I walked into the school 15 minutes after class had started, still in my t-shirt and jeans, with my bag slung over one shoulder and my baseball cap in my hand. God, if I'd seen myself walk down the hallway, I would definitely have given myself some strange looks.

I walked into my classroom which was clearly already well into its lesson. I gave a miniscule, half-hearted drop of the head as soon as I walked in, but I didn't stop and walked to my seat without even apologizing. I was only here for the sake of being here, so who cared about the formalities?

I dropped my bag on the floor and sat down on my chair, ignoring the stares that I got from my uniform-clad classmates. I didn't bother trying to take notes or even taking out my books; I just put my baseball cap on to hide my eyes and crossed my arms. As I leaned back in the chair, the teacher stopped speaking. There was silence for a few seconds, then the teacher spoke.

"Cho Kyuhyun, I believe I've told you not to come to school anymore," he said quietly. "Get out."

I was taken by surprise and disbelief; all I'd done was sit down, and I'm being kicked out of class? I stayed where I was and pretended I hadn't heard, but inside, I was boiling with anger and could barely keep myself still.

"Have you gone deaf, Kyuhyun? I asked you to leave," he said, louder.

I let out a deep breath, and the teacher gave me a few seconds to leave. I didn't budge.

"Cho Kyuhyun!" shouted the teacher. Anger building up in me so much that I could barely breathe, I took my hat off of my head and slammed it down on my desk, and I saw my classmates look at me with widened eyes. I ignored them all again and looked at the teacher.

"WHAT DID I DO WRONG?" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I was so angry that I could feel my heart beating. "WHAT WAS IT THAT I DID SO WRONG THAT I CAN'T EVEN SIT IN CLASS ANYMORE?"

There was another silence while I breathed heavily.

"You're wasting your time," he said quietly.

I felt tears of anger well up in my eyes as I clenched my fists tightly. "I'm not wasting my time any more than anyone else here," I said angrily. "You let the kid who scored last in the class sit here. There's no reason why I should leave."

The teacher looked away from me. "Get out."

"YOU WON'T EVEN GIVE ME A CHANCE!" I yelled, the tears finally falling out of my eyes. Everyone's eyes were on me, but I was so enraged that I barely even noticed.

"I've given you plenty of chances. Get out," he said coldly. I took another deep breath.

"I'm having a really, really hard time right now, even without you being like this," I said, looking into his eyes.

His expression didn't change. "Get out," he repeated. I ran a furious hand through my hair, and glared at him like I'd never glared at anyone before.

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth, then I stood up so fast that my chair fell over with a loud crash. I didn't try to right it, and I bent down to grab my bag, hitting my desk out of line in the process. I kicked my fallen chair a final time before walking towards the door.

As I put my hand on the door and opened it, I heard, to my annoyance, the teacher continuing the lesson like nothing happened. I put one foot out of the classroom, then I shook my head.

"This is so, so unfair," I whispered out loud at the door. I felt another tear fall from my eye. I couldn't remember the last time I was this angry.

"I'm not leaving," I murmured. If only to disturb class for everyone else, I wasn't going to leave. I walked to my desk again and righted the chair and sat down again. I did everything right. I shouldn't have to deal with this.

I did everything right.

As I sat down again, the teacher looked at me. "Do I have to write you up, Cho Kyuhyun?" asked the teacher. I just glared at him.

"I don't even live with my parents anymore. No one's going to care whether or not you write me up. So do whatever you want."

The teacher looked angry for the first time as well. "Then you'll either leave now, or you'll leave after you're beaten. It's your choice," he growled. I looked up in mild disbelief; he never beat anyone in front of the class before, and in my memory, he'd never threatened anyone with it, either. At the same time that I was so angry that I was getting this treatment after I hadn't even done anything wrong, I couldn't help but feel hurt.

"I'm not doing either," I seethed. When he heard this, I saw the teacher clench his teeth and started walking towards my seat. I looked up in surprise, and the teacher bent down to pick up my bag from the floor with one hand, and took my arm with the other. Then to my shock, he pulled me out of my seat and towards the door. "Hey!" I yelled as I lost my balance. I barely kept on my feet, but the teacher didn't slow down as he dragged me to the door. I was so surprised that I barely even registered what he was doing, and I was outside the classroom already when I finally understood what had happened. The teacher let go of my arm once we were in the hallway, causing me to lose my balance and fall. The teacher then dropped my bag in the hallway.

"HEY!" I screamed again, but the teacher just closed the door, and I heard it being locked from the inside before I could even say anything.

I just sat where I was in the hallway for a few seconds, then with every emotion that I had bottled up for the past few days - Donghae's father, Heechul's accident and the pay cut - I gave a loud shout of frustration and kicked the door as hard as I could, but it obviously didn't move.

After a few seconds of trying to steady my breath, I got to my feet. There was nothing I could really do now - there was no way I'd be allowed to get back in the classroom again. Then realizing that I had been kicked out of the classroom for the first time ever, I slowly got to my feet, feeling my face flush. Well, it wasn't like I could return to class now. I sighed and took my cell phone out of my pocket; if I were lucky, the manager hyung might not have reached the dorm yet. I opened the phone, but there was no reception. I swore. I was going to have to get out of the building to make this call?

Frustrated, I put my hat back on and walked out of the building and onto the school grounds until I finally got reception.

"What are you doing on your phone, Kyuhyun?" asked the manager hyung when he picked up. I sighed.

"Hyung, I got kicked out of class," I muttered.

The manager hyung didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I'll bring your uniform over. Just apologize and say you'll abide by the dress code from now on."

"No, it's not that," I said quietly.

"What did you do?" asked the manager hyung sternly.

I bit my lip. "I went to class? I don't know."

There was another brief silence. "Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes," he said, then he hung up. I closed my phone with another sigh also, and I wandered towards the school gates again.

I opened the van door and stepped in it. The manager hyung watched me getting in the car without saying anything.

"I told you I didn't want to go," I muttered, without even thanking him for coming.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I don't know. I just sat down and he kicked me out," I said without looking at him.

"I'm having trouble believing that you just got up and left," the manager hyung said skeptically.

"I didn't just get up and leave. I was quite literally thrown out."

"Were you rude?" asked the manager hyung.

"I..." I thought about his question for a bit, but it was clear as day. "Yeah," I admitted. "But he tried to kick me out before I was rude."

"I'll talk to your teacher about it once things wind down," said the manager hyung.

I sighed and leaned my head back. I almost reminded him that he said he would take care of it last week, but I also reminded myself that the last week had been nothing short of chaos for everyone on the team, and nodded. "Okay, hyung," I said, then I closed my eyes.

When we got back to the dorm, the manager hyung went to my room to check up on Donghae while I briefly went into my room to drop my bag off. Donghae was still in bed. He looked so weak and so thin that I wondered whether he had eaten anything in the last few days. The manager hyung sat next to him on his bed as I moved towards the door to leave the room again. Just as I was doing so, the manager hyung started talking to Donghae, and I slowed down my steps to catch a bit of their conversation.

"Hey," said the manager hyung. Donghae glanced at him for a split second, but turned his back on the manager hyung.

"Donghae, let's go for a drive," said the manager hyung softly.

Donghae ignored him again.

"Come on, Donghae," urged the manager hyung.

It looked like Donghae was sighing with resignation, but he seemed to go deeper into his bed. "I'll carry you to the van if you don't feel up to going downstairs," said the manager hyung, pulling Donghae out of the bed.

I had reached the doorway, and I hesitated a bit, wondering whether the manager hyung might need help getting Donghae downstairs. However, Donghae sighed and finally spoke.

"We can just talk here," muttered Donghae. The manager hyung sighed.

"Okay," said the manager hyung, then he looked at me. "Kyuhyun, maybe you could bring Donghae something to eat."

"Sure," I said, then I walked into the kitchen.

I had cracked an egg into a pan, finished picking out small pieces of the shell that had fallen into the egg, and had the stove when Ryeowook wandered into the kitchen. "What are you doing in the kitchen?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.

"I'm cooking," I said.

"Who told you to?" asked Ryeowook, shaking his head.

"Seunghwan hyung."

"He's clearly never tasted your food. You should never be in the kitchen," said Ryeowook.

I made a face. "Kim Ryeowook, I can cook, too."

Ryeowook scoffed. "No, you can't."

"I can. You just never saw me do it well."

Ryeowook stared at me skeptically for a while, then spoke. "Did you add cooking oil before you cracked the eggs?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but as I processed his words, I realized that I hadn't. "Uh - "

"Did you add salt?"

I had forgotten about salt, as well, and I didn't say anything when Ryeowook laughed - the first sound of laughter I'd heard in a long time.

"I didn't think so," said Ryeowook, then he pushed me away from the stove and started scraping off the egg that had stuck to the bottom of the frying pan with the flipper.