[Eun Mi's POV]

Believe it or not, it actually happened.

I eventually surrendered and was hauled into the car to drive all the way to a ーyou guessed itーan amusement park.

And I can't believe myself for it. It's the craziest recipe for trouble, yet perhaps the easiest method to get expelled from school.

Also, I haven't even grasped the chance to see my best friend... for a whole WEEK.

I don't know which is worse.

One thing I'm pretty sure about, however, is that I had begun digging my own grave; all that was left for me to do was jump in. And not to mention, drag all 12 of my 'innocent' bodyguards with me.

Regardless how the tension and worry circulated, Exo seemed to be enjoying themselves nevertheless.

(Should I also mention they are the weirdest squad of protectors I've ever known.)

The sun was shining and so were they.

"Wow, you stink at this" D.O slyly commented as he and Chen were the next ones in queue for the 'Shoot the Duck' stall. The two had waited ever-so patiently for quite a while now, arguing over nothing to probably pass time.

"I haven't even started yet" Chen said, the gun aimed at the line of rolling ducks ahead.

D.O laughed half-heartedly. "My point exactly."

Chen lowered the gun, hurt and clearly offended. "What do you want?"

"Step aside, children" Lay barged in between them and seized the gun from his hands, having heard enough of their bickering. He had, after all, been standing behind them for an equal time period. Meaning he had to soak in their every word. "Let Papa show you how it's done."

A friendly group of several older women took Lay's pumping attitude as 'heroic' or 'manly'. Nudging elbows and whispering over the handsome boy as they watched him prepare his aim, he borrowed this motivation and raised the gun.

He fired a shot...

And missed.

"Our 'father's' getting old" D.O snickered and gossiped behind his back towards the ladies. One of the women giggled in response.

"I heard that!" Lay exclaimed, too embarrassed to even turn around and point a finger at the mischevous pair. Having trained in weaponry since he was young, the miss was obviously a cringe-worthy moment.

"And I still have another turn" he kindly reminded.

Precisely before he could submit another go, Xiumin randomly appeared beside Lay and stretched over half the stall booth, leaning on his elbows to support his weight.

The eldest bodyguard slowly turned his gorgeous head, fiery passion burning in his eyes, and offered a deal.

"Hey, Lay! If you hit the target, I'll let you buy me a creamy latte~"

"Okay!" Lay agreed within a split second and raised the firearm, then put it back down just when he realised the debt he had to own Xiumin. "..Wait. How does that work!"

"Choi, you seem kind of distant. Anything the matter??"

A few dozen meters away from the buzzing carnival of the park, I sighed under the shade of several small trees, feeling really disappointed with myself.

"No... Yes. I just know coming here is a big mistake!"

Kai leaned against the bark of a tree and watched Exo playing around from afar. His expression was that of a peaceful one and he swept his fluffy-soft hair to the side.

"Well, time to time you need a break from school, hm?" he advised, and smiled to himself.

Is this the sort of inspiration I should be getting from an elder, much less a bodyguard?

"I have a feeling it's you who needed the break.." I quietly mumbled below a whisper.

"Eun Mi!" A familiar voice suddenly hooked my attention.

I searched my surroundings and the thriller park rides far ahead, finding no source of the voice..

"Over here! Look at me!"

It was Baekhyun, gleefully waving from the top of a slow-spinning, not-so-high ferris wheel and sitting beside what looked like a very freaked-out Luhan whom he held hands with.

I gave a small smile, shyly waving back in return.

"Hmph. Scaredy cat" Kai belowed.

"Who're you.. oh, you mean Luhan..? That's so not nice."

Kai chuckled a few times, "Well, being a 20 year old guy and he's still afraid of baby rides. Isn't that funny? Like, it's not even that high!"

I stared at Kai. He stared back, then quitened down and sighed loudly against the tree.

"Here." Sehun randomly emerged after a while, offering two large coffee cups to the both of us.

His eyes were solely fixed onto me as if Kai were invisible. "I thought you'd might like some."

We both accepted the beverages with our thanks and the courtesy of a small bow. The cup felt increasingly warm in my palms and I couldn't help but feel bubbly over it. It was perfect for the cold weather.

"You wanna go someplace more peaceful?" Kai suggested and lead us to a quiet abandoned bench, anyway.

I sat on one of its cold corners and sighed, bringing the hot polystyrene cup to my cold cheeks.

"If that renders school, then yes I would" I quietly responded, inwardly frowning at the thought of falling for trouble.

I wasn't really someone to freely skip a day of school to go gallivanting with a bunch of cute boys in a cheesy amusement park, when I've got a book worth of expectations to live up to. I wouldn't be doing my family proud.

"Just forget school, okay?" Sehun kindly approached and dropped down onto the middle of the bench beside me, with Kai at his other end.

"One day wouldn't hurt anyone."

They uniformly leaned back into their seats, sipping on their coffee whilst crossing one leg over the other, at the exact same time.

I stared at the sky, feeling not the slightest bit encouraged. Maybe it's because I've never broken the rules before or let someone down behind their backs. In this case, that someone would be my Dad.

"But my father—"

"Doesn't know" Sehun and Kai finished and tied a knot of this conversation. They wouldn't have let me return to school anyway, so there was no point in fussing over it anymore.

A while later and when the boys were getting bored of the park, not that I thought it was any fun considering it's customized for children, Exo decided to crash out in a nearby, cozy cafe.

Since there were too many of us to cram into a small space, we had to split up and sit in smaller groups on seperate tables.

"Waah! So many cuddly plushies!" Tao, who sat alone on a single-customer table, boasted behind the mountain of toys. There were far too many of them that he couldn't see anything ahead of him.

"Can I have oneeee..?" Both Xiumin and D.O tried, but was ignored by the twinkling multi-winner, who embraced as many of them as he could in one go and giggled into their soft, fluffy fur. He probably couldn't hear anything, either.

"Alright, anyone up for a game of Poker?" Chanyeol clapped to gather everyone's attention. He had apparently won an extra-large set of cards.

"NO" Kai, Sehun and I chorused in memory of the trials and attempts we had given back in the school library; when Chanyeol forced us to start over and over again whenever he began losing.

"I won this nice packet of gummy bears.." Chen beamed.

"Where?" Kris perked up in his chair, from a slouchy position.

"I ate them all."

"That's nothing!" Baekhyun laughed and presented a cute pair of pink, heart-framed shades which he didn't hesitate to try on and show off. I so wanted them for myself.

"You should have seen me acing the Whac-a-Mole game! I was awesome."

"That's funny, because I'm pretty sure I saw the same pair of sunglasses in the gift store.." Chen raised a brow in suspision.

"I got NOTHING~" Suho pouted like a five-year-old kid and slumped his shoulders. Surprisingly, a fluffy white puppy landed on his lap and he stared at the toy as if he were confused whether it was real or not.

"Aww, thanks Tao" he groomed it's fur like a real pet, unaware of the gloomy glares from D.O and Xiumin.

"Woah, look at those clouds" Baekhyun observed through the large windows. They were a dark shade of miserable grey, rolling in from the west; it didn't make much of a difference if he took the sunglasses off, or not. They were still grey; meaning it was getting late.

"Soo.. you've all had fun, right?" I asked in a petite voice. Suddenly, I had everyone's eyes on me.

"Are you saying you want to go home, already?" Sehun spoke up before anyone could give an answer. "But you didn't even do anything..!"

"I watched you all from afar. That's enough excitement for me."

"We didn't bring you all the way here to just watch us, Eun Mi!" Luhan heard this for the first time.

I thought Luhan had seen me from the ferris-wheel.. Oh, that's right. He was too busy trembling in fear and squeezing the daylights out of Baekhyun.

"Actually, Eun Mi and I took a light stroll around the park and participated in a few events" Kai shared honestly. 

"Like..?" Sehun eyed the both of us, expecting an answer from me, especially.

[Sehun's POV]

"You did all of that without me?!" I sulked as I closed the doors to Eun Mi's room on our way in.

Slipping out of her backpack and throwing herself backwards onto the bed, Eun Mi heavily sighed as she laid a palm over her forhead, as if she had been at school all day.

"We waited, like, over half an hour for your return but you didn't come back. So Kai decided to make use of our time" she explained.

"I was looking EVERYWHERE for you! I can't believe you both LEFT me!!" I was shocked by their excuse, not believing a word. Of course, I didn't take that long to collect three coffee cups. Of course, they were impatient.

How could they...

"Sehun, it was freezing cold. Did you expect us to stand in one spot without turning to ice?" she made a sensible point.

But it was my turn to make a clever remark, too. "So how is it that I found you both stationed under the trees, and for some lengthy time, as I handed you the drinks?"

"I was tired. So we stopped."

"Then you could've told me where you were, so I would have saved time and found you earlier.." I frowned. It was not pleasant as I had to search across the entire field in the icy, bitter-cold weather.

"I don't know, Sehun!" Eun Mi eventually gave up. She sat up straight and fixed her skirt.

"We live in the 21st century —there's something called a handphone, you know?"

"Let's forget this. What's happened had already happened" she passed the topic behind her and decided to move onto a new one. "So what am I going to say to my father, my teachers, my friends, who'd be wondering where I went for a whole day?"

"How dare you.." I took a step forward and slightly glared at Eun Mi. She suddenly stopped talking and froze, staring at me like I was an intruder in her room.

"How dare you change the subject?!" I strongly exclaimed, but then slumped into a nearby chair, feeling guilty for a reason I could not comprehend. "I was really hurt when I couldn't find you..."

"But I was with Kai the whole time, you know that" she softened a little. I knew it wasn't her fault that standing in the cold for that long was not possible. And I shouldn't blame her entirely, either.

"But I'm your personal bodyguard" I argued and sighed quietly. "I should be the one with you by your side, twenty-four-seven. Not hyung!"

I received no reply and that's when I realised she was no longer sitting on her bed. Raising my head, I soon discovered that she was standing.

In front of me.

My heart suddenly skipped a beat as I looked up at her radiant, beautiful face whilst still sitting on the regal chair. "I apologize for our carelessness.." she cutely whispered, eyes focused on the ground. "You deserve to be unpleased. Please forgive me, and Kai on his behalf--"

"Stop it, Choi. You're too adorable!"

I have not a clue how my arms ended up embracing her tiny body, but in that split second, my body had sprung up from the chair like it emitted electric shocks.

"Sehun, you're too close!" she squealed, embarassed.

"You have to promise to always remain by my side" I ignored her squeeks and held her firmly in my arms.

"Uh.. no" she said, causing me to wonder what she meant by that. "That's your job, Oh Sehun."

It was something about the way she said my full name that got my cheeks feeling warmer.

"Stop.." I can no longer resist the urge to squeeze her. Before I could proceed any further, a loud knock was heard by the door.

"Miss Choi" an unknown male voice called behind the wood.

I abruptly stopped to look questionably at Eun Mi, as she did the same.

"You have a visitor."

A/N: thank you for reading. i tried to make this chapter a little fun.. § i hope you enjoyed! as for the super late update, i really have no excuse... (TT A TT)