You seven all finished eating and you couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed that your time with them was about to end. It was the first time you have been treated like a normal human being, like a friend, and knowing that it would probably be the last time made you sad. But you didn’t want to be selfish and you told yourself to be happy with the time that you had with them.

*Wake up Ji-min, they might have been nice to you today, but that doesn’t mean that they are your friends. They wouldn’t want to met up with you again, so pull yourself together and get remove that dream of having them as friends.* You thought sadly to yourself.

You all stood up and you were reaching in your pocket to take out the money to pay for your meal. You were about to hand in your money to the cashier when a hand shot out and grabbed yours, stopping your action midway.

“We were the ones who asked to take you out to eat. We should be the ones paying for your meal.” You looked at the hand holding yours and saw Jonghyun frowning slightly.

You immediately pulled your hand away from him and apologized. “Mianhe.” You said softly.

Jonghyun smiled at you and pulled his own wallet to pay for everyone’s meal.

“It’s the least we can do since you took care of our little princess!” Key said as he picked up Eun Mi.

You smiled up at them and thanked them wholeheartedly.

“Beside you’re a girl and guys should always be a gentleman and pay for them.” Taemin added in with a smile. You blushed back and smiled brightly. You all walked out of the restaurant and thanked the owner for the delicious meal.

You saw that it was dark outside and you couldn’t help but be shocked. It was already that late and you didn’t even notice it. Reluctantly, you turned to the boys and bowed to them, thanking them for their kindness for the meal that they gave you.

“Ji-min unnie, you’re leaving already?” Eun Mi asked sadly. She wiggled in Key’s arms, asking to be dropped down. She held onto your hands and looked onto you sadly.

“Eun Mi must have taken out a liking to you.” Key said with a small chuckle at Eun Mi’s tight grip on your hands.

“Yeah, you’re the first person that she’s been like that to. Usually she is quite wary of strangers.” Onew said as he walked to Eun Mi and patted her head.

Jonghyun squatted to get on the same eye level as Eun Mi and looked at her lovely.

“Eun Mi, your Ji-min unnie has to go home now. It’s already quite late and I’m sure she needs to go home now.” She said in a soft voice as Eun Mi tightened her hold on you and refused to let go of your hand.

Minho turned to you looked at him. “Why don’t we take you home? It is quite dangerous for a girl to be going back by herself at this time of the night.”

*It’s not like anyone would want to do anything to a fat girl like me.* Was what you wanted to say but held back. “I’m sure I’ll be fine Minho-ssi. I’ve gone home myself before even later than this and I was completely fine.”

“Wah that’s dangerous Ji-min! It’s not good for girls to be my themselves at night like this.” Taemin added with a small frown. You couldn’t help but smile at him. He was such a caring person and you couldn’t help but feel extremely happy that he was caring about you.

You felt a tug on your arm and looked down at Eun Mi. “Unnie, can we take you home? I don’t want unnie to be going home by herself.” She requested. The others agreed, thinking it is not a good idea to let you go home by yourself. You had no choice but agree. It was hard to say no to 5 handsome boys and one adorable girl.

“But you guys don’t have to take me all the way home. You guys can just drop me off by the bus stop. I’ll just take it back home so you guys don’t have to take me all the way back.” They protested, saying that they didn’t think it would be trouble if they took you all the way home but you insisted that you were completely safe if you took the bus. They eventually agreed and you all began to walk towards the bus stop. Eun Mi was skipping alongside you while holding your hand and you couldn’t help but think about how adorable she was.

The five were all making small talk and they would ask you a few questions to get you to be part of the conversation. Before you knew it, you seven reached your stop and once again, the disappointment crept up on you.

“It really was nice to meet all of you.” You bowed to them once again in gratitude. They did the same, thanking you again for your help and for the great time that they had.

You got on your knees to be at eye level with Eun Mi and looked at her seriously. You were a bit sad because this might be the last time you see her.

“Eun Mi, make sure never to stray away from your oppas again okay? There are some dangerous people on the streets and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. Unnie was happy to meet such a great girl like you. I’ll definitely never forget you.” You whispered to her. She started to tear up and her lips started to quiver.

“You’re leaving me unnie? You don’t want to see me anymore?” She asked brokenly. She didn’t understand why you were saying good bye as if you were never going to see her again. She didn’t want that. She really started to like you a lot and wanted to see you more often. You were her unnie and she didn’t get to spend more time with you before you wanted to leave.

You didn’t know what to say. No one was ever sad with you leaving. Usually, everyone would be quite happy to see you gone. And definitely, after you met someone, they never wanted anything to do with you afterwards.

“Ah Ji-min don’t cry.” You said panicky. You didn’t think leaving her would cause her to cry. You didn’t even think she would be that attached to you after just a day of being with her. Soon tears started to fall down her face and she started to cry loudly.

The five boys looked worriedly at her and Jonghyun bent down and cradled Eun Mi and his hands.

“Eun Mi? What’s wrong?” he asked as she sniffled and continued to cry. She suddenly grabbed onto you and shocked from the impact; you fell down on your . You held Eun Mi as she clung onto you, refusing to let go.

“Eun Mi has really gotten attached to you Ji-min.” Onew stated. The others nodded and tried their best to try to pry Eun Mi’s grip from you.

“Eun Mi,your Ji-min unnie has to go home now. Her family is going to be worried for her if she stays out any longer.” Key said consolingly, trying to get Eun Mi to let go of you.

“Yeah Eun Mi, you wouldn’t want her to get in trouble right?” Jonghyun added. Eun Mi  shook her head and refused to let go of you. She was scared that once she let you go, you would leave her and never see her again.

“Come on Eun Mi, let go of your unnie. Look at her, she’s on the ground dirtying her clothes.” Taemin tried. Eun Mi only clung stronger to you.

“I don’t want you to leave me unnie.” She said sadly. She stared up at you with teary eyes as she clutched onto your shirt.

You hugged her to you and sighed, affection for the girl was overflowing in you. Never had anyone cared about you so much as this girl who you met just today.

“Hey Eun Mi, I know I will meet you again in the future. I promise.” You said to her, trying to stop her from crying.

She looked up as you said that and her tears stopped. “You promise?” She said holding her pinky out. You held your pinky out and intertwined it with hers.

“Unnie promised that I will see you again.” You smiled at her and her face brightened up with a smile.

“Okay unnie. I believe.” You ruffled her head and couldn’t help but chuckle a little as she let go of her death grip on her shirt. She stood up from you and Jonghyun held his hand up to you to help you up from the ground.

You were a bit hesitant in taking it, thinking that he won’t be able to help you up, but he was surprisingly strong and pulled you right up. You thanked him as you dusted the dust from your back.

As soon as you looked up, you caught the eyes of the five boys. They had all of their phones out and were looking at you expectantly. You looked at them, confused on what they wanted.

Key’s eyebrows rose as all you did was look at them. “Well? How are you supposed to keep your promise to Eun Mi if you don’t have a way to contact her?” He said jokingly. You finally got what they were asking for and you couldn’t help but be a bit taken back. This would be the first time someone was willing to exchange contacts with you.

You slowly reached for you phone and they asked for you number. You blushed at that question. “I actually don’t know remember it.” You said shyly. *No one has ever asked me for my number, so I never really had a reason to memorize it.* You thought to yourself.

The boys laughed at that, completely shocked that a teenage girl does not even remember her own number. You smiled in embarrassment at that, but choose not to say anything.

“No need to be embarrassed. It took me like 2 years before I actually memorized my own number.” Onew said after noticing the blush on your cheeks.

“We’ll give you our numbers and then you can text us so that we can have your number.” Jonghyun said. You nodded, agreeing with the plan. He was first to give his number, then the rest followed.

You couldn’t help but smile at finally having more contacts on your phone. The only ones you had were of family members. You couldn’t help but feel happy to finally have some that are not your family.

You bit your lips as you thought of what to write on the text and decided to write something general.

Hi, this is Ji-min!

You forwarded this to the five boys and you hear Taemin chuckle when he got your text. “Kyeopta~”

They all saved your number in their phones and when Key was done, he closed it with a smile.

“There you go, now you can keep your promise to Eun Mi!” You smiled at him and nodded your head.

“Wait! Aren’t we going to the beach next week? Why don’t you come with us?” Onew said excitedly.

“Yes! Come with us unnie!” Eun Mi said excitedly. You were a bit hesitant to agree. *Beach means swimming, which means bathing suit, which means having to show my fat body. Oh god no I can’t go.*

“Ah… I don’t think I can go Eun Mi. Mianhe.” You said after a while of thinking about it. You would be happy to go and spent time with them, but your insecurities were keeping from wanting to go.

Eun Mi pouted at you and Taemin did was well. “Why not? Eun Mi would love to have your as company, and we would as well.” He asked.

“Ah sorry Taemin-ssi. I- I don’t think I should go. I don’t really swim.” You said softly as you hugged your body. You gripped your shirt and looked down at the floor, refusing to meet their eyes. Taemin’s eyes softened as he saw the way you hugged yourself, as if you were insecure and he understood.

“Hey, we weren’t planning to swim anyways! We are going to go there to play volleyball!” Taemin said. Minho noticed the way you acted as well and caught Taemin’s eyes. They had an internal conversation with their eyes and Minho stepped up to you.

“Thiers only five of us, so it would be an uneven number. Eun Mi is too young to play so it would really help us out if you could join us and get our numbers even for the game.”Minho said softly to you.

“I’m not really good at volleyball. I’ve never played it before.”

“Well if you’ve never play it before, how do you know that you’re not good?” Minho asked you with a smile. You were about to argue but realized he was right.

“See. You never know unless you try! You should definitely come with us. It will be fun and I know Eun Mi will be really happy to have you.” Taemin added. You were wavering a bit but when you looked at Eun Mi who was giving you the puppy dog pleading look, you were so close to blurting yes. They all noticed that you were getting close to agreeing, Jonghyun said something to finally get you to agree.

“Minho here is amazing at volleyball and he’s a great teacher as well. If he teaches you, you can definitely get the hang of it in no time.” You looked at Minho and he gave you a gentle, encouraging smile.

You looked down again when you felt Eun Mi tugging at your hand. “Please unnie. I really want you to come.” She pleaded to you. It was impossible to say no to that expression on her and you sighed.

“Okay, I’ll come, but if I am horrible at it, you guys can’t blame me okay?” They all chuckled and assured you that they will definitely teach you.

“You don’t have to worry. With Minho here, you won’t be bad. This dude is such a sports fanatic.” Onew said as he taped Minho on the shoulders.

“Count on me Ji-min!” Minho smiled brightly at you and you couldn’t help but blush. He was definitely deferent from what you first thought of him. The cold, scary person you thought he was, was completely blown away by that smile and what he said.

You guys chatted for a bit more, while waiting for the bus to come. You really were taken back by how kind they were to you, so pulling up all of the courage you had, you decided to ask them.

“Why are you guys so nice to someone like me?” The conversation stopped as they all looked at you.

“What do you mean to someone like you?” Key asked.

“I’m… I mean… why are you guys so nice to… to me…”

“What did you expect? You were someone who helped us with finding our precious Eun Mi. We can’t even be called humans if we were mean to someone who saved Eun Mi.” Jonghyun said confused as to why you were asking them this. It is common courtesy for a human being to be kind to another and they didn’t understand why you were asking this.

“But… I’m fat. I’m not someone who people are usually nice to and you guys have gone above and beyond to me kind to someone like me. I don’t think I deserve all this kindness that you all are giving to me.” You said quietly. A frown appeared on all of the boys’ faces and Eun Mi frowned as well.

“So what unnie? That is not a reason that people can be mean to you!” She exclaimed as if it was the most logical thing ever.

“I don’t know what appearances have anything to do with us being nice to you. We are nice to people that deserve it and you are definitely one who deserves our kindness. You’re a really sweet girl and I don’t know why you are putting yourself down like. And to the people who judge you because of your appearance, they are just insolent shallow jerks.” Onew said.

“Seriously Ji-min. Why are you putting yourself down like that. Even if we just met today, I can already tell what a sweet and caring girl you are.” Key looked at you as you looked down to the floor.

Taemin walked up to up and held your chin, making you look at him.

“Ji-min, Eun Mi might just be 6, but she’s a great judge of character. She adores you and I know for a fact that she only likes people who she knows have a great heart. So have more confident in yourself. You’re a great girl, you understand?” He said softly to you. You smiled and nodded your head as he released your chin. The others smiled when they noticed that you finally did as well.

“Now, don’t ever bring that up okay Ji-min? You’re our friend.” Minho patted your head and your smile got bigger.

“Ah you’re bus is here Ji-min!” You looked up and saw that the bus was pulling up at the curb. You hurriedly got your card and gave one last hug to Eun Mi. As soon as the door opened, you turned to the boys and bowed in thanks to them.

You got up on the stairs and turned to look at them once again. They were waving their hands at you and you waved back in goodbye.

“We’ll you next week!”

“Be careful!”

“We’ll text you!”

When the bus pulled out of the curb, a huge smile appeared on your face as you thought about your day. You had never met such kind people as them before and you will definitely treasure the memories you made today.