday exchange of Yoora's."

She took a while to think about her answer. Where was she when the exchange happened? Now that she thinks about it, she can't really remember, all that can come to her head were the voices talking to her in her mind while she was busy watching the clock, and then she had out, completely unconscious.

"I…I don't remember," she seemed horrified as she answered, realizing that something did happen that night, and shockingly, she was not conscious to know about or witness it.

What really happened that day? Who were those voices in her head? There was more than one voice; there were two. She recognized a male and a female voice, but the owners were still unknown to her. 

She heard Baek sigh, which snapped her out of her zoning out phase. She glanced at him sharply, though her eyes still held oblivion in them.

"Well to be brief, Yoora hadn't received her powers, and she isn't the thirteenth royal. He or she is still missing, and people started to picture out different scenarios. Some think there was a child born before anyone of you, some claim that Yoora isn't even a real Lee member, in other words, adopted." 

"That's absurd, my mom was there when she was born, I literally saw her picture when she was being delivered in the hospital."

"Ew," Baekhyun couldn't hold his disgusted face from appearing and he scrunched his lips in an uncomfortable way.

"Tell me about it," absentmindedly yet mockingly she answered, eyeing the lockers behind his figure, giving him time to watch her.

She didn't really change much (Baekhyun had to remind himself that he was gone for two weeks and a half and not two years) she still wore her uniform messily, even though she seemed to be extra messy today. Her hair was loose, which was a first because she always ties it in a high bun. Her eyes seemed distant, but they still held the same loneliness he had always managed to catch between her snarls and grimaces. To so many people, she is just a human. To him though, she was more than a useless beauty, yes she had the beauty genes (he swears she got it from her mom even though he couldn't quite remember her), but not only was she beautiful on the outside, she also was intelligent, even if her tongue gets the best of her (which she admires sometimes). She is brave. For a girl who knew how weak and defenseless she was, she acted completely different, like she was the most powerful being in the world. Sometimes it really goes her favor and sometimes it doesn't, which ends up with her having to go through some strong bullies who weren't afraid to show their muscles. She was also kind. He wouldn't say she was the kindest person ever, but he had seen how she tried to act like one, except that no one here really cares. No one had ever cared enough to know who really Lee Sora was.

"Bacon, did you know?" Her question caught him off guard. He thought she would forever dwell on Yoora's situation, but Baekhyun was a bit surprised she got over it easily, or maybe she was just too good at hiding it. 

He really tried to hold in the urge to giving a snarl at the nickname she addressed him with.

"Know what?"

"About me going to the humans." she wasn't really hesitant even the slightest way about throwing that question to his face because she was so damn sure he knows.

He was silent all of a sudden, and she was positive now that he knew.

"You do, don't you? Why didn't you tell me? You even came to me whining and crying your heart out, but in the end, you knew who actually did it, don't you?"

 She doesn't know why she was so frustrated and upset, isn't this what she wanted? Revenge? How come every time something happens to one of the royal because of her, she feels…guilty?

"Wait, are you actually feeling guilty?" He was being sarcastic about it, maybe because he didn't want the atmosphere to turn tense and sore, or maybe he was just being the jerk he really was.

"This is not funny, okay? Its my fault, I don't like anyone having to take responsibility of something I did, even if it was you!" She was jabbing his chest now, like he made a mistake so big and now she is punishing him for it.

Baekhyun couldn't respond because someone grasped the back of his collar and dragged him backward into a headlock. From the friendly gesture and the screams of the girls, Sora knew he was another royal.

"Awwe man! I feel offended you didn't greet us first!" It was Chanyeol. She could tell it was he by his large black hat that covered half of his brown hair. His large grin didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would.

"Yah! I'm in the middle of something!"

What really surprised Sora was the angry tone that was coming from Baekhyun's, the boy who seemed to be a tiny prey under Chanyeol's giant body.

Chanyeol lifted his head to look at a bored looking Sora, who was eyeing him blankly, as if silently letting him know about her existence.

"Oh this? You can talk later, I'm taking you to the boys and Yoora."

"Aish I don't even want to go."

"Nu-uh!" Chanyeol waved his fingers playfully as if scolding a ten-year-old kid.

"You are coming with me! There are so many things I need to tell you," he said and dragged Baekhyun with his huge hands by the collar, pulling him back like a lost puppy being guarded by his owner.

Seeing how he didn’t have any chance to do or even say anything, Baek looked back at Sora with wide eyes that flashed with an emotion she did not know he was able to show.

Sincerity.

"I didn't want you to go there, you wouldn't have survived."

"I'm going to pass this, I'm going to pass this!" 

Sora chanted in her head as she closed her eyes and curled her hands into fists. She was taking a math test, and she was dead terrified.

It wasn't the final exam her teacher had spoken about, no! That was a whole new level. This is just a simple quiz he had informed them about the other day when he introduced the human teacher to them. Still, Sora was a nervous wreck and was chanting some prayers in her head, hoping to get a good score on this assessment.

Even though yesterday was a tough day, having to go through sickness and vomiting, she still forced herself to study everything the teacher taught them. She refused to take help from anyone. Not that they offered anyway.

Baekhyun was excused from the test, claiming that he just got here and missed half of the content on the test. Honestly though, she thinks he was excused because he was a damn royal.

"I'm watching you Lee Sora," said the math teacher and he gave her a hawk-like look as he handed her the paper, making her squirm and bow in embarrassment. She accepted the paper from him and immediately started answering whatever she could.

She was so into the test that she didn't realize Chanyeol giving her a look from his seat far from the corner, fidgeting nervously in his seat. Gosh he doesn't even know why he was so worried!

He was also very confused. Her aura was different than before, he could tell. Everyone else could tell too, not only the royals, but even the students in this class. He saw how they took peeks at Sora as she was busy writing down the answers.

Absentmindedly, he started circling his pen on his paper with his head propped onto his chin. He tried solving some math problems, but his mind seemed to blur whenever he comes across a solution; was she really affecting him this much?

He took a glance at her again and smiled when he saw her eyes turn to crescents. She was smiling happily, and he knew she was having a blast solving the problems, unlike him.

"Sonsaengnim! I'm done!" She raised her paper high and confidently waved it right and left like the arrogant girl she was. It caught his donkey's attention, and he immediately made an ugly screech before jumping down from his table to hers. It snatched the paper roughly from her and speed off soon after to his master, handing the paper to his master with another ugly screech.

She grimaced, but it soon turned into a smile and she did a happy dance, feeling genuinely thrilled that the test was so easy! Unlike how she really expected.

Sora looked at Baekhyun, who was sitting at the corner doodling. He looked up from his paper to give her a 'mehrooong' with his tongue, making her scowl and turn away, muttering a small 'narcissistic ' under her breath.

She suddenly felt a nauseous feeling as a wave of emotion hit her hard in her stomach, making her double over in pain. She let out a soft whimper while squeezing her stomach with both of her hands. Sora dropped her head down on her table and closed her eyes, hoping that it would ease the pain or something. She didn't know where the pain came from, but it was hurting her so badly that she couldn't even breathe properly.

Another wave attacked her and this time it grabbed everyone's attention because her whimpers were louder. Chanyeol snapped his head up in alarm and was surprised to see her in such a weak condition.

"Miss Lee? Are okay in there?" Even her teacher seemed aware of her sudden phase and turned pale, probably thinking about the possibility of dealing with her aunt if anything bad happened to Sora in his class.

Someone stood up from his seat, rushing toward her immediately and lifted her head up softly from the table. She eyed him with blurry vision, unable to recognize his face but she knew it was a male from his rough hands.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked.

"I don't feel well," she whispered softly before another wave hit her. This time, she couldn't take it and felt her consciousness slowly being taken away from her.

"I'll take her to the nurse," was the last thing she heard before totally blanking out of this world. 

"It’s strange…"

"What is it doc?"

"Her body, it’s…it's building up, she actually feels more stronger than before."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I honestly don't know, but this is not normal, no one has ever been…like this!"

Sora groaned in her sleep, which caught the attention of the two people who were chatting softly in the corner, having a small conversation they obviously didn’t want her to hear.

Sora was still uncomfortable and slightly in pain. Her head was throbbing and her stomach was acting up, building another wave of puking sensation all over her.

She wouldn't say she didn't hear what they were talking about but she wouldn't say she did either. It was kinda in between, where she heard some and misheard some. It was so much like a blur that she didn't even recognize the two voices.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She would say she was surprised to see Oh Sehun eyeing her with such worry that made her eye twitch. Just what the hell was he doing in here? Or better yet, where the hell was she?

"What the hell…where am I?" She mumbled in tiredness as she held back another wave of nausea. 

She lifted herself up from the bed and a cloth filled with water fell off from her forehead, causing her to be more confused.

"Don't move too much, you are still not in a good state to move a lot." She turned her head to the speaker, finding herself eye to eye with Sehun.

She glowered at him, giving the air a punch as if punching him instead. It made her really feel good about herself even if she literally didn't even touch his face.

"Shut up! I don't speak to the likes of you.”

"My likes…?" She was upset that he pretended to be confused and unaware of the reasons of her anger and frustration. She was really, really upset.

"The kind of people who ditch their friends because they feel they are superior to them, because they feel like they aren't worthy of their time. People like you Oh Sehun, I really hate the likes of you…" She sent him a glare and the doctor felt really uncomfortable and awkward watching them argue.

She didn't let him open his mouth to speak or defend himself, and she continued.

"And not only that, but the kind who kisses her when he is drunk and say some incoherent things and then pretend to be worried the next day. I don't know you anymore Oh Sehun, who the hell are you? Where is that innocent boy who used to fear his own shadow and had me as a shield?"

She had to give herself an applause for the willpower she put in order to not slap his face. She doesn't understand herself really, all those years she had managed to convince herself that she doesn't care about him, that it did not hurt knowing how much of a jerk he really was. She had always told herself how much of an he was and that he wasn't worth crying for, but now, now she suddenly felt frustrated and heartbroken. Sora didn't know she actually felt like this until the words exited her lips.

"I'm…I…"

"Save it, I don't really care." she really did though, but she didn't want to tell him that. 

"I'm sorry," he said as he hung his head low, but Sora didn't want to hear those words, not now at least.

"Get out," she coldly commanded, pointing at the door.

She heard him sigh, but she only looked away, pretending that Sehun did not exist at all.

The door being closed was the only thing she heard after that, and she knew he had gotten out. 

"Can I have one slice of cake, please?"  

Even though she was tired, she didn't show it and smiled politely at the girl behind the counter, who only gave her a weird look at the absence of a demon beside her.

Sora obviously ignored her and kept smiling faintly, holding in the urge to break her head and throw it to the sharks.

"Coming right up!" The girl halfheartedly che