"Okay. Okay, Kyuhyun," said the manager hyung, my head. "But you were so rude to your teacher today."

"I was more rude the other day," I admitted, letting go of the hug. The manager hyung let go as well, and I saw the exasperated expression on his face.

"Well, I do understand why your teacher wanted to beat you in front of the class."

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I know," said the manager hyung, then he gave me another brief hug as I leaned into him. "I still have to punish you for it somehow," he said. I nodded; I guessed it was symbolic.

"The broom's gone," I said with a tiny smile.

"I noticed. What am I going to do now?" said the manager hyung.

"You're free to buy a new one. I just did it to get out of a situation," I said. The manager hyung laughed.

"I'll find something else. On the other hand, for this..." He trailed off, evidently trying to decide on an appropriate punishment.

"I won't eat for the rest of today," I suggested.

"Fine," said the manager hyung, nodding sternly. "But you also have to go to school and apologize to the teacher before visiting Heechul tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," I said, lowering my head a little.

"Good. Catch up on sleep or something. It'll make you forget the hunger."

"Yes, sir," I said again, then the manager hyung left the room as I bowed him out.

I didn't have supper that day, but I did the dishes as part of my everyday chores anyway. As I started on the hour's worth of dishes from dinner regretfully with my stomach grumbling, Eunhyuk wandered over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He glanced at me doing the dishes, then spoke after eyeing me carefully.

"I saw the vacuum," he said, looking amused.

I smiled. "Anything to get out of a beating," I said.

Eunhyuk looked in the fridge and retrieved a clementine orange from it. "Why didn't you eat?" he asked.

"Just because," I said, not wanting to explain.

"Sure," said Eunhyuk skeptically. He then started peeling the orange beside me. The smell reached my nose, and I felt even hungrier.

"Ugh, get it away, hyung," I said irritably.

He looked up at me. "Why?" he asked innocently.

"It smells," I said.

"Really?" he said, then he put an orange slice in his mouth, chewed a few times then blew a breath in my face. I grimaced as my stomach grumbled.

"Aw, go away!" I yelled. I soon realized that my speech had slurred enough that it wasn't possible to tell whether I was speaking in honorifics or not.

"Hey!" said Eunhyuk, apparently reacting to my informal speech.

I contemplated for a split second on how I was going to react, then looked at him threateningly. "What?" I said, clearly in informal speech this time. This was the first time I'd talked in informal speech to a hyung besides that time when I was half-asleep and talked to Heechul, of all people, in informal speech; I crossed my fingers mentally and hoped that he'd accept the joke.

"You jerk!" he yelled, putting on a threatening look of his own, then he shoved half of the orange into my mouth. I smiled a little and gave him a playful glare; he had accepted the joke. I then spat the orange out in my soapy hand and squeezed it in my fist over the sink until it was reduced to pulp. I saw Eunhyuk look at me in clear shock and fear.

"I'm not allowed," I said informally with my eyes wide in another threatening look. To my surprise, I saw Eunhyuk shrink.

"Okay, fine. Never mind, then," said Eunhyuk timidly.

I laughed a little and looked at him respectfully again. "I did something wrong, so I'm not allowed to eat today," I said in honorifics.

"Ah, I see," said Eunhyuk, loosening up again. He opened the fridge and took out another orange and started peeling it again. I looked daggers at him wordlessly.

"Okay, okay, I'll go away, hyungnim," he said mockingly with a bow, then he walked out of the kitchen with the orange in his hand. I went back to doing the dishes with a smile, thankful that he had accepted my joke in a situation where he could easily have become angry at me for being rude.

I had trouble falling asleep that night because of the hunger, but I thought back to when I had starved myself for days, and I thought to myself that this was nothing. When Ryeowook woke me up the next morning, though, I was so hungry that I ate my breakfast in half the time as everyone else.

"Kyuhyun, uniform," said the manager hyung as soon as I finished.

"Dishes first," I said, glancing at the clock. There were still two hours until school would start.

"No, you're going to and back from school before everyone gets there," he said.

"So why do I need my uniform?" I asked, confused.

The manager hyung raised his eyebrows. "For respect, Kyuhyun. I thought you'd have gotten it by now. You don't want to starve for another day, do you?"

"No, sir," I said quickly, then with another bow, I rushed into my room and started getting dressed in my uniform.

An hour later, I was knocking at my classroom, which was empty except the teacher. I saw the teacher look up through the window, and beckon me inside. I opened the door timidly and bowed.

"Good morning, sir."

"Kyuhyun," he said without expression. I bit my lip. I couldn't believe I was here after yesterday. I felt embarrassed and almost even scared to be here.

"I - I'm really sorry about - last week and yesterday. I can't believe how immature and just - simply rude I was," I said, looking at the floor.

"Kyuhyun, sit down," he said, getting up from his own desk. I cautiously walked inside and took my seat. Soon, we were sitting in the classroom in my graffiti-covered desk, alone in the classroom. There was graffiti over graffiti on it now, so much that I couldn't tell what the colour of the desk was before all of the writing covered it. As I sat there, not meeting his eyes, the teacher sat on the chair in front of my desk so that we were facing each other. He watched me for a few seconds, then he finally spoke.

"To be honest, Kyuhyun, I still don't want you here."

I felt my mouth drying out. "Why not?" I asked.

"The fact that you didn't rank in the top 20 isn't directly the reason why I didn't let you stay in the classroom," he said.

I looked at him, confused. "Then what - "

"Here's the thing, Kyuhyun. If you don't apply with celebrity status, I honestly don't think you can make a top 10 university with the tight schedule that you have based on the final exam results." I bit my lip and looked at him. "Now if you do apply with celebrity status, which is what I strongly recommend you do, you can focus on work and still have guaranteed yourself a spot in a top 10. At this point, Kyuhyun, I don't think the process is as important as the outcome."

I thought carefully. "But I've worked so hard to get myself here academically," I said with  sigh. "I'm almost there."

"I know. But think hard about it. I can still give you the work, and you can still learn the best that you can, but still apply with celebrity status. I'll no longer be asking you to meet deadlines although I'll be suggesting them, so if you decide not to do the work, I'll leave that up to you. I think this is the time you make the decision on the process or the product."

"Right. Okay. Thank you," I said with a nod.

"Here is the three weeks' worth of work that you missed," he said, giving me a stack of papers. I looked up in surprise. He prepared all of that last night? Seeing my surprised face, the teacher chuckled. "I prepared them each week, just in case."

I smiled in appreciation. "Thank you, sir. And I'll think about it," I said.

"Good. Let me know what your decision is when you can," said the teacher. I nodded and got up from my chair.

"I will, and once again, sir - I'm really sorry about..."

"No problem. Get out of here before you get mobbed," he said. I gave a respectful bow, then I walked out of the classroom with the stack of work in my hands.

The manager hyung was waiting for me in his van at the entrance again. "All of the other members are already at the hospital to visit Heechul, they went by bus," he said as he started driving, apparently to the hospital.

"Okay," I said, taking a small glance at him. The manager hyung noticed and glanced back.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said.

"I'm serious. Tell me what it is," he said with a small frown.

I hesitated for a little. "Do I - do I have to go?"

The manager hyung looked at me for a brief moment in surprise. "What? You don't want to go?"

I bit my lip. "Honestly?"

The manager hyung sighed. "He's not going to hurt you. He's lying in a hospital bed."

"I know, but he's not always going to be lying in a hospital bed," I said carefully.

"So you don't want to visit him, ever?"

I played with my fingers. "I don't know."

The manager hyung sighed. "You should go for a little bit, at least. Just say hi and come out if you want to. Even Donghae's going to be there, and you know how hard it is for him."

"He's back from Mokpo?" I asked. God, why was I out of the loop all the time?

"Yeah, he's meeting us at the hospital."

"Okay."

There was another pause. "Well?"

"Seriously, hyung. He really scares me."

The manager hyung laughed. "Heechul's a really good person to be with once you get to know him."

"Not for me. I'd rather know him from afar," I said with a sigh. "As long as I know he's - you know - going to be - okay eventually..."

The manager hyung looked at me again, but he was apparently lost for words. "Just for a few minutes. You don't even have to be alone with him if you don't want to be."

I paused for a little while, then nodded. "Okay. Just a few minutes."

"Yeah. You can leave whenever you want."

"Okay, hyung."