If she lets it loose then it will most likely kill her

Minseok runs into the student council at the park clean up volunteering.
They don’t greet each other or anything. Actually, the student council people probably have no clue Minseok is even a student at their school. Well, maybe they do. Minseok is wearing the same uniform as them.
To be fair, Minseok doesn’t recognize them except by the uniform as well.
She should’ve known that they would be there. Minseok is only there, of course, to increase her volunteer hours. She’s already given up on being the president of any clubs, so she’ll have to work harder to make up for the lack of leadership.
Minseok is used to doing her own thing, so she is surprised when one of the students breaks away and walks over to her to help her pick up canine feces scattered in the grass.
(Nobody else wanted the job, and Minseok couldn’t complain, so of course she has to do it)
Minseok doesn’t show any signs of reacting, focusing on her task at hand. The other student doesn’t talk, either. Minseok can’t help but notice that he’s much shorter than Chanyeol and Yixing, and even maybe Luhan.
Finally, as the event is wrapping up, the student walks over to Minseok and sticks his hand out. Minseok looks up into a face of soft features, with skin like pale milk. “My name is Kim Joonmyeon. I’m the student council president. It’s nice to see you up and about, volunteering,” he says.
Minseok just nods and shakes his hand. Even she is surprised at this very... adult way of greeting.
Silence stretches between them, and Minseok feels that it is her fault. She feels compelled to do something.
“My name is Minseok,” she says after a while.
“I know that,” Joonmyeon says, and Minseok looks up into a smile that makes Joonmyeon’s face look like a grandpa with very nice skin.
And Minseok has no chance to reply because Joonmyeon is already walking away.

As usual, partnering up is Minseok’s worst nightmare.
She’s at choir and for some reason, it’s decided that they’re going to warm up in pairs today.
“It’s something new we’re trying,” Baekhyun says, lips stretching into a square over his teeth. It has girls toppling onto each other, but Minseok is staring a hole into his nose because has she mentioned before that she hates working with people?
As usual, the rest of the students get into groups quickly, leaving Minseok to walk up to the front because, yes, she obviously doesn’t have a partner.
The only other person left is the other new kid (he hadn’t gotten as much attention has Luhan had) so Minseok nods to him and he nods back. The two find a fairly isolated place away from all the other people.
The silence between them is awkward. Minseok eyes the other kid’s sharp cheekbones and wonders if he can’t speak Korean. He could certainly pass for Chinese.
“So, what’s your name?” Minseok asks, feeling like this is the most outgoing she’s ever been (and will be).
“I’m Kim Jongdae,” the boy replies quickly, and Minseok concludes that he is Korean.
“I’m Kim Minseok,” Minseok says. She doesn’t offer her hand, so they just leave it at that.
“Uh... you want to get warmed up?” Jongdae asks. Minseok nods. For some reason, Jongdae doesn’t seem to be the type to be a singer; he seems too quiet, too shy and timid.
Minseok is surprised when Jongdae opens his mouth and a beautiful voice comes out.
As usual, the real beauty is always hidden behind a rocky exterior.

Kim Jongdae knows he doesn’t stand out much, and he accepts it.
He’s always been your average Korean boy. Your average Korean boy that nobody knows, because he’s always moving and changing schools and, when he was younger, changing friends. Over time, Jongdae found that making friends was useless, because he was just going to leave them behind again anyway.
The Kims were always moving, his father getting promotions. Jongdae is sure that they’ve lived in all the cities in the whole country of South Korea by now.
This also means that Jongdae has no way to establish himself. Sure, he’s got talent; Kim Jongdae is smart, fairly good looking, has a beautiful voice, and has a very friendly personality hidden deep inside him. But his talent is tightly wrapped, a gift basket with layers upon layers of tissue paper made of built up loneliness and a triple knotted ribbon of isolation.
People don’t even notice him when he moves away or when he walks into a new school.
Jongdae would be lying if he said he’s okay with it. He’s definitely not okay with moving four times a year. However, there’s nothing he can do about it. So he just doesn’t try anymore.
Maybe if Kim Jongdae was allowed to truly shine, to blossom, he would be just as popular as Byun Baekhyun, and just as noticed as Luhan.
But for now, the star that is Jongdae is buried in a parcel.
Waiting for someone to untie the knots, the pull away the tissue paper, and to let him shine.

Minseok finds Yixing with his head bowed, back flat against the wall, and she knows something is off.
Yixing is silent. Utterly silent. Minseok doesn’t even hear the sounds of breathing coming from him.
She speeds up, walking up to him and peering at him, concerned. Her head tells her to leave before she gets hurt as well, but her heart is imploring her to help him.
And for once, Minseok listens to her heart.
The words are foreign. It’s been a long time since Minseok has deciphered the strange language that the heart speaks. But she listens. And, according to the murmurs, she puts her arms around Yixing’s tired body and pulls him forward slightly until he leans against her.
They stand like that for a while, and the hole in Minseok’s heart where Yixing had punctured in with friendship closes up.
Finally, Yixing sighs quietly, and Minseok pulls away, her hands on his shoulders.
“What happened?” She asks, pouring sincerity into her gaze.
“Luhan... shouldn’t have trusted him,” Yixing replies. Minseok feels a pang in her heart; she can’t imagine how the kind looking Chinese transfer student could hurt Yixing like this.
“What did he do?” She asks further.
“This really isn’t a big deal. I shouldn’t care so much,” Yixing replies, and he looks up. Minseok’s eyes widen at the bruise blossoming under Yixing’s left eye.
“Who did that?” Minseok asks, sounding more worried that she’s ever sounded. She tells her head that it can’t be, but Yixing’s next words trip her, sending her dangerously close to falling.
“Luhan,” he whispers. “Singers. Choir.”
And Minseok doesn’t need to ask anything more.

Do Kyungsoo enjoys his life and wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
He’s got a normal family; a mother, a father, and a younger brother, and he couldn’t ask for more. They love him, support him, and help him in any way they can.
He’s an average height and has average looks. He’s happy that he’s not so tall that girls would have to jump to kiss him, or so short that even Joonmyeon could pat him on the head and weigh him down with his arm.
He’s pretty smart. Not so smart that everyone regards him as a nerd that only studies, or so stupid that he’s pushed away as a dumb jock.
Actually, Kyungsoo couldn’t be a dumb jock. He cannot do sports.
So that’s why Do Kyungsoo sings.
His best friend Baekhyun says it’s destiny. Kyungsoo’s last name is Do, like the first sound of the scale. Kyungsoo’s voice is soft and smooth, buttery like an angel’s voice.
Together, Do Kyungsoo and Byun Baekhyun are the heartthrobs of the freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior students alike.
They both have beautiful voices and godly looks; Kyungsoo more of the handsome type while Baekhyun is your cute neighbor. They’ve always secured the main roles in plays. They’re smart and nice to everyone, and known by everyone as well.
Do Kyungsoo loves his life and wouldn’t change it for anyone else’s.

To Kim Minseok, Byun Baekhyun is the angel of death.
“We’ll be starting auditions today! You won’t have a chance to practice, to make if fair. Everyone is singing the same thing. We will be looking at technique, sound, and sight reading. I’m so excited! Let’s start of with... Ahn Hyeri!” Baekhyun nods the terrified girl into the practice room, where Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon, the other leader of the choir, are waiting.
It’s hard to hold back. Minseok finds herself full of energy for some reason, itching to lay her fists on something. A face. A face belonging to a certain smiling boy who just happened to be walking over.
“Hello, Minxi!” Luhan greets brightly, and Minseok wonders how he can smile like that.
“Why?” Minseok asks softly. Luhan inclines his head, a confused expression filling his face.
“What?” Luhan asks.
And Minseok turns around, putting on her poker face (it’s long been perfected) and erasing Luhan’s existence from her world, because he is obviously in denial and Minseok hates people who lie to themselves and the people around them.
(Which also means Minseok hates herself, but it’s a fact that she keeps chained away, because if she lets it loose then it will most likely kill her)
Jongdae is right before her. She taps him on the shoulder and smiles at him. His lips twitch, as if he’s trying to smile as well, and Minseok admires him for the effort. She nods to show that she understands, because Jongdae’s eyes show everything, and he turns back around.
Minseok watches the judges’ reactions carefully, satisfaction filling her at their surprised expressions. Because Jongdae has a beautiful voice, and Minseok hopes that this year he’s the one who wins the main role. If it’s him, Minseok might actually watch the play instead of doing her homework.
Too quickly, it’s Minseok’s turn.
She’s not nervous at all. Her mind is telling her to get it over with, and her heart agrees. So Minseok is at peace with herself.
“Oh! Minseok-ssi!” Joonmyeon says, smiling his grandpa smile. Minseok nods, but doesn’t grace him with a smile in return. All three students are grinning like idiots, and Minseok just wants to wipe the eagerness of their faces and smear it in the dirt for the flowers’ fertilizer. They look like puppies begging for a treat.
“Hello,” Minseok greets, bowing to them slightly.
“Kim Minseok-ssi!” Baekhyun exclaims brightly. “We are so excited to hear you sing!”
And Minseok surprises herself the most (she didn’t know she had it in her) when she mutters, “I’m so not excited to sing for you.”
“What was that?” Baekhyun says loudly, smile a bit strained now.
“Nothing,” Minseok says, widening her eyes and making what she hopes is an innocent face.
“Alright.” Baekhyun says, seemingly mollified. “First, please sing the chorus of the song we are currently learning in choir.”
And so Minseok opens and draws air into her lungs to sing Open Arms. She’s not confident in her voice, but she’s definitely confident in her English. Hearing her own voice echo, alone, seems strange to Minseok. It’s strange that her own voice could be that loud. Without knowing what she’s doing, she adds a bit of vibrato to the notes.
Minseok doesn’t let the endless scribbling get to her. It doesn’t matter, anyway.
Kyungsoo stands up and hands her a piece of paper. On it are musical notes and words. “Please sing a small piece of this for us,” he says. Minseok nods.
The title of the song is “Bogoshipda” or “I Miss You.” She takes a moment to hum through the notes, getting the tune into her head. Then Minseok sings through the words on the page. She stumbles a bit here and there, but, overall, it’s pretty smooth.
Minseok thinks she did better than she expected herself to do.
“Thank you!” Baekhyun says when she finishes. “Please send the next person in!”
And Minseok leaves the room with the sense of a heavy burden lifting off her shoulders.

Yixing totally did not expect Jongin to talk to him after two years of silence.
He was minding his own business, sitting at the park and doing his homework. Home feels too stifling to him, too closed in. Yixing likes the open skies and wide fields.
And then a weight had dropped on his back and Yixing flew forward with a surprised grunt.
And now here he is, staring at a completely out of it Jongin.
“And I told her that even though the sea is full of fish, she was easiest catch!” Jongin wails. “I can’t believe she would still leave me after that!” And Jongin bawls into Yixing shirt.
Yixing thinks that Jongin probably doesn’t even know what he’s sad about anymore. Certainly fish doesn’t seem right.
“Everyone leaves me,” Jongin sniffles. “My mother, my father, my older sister... why? Why does everyone leave me? Why did they have to go somewhere better than where I am? They’re so selfish!”
Yixing feels his stomach drop to his toes and his arms freeze from where they were Jongin’s back comfortingly.
“What do you mean?” Yixing asks, tone cold.
“They’re gone, Yixing,” Jongin sobs, and Yixing is surprised that Jongin knows who he’s talking to. “They’ve been gone. Two years... two years since they left me.”
Two years. Two years since Jongin started ignoring Yixing.
“Oh, you big idiot,” Yixing sighs. “Is that why? Why are you so weak?”
“They told me I had to be strong. I had to pull through life and let nothing stop me. They’ve always wanted the best for me.”
“What are you talking about, Jongin!?” Yixing cries out, shaking Jongin’s shoulders. Yixing knows best that Jongin’s parents had always been harsh on their son, disapproving of Jongin’s personality, looks, and especially his choice of friends. “They were horrible to you. The beat you.”
“It was for my own good,” Jongin says, and suddenly he’s Kai again, the cold, stainless steel humanoid. Jongin pulls away from Yixing stiffly and turns around. “I think I had too much to drink today. Sorry for bothering.”
Yixing stands up and puts a hand on Jongin’s shoulder before Jongin leaves. To his surprise, Jongin’s feet still.
“There’s no bother,” Yixing says quietly. “Never. I will never be bothered by you. Because you are the one who saved me, Jongin.”
And then Yixing is feeling the cold night air flow through his palms like a liquid river, colder and deeper than ever before.

It’s been a month since Ryeowook last visited Minseok, at the beginning of the school year.
Time passes fast when you’re old. You don’t see the days anymore; they become an endless ribbon of the same things over and over again.
But this month something is different. Something is changing.
And that something is called by the name of Oh Sehun.
Oh Sehun, the only heir of the Oh Corporations, even if he is adopted.
Oh Sehun, a fine work of art with sharply chiseled features and a charm that no girl could withstand.
Oh Sehun, a spoiled and bratty fourteen year old who thinks he knows everything in the world and owns it, too.
Ryeowook sighs in frustration at his newest charge. Sehun is moving in from his old location, somewhere in China, to this place in Korea. And, to make it worse, Sehun seems to have a new wish.
To go to school.
It’s complicated, and Ryeowook knows it. He knows there’s no chance that Sehun and Minseok will recognize each other, but at the same time he’s reluctant to take the chance. But he also knows he must comply with Sehun’s wishes.
He wishes Sehun was half as kind and humble as Minseok.
It is the upbringing that affects the child’s personality, after all.
Not that Ryeowook approves of Minseok’s upbringing; it definitely strikes a nerve within him. But once again, he has no choice in the matter.
Ryeowook is just the puppet that carries out the orders and moved by its master.
And Ryeowook’s latest order is to install Sehun in school.
Which happens to be Minseok’s school as well, because Minseok’s school is elite.
(And apparently Oh Sehun deserves the best, even if Ryeowook doesn’t approve)

Frostbitten201