entrust.

“Will you be walking back with us? “Sunggyu questioned Miyoon as they all gathered around the playground. The dismissal bell just rang, ending the official first day of junior high for her. She flicked her wrist to check the time.

“I think I could, my brother didn't say anything about getting—” but then a voice had interrupted her.

“Xiamei! We missed you so much!”  Xiumin sang as he skipped up to the bunch. Everyone eyed him weirdly as he hooked arms with Miyoon.

“Um Mimi, why is a fifth grader calling you Xiamei and linking arms with you? Only I could do that!” Sungyeol whined, as he latched to her free arm.

“Hey, why are you touching my Xiamei?” Xiumin cried out, yanking Miyoon closer to himself. Then Sungyeol rebelled and pulled her back his direction.

“Yah why are you touching my Mimi, kids these days not knowing how to respect their seniors.” he rebutted.

“Who’s the kid? You are!” Xiumin shouted, again pulling Miyoon to his side. And this continued for several minutes with Miyoon being yanked back and forth, as if she was the rope in a tug-of-war battle. The rest of Infinite and Taela were simply observing as their eyes swiveled back and forth, in whatever direction the young girl was dragged.

“Let go of Xiamei, you’re hurting her.” Xiumin pointed out as he stuck his head in front of Miyoon so that he could see Sungyeol’s face.

“No, you let go of Mimi. Why are you even calling her Xiamei? You don’t even know her name, you munchkin.” Sungyeol protested, mimicking his action.

“Actually Sungyeol, Baozi is older than us.” Miyoon finally managed to get out.

“BO?!” They all chorused in unison. Xiumin cocked his head up and grinned, widely, as he was able to get Miyoon all to himself.

“He’s my brother’s friend. Baozi-ah, if you’re here where is everyone—” and soon her question was answered.

“Yah! Hyung who said you could run off like that!” Tao hollered as he and Exo M rolled onto the scene. They were exceptionally tall and handsome for only being high school students.

“I wanted to come and get Xiamei first! You were all walking like a bunch of tortoises. What if she got kidnapped or something?” Xiumin reasoned. Miyoon quickly looked at Myungsoo and his friends who seemed to be entertained by the scene.

She turned back to see her brother with his poker face on. When he reached her, he held out his hand. “What?”

“Give me your bag,” Kris ordered. Miyoon blinked at him. “Hurry up. You’re making me feel like a bad brother. Oh and didn’t I tell you to wait and take the car with me? Who said you could walk to school alone?”

“But Yifan, I didn’t walk alone. I was picked up by Myungsoo and Taela, then after we were joined by everyone else,” the younger Wu explained, as she removed her bag and handed it to her brother.

Kris turned to the ‘everyone’ his sister was referring to and eyed them, carefully. Even Myungsoo whom he had met on numerous occasions. As he was prepared to reprimand Miyoon for defying his orders, he was stopped from doing so when Taela threw herself at him. “Oppa! You’ve gotten more handsome, I haven’t seen you in a whole week.” She squealed, nuzzling against his arm.

“Ew what in the world is that brat doing?” Dongwoo whispered to Woohyun. But too bad he didn't whisper low enough for his words had managed to slither themselves up to her ears. Taela glared at him, in a menacing manner before she directed all of her attention back to Kris.

“Why is she always on him like that? Aish, Kris and thinking every little girl is like his sister.” Lay muttered.

“Komawo, Taela. But Xiazi and I have to go,” Kris answered, politely. He looked once more at his sister, gesturing her to tell them the same thing.

“Who in the world is Xiazi and Xiamei!?” Sungyeol shouted, confused. At his sudden outburst, the Exo M boys were a bit taken back. They blinked at him and then at each other as they began speaking Mandarin.

“Xiazi, do they know about you being Chinese?” Luhan questioned. Miyoon’s eyes widened as she shook and nodded her head.

“Not all of them do, Myungsoo and Taela know I am but I never mentioned my Chinese name to them.” she stated, scratching her head.

“Don’t you think it would have been relevant to tell them?” Chen jumped in, a little less fluent and clean in the language as the others. While they were in their own world discussing why Miyoon never bothered to mention her being Chinese to the rest of the gang, Kris recalled the days when she was still in primary school. He remembered how she would come home crying because kids were picking on her for being of a different nationality from them.

Or on the days when he would get her after school, to find her encircled by several kids who were shoving her around.

Of course, he chased after them but they always managed to get away. Trying to be the best brother he could be, Kris even offered to go over and teach those boys some manners, but Miyoon would always decline, saying how it would only make it worse for her. He even tried to tell his parents about it but once again, Miyoon begged him not to.

He could never really fathom his sister’s logic but because that was what she wanted, he obliged. He still kept a close eye on her and one day, everything just changed. He noticed how Miyoon was smiling more even requesting their head-maid to bake cookies for her almost every week. It was when he spotted her with Myungsoo after school one time, while she was waiting for him, that he knew this guy was the reason his sister was happy.

Kris never thought much about Myungsoo’s and Miyoon’s relationship. The way he saw it was that Myungsoo also saw Miyoon as a younger sister.

“Tch, how can you hold onto Xiamei’s arm like you're her best friend, when you don’t even know her Chinese name!” Xiumin scolded, as he scrunched up his face.

Sungyeol blinked at him and frowned, “Mimi, why didn’t you tell us about your Chinese heritage and name?”

“I—”

“Her surname is Wu, obviously she’s Chinese. Why don’t you try paying attention next time, I mean we were in the same primary school as her. And why are we still here? Her brother’s here to get her, let’s go.” Hoya pointed out as he began to stalk off with his hands resting, coolly, in his pockets.  

“That was quite obvious. We should have definitely noticed that. I’m guessing Miyoon’s Chinese name would be Xiazi, since that is what I heard.” Sunggyu stated. “Well, it was nice meeting you all and learning something new, but Hoya’s right, we should get going. We’ll see you tomorrow, Miyoon-ah.”

Miyoon nodded and waved to them as they walked off into the distance. Then she turned to her brother and wore a scowl. “Why couldn’t you allow me to go home with them?”

“It wasn’t my idea to come, ask your Baozi Oppa over there,” Kris directed his gaze towards Xiumin whose jaw dropped.

“Hey, hey, everyone else wanted to come and pick up our Xiamei too, it wasn’t just me!” he defended.

“Don’t you guys se