Min-Hyo had been a trouble kid his first two years of high school, but he had left most of that anger and behavior behind when he enrolled in Taylor-seongsaengnim's English class. But for the past few days, he had felt that rigidly-controlled anger beginning to boil deep inside him. It had started the Monday following the ambassador's visit. He had expected T.O.P to cheer his beloved teacher up following that upset, and he had to an extent, Min-Hyo guessed; he had gotten her to talk when all Min-Hyo had managed to do was to get her to cry. But that following Monday…

He should have known something was wrong just from the fact that Naomi wasn't standing by the door to greet her students at the beginning of class, but he was ashamed to himself that he hadn't noticed until he saw the projector screen down and the frozen image of a cartoon dog flickering slightly as the projector in the ceiling hummed and vibrated with power. Alarm bells clamored to life in his head, and he stopped talking to Eun-Hwan in mid-sentence. A moment later, his partner saw it too, and her face fell in dismay.

"Not again," Eun-Hwan breathed, and the pair set down their bags before going up to see their teacher. "She never does the movie worksheets. She's…"

"Really depressed," Min-Hyo finished for her. He touched her shoulder briefly before he stepped in front of her to look at the slumped figure pouring over a stack of worksheets. They appeared to be comprehension questions about the video they would watch. Suddenly, Min-Hyo felt ill with dread. Taylor-sshi was his favorite teacher, loved by most of her students for the ease with which she taught and laughed and how easily she impressed American culture on her listeners while not shoving it down their throats.

"What did he do?" Min-Hyo asked her, squatting at the side of the desk so he could see her face. Her bangs made an effective screen to the room at large, but from this angle, he could see the swollen eyes and chapped lips.

"He did nothing," Naomi replied, and it sounded to Min-Hyo like the cause of the pain.

Eun-Hwan picked up her teacher's notes and closed the door on the last straggling student. "Today, we'll be watching an episode of Scooby-Doo and doing a worksheet," she informed the class. Any remaining whispers died immediately. The last time they had done worksheets, their teacher's father had died in Germany. "Min-Hyo and I will pass out papers, so please clear your desks."

Amid the ruffle of paper and thud of books, Min-Hyo helped Naomi to her feet. "Go splash water on your face, seongsaengnim," he said to her in a whisper. "We'll mind the class for a few minutes."

"Kamsaheyo," his teacher said softly, making her quiet way to the door.

As soon as it shut behind her, Eun-Hwan started to work. "Taylor-seongsaengnim is really depressed," she said quickly as she passed out the worksheets. "Before we start the cartoon, write something to cheer her up on the back of your paper. I don't know what happened, but she doesn't do worksheets unless she doesn't think she can talk."

As he wrote a message in careful English on the white board behind the projector screen, Min-Hyo hoped silently that T.O.P wasn't responsible for his teacher's sadness. If he was… well, Min-Hyo could still throw one hell of a punch.

------

Seunghyun sat tapping his fingers on the arm rest of the couch facing the large windows, contemplating the comb and hairbrush on the table just beyond his fingertips. They had been sitting in the same position for four days, abandoned. Youngbae had put them there after he came home from dropping Naomi off. Following the confrontation, Seungri had gone to bed to drink himself stupid, and Jiyong had taken a very shaken Gaho out for a walk. For the first time, the creeping silence of the empty dorm had creeped him out. It was a far cry from the usually-comfortable solitude that came from happy, busy boys in harmony with each other. No, this was a cold silence, filled with unspoken anger, depression, and pain.

Seunghyun hadn't spoken to Jiyong all weekend, and it was making the leader very nervous. Choi Seunghyun was a laidback man who very rarely got angry, but when he did, he was a force to be reckoned with. It was usually the other members who brought out every shade of his personality, good or bad, that seldom came out in public. To be specific, it was usually Jiyong who most antagonized him. He was a wonderful leader - he was high-energy and driven - but he had a green-eyed monster in need of vanquishing.

"Have you at least tried to call her?" Youngbae asked in exasperation. He flopped onto the couch beside Seunghyun, upsetting his contemplation of the items on the side table. "Text her? Go see her at school? Anything?" He had been the target of the other man's anger until it was explained that he had only taken her home and that she hadn't given him a reason why she was so upset. Then, it had turned to the only other person at the time awake: Jiyong.

"She won't take my calls or texts. I even tried calling from Daesung's phone, but she didn't answer." Seunghyun picked up the brush and turned it over and over in his hands like it could answer the questions why. "I texted Min-Hyo to ask him, but he said I already knew because I was the one who made her cry. I don't know what he means."

"I know, hyung." Youngbae squeezed his shoulder gently. "Maybe you should go see her. Her school has midterms this week, and she'll be there all day. You tracked her down the first time. What's stopping you now?"

Seunghyun looked at him. "How do you know they're having midterms?"

Youngbae rolled his eyes. "The school's website, pabo[1]. I looked to see when they start break. If she won't talk to you on the phone, go see her. You know where she works. Go catch her after school one day!"

"Tried it. Hyo-Min and some girl are always walking with her."

"See her at home."

"I don't know where she lives. I never actually took her home, just back and forth from the school."

"I know where she lives," Youngbae said dismissively and stood up, giving Seunghyun a shove to get him to his feet too. "Get your jacket and shoes. I'm taking you to sort this mess out. I'm tired of being the only person in this house who isn't pining for someone or something. Ri's pining for Jiyong, Jiyong is pining for you because he's too nervous to tell you he loves you-"

"I know he does."

Youngbae paused and looked up from where he was pulling on his sneakers. "You do?"

Seunghyun chuckled. "Jiyong," he said, "is not known for his subtlety. What, pray tell, is Daesung pining over?"

"A quiet dorm just once in his life."