"I want out of those dorms!" 

"But Eunsae, you've only been there for a few days." My aunt pouted.

I sighed, not impressed. Why was she so childish?

"It's stupid. All they do is call me ugly." I stammered. "The other students imagined Eunwoo to be just as grand as they are but I am not them. I am just plain ugly ordinary Eunwoo."

"Plain and ordinary basically mean the same thing." My aunt said simply lifting her arms up in a gesture.

I slammed my hands on the table. "I want out!"

My aunt's expression snapped. She gave me a stern look and crossed her arms. "Eunsae, we made a deal." She said. "You wanted a place to stay and I gave you one. You don't have any say in where." She emphasised on that. "I do." She said. 

"So I can be a toy that you can play with? Just like my mother?"

My aunt pursed her lips. She knew that I was being sensitive at the moment so she was trying very hard to find the right words to say. "Eunsae, I understand your upbringing." She spoke calmly. "I know what kind of person my sister is. But you need to trust me on this. To some extent, your mother is right. Beauty matters."

"But to some extent, she is wrong." I shot back at her. "Beauty should not be put on a pedestal above everything else. I aim to prove that to her. She can't be warped in this kind of idea forever. Even I know better than her."

"And what is it that you know, Eunsae?" My aunt asked. "Care to explain?"

"That beauty that she seeks in me, is not for everyone." I stated. "Me, included."

I could see the stern expression melt little by little. My aunt wore a small smile but her eyes were sad. "That braid looks good on you."

"And yet, I am still ugly." I retorted in frustration. Before she could utter another word, I stalked out of the room. 

I looked around for the hardest object that I could find. I spied a concrete pillar nearby and slammed my fist into it. It was painful of course, but pain was something I needed to feel when I was angry or upset. 

"Why are you so aggressive?" 

The voice was too close. It was from beside my ear. I span around quickly and aimed a punch at the person who had surprised me. 

Chanyeol avoided it smoothly and took two steps back. "Why are you so aggressive?" He asked again. 

"It's because I hate..."

"Hate us." Chanyeol interrupted. He knew what I was going to say. "Why do you keep saying that you hate us?"

"Because I..."

"You don't."

I glared at him. "I..."

"Don't." Chanyeol smiled at me. "I know that you don't. You're acting like the biggest a-hole here but honestly, you don't hate us. You're angry that you can't live up to your mother's expectation. You're angry that your mother has those kinds of expectations. You're angry because you're trying not to try but you still want to try but you don't want to try as well. You're just a lost soul."

"No!" I exclaimed. "You're wrong!" But my hands were shaking and my eyes were watering. I felt vulnerable. I turned to run away. There were a set of stairs that I quickly darted towards it. My feet felt numb but I forced myself to run. Chanyeol was scary. How was he able to read me?

My footing was all wrong. I missed a step and fell towards the floor. No. I gasped. No.

As if my prayers were answered. I felt a warm body in front of me. It steadied me. It comforted me. 

"You're making me worried Eunwoo." He said.

I gulped to stop myself from crying but I could already feel my tears transferring to his shirt. 

"If there's something that's troubling you, you should tell us." He said. 

I gulped again. No, Eunsae, please don't cry.

"And even if you can't trust us enough to tell us, you should let it out somehow."

The tears were welling up again. 

"You're not weak, Eunwoo-ah." He crooned. "You've just been too strong for too long."

At those words, I cried at the top of lungs then. My hands gripped tightly on his shirt. And I let my tears fall.

He patted my head ever so gently.

"I know I'm a straight forward person." Luhan said. "So you'll believe me when I say that I am worried. You'll believe me when I say you're not weak. And you'll also believe it when I say you've been too strong, Eunwoo-ah."