▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

The moment Mari had stepped foot onto her school's campus, she immediately went into hiding mode. It wasn't even that long ago since her incident of attacking Jaerin, in fact, it was just the night before even. The tension was still high between the two girls and the mere sight of the other might cause a catfight to break out. While she was always down to drag the Lee Faction heir back to Earth by her hair, in public it wasn't the best place to proceed with such an act.

So she had been hiding away from plain sight all day,  going solo for as long as she could last. Keeping her head down in hallways, dashing into random classrooms, wearing her school's entire uniform to disguise herself, she even went so far as to avoid San during the day in order to keep herself hidden. Mari believed the girl didn't have much intelligence in that small brain of hers, but she wasn't going to immediately assume she was stupid either. There was a slight routine to Mari's everyday life and she would willingly disrupt it if it meant not having to face her consequences.

Mari had done well so far with going the entire day avoiding Jaerin and not having to hear a single word come from her mouth. Though the keyword is so far.

"Shit," She hissed, pressing her back against the wall of the classroom. Mari was trying her best to escape the school's premise so that she could go home and collapse in peace, Jaerin had finally started the witch hunt. In the classroom, she was standing next to was Jaerin and a teacher, a very frustrated and annoyed looking teacher. Mari had immediately recognized them as one of the adults who were forced to watch her during her detention hours. None of those teachers really liked her, which meant she was in definite trouble.

"Are you serious? Seo Mari was the one who did this to you?" They asked Jaerin, their time thinning with anger. "I know she's not the best of students but I never assumed she would go this far."

There was a moment of silence in the room, which Mari could only assume with Jaerin giving the teacher a pitiful nod. "She's never liked me, no matter what I did to try and make it up to her. Now she's targeting and taking all of her anger out on me! I've even got the wounds to prove it!"

"Woah... she lies so effortlessly, you'd almost think she's telling the truth," A quiet voice spoke from beside Mari, listening in on the same conversation. She hadn't even noticed anyone had snuck up on her, their footsteps must have been as light as a feather even. Though with the combination of the undetectable approach and the rather small voice, she had easily identified the person to be San. "You can almost say she's a pathological liar, she's had lots of practice to make herself sound this believable."

"I wouldn't say she's a pathological liar," Mari replied, glancing towards the boy. His eyes were wide of those of a cat's curiosity gleaming through them as he tried to piece together the situation laid before him. "She's had all day to think about how to jab at me for literally attacking her like an animal yesterday, I've been avoiding her presence since I got here."

"I know, you've been avoiding me too," San told her, crossing his arms in what seems like childish frustration. "I'll have you know that I would have definitely let you destroy Jaerin if Wooyoung wasn't there to stop me. I might have even joined you, I don't like a single word that comes out of her mouth."

Mari punched the boy's shoulder in retaliation, watching him wince at her rather hard hit. "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how pissed off the Underboss would be if you fought that girl? You'd have the worst consequences of anyone in that manor!"

"You're my friend though!" San complained, clearly in opposition to Mari's thoughts. "What type of friend would I be if I just let someone I care about get into a fight by themselves? I'm supposed to help you, even if I get beaten or ridiculed in the process."

The girl rolled her eyes, thoughtlessly waving away the words coming out of his mouth. "San, you have no obligation to help me, you know that right? I don't want you to risk your reputation just because I'm getting into a petty catfight with a girl who can't even hold a knife."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" San questioned, his voice beginning to subconsciously raise due to irritation and desperation. He placed his hands on the girl's shoulders, nearly shaking her aggressively as he tried to get his point across. "Sit there and watch while you fight your subordinates? I'm not gonna let you do things like that alone, I don't care if your father runs the whole damn place or not!"

The entire hallway went silent, only the slight creaking of doors opening and closing, and students muffled chatting in the distance fluttered through the room. Mari's face was etched with pure shock and confusion, slowly processing the words that had come out of the boy's mouth. San seemed to have realized what he said, instinctively covering his mouth with his hands a little too late. "What do... you mean if my father runs the whole place?" She asked him, subconsciously playing dumb yet still hesitant at the same time.

Before San could even reply to her, the teacher's voice rang through their ears. "Choi San? That's you isn't it, I can recognize your voice anywhere. Is everything alright?" The question was followed by the squeaking of a chair and the sound of jingling keys getting closer to them.

"And that's my cue to leave," Mari mumbled, sidestepping away from San and running down the hallway as fast as she could. For a moment any normal bystander might have thought she was running track for how fast she charged off. But she knew if the teacher caught her after whatever Jaerin had told them? She was one hundred percent not going back home at her desired time. And all Mari wanted to do at this point and time was lay down and never get back up.

Plus, she wasn't mentally prepared to officially confront San about her family. He seemed to have pieced the puzzle together but she wasn't ready to see the final product.

Mari had been hiding this little bit of information since she first met the boy. She had continuously lied and excused herself from the topic for so long that telling him the truth felt like a foreign thought in her head. She thought she had built up a sturdy brick to keep him locked out of the truth, but it seemed as though she didn't do as good a job as she had thought. That or San picked up a sledgehammer and finally forced his way through.

She didn't even know if San or the teacher was following her actually, simply letting her feet carry her wherever she felt would be the safest. Where was the safest place for her even? Her home, the manor? She was bound to meet San at one point if she ran in that direction. Mingi's house? It takes too long to sprint, she'd need a car to get there before sundown and she didn't even know how to drive.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," She hissed, skidding to a halt and leaving scuff marks on the ground. She was stuck at a fork in the road, leading down two different hallways Mari had never walked before. Since when was her school this big? Was this what she got for never truly exploring the place in her first year? "This school can't be that big! Just pick a path and run!"

After a quick decision to follow her instincts and run left, a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, tugging in the opposite direction. Mari felt her stomach to the floor, her brain immediately going into panic mode and seizing any control she had over her body. The last time she was unwillingly dragged somewhere was literally the dad before by her father, and nearly a week ago by Jung Chaeyeon when she had tried to kidnap and kill her.

The girl retaliated on instinct, fight or flight taking over in sudden adrenaline of desperation. Mari grabbed the hand holding her wrist, mustering up all the strength she could at the moment so that she could flip them over her instead. Her attacker seemed to have noticed what was she about to do and quickly let go of her to avoid the incoming pain. She stumbled from the loss of extra weight, nearly threw herself to the ground instead of her target. "Jesus Christ, Mari! What did I ever do to you to make you want to break my bones?"

Her face twisted in confusion at the causal conversation that ensued, the quick change in demeanor nearly giving her head trauma. She turned around to be greeted by the sight of her very tall redheaded friend, his face in a permanent pout in reaction to her actions. "Mingi? What... why would you do that?"

"I was trying to help you?" He complained, looking Mari up and down for the stunt she had tried to pull on. Clearly, Mingi didn't think she had enough strength to literally flip him over her head and onto the ground nor did he that's how she was going to react in the first place. He was a six foot tall man, after all, it was a lot for a girl of her physique and stature. "I was looking for you and then I caught sight of you running like death was right behind you."

She mentally cursed to herself, taking note that there was still the possibility of her being chased down like wild doe. "Uh, yeah I was running from a teacher... listen let's walk and talk okay? Preferably speed walking? Maybe jogging would be faster as well?"

Mingi nodded absentmindedly as Mari began to walk ahead of him, power walking as fast as Mingi's pace would let her. "You must get in trouble a lot," He asked her, glancing behind them to see if he could spot the teacher that was chasing her down. "I mean there's no other reason for you to be desperate to get out of the area."

"Oh yeah definitely," she confessed easily, walking like one of those exercising soccer moms that demand your manager in a retail store. "Almost every teacher in this school hates me. My conduct is bad, my grades are below average, and my attendance is literally atrocious. They always say I'm ruining the school's pristine image but honestly, I could care less. I'm just here to get my diploma and finally be free from this place."

Mingi laughed, one that gives you warmth in your chest as if a child was giggling right in front of you. "You sound exactly like Hongjoong, but you're both so different at the same time. His attendance is really bad and don't even get me started on his conduct. But his grades are the best out of our whole friend group! It's the only thing that's keeping him from being thrown out of the school."

"Ew," Mari responded, scrunching up her nose at the thought. "What is he? An honors student? Does that mean... he's good at math? Because I'm this close to not passing this semester with how low my grade for Ms. Yoo is. Did you know that you could get an F minus? Me neither!"

"Woah..." Mingi mumbled, pure shock evident in his voice. "My grades aren't the best sometimes but even I'm not stupid enough to get an F minus... Do you have a brick instead of brain Mari?"

She stopped in her tracks for a moment, silently threatening to punch the boy. Mingi retaliated like a puppy, flinching back and taking a couple of steps away from her to keep a safe distance. He definitely wasn't about to risk getting hit by Mari when she had already proven herself brave enough to flip him over her head. "Sorry... but if you need a tutor, me and Hongjoong are here! I would say Yunho too but... the last time I asked to see his grades he went home immediately after instead."

Mari snorted at the thought of Yunho immediately packing his bags after getting asked about his grades. She could only assume they didn't live up to the grades Hongjoong and Mingi get. A fellow man of the school struggle, she understood the pain. "I'm kinda hard to teach when it comes to academics, but I'll take you up on that offer one day."

The boy smiled widely at her words, glad she had actually accepted his offer instead of turning him down. In that split moment, his eyes gleamed in realization, claps his hands together as he started to quickly his pace to match Mari's. "Oh, right I had completely forgotten why I had come to look for you!"

Confusion spread across the girl's face like wildfire, thought a bit of intrigue was sparked in her eyes as well. "We kept mentioning Hongjoong yet I forgot he's the reason I came and searched you out. Earlier today, he randomly collapsed out of the blue in the hallway. I think he came down with fever or something and he's been in the infirmary inside before the break. I tried to tell you when it happened but I couldn't find you anywhere."

"What?" Mari blurted out, stopping in her tracks almost immediately to process the information she had been given. "What the... how did even happen? Why the hell is he still at the school in the first place? He should be at home right now!"

"We tried calling his dad," Mingi shrugged, "but he didn't answer no matter how much Yunho blew up his phone. And when we tried to call his mom she said that he was fine and was probably faking it for attention. Even the school nurse tried to get her to realize he wasn't feeling well and she hung up on her."

Her eyes twitched listening to the boy's words, crossing her arms in annoyance as she muttered," that's one fucked up family for you. His father won't even pick up the phone and his mother doesn't even care. I should have known."

"Yunho is with him right now to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, but he's going to stop by the store to try and get medicine to help soothe the fever. I would stay and watch him myself, but I'm the only one who drives and I was extremely low on gas arriving here this morning. I don't want to suddenly stop in the middle of the road while trying to take him back to my house," Mingi confessed, a guilty expression on his face as he fiddled around with his hands. "So I was hoping you could watch him for us until we both got back?"

She thought about the fact that she had arrived at the school with both San and Wooyoung by her side, so they were expecting her to return them so they could leave back to the Seo Manor together. But she couldn't just leave Hongjoong alone at the school while he was ill, that's the most inconsiderate thing a person could do. "You know what... yeah. Of course, I'll watch him for you, as long as both of you return as fast as possible. I'm still getting chased by a teacher and my friends are expecting me to walk home with them."

A boyish and wide smile grew on Mingi's face, his shoulders relaxing from unknown tension he had built up inside of him. "Thank you so much, Mari, you're a lifesaver! I'll be back with Yunho as fast as I possibly can." He quickly dragged her into a hug, tight yet warm like a bear's. She tensed up almost immediately, not used to this much physical contact with him. Though Mingi quickly let go, the hug only lasted for a few seconds before he went dashing off towards what Mari assumes was the student parking lot.

Thought before he was fully out of sight, he came to a halt, running on his heels to look back at her. "Oh, by the way, nice snake ring! I didn't think you'd really be the jewelry type, to be honest, but the snakes fit you, not in a bad way, of course. I just think it looks nice."