Where are you going? Step by step, I follow you
Without a word, you lead me
Step by step, did you notice me? I have nowhere to hide

f(x) – Shadow

“One… two… three! Ready or not, here I come!” I scanned the room thoroughly only to find that the kids were well hidden and I was too tired to bother looking for them. I have spent the last few days taking care of the kids myself since Chanyeol was nowhere to be found.

Okay not literally, I was informed of his whereabouts but I could care less. I had been peeking around and found Lauren and Dayoung hiding together. We then began a hot pursuit to capture the other kids.

“Where is my oppa?!” Lauren shouted suddenly, causing me to jump and hitting my head against a bookshelf. “I usually come here for him and here I am, with him nowhere in sight. Just you, my least favorite person in the world!”

“Lauren quiet!” Dayoung shouted back, “Unnie is a nice person and I’m sure there’s a good reason as to why Chanyeol has gone missing… he’s probably sick. So stop being so selfish! Also, you made her hit her head!” I looked up at them both, finding them facing away from each other. I smiled at this.

“Chanyeol oppa is…” I continued to search every nook and cranny before exiting the room, “on vacation. He will come back eventually, now stop bickering girls.” After searching long and hard, I eventually found all the kids. The last kid I found was Leo and he was hiding in the mini fridge of the homeroom.

“W-why didn’t you ch-CHECK THE FRIDGE?!” Leo was now shivering cold and I shrugged my shoulders as I picked him up to warm him up.

“I didn’t expect any kid to be stupid enough to hide in there…” I teased and the other kids snickered while Leo pouted. “Sorry Leo, I didn’t mean it.”

We were all headed over to the cafeteria and I sat down at our reserved table while the kids ran to the lunch line. I attempted to stay awake by sitting up straight only to end up slumped down onto my hand. Suddenly, my hand was removed from my face and I nearly face planted into the table.

“What the—”

A feminine cackle was suddenly within distance and I looked up only to find Suzy and a kid of her own smiling down at me.

“Why so glum, chum?” the kid next to her asked and I had no choice but to smile.

“Alright Joonie, noona is going to have a talk with this noona so go on and eat your lunch with the other kiddies okay?” Suzy poked his nose before he left and then directed all her attention to me. “Girl, you are in dire need of sleep. What’s been on your mind?”

I shrugged my shoulders and buried my face into my crossed arms, “I’m just really tired.”

“Well if you don’t want to be fired from your job you ought to look alive, boss man is coming our way in T minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds” Suzy managed to  blurt out before leaving in a swift-like manner. I shot my head up and smiled at Myungsoo before he took a seat across from me.

“Hey” he greeted casually, containing his laughter, “what’s wrong?”

“Just tired” I smiled sheepishly, he wasn’t buying it though. His eyes were basically burning into my soul and I tried incredibly hard to look away, but he was a very captivating man. I began to mentally curse myself for being so vulnerable to attractive men.

“Be honest” his eyes became smaller as the corners of his lip slowly curved upward. His smile was awkward, but in a good way. “Is it about Chanyeol?” My heart raced at the thought of that frizzy haired freak, and then I sighed only making it more evident that it was his fault. “He was supposed to come back today. I told him how tired you were dealing with all the kids by yourself.” I nodded my head and Myungsoo patted my head. “Go home if you need to, I’ll see you around.”

Lunch was over and the kids all ran to the recreational area, which gave me more time to rest myself up before dealing with my “children” again. I bowed to the lunch servers and the other mentors while sluggishly making my way back to my homeroom. Suzy asked me if I was well enough to walk back to the room on my own, I assured her I was fine.

“Walk in a straight line for me then, sweetheart” she then demanded and I told her I was just tired, not drunk. “It would still help.” I perked up, straightened my back, and walked in a perfectly straight line for her.

“Happy?”

“Very” she laughed, “see you around.” She walked off with her partner to the recreational area. To my delight, Suzy promised that she would look over my kids for me and I was on my way to my homeroom to take a nap when I accidentally made contact with another figure. “Crap, I’m sorry” I apologized after rubbing my nose a couple of times. “Are you alright?”

“The real question is, are YOU alright?” the figure retorted with a deep voice. I slowly looked up only to find that the bulgy-eyed freak was back.

“Ah, dammit!” I shouted while taking three steps back. My left hand slowly made its way down to my pocket where I kept my pepper spray and the other hand travelled down to my pocket knife. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“I mean, I do work here. Why are you acting this way anyway?” he walked closer to me but I continued to step back. “What?”

“You—stay away from me!”

He looked genuinely hurt by my remark.

I got out of my defensive position and slumped my shoulders while walking past him. He followed me to the homeroom and I looked back at him, t