Su Ho woke up the next morning and had apologised over and over again for not fulfilling his job as the carer for the 12 of you. He had thanked Kris over and over again for taking charge and he promised to treat everyone to a nice meal as he felt bad for not particpating in last night's clean up. He had got up and found his wallet and made a start to head to the supermarket but Sehun begged him not to go, saying that he would instead. 

'Hyung, you need your rest! I'll go for you'

'Sehun, you're not going alone. Last time you went alone, you dropped all the eggs and that was our money wasted'

'Oh come on, that was a year ago! I'm more mature now!'

D.O scoffed and even Kai had a hard time keeping in the laughter. You decided to volunteer yourself even though you knew they'd kick up a fuss about it.

'Forget it, I'll go' 

'What? No way! Haneul can't go!'

'And why not? You won't let me go in the dorm to tidy it so I might as well head to the supermarket and buy some supplies, right?'

'Are you sure you'll be alright?'

'Positive. I'll take Luhan's phone so I can call you if I need help or God forbid someone tries to murder me' 

'Don't joke about that sort of stuff, Haneul... It'll make me worried! And in case you've forgotten, Luhan doesn't have a phone anymore. He threw it at me and it broke' said Chanyeol

'Yah! You're the one with the hard head!'

'Yeah yeah yeah- blame it all on me, why don't you?' 

Luhan rolled his eyes and passed you Xiu Min's phone. 

'Here, call any of the numbers from 1 to 11 apart from 7. All out numbers are on speed dial'

'And why not 7?'

'That's my number'

Luhan winked and you pulled on a thick coat and wrapped a scarf around you, covering your face from the cold morning air and set out on the 5 minute walk to the big supermarket. 

 

***

 

Browsing through the aisles, you weren't exactly sure what to get. You quickly sent a text to #9 on the speed dial which turned out to be Tao's number. 

Hey Speed Dial #9, what do you guys need from the supermarket exactly?

Haneul, annyeong~ It's Tao! ^_^ Hyung said to get some more bin liners, bleach and cleaning spray, hope you're all okay! Buing Buing~~

Ah! Tao! Annyeong! I've got it, anything else you need before I leave? Any food or snacks?

Lay-hyung would like crisps please ^^ And Su Ho-hyung said that if it's no trouble, could you pick up those leaflets about latest offers on furniture stores. They should be near the front entrance ^_^

Got them!~ I'll be back soon! 

Come back safely! We'll be in the dormitory cleaning up ~(^_^)~ 

 

You carried on heading down the aisles contemplating which brand of cleaning spray to get, knowing that money was on the tighter side in the dorm. You crouched down to get a better look at the brands on the lower shelves.

Supermarkets tend to put the lower priced ones where you can't see them

You heard someone approach you and found yourself face to face with a girl about the same age as you with long straight hair and a cute teethy smile.

You were cautious at first.

If this is another girl who hates me, will God forgive me if I punch her?... But then again, I don't recognise her.

She was first to speak.

'Shin Haneul, am I right?'

Holy , she knows my name?! Who is this girl?

'Erm... yeah. H-How do you know my name?'

'I go to your school, silly!'

Oh , she does go to my school!

'O-Oh... I'm sorry, I've just never seen you before... What's your name?'

'Kim Shinyeong. I'm in your sports class...'

Kim Shinyeong?... Where have I heard that name before?

'Although you only came to our first lesson and after that you never came again... Do you bunk them?'

'What?! No! I don't bunk my lessons!'

'Oh...' she giggled 'Sorry for assuming that... What do you do instead then?'

You narrowed your eyes, suspicious of her again.

'Why should I tell you? I don't even know you'

You could tell from her expression that she was shocked by your bluntness. You decided to keep up the hard and cold image you were used to having. Well you were used to having the cold image up until recently when those 12 guys started breaking down your emotional barriers. You mentally cringed at all the times you'd cried in front of them.

Damn Haneul, you're changing into a wuss

'A-Ah... I get it. You're worried I'll tell the other girls and they'll find you, right?'

You stayed silent, wanting to hear what else she would say. You could be a right when you wanted to. 

'I'm sorry if this is all coming across as rude. Please don't misunderstand, Haneul-ssi. I'm not a boarder. I don't know what goes on after school hours. I live a few blocks away from school and well... I just thought you'd want a friend to talk to during school, that's all... Because I've seen all the girls doing all that stuff to you and... well...'

Wait... So she doesn't know I share a dorm with EXO?

You immediately softened. 

'I-I'm sorry if I bothered you during school break... It seems like you're cleaning up your dormitory for the holidays so you're probably very busy with your room mates'

'K-Kim... Shinyeong?'

'...'

'That's your name, right?'

'Yeah...'

You bowed politely.

'Annyeonghaseyeo Shinyeong-ssi, my name is Shin Haneul and I'm very pleased to meet you' 

Shinyeong giggled slightly. You had to admit, she was cute. She had a twinkly voice like a fairy would and she was small and petite like a pixie. She bowed aswell.

'Annyeonghaseyeo Haneul-ssi. I'm very pleased to meet you too. I hope we'll become great friends'

You've got a message! You've got a message!

You clicked open and quickly read the message. It was from Tao.

Haneul!~ Are you okay?! When are you coming back?! It's been ages since you left! Are you okay?! Shall I call the police? If you don't answer in 15 minutes I will call the police to find you, araso? D: 

You laughed to yourself

'Ah, Shinyeong-ssi-'

'No need to use formal with me. You can just call me unnie'

'Unnie?'

'Yep!'

She's older than me? Holy cow, she looks like she could be 12

'Okay unnie... I have to go now... My erm, room mates want me back so we can start cleaning the dorm for holiday break'

'Ah I see, it's okay. I have to go back home and prepare food. I've got my family coming over tonight so I'm super excited' 

You could only meekly nod at the mention of family. You said your goodbyes and quickly texted Tao back, knowing he probably would call the police or at least send out a search party for you. 

Tao!~ Don't worry! The queue at the cashier was very long, I'm leaving the supermarket now. Be back in 5 minutes, see you soon, hwaiting! ^_^

 

 

***

 

 

'Haneul! What took you so long?!'

'S-Sehun? Why are you standing out here?'

'Waiting for you of course, slow poke. These bags must be really heavy for you'

'They're not actually... Besides, I'm a strong girl'

Sehun gave you the look that had 'yeah right' written all over it. 

'Okay, fine. Moving to Korea has made me cry a lot but I never used to be like this weakling I've become!'

He didn't say anything, only smiled to himself.

Haneul... You're just as strong as the rest of us, you just don't see it yet. But you will eventually.

 

 

 

 

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already working on the next chappie ^^ Not sure what to write though... I'll read your comments and see if any of them influence my creativity juices ;)