Jongin never thought that the place where the illegal boxing matches are organized will be looking like that. And by that he meant that good.

“Wow” he looked around in awe “I really thought it’s gonna be some abandon house or something”

“Are you nuts?” Jiyong laughed “It’s illegal boxing, the popular entertainment among super rich and bored to death people. Of course it has to look fancy”

Jongin was standing in a place that reminded him of a ball hall with a boxing ring in the middle.

The big day finally came - he was about to fight, as Zico’s substitute, for the first time in the illegal boxing match. He was here together with Jiyong, Yongguk, Chaerin, Himchan, Yukwon and Dara. The whole group, minus Jongin himself, seemed to be pretty comfortable around the place, as they already held some drinks in their hands and were chatting happily with other present audience. Jongin quickly understood that indeed, the people here had to know each other. The fans that were making bets, as Choi Seunghyun told him, were really a closed circle.

“Good evening kids” he heard some familiar voice, as he turned around to see the person. His eyes widened.

There was standing Choi Seunghyun, his trademark smirk plastered to his handsome face. With that the rest bowed 90 degrees, and Jongin only gulped before doing the same thing.

“Good evening hyung” Jiyong said “Any directions?”

“Yes” Choi Seunghyun only nodded his head and pointed at the ring “Jongin-sshi will be fighting under the nickname, which is Kai. I don’t know his opponent but he is nothing special. Please take him down in the 3rd round”

With that Jiyong nodded and looked at Jongin with raised eyebrow. The other boy nodded as well, evidently delighted by the fact that Jiyong was a messenger between him and Choi Seunghyun, so he did not need to speak with the man himself.

Finally Choi Seunghyun looked at the rest of the group.

“Yongguk-ah, how are you?” he smiled “I haven’t seen you since last summer”

“Ah, yes” Yongguk flashed him his typical gummy smile “I got a Mustang from 1975 and I spent the whole summer renovating it”

“I understand” Choi Seunghyun nodded “I hope you can give me a ride sometime. Have fun kids”

With that he was gone and Jongin turned to Yongguk, the shock visible on his face.

“Yongguk-ah? Hyung?” he exclaimed “You know him?!”

“Of course” Yongguk laughed “I scouted Zico for him”

Jongin eyes widened as he turned around to face the others. Everyone, with Chaerin in the front, just shrugged their shoulders.

“He’s a friend of a friend of a brother of a friend or something like that” she said and with that they made their way to the ring. Jongin decided to not think any more about Choi Seunghyun as he leaned towards Jiyong.

“Can you finally tell me something more? You weren’t really helpful since you transferred to school to, presumably, have an eye on me ” he whispered, his voice scared “I don’t even know how to fight here!”

“Dude” Jiyong stopped and squeezed his shoulders “It’s like typical boxing. Each round has 2 minutes, just hit and stay alive” he patted his head and went to the front.

“Hey!” Jongin called after him “And what about boxing gloves?!”

“What?” Jiyong stopped and turned around to him with a frown “Oh, yeah. No gloves here. Bare fists”

Jongin paled, gulped and looked up at the ring before his eyes.

Fantastic.

5 MINUTES LATER

Jongin did like he was told.

He took the opponent, named Lee Joon, down in the beginning of 3rd round, while receiving a massive applause and a thumb up from Choi Seunghyun.

The fight itself did not leave him unharmed as Jongin could already feel his growing black eye and some, probably visible, cuts. Suddenly he panicked as he thought of the amount of questions that Luhan and Chanyeol will throw at him tomorrow at school. Not to mention Minji.

“Good job kid” Jongin’s head up perked from Yukwon, who was taking care of his fresh scratches, to see Jiyong. He grinned widely and passed him an envelope. Jongin raised his eyebrow and took a look inside.

“What the hell?” he asked and Jiyong rolled his eyes.

“Your part” he answered casually “The fighter receives 5% from the bets. It’s ok, but it’s usually more”

Jongin nodded and counted the money. 3000USD was not bad indeed.

THE NEXT DAY, “THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” MORNING REHEARSAL

Today’s morning rehearsal for the musical was made especially for Chaerin.

She could not miss her own classes because of the costumes or rather the cast members’ measurement she needed to take. Ms. Lee Hyori was nice enough to gather everyone in the school’s auditorium to make Chaerin’s job easier.

She told them it will take her only around 30 minutes. With a measuring tape and notepad in her hand she was ready to do her thing.

Firstly she measured Taeyeon and Daehyun, Jongdae’s substitute for the Beast role, writing their chest, waist, hips, legs, shoe, neck and shoulder sizes down in her notes.

Later she saw Byun Baekhyun approaching her. He gazed at her and then bowed. Chaerin blinked, did the same thing and without anything more she bend down to measure his hips.

He was unusually quiet as Chaerin was already prepared for his typical, lame and ist jokes. Instead he said nothing.

She felt awkward and decided to stop it.

“Why did you refuse to take the Beast?” she asked while standing up and wrapping the tape around his waist “I heard Ms. Lee wanted you to replace Jongdae”

He smiled bitterly.

“I couldn’t” he said quietly “That’s all I can do. At least”

Finally Chaerin put the tape under his arms and then around his chest. She was able to face him properly and that was the moment when Chaerin saw how broken he was. His eyes widened as he looked away. Chaerin only sighed and ignored it, now measuring his shoulders width.

“You’re better than Daehyun” she simply said “It’s a pity for the musical”

“I’m thinking to drop it completely” he muttered, his profile still facing her.

“Are you crazy?” she almost jumped from him, her eyes widening “You have a talent! You cannot just drop it!”

“I am a monster, Chaerin-sshi” finally Baekhyun moved his head to face her again, his eyes teary “I was dumb enough to not think about the consequences of my actions and it destroyed one of my best friends. Not to mention his loved one…” his head dropped “I feel like I have to do it or the guilt will kill me”

Chaerin was truly taken aback by his words. She knew he will be feeling guilty but she never though he will be devastated. And the fact that some people in school knew it was him and were looking at him with disgust did not help at all. Not to mention he was alone now – no Chanyeol, no Luhan and no other people he was hanging out with.

What was odd – Chaerin could relate. She remembered that feeling about Nana and she was truly thankful it did not destroy her. The guilt was one of the strongest emotions for her and, if it was not for her friends and Yongguk, she would be as broken as Baekhyun was now.

“You’re not a monster” finally she said as she took a step forward and wrapped the measuring tape around his neck “The thing you did was ed up but it’s not like most of us would not do the same. We are only humans after all”

With that she smiled and concentrated on squeezing the tape tighter, missing the mixed look of shock and thankfulness painted on Baekhyun’s face.

“Thank you, Chaerin-sshi” he said as she took the tape back and became to writing down the numbers. She only nodded, still focused on her notes.

“Chaerin” she said “Don’t ‘sshi’ me please. I was raised in France so I feel kinda bizarre with  the ‘sshi’ thing” with that she looked up at him again “How’s your name spelled? With the ‘h’ in the middle right?”

Baekhyun approached and took the pen out of her hand. She blinked her eyes and looked down at his writing just above the noted measurements.

Her eyebrows furrowed but soon after that she grinned widely.

“Oh ok” she chuckled “Bacon? That was unexpected”

With that Baekhyun smiled and Chaerin could not help but to feel proud of herself. Maybe at least she made his day a little better.

Even if it was only for a second.

Baekhyun was done with the measurements and took the stairs to the roof.

He met Kim Himchan on the way and asked him for a cigarette. Yes, he was aware that he should not be smoking but it was not like he really cared now.

And besides he was always almost hypnotized by the smoke coming out from Sehun’s mouth and nose. There was something magical about this act.

As he opened the doors he saw Sehun’s flashing, messy rainbow hairdo. His wide back was facing him but there was another person standing beside him, leaning on the railing as well.

As soon as they heard the doors opening they turned around. Baekhyun saw the other person was his classmate, Sandara Park.

“Hi Baekhyun-sshi, good morning!” Dara waved her hand and smiled widely. It was odd to see her here.

Dara was always around her brother or Luhan.

It was even odder to see Sehun with her, as he was only around Luhan.

Sehun and Dara together were just the oddest view ever.

“What are you doing here?” Sehun raised his eyebrow, scanning Baekhyun from head to toe.

“Cigarette break” he answered, trying as hard as he could to imitate Sehun’s usual unaffected voice “What are you two doing here? Since when you’re friends?”

Dara smiled