- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Friday, 06: 57 p.m.

"Noona!" two familiar voices echoed through Minjee's ears, making her turn around, her lips slowly curling up into a small smile upon the sight of two familiar individuals coming her way. "Minjee-noona! Wait up!"

"Aigoo, what is it, Sehun? Kai?" Minjee asked, her hands tightly gripping on the strap of her black shoulder bag. "Is there something you have in store?"

"Well, we just want to walk with noona again." Kai smiled innocently.

"Again? Didn't you walk me yesterday already?" Minjee asked.

"Well, it's fun walking around with noona! Besides, it feels awkward if only me and Kai are the ones to walk together." Sehun said, making a disgusted face as he looked at Kai.

"Yah, what's with that wrinkled face expression of yours?" Kai asked, scowling.

"Nothing." Sehun laughed and playfully rolled his eyes. "So, how is it? Can we walk along with you again?"

"Sure. I suppose I'm okay with it." Minjee laughed and nodded before resuming her walking. "Come on, let's get going."

For the past two days, Minjee retained a stable friendship with Kai and Sehun. It actually shocked her since as far as she knows, she doesn't get along with juniors that well, but despite being one, Sehun and Kai were really something for her. She sees them more than cute and playful little brothers than simple juniors. They were somewhat special to her already within just two days!

Amazing, right?

And Sehun and Kai were really not as bad as the other troublemakers in school were. Minjee actually thought Sehun and Kai were some bad-assed people, but thankfully they aren't. She can definitely not imagine herself going through days with troublemakers accompanying her! It'll not only bring migraine to her but also ruin her very reputation!

"Say kids, want to drop by at my place again? My oppa's quite a cooker and I believe dinner's more than enough for two people." Minjee smiled as she turned at the youngsters.

"Really? We can?" the two asked, eyes sparkling in joy.

"Of course, why not? Plus, I can introduce you fellow to Haewon-oppa. He isn't much that okay with guys around me, but I think you two will do good."

"He's not scary, right?" Sehun shivered.

"No. He's just idiotic." Minjee laughed.

"Phew. Okay then!"

"Why? Something with you and scary people, Sehun?"

"Well, one of our eldest brother's kind of traumatizing because..." Kai began and whispered softly. "He's a beast!"

"A beast?" Minjee chuckled.

"It's true!"

"But maybe, your eldest brother's having a reason with such attitude. Understand him, boys."

"We did!" Sehun whined.

"Okay, okay. Enough of that, okay?"

"... Okay." the two nodded and began following Minjee close.

"I'm home! Haewon-oppa?" Minjee called out as she opened the door. It was brightly lit and Minjee knew exactly that her brother's home earlier than she is. A particular scent was picked up by the two boys and then began looking around, which the older female tends to notice. "Smells good, doesn't it?" Minjee giggled.

"Sure does! What's cooking?" Kai questioned.

"Probably oppa's cooking. Make yourselves at home, I'll go check on him." Minjee said and headed to the kitchen while Sehun and Kai sat quietly down on the couch. As expected, Minjee found a tall manly figure standing near the kitchen counter, clad with black shirt and dark blue pants, a dirty white apron wrapped around his upper body. Minjee quietly snuck up on him and hugged the figure from behind. "Oppa!"

"Gracious, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Haewon cried in shock as he lightly hit his sister's head. "Geez, quit doing that, idiot."

"I can't help it, you're cute when you're shocked!" Minjee laughed softly. "How's work?"

"Fine. Your school?"

"Fine as per usual." With a small peek over the towering male, Minjee asked again. "What're you cooking?"

"Dinner obviously. Is my little Minjee starving?"

"More than anything! Is it still going to take long?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Well, I've brought over some guests and I'm dying to let you meet them! They're wonderful little juniors of mine." Minjee excitedly stated out, jumping while trying to pull her older brother to the living room. Haewon simply had his eyes opened wide in disbelief and laughed afterwards. "You? Guests? For real?" Haewon laughed.

"Yeah! I brought two!"

"That's so unlike the Minjee I grew up with."

"Oh come on! Every people gets to have a social life once in a while! And now, it's my darn turn so can you just move those bamboo-like legs of yours and start walking?"

"Okay, ill-tempered lady. I'm moving 'em." Haewon laughed. The two then made their way to the living room and oh, to Haewon's surprise, the "persons" he thought Minjee brought along was no girls like her, but males!

And, wee, he hates boys beside his Minjee. "Oppa, these are my juniors. This is Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin, or Kai if you want to call him." Minjee said, introducing the silver headed and brownish-red haired men. "They're my juniors."

"An honor to meet you." Sehun and Kai politely said before bowing.

"Them? Those are the people you want me to meet?" Haewon asked in surprise.

"Yeah."

"Are they thugs? I mean, color dyed hair? Isn't it against school policies?"

"It's their style, quit bugging them." Minjee sighed, rolling her eyes and linking her arms with Sehun and Kai. "C'mon, let's eat, aye?" she invited and was replied with a shy nod by the two. The four then headed to the kitchen and sat happily, beginning to eat the dishes served. There were silver utensils beside the porcelain plates and after giving thanks, they dug in.

"This is delicious." Kai smiled after he shoved a piece of meat in his mouth. "May I ask, are you a cook, sir?"

"Hey, stop the formalities, Kai." Minjee laughed as she nudged him. "Just call him Haewon-hyung or whatever."

"Ah, o-okay-"

"I'm not a cook. I'm a CEO in a prestigious company, I simply learned cooking from my mother." Haewon replied emotionlessly, not even bothering to look at Kai's eyes. "What year are you in?"

"Both of us are in the last year of our highschool." Sehun replied shyly.  And the whole time eating, the four were deprived of any slight noise. Sehun and Kai were just truly frightened of Haewon, and Haewon? Not even a small care for the visitors. Minjee, meanwhile, was busy slapping herself mentally with her brother's actions. She hated how Haewon acts when she has some guys with her, he's just too protective.

"So, do you cook too?" Minjee asked Kai and Sehun out of the blue.

"No." the two smiled as they shook their head. "D.O-hyung often does the cooking."

"D.O? Who is that supposed to be?" Haewon asked, looking finally at Sehun with his left brow raised in curiousity.

"He's our older brother." Kai answered. "He's like our mother despite being the fourth youngest."

"Older brother? Your brother?"

"Yeah." the two nodded in unison.

"But... your surnames aren't matched, yet you have the same brother?" Minjee asked in confusion.

"We don't know. Kris-hyung said the twelve of us are kind of like brothers, so, we are in some way." Sehun laughed.

"Kris?" Haewon blinked. "Who is he?"

"Our third eldest brother."

"How many brothers are you all exactly?"

"We're twelve all in all." Sehun smiled.

"Now that's a lot of kids?" Minjee blinked in disbelief as she faced Sehun and Kai before turning around to look at Haewon, whose jaw just fell a second ago.

"Are you all even blood related?" Haewon asked.

"We suppose we aren't." Kai said after thinking some things through. "Kris-hyung just told us that we are brothers, but I'm not quite sure if we are even blood related."

"You men are weird, to be very honest." Haewon sighed. Another minute passed and finally, everyone was done eating. Haewon had much to do, therefore, leaving the scene early. Minjee simply enjoyed talking with Sehun and Kai, and therefore, learned how the two younger ones were quite frightened of her brother. A little explaining was all that took to clear up things and therefore, all was good.

"He's just like that, especially on guys around me." Minjee laughed as she looked into the youngers' eyes with care and honesty. "You'll get used to it."

"I believe we will."Kai nodded. "Sometimes, Kris-hyung is even worse!"

"I see. I guess our brothers have some similarities?"

"Maybe. We never say hyung around girls so we don't know how he acts around an opposite ." Sehun commented, looking around Minjee's house and again, outside. He turned around to Kai and nudged him by his elbow. Sehun then whispered something to Kai, and for some reason, Kai looked outside and his smile vanished.

"Um, noona." Kai called out, tapping Minjee's shoulder.

"Yes?"

"We better get going. It's getting dark." Kai said.

"Oh, sure. Be careful on your way, okay?" Minjee said as she led the two to the door. "Be careful." she said yet again, reminding the boys greatly and her worry extending into a huge entity.

"We will, noona." the two smiled and waved at her before going out. "See you!" Sehun smiled, waving his right arm up in the air before completely vanishing from Minjee's sight. Once they were gone, Minjee's smile slowly faded and she turned around and slammed the door. She folded her sleeves up and stomped to Haewon's room. "Lim. Hae. Won!" she called out.

"Minjee, can you come over here for a while?" Haewon called out from the kitchen. Being an obedient girl she is, and despite shouting over her brother earlier, happily comes over. "What's wrong, oppa?" she asked respectfully.

"I think we're out of a few things here." Haewon said as he closed the fridge and faced his sister. He then grabbed the nearby pen and paper and began scribbling down some words before giving them to his sister. "Can you buy these in the nearby store?"

"Sure." she nodded and hurried to her room to change her clothes and grab her wallet and everything. After a quick change, she ran to the door and ran out. Wasting no time, she ran to the nearest store as told, and got the needed things listed. Once done, she headed straight home. No window shopping, no stopping by fancy cafes, no nothing. Straight home was straight home.

Well, that was her original plan. When she beagn to hear some rather suspecting noises on the alley, she decided to see what it was.

Drip. Drop.

The crimson liquid travelled down the pale yellow shirt, down the bruised elbow and down to the ground, kissing it hello. A well-built shadow weakly walked down the dim alley, his breath hitching and obviously abnormal. He was panting greatly and he can barely stand, and if it weren't for the wall he's leaning on, he's kissing the cold cement ground hello. His pale yellow hair was greatly messed up.

Sweat balls formed on his head.

Curse those men. he thought as he stopped walking, taking a moment to sit down and catch his breath. He clutched his chest with his wounded right hand tightly as he wriggled in pain.

His eyes were scarlet.

His teeth gritted with the pain.

"Go away." he growled at the pain as he looked up into the the starless sky. He wanted the pain out of his beat up body. With a soft tap of a foot, it alerted the man. He stood up despite the pain and held his breath in fear. He looked behind the stacks of boxes and saw and young lady walking towards his way most probably. "Hello?" she called out.

Kang Minjee. This was the lady heading straight to him. He can never mistake it, the facial features, those eyes, that voice. That scent. "Minjee?" he panted.

Minjee, clueless of what hid beyond the shadows kept walking forward, not even shaking. "Is someone there?" Minjee called out again. Thinking no one was there, she decided to shake it off and simply walk back, until something gripped her wrist. The female was greatly astonished when a tall figure pinned her to the wall, and that made her struggle.

She saw how those fearful scarlet eyes glowed in the dark, and it scared her. A lot. "Let me go!" she panicked, trying to break free from the tight grip of the other's hand. She even tried kicking him but it seemed so useless. "Let me go!"

She feared more of what was next when the figure brought his face to her neck. She felt the warm air. She felt his breath on her sensitive neck and it made chills run down and up her spine continuously! "Stop! I'm warning you!" she yelled and kicked his feet again. This time, the figure winced in pain and fell down, but still holding onto Minjee's shoulder, it regained balance. Minjee was panting and shaking, and most probably, the other noticed it.

Once again, the man looked at her with its terrifying scarlet eyes, more red than usual! Minjee heard a faint "I'm sorry" and "Help me" from the other individual, and it made her confused.

More confused of his next action.

She shut her eyes close, fearing the next things that might happen to her. Late was it for her when she felt something on her lips. With her left eye slowly opening he saw the figure terribly close to her! His lips.

His lips were on her!

Just as she expected.

He kissed her.