Four

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The boys erupted into smiles. "Oh my God...er You! Thank you so much!" Kai cheered as he ran towards God to give him a hug. "So when do I pack my bags?" he asked seriously with a straight face.

"Whoa, calm down," God replied. "I haven't said anything yet."

"Will it be just us three? Or only one of us?" Luhan questioned.

God paused, and a light grin played itself upon his face.

"Not quite."

-

The next day, you woke up early as usual and got everything ready once again for your stepfamily. Today, it was Gyumin with the complaint that you had burnt his omelet. You sighed softly and raced up the stairs to get ready. As you washed up, you noticed your dark circles and figured it was from working late and doing schoolwork last night. You sighed again and realized you'd just have to get used to it.

You walked to school slowly and took notice of the nice weather you were blessed with today. The wind blew softly, and the sun shined brightly. You smiled and continued off to school.

Passing through the halls, you were greeted by the familiar cold words. You heaved a sigh and opened your locker to get your things. Some things never change, you thought. You went to your first subject, literature. There was a substitute covering for your missing teacher. He had relatively large eyes and very defined cheekbones. He wore glasses on his face and a small pin shaped like a water drop on his shirt pocket.

"I understand your teacher gave you all an assignment due today? An essay, was it? I'll be collecting them," his angelic voice announced.

Your eyes widened as you realized you forgot to write the paper. You bit your lip anxiously as he began taking them up.

When you failed to hand your paper, he looked down to the seating chart and asked kindly, "~~~~~, where's yours?"

You nervously replied, "I, er, forgot to do it."

"Stupid," a boy from behind you said.

"Probably up late with another one of her guys," a malicious voice came from a girl.

You looked up into his eyes. To your surprise, he had a firm yet gentle look in his eyes and gave you a soft smile. "I'll be here tomorrow morning. Just get it to me before class starts."

He made his way toward the boy who had called you stupid. "I also kinda forgot to do it. I'll get it to you tomorrow morning," the boy replied nonchalantly.

"I guess you'll have to receive a zero because I'm not accepting it," the substitute replied stoically.

"But-"

"What you said earlier was wrong," he turned to the girl as well. "None of you know ~~~~~ any more than I do, so stop making assumptions. I won't allow what you two did, and you can expect the highest of punishments later. That goes for all of you."

You grinned shyly with your head down, looking at your desk. Maybe some things do change... you entertained the idea.

You thought you would finally be left alone, but after class on the way out, you heard two girls whisper.

"Probably one of her boy toys."

"What a . She even goes for teachers."

Or not.

You quickly rushed out of the classroom with your head bowed down.

"I wish I could protect you," he mumbled as he arranged his papers on the desk.

-

After school, you had made your way to the café once again for another day of work. Meanwhile, your "substitute" had arrived back in heaven. He whistled a soft tune as he retreated to his room.

"Suho?" God called from behind him.

He froze in his tracks. Suho turned around slowly, shock written across his face, "Y-Yes, God?"

"I see you take an interest in ~~~~~, am I right?" God replied smiling. "As far as to do things behind my back?"

"Yes, you're right," Suho shyly replied. "I'm so sorry," he bowed deeply. "It's just that she makes me feel like I need to protect her... Sorry for angering you..."

"I'm not mad," God stated coolly.

"You're-you're not?" he retorted in disbelief.

"No," God shook his head.

"Then what is it?" Suho asked, now truly confused.

"I have a plan."

-

As you scrubbed tables and took up countless orders, a thin boy with a graceful face eyed you curiously.

"You taking notice of Kai's target, too?" a tall boy with slight dark circles asked the shorter of the two.

The thin boy flinched. "Oh, Tao, it's just you. Yeah, kinda. Don't you think it's amazing how obedient she is? Even after all she's put through." He paused. "Don't tell anyone, though. I don't want anyone to know how much I worry about her. They'll never leave me alone for sure."

He nodded. "But is there much we can do? I can stop time, but that doesn't help. You can heal her when she's hurt, Lay, but I think, no I know, both you and I don't want to see her hurt before we can help," Tao replied firmly.

"Aren't you at least worried a little bit" Tao shrugged indifferently. "Guess all we can do is watch, huh?" Lay pouted.

"Or we could-"

"Hey guys!" a tall brown haired boy came running towards them. "I heard from Baekhyun who heard from Chen who heard from Kkamjong that we might be able to visit Earth again!" He jumped excitedly as his deep voice boomed.

"Chanyeol, hearing that from you, from Kai," Tao icily accused, "I know we'd be going against what God wants, and unlike most of you, we behave," he pointed to himself and Lay who nodded in agreement.

"But come on, I know you guys want to protect ~~~~~, too!" Chanyeol whined.

"How did you know?" Lay interrogated in concern that he had been figured out.

"Come on, all of us know! We see you eyeballing her all day," he widened his eyes for emphasis. "And really, we all want to protect her. Even Tao here."

Lay furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What are you talking about? Tao seems to be really negligent about ~~~~~."

Chanyeol shook his head proudly. "Nope! He ogles her all day and night! You usually don't notice him, but I do, and he goes all soft eyes on her! It's like he's-" Chanyeol teased.

"Chanyeol, don't you have something to do? Oh you can go play with the younger angels, yeah! That's what you're good at!" Tao exclaimed, clearly flustered, to prevent Lay from hearing what Chanyeol was saying as he shoved Chanyeol away.

As they messed around and wrangled with each other, God approached them.

"Boys, I have something in mind for the three of you."