Baekhyun, no matter how much he tried to hide it, was lonely. No matter how loud he sounded when he laughed with his friends, no matter how hard he insisted on staying with them even after Mina warned him. He was lonely, and Mina was sure of that.

“Hypocrites.” Seulgi scoffed, stuffing with a rice cake, “Look at them.”

“I’m looking, Seulgi.” Mina boringly glanced at the girl sitting next to her. Her head was resting on top of the table. It was uncomfortably close to her plate of food but she didn’t seem to mind. Now that Mina thought about it, Seulgi didn’t mind anything as long as nobody mentioned religion. The witch was afraid she’d out herself and get in trouble.

“I don’t know how Baekhyun puts up with them.” Seulgi added with a huff.

Mina didn’t know either. Of course, she didn’t expect Baekhyun to separate himself from his toxic group just because she talked to him. Mina figured it’d take her a lot more than just talking to change his mind.

“Baekhyun this, Baekhyun that. Do you like him or something?” Chanyeol crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at an innocent looking Seulgi.

She only blinked before, “Now I can’t talk about boys without you suggesting I like them.” Biting her lip suggestively, she added, “What, fairy, you like me or something?”

“I’m not a fairy.” Chanyeol groaned, “And I don’t like you.”

Mina stopped playing with the toothpick inside her pocket at Seulgi’s question. Slowly, an amused smile tugged at her lips before she leaned closer to watch her two friends bicker.

“It’s because of your hair.” Seulgi motioned to his head with a smug grin. Chanyeol’s expression changed so fast Mina thought she was hallucinating. Chanyeol was always sensitive about his hair. He had been made fun of multiple times because of his ridiculous hair colors. Mina told him every time that he looked cool yet he never believed her.

“What’s wrong with my hair?” His fingers immediately flew to his locks. Chanyeol’s eyes became as wide as saucers and Mina decided to stop the fight before it went too far.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Mina put her hands between her two friends, “Seulgi, go easy on the boy. He hasn’t recovered from liking somebody yet.” Seulgi muffled her laugh at the new information, munching on a tomato slice. Mina’s tone went from playful to curious as she turned her head to look at Chanyeol, “And you? You knew about this before? Baekhyun and his friends? You used to sit with them almost all the time the months before.”

Mina’s voice laced with bitterness at her last sentence, yet none of her two friends seemed to notice it. Chanyeol put his chin on his palm, a sad smile playing on his lips, “They talked trash about him the moment he stepped into this school. But you know how that squad works, they pull you in to tear you down and if you survive you get to stay.”

Seulgi raised her brow in disgust, “What a bunch of bastards. Why is Baekhyun still with them?”

Chanyeol didn’t dare look them in the eye, “For the same reason I am: The need to belong.”

Seulgi furrowed her brows but she didn’t voice her thoughts. Mina glanced at her before resuming her lunch, the sound of the clinking forks overshadowing the cafeteria buzzing. Every Kyungbock student spoke to Chanyeol at least once in their lives, and every group had him hanging between them during lunchtime. He was a social butterfly and he had everybody’s business inside his jean pockets. But if you looked at the situation closely, you would notice how Chanyeol didn’t truly belong. He jumped from table to table and from group to group; he never settled, and Mina was surprised Seulgi didn’t notice that.

Mina sighed, rubbing her temple in exasperation. She hurried to put her toothpick between her lips. Her headache hurt even more when there was nothing to distract her, and her period cramps only got worse as time passed. If it went on any longer, she was going to call sick and leave Baekhyun hanging.

He sent Chanyeol to tell her to meet him again today and Mina feared what was about to come. She agreed before, she couldn’t back out now. A small voice inside her head told her that she didn’t want to leave him alone, but she ignored it. When Chanyeol told her to bring an old shirt for safety, Mina figured Baekhyun was going to take her tagging.

Her head ached more at the thought of doing something that could get her arrested. How could she stand there watching Baekhyun vandalizing buildings and not do anything about it? What if he forces her to tag along? Mina tugged at her hair, her toothpick hanging between her two front teeth.

Hundreds of questions swirled inside her head even after lunch break ended, and she almost missed the last bell of the day three hours later. Mina noticed how slow her steps were, only realizing how much she didn’t want to go with Baekhyun. Or maybe she was too nervous to face him after yesterday.

How things have changed in just a few short weeks. The apple trees lining Mina’s way back home, previously denuded with their branches swirling into a mess of unruly twigs, were dotted with buds. The dull gardens decorating the houses’ backyards were starting to gain color, their shading much livelier and inviting. The sun shone just a little bit more and the wind warmed up. Mina’s braid swayed from side to side as she walked down the road, and she found herself thinking about how she had changed a lot too.

If someone had told her she was going to start hanging out with Byun Baekhyun and go tagging with him, she would’ve laughed in their face and called them insane. And now, she was going out of her way to avoid hurting his feelings. Not only that, but she was going to break in an illegal DVD in less than a week, and if that wasn’t enough to show how much Mina changed then she didn’t know what could.

She knew she was being irrational, or rather risky; there was nothing certain about her assumptions. The only information she was sure about was the stolen video files. Somebody stole them from Song Seho’s computer to protect themselves, and Mina suspected Jung Ilhoon. And what better place to hide evidence against him than Kodak, Mina guessed. She only guessed, but she was determined. She was desperate to put Ilhoon behind the bars, even if she worked with uncertain information. Still, the number on his head was unexplainable. He was supposed to mark a ten as well but he didn’t. Mina’s thoughts were cut off when her stomach cramped. She stopped, rubbing the aching skin in hopes of soothing pain. However, it didn’t and Mina figured it was better to get home faster so she could take some medicine.

As she approached her house, she noticed a familiar scrawny figure standing at her door. Baekhyun was leaning against her door, his foot tapping against the wooden floor. It wasn’t until she pushed the silver gate open that he noticed her arrival. He separated himself from the door before walking to her direction, a hand resting in his pocket and another holding a big backpack.

“Go change into an old shirt or something.” He said with a monotonous tone, “We’re going tagging.”

His face was guarded; no emotion could be deduced from his expression or his eyes. Mina wanted to tell him that it was no use since she already saw him in all his states, but she chose to keep silent. She could feel his gaze on her when she was fumbling with the keys to open the door. She hurried upstairs and roamed through her closet in hopes of finding a shirt she didn’t really care about. She couldn’t believe she was going to vandalize some poor family’s building. Just the thought of doing it made her dizzy, but it wasn’t doing her any good to think about it. After a few minutes of tossing and shaking her head, Mina finally fell nose to nose with her old Seo Taiji and Boys’ t-shirt. It had been years since she last wore that shirt, and it wouldn’t be a hassle to wash it later or not at all.

After slipping into the t-shirt and some old jeans, Mina ran downstairs. She gulped down her cramping pills before opening the door again. Baekhyun was playing the straps of his backpack, and Mina wondered how he managed to go back home, change his clothes and come back to her house. Did she really take that long to come home from school?

As soon as she got out, Baekhyun whipped his head to look at her with an unreadable expression. However, he darted his eyes away from her a split second later and started walking. Mina narrowed her eyes at his weird antics before following him.

His raven colored bangs swayed with the wind, and his green hoodie matched perfectly with the tress blooming in either of their sides. Mina thanked God they didn’t match clothes this time.

“Did you bring the cameras?” Mina asked, not bearing the silence. Baekhyun walked past her by a few feet, as if he didn’t want to be seen with her. He didn’t even bother responding to her question, only lifting his backpack with a dry hum.

“I won’t touch those spray things or whatever.” Mina began with a frown, “I’ll only watch. You have experience doing this, right? Because I don’t want be arrested. Hey, are you even listening?”

This time, Baekhyun didn’t do anything in response. The wind messed up his hair even more and Mina fought the urge to smooth it down, but she stopped herself from doing so.

“Are you going to be like this the whole evening?” She grumbled but again, Baekhyun’s lips didn’t move. She took a deep breath in, calming her raging nerves, “You’re unbelievable.”

Baekhyun took a different turn than what Mina had been used to. The building in which he was usually tagging was already left behind them. They were walking in an empty road, leading to the other side of the neighborhood. With each step taken, the houses have gotten significantly smaller and dirtier. Mina grew worried with each second passing. Baekhyun took another turn and Mina trailed behind him, her ears only picking up the squeaky sounds emitting from their converses hitting against the wet concrete.

A nauseating odor of what seemed like dead fish and paint overwhelmed Mina’s senses. Baekhyun and she took another turn before she discovered its source: a tunnel cutting right through a wall.

“Where are we going? I’m not going there, are you out of your mind?” Mina stomped her way until she was walking side to side with Baekhyun. The boy kept on marching, not batting an eyelash at her words, or her presence. Mina noticed how he acted that way every time she was out with him: cold and distant, “Are you being serious? I’m not moving from here until you answer me.”

Mina crossed her arms and planted her feet in one spot, almost ten feet away from the tunnel. She fixed her glare on Baekhyun’s back, waiting for him to come back. Mina promised herself she wouldn’t move, even if Baekhyun left her there. Even if she wanted to go back home, she couldn’t because she couldn’t remember the way. Mina sighed heavily, watching as Baekhyun ignored her completely and kept walking. Mina tapped her foot on the ground, her arms tightening around her chest.

“Byun! Baekhyun! head!” She yelled at the boy who was nearing the tunnel, making him stop abruptly, “You’re going to leave me here? If you do that I’ll make sure everybody around here knows who you are! Byun Baekhyun! Byun Baekhyun is a head! Byun Baekhyun is an annoying little brat who doesn’t want to listen to me, or talk to me, because he thinks he’s so cool! Byun Baekhyun!”

Mina stopped when she felt a hand pressed against , “Are you crazy?” Baekhyun mumbled angrily, his voice barely above than a whisper. His hand smelt like metal and strawberries, but it was soft to touch nonetheless.

“Oh, now you’re talking?” Mina spoke after tearing Baekhyun’s hand away from , “Did somebody cut your tongue or something? And why are you taking me…there?”

Baekhyun swept his hands through his locks, messing them up even more, “You kept rambling that other night about how you didn’t want to do this with me because it’s illegal and I…I thought it would make you more comfortable if I brought you to a street art mural. Before you ask more questions, it’s a wall in which it’s perfectly legal to paint or draw on or whatever. It’s on the other side of this tunnel. There, happy? Can you shut up and follow me now, pretty please? My head hurts.”

His eyes were stormy, filled with irritation and something else Mina couldn’t decipher. She bit back a smile; she never thought Baekhyun cared about her feelings, what she was comfortable doing and what she was not, “You could’ve just told me.”

“Kang, please.” He gave her another pleading look and she nodded before trailing behind him. He pulled out a flashlight from his backpack before stepping in the darkness.

Mina stepped carefully into the tunnel, her hand reaching to clutch Baekhyun’s sleeve and stopping last minute. The sounds of their breaths and their footsteps doubled in volume. The lights flickered, casting an ominous glow throughout the tunnel, causing shivers to ripple across her body. The odor inside was even worse, reminding her of a sewage. After seconds of almost vomiting, Mina put her hand over her nose and mouth. Baekhyun didn’t