OKAY, SO I JUST WANTED TO SAY SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER TO UPDATE!

I REALLY DO PROMISE MORE FREQUENT UPDATES ARE ON THE WAY

I’M EXCITED! THANKS FOR READING AND PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS

DON’T FORGET THERE’S CHARACTER BIOS IF YOU’D LIKE TO READ THOSE (even though I made a lot of typos in that)

The two middle-aged women sat on opposite sides of the kitchen island. The younger woman took a long drink from the tea cup she was holding. With a look of total sincerity, she grinned at her older sister and finally broke the dull silence between them.

“Want to look for some more houses today?” She asked.

“No. I’m tired.” The older and pricklier of the two said.

“From what exactly? You didn’t even get out of the car once yesterday.” The sweeter sister replied.

“Tired of you pressuring me to buy a house and move out of yours. Goodness, I thought moving in with you would be a lot more pleasant.” The older sister, Mayura, rolled her eyes and walked clear across the kitchen to take a seat at the glass table. Fully turned from her younger sister, Mayura huffed like a spoiled child.

“Oh stop it, I’m not rushing you at all, Mayura. You know you can stay here as long as you need.” Patsy, the younger woman finished her tea like it was a shot of alcohol, pursing her lips at her sibling. The two sisters had never been extremely close and had spent much of their life on opposite ends of the world, pursuing totally different things. One sister wanted to live a normal life, forgetting and ignoring everything that her ancestors were involved in. And then there was the other sister; she constantly looked for a way to transfer her ancestor’s glory years over to her own. Now, that second sister had big plans to do just that, and moving in with her pushover younger sister was the only the first step. Patsy flitted over to the sink to watch out some of the dishes she’d used to make the tea and biscuits they had just eaten. Both women raised a brow when they heard the frantic footsteps of the teen girl upstairs.

“What the hell is she up to?” Mayura commented.

“She’s probably late for a date with her girlfriends or something.” Patsy answered a bit reluctantly.

“Haha, that’s funny. You know that ill-mannered girl of yours has no friends. She’s a total outsider who repels all human interaction.” Mayura slapped her own knee.

“Lay off my child, Mayura.” Patsy stopped scrubbing to cut her sister a sharp eye. “Kyungri is fine just the way she is.”

“Actually…she is.” Mayura suddenly agreed as the loud thumps from upstairs got more and more intense.

“So then be nicer to her.” Patsy said. “I know she can be a bit snappy with you, but it’s only because she doesn’t know you very well, Mayura.” Patsy went on making excuses for her little princess.

“However, she could be even better.” Mayura tensed. There was a long pause where neither woman spoke. Patsy just went on scrubbing the dishes while Mayura just stayed awkwardly tense in the chair, eyeing the top of her little sister’s head. Mayura mentally reworked her next sentence several times before deciding the perfect way to say it to Patsy. “Shouldn’t it be time for her to go through the change?” Mayura dropped all hostility from her voice when she asked the question. Patsy dropped the couple teaspoons in her soapy hands and locked eyes with her sister.

“What?”

“The change. You know, all the women in our family go through it. Kyungri is about that age. Actually, she’s older than the usual age.” Mayura leaned back in the dainty chair and flashed a quick, harmless smirk.

“Mayura, I told you and mother already…I had decided way before Kyungri was born that I wouldn’t pass on the power.” Patsy felt slightly uncomfortable taking such a stern tone with her older sister. Mayura held back the insult she wanted to spew from her lips and just nodded lightly.

“I remember. I suppose I just figured you would eventually change your mind and decide to keep the tradition going.”

“Tradition? I wouldn’t really call teaching our daughters to be witches a tradition. I don’t consider dooming them to a life of being used and abused by LOCKS & KEYS a tradition worth passing onward, Mayura.” Patsy’s voice shook a bit as she envisioned her only child going through even a fraction of what her ancestors had. Mayura exhaled deeply, concealing the burning anger in the back of .

“Well…” Mayura began.

“Well nothing. When you have a daughter of your own…you can decide what kind of life you’d like to set up for her. But for Kyungri, I’ve already decided she’s going to live as a normal human girl.”

“It’s not possible for her to-“ Mayura’s next words were cut off by Patsy’s little angel, Kyungri skipping the last four stairs and dashing into the kitchen like a blur.

“Stop talking crap about me.” Kyungri stated flatly as she breezed around the kitchen to throw together a bowl of oatmeal. “I mean, I know I’m a hot topic but dang.” Kyungri said, stirring the oatmeal together all messily. With a content grin, Patsy cleaned up the mess her daughter was leaving behind. Mayura narrowed her glare on the pretty teen girl.

“I don’t take orders from children. Especially the bratty, clueless ones who think they’re adults.” Mayura crossed her arms.

“Spoken just like an old, bitter woman with no life.” Kyungri shot back, feeding herself. Patsy interrupted whatever either one was about to say by pointing out the garment bag Kyungri had draped over her right shoulder.

“Honey, what’s in here?” Patsy asked curiously. Kyungri froze in place and laughed nervously. Both women picked up on the shift in attitude from Kyungri and waited for an explanation.

“I made something for this thing happening at this place today.” Kyungri evaded both their eyes as she started rinsing out her bowl at record speed. “Well, gotta run.” Kyungri tried. Mayura got up and blocked her way smoothly. Kyungri her heels (planning to dash out the garage door instead) but her mom was blocking that way too. “Ah, c’mon, I really have to go or I’ll be late.” Kyungri pouted. Patsy quickly ped the bag and marveled at the emerald green silk dress Kyungri had made.

“Oh my goodness, this is the best one yet. Honey, why didn’t you tell me you were working on a new piece?” Patsy went from impressed and proud to hurt and confused.

“Because she probably had some sweat shop worker sew it for her.” Mayura cackled.

“I made the whole thing by hand for you information.” Kyungri said just above a whisper.

“Where are you taking this masterpiece?” Patsy persisted.

“To a fashion show at The Opal Boutique…” Kyungri admitted.

“And you didn’t invite your overbearing mother? Oh my.” Mayura chimed in.

“Kyungri…why wouldn’t you tell me about it? I want to go and support your work.” Patsy asked.

“Mom, honestly, every time you come to one of these kinds of things, I have some kind of mishap or bad luck. You’re a jinx.” Kyungri shrugged, totally crushing her mom’s feelings with that one movement. Kyungri took her chance to dash to the door with her garment bag half zipped up. “The designer who gets the most bids on her dress gets an article and feature on the boutique’s site. I can’t let anything mess this up for me, mom. See you when I get back.” Kyungri rushed all the words out of and then slammed the door behind her. Patsy stood in silence with a fake smile on her face. Mayura laughed out loud suddenly.

“Wipe that fake smile off your face.”

“It’s not fake. I’m excited for her.”

“Sure, sure.” Mayura said. “So tell me, do you still think she’s just fine the way she is?” She asked rhetorically. Patsy turned from her sister, leaving the room on the verge of tears. Once she was alone, Mayura jolted over to the kitchen window to watch Kyungri climb into the passenger seat of a friend’s car and speed off. “She’s our family’s last hope…sorry sis.” Mayura said not so apologetically.

                At The Opal Boutique, (Dasom’s mother’s boutique) many fashion fans had shown up to either shop, enjoy the show, participate in the show or place their bids on an aspiring designer’s work. Insoo stood in a ridiculous, abstract white pants suit. The fact that he was in such a humiliating suit was made slightly easier to bear because it was all for Dasom. Dasom had reached out to many of her personal friends for help in the modeling department. The city seemed to have plenty of wannabe designers but not so many undiscovered supermodels. Dasom stood beside Insoo, taking snapshots on her cell phone (most likely for blackmail at a later time). Insoo exaggerated a frown as the cheerful girl snapped away at his unfortunate getup. “Isn’t forty pictures enough yet?” Insoo asked, hiding his face with both his palms. Dasom playfully moved his hands from in front of his face and laughed as she continued to photograph his pain. “This is just too good to pass up.” Dasom admitted through a hysterical laugh.

“I feel like some kind of circus attraction.” Insoo sighed, taking a good look at himself in the reflection from the store’s front window. There were long, fluffy feathers running all down the side of both pant legs and crushed rhinestones peppered across the blazer on top. But wait, it got better. The designer had insisted Insoo put a streak of white hair coloring through his hair to match the suit. Dasom took a few more rapid fire snapshots, still laughing her insides out.

“Circus freaks usually have a little more style than this.” Dasom teased.

“Hey, where’s the designer, I’m going to tell him you said that.” Insoo said, trying to snatch the phone from her hands.

“He’s deaf in one ear, so he probably didn’t hear me anyway.” Dasom laughed. Insoo stopped struggling for the phone to laugh with his brother’s girlfriend. Really, he had never seen such a jokester side to the girl. And lately, Dasom had seemed both stressed and slightly frightened, so her bright smile was all the more refreshing to Insoo. Insoo stopped chuckling the moment he realized that he was starting to fall deeper and deeper in love with this girl each and every time he saw her. Insoo felt a stab of disgust within himself. Dasom was his brother’s girlfriend. His brother’s lover. How could he feel this way about her and still manage to sleep at night? Dasom ran out of space on her phone and sighed.

“I’ve got room for one more picture. Let’s make this a good one.” She said, leaning in closer to Insoo. Insoo tensed and tried to look comfortable as Dasom took a selca of the two of them.

                “A picture is worth a thousand words, they say.” Gunwoo said, strolling over to the couple with one hand in his pocket and the other looking a bit tense at his side. Gunwoo was also modeling in the Boutique’s show that day, but of course, his suit was tailored to perfection, a bright hellfire red and above everything, expensive looking. Insoo and Dasom took a quick step apart from one another. Insoo noticed Dasom discreetly delete the double selca from her gallery as she smiled sweetly at her love.

“Gunwoo, I didn’t know you were here already.” Dasom said, moving to stand beside the shell of Gunwoo. Insoo made eye contact with his brother for less than a second and then looked elsewhere. Part of Insoo felt incredibly guilty being in the presence of the couple when he felt so strongly about Dasom. However, there was another part of him that just felt totally uncomfortable about this new version of his brother. Insoo knew without a shadow of a doubt that his brother had indeed changed within his time away at grad school and had returned a different person. That wasn’t even a question. The question was all about what had caused this change? Was it even something Insoo had the right to know or be angry about? Did Gunwoo even know he was being so opposite his normal self? Those were the questions that kept Insoo up at night. Those were the same questions he knew Dasom was also trying to solve.

“That style really suits you, Insoo.” Gunwoo said. “It’s very…bold.” Gunwoo seemed to force Insoo to meet his gaze on the last word. Insoo smiled weakly and scratched at his head, wondering what excuse he could use to get out of the situation as fast as possible.

“I appreciate you helping out, Insoo. I know it’s isn’t the most practical of suits, but it means a lot to the designer.” Dasom said sweetly.

“Oh, it’s no big deal at all.” Insoo faked confidence as he straightened out the wrinkles in his suit.

“I look better though, right?” Gunwoo asked, still locking eyes on his brother.

“Huh?” Dasom said.

“Which one of us looks better?” Gunwoo asked, linking arms with the girl.

“It’s clear that your suit is nicer, Gunwoo.” Insoo answered for Dasom. “I don’t really see this as a competition though.”

“I do.” Gunwoo said, clearly getting his message across. Both Dasom and Insoo held their breath when Gunwoo passed his gaze from one to the other. “You should go freshen up, Insoo. You’re sweating.” Gunwoo said coldly. Insoo turned and started towards the restrooms.

“Oh, Insoo, one more thing.” Gunwoo called in a much lighter, jolly tone. Insoo rolled his eyes at the sudden mood swing and turned back to face his brother. Dasom waited to see what Gunwoo was going to say, looking just as on edge.

“What’s up?” Insoo asked.

“You’re aware that our anniversary is coming up, right?” Gunwoo motioned between himself and Dasom.

“Uh, no I wasn’t aware.” Insoo lied. Of course he knew the day his brother and Dasom had begun dating. It was a day he wished he could erase from the history books for good.

“Please don’t bother getting us anything. We have each other. That’s enough already.” Gunwoo’s smile was flat and faded swiftly. Insoo nodded and turned away from the couple again, cursing the whole damn relationship between Dasom and Gunwoo. Before Gunwoo had left for grad school, Insoo had vowed to never speak of his feelings for Dasom simply because he knew Gunwoo deserved her more than any other man he could ever meet. Dasom deserved the best, and Insoo knew that Gunwoo was just that. However, that was then…and now things were starting to get very different. No longer did Insoo feel so certain that Gunwoo was anywhere near good enough for Dasom. Gunwoo had become a jerk…not only that, Dasom looked boarder line petrified to even stand beside him. Insoo wasn’t going to let anyone harm Dasom, even if it was his brother who he had admired for so long.

“So, what should we do for our anniversary?” Gunwoo asked Dasom once Insoo was gone.

“Whatever you want.” Dasom answered without really thinking.

“My thoughts exactly.” Gunwoo nodded and unlinked arms with the girl. Dasom’s mother came breezing by the couple and called for Dasom’s help without even stopping.

“Hurry, Dasom, we’ve still got plenty to attend to.” The woman kept pushing forward, assuming Dasom was right on her heels.

“I’ve got to go, Gunwoo. Thanks again for doing this.” Dasom was more than happy to follow behind her mom. Gunwoo watched Dasom leave with dark expression. “Stupid humans. So transparent.” Razzo said through Gunwoo’s mouth. Using Gunwoo’s eyes, Razzo scanned the area, looking for his henchmen.

                Bora and Jongup stood side by side amidst the crowd. Really, Jongup did in fact have permission to be at the event…just not with Bora. Hyo Shin still had no idea Jongup was seeing Bora. Jongup didn’t feel the need to tell any of his allies mostly because he knew they would stick their noses way too far in his personal business (he didn’t have much to begin with) and secondly, he knew was going to cut all ties with Bora in just a few more days. But for now, he was happily playing the supportive friend as he accompanied Bora to the boutique fashion show. Bora was there as a model and unlike many of the other models there, she had actually signed up and looked forward to the experience. Bora stood a little nervously in the middle of the boutique, waiting for her designer to come meet her. Jongup sat on the ground with his legs crossed and a vacant expression on his face.

“Can I ask you a question?” Bora suddenly asked the guy.

“Yes, I’m aware everyone is staring at me.” Jongup said easily.

“No, not that.” Bora shook her head. “I was going to ask if you think…I could really be a model.” She asked, looking as if she already regretted showing such vulnerability to a guy she barely knew and only saw as arm candy for the most part. Jongup uncrossed his legs and laid all the way on his back.

“Wow, this floor is comfortable.” He relaxed with his hands behind his head.

“Are you avoiding the question? Oh my gosh, that means you think I’m ugly and could never be a model.” Bora gasped, completely misunderstanding.

“Actually I think you can do anything you want to and be anything you want to be.” Jongup responded.

“Because I’m a star, right?”

“What?”

“I’m a star, right? Destined for greatness?” Bora continued fishing for compliments.

“Well, that’s silly. Of course you’re not a star. Stars are huge and brighter…” Jongup laughed, thinking Bora was totally aware of how foolish she sounded.

“You’re so frustrating!” Bora stomped off in a random direction. Jongup sat up with a perplexed face.

“First girlfriend?” A short but buff man asked with a sly look. Jongup didn’t know how to reply and just felt back onto his back, all confused and taken aback.

                Hyori and Uko danced around one another as they entered the boutique’s event. Bright smiles and cheerful laughs had been springing from the faces of both girls since they and their respective brothers had met up at Bang’s house before taking off for the fashion show.

“So many pretty dresses and hats.” Uko gasped, taking a wide eyed look at all the boutique clothes as well as the designs for the show. Hyori nodded right beside her friend, looking just a bit perplexed by some of the abstract designs before her.

“Some of it looks like it’s not meant to be worn at all…” Hyori admitted. Zelo and Bang chuckled lightly as they finally caught up to the excited, younger duo.

“Fashion is in the eye of the beholder.” Zelo said confidently.

“I don’t think that’s the way the saying goes.” Bang scratched his head.

                Uko and Hyori spotted a tall, elegant looking woman wearing a dress made entirely of flower pedals and ran over to compliment her.

“Not so fast, you’ll bump into people.” Zelo called after the girls. Bang stared after Uko, zoning into a flashback of the night before when he (or whatever he had turned into) caused the little girl to pass out right in the middle of the hallway.

“What the hell was that? What did I do?” Bang whispered. As worried as Bang was about the dark transformation that he had gone through the night before, he didn’t want that to overshadow how extremely happy he was that Uko was both okay and completely ignorant to what had happened. The girl showed not a single sign of remembering the event or being injured, so Bang was content with just letting it go for now. But, he couldn’t. Every other thought kept going back to that gross being he had seen looking back at him in the mirror. At first, Bang thought it was just a normal LOCK thing but he was starting to doubt it the more he thought about it. It wasn’t until after a few minutes of silently worrying to himself that Bang noticed Zelo had been rambling on about something.

“I mean, it’s not like I wanted to wear the lipstick.” Zelo said flatly.

“Huh?” Bang looked over to the curly haired boy finally.

“Hey, you weren’t even listening to me, were you?” Zelo asked.

“No.”

“You’ve been a little…off today. Are you constipated?”

“No, you weirdo. I’m not constipated.”

“I understand if we aren’t close enough for you to reveal that yet.”

“Zelo, just accept that I am not constipated.”

“Okay, but if you ever are, Daehyun usually carries really good medicine for it.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Bang cussed lightly when he realized that he actually did have to pee suddenly. “Zelo…I…have to go to the bathroom. But it’s not what you think, okay?” He said firmly.

“Well, well, well…” Zelo smirked, giving Bang a sneaky side eye.

“I am not constipated. Just watch the girls while I’m gone.” Bang gave Zelo a slight push on the shoulder and Zelo just giggled as Bang walked off in the direction of the bathroom.

“Where’s my brother going?” Uko walked halfway back to Zelo and asked.

“To the restroom. He’s constipated and might takes a while.” Zelo assured. Uko nodded as if it was nothing new and turned back to the flower pedal woman.

                Bang washed his hands in the bathroom and then gave a long, uncertain stare to himself in the mirror above the sink. “No…” Bang mumbled the word as he started to see his reflection shift into the monster from the night before. Right before his eyes, Bang saw the fangs begin to protrude, the eyes darken to a demonic looking hue and even the fingernails became more like claws. Was this really happening right now? In the middle of a public event? At a woman’s clothing store of all places? The answer was no, actually, it wasn’t really happening. Bang slapped himself in the face more than a few times and splashed water into his eyes and was immediately relieved to see his normal self in the mirror. It had only been a hallucination. Bang jumped a little when another guy his age walked in to use the second stall in the room. Bang quickly went to exit the restroom, avoiding eye contact with the guy.

                Kyungri walked through the boutique with urgency in every step. Really, she wasn’t late, she wasn’t even fashionably late, but still, she couldn’t wait to get her dress on her model so she could show off and feel free to judge all the other designers and models. Kyungri spotted her blonde haired model a few feet up ahead flirting with some small group of guys. With a slight annoyed glint in her expression, Kyungri started to her garment bag as if she was going to slide the dress right over her model’s head in the middle of the crowded boutique. “Does she think this is social hour or something? She should be waiting in her bra and for me. That sounds so wrong…” Kyungri started to pull her dress from the bag and throw hand signals at her model to hurry and get to the dressing rooms. The second Kyungri pulled her entire creation from the bag, a tall, muscular body came speedily out of the boy’s restroom and collided with her. Kyungri was thrown off balance and ended up knocking over an employee carrying a tray of petite looking drinks for attendees to sip on. The muscular figure, Bang grabbed onto Kyungri’s wrist so she wouldn’t fall over and he somehow ended up basically hugging her. Kyungri’s screamed when she looked down and saw her dress had not only fallen from her hands and onto the floor, but the entire tray of drinks had spilled and shattered all over it. Bang released her when she started flailing a bit rashly. Kyungri couldn’t even form full words on sentences as she looked down at the ruined dress on the floor. Really, it was as if she was looking at an actual dead body. “My baby…my sweet, precious, innocent baby.” Kyungri yelled, dropping to her knees. The immediate area and persons around Bang, Kyungri and the apologetic employee were all quite confused and thrown off by how hysteric Kyungri was. Some even thought it was a joke.

                “My baby is dead!” Kyungri yelled one more time, grabbing the dress and balling it up in her hands. In the distance, Kyungri’s model shrugged and left with one of the flirty guys. Kyungri stalked towards Bang with the balled up dress in her hands. Bang was legit afraid for his life as he looked into the angry eyes of the scorned designer before him. Kyungri had a half crooked, evil looking smile on her cute face. The mascara was running in a strange zigzag motion down her cheeks. “Hey…I am really sorry your dressed got wet.” Bang said with one hand on his chest and another outward to sort of hold back all that mad energy radiating from the pretty girl. Kyungri screamed all of a sudden. “Wet?” She shouted. Bang didn’t know what to say. “Well, yeah…it was an accident. I wasn’t looking wear I was going.” He awkwardly spoke, moving his hands around to recreate what had just happened.

“Shut up.” Kyungri yelled, throwing the dress at his toned chest. “My beautiful dress is not wet, you oaf. My dress is dead, murdered, forever gone from this world.” Kyungri said all dramatically, with her hands at both sides of her head. “I worked so hard and you just killed it…I was going to win the fashion show, I just know it.” Kyungri went from loud banshee to depressed, heartbroken little girl in a second and it nearly gave Bang whiplash. Truly, he felt bad but even more afraid that she was going to pull out a weapon and turn him into a dress…made of flesh.

“What is your name?” Kyungri asked, sharply meeting his gaze and she swiped her dress off the floor again.

“Bang…”

“That’ such a stupid name. And I hope you know that killing my dress is going to haunt you for the rest of your life.” Kyungri said on the brink of a real breakdown as a bunch of other designers started heading to the front of the store with their fancy models in their fancy gowns and their fancy smiles. Kyungri wanted to break Bang’s neck in that very moment but she just pressed the ruined dress to her face and ran off in a random direction, refusing to be even more humiliated in front of all these people. Bang was still taken aback as Uko, Hyori and Zelo came strolling over to him.

“Bro, why was that girl yelling at you?” Uko asked, a bit shaken herself.

“Did you date her before?” Hyori wondered. Zelo awaited Bang’s answer with an expression just as childishly curious as the two girls.

“I murdered her baby…” Bang said with a hint of question in his tone.

                Gunwoo leaned on a wall, watching Insoo and Dasom have another optimistic conversation across the room. Even with Razzo possessing him, the parts of Gunwoo that still existed inside did feel bursts of jealousy every time he laid eyes on his girlfriend getting up close and personal with his younger brother. Gunwoo wanted to confront them and took one step forward, but Razzo snapped back into full control then and stopped the boy’s body from moving even an inch more. Razzo looked to his right as Jay approached him through the crowd, on the left, Kai was coming over. Both henchmen were dressed impeccably well, as if they were about to walk in the fashion show as well. The three of them stood in a line, attracting a lot of sudden female attention. Kai rolled his eyes when Jay started his lips and winking at the excited girls watching them.

“I’ve got like a hundred phone numbers today.” Jay bragged, making a kiss face at a curvy girl holding up a wall. Razzo grabbed both of their attention by clearing his throat.

“I didn’t bring you two here to fool around.” Razzo said through Gunwoo.

“Sorry not sorry, boss.” Jay said casually. Kai was offended that Razzo would even think he and Jay were on the same level in that moment. When had Razzo ever known Kai to be a flirt? Seriously.

“Sir, we’ve discovered some valuable information about locating the rest of the Zodiac Stones.” Kai started to say in a low voice. Gunwoo turned more to his left, prompting Kai to finish with what he was saying. “Apparently that family of witches that helped create the Zodiac Stones all those years ago still has some surviving members, they’ve been in hiding. But if we can seek them out, we can use them to locate where the other stones are with their abilities.” Kai finished and waited for some kind of response from Gunwoo. Several seconds went by before Gunwoo spoke.

“I see.” Gunwoo said.

“So…” Jay cut into their conversation, surprised at the calm reaction from Razzo. Jay expected Gunwoo to be a bit more intrigued, you know, since he was the one who wanted to find all the Zodiac Stones and then bring all sorts of chaos and destruction down on earth. But nope, he looked as if he had just found out they were having rice for dinner.

“Find them. Or don’t. Either way, continue to keep Hyo Shin out of my way and continue to drain the inhabitants of this city until a holder shows up somewhere.” Gunwoo tried to make their conversation look as normal as possible since some of the interested females were still eyeing them like slabs of meat. Jay nodded like he could care less. Himself and Kai had done a lot of detective work to find out that family of witches was still alive and they even had to work together at some times, which was worse than death itself. All that work and suffering just for Razzo to essentially say ‘whatever’…Jay wanted to slice his throat right there in front of everyone.

“But, sir, we wouldn’t have to do any of that if we located that family.” Kai tried to explain. Gunwoo inched closer to Kai and grabbed his arm tightly. “Do I look stupid to you?” Gunwoo hissed.

“No, sir…” Kai gulped, feeling all Razzo’s dark pressure pulsing around his arm.

“Under no circumstances am I going to tell you three to slack off even more than you already do so you can go search for some old, used up witches that may or may not even exist. Do as I say and look for the witches on the side.” Gunwoo let Kai go by sort of slinging him to the side and then disappeared into the crowd. Jay cussed under his breath and walked way in the opposite direction. Kai stayed still for a few moments, thinking about how desperately he wanted to be done with Razzo for once and for all. However, that time was still not upon him and wouldn’t be until he was reunited with his dear friend, Kyungsoo.

                Onew and Minho lounged in the large living room of their mentor’s home, both in basketball shorts and casual t shirts. Onew had a friend chicken leg hanging halfway out of his mouth as he flicked through muted television stations. Minho sat upright with his cell phone making a call on speaker. After three rings, Henry finally answered, sounding a little sleepy.

“Yes.” Henry said.

“Hey, buddy. How’s your trip going?” Minho sarcastically asked. Henry’s other teammates were honestly annoyed at how he had just packed up and flew across the globe to go be at Sooyoung’s side with no permission from Edward. Of course, they understood the nature of the trip was not a good one, but still, he was basically getting a free pass from all the extra training and constant threat of Razzo the others were dealing with every hour of every day.

“It’s not a trip, Minho. And since when are we buddies?” Henry replied.

“Since that time I caught you wearing my underwear.” Minho said easily. Onew grimaced from where he sat.

“I’ve never wore your underwear, you liar! Don’t you dare spread that lie.” Henry exclaimed. Onew and Minho laughed when they could hear Henry drop his phone, continue yelling and pick it up again to go on yelling.

“Fine, I’ll keep it between the two of us.” Minho said, crossing his fingers for only Onew to see. Onew silently laughed with his head back, nearly choking on the chicken bone.

“Anyway, are you on your way back yet?” Minho asked the initial question.

“Yeah, I’ll be back before you know it and I’ll be sure to feed you a knuckle sandwich.”

“I’m not hungry.” Minho shook his head.

“I made Edward pretty mad so I can’t even stay until Sooyoung is discharged.” Henry yawned at the end of the sentence.

“That’s unfortunate.” Minho answered with real sympathy in his voice.

“Yeah…I wish I could stay.” Henry complained about how much he hated being a part of the team and away from his previous normal life every day. Nobody really took his whining seriously anymore. However, this time, Onew and Minho exchanged looks of empathy for their newest member. They knew how hard it was to make the transition and could only imagine how much harder it was for Henry since he was still very much connected to his life back home. Fifty percent of Henry was still living his simple, fun, flashy life back home and then the other fifty percent was with his Uncle, fighting off dark forces in junkyards in the middle of the night.

“Is Sooyoung going to be alright?” Minho wondered. “How is she?” He followed up the first question.

“Well, she’s doing a lot better since seeing me. She’ll be back home in about a day or so.”

“It’s nice you got to see her.” Minho nodded with a pleasant smile.

“Would’ve been nicer if I could stay…and if she didn’t mention Bang like four times.” Henry didn’t bother hiding the bite in his voice. Minho chuckled to himself just before telling Henry to be safe and get home soon. Minho not only wanted Henry to get home fast to avoid getting in any more trouble with Edward, but also because Razzo was too powerful and volatile to deal with while even missing one member. Especially one as skilled as Henry. As aggravating and bratty as he was, Henry was a big strength to the team. Henry said an awkward thank you and goodbye to Minho before hanging up to enter the airport.

“At least his girlfriend is alright.” Minho said.

“Let’s order more chicken.” Onew jumped up.

                The designers waited with their models inside the back room of the Opal Boutique, all excited and judgmental of one another. A snobby young man kept making side remarks about an older woman’s design, which caused a couple others to start attacking him with their own pompous words. With everyone wrapped up in the unfolding fashion drama, Jay was able to walk right into the waiting room and lock the door with a key he’d snatched off an employee. For a few moment’s Jay just stood there, eyeing everyone…totally taken aback by the ugly clothes and feminine men. Jay’s interest perked up quite a bit when he laid eyes on a tall, bubbly but nervous looking girl sitting on one of the sofas. It was Bora. “I might go easy on you.” Jay said just before holding one of his hands out. “SUMMON!” Jay summoned his sword and it wasn’t until then that occupants in the room started to notice him. A collective gasp swept from wall to wall of the room, but Jay didn’t leave much time for them to scream or run for help before he started the draining technique Razzo had passed on to himself, Kai and Sunmi. Easily, Jay released the gray, foggy energy from his blade and it swirled around the entire waiting room, the life force from everyone there. Jay tried as best he could to weaken the draining effect around Bora…not because he was nice, but mostly because he wanted to toy around with her a little if he could. “Bunch of weirdoes…” Jay yawned as he continued to essentially kill everyone before him. The designers and models started to feel faint and pass out one by one. Some of them were stronger than others and simply fell to one knee or clung to a wall for support. Jay walked over to the more resistant individuals and shoved them to the ground. Slowly, he approached Bora, who was just barely keeping both her eye lids open from her spot on the sofa. Jay his lips and moved some of the hair from her pretty, round face.

                Jongup had done about four laps around the entire boutique as well as the immediate area outside. “Where did she go?” Jongup asked himself, scratching his head. The aloof guy had been searching for his date for a while now and was starting to worry that he’d pissed Bora off enough to make her leave the event. Jongup was just about to start looking further down the street when he saw something very, very unsettling. Amidst the crowd of people mingling and shopping in the boutique was Kai. Jongup made eye contact with Kai for less than a second before Kai turned around and began making his way out of the building. Jongup didn’t take much time to think, he just followed the tan villain. If Kai was here…were the other two goons there as well? Was Razzo in the building? Had they hurt or attacked Bora? Jongup had a flood of thoughts going through his mind when he finally got out of the building and saw Kai running through an intersection up ahead. “Stop running!” Jongup called, getting even more paranoid that Kai had indeed been up to something.

“Jongup, wait.” Someone called from behind Jongup.

“Huh?” Jongup looked back to see Bang running to catch up.

“I saw him too.” Bang said.

“What’s he doing here?” Jongup asked.

“Nothing good, that’s for sure.” Bang had a red hot look in his eyes that Jongup almost felt afraid to look at directly.

“Should we call for help?”

“If you want. But I’m not letting him get away. I’m going to cut his heart to pieces.” Bang took off in the same direction Kai had dashed to. Jongup wasn’t really sure what to do next. Sure, he was convinced Kai was up to no good and maybe even had done something to Bora, but he also knew this was exactly what Hyo Shin would’ve told them not to do. Jongup finally decided to follow right after Bang, feeling anything would be better than letting Bang go after Kai alone. The last time they had battled, Bang was definitely the less fortunate. “Bang, Bang, Bang Yongguk, hold on, I’m coming too.” Jongup shouted, catching up to Bang.

                Hyo Shin, Daehyun and Youngjae were walking languidly around a local beach. None of them were dressed for the beach and were more than frustrated with amount of sand in their shoes and pores. However, this was where one of the possible decedents of the witch family spent her days.

“If you would have told me that we’d be spending an hour at the beach, I would at least worn trunks.” Youngjae complained, walking the slowest out of all of the guys.

“I smell steak.” Daehyun suddenly froze in place and started jerking his head in all directions like a prairie dog.

“Yeah, someone is definitely having a barbeque.” Youngjae commented, but Daehyun was already gone. Hyo Shin and Youngjae looked back to see Daehyun running, snatching a paper plate out of some random kid’s hand and getting in line for a barbeque stand.

“Typical…” Youngjae shook his head. “But I can’t blame him. We’ve been following weak leads and winding up at dead ends all day. Maybe this family of witches really did die out.”

“Nobody told you this was going to be easy, Youngjae. This is only day one.” Hyo Shin replied, wiping some sweat from his forehead. “Just keep your eyes peeled for this girl, she could right under our noses.”

“The only thing under our noses is sand and more sand.” Youngjae moaned. Hyo Shin had told them to keep their eyes peeled at least a hundred times since they started out on their hunt for any decedents of this witch family. What did keeping your eyes peeled mean anyway? Youngjae didn’t know. All he knew was that they had gone from a crack house, to a pet store, to a gynecologist office and now they were at the beach dodging volleyballs and Frisbees like a full time job. “I bet this is just another dead end.” Youngjae grumbled a bit lower, but Hyo Shin still heard him and tossed a random beach ball at his face. Youngjae fell over and spit a chunk of sand from his mouth.

 “Ahhhhhh I wanna go home!” Youngjae exclaimed like some spoiled little brat that had spent all day at the supermarket with mommy.

“Well you can’t.” Hyo Shin barely paid Youngjae’s cries any mind as he peered all around him for the girl in the photo he was holding. Really, Hyo Shin didn’t have much hope that this girl would be the one they were looking for either, but the faster they found her and decided for themselves, the faster they could move on to the last two places on the list for the day. Daehyun walked back over to the group with barbeque sauce all over his lips and fingers.

“Woo, that was spicy.” Daehyun cheesed, seeming more energized already.

“Where’s mine?” Youngjae demanded.

“How should I know? When it comes to food, I look out for number one…that’s me by that way.”

“You selfish bastard.” Youngjae leaped up from the ground and started wrestling with Daehyun in the middle of everyone. “I hope you get explosive diarrhea from that barbeque.” Youngjae said, trying to hold Daehyun in submission.

“It would be worth it!” Daehyun countered, also trying to overthrow his best friend. A round, sunburned woman tapped Hyo Shin on his shoulder. “Sir, are those your sons fighting back there?” Hyo Shin took one look back at the scene his kids were making and rolled his eyes. “Do you want to adopt them?” Hyo Shin pleaded.

                In Edward’s study, he, Jonghyun and a very sour faced Himchan looked through newspapers, yearbooks and even obituaries in hopes of finding more possible leads for the others to follow up on. “I’m going to go crazy! Edward, when can we stop?” Jonghyun asked, pulling at his hair. As always, Jonghyun was throwing a fit because he had to buckle down and do actual work. Himchan looked up from his stack of yearbooks, mentally asking the same question as Jonghyun. Himchan wasn’t really too sure why Hyo Shin had chosen him to be stuck working with Edward and Jonghyun of all people. Everyone knew Himchan was more than uncomfortable around the touchy Jonghyun.

“We have been at it for a while, haven’t we?” Edward leaned back in his leather office chair and checked the time on his cell phone. “I’ll order some food and when it gets here, we can call it a night.” Edward left the room then and it took a few seconds for Himchan to realize he was alone with Jonghyun (one of his worst nightmares).

“Just the two of us.” Jonghyun noted with a sneaky grin.

“Please don’t do anything weird, I’m begging you.”

“Haha, oh Himchannie, you have no reason to worry. You’re my buddy, I would never do anything to weird you out.” Jonghyun stood up from his seat.

“You do something to weird me out almost every time I see you.” Himchan protested, getting more and more nervous as Jonghyun stood in the middle of the room and faced a wall mirror. Quickly, with one motion, Jonghyun tossed his shirt off and began flexing in front of the mirror.

“Why? Why me? Why?” Himchan exclaimed, covering his eyes. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“Being shirtless helps me focus more. Plus, looking at my glistening muscles gives me an idea of how much food I can eat.” Jonghyun said, counting the muscles in his six pack. “I couldn’t do this while Edward was here because he’s kind of uncomfortable with .” Jonghyun added.

“So am I, you fool!” Himchan barked, still covering half his face.

“I don’t believe that, Himchannie. Deep down, I know you’re an exhibitionist like me.” Jonghyun said, sliding his belt and jeans off next so that he was just standing in his cute boxers and socks. Himchan ran to the furthest part of the room and pointed at Jonghyun.

“You’re half , what the hell?”

“Being pantless helps me focus too…plus, I needed to look at my thighs. I think they’re getting chunky.”

“This has to be a hidden camera prank!” Himchan yelled just before turning to exit the room. Edward opened the door just then and laughed at the sight before him. “Oh, should I come back later?” Edward asked with a grin.

“No, please stay, don’t leave me alone with him.” Himchan begged.

“Well, I know how you young guys like to show off and compare things…” Edward shrugged, half shutting the door.

“Great idea! Himchan, take those pants off!” Jonghyun said, running to back hug Himchan.

“I’m a good person, I don’t deserve this!” Himchan yelled, banging on the door as Edward shut it tightly.

                Kyungri stood in the women’s restroom at the discount mart across the street from the boutique. With her eyes still very much red and the mascara still dried in black streams on her cheeks, Kyungri stared down at her dress in the sink, realizing there really was saving it. It was sort of ironic in a way. Kyungri had avoided telling her mother about the event because she claimed the woman was a jinx…yet, even without her mother this mess had happened. Kyungri got a mental image of Bang and angrily kicked the side of the stall beside the sink. “Ouch, ouch, oh my God, that hurt.” Kyungri cussed and slumped down to the floor. A frantic knocking sounded at the door to the restroom. “Go away.” Kyungri snapped.

“My daughter has to use it.”

“My daughter is in heaven!” Kyungri replied, rolling her eyes. “So, my problems are a bit bigger.” Kyungri crossed her arms and started dialing the number for a cab. “If I ever see that Bang oaf again I’m going to break his arms.” She said with a half-smile, half frown.

                Kai stood before Jongup and Bang. The three of them had ended their chase in the middle of the woods just behind some larger buildings in the city.

“You followed me, I feel flattered.” Kai said sarcastically.

“Tell me what you were doing at….” Jongup started to speak but didn’t get the chance to finish before Bang leapt into action.

“SUMMON!” Bang shouted and pounced towards Kai with his sword ready to draw blood.

“SUMMON, UNLOCK!” Kai jumped straight up and called out his spirit serpents to swirl around his body and block Bang’s sword. “Serpents, dance!” Bang was blasted backwards into a tree by the deflective force of the three serpents. Kai flipped onto the head of one of his pets and commanded the other two to strike at Bang. The two attacking serpents came swooping down with their jaws unhinged and ready to feast on Bang.

“SUMMON! UNLOCK!” Jongup called out, summoning his sword and then unlocking his lock abilities. Jongup’s sword shattered into purple energy that flowed to each one of his fingers to create blades on each one of the ten. Bang struggled to get up and evade the serpents in time…luckily, Jongup was faster. Jongup slashed at the open space and created a rip in the air that opened into a portal. Jongup jumped through the portal he had created and it vanished along with him. Bang’s eyes bulged a bit when he realized just how quickly Kai had the upper hand in this battle. The serpents were charging at Bang and even if he was able to scramble to his feet in time, he would still be hit. Another rip in the space beside Bang appeared and Jongup jumped through, scooped up his ally and then slashed again with his hand of blades. Jongup carried Bang through the third portal with him and they both escaped the serpents slamming attack. A fourth portal was slashed open by Jongup and he and Bang landed on a branch slightly lower than where Kai was lounging on his serpent head.

                “Get him!” Jongup yelled as Bang jumped from the lower branch and swung his sword up towards Kai and his serpent. “UNLOCK!” Bang said, unlocking his Lock abilities. Quickly, Bang’s blade fired a stream of white energy that moved in a straight line headed right for Kai’s head. Kai side flipped off his serpent and landed on the head of one of the other two. Bang’s energy blast exploded before impact and became several orbs of white light that circled Kai and his serpent. Kai tried to swing at the orbs that were spiraling around but there were too many and he ended up being struck by several from the back. Kai fell from his serpent and landed on a large root down below.

“Nice one.” Jongup cheered.

“I kinda got lucky.” Bang said, still totally focused on what Kai’s next move might be. Bang couldn’t let this guy get away again. Kai swung his sword, commanding the three spirit serpents to come dashing towards him and begin circling him so quickly that they almost became one giant wave of blue light. Kai’s serpents formed a large blue energy orb around his body that blasted from the ground towards Jongup. Jongup back flipped off the branch and slashed another portal for himself to fall through. Kai steered his orb back to where Bang was, crushing several branches and trees in the process. Bang stuck his sword into the ground and caused a white pillar of energy to shoot up and throw Kai’s orb off course. The orb shattered back into the three serpents and each one came pulsing at Bang. Forcefully, Bang slashed right through one of the serpents and sent a wave of white energy blasting at Kai in the process. Kai evaded the attack as best he could but still ended up landing on his back down below. The other two serpents came at Bang from opposite sides. Thinking as quickly as he could manage, Bang let go of his sword and allowed it to levitate in front of him. Bang clasped his hands together at the sword became nothing but white energy. The white energy formed a thick white circle around Bang. The white circle of energy began spinning rapidly like a power saw and ripped through both the serpents coming for Bang’s side. Kai cussed as he pulled himself up from the floor, ready to attack Bang head on. Jongup slashed open another portal right above Kai’s head and gave a wide slash as he came downwards on the henchman. Kai just barely missed Jongup’s sudden slash and had to backflip on just one had to steady himself. Bang manipulated the rapid circle razor sideways and sent it slicing through the ground towards Kai. Kai was hit head on by the blade and rammed through several trees.  Jongup landed next to Bang and started doing a victory dance. “High five, man.” Jongup held up his hand for a high five but Bang still had an angry, determined look in his eye. Kai was a trickster and had a habit of bouncing back from almost every attack. Bang gave Jongup a confused expression.

“You want me to give you a high five with all those blades on your hand?”

“Oh, I forgot.” Jongup laughed and shrugged as he high fived his own blades hands. Without warning, one of the blue spirit serpents ghosted from out of a tree beside the boys and easily rammed into Jongup, sending him flying up into the air. Bang jumped up to grab Jongup before he hit the ground but by the time he got a single hand on Jongup, the same serpent opened its mouth a blasted a beam of blue energy at the boys. The two boys fell to the ground right in front of where Kai stood with his other two serpents. Jongup and Bang helped one another stand and prepare for another round.

“How was that?” Kai smirked.

“You’ve got some nerve to smile in my face after what you did to Sooyoung.” Bang shouted, pointing his sword tip directly at Kai’s throat. Surprisingly, Kai didn’t move an inch or command his snakes to either.

“So do it. End my life right here.” Kai said simply.

“Don’t mess with me, you piece of crap!” Bang’s voice echoed through the woods and he felt the darkness welling up in his throat. Was he about to change again?

“You could keep fighting me to the death right here in these woods or you could head back to that little store and stop my allies from draining every living person in there.” Kai spoke ever so casually with the blade tip practically touching his skin. Jongup wasted no time heading back to the event to save Bora from any possible danger. “So, what’s it going to be?” Kai asked, honestly unsure if Bang was going to pierce his throat or not.

“I am going to kill you…another day.” Bang said with totally finality in his voice, Kai had no choice but believe him.

“Not before I accomplish what I set out to do.” Kai said. Bang had another question on the tip of his tongue but Kai’s serpents suddenly exploded into and forced him backwards onto his . Kai was gone along with his pets when he got back to his feet. Bang grunted and slammed his fist against a tree trunk. “That bastard…” Bang wanted to end Kai so badly he could practically feel his fingers around his tan little neck even as he stood there in the middle of the woods all by himself. Bang’s revenge for Sooyoung was going to have to wait however, since he felt even more pressed to get back to the boutique and make sure Uko was safe and unharmed.

                Jay continued to drain the occupants in the waiting room with the most carelessly, sick and twisted grin on his face. Jay wrapped a strand of Bora’s hair around his finger and laughed lightly under his breath. “I’d really like to make you mine.” Jay whispered. “Who…are you?” Bora barely managed to whisper. Jay didn’t have time to reply to the cute girl before someone grabbed his free arm with quite a bit of strength.

“Get away from her right now.” Sunmi said, glaring down at Jay.

“When the hell did you get here, Sunmi?”

“I said move!” Sunmi pulled Jay off the couch and flung him behind her, scooping her sister up in the same movement. Jay’s eyes bulged and then narrowed at the sight.

“Have you gone insane?” Jay almost laughed with the question.

“Don’t ever come near her again.”

“Do you know her?”

“Get out of my way.” Sunmi said as she began walking to the door with her sister in her arms.

“Answer me!” Jay yelled, swinging his sword a bit.

“This is my sister. And she’s in the only person in the world I would die for.” Sunmi’s voice deepened as she level her serious gaze on the creep behind her. “So you better remember her face well…and make sure to stay far away from her, Jay.” Sunmi turned to exit the room but Jay darted in front of her.

“If Razzo knew what you were doing right now, he’d chop your head clean off.” Jay looked tickled. “You’ve got some nerve telling me who I can and can’t kill, Sunmi! I don’t care if you’re related to her or not!” Jay’s small hint of amusement faded completely and was replaced with more anger.

“Like I said, stay away from her.”

“What’s stopping me? You? Hate to break it to you, y, but you don’t scare me.” Jay leaned in as if telling a secret to Sunmi.

“I’m not trying to scare you, I’m just trying to warn you.”

“More like threaten me.” Jay scoffed. Sunmi rolled her eyes and flashed out of the room, tired of going back and forth with the killing machine of a human.

                Bang ran into the boutique at full speed, almost crashing into the glass door face first.

“Whoa, buddy, take a chill pill.” A random, lanky man said to Bang. Bang brushed right past the guy and stated dashing around the entire building in search for Uko or even Hyori and Zelo. Bang was finally able to breathe easy when he saw the two girls come in through the entrance doors with cups of yogurt in their hands and Zelo right behind them with a bang full of junk food. Bang ran to his sister and started looking her over to make she was fine, freaking the little girl out just a bit.

“Sorry if you were looking for us. We wanted food and the stuff here was a little too sophisticated for out appetite.” Zelo said, cheesing.       

“You call that food?” Bang asked, jabbing the bag of candy with his index finger.

“We call it delicious.” Zelo confirmed, rattling all the loose candy in the bag. Uko swallowed the last bit of her yogurt and asked a pretty relevant question. “Bang, where did you run off to anyway?” She waited for her brother’s answer as she dug through the candy bag for a new snack.

“Were you so constipated that you had to leave the event?” Zelo asked, looking really concerned. “Maybe you should see our private doctor…he specializes in gross stuff like that.”

“Why are you so obsessed with me being constipated, you giraffe?” Bang protested, throwing his hands up. “I left so that I could…uh…” Bang tried to formulate a lie in that very second (he failed). Hyori was about to ask the question again, but someone’s vice cut them off.

“Hey, beanstalk, gimme some candy.” Key said, strutting over in his fancy looking purple blazer with glitter on the lapels. He was wearing a silk black shirt underneath and a pair of matching purple shorts that also had a slight shimmer to them. Taemin smiled sweetly as he walked behind the older male. “Hi, everyone.” Taemin half bowed to everyone while Key just waited with his hand out from something sweet. Hyori reached in the bag and handed Key a piece of chocolate.

“Chocolate?” Hyori asked.

“Good enough.” Key said, unwrapping the candy.

“What are you two doing here?” Zelo asked, going to stand by his friend, Taemin.

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to judge fashion. This city is so boring and this boutique isn’t even that great, but I wanted an excuse to wear this outfit so I said what the hell.” Key flipped his hair while he chewed on the candy. “That’s pretty good chocolate.” Key kneeled down and started going through the bag of candy himself.

“Key, don’t eat all their treats, that’s mean.” Taemin sighed.

“They don’t need all this stuff anyway, it’ll give this cavities.” Key snapped back.

“Then what about you? You’ll get cavities too.” Bang pointed out.

“I’m an adult, adults don’t get things like that.” Key laughed like a little boy. Zelo put his arm around Taemin’s neck sympathetically. “Let me guess, he dragged you along with him?” Zelo asked even though he already knew the answer.

“He said he’d look even cooler if a less trendy person stood next to him.” Taemin hung his head low in mock shame.

“It’s true…” Key admitted. “Ah, you even got gummy bears!” Key snatched the whole bag and started digging through more excitedly.

“So much for being an adult.” Bang crossed his arms at the sight of Key digging through a kid’s bag of candy. It was a bit odd to Bang how even with the immense threat of Razzo lingering in the city like a storm cloud ready to rain down hurricanes at any second, the teams of LOCKS still found ways to be as normal as they could. Seriously, Key and Taemin came to a fashion show and even Bang had just gone from fighting Kai in the woods to laughing at Key. Where the hell was the balance? One minutes, everyone’s life was on the line and the next, things couldn’t seem simpler. Key just shrugged.

“By the way, wasn’t the show supposed to start ten minutes ago?” Taemin pointed out, checking his wrist watch. Key handed the bag over to Uko and grabbed Taemin’s wrist, checking the time for himself.

“You’re right.” Key nodded.

                Dasom and her mother suddenly called everyone’s attention to the center of the room. Key pushed ahead of several people to get a better view. Dasom had a shaken, unnerving expression on her face that both Insoo and Bang took note of from different parts of the room. Dasom’s mother began addressing everyone.

“I’m so, so sorry to inform you all that the fashion show scheduled to take place on today is going to have to be cancelled immediately. It appears that nearly all of all models and designers have suddenly become very ill and are not able to participate. I thank you all greatly for showing support and coming out to the Opal Boutique today, however, I must cancel the event for everyone’s safety and better interest. Thank you and come again.” Dasom simply nodded sincerely as her mother explained the situation. Key stomped his foot from where he stood while people started exiting all around him.

“What a waste of a good outfit.” Key pouted. Taemin and Zelo exchanged skeptical expressions and walked over to Bang.

“Do you think?” Zelo asked.

“Yeah, it was definitely them.” Bang answered sharply, upset that once again that Razzo was faster and stronger than them.

“Edward and Hyo Shin are going to be really upset.” Taemin said.

                Hyo Shin, Daehyun and Youngjae arrived back at Edward’s place, walking in all slumped and exhausted. Himchan ran from the barstool he was seated at to stand beside his team, leaving Jonghyun with nothing but an amused grin on his face. “You’re back later than we expected.” Edward pointed out, tossing the three of them a drink of water.

“We’ve got another long list of leads for you to follow up on.” Jonghyun started stacking the papers together.

“Keep them to yourself!” Youngjae exclaimed.

“That was the most pointless adventure of my life. All we did was go check out ugly, weird girls all day.” Daehyun sipped his water as he helped himself to a couple leftover slices of pizza on the counter.

“It was necessary.” Hyo Shin sounded just as beat when he took a seat on the sofa, running his fingers through his hair.

“Can we leave now, huh?” Himchan tugged on Hyo Shin’s sleeve like a little kid, surprising the man with his bratty side.

“Himchannie and I had a good time, but I think he’s had enough fun for the day.” Jonghyun shrugged, shaking up a protein shake from behind the counter. Youngjae and Daehyun exchanged awkward glances, holding back laughter. Edward looked at the time and nearly chocked on his drink. “Actually, all of you can leave now.” Edward started waving his hands, signaling for them to head towards the door.

“Why?” Jonghyun asked with his head tilted to one side.

“I’m late for something.” Edward admitted, rushing his words out.

“Something like what?” Youngjae pushed the topic.

“Probably something dumb.” Hyo Shin teased. “Or maybe a date, haha, yeah right.” He laughed with his head back. Edward stopped moving and eyed everyone in the room when they cracked a laugh or two at the thought of him having a date.

“For you information, I do have a date.” Edward felt pleased to say. Himchan didn’t look phased at all and was still hoping they could leave as quickly as possible so he could watch some of his dramas and wash all the day’s Jonghyun moments out of his mind. Daehyun was a bit impressed that Edward had a date but was still too tired to make much of a reaction…so he just kept eating pizza.

“A date? With an actual woman?” Hyo Shin asked incredulously.

 “Anyway, I’m late, so excuse me.” Edward went up to his room, skipping every other step on the staircase. Youngjae, Daehyun, Himchan and Hyo Shin glanced at one another, still a bit thrown off by Edward’s sudden announcement.

“So he gets to stay home and eat pizza all day and now he gets to meet for a date? No fair.” Daehyun said, jamming another slice into his mouth.

“What’s the big deal? He is a man. Men have needs.” Youngjae shrugged.

“Ew, we don’t need to imagine things like that.” Hyo Shin gagged at the thought of his rival, Edward getting his freak on with some random woman.

“That’s not what I meant.” Youngjae protested. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

                Jonghyun saw the group off with a big wave and wished them a safe trip back to their place. The whole way home, Himchan complained about every little thing Jonghyun and said and did for the entirety of the day. Even when Youngjae and Daehyun fell asleep and even when Hyo Shin put earbuds in…Himchan still complained and begged never to be left alone with him again. “He’s just so…weird.” Himchan groaned, finally dozing off as the car cruised on down the dark roads.

                Bang walked out of his front door in a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of casual jeans, half nodding to the tall, handsome boy on his lawn. “Minho, what are you doing here?” Bang asked. Minho smiled an apologetic looking smile. Minho realized it was both strange and maybe a bit burdensome to show up at the home of someone you barely know mere minutes before midnight. “Sorry, but I thought I should share something with you and I don’t have your number so I figured I’d come by.” Minho said, standing still with his hands in his pockets. Bang had a second where he imagined Minho as one of those human-like mannequins he had seen in Dasom’s workplace earlier in the day.

“I didn’t even know you knew where I lived.” Bang was slightly uncomfortable with Minho being able to find his home so easily.

“Never mind that.” Minho chuckled.

“Are you sure this can’t wait till tomorrow, I’m really tired.”

“It’s about Sooyoung.” Minho managed to reel in every bit of Bang’s attention with that one. Bang took two big steps closer to Minho, anxiously waiting for him to continue.

“What about her? Did something happen? What do you know?”

“She’s doing well and will be able to leave the hospital soon. The girl will make a full recovery in no time. Henry even told us that she talked about you some.” Minho felt happy as he watched Bang’s tenseness lessen the more he spoke. Bang’s heart slowed back to a normal beating pace as he accepted what Minho was saying. “That’s good to know.” Bang was more than relieved, he almost felt healed on the inside and out just to know that Sooyoung was alright and would be back to her home soon enough. Although, he did cringe a bit at the mention of Henry’s name. “Henry told you all of this?” Bang asked.

“He did. As you know, he went to visit Sooyoung. He’ll also be back soon.”

“And you came all the way here to tell me that?”

“Yeah, I had a feeling you could use some good news. Every time I see you, you’re either all beaten up or acting like a crazy person with a secret.” Minho pointed lightly at Bang.

“I am a crazy person with a secret. We kind of all are.”

“Yeah but we don’t have to act like it.” Minho laughed.

“Easier said than done. I’m new to this, man.”

“Well, anyway, I just thought you’d wanna know that she’s alright.” Minho patted Bang on the shoulder and began to leave.

“Minho!” Bang called behind him.

“Yes?” Minho half turned, looking over his shoulder.

“Thanks.” Bang didn’t know why it felt weird to thank Minho. It was probably because since he was technically apart of Hyo Shin’s camp (who disliked Edward’s camp) he felt like there was unspoken rule that he was also supposed to dislike and insult them. Minho gave a hearty, handsome smile and shook his head once. “Don’t mention it.” He replied. “No, really, don’t mention it to Henry, that brat will poison me if he finds out.” Both guys laughed for a second before thinking about how Henry probably really would do something like that.

“See ya.” Minho said, jumping into the air and disappearing from Bang’s sight.

                The next morning, Edward used his KEY agility to both get dressed and sneak all the way down to the front door of the woman’s house. It had been a long night and the evidence was in his backwards shirt and messy hair. Edward had never had a one night stand before and barely even recalled if that had actually been what happened as he placed his hand on the door knob. At least he was going to get out and back to his own house without having to face the woman he was ditching upstairs. “I’m in the clear.” Edward said, opening the door a crack. Just then, Kyungri poked her head from the kitchen to the left of Edward. “Hey, mister. Before you run out on my mom, could you water those plants right there?” Kyungri pointed from Edward and then to the small row of plants lining the front window. Edward froze in place, mortified that he was caught in the act.

“Uhm…” Edward slowly grabbed the pale of water beside his feet.

“Go ahead and leave once you water them. Thanks, mister.” Kyungri flashed a cute smile and went back to eating her cereal in the kitchen. Edward watered the plants with a confused, fragile expression. Had he really just been caught trying to do the walk of shame by his date’s teenage daughter? “This is not a good look.” Edward said, putting the pale down and leaving in a flash with his KEY speed. Kyungri peeked around the kitchen corner one more time once Edward was gone. “He’s better looking than the last few.” She shrugged and went back to her food once more.

                Dasom opened her eyes from her slumber and sat up in the middle of her bed to stretch and put her hair in a bun before she went to freshen up in the bathroom. Dasom paused and gasped when she walked out of her room and saw the explosion of color coming from her living room downstairs. “Oh my goodness.” Dasom rushed down the stairs to see at least fifty bouquets of all types of flowers all strategically arranged in her living room. “A note.” Dasom pulled a note from the largest arrangement of flowers and opened it. Of course, it was all Gunwoo’s doing. An early anniversary present. Towards the end of the note, Gunwoo confessed his love for Dasom and told her to hurry and get dressed for a morning date. Dasom couldn’t help frowning a bit…lately, she hadn’t been feeling all too comfortable around Gunwoo. Since his return to the city, he just wasn’t the same person and Dasom was not only getting worried about him, but those around him. However, she went back up to her room and started looking for something dainty to wear for the date.

                Bang arrived at school and tried to take a bit of Minho’s advice by not looking so preoccupied and anxious. Yes, his life had done about one thousand flips, but it might actually be easier if he tried to mix in as much normalcy as he could manage. School was normal. So that was a start. It’s not like Kai was going to show up and attack him right in the middle of History class, right? Right? Bang opened his locker and pulled his flask out, sneaking a drink. Bang nearly chocked on the sip of alcohol when he felt someone latch themselves onto his back and dig their long nails into his arms.

“Ahh, what the hell, what the hell, hey, back off!” Bang said, spinning around to see who was on his back as well as hopefully throw them off. Everyone in the halls halted whatever they were doing to get a look at the scene Bang and his back buddy were causing. Bang spun around one more time, using all his might and whoever was on his back jumped off in the nick of time. Kyungri.

“You!” Bang pointed and exclaimed, his voice cracking.

“Yes, me! The mother of the child you killed.” Kyungri folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re a student here?” Bang stuttered, suddenly remembering how angry he had made this attractive girl just a day ago. Indeed, she was wearing the school uniform and even had a small book bag on the floor beside her.

“Unfortunately for you…yes!” Kyungri started walking up to Bang and stared him down.

“Don’t stand so close.” Bang edged backwards, getting a good sniff her Kyungri’s pretty perfume as he s rubbed against his chest. Kyungri flipped her hair and then smacked Bang right across the face. The horde of students watching gasped all in the same second.

“Oh snap!” Someone yelled.

“Hey!! What the hell is your problem?”

“My baby is dead because of you. I’m getting a mother’s revenge.” Kyungri pointed at Bang’s face as she started walking backwards. “Watch your back, Boom, I’m not finished getting mom’s revenge on you.” Kyungri strutted away and into another hall while Bang just stood there, massaging his red cheek.

“Ouch, her nails…”

“Here.” A tiny, freshman girl pulled at Bang’s arm and handed him some ointment. “You can thank me by being my boyfriend.”

“Keep it.” Bang gave the ointment back to the small girl and walked the opposite way, ignoring the snickers and laughs. “Is that…girl really going to kill me?” Bang wondered, shaking in his shoes a bit and feeling like wimp for being afraid of the girl.

WELL, THERE’S CHAPTER SIX!

I really hope you enjoy the whole story as well as this chapter

So, in case you can’t tell, Kyungri and Bang is going to be a big pairing in this story

Also, sorry if there wasn’t enough action in this chapter but trust me when I say more is on the way

IF YOU JUST STARTED READING NOW OR STARTED FROM THE START

THANKS!!

Sorry it took me so long to update, I seriously sort of forgot about this story and how much I liked it. Anyway, I’ve already started on the next chapter so it will be up as soon as I can :D

Leave me comments telling me you like about the story and I’ll try to add more

Okay, bye!