Wow okay wow. It has been... almost four months since we last updated this and somehow we managed to keep getting a steady stream of subscribers what the heck. I'm really excited about this and finally getting a chapter up again ugh. I think we just kinda hibernate during the winter and we never get anything done that we actually want to get done, but the weather's been nice lately so... here's a chapter! Ha... anyway...

This . You were pouting at a table watching your friends all skating and laughing together, and everyone was ignoring your couple dating restrictions! Amber and Jonghyun had already caught up to Key and Krystal, and the four of them were skating in a group. Sunny was skating between Sungmin and Baekhyun, both of whom had latched onto an arm. And here you were, sitting down and sulking while they all paid you no mind.

“Mary Sue?” asked a concerned Chanyeol who had returned to your table.

You responded with a deep and pointed sigh, which clouded in front of your face.

Chanyeol sat down and pushed a mug of steaming hot chocolate and an éclair toward you. They both looked delicious, but you were in too sour a mood to accept the sweets, so you just sighed again.

There was a bit of a tense silence, Chanyeol looking at you with drawn eyebrows and you staring stonily at the skaters.

“Did I do something wrong?”

You were surprised out of your glare when he said that and turned to him, wide eyes blinking in confusion. His expression was so unsure and sincere. How could he think he had done something wrong? There was no way he could ever do anything wrong. You had no idea how he could even ask such a thing.

“No,” you answered honestly, expression much softer than before.

He still looked unsure, but he nodded acceptingly.

“Chanyeol!” someone called before either of you could say anymore. You both turned to see Baekhyun, now separated from Sungmin and Sunny, waving from the edge of the rink. “Why don’t you come skate?”

Chanyeol looked to you, and you smiled. “You go ahead,” you said. “I’ll…finish this off.” You gestured to the food. Which was partly a lie, since you really wanted to keep an eye on the four lovebirds you were trying to match up, and how could you do that if you were distracted by skating?

He nodded and somewhat reluctantly got up to join Baekhyun, who beamed at him before practically pulling him by the hand onto the ice.

As you took a sip of your hot chocolate, you glared over your cup at the skaters, wondering how you could make them fall in love with each other.

“I see you haven’t made any progress.”

You jumped at the sudden voice by your ear and turned to see Nichkhun sitting beside you. How did he do that? It was like he had magical powers or something.

You sighed out your disgruntlement. “Nothing I do is working. It’s like they all insist on not falling in love with each other just to spite me.” You folded your arms and pouted.

“Don’t worry,” Nichkhun said. “I have an idea.”

You looked to him expectantly.

“Have you ever watched a drama before?”

You shook your head.

“Well, whenever a female character falls into the arms of the male, they inevitably fall in love,” he explained. “It never fails.”

You were a bit skeptical, but Nichkhun assured you once again, “Trust me, it works every time.”

“Okay,” you said. “Then how do we get them to fall into each other’s arms?”

Your partner in crime shrugged and grinned mischievously. “Trip them,” he said as if it was the obvious answer.

You blinked. “Oh,” you said. Obviously.

Despite Baekhyun trying his best to cheer him up, Chanyeol still just wasn’t in it. Mary Sue was acting really weird, and he had no idea what was going on. He nearly fell and ran into other skaters multiple times because he kept looking over at her, and now he felt this burning sensation inside when he saw that same guy from the restaurant talking with her at the table. Nichkhun.

What did that guy want with Mary Sue? And why did she keep talking to him? Why did he keep showing up everywhere??

Then they both stood up and made their way to the rink. Oh, Chanyeol thought, so you’ll skate with Nichkhun and not me? His mood just kept spiraling downward.

As he kept watching, Chanyeol was flabbergasted to see Mary Sue do something equally as baffling and violent as the last time she had talked to Nichkhun; she started trying to trip up the other skaters!

Chanyeol’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Who the hell was this Nichkhun guy and why the was he making Mary Sue try to kill people?

What the hell was going on?

After some preliminary practice rounds, you set your eyes on the four skaters who were your real tripping targets. You skated stealthily around the rink, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

They were in the perfect formation. Amber and Krystal were skating side-by-side with Jonghyun and Key skating in front of them, and Key was skating backward, showing off his apparent natural skill. You could totally trip Krystal so she would fall into his arms!

Moving quickly, you approached swiftly from the side, dug your skate into Krystal’s, and skated as fast as you could to the opposite side of the rink so they wouldn’t notice your presence!

But then you turned around and realized you had failed.

You didn’t understand it. What went wrong? Instead of Krystal and Key sharing a moment in each other’s arms, you saw Key had landed on top of Jonghyun and Amber was holding Krystal, both of the girls still standing and laughing at the guys on the ice.

Oh great, you thought. Now Key and Jonghyun were going to fall in love instead of Key and Krystal!

Okay, you knew you were just being ridiculous there. Guys can’t fall in love. What an absurd and unheard of notion!

But you were still really annoyed that your tripping plan had failed.

“Failure!” you cried when you found Nichkhun again, sitting on a bench near the edge of the surrounding park.

Nichkhun looked amused. “What do you mean? I saw it from here, they fell into each other’s arms.”

“But they fell into the wrong arms!” you whined. “You said a girl has to fall into a guy’s arms, and then they’ll fall in love. No girls fell!” You flailed your arms in frustration and then sat down on the bench with a sigh. “I’m beginning to think this isn’t gonna work at all.”

Your partner in matchmaking leaned forward and put his chin on his hand. “Okay,” he began. “What do you think is the main thing holding these couples back from being…well, couples?”

You thought a second. “Well, Amber and Jonghyun seem to be okay. I have hope for them. But Key,” you huffed. “He’s just a scrooge about this kind of stuff. I think he hates love,” you concluded.

Nichkhun chuckled. “So you think if he was happier, their couple would work out?”

You shrugged and nodded.

“So make him happy.”

You thought that was probably the most difficult challenge you’ve had to face so far in your efforts of love. You decided you’d need to call in an expert to help you. An expert on happiness.

“Sunny!” you shouted. “Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny! Quick! What makes you happy?!”

Sunny blinked at you, along with Sungmin and Baekhyun, who were accompanying her to the café area. You realized that you had probably surprised her with your sudden outburst after running from the complete other side of the park just to ask her this seemingly random question. You were about to explain yourself, but—

“Bunnies!” she cut you off.

Bunnies. You thought of how you could incorporate bunnies into your plans. All you got was an image of Key being smothered in a pile of soft fluffy rabbits hopping all over the ice… Nah, that would get out of hand really quickly. You shook your head.

“What else?” you asked.

She put her finger to her chin contemplatively. “Ice cream,” she said.

“Ice cream!” You snapped your fingers decisively. “Thanks Sunny!”

“No problem!” she beamed. “I love helping you, Mary Sue!”

You nodded appreciatively at her and ran to the ice cream stand. “I need ice cream, stat!” you yelled, slamming a few bills down on the counter. The vendor stared at you, a slight tinge of fear in his eyes.

“Any particular flavor, miss?”

You huffed your bangs out of your eyes. “Whichever flavor makes people the happiest when they eat it. You got anything like that?”

He continued to stare. “Uh… well, chocolate has always been our most popular flavor”—

“Chocolate ice cream!” you screamed again. “Stat!”

The next minute, you were skating as fast as you could in a beeline toward Key, cone in hand.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” you screeched, as you tore across the rink, cutting through a few linked hands on the way. “KEY!” you shouted once you reached him, and the ice cream in his face.

You were met with a stoic eyebrow raise.

You suddenly realized how weird this probably seemed. How should you go about explaining this?

You went with, “You’re supposed to eat it.”

“Mary Sue, I don’t like sweets,” he curtly replied, before skating past you, leaving you standing there awkwardly with the blasted ice cream cone. Leave it to Key to dislike sweets and all things happiness inducing!

Well, now what were you supposed to do with this ice cream cone, since it failed to make Key happy and transitively bring happiness to Krystal? Might as well just throw it away, the useless thing.

“Ooh, ice cream!” you heard Krystal say as you lobbed it over the side of the rink and into the grass.

Defeated, you made your way back to Sunny. She was sitting at a table with two large ice cream cones in either hand, Sungmin and Baekhyun sitting on either side of her. You plopped down in the chair opposite her with a huff.

“It didn’t work.”

“What didn’t?” she asked between the two cones.

“The ice cream. It failed.” You put your face in your hand.

“Hm…” Sunny hummed. “Maybe you should try flowers. I’m always happy when I have flowers.”

You looked up at her and considered it. “It’s worth a shot, I guess,” you decided, and ventured off to go find some flowers. Thankfully, there was a flower stand nearby, where you quickly bought a bouquet of roses, and then rushed back to the rink again.

Scanning the rink for Key, you eventually spotted him, and skated as fast as you could, roses in hand. When you finally reached your friends, you shoved the bouquet in Key’s face much like you had the ice cream cone.

Key got a face full of roses, and he suddenly sneezed and started coughing and spluttering. He bent over sneezing, while you and the other three skaters looked on in concern.

“I got you these flowers,” you offered.

He just waved his hand toward you. “Get those away from me!” he sputtered out, sneezing and sniffling and coughing in between.

“But… I thought they might make you happy,” you explained.

He shook his head vigorously. “I’m allergic!”

You watched dejectedly as Jonghyun and Amber helped Key off the rink and over to the café area to sit down. Well this was just great. Leave it to Key to be allergic to happiness!

“Who are the flowers for?”

You turned to face Nichkhun, who was leaning against the side of the rink watching you.

“Nobody,” you muttered unhappily.

“So…” He stared at the bouquet. “Can I have them then?”

You just handed him the bouquet wordlessly. What were you going to do with them anyway?

Oh, she’s giving him flowers now too, Chanyeol thought sulkily, glaring at Nichkhun from across the rink as the pretty boy took the bouquet and skated off somewhere. Chanyeol was really beginning to hate that guy.

About ready to give up, you moped back to Sunny, who was now inexplicably surrounded by two extravagant bouquets.

“Did the flowers work?” she asked you innocently. You shook your head in response. “Hm…” She brought her finger to her chin in a thoughtful expression. “You know,” she offered, “hugs always make me feel better when I’m down.”

“Really?” you asked hopefully.

“Yeah!” she answered excitedly.

You nodded. “Okay, I’ll try that. Thanks so much, Sunny!” you said as you returned to the rink.

“No problem!” she called after you. “I really hate seeing Mary Sue upset,” Sunny said after you left, heaving a big sigh. “I hope she feels better.” Her face morphed into a thoughtful pout and she stared down at the table. But then two pairs of arms wrapped around her and she brightened immediately. “Aww, you guys really know what to do to make me feel better!” she said, oblivious to the glares being thrown over her shoulder between Sungmin and Baekhyun.

You shuffled up to the small table your friends were sitting at, stepping up to Key like a puppy crawling on its belly to an angry cat.

“Key?” you addressed him meekly, alerting him of your presence.

He glared up at you. “What is it now, Mary Sue? I’m pretty sure you’ve filled your daily quota of torture for me.”

This better work, you thought meekly and, without further warning, threw yourself around Key and wrapped your arms tightly around him. He stiffened immediately. It didn’t seem to be having the desired effect on him, so you took it up a notch and nuzzled his shoulder.

“Get off of me!” he ordered, shoving you away. “I have had it with you and your ridiculous shenanigans, Mary Sue!”

You stood there in slight shock, with no idea how to respond to that. The shocked expressions on your friends’ faces showed they didn’t know either.

“You have no real consideration for other people’s feelings,” he continued, “but nobody else tells you this because you hide it under your façade of helping people. Well, now I’m telling you. We don’t need your help!”

You had nothing to say to that, so you just took it all in.

“You think just because you’re the main character”—

“Key”—Amber tried to interject.

 “—that everything needs to go your way, and everyone will live happily ever after. Well, you’re wrong, Mary Sue! What you’ve been doing,” he gestured vaguely at your person, “has only been making everyone miserable. Have you even looked at Chanyeol today?”

You glanced over at Chanyeol, who was leaning against the ice rink. He quickly turned his face away from you and folded his arms.

“Why don’t you do everyone a favor today, Mary Sue,” Key kept on. “Leave us all alone.”

Oh. You looked around at everyone’s silent expressions. Oh.

You didn’t realize what a burden you were being to everybody. Without a word, you turned away from your group of friends—who apparently all hated you this whole time—and stalked away from the ice rink and into a random shady patch of trees on the edge of the park.

“Hey.”

Chanyeol jumped at the husky voice close to his ear and instinctively moved away. His expression soured when he saw who it was. Nichkhun. “What do you want?” he asked bitterly.

Nichkhun handed him the bouquet of flowers he was holding, the flowers which, Chanyeol noted, Mary Sue had given him. Chanyeol wasn’t really sure how to take them. “Here, would you like these lovely flowers?” Nichkhun asked robotically.

“Why are you giving them to me? Mary Sue gave them to you.”

Nichkhun just chuckled. The sound grated against Chanyeol’s ears. “You’re a lucky guy.”

Chanyeol gave him a strange look. “I am?” The other nodded, and didn’t say anything else. “W-why am I lucky?” he prodded.

“Because,” he began, looking down at the flowers, which Chanyeol still hadn’t accepted. “The person you love,” he placed the bouquet in Chanyeol’s hands, “loves you back.” His face morphed into a smile that gave away everything he was feeling. “She’s head over heels for you. I wish I could say the same thing.”

Well. This admittedly wasn’t what Chanyeol expected from this guy. Man, how was he supposed to hate him now? He just kind of felt sorry for Nichkhun, he looked like a sad puppy that nobody took home. Sighing, he placed the bouquet back in Nichkhun’s hands, like he had done before. “You can keep the flowers,” he said gently.

“Why?” the other asked.

Chanyeol smiled wistfully. “I already have my flower.” He broke out into a huge grin that Nichkhun couldn’t help but chuckle at.

Yeah, maybe Nichkhun wasn’t so bad after all.

It was dark and cold and wet and your breath fogged before you and the trees cast darker shadows over the already dark darkness.

You’d never felt so…unwanted.

Usually everybody loved you! But it turned out it was the exact opposite. Your whole life was a lie!

Right when you were thinking it would probably be best for you to just disappear somehow, you were surprised out of your fast-paced hike of feels by a figure that just came out of nowhere. There was something strangely familiar about this situation…

The figure stepped forward into a patch of pale moonlight and your eyes lit up in… some sort of half recognition. You could swear you had seen this person once before…maybe. You just couldn’t put your finger on where or when that might have been.

Before you could say anything, however, more figures dropped out of nowhere and surrounded you, and there was also something familiar about the way they just began to close in on you.

Then you felt something hit the back of your head, and the familiar rush of passing out.

Some time later, you awoke in a very dimly lit place surrounded by people you didn’t really know and wow this was an extremely familiar situation and the first thing that came out of your mouth was, “Oh god, no, the vampires are back!”

Everyone just kinda stared at you, some with raised eyebrows. You looked around self-consciously.

“N-no?” you stuttered. “Not vampires?” They all continued to look perplexed by your outburst. “Okay…Why am I here then?” you asked. Might as well get straight to the point.

“You’re not…scared?” one guy asked from the corner.

You just shrugged, albeit barely considering how constricting the bonds around your arms were. “This isn’t exactly a new experience for me,” you said nonchalantly.

The guy’s eyes widened, and you realized just how young he looked. “This has happened to you before?”

“Yeah,” you answered, smiling a bit. “This one time—“

“Shut up,” rang out a sharp voice, and the young guy recoiled, his eyes following the source to a person who stepped into the center of the room.

This was the first person you saw in the park, and they still looked so familiar. Your eyes narrowed a bit as you scrutinized the delicate features, the blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and the massive amounts of eyeliner… and then it hit you.

“Oh!” you exclaimed excitedly, and the person’s eyebrow raised at you. “I know you! You’re New Girl!”

New Girl rolled her eyes and she delved a hand into the deep pocket of her leather jacket, pulling out a shiny pocket knife and flipping the blade out. She approached you slowly, heels clicking on the floor, and then crouched down in front of you, holding the knife up to your face and tracing it along your cheek.

“My name is Ren,” she said simply.

Ren? But wasn’t that the name of…

Suddenly all the pieces started coming together in a rush of epiphany and you felt like your eyes might just pop out of your head at the information.

Ren?? The gang leader who had just been released from juvie?? New Girl was Ren and Ren was the person who had been sending you all those messages and they were both the same person??

“What?!”