Minho and Jonghyun’s reactions had been worth letting Key make him up like his own personal doll.

Both older boys had stared as they left the bathroom, disbelief at how Key had managed to take plain little Taemin and turn him into a boy whose good looks were certain.

And the reactions didn’t stop there.

With Key’s primping, the time before class melted away and Taemin found himself rushing to class in the opposite direction as his new friends.

“Taemin?! Is that you?” Sulli gasped as Taemin skidded to a stop in front of his first class.

“Key got ahold of you didn’t he.” Amber stated, unsurprised. “This will only be the beginning.”

“Is it bad?” Taemin asked, suddenly worried that maybe what he thought looked good really didn’t.

“No!” The girls shouted together, holding their hands up and waving them frantically.

“Its good. Its...” Sulli broke off and looked Taemin up and down. “Its really good. You’re hot.”

Taemin blushed.

“If he’s this cute now, wait until Key really has the chance to sink his teeth into him. Damn! Can the weekend come quicker?!” Amber said, eyes locked on Taemin as they walked into class.

“What?” Taemin asked, wondering what exactly Amber was talking about.

“Oh, the boys haven’t told you yet?” Sulli said, dropping into her seat, ignoring the stares of their classmates as they took in the changes to Taemin’s appearance.

“Told me what?” Taemin asked nervously as he dug out his school supplies.

“That we’re going shopping this weekend!” Sulli said clapping her hands in delight. “Jonghyun and Minho hyung are funding our outing.”

“Oh.” Taemin couldn’t fight the disappointment he felt knowing that on his first weekend in Seoul, his new friends were going to be going away. He hated that he couldn’t control the feeling, knowing that it was stupid to think that just because they had brought him into their circle, it didn’t mean that they would have to include him in everything.

Amber and Sulli exchanged a look over Taemin’s head. “You do know that you’re coming too, right?”

“What?”

“You know these one word answers are getting old right?” Amber said jokingly.

“Sorry.” Taemin bit his lower lip.

Amber rolled her eyes, “You’re coming too. Do you think that we’d leave you alone on your first weekend here and go to town without you?”

“Well, I... I don’t want to be a bother.” Taemin muttered as their teacher walked in the room. “I mean, I don’t have to go.”

“Of course you do!” Sulli yelled causing the teacher to glare at her. Sulli blushed and ducked her head. “After all, Key wants to take you shopping for clothes.”

“What?”

“There he goes again.” Amber muttered. “Will he ever break the one word habit?”

“Oh shove off Amber, he’s just overwhelmed.” Sulli said as she was shushed. “We’ll talk more later, after class.”




They never did get the chance to talk. It wasn’t as if the subject went forgotten, but more that other things found their way pushed to the topic of the conversation queue.

“Miss Choi, Miss Liu, please see me.” Their teacher called as the bell signaling lunch rang.

Sulli sighed, “Sorry Tae, we’ll have to meet you in the cafeteria. Just look for the guys and we’ll see you there.”

Nodding, Taemin thought nothing of walking out of class alone. Years of walking by himself had made him more accepting of his solitude than most people would have been.

Even though, having spent most of the last couple days constantly with people, he was starting to feel a bit lonely.

The halls seemed empty with only a few students moving around. Something about the lack of people made Taemin feel uncomfortable.

With good reason.

He was walking past the men’s room, only a short distance away from the double doors of the cafeteria, when suddenly something large and heavy rammed into him. He found himself stumbling through the bathroom door and landing on his knees.

From his lower position, Taemin looked up at the towering figures above him.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s decided to make a change to his pathetic appearance.” Yunho’s voice seemed to boom around the bathroom.

Taemin could say nothing, trembling in fear. How could he have been so stupid to forget about Yunho and his gang. Especially since his stomach had bruised an extrodinary blue and purple overnight. He was lucky that Key hadn't seen that in his morning make-over.

“What, not going to say anything?” A tall, bulky boy taunted. “Waiting for someone to come save you?”

Taemin shook his head.

“Good. I saw the way Sulli was looking at you.” Yunho said, cracking his knuckles. “If you think a little make up will do you any good, you’re dead wrong.”

“I... I... I..” Taemin stuttered in English, unable to find the right words in his new, unfamiliar language.

“Did I say you could speak!” A foot shot out, catching Taemin in the side.

Grunting in pain, Taemin felt his breath leave him.

“I think you need some help cleaning yourself up.”

Hands lifted him under his armpits and hoisted him into the air. Their grip was so tight, Taemin didn’t even think about struggling. There was no point. He was way to small in comparison to those guys to even think he'd have a chance at fighting back.

A door was kicked open and Taemin found himself shoved into a (thankfully) clean stall.

“Lets see how you look with all that pretty makeup washed off.”

A large hand tangled thick fingers into Taemin’s hair as it pushed his head towards the toilet.

Eyes wide, Taemin began to struggle. He tried to catch his breath but a hand closed around his throat enough to block any sounds from escaping.

As the toilet bowl came closer, tears filled Taemin’s eyes and he could feel himself trying to hyperventilate.

He could handle beatings and name calling, but this, this kind of torment was something completely new.

Laughter echoed in the small room as Taemin felt the first strands of his hair dipping into the toilet water. He slammed his eyes shut.

Something warm ran down his leg and the sour smell of urine just reached his nose as his face hit the cold water.
He couldn’t breath, and when someone hit his side, causing him to gasp in pain, water rushed in and he started coughing, panicking.

His lungs burned.

He was going to drown.

This was going to be the end. After everything he had suffered, after believe Korea could be a new beginning, he was going to die in a boy’s toilet.

Then, just as quickly as everything seemed to have began, it was over.

He was oblivious when the hand pushing him into the toilet, pulled him out and threw him against the floor.

Taemin couldn’t hear the footsteps as his tormenters rushed out of the bathroom.

He coughed water out of his lungs, hands shaking as he pushed wet hair out of his eyes.

Sitting on the floor of the bathroom stall, with his pants soaked with toilet water and urine, Taemin felt the tears start pouring down his face.

After less than two days, he already found himself breaking fast.