Minseok huffed loudly for the umpteenth times today. He crossed his arms, and stared at his friends with a frown.

"I'm fine." He cut off before Luhan was able to say anything. 

Luhan sighed. "We are just worried about you."

"I know." Minseok muttered lowly while looking down. 

"Luhan could be quite an insufferable, overprotective idiot sometimes, but I agree with him this time. We shouldn't have leave you alone." Kyungsoo added quietly.

"It's not your fault." Minseok said in a tired voice as if this wasn't the first time he repeated himself. "I'll be fine so just go."

"Hell no." Luhan replied sternly. "Even if the God himself were to descend upon me right now to drag me away, there's no way in hell I'm leaving your side again."

"How about your detention then?" Minseok argued weakly. "You know you can't miss it. The teacher will be more than happy to extend your punishment."

Luhan looked thoughtful for a split second, but he was quick to dismiss it. "I'll deal with it later."

"Luhan.." There was a hint of disapproval in Minseok's tone before he shifted his gaze towards Kyungsoo. "Here's a deal. Kyungsoo, would you please help finding Siwon? He should be somewhere in the house. I think he's more than qualified to babysit me, right?"

"But—"

"No but, Luhan." Minseok interrupted. "You are worried of leaving me all alone here, right? So, problem solved if I'm with Siwon especially since he's supposed to be the only adult in the house."

"That's actually a pretty good idea." Kyungsoo commented after a prolonged silence. Luhan immediately glared at him, feeling betrayed by the other's change of mind. 

"Thanks." 

Kyungsoo shrugged. "I'll go and find him then."

Luhan opened his mouth to argue, but Kyungsoo was already disappearing behind the door. Feeling helpless, Luhan sighed and shifted his attention back towards Minseok. 

"You're so going to be the death of me one of these days, Kim Minseok." Luhan said while shaking his head. 

Minseok smiled playfully. "Glad to be of your service, sir."

"Idiot." Luhan couldn't help, but to smile as well as he slapped the other's leg lightly. He took a seat at the edge of the bed while fixing Minseok's blanket. 

"It's not your fault, Luhan." Minseok began after a moment of silence. He met eyes with Luhan, sincerely trying to convey his emotion. "None of it is."

Luhan only stared at Minseok in response. 

"We've been through this before." He finally said while averting his eyes away. "We're just going to argue with each other again in the end so drop it."

"But—"

"I said drop it, Minseok." Luhan's eyes flashed dangerously for a split second as he spared a brief look towards the latter. "I'm not in the mood for a fight right now so cut it out. I'm begging you."

Minseok sighed, but relented nevertheless. He leaned back and stared at the window. Meanwhile, Luhan also shifted his gaze away, allowing it to wander all around. It didn't take long for his gaze to land on one particular object at the farthest corner of the room, poorly covered by a familiar white cloth. He instinctively stood up and made his way there. Feeling the weight shift on the bed, Minseok looked up and trailed his eyes after Luhan's back with a puzzled look.

"What the—" Luhan nearly jumped out of his skin once he removed the white cloth. A doll - the same one that Jongdae and Minseok previously discovered in the basement - was propped against the wall, and her eyes looked eerily alive as she stared right ahead. 

"What's wrong?" Minseok asked in concern. He was unable to spot the doll due to Luhan getting in the way. 

"Where did you get this thing?" Luhan questioned urgently as he spun around to face Minseok while pointing at the doll accusingly. "I nearly had a heart attack because of this creepy !"

"Well, well, well. Glad to know that I'm not the only one." Jongdae arrived in all of his glory with a smug look. Kyungsoo appeared in the doorway shortly afterward, sporting a guilty look.

"I can't find Siwon anywhere." Kyungsoo said first before any of them managed to open their mouths. "I found this weirdo lurking around in the kitchen though so I thought it's better than nothing, right?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" Luhan deadpanned. "You might as well bring something else from the kitchen instead."

"Well, I couldn't decide between the spatula or frying pan." Kyungsoo replied while shrugging nonchalantly. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely serious or being sarcastic, but Jongdae sincerely hoped for the latter.

Luhan huffed loudly. "Then, what now?"

"You leave, that's what." Minseok interrupted. "Get your back to school right this instant, Luhan."

"And leave you with this walking slab of meat?" Luhan said in disbelief while making a wild gesture towards Jongdae.

"Is he talking about me?" Jongdae questioned after taking approximately ten seconds to process Luhan's words. He turned to Kyungsoo for an answer, but the latter just snorted in response.

"I'll be fine." Minseok insisted. "I don't need someone to babysit me, but if that's what makes you happy, Jongdae is more than enough. I'm not a baby anymore so it's not like he has to change my diaper or something."

"But—"

Luhan was abruptly interrupted by the ringing of Kyungsoo's phone. The room fell into a deep silence as Kyungsoo fished out the screaming device from his pocket before answering it.

"Hello? Yeah. Alright, got it." The call was over before Jongdae even managed to take his next breath.

"Who is that?" 

Kyungsoo promptly ignored the question. "We have to leave now. I don't think you have much of a choice, Luhan. The principal is going to stop by today."

"That number seems quite familiar." Jongdae pondered while tapping a finger to his chin. He had accidentally saw the screen before Kyungsoo answered the call. His brows were all scrunched together as he struggled hard to remember the owner of the number before he abruptly snapped his fingers together. "That's right. It's Jongin's number!"

Luhan raised an amused brow. "You have Jongin's numbers?" He questioned, clearly directing the question towards Kyungsoo.

"I'm out of here." Kyungsoo announced at once, not even sparing a second glance as he spun around and headed for the door.

"That's weird." Luhan mused before shifting his attention back towards Minseok. "Are you sure you will be alright? Really, really sure? I can stay if you want."

Minseok rolled his eyes. "Just go already. You heard Kyungsoo. The principal will be there today so skipping your detention is not an option."

"I told you I'll deal with it later."

"Go or else, I swear to God—"

"Alright, alright." Luhan gave in reluctantly before marching up towards Jongdae. "You!" He hissed as he squinted his eyes at the other.

"What?"

"Take care of him as if your life depended on it." Luhan said very slowly, emphasizing his threat. "Or I swear to God, you won't live to see another day because I'm going to chop you up into pieces and feed you to the stray dogs. You won't want people saying rest in pieces on your funeral, do you?"

"Is that a threat?" Jongdae stammered out, clearly terrified of the maniacal glint in Luhan's eyes. 

Luhan stepped even closer until their faces were barely inches from each other. "You bet it is."

"Luhan."

"Alright, I'm leaving." Luhan huffed loudly before stalking out of the room. He waved without looking as he disappeared behind the door. Meanwhile, Jongdae was still frozen in his place and Minseok had to try hard to surpress his laughter.

"So?" Minseok spoke out after he grew tired of waiting the other to unfreeze on his own. "Aren't you going to come here and take care of me?"

Jongdae snapped out of his reverie and furrowed his brows. "I don't even know why I have to do that in the first place."

"I'm joking." Minseok burst into laughter, having restraining it long enough. "You can do whatever you want. I just said that so I can get Luhan back to school. I don't want him to get into trouble because of me."

"So, it's true." Jongdae mumbled under his breath.

"What is?"

"Nothing." Jongdae said defeatedly before dragging his feet towards the bed. He unceremoniously plopped down next to Minseok with his face buried deeply onto the pillow. Minseok quirked a brow, weirded out by the other's uncharacteristical behavior. 

"What is wrong with you?" 

Poke. Poke.

Jongdae whined inaudibly in response.

"What is that? I can't hear you." Minseok said in a sing-song voice.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Jongdae shot up, resuming the familiar tune by instinct.

Minseok snorted loudly. "Are you serioudly telling me that you're still watching Spongebob Squarepants?"

"What's wrong with that?" Jongdae bit back defensively. "I love Plankton. That ingenious sneaky little is my life mentor."

"Your life mentor is.. a cartoon character?" Minseok stared at Jongdae with a judging look.

Jongdae shrugged. "It's still better than Yixing's obsession with unicorns and Jongin with his bears."

"No wonder Kyungsoo hates you guys with a passion." Minseok mused. "You guys make Frankenstein look normal in comparison."

"Thank you."

"That's not a compliment."

"It is to me—"

Clunk!

"What is that?" Jongdae said in alarm, scooting backwards until his back hit the headboard.

Minseok shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Then, go and find out." Jongdae replied urgently while gesturing for Minseok to get out of the bed. Minseok stared at Jongdae while pointing a finger towards himself in sheer disbelief. "What are you waiting for?" Jongdae urged yet again while nudging Minseok with his feet.

"You go." Minseok responded with a hint of annoyance. "I can barely walked home just now, let alone prancing around this humongous house in search of God knows what."

"I thought you said you're perfectly fine now."

"I lied." Minseok deadpanned. "Happy now? Now, off you go."

Jongdae instinctively shook his head. He looked up towards Minseok with big, doe eyes as if a child pleading for their favourite toy to their mother.

"That won't work on me." Minseok said while rolling his eyes. "I have to put up with Luhan and Tao on a daily basis so I'm practically immune to that cheap trick by now."

"Did you just say I'm cheap?"

"Technically, no." Minseok shrugged. "But, you are doing that cheap trick as well so yeah, you're a cheap hoe."

Jongdae gasped dramatically. "Oh, the nerve—"

"Shut up and go." Minseok cut off before kicking him out of the bed. Caught off-guard, Jongdae fell off the bed in one swift movement before rolling over several times, only coming to a stop when he suddenly became face to face with an eerily familiar face.

"ARGHHHHH!" Jongdae abruptly sat up and scrambled to stay as far away as he can. 

"What? WHAT IS IT?" Minseok questioned in panic, already covering half of his face with the blanket.

"T-The doll.." Jongdae stuttered out, shivering from head to toes. "I think it was the one making that noise just now."

Minseok's first reaction to his words was to throw the blanket at the poor boy. 

"Don't be ridiculous!" Minseok hissed through his gritted teeth. Annoyance was clearly evident in his tone. 

"It's true!" Jongdae insisted, turning around with a look of terror. It was the first time Minseok had ever witnessed someone in so much distress that he immediately wavered between trusting the other or not. "How do you explain it suddenly dangling in front of my face then? I clearly saw it being propped againt the wall just now, which meant it freaking moved on its own. It's a cursed doll I'm telling you!"

Minseok groaned as he hid his face in his hands.  

"Look at the doll anyway!" Jongdae prodded further. "The eyes alone are creepy enough to cause me sleepless nights for a lifetime. Then, it was suddenly lying across the floor with its face conveniently staring at me like that. I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like the intro to a gruesome horror movie to me."

"Or, perhaps you have been watching a tad bit too much television." Minseok sighed. "Either that or you are still running a high fever since yesterday and it's starting to mess with your head."

"No, I'm good." Jongdae jumped onto the bed and scooted closer towards Minseok. He grabbed Minseok's hand and placed it against his forehead. "See? My temperature is fairly normal."

Minseok just rolled his eyes in response and pulled his hand away, but not before flicking the other's forehead.

"Ouch!"

"You know what, I'm starving." Minseok ignored the dramatic male and began making a move to get out of the bed. "Stay if you want or whatever, but I'm out of here." 

True to his words, Minseok quickly exited the room without sparing a second glance towards Jongdae. Realising this a second too late, Jongdae nearly fell flat on his face in his hurry to get up and catch up to Minseok.

"Wait for me!" Jongdae yelled in vain as he walked with hurried steps towards the door. However, he suddenly came into an abrupt halt because of a sudden nagging feeling in the back of his mind urging him to look back. After much contemplating, he slowly looked over his shoulder. Jongdae felt the blood drain from his face when he spotted the doll had somehow went back to its original position of being propped against the wall, albeit in a slightly different direction. It was facing directly towards the door this time instead of facing the bed earlier. He shuddered slightly when his eyes met contact with the doll's huge eyes, feeling a shiver running down his spine. He was quite sure that the doll was still lying across the floor just seconds ago. Minseok clearly didn't touch the doll before leaving and Jongdae was too scared to even get anywhere near it. Without a second thought, Jongdae spun around and began sprinting out of the room in record time. He was so not going to be left alone with the creepy object.

~~X~~

"Do Kyungsoo, tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

Kyungsoo groaned. "Don't you ever shut up at all?"

"Nope." Luhan replied, purposely popping the 'p'.

"Well, you better start now if you don't want to end up being killed and left in a ditch."

"You know you love me." 

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you so do." Luhan grinned.

Kyungsoo opted for silence, only rolling his eyes in response.

"Just tell me one thing. How come you have Jongin's numbers?" Luhan pestered once again, obviously not willing to give up that easily. "Is this like a recent event or some old one? It must be recent because you don't happen to keep his old number, do you? That's impossible, right? This ain't some soap drama where the main characters have been using the same phone number for their entire life for the sake of the plot."

"Shut up, Luhan."

Luhan furrowed his brows with a dissatisfied look. "Come on, what's so hard about my question? You either just speak the truth or not."

"I choose not." said Kyungsoo simply.

"Kyungsoo, you know I care about you." Luhan's face softened a little bit. "I don't want to see you getting hurt. If this is really a recent event, then I get it. It's only logical for us to have each other's numbers since we are living together though I would rather throw my phone into the ocean if I ever have that idiot's number, but if this is his old number we are talking about, then we are going to have a little bit of a problem here."

Kyungsoo remained quiet and Luhan had a hunch of the exact reason for that. He took a deep breath and released a heavy sigh. They were already in front of the classroom so it's not like he had much of a chance to say anything.

"Just remember this." Luhan said firmly before they entered the classroom. "You know how they said, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

"Here comes the Barbie and friend." Sehun remarked the moment they stepped into the room. His smirk only grew wider when Luhan glared daggers in his direction.

"Keep that up and I will sew your mouth shut while you are asleep tonight. I swear I will."

"Ooh, I'm so scared." Sehun taunted.

Luhan rolled his eyes and took his seat just in time for the principal to arrive.

"Good evening, children." The principal said as he made his way into the classroom. "I believe everything is fine around here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hold on a second." The students immediately felt a wave of panic washed over them when the principal suddenly began squinting his eyes in their direction. That was never a good sign. "I was told that there are supposed to be six of you, but there's only four of you here. Where's the other two?"

Jongin gulped visibly as he exchanged a quick look with Sehun. Kyungsoo sighed while Luhan cursed under his breath.

"W-We have no idea, sir." Jongin voiced out hesitantly. He was already crossing his fingers under the table, furiously imploring God for protection in the back of his mind.

"Now, that's the problem with kids these days!" The principal abruptly hit the poor table with his cane, causing the students to flinch in response. "You guys never pay enough attention to care about your surrounding nor your friends. Wake up, children! This is not a tolerable behavior. You must learn to become aware of your surrounding in order to survive among the society in the future. Do you understand?"

"Actually, no but I'll just say yes for the fun of it." Luhan whispered.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" The principal repeated sternly when he received no response from the students.

"Yes, sir!"

"Good." The principal nodded a few times in acknowledgement. "Now, I want you to go and find your friends. Bring them back here in an hour or I'm going to extend your detention for another month."

The four of them stood up faster than you thought was ever possible and made a move to sprint towards to the door. Except the principal obviously won't let them go that easily.

"Wait." One word from the principal was enough to halt them in their tracks. "I want you to split into two teams. Jongin, you go with Kyungsoo and Sehun with Luhan."

As if they can't help it, they simultaneously whined indignantly while throwing a hostile look towards each other. 

"I'm not going anywhere with that son of a—" Luhan began but quickly got cut off by Kyungsoo, who was fully aware of the principal's stern glare. 

"Shut up or do you want to get expel that badly?" Kyungsoo hissed under his breath. Luhan mumbled incoherently in response. "What?"

Luhan rolled his eyes before slapping Kyungsoo's hand away. "I get it, but he is still a dirty rotten scallion." He said in a whisper as well before throwing a dirty look towards Sehun. The latter mouthed something in response, and Luhan was pretty sure it had something to do with a female dog.

"But, Mr. Lee—" Jongin turned to the principal to protest.

"This is an order, Kim Jongin." The principal said sternly. "I won't tolerate any disobedience to my words even from the star of the school."

Jongin whined some more under his breath, but wisely kept his mouth shut afterwards. 

"Now, get going if there's nothing else. The clock is ticking, children." The principal shooed them while already taking a seat at the table.

Not having another choice, Luhan gritted his teeth and promptly marched right ahead. His intention was clear as the day. He fully intended on leaving Sehun behind and be on his way all alone.

"Go after him, Sehun." The principal called out while waving his handphone in his hold. "I have the CCTV app installed on my phone if you haven't figure it out."

"." Sehun cursed, begrudgingly running after Luhan. Thankfully, he caught up to the shorter male in no time, courtesy to his long legs. "What the are you doing here?" He panted while bending down slightly to catch his breath.

Luhan glanced once at him. "None of your bloody business." 

"It is if it's going to make us late in finding those two idiots and I end up in a detention for another month with you." Sehun argued, straightening his back to intimidate the other with his taller figure.

"Kyungsoo will find them." Luhan said off-handedly. "He always does."

"That still doesn't explain why are you here, sneaking around outside of the principal's office as if you're planning to rob the place?" 

"More like planning the old man's death." Luhan snorted loudly.

"Make it quick then because being around you for so long makes me sick."

Smack! Smack!

"Ouch!" Sehun rubbed the sore spot. "What's that for?"

"Oops, I'm sorry." Luhan totally didn't look like he was sorry at all. "I thought you were asking to get hit."

"." Sehun muttered in a low voice. Unfortunately, Luhan heard it just fine and he began to raise his hand again, sending Sehun cowering under his murderous gaze. "Alright, alright, moving on. What are you planning to do to the old man's office? Thrash it? Gluing his chair?"

Luhan shrugged. "I haven't figure it out. We'll see.. once we're inside."

"Wait, wait." Sehun stopped him in panic. "You're planning on going in? Just like that? Without a proper disguise or something?"

"Yeah?"

"He has the CCTV app installed on his phone!" Sehun said urgently while flailing around like a fish out of water. "We're going to get caught in no time!"

"Well, thanks for the tip but I won't get caught." Luhan looked at the taller appraisingly. "You, on another hand, might need a little bit of a help here. Wear this." Luhan produced something out of his back pocket and shoved it in Sehun's hand.

"What the is this—Are you seriously giving me a women's stocking right now?" Sehun asked in disbelief while holding up the offending object with his fingers. 

"Wear it if you don't want to get caught. I won't be responsible if the CCTV caught your face."

"How about you?"

Luhan smirked. "I have my own way."

It turned out that Luhan's way of avoiding himself from being caught on camera was by blocking the camera itself with a blank paper. He stealthily stepped into the room while covering his face with his hands before grabbing a random paper on the table and gluing it to the camera. Sehun, who had obediently put on the women's stocking around his head, watched with sheer disbelief.

"What's the use of you asking me to wear this then?" Sehun exploded, pulling off the thin layer of cloth in one swift movement.

Luhan shrugged. "For my amusement clearly."

Sehun was obviously seething, but Luhan couldn't care less. He began snooping around the room in search of God knows what, ignoring the other completely.

"You do know that's the dumbest to do, right?" Sehun mocked while gesturing towards the camera. "He'll know right away that something is up when he can't see anything."

"True, but by the time he does, we'll be long gone and there will be nothing to prove that we were here." Luhan said without looking. He was currently messing around with the things on the table, randomly touching everything including several folders and two framed pictures. "Well, why don't you look at that? He has quite a beautiful daughter. She must takes after her mother."

"Daughter?" Sehun furrowed his brows. "He doesn't have a daughter. He has three sons."

"You mean the one in this picture?" Luhan showed the frame with a picture of the principal with his wife and his three sons. Sehun nodded. "That's weird. Then, who is this?" He showed another frame with a picture of the principal and a young girl in his lap.

Sehun snatched the frame and took a closer look. "No idea."

"Because you're a dumb idiot." Luhan concluded while taking the frame back and putting it to its previous position.

"I'm not a dumb—, is that him?" Both of them instantly froze at the sudden sound of footsteps outside. Not knowing what to do, Sehun turned all around in search of a hiding place before deciding that the table was their only option. He quickly hid inside of the crammed space, not forgetting to pull Luhan along since he was still too stunned to move. They held their breath when the door finally clicked open and someone entered in a slow motion. Both of them couldn't be sure who it was since they were unable to see, but they immediately became sure that it wasn't the principal. It was probably a female teacher because of the flowery scent of her perfume.

"Can you like.. not get too close to me?" Luhan hissed as he wiggled uncomfortably.

"Shh." Sehun put a finger on his lips. "Shut up or she will hear you. It's not like I'm doing it on purpose."

Luhan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but it's still so damn uncomfortable for me."

"Why? Can't handle my hotness, Barbie? Are you afraid that you're going to melt or something?" Sehun said in a mocking tone.

"Where?" Luhan deadpanned.

"Where what?"

"Where the is that goddamn hotness, you raging self-centred bastard." It was such a miracle that Luhan was yet to scream on top of his lungs, but he was clearly still aware of the other presence in the room.

"Here, here." Sehun closed the distance between them and quite literally shoved his face in front of Luhan. "Look as much as you want, Barbie. It's my treat."

Caught off-guard, Luhan found himself staring right into Sehun's face. Because of their close proximity in the limited space, Luhan was able to see every single inch of the other's face. He could also started counting his long eyelashes if he wants. Strangely, it gave him a funny feeling of wanting to those smooth skin, those crescent eyes, those pink lips...

"HOLY GUACAMOLE, I MUST BE GOING CRAZY!" Luhan abruptly shot up to his feet, but not before bumping his head against the table first. "THAT'S IT! I'M OUT OF HERE—"

"Luhan?"

"Uh-oh."

Lo and behold, "she" turned out to be a he and the owner of the flowery scent was the principal himself.