Seryung and Hana continued to discuss their biases, walking behind Tao and Sehun towards Safari World. The girls didn’t care much for the Safari as they did about finding another Cassiopeia. Their conversation consisted about performances and shows whereas their whispers talked about handsome oppas, chocolate abs and biceps.

“We get to sit in pairs?” Tao asked and glanced shrewdly at the girls who were still talking about idols.

“That’s great!” Hana exclaimed pulling Seryung next to her. “We’ll sit together!”

“No you won’t!” Sehun frowned and crossed his arm. “Your giggling is getting annoying, there’s no way the two of you are allowed to sit together. You’ll ruin the Safari for everyone.”

“They’ll scare the animals when they scream about oppas, it could get dangerous,” Tao warned with a stern face.

-

Hana had somehow ended up sitting with Sehun in one car - Seryung with Tao. Both girls were surprised when the guys had made the suggestion and neither of them had argued too much.

Sehun rolled his eyes, the reason the girls had been separated was so they would stop fangirling, but they had been one step ahead. Sehun was tempted to confiscate Hana’s phone for the rest of their day.

Hana giggled silently and waited for a reply to her message. She’d been careful not to let Sehun see what they were talking about because the conversation had somehow strolled over to: wanting to touch Jaejoong’s arms. Hana blushed at the thought, whether it was impulse or fangirl hormones Hana poked Sehun’s arms and pouted.

“What?” Sehun asked as Hana leaned back in her seat in dismay.

“Your arms aren’t muscular at all,” Hana muttered quietly thinking Sehun couldn’t hear.

“They are!” Sehun retaliated. “You say that because my arm’s relaxed,” Sehun flexed his biceps, “Now check.”

Hana glanced at Sehun’s arms and gave him a pitiful look. She pushed his arm back to his side, “People are looking. It’s embarrassing!”

Sehun swallowed his pride and flexed again. “I’m telling you, they’re muscular!”

Hana shook her head to look at a tiger who was lazing in the sun, with droopy eyes watching them drive by. Hana smiled when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand, she was just about to look at the message from Seryung when there was a sharp noise and the window darkened beside her. Hana jumped in her seat and turned to lock eyes with a snarling tiger. Hana yelped, color drained from her face. In an effort to protect herself she hugged Sehun.

The driver assured them that it was okay. Bars protected the windows, and the car swiftly drove on. Sehun Hana’s back, “It’s okay,” he assured her as her grip on his sleeves tightened. He could hear her erratic heartbeat, which he believed was from the surprise the tiger had given her.

Sehun paled immediately, “Hana! Can you breathe?” He hissed in fear. Hana pulled away from his chest and gave him a quizzical look. She nodded slowly making Sehun fall back in his seat and sigh with relief. ‘She’s okay!’

Hana pressed her lips together, her mind began to piece the puzzle and she eventually smiled, ‘He was worried you’d stop breathing!’  Hana hugged herself. Her mind was now occupied with thoughts of Sehun, she glanced at him secretly as he gazed out the window. He was no Jaejoong, but that didn’t take away his handsomeness. Sehun suddenly chuckled and tapped Hana’s shoulder for her attention.

“Look at that!” Sehun pointed to what he was seeing. Hana swallowed and leaned across, her senses were telling her she was very close to him. Her imagination was speculating if she’d be able to kiss him if she turned to face him. A hand pressed against her back. “Look there!” Sehun pointed in an amused tone. Hana followed the tip of Sehun’s finger and chuckled. A lion was holding onto the tree, trying to swat at the leaves that were inches out of reach.

“Do you think he’ll catch them?” Hana asked watching the lion stand as tall as he could.

“Maybe, if he’s clever,” Sehun answered. The other lions around that lion weren’t as interesting as that particular lion itself, most of them were lying in the sun and the cubs were fighting for meat that had been left for them.

Hana tried to adjust her position as the car drove closer to the lion but her feet slipped. Hana gasped, she’d been expecting to hit her head against the window but a hand shielded the side of her face and an arm was wrapped around her waist. Her breath became shallow when Sehun smiled at her. “Clumsy aren’t we?”

Hana pulled herself back to her seat and stared at the seat in front of her with a blank mind. She heard him chuckle and her ears turned red.

For the rest of the Safari Hana stared out the window, but saw nothing as her thoughts explored the plains of her relationship with Sehun.

-

Seryung had been nodding off but would wake after her phone buzzed, she would then giggle after every text message she read. It was beginning to bother Tao because he was unable to enjoy the Safari. Tao didn’t care much for bears or tigers or lions but he had expected to enjoy himself at least. Seryung pressed her hands against when Tao turned to give her a dirty look.

“Sorry!” Seryung whispered and turned her back to him. It was hard not to laugh especially when Hana had sent her an amusing picture of Jung Yunho dressed as what should have been Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies. Seryung pressed her lips together as hard as to could to contain the imminent laughter that was threatening to convulse from her.

Tao groaned when he heard a series of spluttering giggles, he wondered why Hana had invited her at all! They had been friends, then stopped being friends and now had reignited their friendship from their love of the same idol group. Tao would have applauded the return of their friendship, if only Seryung would stop giggling beside him. There was no trace of remorse in her ‘sorries’ and he sensed she was on cloud 9.

Seryung apologized once again and Tao rolled his eyes. “Why apologize if you’re going to do it again anyway?”

‘Common curtsy,’  Seryung thought but didn’t speak her mind, “It’s Hana’s fault!” She pointed out childishly and pouted, crossing her arms as she did, making sure her phone was out of his reach just in case he were to take it away from her to see what she and Hana had been up to.

“It’s my fault, I wanted to come to Everland…” Tao shook his head at his own mistake. He hoped Hana was having fun because he sure wasn’t.

Seryung jutted out her lower lip further. ‘You always side with Hana!’ It bothered her to a degree that Tao refused to say anything that wasn’t in Hana’s favor yet that’s exactly what he did. Seryung brushed aside the petty jealousy pretending she didn’t hear and went back to her phone.

Tao stared outside. He wasn’t the ‘adventure’ type. He’d rather sit at home in front of the computer and browse his weibo to see how many people liked his selca, rather than watch animals in their unnatural habitat. It was safe to say that Tao was bored. His thoughts were empty too because there wasn’t much to think about, he just wanted to relax and forget everything but her giggling companion would never allow him to do so.

“Aren’t you too old to be liking idol guys?” Tao complained shaking his head in disgust. His words caught the attention of his companion faster than anything. She raised her head to look up at him. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, they blinked blankly at him a few times before her eyebrows knitted together.

“I’m seventeen…” Seryung yawned, she wasn’t too old for anything, in fact she was under-aged, which meant that drinking and clubbing were activities out of her reach. Seryung crossed her arms. ‘How old does he think I am?’

Tao gave her a condescending stare. “Thirteen-year-olds like idols,” he explained rather vaguely. It disgusted him that Seryung didn’t understand the meaning behind his short sentences.

Seryung clicked her tongue, “So?” She asked, miffed that he was trying to pick a bone with her. She was a few years over thirteen and so was Hana but Tao hadn’t said anything about it to her when they’d been together.

“Are you jealous?”

“Of girly-idol guy’s who wear too much make-up?”

“Excuse you, Jung Yunho is not girly!”

“Jung Yunho, would run as far away as possible, if he were ever to run into you especially, with the way you scream.”

Seryung pouted, “I wouldn’t scream in front of him!” She defended and leaned back in her seat offended that Tao had suggested she would embarrass herself like so.

“Yeah, right, sure you wouldn’t. I expect, you’d be one of those ‘polite’ fans who would ask for an autograph and a picture and then be off on your way and not at all like those ones that turn red, scream, cry and hyperventilate.”

“It would be completely normal to hyperventilate in the presence of Jung Yunho because he’s kind and handsome. He’s such a nice guy, so humble and sweet even though he’s so famous! Why can’t all guy’s be like that?”

“Because we’re not all girls?”

Seryung rolled her eyes and ignored him, she wanted to hit him but she worried he might try to hit her back, instead she glanced down at the phone she’d taken out of her pocket. It hadn’t rung for a while and Seryung was left waiting with droopy eyes. ‘Looks like Hana’s having fun…’  Seryung smiled to herself content with the conversation that they’d had.

Their short exchange of words had brought silence and Tao was glad to be rid of the excessively strange persona that had possessed the girl beside him. He stole a glance at her, she was pretending to look outside yet he sensed her eyes were distant. There was no trace of a smile on her face, which led him to believe she wasn’t fantasizing about meeting ‘oppa.’ Tao smirked when her droopy eyes came to a close before suddenly flying open again.

Weariness; it had just hit Seryung like a clonk on the head, she adjusted her position and leaned her head against the window. She’d almost forgotten that she’d stayed up all night, in fact she would have believed it didn’t happen if her ankle didn’t brush against her shoe when she stretched her feet. Seryung winced slightly recalling how she’d grazed it.

-

It had been around 2 a.m. and Seryung had been at her desk for approximately four hours. She’d been trying to study. ‘Trying’ being the key word. Seryung had forced herself to sit and forced herself to read and forced herself to write until she felt she’d reached an acceptable level of understanding. After she was fed up of sitting she took to her feet and paced her room with a book in her hands.

She’d noticed she was falling behind in class because her concentration was diminishing. She dreaded class more than anything, she felt as if all eyes were on her. When notes were passed she felt as if they were for her and when they didn’t reach her she felt as if they were about her. When she heard whispering she sensed they were talking about her and when someone chuckled silently Seryung felt chills. The slightest sounds made her flinch with paranoia, it was safe to say her sponge like ability had dried up...

The only way to amend her lack of attention in class was to work outside of it. Seryung didn’t want to fall behind, if she lagged it would mean her meeting her brother’s concerned eyes on a daily basis because he would tutor her. Seryung didn’t want to get to that stage, reaching that stage meant she’d lost and Seryung was by no means a loser. So Seryung had decided to study…

‘Study’ didn’t mean sit at her desk for a couple of hours, oh no! Study meant catch up on what you’ve fallen behind on and for Seryung. There was much to catch up on, much to understand and much to curse silently under her breath about.

Seryung had meant to close her window but had been too focused on her books to notice that she wasn’t alone. Not until she’d heard a screech that had made her jump, stumble and trip grazing her ankle in the process.

The owl hadn’t so much as approached her because Miyoung had been there to advise it not to but that didn’t stop Seryung from holding the book in her hands as both a weapon and shield.

Seryung massaged her temples, the owl had returned at 6 a.m. She’d never paid attention to the number of hours MAMA spent hunting and therefore it had escaped her mind that the owl would be returning. That day was the first time that Seryung had touched the door to MAMA’s cage. She had been afraid that the owl would try to touch her but Miyoung had been persistent. Nothing had happened, to the owl or Seryung. The owl hadn’t made a sound since it had returned from its expeditions, which only meant that Seryung was able to study diligently until she heard movement around the house.

Seryung had paused to listen to the footsteps, she heard them every day, they belonged to her brother. Seryung had wondered what he was doing awake and when she reached for her phone to check the time it was already 8 a.m. Seryung had smiled woefully to herself. She knew where he was going but didn’t possess the strength to try and stop him. She’d looked at the work that remained and the compared it to how much she had completed. The ratio was uneven in a way that made Seryung feel satisfied - there wasn’t much left to do!

She had managed to stay awake all night cataloging factual information into her head and when she was done she noticed why the owl had refrained from making noise - it was asleep.

 Seryung smiled to herself and pulled her seat close to the owl cage so she could watch the creature. Seryung thought it might have cursed her, she’d imprisoned it and in return was imprisoned herself. She couldn’t blame MAMA if it had, after all Seryung cursed at people who had turned school into a prison for her too. She and the owl were similar, they both kept to their own business, no one cared for them for their sakes but rather out of obligation. Their only friend was a ghost who was just as lonely as them; it was pitiful for all three parties.

-

Seryung’s transpired from her thoughts. She directed her gaze as Tao who was trying to film the trip.

“I’m sorry.”

Tao blinked wondering if her words had been directed towards him. He sighed inwardly not knowing what she was apologizing for but her tone was sincere enough for him to turn towards her.

“For what?”

She gave him that smile that Tao had gotten so used to seeing, however regardless of how many times he saw that smile he couldn’t understand why it was so pitiful. Tao watched it carefully. It was the same smile, the one he saw in school on a daily basis, that lonely smile. Tao didn’t know what it was about the smile but he’d felt he’d seen it somewhere before. It irked him that he couldn’t pin point where. Regardless of its essence, Tao confirmed that the apology, which had led to the smile, was from the heart. He didn’t know the reason behind it.

Seryung lowered her eyes breaking contact with his, she nervously took a deep breath, “Everything.” Seryung fidgeted with her fingers. “Do you want MAMA back? He was yours to begin with…”

Seryung wondered why Tao hadn’t bombarded him with questions about the owl yet. He’d been angry about it once before. She was offering it back to him now, ‘It’s cursed you Seryung-ah… You need to give him back.’

“MAMA…” Tao massaged his temples wishing she hadn’t reminded him of the owl. That owl had been in Tao’s care ever since the day it hatched. All the way until the day it was sold to Seryung.

“How is MAMA? He must have grown pretty big by now.”

“He has…” Seryung’s let the remainder of her words liner in her head for a moment before voicing them. “He scares me. I can’t go near him. The maids look after him. I think… I think, I should return him to you.”

Tao clenched his teeth when he thought about the loneliness the owl must have felt yet he didn’t have the strength to yell at its current owner.

“Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you telling me all this? You could just let the maids look after it.”

“Because you like him. He probably likes you too. It’s not fair for me to keep him like that.”

Tao smiled despite himself. ‘At least she as that much sense.’

“Okay, I’ll take him. You won’t regret it will you because once you hand him over you’re not getting him back.”

Seryung chuckled. “It’s fine.”

‘Maybe you’ll think of me when you see him?’

“One thing I don’t understand is. Why did you buy him if you were afraid of him?”

“I can’t remember.”

‘It might have cursed me.’

“Are you sure it’s not because you didn’t like me, and wanted to annoy me?”

“N-no, it’s not like that!” Seryung said all too quickly.

“It seemed like it,” Tao countered. He examined her from the corner of his eyes.

Seryung sighed tiredly and leaned her head against the window. She could feel honestly trying to find a way out of her and uttered. “Maybe it was like that… I was just trying to help that old lady and then you came and hurt my pride.”

 Tao laughed. “You hurt my pride too. That old lady sided with you all the way.”

Seryung smiled, it was that same lonely smile that made Tao wonder what had happened to this girl. She was different when he’d first met her. She had been like a spoilt princess but now she was being her honest self. It was almost like she was trying to pick up shattered pieces of herself. He felt sympathetic towards her.

‘It was the same for Hana,’ Tao recounted. Hana too had been struggling and crying until the faithful day when Seryung had selflessly sided with her. Tao remembered Hana telling him about ‘Oh Seryung.’ Tao had wanted to get to know Seryung back then. The selfless impression she’d given him was very different to the girl he knew. ‘Or thought you knew.’ Tao shut his eyes, his brain tried hard to connect the puzzle that lay scattered like jigsaw pieces.

“I’m sorry for that too.” Seryung half spoke, half yawned sparkling Tao’s thoughts with the fairy dust he’d been looking for.

“You won’t sound serious if you yawn like that.” Tao advised in a mock serious tone.

“I’ve was up all night trying to keep up with education. I don’t want to fall behind because of everything that’s happening.”

Tao’s eyebrows receded into his hairline. He hadn’t been expecting an answer like that. He would have been lying if he said he wasn’t impressed by her preservation and persistence because Hana was different. Hana didn’t think about catching up. She wanted to run away, Tao knew, he’d never tell Hana about this observation either. It would bother her.

“Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up once we finish the round.”

Seryung’s head stirred in a nod. ‘A power nap will do you good.’ It didn’t take her long to fall asleep.

Tao didn’t have the willpower to enjoy the round. He hoped the other two were enjoying themselves because he was left to think about how different he was from the three of them.

They were dripping in wealth - they had maids to do their bidding; they had enough money to buy tickets from one of the busiest, well-known amusement parks; they had enough to rent the whole k-pop hologram room and chose the songs of their choice; they had enough to rent Safari cars that could seat more than two people; they had that much money! Tao concluded they were worlds apart, because he had just about enough, to buy snacks on the way home from school.

It was the frightening reality - rich kids versus the son of schoolteachers – he went to the same school as them. They would have a field day if they ever found out how ordinary he was. They might even decide to move away from Oh Seryung to target him.

Tao massaged his temples. ‘Two years. It’s just two years and then you’re out of there! No one has to know anything.’