Yoojung did not know what compelled her to do it, but she decided to dress Jongdae's wounds. She realised this was probably unnecessary, since many magical creatures had the ability to heal fast. Yet the fact that his scabs were not healing by the time they reached home bugged her terribly.

"Don't elves heal on your own?" She asked as she carefully dabbed the antiseptic-filled cotton onto his knuckles. In the light of the living room, Yoojung spotted small scratches on his forehead as well. It seemed like she was not the only one in the household with scuffles in the day. 

Jongdae, on the other hand, was not sure how to react to Yoojung's change in attitude. For the past three days since her arrival, the girl had seemed aloof. Sure she joined them for meals, but she was a girl of few words, and she never joined them for anything beyond meals. 

"We don't..." Jongdae managed a reply. "But we're lucky to have Lay hyung in the house, so that's great for injuries. Not that we get hurt a lot," he rapidly suggested, "just that accidents do happen in this household. With our powers and all." He thought he heard her chuckle lightly. 

Yoojung placed her last piece of plaster on his forehead and smiled contentedly at her handiwork. Despite the few rough days, she's surely smiling a lot. The other boy was mirroring her smile with a grateful one of his own, and she noticed that the corners of his lips curved up in a rather unique way to make him look permanently humble and sheepish when smiling. A very useful weapon when used well, she realised. She was packing her portable first aid kit away when Jongdae grabbed her wrist to stop her. Yoojung almost slapped him by instinct and the awkwardness that was gone returned again.

"I just thought, you might need help dressing your wounds too," the concerned boy said. 

Yoojung blew a loose strand of hair off her face and shook her head. Helping him with his injuries was about as close as she was willing to get. After hyperventilating in the alley, she didn't like the idea of letting Jongdae see anymore of her weaknesses. Not that she is hypersensitive to pain, but she didn't want to let him see her wincing. Not. Even. Wincing. 

"I'm good," she ended curtly before walking out up the stairs briskly, but turned just before reaching the top landing to looking at the baffled boy again, "but thanks for today, Jongdae-sshi."

Then she ran off to her room to address her own problems - her injuries and her very wrecked make up. She wondered how Jongdae refrained from commenting. 

--

Yoojung felt refreshing again without the coat of powder on her face. Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided that cosmetics was not for her and sent them straight into the bin across the room. There was no use for a disguise that did not work and made her uncomfortable anyway. 

The time on her phone indicated that it was almost eight in the evening, and since that in the afternoon ruined her lunch, she was absolutely famished. She wondered if Kyungsoo or Minseok would be making dinner again tonight, but scolded herself for letting her temptations to food get the better of her. She sure hoped that the food was not drugged.

Tiptoeing out of her room, she secretly hoped that at least one of the boys would call her down for dinner, but decided that she should be the independent woman that she was. That meant cup noodles from any store nearby.

The corridor was dark like the first night that she arrived, and suddenly her vigilance heightened again. The only source of light was that spilling out of the small crack between Jongdae's door and the floor. Baekhyun and Chanyeol's distinctive laughter could be heard from where she was standing now, and Jongdae seemed to be whining about something just as loudly. She blinked, not quite sure that she could handle the idea that someone in the household could be as loud as the comedic pair. Especially since Jongdae looked like a man of few words.

She did what she really should not have done - press her ears against his door and listen on them. 

"-Winnie the Pooh bandage. Why didn't she tape one on your cheeks to hide your blush too?" Cue explosive Chanyeol laughter and small thud that suggested he's on the floor laughing. 

"Shut up," whined Jongdae.

"Stay put. And Chanyeol I don't want to work on your knees again. That took me fifteen minutes," Lay's emotionless reply came.

What kind of injury on the knees would warrant fifteen minutes, if mum's ankle was easily fixed under one? Yoojung was baffled. 

"Oh I'm fine hyung. And be glad that Jongdae only had the minor cuts because that's how he earned those bandag-"

Yoojung thought Chanyeol's words were ended by a soft zap and Yixing mumbling something about having to fix the burns again. Baekhyun was just laughing madly, but stopped with a string of "ouch". Chanyeol asked him to be careful about his arm. 

"What are you doing?" 

Kai must have teleported, because she was sure she did not hear him approaching at all in the silent hallway. The dark male's appearance suddenly cued the lights in the hallway, which meant that the boys in the room must have heard her as well. 

Sure enough, Baekhyun immediately opened the door and turned a wary eye to the t