Selena sighed when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling her phone out, she stared at the screen and waited for the call to drop. He had been calling and texting her since yesterday and she was not quite ready to talk to him yet. She frowned as the phone lit up seconds after the previous call had dropped. What exactly was she supposed to say when she picked up? Congratulations on your engagement? Or was she supposed to be mad? Did she have any right to be mad? Over the years, she knew better than to hope for something real between them. It always about the physical for him and she knew it was their dirty little secret. It made her feel filthy and used each time but she couldn’t say no. Not when she owed him her life. So when he had announced his engagement to another girl, she couldn’t even begin to understand why he was reaching out to her. And here she was, sitting in one of the boy’s room next to a pile of clean laundry, trying to forget and ignore his calls. Stuck in a daze, she jumped when she heard the front door close and could hear the boys talking loudly as they put their shoes away. Not wanting the boys to worry, she hastily hung up on the caller and stuck her phone back in her pocket just as one of them walked into the room. She hoped that he wouldn’t call back.

“Noona?” She turned around to see an uncertain Youngjae standing at the door lightly bouncing between his feet. “I got some snacks for you. Do you want to eat some now?” She smiled and shook her head pointing at the pile of laundry she was folding. From the corner of eyes, she saw Youngjae shuffle into the room sheepishly and move the clothes so he could lie on the bed next to her. He always was one of the more affectionate boys and would follow her around the dorms like a duckling following its mother. It was adorable and she was supposed it was what it would’ve felt like if she had a younger brother. He was a ball of sunshine and whenever he smiled or laughed, everything seemed right with the world. Even if she was having a rough day. She laughed when he randomly pulled a sweater from the pile and rolled around in it. Sometimes, she wondered if Youngjae was really the middle child instead of the maknae.

“Having fun?” she laughed at the muffled response and kept folding the clothes. Not too long after, he sat up and started helping her fold some clothes. They sat in a comfortable silence, working side by side. It was rare to have such a peaceful moment but it didn’t last long. Selena felt the familiar buzzing in her pocket and silently muted it. She could see Youngjae looking at her curiously but he kept quiet and went back to the shirt he was folding. A few minutes passed by when her phone started to buzz again. She silenced it again and secretly prayed that Youngjae wouldn’t ask about it. He didn’t. Instead, he was focused on the piece of clothing he was folding but she could see the subtle hints of a frown.

They finished folding the laundry quickly and Selena headed towards the kitchen to start dinner. As she walked to the kitchen, she passed by the rest of the boys who were sprawled out in the living room eating snacks. Youngjae had caught sight of them and ran towards them.

“Yah!! I bought those specifically for noona!” Youngjae tried grabbing the snacks but they had already eaten most of it. Youngjae looked so distraught but he knew they didn’t know. The boys looked at both of them apologetically and there was an awkward silence. Selena laughed and walked over to Youngjae to pat his head.

“It’s okay,” from very early on, Youngjae had caught on to her habit of stress eating. And whenever he noticed she was a little off, he would buy her a bunch of snacks and food to cheer her up. By now, the thought of it made her feel warm inside and she didn’t really need comfort food anymore. It was hard to be down around someone as bright as him. She smiled widely at Youngjae as he sidled up next to her with a pout. “How about we go out for dinner?”

At the sound of food, all the boys jumped up and clambered towards the two. Selena laughed as they fought over where to go for dinner. Just as she turned to grab her purse, she felt Youngjae grab her hand and hugged her, shooting her puppy eyes.

“Noona, it’ll be our treat. You already did so much today. You need a break too,” the other boys agreed and were already pushing them out the door. They had voted on getting barbeque for dinner and had decided to walk to the restaurant. It was rowdy and it was loud and it was chaotic but she enjoyed every minute of it. And it wasn’t until later that night when she found her phone on her bed, she realized that someone had sneakily taken her phone and turned it off. She almost cried.

.

Selena sighed as she wrung out the wet cloth and wiped Seunghoon’s forehead. The flu had been going around the dorm and between taking care of the boys activities and their sickness, even Seunghoon fell ill. It was a miracle Selena was still standing. But the lack of sleep was definitely taking a toll on her.

Forcing herself to get up, she picked up the bowl of water and put it away. Going around the rooms, she checked on the boys who were sleeping. Satisfied that no one had spiked a fever, she went back to Seunghoon’s room to get some work done. Pulling out their planners, she started working out the next month’s schedule for each of the boys. Seunghoon usually handled this part and was working on it earlier today. It was due to be finalized later this afternoon and when Selena had come in to check on him, she had found him passed out with a fever. She had managed to pull him into bed with some help from Jaebum.

An hour later, she had finished Jackson’s, Bambam’s, and Jinyoung’s schedule and was starting on Jaebum’s. However, the lack of sleep and tiredness was slowly getting to her. Her eyes started getting heavy and the mild headache she had from this morning was slowly getting worse. And before she knew it, she passed out.

It was misty and she could barely see in front of her. And with each step she took, she felt dread seeping into her bones. Something was not right.

She found a heap of something