Ah Ri sat on the couch with her legs crossed, watching the twelve boys who were scattered around her living room. Some of them sat there nonchalantly, others were staring at the house in awe.

Ah Ri couldn't help but glance at Joonmyun a couple times, although he was avoiding her gaze  by trying to engage himself in a conversation with Chen.

Ah Ri cleared , gaining the attention of everyone. 

She smiled tightly, "Hi, I'm Ah Ri."

The boys stared at her indifferently. 

"So Baekhyun offered something," she trailed off, glancing at the said boy.

Baekhyun sighed and rolled his eyes. "Apparently I owe her some debt for ruining her clothes, so I have to be her slave. In addition," he sighed, "she's willing to pay off our debt with the loan sharks, and help us out."

The boys just stared at Baekhyun blankly, before Chen bursts out laughing. "Y-You're her what?!" he said in between laughs.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "Anyways, she's going to be providing us a place to stay and whatnot," he added on.

Ah Ri nodded her head. "I didn't know Baekhyun was capable of having so many friends, but my family owns another house, not too far from here; not even a mile away. No one really goes there, only to clean once in a while. So it's the perfect place. The place has five rooms, so you might have to squeeze," she said.

The boys just stared at her silently, not really knowing what to say.

"Well, you guys can leave now," Ah Ri said, shooing them away, "except for Baekhyun, of course. He'll be staying here with me."

Baekhyun looked at her incredulously with his mouth agape. Chen and a few of the other boys chuckled, patting his shoulder in sympathy.

"Before we leave, we'd like to thank you for doing this," the tallest boy with handsome features and short, caramel hair said. He bowed and said, "My name is Kris."

Ah Ri bowed and waved it off like nothing. "It's okay, as long as I have Baekhyun," she said smirking.

"I'm still iffy about this," one of the other boys said. He had a stoic expression on as he stared at Ah Ri with a blank expression. Some boys nodded and made sounds of agreement.

"Who knows what her real intentions are," Joonmyun said, looking at her with an almost disgusted expression.

Ah Ri felt her heart tear apart, but she just shrugged it off and smirked. "Think what you will, I don't care. Take it or leave it," she said.

Joonmyun watched her with a guarded expression before turning away. Ah Ri pushed the key that was located on the coffee table towards Kris, who seemed the most mature out of all of them. 

"Here. The house was prepared earlier, so go get settled and whatever. It's late anyways," she said, standing up to go to her own room upstairs. 

Not before turning to Baekhyun, though.

"You, come with me. I have a special room for you," she said, before climbing up the stairs.

She heard the mumbles of 'good night' and 'good luck, hyung' behind her and then the footsteps of Baekhyun. She turned down the hall and walked towards her room. 

"So, where am I staying?" she heard Baekhyun behind her with an exasperated sigh.

Ah Ri turned and pointed towards the room across from hers. "There, it should be all set for you to live in. Good night," she said, and then disappeared wordlessly into her room.

She stood still behind her closed door until she heard the door to Baekhyun's room close, then she walked to her bed and flopped on it.

She closed her eyes, crawling into a fetal position and the memories of the past hour and a half flashed through her mind like a movie. 

It's him. He's back.

Her Joonmyun oppa.

But she can't help but feel sad from the cold shoulder he gave her earlier. Why would he act like that? Didn't he love her? They were really close, until that day when he disappeared.

Joonmyun was really the only family member who loved her.

Ah Ri pulled herself to sit up and faced her fish tank that lit up her room in different hues of green and blue. Hugging her knees, she stared at the many picture frames that littered the top of the fish tank.

All of them were of her and Joonmyun. Well, some of them were of just her, but she remembered well, that Joonmyun was the one who took the photo. Each photo held its own story that never failed to put a smile on Ah Ri's face. Joonmyun was really the only reason she made it so far in life.

She smiled at the picture of Joonmyun and her jumping on a trampoline from years ago. The look of pure bliss was painted on both of their faces and it gave Ah Ri a bitter feeling.

Why wasn't Joonmyun happy like that to see her again?

Ah Ri woke up to the knocking on her door with a cramp in her neck. She blinked a couple times and slowly sat up, massaging the sore spot.

"What?" she mumbled sleepily.

The door cracked open and Baekhyun's head popped through the door. He looked very much irritated as he said, "Soojung said to come down for breakfast."

Ah Ri blinked, confused. "Who's Soojung?"

Then her eyes widened it realization. "Ew, you asked the maids for their names?"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did. Because I'm a normal, civilized human being," he said, "Now hurry up."

Ah Ri slid off the bed and looked at herself. Her outfit from yesterday was wrinkled and the bandages were peeling.

She scrunched her nose and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready. After putting on clothes and new bandages, she went downstairs after tying her wet hair into a loose bun.

She went into the kitchen and sat down right as the maid, who Ah Ri guessed was Soojung, set a plate of food in front of her.

"I'm sorry. Your food was cold, so I had to reheat it," she said in a monotone voice, bowing her head.

Ah Ri looked at her one more time before proceeding to eat.

"Baekhyun-ssi also told me to inform you that he'll be out with his friends, so he'll be back later," Soojung said, before bowing and going back to the kitchen.

Ah Ri bit her lip, annoyed that the idiot left. She huffed while making a mental note to make sure he suffers later.

"Miss, it's for you," Soojung said, holding out a phone towards Ah Ri. She furrowed her eyebrows and took the phone and pressed the phone against her ear.

"What?" she asked into the receiver harshly.

"Good morning to you too, Ah Ri," was what the deep, gruff voice on the other line said.

Ah Ri rolled her eyes and slouched back in her chair. "What do you want?" she asked, poking at her food.

The man on the other line chuckled without any hint of humor in his voice, "You know that you're the only one that I want."

Ah Ri sighed, dropping her fork on the glass plate with a loud thud. "Hyeonwoo, I am tired of repeating this every single day! You can never have me! Ever!" Her yell reverberated into the room, causing Soojung and some of the maids to run towards her aid.

“Mi- Miss, is-is there something wr-wrong?” Although scared ‘til death of Ah Ri, Soojung, didn’t hesitate to query the girl.

Ah Ri who was now fuming, looked madly at Soojung, “Yes! This ing phone is broken! Throw it away this instant!” she ordered as she catapulted it towards the maid with undeniably great force.

A sharp cry of pain escaped the servant’s mouth. She sunk down the floor and covered her nose which was bleeding with a handkerchief.

She couldn’t take it any longer. All the insults she received, the shouting she received every day since she stepped into this household. She could no longer bear it.

Soojung gritted her teeth and spoke without even thinking, “You know what, Ah Ri? You are one spoiled brat who’s heartless and unkind, selfish and disrespectful. A simple thank you, why is it hard for you to say?”

She paused and looked at Ah Ri whose mouth was hanging open, yet was unable to say anything.

The maid continued as she gulped, “We servants here are people too. Not because you think of us lowly, you think you can control us easily. That’s not how things work. I think you should think it over.”

Ah Ri stood rooted to the ground. Soojung’s words bothered her. It stung.

Am I that evil? She thought to herself.

“I-I’m, so-sor,” Before she could even finish it, she felt dry. Why did that happen every time she tried to apologize or thank someone?

Quickly, Ah Ri went up to her room, and banged the door close before locking herself inside.

Sobbing quietly, she made her way to the pictures of her and her oppa, Joonmyun.

“Oppa, why am I like this? Why am I cruel? All the things she said, all of them were right,” Ah Ri stared at the guy in the photo who was beaming a handsome smile.

Tears of sadness, guilt, self-pity, and anger towards herself ran down her cheeks. She knew that this was the reason why she had no friends. For a beautiful and kind heart, she had none of that.

Hello! This is Chelsey, the new author ^^

¾ of this chapter was made by aNONAmous and the last part starting from the guy talking to her on the phone was made by me :D

I hope you guys like it. I’m just a new author here so mianhe for the mistakes. Please support me c:

Please do point out if there are mistakes, it would be a great help!

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