"Soyou, why is she here again?" he asked with disdain.

"Be nice," Soyou barked.

I felt small between Lee Soyou and Lee Minho. All three of us were walking to the front of their house. Well... house would be an under statement. It was a more beautiful and modern mansion that I could only dream of owning. I was amazed by everything that we passed by. The fountain within the garden outside was perfect and the interior of the house was decorated with elegant pieces of furniture. All of this luxury was glamorous but it also hurt. It reminded me that I could never have anything like this because of the circumstances.

When we entered, there were two housemaids who greeted us.

"Hello Miss Soyou, Mister Minho, and company."

I bow back a little while Soyou and Minho said hi and walked on. I followed them up the stairs silently. Soyou went into one room and Minho went into another, which left me standing there without a clue where to go. Soyou looked back and smile.

"Sorry, I'm used to going home with just Minho." She grabbed my wrist and was about to pull me into her room but abruptly stopped. The ringing of her phone filled the sound of the hall and even made Minho come out. Soyou let me go and answered her phone.

"Yes?" Her tone was a bit impatient. A moment later, she sighed, "I'll be there."

Soyou hung up and turned to me. "Sorry Bora. I have to go somewhere. I'll make it up to you." She smiled and nodded to Minho. "You can hang out with him for now. Bye guys."

Soyou left me with Minho and right when she left, a high-pitched voice rang through the house.

"Minho-yah, where is Soyou going?"

His eyes widened and he dragged me into his room. He put his hand over my mouth and gave me a warning through his eyes. Don't talk or we'll both be in serious trouble. Opening the door slightly to only show his face, he answered, "Umma*, I don't know. She never told me."

I peeked around his body to see an elegant woman who was a head shorter than Minho. She was beautiful and covered in all kinds of expensive clothing and accessories. She carried this grace but was still somehow intimidating.

"Minho-yah, what are you doing in there? Let me in!"

He pushed me back against the other door, and I held my breath in fear.

"Umma, I'm changing," he quickly lied. His mother sighed and said a few more words then left. After a few seconds, Minho sighed and turned to me. Looking at me, he smirked.

"You can breathe now," he said.

I didn't even realize that I was still holding my breath.

"Are we okay?" I asked.

"For now."

Minho walked away from the door, dragging me to his bed. He sat down first and then stared at me.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you staring?”

“You’re cute.”

“Bwuh*? Wh-Why would you say that?”

“Because it's true.”

He gave me a playful smirk, which made me blush and hide my face. His laughter increased my embarrassment as I buried my face further into my sleeves. When Minho playfully pushed me lightly, I looked up at him with a shy smile.

"Yah, stop blushing. It makes it seem like you've never gotten a compliment before," he joked. "Anyway, you want to get something to eat?"

"Yeah," I replied simply, which triggered Minho to get up and drag me by the wrist. He peeked out the door first and soon dragged me out of the house. We walked around Gangnam, looking for some place to eat. Minho was quick to come up with a place and direct me to it. He ordered and paid for me while I felt guilty for having him do so. By 5 P.M., we were sitting on a bench with ice cream in our hands.

"You really aren't a bad guy after all," Bora commented blankly.

"I told you. Now where do you want to go?"

"Me? Well..."

Ring ring ring.

The sudden ringtone of my phone startled us both. I instantly picked up my phone, not checking the caller ID.

"Yeobo-"

"Yah hurry up and get your notes!”

Confused, I pulled back my phone and saw an unfamiliar number.

“Who are you?”

“Yah! What and offense! Who else would call you to get notes? I can tell you it won’t be that prick named Lee Minho.”

“Yah! I can hear that! Who is that?!”

Minho’s sudden outburst made me jump. He approached me quickly and tried to take the phone away, but I jumped aside.

“Is that Minho? Why are you with him?”

“None of your business.”

“Bora, that sounds like Woobin. Why are you talking to him? Why does he have your number?”

“None of your business.”

“Can you please hurry up and just give me the notes already?”

“Yah Jung Bora is he better than me now that he has your number?”

“Of course I’m better than you!”

“Sure you are. Just keep telling yourself that, but just know that everyone is on my side.”

“Stop it! You two are both acting childish!” I screamed

I hung up and Woobin and walked away from Minho. When he pleaded for me to wait, I shook my head and increased my speed.

“Bora, wait up!”

“Oh come on Bora!”

“Let’s continue to hang out.”

“Jung Bora!”

“Don’t follow me,” I called back to him. After a few minutes, I looked back and was glad to see he was standing still, watching me leave.

I walked all the way home and Woohyun oppa* greeted me when I walked through the door.

"Hi oppa. Hi umma... Umma?"

Mother was standing behind Woohyun and I couldn't believe my eyes. I started to feel prickly and uneasy seeing her.

"Hello my daughter," she smiled sweetly. "I'm glad to see you again." She quickly ran over to me, which made me step back, and hugged me. I grew stiff and felt nervous.

Even if it was a happy episode, I still felt fear.

The next thing I felt was wetness on my shoulder.

"Umma is sorry," she sobbed, "Umma is very sorry to you and your brother. Umma will get better. I promise."

But can you really keep that promise?

"It's okay umma." I her hair to comfort her. "That's all oppa and I need. Please don't give up okay?"

She kept sobbing in my arms and Woohyun could tell I was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"Umma, let's let Bora rest. Come on."

Woohyun gently dragged umma away and gave me a meaningful look. I followed them to the dining table and sat down.

"How is everything there umma?"

I immediately regretted saying that because her face grew dark. Scared, I tugged on Woohyun's arm. He gave me an assuring smile saying that he was right here if anything were to occur.

"Umma, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."                  

Mother ignored Woohyun oppa and kept her eyes on me. "It was horrible," she stated darkly. "They did all kinds of things. They tested me and it was like torture. If I could get my hands on them, I would've killed them."

"Umma, please stop now," I pleaded, resting my hand on her arm to try and calm her down.

But the bomb was already lit.

She flung my hand away and stood up. "I won't stop now. Remembering their faces makes my blood boil! Bora I can't stop now. I will kill them!"

Woohyun and I stood up when she was about to go to the kitchen. We both took an arm and pulled her back, keeping her from going anywhere.

"Let me go! They made me suffer! They don't want to help me. They want to kill me, so I have to kill them first!"

"Umma please calm down!" I pathetically begged.

"Umma you don't mean any of this! It's just an episode! Umma please," Woohyum cried.

"LET ME GO! I WANT TO END THEIR LIVES SO I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK! I WANT TO SEE THEIR DEATH!"

"Umma calm down! Think about us. Think about Woohyun and I! You have to get better for us! Please don't do anything rash. You don't want to kill them. You want them to help you."

This did the trick. My mother went from a raging mad woman to a pitiful woman on the floor. She sobbed once again, and Woohyun oppa went to her side. He helped her up and tried to soothe her. Woohyun helped her to the bedroom and came out after a long hour.

"She's asleep," he sighed, sitting down beside me. When he saw my few tears roll down my cheek, Woohyun endearingly wiped them away. "Hey it's okay." He wrapped an arm around me and hugged me tight. "It's okay Bora. Don't cry anymore. Mother needs you to have faith in her, not your tears of sadness and fear.

"I'm sorry I'm not strong like you oppa." My voice was muffled by his shirt.

"Nonsense."

He kissed the top of my head and my silky hair gently. "Don't doubt yourself, Bora. You are a very strong woman. You've just been traumatized a bit and need someone handsome and awesome like your big brother to take care of you."

I laughed a little at his silliness. "Thank you oppa," I whispered and hugged him tighter.

~~~

"Oh my god Bora! Did anything happen?" Soyou exclaimed.

"You look horrible," Minho commented.

I glared at him but didn't say anything. In truth, Woohyun and I were kept up all night because of my mom. She was screaming and having tantrums. Her severe episodes changed so quickly that we could barely keep up with her. All night long we had to calm her down from her rash behaviors. By 7 A.M., we dropped her off at the institution with much difficulty. Mother never kept still and hit me and Woohyun several times, but we managed to get her in.

"Let's just go," I said quietly.

Gratefully, Soyou and Minho sensed all of my negative feelings and let the silence envelope us while we walked to our first class together. Throughout English, I wasn't very focused and was on the verge of falling asleep. When they saw me like this, Soyou or Minho would always bring me back to reality instead of letting me drift off.

And after English, Minho walked me to our next class where I would be bothered and irritated.

"Yah you never gave me the notes."

Groggily, I lifted my head up and saw Woobin in front of me.

"You look..."

"Horrible. I know. Just leave me alone."

And he surprisingly had the heart and sense to leave me be.

Throughout the day, I've been out of it, being unfocused and tired. I barely made it to class on time and mainly just slept At the end, I was exhausted. If only I didn't pull that all two nighters the day before...

"Jung Bora!"

I didn't even bother to turn around and kept walking like a zombie.

"Yah! How dare you ignore me?"

Soon I felt his presence beside me. Somehow his warmth was comforting. I guess knowing that someone is beside you is reassuring.

"Yah, are you okay?" His voice was softer than before.

I shook my head. "I'm not okay."

"Bora you... Bora!"

My legs gave in and I felt myself fall forward. He caught me just in time and helped me. He whispered something to me, but I never did know what because I out right then.

*Oppa - Older brother. Term used by younger sisters.

*Umma - Mom. Mommy.

*Bwuh - What in a surprised manner