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The next day Sena woke up early and had an extra-long shower. Spending time with Rome last night really raised her mood. After being humiliated by Taehyun, Sena was right to spend time with someone else. Being alone would have only let her stew in her own feelings. She changed into a white cotton dress with a buttoned collar, tan colour oxford shoes with a slight heel and a pink bow accented sun hat. Sena grabbed her purse and headed down stairs into the small lobby area where they had all of the tenant’s mail boxes. She opened hers and inside was two letters.

“Oh?” Sena pulled them out and saw that both were from her parents, one was dated a few days ago and the other one was a week ago. She opened the one that was the oldest and saw that it was a letter from her parents. They were telling her what was going on in their life and how much they missed their only child but that they were very proud of her for being so brave to go to a brand new city by herself. Sena felt a boost in confidence that she really needed. She opened the other letter and saw that it was packed full of money. Sena cheered loudly and did a little dance in the middle of the lobby.

“Good news I assume?” A voice said and Sena immediately stopped dancing and looked over to see Rome. He was wearing a long sleeve grey shirt that hugged tightly to his body along with a pair of dark wash jeans and expensive looking running shoes.

“Yeah…I finally got some money from my parents back in Mokpo.” Sena happily showed Rome the envelope full of money and he smiled brightly.

“Perfect! I was going to go grocery shopping but now we can go together!” Rome put his arm around Sena’s shoulder and dragged her out of the building. She didn’t put up much of a fight because she was planning to use the money to buy food anyways. “I should call the guys and tell them that you’re going to actually contribute to the potluck tonight.” Rome and Sena were headed to a market that was only a few streets down from their apartment building.

“I’m terrible at cooking though!” Sena whined and Rome stuck his tongue out at her.

“I don’t care~ I’ll teach you.” Rome held out his pinky and Sena wrapped hers around his. “I promise I won’t let you serve any food that would taste like Kangjun made it.” Rome said and Sena lightly nudged him in the side. The two of them continued to comfortably talk as they walked to the market.

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The boys of WINNER were in a coffee shop with Seunghoon relaying their orders to the barista. Jinwoo was being hit on by two older women when he spotted a familiar face pass by the café window.

“Oh! It’s Sena!” Jinwoo called out and all of the boys heads snapped to where he was looking, but she was already gone from their sight. Taehyun, Seungyoon and Mino ran out of the café and saw her laughing with Rome. Without saying anything the three of them ran after the friends. Jinwoo was going to join them until Seunghoon yelled at him.

“Who is going to help me carry all of these?!” Seunghoon screamed at Jinwoo who pulled at his hair.

“But…Sena…” Jinwoo whined and Seunghoon glared at him. The eldest sighed in frustration and ended up helping Seunghoon with the coffees. The three were keeping a safe distance from Sena and Rome, making sure that they wouldn’t notice them.

“They look close.” Mino commented and the other two nodded their heads in agreement. Sena and Rome walked up to a stall that sold vegetables. They spent a long time picking out the perfect ones for Sena for when she cooked later.

“Aigoo, you two are such a cute couple. I threw in some free things for you.” The older woman who ran the stall handed Rome the bag full of all the things they bought.

“Ah…uh..we-were not…” Sena stammered as she looked from Rome to the woman. Rome grabbed the back of her head and forced her to bow.

“Thank you ma’am. We will be sure to visit your stall often.” Rome smiled and walked off with Sena who was hitting his shoulder.

“Why didn’t you correct her?! She’s going to think we’re actually dating.” Sena whined but Rome just laughed.

“She gave you free food! Who cares if we lie to her or not.” Rome grabbed her wrist to stop her from hitting him and they went over to another stall. The three boys only heard the conversation between the stall owner and the two of them.

“I thought you said they weren’t dating!” Seungyoon pinched Taehyun who whined.

“That’s what she said….that hurt Seungyoon hyung….” Taehyun rubbed the spot that Seungyoon pinched him.

“They’re moving!” Mino chased after them and Seungyoon was close behind him.

“Seungyoon hyung! Mino hyung! Don’t leave me behind you idiots!” Taehyun yelled and Mino quickly covered his mouth.

“Shut up! Do you want her to hear us?” Mino whispered to him and Taehyun shook his head. Just then Jinwoo and Seunghoon showed up with their coffees and the five boys continued to follow Rome and Sena for the rest of the time they spent at the market.

“They look good together.” Seunghoon commented and the other four boys glared at him. He put his hands up in defense  and then they followed Rome and Sena as they headed back to their apartment.

“Come on, it’s time to teach you how to cook.” Rome brought her to the doors of the apartment building and Sena struggled to get away from him.

“No~” She squealed loudly. She didn’t want to cook, it was her enemy. Her mom once tried to teach her how to cook instant ramyun and she set the pot on fire. They still have no idea how it happened but her mother banned her from cooking.

“Hey…it looks like he’s forcing her in the building.” Taehyun watched as Rome had to forcefully pull Sena into the apartment building. They heard her cry out that she didn’t want to go and then she disappeared. “We have to go and help her!” Taehyun said and he took a step to go after them but Mino grabbed him.

“It’s none of our business.” Mino said even though his eyes were locked on the front door of the building.

“Mino’s right…” Seungyoon sighed and kicked a rock that sat by his foot.

“But what if he’s attacking her or something!” Jinwoo whined and he stomped his foot in frustration.  Even Seunghoon was looking a little bit worried.

“He’s right hyung! What if he’s doing something weird to her! We have to stop him don’t we?!” Taehyun looked to Seungyoon who was the leader and had the final say in everything.

“.” Seungyoon growled through his teeth as he threw his half empty coffee onto the ground and ran to the apartment building. With that all of the boys ran into the apartment building and set off up the stairs.

“Rome I said no!” They heard Sena’s voice from a few floors up and then the sound of the door closing off from the stairs. The boys of WINNER sprinted up the stairs to where they thought they heard the noise.

“Stop being a big baby! Go put your groceries away and I’ll come over in a few minutes to start the lessons.” Rome handed her the grocery bags and entered his own apartment. Sena sighed and headed over to her apartment and dug in her purse for the keys. She opened the door and stepped inside.

The boys of WINNER made it to the fourth floor and saw Sena step into an apartment and then the door firmly closed behind her.

“That one!” Jinwoo pointed out the apartment that he saw her entre and the boys charged over to the door. Mino slammed his fist on the door. He was hitting it so hard that it looked like it was going to come right off its hinges. Sena had just put her groceries on the counter when she heard the pounding at her door. It startled her at first but Sena quickly scurried over to the door and opened it. The five guys of WINNER quickly pushed their way into the apartment.

“W-What are you doing?!” Sena yelled at them as the guys looked all over her apartment.

“Where is he?” Mino said through gritted teeth as they looked in every possible hiding spot that Rome could fit in.

“Where is who? What are you talking about?” Sena was freaking out. Her school life and her personal life were crashing together and she didn’t like it at all.

“The guy who dragged you in here!” Jinwoo said and Sena just gave him a weird look.

“You mean Rome?” Sena looked to the guys and they all nodded. She let out a frustrated sigh and rested her hands on her hips. “I told you he was just a friend!” Sena pointed at Taehyun whose whole body was stiff and ridged with anger.

“Then why did he drag you in here?” Seungyoon was the only one who had fully calmed down and was seeing things rationally.

“Because he lives down the hall from me! He is going to force me to cook for our friends tonight and I told him I didn’t want to!” Sena was angry that WINNER automatically assumed that Rome was doing something bad to her. She knew that Rome would never do that, they were just friends.

“Oh…” Taehyun awkwardly said and the boys all looked around at each other, not really sure where to go from here. There was a soft knock on the door and Sena stormed over to it, almost expecting it to be even more kids from their class to annoy her.

“Sena…I heard some yelling coming from here is everying-“ Rome peeked into the room and saw all of WINNER standing there. “What are these guys doing here?” Rome stepped into the apartment and Sena rolled her eyes. Sure, why not. Why not have every single person she knows jam themselves into her tiny apartment that could barely house herself.

“We were coming to check if she was okay.” Seungyoon spoke up since he was the leader and he didn’t care what Rome said or thought of him.

“Is that a joke? You guys torment her all day, every day and now all of a sudden you care about her?” Rome stepped right up to Seungyoon who didn’t even flinch at the intimidating Rome.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying…we we’re worried for her safety.” Jinwoo spoke up but with one glare from Rome, he became silent again.

“Why don’t you guys just leave, Sena clearly doesn’t want you here.” Rome stepped aside and opened the door for them to leave, but none of them budged. They didn’t like or trust Rome and leaving Sena around him didn’t feel right. Although they had spent most of their time torturing Sena, they felt an overpowering need to protect her.

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Protective WINNER~~~~~~

Next chapter another guy will be eliminated~ otokaji~