The moment the pair stepped inside Sookyung darted for her room. She moved so fast that she didn't hear Doojoon sigh. Truth be told it was as if she'd rejected him on the spot. It made his heart sting to have her withdraw from him again. He had only just managed to get closer to her and now that effort had equated to nothing.

Sookyung arrived into her room and dropped herself down against the bed. Resting her forehead in the palm of her hand she let the tears fall until she couldn't speak without rasping. "Hey unnie!" Bora banged on the door with impatience, "open the door I need to do my--"

"--Bora," Hyorin grabbed Bora's wrist. They stopped a moment as they heard sniffling. Bora's face fell, Hyorin shook her head. "We need to give her some space. We will try again later." Bora gave in with more ease.

"Alright," Hyorin put a hand to her forehead.

"Hmm... Normally you put up a fight, what changed?" The sound of a familar voice whistling was heard from the bottom floor. Bora's lips curved into a smile. "I found someone." Bora turned to Hyorin, "it's time you decided too."

"Whoa where's this coming from?"

"We know how you feel about the monkey."

"Yoseob oppa?" Hyorin shook her head as she gave a rather embarrassed chuckle. "He's not my type."

"What?" Bora had to do a doubletake, "but we all thought... He and you...."

"He's just a friend. I like more manly guys."

"Doojoon?"

"Hell no, Sookyung wouldn't admit it but she would be pissed if it was." Hyorin glanced around before she whispered with a smile. "Hyunseung oppa however..."

"Whoa," now it was Bora's turn to be shocked. "You like him?!" Hyorin seemed happy to admit this. "Since when?"

"Since I realised he was like my ideal type,"  They heard the guys calling out for them and they had to leave it at that. As much as they wanted to check that Sookyung was alright they knew her better than the Beast members. However, they hoped that whatever hurt her wasn't doing too much damage to her spirit. "Where's Sookyung?" Hyunseung asked as the girls joined the guys. They were watching a movie, a slapstick comedy to be exact. Hyorin grabbed Hyunseung by the ear. "Hey aren't you happy to see me here?!"

"Yeah he is but that's not what he meant," Dongwoon tended to be obvious. Dongwoon as a fox was worse. Kikwang reached out to grab the maknae  just as their leader strolled in. "Don't touch him!" Doojoon barked. Kikwang gave up as Dongwoon scuffled towards Doojoon for further protection.
"He wasn't going to hurt him," Yoseob argued seeing that his friend was slowly beginning to get angry. Doojoon stared at Yoseob, his eyes fierce. Yoseob cowered back, his face full of confusion but also that of worry.
"Hyung... W-what happened?" Doojoon didn't answer the question. "Hyung," Yoseob called after him with no response again. The other members all looked at each other. They knew something was up.

********

Sookyung finally unlocked the door; the remorse was still strong and stubborn. The crying had tired her out and now she just wanted to go to bed instead of eat dinner. "Sookyung-ah," Yoseob gingerly opened the door, "are you having dinner with us?" Sookyung shook her head, deliberately keeping her back turned. "Alright, I'll leave you some food in case you change your mind," Sookyung nodded and the door closed. Yoseob breathed out in a steady flow; he felt worried as well. She was their friend as well as the friend of the other two girls. It wasn't his place to help her.

"She isn't coming?" Kikwang stated as he saw his friend join them again unaccompanied. Hyorin and Bora both shifted in their seats. It didn't seem right for them to be sitting there with Sookyung in their room.

"Hey," Junhyung motioned to an empty chair, "Doojoon hyung isn't here either."

"I wonder what went wrong," Kikwang said. They began to serve the rice and the side dishes. Yoseob was dejected. "Its my fault. I should have realised that it would be a bad idea." Hyorin patted his shoulder while Dongwoon him on the cheek. His face reddened.

"You didn't mean any harm," Junhyung told him. "You just wanted to help them so they could be happy." Bora began to smile as Junhyung added, "so they could be happy like us." Hyunseung's gaze went to his food, he would rather not reveal what was on his mind at that time.
"Thanks hyung," Yoseob told Junhyung with the other members all managing to smile.

"It will work out for them." Kikwang added, his eyes going smaller. Hyunseung raised the rice bowl higher to cover the darkened expression that was on his face.

***

Bora and Hyorin went to their room to find Sookyung asleep. They walked over to her, stopping to see if she was really sleeping. Her blankets rose up and down steadily to suggest that this was the case. The two went to get ready for bed themselves; they felt deprived of energy all of a sudden.

The beast members didn't see Doojoon for the rest of the night. He snuck in later on to his bed not bothering to get chnaged into his sleepwear. Hyunseung would not rest. He lay awake, his side so his roommate wouldn't notice that something was not right with him. He had a wish and he was close to almost reaching it. He had to pounce before the opportunity slipped again.

That night Sookyung tossed and turned. She couldn't let her mind go to rest. She twisted the blankets and managed to move her pillow. So when daylight streamed through the windows her head was on the thin mattress instead of the plump comfort.

“Hey we’ll let you sleep unnie,” Hyorin told her as she tried to get shut eye. Sookyung nodded and settled down.

“Where’s Sookyung-ah?” Hyunseung asked as only two girls came and sat down at the table.

“She’s tired, rough night I would say,” the other members expressed their concern. Doojoon swallowed his food with an anxious mind.

“I’m sure she’ll be alright in a couple of hours,” Bora assured them.

“Hey Junhyung you’re still human!” Yoseob exclaimed changing the subject. “And a new phase of the moon came last night.”

“Oh yeah, it must have been thanks to what happened with Kijung,” Bora nodded smiling knowingly.

“Huh? Who’s Kijung?” Kikwang asked, waiting to change back today.

“Oh he’s a little boy we helped out some time ago,” Junhyung told them

“Ah that’s good. “

They all thought about what they had to do today when someone’s phone started to ring Beast’s Shock. “Aigoo it must be her,” Dongwoon jumped up and ran to the other room.  “What is he on about?” They asked themselves, Doojoon cleared his bowl and placed it on the bench before leaving. Dongwoon arrived back with the phone still ringing. He placed it on the floor and pressed the pick up button with his paw before putting it on speaker.

“Hello this is Dongwoon speaking.”

“Ah so you didn’t trick me after all,” a rather skeptical, female voice said over the line.

“No why would I?” Dongwoon asked, confused.

“In case I was just wasting my valuable time. Listen I read your email and yes that is my user name.”

“So it was you who cursed us?” The female gave a horrid laugh over the phone making everyone who was listening cringe.

“You think it's a curse? I think the term is 'put a spell on you'.”

“Well whatever it is.” Dongwoon snapped, “I want to talk to you about it.”

“Oh really? Well… I think I am going to be in a town close to where you are tonight. if you want, we could meet me at the noodle restaurant on mainland.”

“Sure but it won’t just be me, I’ll be bringing others,” Yoseob spat out his food opening his mouth to protest.

“Oh, your other zoo friends then? Remind me again what I changed them into?”

“What time?”

“Ok, be there at seven at maybe you can learn about this whole hex business.” Dongwoon opened his mouth to answer but they had hung up. Dongwoon moved his head to see the eyes of the other members as well as the girls staring at him.

“What?”

“Aren’t you the least bit suspicious?” Yoseob exclaimed, “I mean what if she stands us up?”

“She won’t because I will just email her again asking for another meeting.” Dongwoon said proudly. Yoseob hit his hand against his forehead.

“Well, at least he’s trying to do something,” Hyorin said trying to encourage them.

“I suppose,” Yoseob sighed and made a half hearted smile, “good job maknae.”

***
Doojoon stopped at the girls’ suite. He peered around before opening the door a few degrees. Sookyung was curled up in the queen bed sleeping soundly. A smiled forced its way up his mouth but he had to close the door when the otter came upstairs. “Ah there you are hyung,” Hyunseung told him, “we are going to catch a bus into the main town tonight. Dongwoon has tracked someone down he thinks might have been the person who changed us.” Doojoon nodded, his stomach churning.

“What time did he decide on?”

“Seven so we will leave here by six.” Doojoon nodded his mind elsewhere.

“Are you wondering if Sookyung will be able to come with us?” The otter seemed to read him like a book.

“She should be fine soon,” Doojoon said walking away.

“Ok but if she isn’t,” Hyunseung began, “then I will be happy to watch over her.” Doojoon nodded.

“I'm sure that would be appreciated,” Doojoon told him as Hyunseung waddled away. Doojoon had to shake his head, it was a physical gesture to represent the fact he felt suspicion in regards to Hyunseung's actions. Only problem was he wasn't sure how or why.

***

Everyone was ready by five minutes to six and there had been no sign of Sookyung. As they grabbed their wallets and their jackets it started to rain. Hyunseung cheered with the others having an opposite reaction.“Oh great this is not going to work,” Yoseob said dejectedly.

“I’m not going to stand her up.” Dongwoon said determined. “This might be the only chance for her to change us back.”

“We need to go regardless of the weather,” Junhyung agreed with him.

“Go where?” They all turned around to the stairs. Sookyung was there, leaning on the stair banister, her hair was down and somewhat messy while she was in a pair of loose fitted jeans, and a black blouse. She appeared to be half awake.

“We are going out for dinner."

“Where?” She asked somewhat dazed.

“A place in mainland, it’s a noodle shop,” Hyorin said. Doojoon went to stand just beside the stair case, examining her.

“Are you alright?” She nodded.

“Yeah..”

“You just look unwell,” Yoseob told her.

“He is right you might need some more rest.” Sookyung shook her head at Kikwang.

“No I’ll be fine, just give me a minute to grab my shoes,” she went upstairs again. Doojoon sighed.

“I know,” he said while everyone seemed to think he was being too lenient . “But if she wants to come then I can’t stop her.” He had a point, she wasn't something that people could use whenever and however. Plus he wasn't in a position to tell her what to do.

***

They walked to the edge of town in the rain, Hyunseung was happy as he was human until the rain stopped but everyone else was being serious. Hyorin and Bora walked beside Hyunseung and Junhyung but made sure they double checked on Sookyung who was trailing behind. They all caught the bus and walked down a block to a rather large noodle restaurant. “Wow this place is big,” Dongwoon stated as they walked in, couples talking while some families and groups of friends talked. It had a very traditional design, bamboo posts supporting the roof with an outside dining area where there was a bamboo fence. No one was sitting outside though due to the rain. Fortunately due to the sun setting half an hour beforehand they didn't have to hide Dongwoon as he was now human again.

“Hello can I help you?” A  waitress with a bob hair cut asked them.

“Ah hi we are here to meet a friend,” Doojoon told them.

“And was it reserved for ten?”  For a moment they all seemed surprised. Their leader nodded.

“Come with me, she’s already taken her seat.” They shrugged and started to follow the waitress past the other tables and up the stairs to the upper dining area. A girl sat a large table at the very end. She was dressed in a long black sleeved shirt and skinny jeans with black boots. Her hair was short and pinned back. Her eyes had smokey makeyp.  As they came to the table they noticed her gaze, it would have froze hell over. She made no attempt to stand or to greet any of them as they made their way to chairs. Doojoon reluctantly sat the closest to her on her right while Sookyung sat opposite him. Dongwoon was between Doojoon and Hyunseung while Hyorin was next to Sookyung and Bora. Junhyung was on the other side of Bora while Kikwang was next to Hyunseung and Yoseob was at the other end. There was an awkward silence before stranger spoke. “Ah so you finally showed,” she took a sip from her red wine, “I was wondering if I was wasting my time.”

“Who are you?” Doojoon demanded with eager nods from the others.

“That’s no way to talk to the person who changed you into a big kitty cat without lifting a finger.” Doojoon took deep breaths, trying to regain composure.

“Why did you agree to this?” Yoseob asked down the other end of the table, hoping to ease the tension.

“Why? Well because I wanted to find out just how miserable my victims are.” She smirked. Yoseob clenched his fists, the girl turned to the other three females her eyebrows raised in curiousity. “And who are they? Are they the remaining members of your fan club?” Bora opened but Junhyung shook his head so she stopped.

“Actually I’m Hyorin and this is Bora,” Hyorin spoke up. “Bora and I are from Sistar and this is our friend Sookyung.”

“Ah a normal person,” the girl laughed. “Glad to see we have something to break up the weirdness.” Doojoon glared at her before checking Sookyung was alright. She just shrugged staring at the menu before her unaffected by the insult.

“Excuse me are you ready to order?’ The waitress asked them as she appeared. Doojoon scanned the menu.

“Umm we’ll all have banquet B please,” he told her. The others wanted to protest but Doojoon cut them off.

“--It’s the cheapest one."

“Oh how amusing, you are afraid of the big kitty cat.”

“What was that?!” Doojoon got to his feet, almost toppling his chair over.

“Hyung, sit down, Dongwoon begged as he held onto on his shoulders from behind. Dongwoon wasn't able to. The leader slunk back down. The girl was smirking again. “Alright now while we wait for the food is there something you would like to ask me?”

“Your name,” Yoseob said leaning forward. The girl flicked her fringe like in a hair product commerical.

“My name really doesn’t matter but I guess since you are that curious.” She leaned forward, “call me Hea-Woo. Choi Hea-Woo.” Sookyung felt as if she had been winded. She dropped her copy of the menu onto the floor. They all reacted to the sound and turned to her. “What is your problem?” Hea-woo asked rudely ignoring the frowns.

“You’re Choi Hea-woo?” Sookyung asked, “weren't you in my high school year?!” There were gasps at the table. Hea-woo put the pieces together quickly. “Your name does sound familar. You must be my old class mate Park Sookyung.” They stared at Sookyung who still was taking it in.

“You know her?” Hyunseung exclaimed as Sookyung answered by hesitantly nodding.

“Yes, we were in the same class in our second year of high school,” Sookyung looked closely at Hea-woo. “But why wasn’t I able to recognize you? You look…”

“Different? Thanks to an upsetting incident when I was younger I got surgery right here,” she pointed at her nose. Sookyung’s eyes widened.

“But why would you do the procedure? There wasn't anything--”

“It doesn’t matter why. In the end I was still called ugly. Which is why this so-called beastly group here was transformed.” This was getting weird.

“But… Who would have said such a mean thing to you?” Kikwang asked gently, hoping to soothe her grudge.

“Ask your leader. I think he was the one who said it about me.”

Silence hit their table from the shock. This was new to them except for Sookyung who had already and Doojoon whose head was hung. “YOU ARE THE REASON WE ARE LIKE THIS?!” They jumped, startled at Junhyung's sudden outburst. “I really can’t stand you hyung!”

“Yeah I have to be a freaking bird every time I look in the mirror.” Kikwang snapped, “just because Doojoon-ah was an ?!”

“Hey knock it off!” Yoseob scolded them but this caused a further argument amongst the uninvolved parties. Bora joined in and Hyorin had to try to calm her down. On the other hand Sookyung watched as Hea-woo slowly stood up from her place to leave. With little thinking she followed her. Doojoon watched the two in fear of possible confrontation. Sookyung was fast. She hurried around the tables to stop Hea-woo before she went too far. “Where are you going?” Sookyung challenged, her voice louder than her usual speaking tone.

“My work here is done.”

“But you haven’t done anything! Why didn’t you change them back like they asked?”

“It’s because I didn’t want to.”

“Didn’t want to?!”

“They can be changed back on their own accordance,” Hea-woo finally said, pushing her way past Sookyung. “They just have to be kind and then they will be human again. Now get out of my way unless you want to be Humpty Dumpty.” Instead of leaving like she had meant to Hea-woo nudged Sookyung behind her knee caps with a foot. Hea-woo laughed while going down the stairs as Sookyung lost her balance. “Sookyung's going to fall!” Hyunseung jumped up and he ran to the stairs as she started to fall. He reached out for her arm. Everyone stopped the commotion as Hyunseung caught her, pulling her forwards. She fell onto him with a bump. More tables and chairs scraped as the rest of the group hurried over.

“What happened?” Yoseob asked worried as Hyunseung sat up with Sookyung leaning against him.

“She was falling so I…” He stopped, noticing she wasn't responding. He shook her gently but she didn’t move. "Sookyung, what are you doing? Wake up," Doojoon bent down and felt her pulse; he then checked her forehead.

“She’s come down with something,” he removed her hand. “A fever or a virus,” this sent alarm among them all. 

“Well we should go then,” Yoseob suggested. Hyunseung picked up Sookyung bridal style.

“Hey what are you doing?” Doojoon called to him as he carried her down the stairs; using one arm to support her while the other held the banister. He stopped, balancing with ease as he spoke to Doojoon with a bitter tone. “Doing something that you should have done; protecting her.” With that he continued. went in silence as they followed Hyunseung. Doojoon sighed from the frustration and punched the banister before taking up the tail of the group.

*****

25/4/12
Ah another edit done, I hope this sounds better than when I first wrote this chapter, you will probably notice the changes as you read it. Thank you if you are a new reader I will be editing three chapters today hopefully.