Hyorin knew she was in trouble the second she came inside and saw Yong Guk waiting for her in his office.

“Hyorin,” he called to her, “can you come here for a moment?”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting down across from him, “have I done something wrong?”

“You’re darn right you’ve done something wrong,” Yong Guk replied, trying his hardest not to yell, “you’ve been skipping school all week.”

“Oh,” she looked down, ashamed in herself and disappointed that he’d found out. Ever since she’d healed her arm she’d been avoiding school, sneaking out as soon as Hyuk’s back was turned. She’d hoped that he wouldn’t care enough to tell, but apparently he did.

“What happened, Hyorin,” the older man asked, “you don’t skip school. You’ve never been the type to skip before, so what’s changed?”

I moved here, she thought, and got VIXX as guardians. And I found out someone wants to use me or kill me, whichever is easiest for them. But she knew better that to tell her uncle that, so stayed shut.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said.

“I know you are,” he sighed, “but what I don’t know is why. Why are you avoiding school? And why don’t you want to tell me?”

“I just couldn’t make myself go,” she knew it was a weak excuse, but anything was better than telling him the truth. In her mind anyway.

“Hyuk mentioned bullies,” Yong Guk finally decided to lay out everything he knew since Hyorin clearly wasn’t going to tell him anything, “and that they’ve been harassing you since you started. Is that true?”

The silence was answer enough.

“Can I please go,” Hyorin hug her head, “I’m not very hungry, so I’m going to skip dinner.” She didn’t wait for a reply before leaving.

Yong Guk sighed and dropped his head into his hands. This parenting thing was harder than he remembered it. But then again, being a father figure to Daehyun, Youngjae, Jongup, and Zelo was nothing like being a parent to Hyorin. She hadn’t grown up in his care under the same circumstances those four had lived in. She had Mi Sun and EXO filling the roles of loving mother and caring father instead. Yong Guk was just one of several uncles who dropped in for a visit once or twice a year.

Maybe if he had the kind of bond with her he had with the four youngest she wouldn’t look so ashamed to admit to him that kids where bullying her. Then again, Daehyun hadn’t exactly volunteered that information when he was a kid either, Youngjae had been the one to tell them. Maybe she was just ashamed that she was almost and adult and yet she still needed someone else to help protect her.

“Everything alright?” N asked after peeking inside the office and finding Yong Guk looking rather troubled.

“No,” the human male responded, “and part of the problem has to do with you and your brothers.”

“What did we do?” N asked, alarmed at the idea that he’d mess up and upset Yong Guk.

“Get everyone in here,” Yong Guk said, “we need to talk.” N was quick to gather his brothers and soon the demons were all sitting in Yong Guk’s office.

“What’s wrong?” Ken finally asked after several minutes of silence.

“I’m done with the tension between you six and Hyorin,” Yong Guk finally said, cutting to the chase, “she said something you found hurtful, yes. But she feels guilty.”

“She hasn’t apologized for it,” Ravi muttered to himself, but the human male heard him.

“You’re right,” he nodded, “she hasn’t. She’s scared to talk to you six right now because she realizes how much she upset you. Which is why you should go to her instead of waiting for her to come to you.”

“Why should we make the first move?” Hyuk countered, “She’s the one who said she hated us. We’re just respecting her wishes and giving her space.”

“She doesn’t know any better,” Yong Guk sighed, “she doesn’t know you. You’re strangers to her.”

“She doesn’t know you very well either,” Ravi shrugged, “but she doesn’t run around yelling how she’d rather have her mother here than you.”

“But she knows Yong Guk more that she does us,” N spoke up, “he’s visited her in the past. She’s heard stories from her mother about what a great person he is. Who’s been there in her life to tell her how great and trust worthy we are? No one.”

“Exactly,” Yong Guk agreed with the leader, “you need to show her that she can trust you just like she trusts me.”

“You don’t think we’ve tried that?” Ken scowled, “we’ve tried being friendly. She through it back in our faces.”

“Then we need to try a different way,” Hongbin said, “she’s scared and hurt and confused. I can feel it. there are people in this world who want her dead, she’s been pulled away from her family and everything she’s ever known. We need to show her that she doesn’t need to worry about that because we’ll protect her and keep her safe.”

“Once the fear is gone, the rest should come easy,” Leo added.

“Right now,” Yong Guk suggested, “one of you should confront her about what she said. She knows she needs to apologize, so give her the opportunity.”

“I’ll go,” N said as he got up to leave the room.

Upon reaching Hyorin’s room, N stood there trying to figure out how he would approach the situation. He couldn’t just bang on her door demanding an apology. No, that would only make things worse. He had to be smart about how he handled things with Hyorin from now on or he would just end up driving her farther away from him and his brothers.

“Hyorin,” he called, softly knocking on her door, “can I talk to you for a second.” There was a pause before he heard her moving around inside, making her way from her bed to the door.

“Yes?” she asked once the door was open.

“I wanted to talk to you about what you said the other day to Ken,” he explained, noticing the shame that appeared on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Hyorin said, looking down, “I shouldn’t have said that. I was wrong of me.”

“I just wanted to say that we forgive you,” N smiled slightly, “That’s all I wanted to say. Goodnight, Hyorin.” With that aid, N took his leave.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated once more, knowing that he could still hear her, before she shut her door.

A/N: I know exactly how Hyorin must feel about going to VIXX to apologize. You know you’ve messed up and really hurt someone who didn’t deserve it, but saying sorry is, like, declaring to the universe that you’ve messed up and that you’re an epic jerk. Had to go through that with my dad the other day (though in my case, he shared half the blame for that argument)