“Mav, aren’t you going to eat?”, Mav’s group mate asked, holding a piece of chicken leg between her fingers.

“Oh? Oh…”, Mav lifelessly replied, grabbing a piece of chicken wing. Her group mates looked at her with worry showing in their eyes.

Seeing SungYeol working in a chicken restaurant surprised her, at least that what she thinks she felt. She could not take her eyes off him, from taking their order to serving their food, Mav didn’t break the look she gave him.

“Iced teas, on the house”, a voice suddenly offered, causing Mav to shot up her head.

“Thanks, SungYeol – lie – oppa!”, Mav’s group mate chuckled.

“Thanks, man. The chicken here is delicious. Min Hee’s right. You do have the best chicken here in the neighborhood”, MinWoo, Mav’s groupmate, remarked.

“Thank you”, Mav said, causing SungYeol to look at her.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to approach me”, SungYeol said, his gaze directed at Mav.

Mav kept silent for the whole duration of the meal. She glanced at SungYeol every once in a while, then returning to her blank state. After all of them have finished their meal, the others decided to head home since they were exhausted. While the others bade their goodbyes, Mav decided to sit at a bench near the store and wait for SungYeol. While organizing the things inside her bag, she noticed a man wearing a conspicuous black outfit sitting at the other side. Curiosity hit her and she unconsciously stared at the man for a while. After a few minutes, the man left, leaving Mav fazed.

At a distance, MyungSoo began to walk quickly as he clasps his hands.

That was close, he thought, as he took a cab to take him home.

It was almost 12 midnight when SungYeol came out of the store. He was about to head back home when he noticed a sleeping figure at a bench nearby.

Is that… Mav?, he thought as he moved closer to the figure.

Just as he thought, he saw a sleeping Mav at the far side of the bench. He tried to wave his hand in front of her face to check if she’s awake but figures, she was in a deep sleep.

“Mav? Mav? Wake up. It’s already late”, SungYeol nudged her, hoping that she’ll open her eyes.

“What? Where am I?”, a disoriented Mav greeted SungYeol, causing him to chuckle.

“Oh, it’s you. Lets go?”, Mav gave him a weak smile while standing up.

"Wait... you stayed here because you waited for me?", SungYeol asked.

"Why wouldn't I?", Mav cheekily replied, causing SungYeol to be stunned.

The trip back home was almost silent. As if they had already known, they decided to take the long route back. SungYeol had so many questions in his mind: why Mav was there, why he waited for him, what does Mav think of him. He glanced at her from time to time, hoping that she’ll be the first one to break the ice.

On the other hand, Mav finally understood why SungYeol oftentimes left the apartment in a hurry. She didn’t mind if he had a part – time job. What bothered her was his stamina, especially now that they’ll be having a comeback and a concert on top of that. For her, it was okay if SungYeol will not explain everything to her. What she needed to know at the moment was if he was alright and if he could still keep up with the work.

“It’s our restaurant”, SungYeol finally broke the silence, earning an agreeing nod from Mav.

“Since our business is still a bit… slow, we couldn’t afford to hire new employees. Mom and Dad are a bit short – staffed and I just had to help… until it blooms again”, SungYeol shared to her. Mav could only nod in agreement.

“Thoughts?”, SungYeol asked her with curiosity. He was eager to know what was currently in Mav’s mind.

“Are you alright?”, Mav finally spoke up, looking at him intently.

“What?”, SungYeol asked in confusion.

“I mean, could your body handle it? With the comeback and concert, and you working in shifts, do you still… rest?”, Mav asked with a worrying tone, causing SungYeol to be taken aback.

“Um, yeah. I can still manage”, SungYeol assured her.

“That’s good to know”, Mav replied with a smile.

The trip to the apartment was a bit long but Mav and SungYeol were able to appreciate it. SungYeol was elated, knowing that Mav did not pry her with questions. In the other hand, Mav was relieved that SungYeol still has time to rest despite his work load.

It was already 12: 40 in the early morning when they arrived at the dorm. With the assumption that everyone was asleep, they tried to move as quiet as possible, only to be surprised by a waiting SungGyu seated at the couch in the living room.

SungGyu eyed them both, curious on why they were together at this hour. He looked at Mav for a while, hoping that she’ll look at him too, but Mav kept her head down, afraid of what will happen.

“Where have you two been?”, SungGyu asked sternly, causing Mav to flinch a bit.

“We…”, Mav stuttered when SungYeol spoke up.

“We ate. She was with her friends, doing some stuff… I don’t know. We happened to bump into each other and I decided that we should head home together”, SungYeol explained.

SungGyu was about to leave when Mav spoke.

“SungGyu – oppa, I’m sorry”, Mav said, causing to SungGyu to stop walking.

“You know, you have a knack of making other people worry”, SungGyu replied, not looking back at Mav.

“Don’t worry. He means well. He might be a bit stubborn and… ‘grumpy’ but he cares”, SungYeol put his arm around Mav’s shoulders.

“It’s alright… anyway, we should go to sleep”, Mav suggested.

“Are you… sleepy?”, SungYeol asked, hoping that Mav would say no.

“Actually, with what happened a while ago, I think my 'sleepiness' vanished”, Mav answered with a glumly chuckle.

“Your exams are coming up, right? Do you want to…”, SungYeol was about to ask but a drowsy SungJong interrupted him.

“SungYeol – hyung, Mav, why are you still up?”, SungJong asked while rubbing his eyes.

“Ah! SungJong – ah, got any movies to recommend?”, SungYeol asked SungJong enthusiastically, causing Mav to remove Sungyeol’s arm around her shoulders.

“We might wake the others”, Mav whispered.

“DongWoo – hyung is a heavy sleeper, HoYa and WooHyun usually have their earphones on when sleeping, and I’m sure SungGyu – hyung and MyungSoo wouldn’t mind. Plus, think of it as a way of de – stressing before you take your exams next week”, SungYeol whispered back with a smile.

“Oh! I know a good film!”, SungJong said, heading to the stack of DVDs in the living room.

“Please don’t tell me it’s a horror film”, SungYeol rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Oh, come on, hyung. It will be fun!”, SungJong retorted, putting the CD inside the DVD player.

“Actually… I don’t watch those kind of films… can’t sleep after watching them. I’ll be heading back to--”, Mav was about to return to her room when SungJong grabbed her wrist, causing her to hit his chest.

“I’ll be here”, SungJong said, gazing intently at Mav. Mav could feel a blush creeping in her cheeks.

“Yah, Lee SungJong, the movie’s starting!”, SungYeol shouted from the couch, holding a pillow at one hand.

Mav and SungJong made their way to the couch with SungYeol. While the movie, progressed, SungYeol clung to Mav while Mav clung to SungJong. Both were scared and frightened with some scenes, while SungJong chuckled at them, especially at Mav. He found it cute to see her scared of some horror movie. Using that chance, he grabbed Mav’s hand and held it tightly. Mav and SungYeol, too engrossed in the movie, failed to notice.

Due to the slightly loud sound coming from the speakers, it had woken MyungSoo and SungGyu, whose room was nearest to the living room. Upon seeing the three watching a movie at a very late hour, SungGyu reprimanded them, causing Mav to become glum. On the other hand, MyungSoo went straight to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. Contrary to what SungGyu felt, MyungSoo found it adorable to see the three of them bundled up in the couch like that. After drinking, he made his way back to his room, looking at the three of them for one last time. He smiled at the thought of Mav being finally comfortable around SungYeol and SungJong.

Unknown to him, Mav saw him… his smile.

Didn’t think he could smile like that, Mav thought as she chuckled at image of MyungSoo smiling.

A/N: Sorry if I uploaded it a bit late. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Will be uploading the next one next week. :)