Just a little head warning: The characters I've added in for this chapter are only making cameo appearances. I can't handle them all if I include them for this entire fic. It'll be too darn confusing. But I added them in for a purpose, obviously, so yeaah~ I'mma keep my mouth shut so you can read on without me revealing anything. Enjoy the chapter! :D

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Woohyun’s POV

The next morning, when I got to school, everyone was at the gates, waiting. Myungsoo was the first one to notice my sour expression.

“Tutoring with Seohyun didn’t work that well, did it?” he asked sympathetically.

I frowned deeper. “That was a nightmare,” I muttered, shifting my bag to put the weight on my right since my left shoulder was aching. “She kept trying to hit on me, trying to touch me. It was a good thing my mom came home ten minutes after we started working and was in the kitchen with us the entire time.”

Sungyeol made a face. “Lucky for you.”

“Where’s Kasumi?” Dongwoo wanted to know, craning his neck to find her.

Hoya whacked his shoulder. “You know you’re only interested in playing with Botan before school starts,” he joked.

Dongwoo just laughed. “I love Botan, he’s so fluffy and cute and friendly.” He paused and shot a glance over at me. “But, of course, Kasumi is better. There is no way I could love an animal more than her.”

“I don’t think he heard you,” Sung Jong said in a loud whisper.

“What’s the matter?” Sunggyu asked.

“Kasumi isn’t coming to school today.”

“What?” the other members asked, shocked. “Why not?”

Myungsoo frowned. “Why didn’t she tell me about it? I’m supposed to be her brother!” He pouted, obviously about to throw a tantrum.

Sungyeol rapped his head lightly. “We’re all her big brothers in that sense,” he retorted. “Well, except for Woohyun hyung, the boyfriend.” He glanced over at Sunggyu. “And Sunggyu hyung, the grandfather.”

“Finally someone acknowledges the fact that I’m her grandfather!” Sunggyu actually looked really pleased.

 “That means you’re really old,” Sung Jong muttered but Sunggyu was too busy cheering to have noticed his tone.

“Why isn’t she here?” Hoya asked me.

I showed them the text message Kasumi sent to me this morning.

To: Woohyunnie Oppa

From: Kasumi

Message: Oppa, I’m not coming to school today.

Everyone frowned at the text message and I knew exactly what they were thinking about. This wasn’t like Kasumi to say something and not explain why.

“Her text seemed really vague,” Dongwoo pointed out.

“Did anything happen yesterday?” Hoya wanted to know.

“Wasn’t she at tutoring with her tutor?” Sungyeol reminded.

I clenched my fist. If I find out that Zico did something to Kasumi, I was seriously going to punch the lights out of him.

As if on cue, Zico came up to us with a frown. That frown made all thoughts of me punching go away. “What’s with your girlfriend?” he addressed to me. “She took off all of a sudden yesterday.”

“Huh?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. We went back to my house, I went upstairs to change. Then I came down and she asked me what my name was. I told her my real name. The next thing I knew, she was out of the house.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t have her number so I couldn’t ask her anything.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that he didn’t do anything to her.

But that didn’t explain why she took off.

Sunggyu shook his head. “Woohyun got a text from her this morning, saying that she wasn’t going to come to school today,” he told him.

“She didn’t say anything yesterday,” I added.

Zico’s frown deepened.

“Why did she ask you for your real name?” Hoya wanted to know.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Have you met her before?” Sung Jong wanted to know. “Kasumi is known to know a lot of people and not tell us how she knows them.”

“I’ve never met her before.”

This was really confusing.

“Krystal!” Sung Jong suddenly called out and Krystal, Sulli and Luna stopped in their tracks. “Did you talk to Kasumi last night?”

“We all did,” Sulli replied for her instead. “Why?”

“Did she say anything?” Sungyeol wanted to know.

“She seemed fine,” Luna replied, thinking about it.

“Did she say anything about not coming to school today?” Dongwoo inquired, crossing his fingers behind his back. I knew he was hoping she did. So did I.

Please say something . . .

Krystal nodded. “Yeah, something about needing to do errands and such like that today,” she replied. She shrugged.

“For her grandmother?” Myungsoo said.

She nodded. She turned to Zico and frowned when she saw that he had been listening. “What is he here for?” she wanted to know.

“I’m her tutor,” Zico snapped.

She shrugged again, not really caring about that fact. Then she waved at us and she and the others walked away with her to their class.

“Well, that didn’t help much,” Sungyeol muttered.

Zico sighed. “If you see her, please tell her to . . .” He sighed again. “Ask her to come to school and find me. I don’t have her number.” He walked away, frowning deeply.

Good, and it’s going to stay that way. I frowned as I watched him leave. I don’t know why but I have a feeling the reason why Kasumi ran out on him during tutoring yesterday was because of something that happened in her past that had to do with him.

“I have to know Kasumi’s past,” I spoke up to my friends, turning to them. They looked surprised by my words because I had always told them that I was going to wait for Kasumi to tell me herself.

“Hyung ah —” Sung Jong started.

“I need to know.”

“She’s starting to open up to you,” Dongwoo stated. “I mean, you said she told you a bit about her dad, right?”

“This is driving me crazy!” I burst out. “I don’t know anything about my girlfriend except about what nationality she is, that she’s my girlfriend and she loves me, that she has a grandmother, and that she knows almost everyone that nobody ever expected her to know! I’m just — I don’t know. I want to find out who she is, believe me, I do, but some part of me don’t want to because I’m —”

“Scared that when you find out who she is, you’ll realize she’s not the person you thought you knew?” Hoya interrupted.

“That was my reason at first,” I admitted. “But now it’s because I want her to trust me.”

Sunggyu placed a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. “Changmin once told me that Kasumi had a bad past, that’s why she refused to tell anyone about it. But he did say that she’s starting to trust you more. It shows.” He shrugged. “At least, he said he could see it, especially that day at the beach.”

I felt this surge of hope inside of me. “I hope you’re right.”

Myungsoo nodded. “Come on, let’s go to class before the bell rings,” he said and we walked into the school building.

After school, I walked back to my house. I was alone so I had time to think about Kasumi. When I first met her, she was a mystery. I was dating her now and she’s still a mystery. What was it about her past that made it so bad that she couldn’t tell me about her?

I sighed as I turned to my house but I looked up and stopped in my tracks.

Kasumi looked up from where sh