Margo took a nap in the car. It was an hour drive to the place and I had a feeling that she was tired.

 

Since I was left to basically be by myself, I decided to call Woozi and see what he was doing.

 

“Hello?”


“Hey, how are things going?”


“Pretty good. We made it back in one piece which is good.”


“What do you mean? What happened?”


“It’s not really what happened but what could have happened. I mean…Hoshi and The8 got a bit weird in the store.”


“Weird how?”


“Weird as in like dancing in the aisles and singing in a strange slur of Korean and Chinese.”


I laughed. Sometimes I wondered if my friends actually were able to contain themselves. But all the same I loved them, they’re like my second family.

 

“I see. But you guys got what we needed right?”


“Yes. I just hope the next time I go out with them in public you’re there with me.”


“I will try my best Woozi.”

“So how’s it going with you and Margo?”


“It’s going well, at least I think it is.”


There was a pause, then loud noises and the next thing I knew Hoshi and The8 were talking to me rather quickly.

 

“Who, guys slow down there for a second.”

 

“Joshua, there’s something that you should remember you can’t say to Margo.”


I didn’t say anything after that. I sat there driving in silence and was only brought back when The8 started talking again.

 

“Hyung, you can’t tell her about the…”


I cut him off before he could say anything more. “I can’t tell her about the truth. I know, I remember. God I wish that day had never happened.”


“We all do Joshua, but it can’t be helped now. We have to live with it.”


“Just make sure that you don’t…you know.”


I sighed. Things were going well up until now. I was wishing they hadn’t reminded me in the first place. I wouldn’t have told her anyways.

 

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shift and I knew I had to change the subject or hang up. I went for the first option.

 

“So guys, Margo and I are driving around finding stuff that looks interesting to us. Woozi, The8, got any ideas?”


Then Margo woke up completely. She yawned slightly and looked at me with a tired smile.

 

“Uh…I don’t know. Well actually, do you remember that place just outside of LA that we used to go to all the time?”


“The one where Vernon and Seungkwan almost burned down the placed and we were kicked out?” I suggested.

 

Margo laughed at this. I guess she thought that none of us were capable of doing such a thing. Which most of us weren’t, but I can’t say the same for Vernon and Seungkwan when they go at each other.

 

“No, the one where The8 almost broke his ankle.”


“Wow…after everything that happened there before that, you can only remember The8 almost breaking his ankle?”


“But I almost did hyung. You remember. Jun and I were trying out the new dance move we had learned and then I kind of tripped over Jun because he got in my way.”

 

“We could all tell that he didn’t really know where he was going.” I said. “But guys, Margo is awake now so let’s try talking about nicer stuff?”


“Oh hi Margo.”


“Hi Woozi. I feel like I’m always talking to you.”


“That’s probably because I’m one of Joshua’s closest friends.”


“Yeah but you’ve also been staying at our dorm a lot. I mean he sleeps over and we can’t get him to leave.”


“Oh come on. Don’t pull that crap with me.” Woozi snapped.

 

“Woozi, don’t you dare touch my guitar while we’re gone. I’d rather not come back and see that it’s destroyed.”


Margo looked at me with a questioning expression on her face. I might as well tell her.

 

“Guess how many guitars I’ve been through Margo.”


She shrugged.

 

“5 now. The first time, it was when we were in middle school. I was just playing in the front yard of our school and out comes Wonwoo running away from a flaming Woozi. Well Wonwoo decided to hide behind me, when he did Woozi grabbed my guitar and chased after him with it. When they came back I saw that Woozi had broken my guitar. He later told me that he accidentally hit a tree with it.”


“Not a tree. It was a bench. I remember because Wonwoo practically hurtled over that thing.”


“And I’m guessing that the other guitars had a similar mishap?”

 

I nodded. I told her that eventually Woozi started just taking my guitar to actually play it a couple of times but he would always end up smashing it to bits in the end and would buy me a new one. This had gone on for at least 3 years and the one that I had back at the dorm was the last one that I was going to let him really get away with.

 

“Well we have to go guys. We’re almost at our next stop but I’ll call you all later.”


“All right, buy you two. Have fun!” They hung up the phone.

 

As we pulled up to a sidewalk, Margo saw something that shocked her but she never told me what it was. Even to this day I have no idea what it was.

 

I went and opened the passenger side door for her. She got out and looked around. It occurred to me that she had never been to a place like this before in her life. Even though she had lived in LA for 5 years.

 

“Ever been to one of the back way slums?”


“No. Never in the 5 years I’ve lived in LA.”


“I’m surprised. They’re quite a few in downtown LA, you just have to know where to look.” I began walking off in the direction of an ally.

 

Margo followed me at my heals but soon I could tell her steps were slowing down. I didn’t have to turn around and look to know this, I could tell by the way her foot steps sounded on the ground.

 

“You ok?” I stopped and turned to face her.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

I realized walking throw the actually back allies may not have been a great idea but it was the safest way to get to the place. I looked down the ally then back at her.

 

“Well….I wanted to show you what a real battle is like. This is actually the safest way to go. It looks creepy but trust me, it’s completely fine. I’ve don’t this for years now.”


“All right, I’ll trust you on this.”


“Let’s go then.” I held out my hand and she grabbed it. Then we began to make our way throw the ally.

 

 

***

 

 

We walked into a building that was abandoned. Margo seemed to be getting more and more tense as I guided her throw the building. At a certain point she stopped walking, she was still holding my hand so I had to stop as well. I turned to face her and I saw she looked very unsettled.

 

“Do you not want to do this?” I completely understood if she didn’t want to go anymore. I just thought I could show her a bit of how I grew up.

 

“Uh….”


“Take your time. I can wait.” I stood there with her, waiting in silence.

 

The look in her eyes was concerning, and I started to think this had been a terrible idea. I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

 

“We don’t have to go today. We can come back when it’s not just the two of us. If you want to leave we can. I just wish that you had told me sooner if that’s what you want…”


She didn’t say anything. She just looked at me with a somewhat blank expression. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The only thing I could do was keep going and dragging her, or turn around and bring her back another time. That is, if she ever wanted to hangout with me again and have the others join us.

 

“Joshua…” Margo was talking very quietly by now.

 

“Are you ok?”


“Could we…could you take me home? I…there’s something I forgot to do before I left the house today.”


I nodded my head. “Of course. Let’s go.” I started to walk back but she wasn’t moving.

 

“I kind of…need you to carry me…”


“Sure.” I kneeled down so that she could get on my back. When eh climbed on, I slowly stood up so I wouldn’t shock her.

 

“Confortable?”


“Yeah…” She spoke in a whisper.

 

I started walking back to the car quickly. I wasn’t sure what was going on with her but I figured that I shouldn’t ask. After all, it was her business and not mine. If she wanted to tell me I’m guessing that she would.

 

 

***

 

 

When we got back to the car, I opened the door, bent down slowly so that she could get off, and held her arms so that she didn’t fall. She was swaying a bit while standing. I helped her into the car and shut the door. Now all I had to do was get her home, fast.

 

 

***

 

 

“Here you are.” I said quietly.

 

Margo raised her head slowly, she had been sleeping quite peacefully the whole way back.

 

“Oh, thanks.”


I looked at her again. She wasn’t actually moving to unbuckle her seat belt so I did it for her. Then I got out, opened the passenger side door, picked her up and brought her into her house.

 

“Whoa…Nice place you’ve got.” Her house was huge. The size of the living room was as big as my room, The8’s and Hoshi’s combined. And I wasn’t even counting our kitchen, common area, laundry room and bathroom.

 

“Thanks.” I set her down on the couch carefully. Then I checked the time.


“I should get going. Is there anything else you need before I go?”

 

She nodded. “Actually, could you help me up to my room?”

 

“I can just carry you.” I kneeled down again but she stopped me half way.

 

“No, no, no. You’ve carried me enough. Just…”


“It’s ok. I can carry you.” I held her hand gently and smiled. “Now, get on and I’ll take you to your room.”


She climbed onto my back again. Then I headed up the stairs. Once at the top, I asked her which room was hers. She pointed to the right side and said it was the 2^nd door down.

 

I walked to the room, opened the door and walked in. Her room was surprising to me. Not bad surprising just…surprising. She didn’t’ decorate like most girls I knew. Margo had it simple but elegant all the same. I rather enjoyed seeing the walls in a light sky blue with a white ceiling. The room really suited her personality. Simple but elegant, clean but relaxed, warm and inviting, just like her.

 

“Where do you want me to set you down?”


“Just on my bed is fine.”


I walked over to it and kneeled down. Her bed was low to the floor, which must have made it easier for her to get in and out of bed.

 

“Thanks Joshua.”


“No problem. I’m just glad I got to know you a bit more today. Hopefully we can hang out again?”


“Of course we can. It was a lot of fun hanging out with you today as well.”


I smiled. “All right, I’ll let, you rest now. See you later.” I stood up, waved good-bye and left her room.

 

As I walked down the staircase I took a good look around the rooms I could see. She really did live in a nice house. Then I wondered…did she ever get lonely? Being alone in a house of this size would be very lonely. If I lived alone in a house like this, I know I would be calling my friends to come over all the time.

 

Speaking of my friends. It was time that we cover some ground rules. Because once again, the issue has been brought up and it’s rules/guild lines needed to be set once more.

 

I took out my phone as I closed the front door and called S.Coups.

 

“Nae?”


“Hey, get everyone to the dorm. We need to talk about our ‘little’ issue.”


“Oh lord…I’ll be there soon with Jeonghan, Vernon and Wonwoo.”


“I’ll get Dino, Mingyu, Jun, DK and Seungkwan .”


“Woozi, Hoshi and The8?”


“They should still be at the dorm.” I said as I got in the car and drove away.


“See you in 15.”


“Nae.” I hung up with him then set off to call the others.

 

 

***

 

 

“Joshua, you need to explain what’s going on here.” Woozi said once we all had gathered in the common space of our dorm.

 

“We all need to talk about our little issue we encountered 3 years ago.” Vernon said bluntly.

 

“This is going to be a long conversation this time.” Jun groaned. He had actually been living pretty well for what we had gone throw. All 13 of us were stuck with it, there was nothing we could do. The day that it happened, was the day that we all could never grow anymore.


S.Coups stood up first. He cleared his throat then talked in a strong voice. “I’m sure you all remember what happened last time one of us got involved with a girl right?”


We all nodded our heads. How could we forget? It was terrible. That day will always haunt us and we can never let the memory die.

 

“Well this time, it would seem that Joshua is the one who’s falling for the girl.” Our unofficial leader looked at us with an intense expression.

 

“Last time it was Vernon, now it’s Joshua.” Woozi said quietly. “Let’s hope this one doesn’t’ end with blood on our hands.

 

I couldn’t look at them. Not now. I wanted to go to my room and sleep. If there was anything I knew, it was that sleep always brought me back to my senses. Though…maybe…just maybe…this one time, sleep may not work for me.

 

“Don’t say things like that Woozi. You’re very dark.” Dino said.

 

“I can’t help it if it’s true.”


“Enough. We can’t blame Joshua for liking her.” Our leader looked at me for a moment. “We can all see the appeal and can relate to what he feels. I’m sure you all have felt that way. Don’t act like you haven’t.”

 

The others looked at each other slowly and nodded. It would have been a lie if any of us said that we hadn’t fallen for a girl now and again. Our ages were very…strange by now but we hadn’t changed at all really.

 

“Joshua,” I looked up at our leader who was staring down at me like he could have hit something. “You can keep being around her, but do be extremely careful. You remember what happened last time right?”


I nodded my head slowly. I didn’t know what to tell Margo if the past were to every be dug up. Then she would see our scars and bruises.

 

“So what do we do?” Vernon asked.

 

“We act the same way we always have in these situations. Just don’t say anything unless she brings it up or someone else does.” Hoshi said dryly.

 

“In the mean time, Woozi, The8, and Hoshi, please keep an eye on things.” S.Coups turned to me. “We trust you Joshua, we just don’t want to have a repeat of last year.”


“I understand.” I said looking at the floor.


“I’m sorry about last year. I never meant for it to happen.” Seungkwan said.

 

“You didn’t mean to, but you did it anyway. You know that it’s not allowed and that’s why we all he to move to LA. You made us targets in Korea.” Mingyu spoke harshly.

 

“Guys stop. Look, we’ve all fallen in love before. Face it. Things are going to happen and we can only do our best to prevent ourselves from doing the worst to our significant other.” Dino was standing up by now and glaring at all of us.

 

“We can’t help who we are now. None of us wanted this but we go it, so either grow up or just stop talking all together.” The8 was looking down at the floor but his Korean came out in very harsh sentences.

 

By now all of us were done with this . I couldn’t care anymore about the fact that we were now pretty inhuman compared to others. It felt like a nightmare.

 

None of us spoke for a good 10 minutes. Then I stood up and left the common room. I wanted to be alone and not have to worry about the problem. I could deal with that when I needed to.

 

The others watched me leave, I could feel their gazes on me until I went into my room.  Even though I didn’t stick around to hear what they said, I could tell the conversation went something like this:

 

“This isn’t good.”

 

“Don’t be like that DK. He knows what he’s doing.”


“Does he Woozi? Does he really? Because I’m wondering if he can control himself.”


“Yeah. He can. You don’t know this because you all don’t hang around him very much but, Joshua has fasted for 2 months straight before. If he can stop eating for that long and not give in I’m sure he can handle himself around Margo.”


“Woozi that’s sweet and all but think rationally.”


“I am thinking rationally DK. Unlike you my head is screwed on correctly.”


Then I heard the door to the dorm slam shut and everything went silent. I didn’t move, I guess that I thought if I moved the floor under my feet would give out. SO I stood by my door and waited for them to keep talking.

 

I heard one of the members sigh heavily. It sounded like S.Coups.

 

“Now that is seems we’ve all gotten our anger out,” He paused a bit “Can we all calm down? I think we should be able to trust that Joshua can control himself. DK, I don’t want to hear anything else about this from you. We all know your opinion.”

“So what do we do?” Vernon was talking.

 

“What do we do? We try and not get too involved. Joshua is almost 20 now. He can take care of himself.”


“Hyung, he’s 19…” Dino said.

 

“Same difference. He’s old enough to know what he needs.” He sighed.

 

I heard a loud thud, that must have been Woozi storming back into the dorm because the next thing I heard was Jun yelling.

 

I opened my door and ran out to find that Jun was now attacking Woozi. The other members were trying to pull him off but Jun had a firm grip and wasn’t about to let go any time soon.

 

“Guys stop!” I practically had to scream before they saw or heard me.

 

Jun stopped trying to rip out Woozi’s vocal chords and Woozi punched him in the stomach as hard as he possibly could it seemed.

 

“That’s it. If you can’t trust me to control myself then maybe, I should just move again. I’ll go somewhere else for school and to another country.”


“Joshua don’t say stuff like that.” The8 looked up at me with puppy eyes.

 

“Sorry The8, but it seems as though I’m the one who’s going to bring us down this time.” I turned to head back to my room to pack my things but I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jeonghan.

 

“Joshua, don’t you dare. We do trust you, if we didn’t we probably would have kicked you out a long time ago. Believe me when I say that. We’re all a little too excited for the moment. None of us has fallen for a girl in a few years so obviously the last thing we remember is having to leave Korea as soon as we could and come here to your hometown.”


I nodded my head slowly then looked at the rest of the members. They looked scared, upset and a bit angry. What happened to us next, I wasn’t expecting. I started crying slightly, which hasn’t happened in a very long time.

 

Jeonghan looked at me then brought me in for a hug. Then the rest of the members came to give me a hug, and right then I just lost it. I couldn’t hold it in and I honestly think I sounded like a dying whale. Then again, I couldn’t’ have cared about it, I was just so tired from trying to keep my feelings shoved down.

 

Though, it wasn’t just my emotions, it was school that was painful as well. I was going to be going off to college in 5 months and it seemed like I just couldn’t get my act together.

 

When they pulled away from me, they saw just how badly I was broken on the inside.


“Hyung….” I looked up and saw The8 starring at me.

 

“Nae?” I tried to wipe my eyes with my sleeves and pull myself together.

 

“We’re here for you. Even if it seems like a good portion of us are upset, we really do care and want to help.” He walked up ot me and gave me a hug. I swear, how did we even find this loveable kid?

I hugged him back. “Thanks.”


“I think we’ve gotten a great dose of daily drama, let’s go out and have some fun like when we were younger.” Mingyu suggested.

 

“Sounds like a great idea. But can we get food first? I haven’t eaten all day and I’m starving.” Seungkwan whined.

 

We laughed, even in our worst moments we always found something to laugh at.

 

“Yes we can. But first,” Hoshi turned to me “Joshua clean your face. You look awful.” He smiled at me with a wink.


“Thanks Hoshi.” I smiled back and walked off to clean my face. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…………..Soo……….that was…. something. I wasn’t really expecting myself to write anything like that until later on in the story but…nope! My brain decided to ditch my original plan and go off on its own. Oh well.

 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I’m sorry that I haven’y updated until now. I’ve been really busy with school work and all the fun jazz >________< but next week I won’t have actual school so I’ll hopefully be able to write more and update more.

 

But I will be on a trip with my grade level for a few days so that means no story writing. As soon as I get back though I’ll do my best to write and update with a new chapter.

 

 

As always, happy reading!