There was a lot of yelling the next morning when Jiyoo woke up. No one was in the room with her which seemed odd since the boys were supposed to be “protecting” her. She could hear Yixing screaming but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She didn’t know if she should wait for someone or if she was free to wander the house as she pleased.

Yixing’s yelling grew louder and more intense and Jiyoo figured that no one was going to get her anytime soon. Slowly, she got out of bed and walked to the door. Pressing her ear against the door, she could hear Yixing saying that someone was an idiot and that they were at risk for something but Jiyoo couldn’t hear what.

She opened the door as quietly as she could and peered out into the hallway. At the moment, all she could see was Yixing but he was too busy yelling to notice her. Tao was the first to see her when she entered the main room and he grinned at her and waved. “Good morning, Jiyoo,” he said.

Yixing stopped yelling and everyone looked in Jiyoo’s direction. Jiyoo blushed, unsure of what to do with all this attention. “Jiyoo,” Yixing then said, “sit down. We need to talk.” She glanced at everyone nervously and decided to sit down next to Tao who then playfully stuck his tongue out at the others. Yixing cleared his throat and sat down in front of Jiyoo on the coffee table. “I heard that Jongdae told you what we are,” he said.

Jiyoo nodded, “He said you were Outliers.”

“He shouldn’t have told you that,” Yixing stated. Jiyoo looked at him quizzically. “You weren’t supposed to know yet,” he clarified, “Now, because of Jongdae – because you know – your safety is compromised.”

“What do you mean ‘compromised?’” Jiyoo asked.

Luhan was the one to answer. “Because you know,” he said, “there’s a chance that you could tell others what we are. You know what happened to Outliers in the past: the government wiped them out. Well, almost wiped them out.”

“But I won’t tell anyone!” Jiyoo protested. Even though she barely knew these guys, she wasn’t going to put their lives in jeopardy because they’re different. “If you guys know me as well as you say you do, then you know that I can keep a secret.”

Tao smiled and held Jiyoo’s hand. “We know you can but we need to think of your safety as well as ours. If someone finds out what we are, they might take us away and we may not be able to protect you anymore.”

Jiyoo removed Tao’s hand from hers and looked around at the boys. “I promise,” she said, “I will keep your secret.”

Jongdae scoffed and playfully hit Yixing in the arm. “Do you think I would have told her if I thought she couldn’t keep our secret?”

Yixing sighed. He knew there was no use arguing. “Fine,” he said, standing up, “Now, go get ready.”

“Ready?” Jiyoo asked, “For what?”

“We’re going shopping. We need supplies,” Minseok answered. It wasn’t often that Minseok spoke so Jiyoo almost jumped when she heard his voice. “We’re not equipped for having a girl in the house.”

With that, Jiyoo burst out laughing. It was a good feeling to laugh considering everything that had happened to her in the past few days. She could sense the others relax a little and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tao flash a smile. He ruffled her hair and quickly kissed her on the cheek. “That’s the Jiyoo we love,” he beamed as they all got ready to leave.

A few hours later, Jiyoo was relieved when they arrived at HomePlus. After everything that had happened so far, Jiyoo was almost certain that they would go shopping at some underground district that people had to use a secret map to find however, she was glad to see that the boys were relatively normal in terms of shopping.

“We know what you’re thinking,” someone suddenly said next to her, causing her to jump in alarm. She looked over and saw Jongdae casually matching his pace to hers. “Or, at least, your expression tells us what you’re thinking.”

“What do you mean?” Jiyoo asked as they entered the building.

Jongdae smirked knowingly. “Of course we shop at HomePlus,” he said, “Sometimes it’s LotteMart but it’s usually HomePlus. We need food and clothes too, you know.”

Jiyoo laughed awkwardly but didn’t reply to him. Yixing was making a verbal list of things they needed but Jiyoo didn’t pay much attention to what he was saying. She just blindly followed them throughout the store as they picked up things they needed and Jiyoo tried to stay out of the way.

She hadn’t noticed that the group had moved on when someone suddenly bumped into her. Jiyoo quickly turned around to apologize to the person but when she saw the handsome boy, she thought she knew who he was.

The boy smiled. “Yoon Jiyoo?” he asked. Jiyoo nodded, unsure how she knew the boy. “It’s me, Woohyun. We went to high school together.”

Woohyun shook her hand and memories of him started to come back to her. They had been in the same class all throughout high school and she even had a little crush on him. How could she have forgotten him?

“Oh, Woohyun,” Jiyoo said, feeling more relaxed around her classmate, “I didn’t recognize you. You’ve become so handsome.”

Woohyun blushed and scratched his neck awkwardly. He then placed his hand on her shoulder and her mind started to prickle. “Hey, do you want to go downstairs and get something to drink with me?” he asked.

In the back of her mind, something was telling her that she shouldn’t go with him but, seeing Woohyun made her feel oddly safe. “Sure,” Jiyoo answered with a smile.

Woohyun grabbed her wrist and led her back downstairs where they entered a small café inside the building. Once they received their drinks and Woohyun paid, they sat down. Woohyun grinned at Jiyoo as she sipped her coffee. “I missed you,” Woohyun suddenly said, causing Jiyoo to almost choke on her drink in surprise. Woohyun laughed as he handed her some napkins. “I mean,” he continued, “when we were in high school, I always wanted to talk to you and ask you out on a date but you were just so beautiful that I couldn’t work up the nerves to do it. I ended up regretting it and have been wanting to tell you ever since. That’s why I’m glad that I bumped into you.”

Jiyoo blushed. She didn’t know that she had a secret admirer in high school. “I’m glad that I bumped into you, too,” Jiyoo admitted.

“Hey! What are you doing? Get away from her!” a voice suddenly yelled.

They looked over at the source of the voice and saw five boys angrily running towards them. Woohyun and Jiyoo stood up and Woohyun protectively shielded her. “Jiyoo," he said, “do you know these guys?”

Jiyoo gripped onto his arm and her head began to tingle. “I think,” she said, “I think they want to hurt me.” The boys quickly surrounded them and the world around them suddenly appeared distorted. “What's happening?” Jiyoo asked.

“Stay behind me,” Woohyun ordered, “and don't let go.”

She nodded and held his arm tightly. It then occurred to her who these men were. They were the demons that had tried to kill her. Vivid memories of them played in her mind as she looked at each of the five boys surrounding them.

“Don’t listen to him, Jiyoo,” a boy with dark hair and dark eyes said, “He’s trying to trick you.”

She knew the boy was lying. She had known Woohyun for a long time and she knew that he wouldn’t lie to her. She looked around at the other customers in the store. No one seemed to notice what was happening around them and Jiyoo felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Numerous people walked past the scene and didn’t stop to look or help and it felt unreal to her.

“Jiyoo,” Woohyun suddenly barked, “run. Now!”

Her eyes widened in surprise. How was she supposed to outrun these five strangers? But she trusted Woohyun so she gripped his arm once more and, miraculously dodging the group of boys, bolted to the other end of the store. When she got to the exit, she paused for a moment and looked around. She knew she had to get away from the boys but she didn’t know where to go. She didn’t even know where she was. She remembered the boys trying to hurt her in the past. They would do terrible things to her just for fun and it made her stomach churn.

“You guys stay here,” one of the boys yelled, “I’ll get her. Meet us back at base. I want him alive!”

Once more, she began running into the busy street, dodging groups of people as she tried to find a safe place to hide. She looked behind her and saw one of the boys running after her – the boy with orange hair. She remembered the torture he put her through years ago as tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Her ankle beginning to swell and pain overcoming her, she looked at the boy again and saw him catching up to her. She quickly got up and turned into an alleyway to hopefully put some more distance between them. She looked down at her ankle and saw it was turning a bright shade of red.

Yixing. That was him. That was his name. She remembered who was chasing her but, as soon as she thought of his name, a memory of him smirking devilishly while holding a knife flashed through her mind. Trust Yixing. A fading memory tugged at the front of her mind. A fading memory of Yixing bringing the blade up to her face and running it across her cheek.

“Jiyoo!” Yixing called out, but Jiyoo didn’t stop. She crossed another busy intersection and managed to hide in front of a large group of teenagers who were going in the same direction she was.

When the light to cross the intersection turned red, Jiyoo looked behind her and saw Yixing stopped on the other side of the street. Jiyoo sighed and limped into a nearby backstreet as Yixing looked frantically for a way over to her. She continued to walk until she was sure he couldn’t track her and rested against a wall behind a group of shops. The pain in her ankle began to feel unbearable.

After a moment, she began to wonder why she was running. She looked around and realized she had no idea where she was or what she was doing there. You’re in danger. Why was she in danger? Was someone trying to hurt her?

At that moment, Yixing ran into view and looked around for a second before seeing her against a wall. He sighed and rushed over to her but Jiyoo backed away, her eyes wide in fear. You’re in danger. The intrusive thought kept repeating itself in her head and she began to back away from him until she was against a wall and could no longer escape from him.

“There you are,” Yixing said to her and, instinctively, she collapsed on the ground and tried to shield herself with her arms. “Jiyoo,” he said, “what’s wrong?”

He eyed the fragile, shaking girl in front of him. “Please,” Jiyoo muttered, “please don’t hurt me.”

Yixing’s eyes widened and he slowly knelt in front of her. He brushed aside her hands and gently cupped her cheeks. “I would never hurt you, Jiyoo,” he said then pressed his lips onto hers.

In the back of her mind, Jiyoo thought she remembered the warmth of Yixing’s kiss but it seemed almost like a dream. She thought she wanted more but the same thought kept repeating itself in her head. You’re in danger. Then, after a few seconds, Jiyoo forcefully pushed Yixing away from her. “No,” Jiyoo said, her voice shaking, “You’re going to hurt me. You’ve hurt me before. You’re going to hurt me now. Please don’t hurt me.”

Yixing was taken aback. Something was wrong with Jiyoo. Yixing had never hurt her. Anger welled up inside of him as he wondered what that boy had done to his Jiyoo to turn her into such a fragile doll. Then, a terrible thought occurred to him. “Jiyoo,” Yixing said, placing his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look up at him, “who am I?”

“Yixing,” she whispered.

“What am I?”

Jiyoo’s eyes flickered as she tried to come up with the answer. Yixing cursed as he realized that she didn’t know. It was just that morning that he had confirmed he was an Outlier which meant something was wrong with her memories. “We need to get you to Luhan,” Yixing said, standing up and trying to grab a hold of Jiyoo’s wrist.

She closed her eyes and tried to fight back but Yixing’s arms were too strong and he held onto her wrist tightly. “No!” she screamed in a futile attempt to get away from him. You’re in danger.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said as calmly as possible, “Just being outside has put you in danger. I’m here to protect you. Trust me.”

Trust Yixing.

Jiyoo stopped fighting. Her memories were telling to avoid this man at all costs but her instincts were telling her otherwise. Trust Yixing. Jiyoo sighed and tried to ignore the bad memories in her mind. “Help me,” Jiyoo whispered, looking up at him with watery eyes.

Yixing smiled and knelt in front of her once again. Jiyoo felt his warm hands on her cheeks and she knew what he was about to do. “I’ll always help you,” he whispered back and softly kissed her lips. After a minute, Yixing was the one to end the kiss. He stood up and reached out his hand. “Can you walk?” he asked. Jiyoo shook her head. Her ankle was quickly turning purple. Yixing turned around. “Get on my back,” he ordered.

Shakily, Jiyoo stood up and Yixing helped her get on his back. No matter what her memories were telling her, Jiyoo felt safe on his back. It was warm and broad and Jiyoo found herself wanting to drift off to sleep.

As Yixing started walking away with Jiyoo on his back, he whispered, “Close your eyes. We’ll be home before you know it.” Jiyoo nodded her head and sighed as she closed her eyes as she basked in the warmth of Yixing.

Ruh-roh! What's going on with Jiyoo? I'm so sorry for not updating. I didn't know that it had been almost two years since I last updated this story! It feels like it's only been 2 months (which, now that I think about it, still isn't that great). But the good news is that I've already started chapter 4 so, hopefully, it won't take as long to update next time!

So in the next chapter you will learn what actually happened to Jiyoo and also what exactly some of the EXO-M members are (remember, Chen is a water elf and Luhan has brain powers. We still don't know about Tao, Xiumin, or Lay). Dun Dun DUUUUUUNN!