A few days later, Lily was talking with Susan in the back of the store. The older woman was asking if she would feel comfortable running the store by herself for a few days while she went to her nephew's wedding.

Lily felt honored that the woman trusted her enough to be by herself, and she was confident that she knew the store well enough that she could do it. It's not like she had anything to do anyway.

The store was slow enough that she never felt overwhelmed. On the second day on her own, Lily hummed quietly to herself as she switched out the display in the front window, smiling contently. She had gotten quite good at picking out outfits and they usually sold later that day.

As she added the final touches, she glanced out at the street to check the weather when she saw them.

All eight of them.

Walking to a local pub for lunch.

She wanted to run and hide but seeing them brought so much joy to her heart, she couldn't bear to look away.

They looked... happy.

San was walking on his own, but she noticed he had a slight limp, favoring his wounded left side. Yeosang was right there, ready to catch him if something happened.

Yunho, Jongho, and Hongjoong walked at the front of the group, chatting about something that got the tallest excited and he started skipping next to them.

Lily felt her heart throb at the sight.

Seonghwa and Mingi walked behind San, and Lily saw them holding hands. She was shocked for a second, but then she was overjoyed that Seonghwa had found someone to take care of him.

Wooyoung brought up the rear. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and even though he smiled when San shouted something at him, Lily could tell it didn't reach his eyes.

Her heart crumpled.

He looked like he hadn't kept up with his hair. Brown roots were bleeding into the dull, fading silver.

She wanted to run to him, hold him, kiss him. She wanted to get lost in his swirling brown eyes.

Lily found herself walking to the door and forced herself to stop. No. You can't. You have to protect them.

She watched them walk into the bar. Without her.

---

A couple hours later, Lily paced back and forth in the store. They still hadn't left the pub. Why do I even care? It's not like I can go talk to them. They can't know you're here. If they find out, then he could find out.

Her thoughts spiraled out of control before they were interrupted by the door opening and the welcome bell ringing.

Lily's head snapped up and said, "Welcome!" Quickly trying to hide the fact she was about to have a panic attack.

"Hi! I wanted to know if you had any formal dresses?" The girl asked, blushing slightly.

"I do! What's the occasion?" Lily asked, leading her to the back of the store.

"My high school's prom is coming up, and I'm having the hardest time finding a dress I like."

"Well, I don't have a huge selection since we are a resale store, but I know I just got a few in last week, so let's see what we can find!"

The girls looked through the two racks while chatting. It felt strange, but natural to have a conversation with another girl. Lily was so used to being surrounded by boys, she didn't know how to really act.

But the girl did a good job keeping up the conversation, introducing herself as Abby, and even asking Lily for her opinion on the dresses she tried on. She ended up buying a royal blue, floor length dress that brought a bright smile to her face. "Thank you so much, Lily!" The girl waved as she walked out the door.

Lily waved and felt her smile droop as she walked back to the formal dresses and ran her hands over the soft fabric, wondering if she would ever get to wear something like this.

---

The pub was loud, which caused the group of eight boys to be even louder as they held three or four different conversations at once. They had come to celebrate the end of the semester. Each had a beer in their hand and they toasted.

Everyone celebrated, trying to forget their worries and just enjoy each other's company.

Except Wooyoung. He would smile and laugh and converse with the others, but whenever the conversation left him, he found himself staring out the window. He watched as a girl walked out of a shop carrying a beautiful royal blue dress. She crossed the street and walked into the pub, meeting a group of friends sharing a basket of fries.

"You found one!" One of the girls squealed.

"I did! This really nice girl, Lily, working in the shop across the street helped me."

Wooyoung froze, straining his ears to listen to the conversation. When no other mention of the shop came up, he pushed himself away from the table and walked over to the other group. "Excuse me?" He said quietly. The others looked at him. "I didn't mean to overhear, but did you say a girl named Lily helped you?"

"Yes?" she said hesitantly.

Wooyoung knelt in front of her, not breaking eye contact. He didn't notice the other girl blush as he leaned closer. "What did she look like?"

"U-uh. I don't know. About my height, golden blonde hair, sweet smile. Hey!" She cried as Wooyoung ran out the door.

He could feel his pulse in his ears. He didn't even look for cars as he ran across the street.

He shoved the door open, panting, and walked into the store.

"Lily?" he spun in a circle. "LILY?"

In the backroom, Lily cried into her hands. Her body convulsed as she fought the impulse to run to him.

Wooyoung... Please forgive me...

The boy walked to the door in the back and tried to turn the handle. It was locked. He knocked softly. "Lily...? Lily are you in there?" He said, barely above a whisper. "Please..."

After standing there for what felt like forever, he finally left. He returned to the others and ignored their questions, just looking out the window at the shop across the street, playing with the bracelet he wore around his wrist.

---

That night, Lily decided to dye her hair. If the boys were still looking for her she felt it was going to help her blend in a little more. She chose a dark brown that probably didn't match her skin tone, but she didn't care. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for several minutes, not really recognizing the face that stared back.

Her cheeks were shallow, her skin paler than normal, she knew she had lost weight. Even if she had found peace at the store, she still had that fear in the back of her mind that her father would find her any moment.

It haunted her dreams. More than one night she woke up drenched in sweat and trying to push away the non-existent hands that clawed at her.

After Wooyoung had discovered the store, she saw him walking past it almost every day. He would stand on the other side of the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but whenever she saw his silver hair, she would dart into the back room.

All he would see was a flash of brown hair and think it's not her...

His texts continued, still always the same thing. 'Please come back to me."

Lily knew it was time to leave.

She packed her things and wrote a letter to Susan, thanking her for her kindness and apologizing for leaving like this. She left her phone number too, saying that if the woman needed anything, she could call her.

Then she left, locking the shop door from the outside and shoving the key under the door.

But she didn't make it far before she was grabbed by two men and pulled into a car...

---

Two weeks after Wooyoung hand started visiting the shop, he finally got the courage to go inside again. He was determined to see if she really did work there.

A kind woman was dusting the counter, an almost sad smile on her face. "Welcome in, how can I help you today?"

"Hello, 'mam. I... I wanted to ask you something." The woman nodded to continue. "Does another girl work here? She's a little shorter than I am, blonde hair, hazel eyes?" He said, leaning forward slightly.

The woman sighed. "So she did have someone..."

Wooyoung tilted his head, confused.

"Yes, I did have a young woman working her for a while."

"Did...?"

"Did. She left a few days ago. I came back from a wedding to find the store locked and her key laying on the ground inside. And before you ask, I don't know where she went. How do you know her?"

"I... she was, is, a friend of mine." Wooyoung bowed his head, reaching for Lily's bracelet. "I've been looking for her for several months now. Something happened, and... she thought leaving was the best thing to do."

"You love her." The woman said. It wasn't a question.

Wooyoung met her soft gaze, tears forming in his eyes.

"I hope she comes back to you. I don't know what happened, but I know she misses you too."

The boy left the shop and pulled out his phone, dialing Lily's number. He held his breath as it rang, and rang, and rang... eventually it got to her voicemail. When it beeped, he took a deep breath. "Lily. Lily please. Call me. There's something I need to tell you."

He made his way back home, wondering where she could have gone, mad at himself for not knowing she had been so close the entire time.

The house was madness. He froze, wide-eyed, as his friends stood cheering, yelling, clapping each other's back, and smiling like they got the best news ever.

"Youngie!" San yelled, rushing over and hugging Wooyoung in a death grip.

"San...nie... You're... hurting... me..." He gasped, trying to push his friend off.

"Youngie! Youngie! Guess what!"

"What?" Wooyoung said, gasping, but also laughing at his friend jumping up and down in front of him.

"It's happened! Professor Lee got us the audition!" Hongjoong said, clapping his hands together quickly. "It's tomorrow! So let's go run through our set again and make sure it's perfect."

---

The boys stood on the stage, panting, but trying to move their shoulders as little as possible. They didn't want to move, letting the end of their show sink in. Lights from the back of the auditorium blinded them, but they still didn't move.

Not until they heard a single person clapping. They visibly relaxed and stood in a line, waiting for him to speak.

The man walked forward, beaming, as he looked at each one in turn. "You boys, how do I say this, you boys are spectacular."

Yunho bit his lip to hold himself back from jumping up and down.

"The power behind your moves, and your lyrics, wow. Who wrote the songs?"

Hongjoong stepped forward. "I arranged the music and wrote some of the lyrics, but really it was a joint effort. We are one team. Mingi helped me write the rap parts, all the members contributed to the lyrics, and Yunho and Wooyoung did the choreography."

"Impressive, very impressive." The man stood there for a long time, rubbing his neat, black beard with his hand. "I want to work with you."

The boys lost it. Many of their mouths dropped open before they were all swept into a group hug by Yunho and Mingi.

The man smiled and let them celebrate before sitting them down and going over a contract with them. They would be busy, he already had several shows planned to help spread the word as he had already wanted to work with them. This 'audition' was just a formality. He knew they needed to start small, so they would start with performances on the streets, in parks, small venues, and film videos to post on the internet.

Once the papers were signed, the man bowed to them before leaving.

They sat there in silence for a long time.

"We did it." Seonghwa said. "We actually did it." His words broke the silence and they came together again, all crying with happiness.