“It’s very simple,” said Kai, putting his arm around Luhan. “Come by tomorrow behind the school, and we’ll tell you then.” He ruffled his hair as they went their separate ways.

“Okay, see you then!” Luhan called out, waving to them. He turned around, coming face to face with Eun Ji. “Oh,” Luhan blushed. “Hi there.”

“Hi there.” She smiled. “Mind if I walk with you, Luhan?” she asked. He blushed sheepishly as he adjusted his backpack.

“Sure.” They walked towards the school.

“So, you’re friends with the Wolf Pack now, huh?” Luhan shrugged.

“Tao is nice, but the other guys seem off. Especially Kai.” Eun Ji smiled.

“Kai’s always been that way.” Luhan smiled.

“How long have you been friends with the Wolf Pack?” he asked. She smiled.

“Long enough to know them before they called themselves that.” She looked off in a daze, smiling to herself. She turned to him.

“So, where are you from?” she asked.

“The mountain.” He said, pointing off into the distance, towards his old home. She nodded.

“How was it up there?” she asked.

“Cold.” Eun Ji giggled.                    

“That’s it? It was just cold?” Luhan shrugged.

“We didn’t go out of the house much; it was too cold to go outside most of the time.”

“Oh. Well, what about your parents? Your mom and dad?” she asked. Luhan’s face fell.

“We don’t have a dad, and our mom died recently, so we came here.” Eun Ji’s cheeks grew red.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Luhan shrugged.

“It’s alright, you didn’t know.” He stopped as they approached the bus stop. “What is this?” he asked, looking at the glass booth.

“It’s where you wait for the bus; it takes you around the city.” He smiled.

“What’s a ‘bus?’” he asked. She smiled.

“It’s a vehicle that picks up people and takes them where they need to go. Sometime, you should ride with me.” She said. Luhan nodded.

“Alright, I will.” As she boarded the bus, she turned and waved to him. He waved back as the bus doors closed, and the bus sped off.

Luhan sighed as he headed home.

*****

As Luhan entered the house, he found Kris at the kitchen table, pulling at his hair trying to do his homework. He looked up.

“What took you so long?” he asked. Luhan set his backpack down next to his chair and sat down.

“I’m sorry, Kris. Me and Eunji were talking after school, and I walked her to the bus stop.” Kris sighed, a coy smiled played upon his lips.

“It’s nice to know you’re making friends.” He said. He pushed a Styrofoam container towards him. “I brought home dinner; it might need to be reheated, though since you took so long.” Luhan smiled, taking the container in his hands.

After dinner, he sat at the table as they both did their homework. Afterwards, Kris got up and stretched, walking over to the living room. He ripped off his shirt and threw it at Luhan.

“EEEEWWW! Gross! You smell like fish! Blech!” Luhan flailed wildly as he ripped his brother’s shirt off his head and threw it to the ground. “LAJS;OFJCOWAELKSDFJ;LSDKJFLSDJF!” Kris laughed as he sat down in his chair. “That wasn’t funny!”

“Yes it was, you scream like a girl!” Luhan rubbed his nose on his sleeve, trying to rid himself of the scent of fish.

“Go take a shower! You smell awful!” Kris rolled his eyes and headed towards the bathroom.

“Fine, you crybaby.” He ruffled his brother’s hair as he passed by, closing the door behind him.

Luhan went and changed out of his school clothes, crawling into his bed.

*****

Later that night, lightning crashed, and Luhan tossed and turned.

‘Come to me,’ a voice whispered. ‘Come to me, Luhan.’ He felt something wrap around his neck. ‘Come, come to me,’ the air slowly drained from his lungs. His throat burned as his limbs flailed.

“NO!” he cried. His hands flew to his neck as he gasped for air, tears stinging at his eyes. Kris flew into his room.

“Luhan, what’s wrong?” he asked. Luhan looked over at him, tears tricking down his face.

“Something was trying to hurt me, hyung.” He said, his hands still on his neck. Kris sighed and made his way over to Luhan.

“Here, move over.” He crawled into bed and embraced his younger brother, gently his hair. “It’s alright, Luhan. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you, I promise.” Luhan snuggled into his brother’s shoulder. “Now, go to sleep.”

“Okay, hyung.”

Kris didn’t close his eyes until he heard the sound of Luhan’s soft snoring.

*****

The next day, Luhan woke up alone. He got dressed, ate his breakfast and headed off to school.

Once there, he spotted his friends. He waved to them as he made his way past the crowds of students milling about the courtyard.

“Hey,” he said breathlessly as he reached them.

“Yo, what’s up?” Tao slapped his hand onto Luhan’s shoulder, bringing him over. Eun Ji was there too, standing next to Xiumin and Kai. She laughed at something Kai had said, her laughter rang out like twinkling bells. Luhan blushed.

Kai looked over, and spotting him, smirked. “Hey, Luhan!” he waved them over. Everyone gathered around Kai, as Tao gently pushed Luhan forward. “Are you ready for your initiation?” he asked. Luhan nodded eagerly.

“Good. Here, take this,” he handed him a slip of paper. There was an address on it.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The location of our clubhouse. Some guys thought it would be funny to gang up on Xiumin while he was on guard duty. They trashed our stuff and stole the clubhouse. We’re getting it back, tonight. Are you in?”

“Mmhm.” Luhan nodded. Kai smiled.

“Great. Meet us there at 8 pm. Don’t be late.”

“I won’t be.”

*****

Luhan met them there as he promised. They all came forward, Eun Ji running up from behind. Kai turned around and smiled.

“Hi you guys!” she waved at them. “Hey, Luhan!” he shyly waved back and smiled. Kai was not amused. He turned to Eun Ji.

“You gotta go home, right?” he asked. Eun Ji nodded and shrugged.

“Yeah, I do.” He nodded over to the street.

“The bus is coming up.” Eun Ji looked over and smiled. She playfully punched Kai in the shoulder.

“Thanks!” she patted Luhan on the shoulder as she passed. “See you later, Luhan!”

“Bye!” he called after her as she boarded the bus. He turned back to the other guys. Kai’s face was expressionless.

“Are you ready?” Luhan nodded. As they turned, they were met with a gang of masked men. One of them came up to Luhan and grabbed him by his collar.

“So, this is your newbie, huh?” he shoved him back. “What a waste.” Eunji saw this and rushed off the bush before it left the stop.

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” They entered the clubhouse, standing at opposite ends. Tao ran up to one of the men and kicked him in his face. It was on.

Kai took a man by his collar and began throwing blows to his stomach over and over until he keeled over. Once the man finally fell, he massaged his wrist.

Luhan dodged one blow, and then another, jumping and flipping out of the way. He threw a punch to the back of one man’s head, knocking him to the ground.

As he looked around, he saw his comrades being beaten down. Anger boiled inside him, his tattoo glowing. ‘No, not here, not now.’ His mind went blank, his vision went red.

He threw one across the warehouse, and rushed on to the next, knocking him out of his way as if he were a piece of paper. He came upon another one and hit him so hard he heard his jaw crack. As he threw another punch, the man was thrown across the warehouse and into a giant pile of boxes. As the man came crashing down and the boxes fell into a heap across the floor, he dropped and came to.

As he looked around, he saw Eunji and the others rush to the pile. His heart sank into his stomach. ‘No, no, this can’t be,’ he rushed forward. Kai came at him, shoving him out of the way.

“What the hell, man? We said hit the other guys, now look what you’ve done!” he looked over. Tao was coming at him.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Xiumin and Suho held him back. “What have you done?” Luhan shrank back as he saw Kyungsoo being held up by Chen and Lay.

As they left, he sank down, ashamed of himself. He heard footsteps, and looked up. Lee Eunji was standing over him, disgusted.

“Who are you?” she asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “What are you?” she sobbed as she rushed off before he could say anything.

Luhan sat there in his self-loathing, just wishing that he would just disappear.

END OF CHAPTER 5