"Where is Keiko Noona?" Heeseung asked Suyeon who looked very upset and stressed.

"Sick. She wanted to stay in today. I am leaving early too. I can't let her stay alone at home in that state." The older sighed, burying her head in her hands. Days have been going bad these days.

Nearly a week passed ever since the small 'angry Minhyuk' incident. And things have been a rollercoaster for the groups. Seolah and Vinnie got into an argument, it was quite dumb really, but both of them were persistent on waiting for the other to apologise. And this somehow affected Soobin and Vinnie's relationship as Soobin started spending time with Seolah more, the both finally getting along quite well.

Vinnie didn't blame him or seolah, but she felt lonely.

Suyeon spent most of her time with the youngest making sure that she isn't upset and doesn't feel left out, and taking care of Keiko, who fell sick that same weekend. Krystal was always busy these days,  occupied by the upcoming exams, barely getting anytime to look into the matter. She tried her best to shove in some sense in the heads of the youngests. Seonnie and Chohoyeon were the only ones trying to solve the problem. Chohyeon, specifically has been not so cheery lately, and as much as Suyeon wants to nag at her to share her problems, she knew it's better to respect her privacy.

The older girl was beyond exhausted with exams coming up and all the problems going on within their friendship.  She was afraid all this will take a toll on their strong bond, and she didn't like the thought of it.

They completed each other, they depended on each other.

"Oh." Heeseung said, observing the tension around the table. The gods could sense the discomfort from the girls.

Oh did I mention that she know about the show thingy now? Well, Zeus seemed to or pretended to know nothing of it but assured about 'no repeating of that'. The girls felt a bit uncomfortable thinking about it, scratch that, they felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable. They didn't blame the boys though, but it was just weird. With the constant slut shaming and excessive negative attention, the girls weren't doing well.

The gods were  upset with themselves as they didn't seem to be able to help the situation.

"Would you mind if I join you?" Seokmin asked. Suyeon glanced at him with curiosity, but nodded anyway.

-

"Oh look, there goes the pick me girl."

Chohyeon held her book closer to her chest taking deep breath. She gulped down a sad lump forming in her throat,  I won't cry, I should not, she told herself.

Taeyong walked behind her, his hands casually shoved into his trouser pockets. His eyes were focused on her movements , occassionally throwing glared who dared to say something bad about her.

This girl has been in his mind ever since their first meet. He lacked courage to approach her, watching her from distance. He liked darkness but somehow he liked her more, and she was a blast of light.

She was like specks of glittering stars in the midnight sky he belonged to. He watched her, brightening up evedyone around her. Making her friends smile, joke around with the boys, smile at him everytime they made eye contact. She was everything opposite to him, yet everything he needs to complete the missing puzzle of his heart.

(Dude, that kinda stalkerish but ok-)

Feelings? Pfft- no, it's just admiration, he'd tell himself. But was it really?

Don't think that admiration causes your heart to skip a beat whenever the she smiles at you.

Chohyeon on the other hand, glanced at him dreamily every other minute when together. She found him extremely interesting , she wanted to know him more.

But currently , she rushed towards the locker room, trying to get away from the burning gazes.

"She's so bare faced. All of them are, tsk, mortals. They are so greedy, they don't even care about being hated on or said things about. Huh ......and they even managed to manipulate the gods-"

"I won't fucking hesitate to tear your tongue out of your mouth to feed the Sea monster, Enyo" Taeyong growled, advancing at his twin sister who spoke loudly, pointedly towards Chohyeon. Enyo had always been the worse one out of the two but this was too much for Taeyong to handle.

"Say another word like this about her or them, You'll be on my bad side and believe me, you don't wanna be there." Taeyong lowly hissed, eyes dark in anger. His jaw twitched as he gritted his teeth hard, glaring at his sister whom he looked at fully releasing his power. The goddess quietly gulped, but hid it with a scoff.

"This is ridiculous brother. These mortals, they're sluts especially tha-"

"Complete that sentence sister. I dare you." Enyo this time looked at Taeyong without any emotion before teleporting away but he knew that she was terrified.

"I am warning all of you. If this goes on, this might lead to something you all don't want to witness." Taeyong warned, scanning the crowd with his burning gaze before hurrying towards the locker room.

Silent sobs could be heard from the locker room. Chohyeon was tired of holding it in, it Burned her heart everytime she blinked away her tears. It hurt to smile, it hurt to look as cheerful as ever. She wasn't okay, but she had to pretend to be. She didn't want to worry her friends more than they already are. She felt childish and dramatic for crying, but she couldn't help it.

The darts of the harsh words always flew past the Bulls eye of her heart but after constantly being hit it finally pierced Through the hard surface of pretence, her smile dropping as tears rolled down her cheeks. She clenched her hands in a fist trying to ease the fuzzy feeling in her head and burn in her chest. Wishing for someone to hold onto her, she felt lonely, extremely lonely even if around a crowd.

Taeyong took in a deep breath, not knowing what he should do to calm her down.

Chohyeon felt his presence and looked up. Her nose was red, eyes glossy as new drops of tears slid over her flushed cheeks. She looked at him with a gaze he didn't know what to think of.

"Are you.....uh....Do you...." He stuttered. Chohyeon felt worse, feeling humiliated as she still believed she was being dramatic.

"I am sorry. Please leave me alone." She whispered, barely audible, but Taeyong's hieghtened snese caught onto it.

"I......" Taeyong wondered if he did something wrong, he didn't know what to do and he blamed himself for it.

You're such a heartless monster, a voice inside his head told him. You can't even help her, you can only destroy everything.

Taeyong clenched his fists, slowly retreating out of the room. He was shocked to see Hestia standing outside with a sad smile.

"Don't you blame yourself now Taeyong, she'll need you. You know yourself better than anyone else, Don't think that way. " She said, patting his shoulder before entering the room.

He waited outside, frowning, shuffling his legs. He heard the sobs soften as Hestia audibly comforted the girl. Few moments passed before Hestia walked out of the room again, giving him a warm smile before nodding towards the door again.

Chohyeon hiccuped slightly, wiping her tears as she sat on the floor, back on the locker. A bottle of water appeared infront of her. Looking up she saw Taeyong holding it towards her with a small smile on his face. She was taken aback. She never saw him smile before this, but she had to admit it was oneof the most beautiful and comforting thing she has ever seen.

"You feel better now?" He asked, softly, crouching down infront of her. She softly grabbed the bottle out of his hand, her fingers brushing against his knuckles, which was enough to cause a shiver run down the male's spine and face to start flushing red. He felt his stone faced appearance break.

"Yeah...." Chohyeon said, gulping down the water. Taeyong took a seat beside her, glancing at her. Even in this state, she looked ethereal as the light fell on her side profile, a slight hue of golden orange sunlight border her seemingly perfect face.

"I am sorry-" chohyeon froze when she felt Taeyong's finger brush a few strands of her hair out of her face softly. Her face immediately heated up, ears turning red.

"You shouldn't be sorry about anything. Cry it out sometimes, it helps. If you need a shoulder for that, I am here." He said, patting his shoulder a goofy smile on his face. Chohoyeon couldn't help but chuckle.

Well who would've thought the mood makers mood would be lifted by none other than the god of War. Heeseung did though.

-

Suyeons instincts told her something would seriously go wrong. Her guts pulling at her heart, signalling something bad. Seokmin sat near the bed Keiko layed on, softly talking with her. Suyeon watched from the kitchen where she was busy making some soup for the sick girl. As usual she blamed herself for not being attentive enough and failing her responsibilities.

" It's not your fault, you know." Krystal said as she decided to head to the library for extra studying.

" I don't know...." Suyeon mumbled. She felt heaviness on her shoulder and heart.

"What do you feel is wrong?" Seokmin asked.

"Everything. I feel dead. It's like eternal exhaustion." She mumbled, tiredly glancing at him. He was staring at her hand, wondering if he could hold it.

She picked up her hand off the bed, towards his face. "Here. It feels heavy, you can hold it." She said with a straight face. Seokmin snorted at her try with a pick up line in a situation like this.

He chuckled before holding her petite hands within his much bigger ones. Warmth flew through both of them as a tingly feeling nurtured their mind.

They talked for few more moments before being joined by Suyeon

-

Frustratedly Krystal opened her second book hoping that she could finally scram some knowledge into her brain but that didn't work. How would it to be honest? Her mind was occupied with everything that had been going on, all from Seolah and Vinnie's fight to Keiko being sick. However she couldn't do anything because of her damn exams. She couldn't help but feel useless, she was the oldest, it was her duty to take care of the girls yet here she was in the library stressed over her exams.

"It's not your fault" a voice said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"How long have you been here for? And have you been reading my mind?" she asked looking annoyed making Sehun chuckle.

"I've been here for say....5 minutes now? And yes, I was reading your mind" Sehun replied "Also I repeat myself again, it's not your fault. It's completely okay to think that way but it's wrong to blame yourself."

"Why is it wrong? And how can you relate?" Krystal asked making Sehun playfully smile.

"You've been asking me quite a few questions today" he teased Krystal making her glare at him.

"Fine don't answer them" Krystal said standing up to leave but to her surprise he held her hand stopping her.

"I'll explain" he said making her scoff.

"No need now, god of the moon" she replied removing his hand as he frowned. She used the title, Sehun thought.

"Please just 5 minutes" Sehun pleaded surprising both her and himself.

Krystal took a deep breathe "Fine, but only 5 minutes" she said as Sehun smiled making her freeze. It should be illegal to look so good while smiling, she thought.

"First I'll answer your questions. For number 1, why is it wrong? Better yet, why is it not? You haven't done anything. Is it your fault Vinnie and Seolah fought? Is it your fault that Keiko is sick? No it isn't, so you shouldn't blame yourself. Now for the second one, how can I relate? Well princess, I hope you still remember that I'm the oldest of all the seven gods" Sehun replied making Krystal shocked. Why? He just called her princess, now if it was a nickname or sarcasm she wasn't sure Hopefully a nickname. Wait what am I thinking, she thought.

Composing herself, she said "Yes I do remember that you're the oldest of all the seven but it's still not like that for you. You're a god, they're also gods. All of you can protect yourselves whether it's them or you Sehun."

"So what? They're still younger than me, I've always had that duty and it doesn't matter whether we're 2000 years immortal beings or not. We're still a family, no matter how much we hate the other gods and goddesses we're still family. A messed up one at that but if we fought within ourselves who'd take care of the planet. A war would happen between ourselves and the earth would be our battlefield. Heck leave all this aside, let's just focus on the boys and I. Who do you think Heeseung comes to first to complain when he's tired after finishing the day's duty. Who do you think Loki comes to so he can save himself from Hera's wrath after a prank? Who do you think Seokmin, Seungcheol, Minhyuk come to when they're stressed? It doesn't matter that I'm a god, I'm a Hyung for them. It's my duty to take care them, when something happens to them even I blame myself but will that help? It won't, so instead of moping around and being stressed I say it's better if you ace your exams and then help them out. It'll make everyone feel better, Krystal"

Krystal had many thoughts while hearing everything Sehun said but the one that came to her was he understands. This was what she wanted she realised, someone who could understand this all how she felt. It was hard keeping everything to herself no matter what it was, she didn't want to burden the girls with her problems. She would always wonder if this was how her older brother felt, especially when she moved from London to Seoul. Being dissolved in her thoughts, she did not realise that her eyes were brimming with tears.

"Hey no worries" Sehun wiped her tears "If you want I'll help you with your syllabus?" to his surprise she nodded.

"I don't have a lot of problem but I  doubts in this" She said opening her book before looking at him with hopeful eyes which lightened up when Sehun started to explain.

Sehun looked at Krystal who was listening to him attentively as he explained her the topic. He inwardly smiled. Instead of five minutes I got twently, he thought.

"Thank you so much!" Krystal thanked Sehun making him chuckle.

"Your welcome but you already so five times now" Sehun replied smiling as the two walked outside the library. It was true, she was really thankful to him. If it weren't for him, who knows what she would have done. He not only helped her but he also conforted her. She didn't know how much she had needed that pep talk.

"Alright, so I have class. See you later?" Sehun spoke as the two stopped infront of his class.

"See you later" Krystal said as the two bid goodbye to each other before she walked off. You helped me again huh? You're like my guardian angel Sehun. Always showing up when I need help, Krystal thought. She smiled knowing full well that Sehun had read her mind. The said God couldn't help but mirror Krystal's smile. Now whether it was lovesick or happy he wasn't sure of.

Here! A way-too-romantic Valentine's Day update. Let me know what do you think!

Also some Valentine's Day TMI from your author:

2nd language class is one of the very few which our class shares with the boys. Let's call these two guys A and B. So today I heard A tell B that she should give me that letter she wrote but B refused. There were two more boys who groaned hearing what B said. Then A told him "You've liked her for so long"

They thought I couldn't hear them-

And no, I'm not being delusional. I heard them say my name very clearly, the only gap between our tables is that of an empty desk.

Also this isn't the first time this has happened, many times my classmates have assumed that B likes me. One of the reasons being that I'm the only girl who is decent to him while the others are roasting him or just acting 'savage' but in reality showing off toxic feminity.

Honestly I'm glad that I didn't get any letter cause I didn't want to make him upset. Sorry, but I only see you as a friend😭

My best friend would always tease us even if he asked me for a pen or pencil and I couldn't help but feel like an idol who's getting shipped with another just because of having eye contact🙂

But yeah bye-