~~sorry for the lateness >< last minute packing is really not a good idea...lol please do enjoy :D

Your POV

We walked briskly to the cafe where you worked. Apparently Tao drove here, yes drove. And he drove here in a Porsche. Yes, Porsche. Your eyes widened and looked at him.

He chuckled and said "Do you like it?"

"Am I even allowed to....touch it?"

He gently squeezed your gently. "Yes and you get to ride it. Stop being so naive." he said with a smile.

"I am going to go tell the cafe ahjumma that you arent feeling well, okay? Wait in the car."

You nodded and entered his car. You felt so worthless and dirty to be sitting in a car like this. You looked at all the different buttons and ran your fingers across them gently.  You were very tired and slowly before he returned, drifted off to sleep.

You nodded and entered his car. You felt so worthless and dirty to be sitting in a car like this. You looked at all the different buttons and ran your fingers across them gently.  You were very tired and slowly before he returned, drifted off to sleep.

Tao's POV
I returned and brought the cake that I just bought. She already fell asleep against the widow. I smiled to myself, but I saw a huge purple bruise on her neck and frowned. She was wearing a small jacket that covered the rest of her bruises. I bit my lower lip. I took off my jacket and gently tucked her in. She winced in pain. I sighed and started the car. Throughout the whole ride she was gripping my jacket against her; her eyes moved rapidly under her lids. Nightmares? We finally arrived and I gently shook her awake. Her eyes flew opened and she rubbed her eyes.

"We're here," I said. "you can sleep all you want here safely. No one will ever hurt you. I won’t let them." I added the last part softly.
She looked at me and smiled while slowly nodding.
"Can I really stay here?"

"Yup of course. If you don't mind the chaos the guys are gonna cause."

She stiffened at the sound of guys.
"Don't worry. They won't hurt you. They're really nice." I tried convincing her.

She nodded.

"Aish enough talking come on." I got out and opened the door and unbuckled her seatbelt for her. I got the cake from the back seat to bring in.

"Ya. I'm home! And this is Rose" I called.

Your POV

You held Tao's hand tightly. He held yours just the same, reassuringly and confidently. You felt safe with him.
"Ya I'm home! And this is Rose!" Tao called.

You heard thundering of footsteps and 3 guys appeared although it sounded like more.

"WOAAAAHHHH TAO. Nice catch! Hey thar shexii!" said the first guy who had a darker shade of skin, but he was very, very handsome.

You stepped a little closer to Tao and gripped his arm.

"Ya Kai. Stay away from her. She's mine," he growled.

Kai chuckled and put up his hands in surrender.

"Hi. Im Chanyeol. You can ignore Kai. He's the playboy." Chanyeol smiled and offered you his hand; you gently took it and smiled. Although his smile was a bit unsettling, you still felt somewhat relieved he wasn't a playboy.

"Hello. I'm thsehun." said the quiet looking boy with the lisp and another pretty boy with his arms around him.  Sehun also offered you his hand. You took it gingerly and shook it.

"Nice to meet you," you said softly.

Kai whistled. "She's got a ing pretty voice!" he shouted loudly. Tao rolled his eyes.

"He's always like this. Don't worry,” smiled the doe-eyed, pretty boy next to Sehun. “I’m Luhan.”

“Tao.” You heard a voice growl. Suddenly Tao was pulled away from you and was in a headlock by a giant man. No, really, a giant man. He looked 7ft tall and he was ruffling Tao’s hair.

“Yaa Krisss!” whined Tao., “Let gooooo! -buingbuing-”

Tao sounded so cute.

“You. will. NEVER. Do that to me again! Call next time. I was so worried,” said Kris.

Tao just grinned, “Sure thing hyung.”

Kris nodded in your direction. “Hello I’m Kris, the leader around here.” he said. You couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

“Holy Sh*t! her laugh is even more beautiful!” cried Kai dramatically.

“Oh shut up Kai,” said Sehun and Luhan together.

“And what might you be laughing about?” said Kris getting closer to you and looking you directly in the eye. You didn’t flinch but held his gaze and let out in a rush “You look like a parakeet….you know the thing from angry…birds…” you whispered the last part as you noticed that he was glaring at you.

Tao wrapped his arms around you again and whispered “He always looks like that. Don’t mind him and his b*tch face.” Tao stuck his tongue out at Kris.

“Yaaaa! Respect your leader!” Kris shouted playfully.

“She’s tired. We’re going up,” Tao said ignoring Kris.

His room was very nice. It had a huge plasma tv and bed with lots of pillows. There was a leather sofa and also a Mac computer in his room. Everything was so techy; you had never seen anything like this before. Tao must have noticed your awe and said, “Everything in here is yours. Treat everything in this house like yours.” He said smiling.

“But…” and before you know it, you burst into tears.

“Aish. Don’t cry!” he led you to the sofa and sat you down. “don’t cry. Why are you crying?” He gently wiped your tears away.

“I’ve never had this much stuff before…and I’m just a nobody…and I don’t deserve all these things. Are you sure you’re not like…trying to blackmail me and force me to pay back all this stuff later?” you said between your sniffling.

Tao let out a laugh. “No silly, I’m not trying to blackmail you or anything! It’s really all yours. And you are somebody, you’re mine.”

“Um…where am I going to stay? I can’t stay in your room…..can I?”

“You’re staying with me. I’ll sleep on the couch. You get the bed.”

“This is your room!”

“You’re hurt.” He teased, using the same excuse you used with him.

You smiled. “Okay. Umm….can I shower?”

Tao laughed. “Again?! I swear, you really like to shower don’t you? This is like your third one today! Alright, the bathroom is over here.”

It was a beautiful bathroom made of black and white marble flooring. The shower and bathtub were both made of the same marble and the sinks had golden faucets.

“I’ll get you one of my shirts,” he said. He handed you his shirt and a pair of girl shorts left you. “Holler if you need anything!” he called behind his back.

“Okay.” I wonder where he got these shorts…..but thank you Tao.

You came out of the shower but didn’t find Tao anywhere. You plopped onto his bed smelling his musky sweet scent and slowly fell asleep…..again. You were one tired girl.

Tao POV

I entered the room with a cup of warm milk, but she was already asleep. She was sprawled out on the bed; her legs were bare and she didn’t cover herself with the blanket. She had beautiful milky skin, only to be ruined by multiple fresh purple bruising.

“Aish this girl,” I muttered. “She’s really teasing me.”

I gently moved her under the blanket; my heart was pounding and sweat began to form. Oh gosh. I can’t…can’t do this. I took a deep breath. Control yourself Tao. I mentally slapped myself. I finally moved her into the blanket. I gently traced my fingers across the bruising on her arm. Oh…Rose…I sighed. I went out to get some medicine for her bruises.

When I came back, she was still asleep, so I left the medicine by the bed stand. I turned around to see Kai leaning against the sill at the doorway.

“C’mon,” Kai said seriously. “it’s time to discuss what we should do next.” I nodded.

Narrator POV

Tao entered to find that most of the EXO members were already sitting at the table.

“So Tao, what are we going to do with the girl?” asked Kris. “Does she know what we do?”

“No not yet,” said Tao. “I will tell her…..”

“Tao….she can’t stay here. She might give us away, or people might kidnap her and use her against us. We have a one night rule with girls” Kai said looking directly at Tao, but not meanly.

“I know! But please…..Kris hyung…please, she has nowhere to go and…I care for her a lot,..and …please..” Tao begged his hyung.

“She looks….” said Sehun

“Really nice…” said Luhan finishing the sentence.

“And she can cook us food! And maybe she can do the laundry! We could help her too! We never had a girl in the house for so long!” piped in the bread bun, Xiu Min

“It can’t hurt. And like Sehun and Luhan said she does look very nice…and Xiu Min has a point.” Said Chanyeol kindly.

Lay sat there quietly. “It can’t hurt Kris,” he finally said.

Kris sighed and rubbed his temples. “Okay…well we will discuss this when Suho, D.O, Baekhyun, and Chen returns. But for now, she can stay. On to other things…” Kris pulled out the wrinkled envelope you brought home. “We need to discuss what we are going to do with this.”

“In here, we have,” Kris continued, “the Scorpian’s record of black money, thanks to Tao.”

Woots and cheers went around the room.

“Okay everyone!” said Kris, controlling everyone in the room. “So, this piece of document will get us the ‘okay’ to continue the operation, but it isn’t enough to bring them down. We need solid proof of what exactly they’re doing. I will further discuss this with my father later. As for now, any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Okay, I guess this is it. You guys are dismissed.” Kris said. Kris held Tao back.

“你要好好保护她。如果这些事情变得太危险，你要跟她分手。明白了？(you have to protect her well. If the situation gets too dangerous, you have to leave her. You understand?)” Kris said seriously, looking at Tao.

“明白了哥(I understand ge)”Tao said softly.

“好...乖(good...you are well behaved [hard to translate]) Kris said ruffling Tao’s head.

Your POV

You woke up and Tao still wasn’t in the room. You looked at the clock, 7:30pm. You slept a long time. You stretched and winced in pain. Ahh, it has been a while since I’ve slept sooo well! You saw the bottle of medicinal balm on the nightstand. Aiii I hurt all over! You looked at your bruised covered arms and felt more bruises along your waist and back. You gently rubbed the balm onto your arm and sighed at the coolness the medicine provided. You got up and went to Tao’s dresser where a full length mirror hung. You turned so that your back would face the mirror, and awkwardly lifted your shirt and bit your lips as you tried to reach the spots on your back. Your brows furrowed in concentration.  "This is soooo frustrating!" you said loudly and pulled your hair. "Aiiii!"

“I’m guessing you’re awake. I’ve never head you so loud before.” You turned to see Tao smirking at you from the doorway.

“Oh, hi.” You said breathlessly.

“Come here.” He patted the bed. “Sit,” he commanded and you sat. “Turn around.” Tao gently lifted your shirt so that your back was exposed. You turned to look at him, only to find his face grimacing at the sight of your back.

“Is it that bad?” you whispered.

“Why are you always whispering when you talk to me? You talk like a mouse. And yes, it looks like someone shoved you out of a truck. Sit still” he commanded.

He took the medicine from your hand and gently rubbed it against the multiple bruises.

“I don’t talk like a mouse!” you protested. “It’s just I talk really…softly” You winced in pain as he applied too much pressure.

“Sorry,” he said, using gentler motions. “You seem more comfortable with me.” He leaned forward and you felt his breath tickle your ear. He spread his legs around you. Your heart immediately raced. He was centimeters away if you turned around. His breath smelled sweet and minty...and if you just turned around...

“WOAAAH.  Sorry! Am I interrupting something?” Kai said laughing at the doorway.

You both jumped. “No,” Tao cleared his throat. “Uh what’s up?”

“Dinner!” said Kai, “but just to warn you, Kris made one of his weird creations. This time its Tofu salad with tangerines and mustard.”

You and Tao both made a face.

Kai laughed. “Better than last time. He made ketchup soup. It was made of water, ketchup, mustard and bits and pieces of random hot dog and croutons in it. He also decided that we needed to be more healthy and decided to slice some apples, lettuce and oranges into it too. Oh and some watermelon and taro root. That was really disgusting.” Kai said to you. “So this time, it’s really not that bad. Just hold your nose when you eat!” Kai winked and left.

“Let me finish this little bit,” Tao said leaning away from you. He finished the rest of the bruises.

“Okay,” he capped the bottle, “Shall we go eat Kris’s delicious tofu salad?”

You smiled and nodded.

When we came down, everyone was waiting for us.

“You guys should’ve taken longer,” grumbled Chanyeol as he glanced at Kris’s attempted creation.

Kris grinned. “Bon appetite!” He seemed to be the only one excited for this meal.

After everyone finished eating, everyone began bringing their plates into the kitchen.

“Um…Thank you for the meal Kris.” You smiled and said shyly.

“ya. ya. ya. YA. YA. YA.!! Don’t thank him! He’s gonna make more in the future!” cried Kai.

“Shut up Kai. You are welcome Rose,” he said smiling. “See at least one person here knows who’s boss around here!” Kris said smiling triumphantly.

“I can help you cook next time…since I’m staying here…like a freeloader.” You said looking down. You felt really bad about that.

Kris patted your head. “If Tao welcomes you, we all welcome you.” And he left coolly. This parakeet I guess really isn't that bad.

You helped Sehun and Luhan with the dishes, although it was you doing most of the work because they were splashing each other with water and screaming at each other. You smiled and felt yourself loosening up. I could get use to this… I’ve never really had a family atmosphere like this….so this is nice and comforting.

You went to go look for Tao after you finsihed the dishes. He disappeared after dinner.

“Um where’s Tao?” you asked Chanyeol who was lounging with Kai watching TV.

“Oh him? He went to go get more cake because the fatties in the kitchen ate it all” Kai said lazily.

“Oh okay,” you turned to leave but Kai said playfully, “Heyy, beautiful, sit and spend some time with us. We’re gonna be together for a lonnnggg time!”

You nodded and shyly went next to Chanyeol.

“NOOOO come here. Sit next to me!!” Kai demanded.

“Aii. Kai. Tao better not hear you say that.” Said Lay quietly sitting in a chair reading.

“He’s not home!” Kai said smiling. “Come sit here Rosie!”

“She’s not going anywhere near you and don’t call her Rosie,” Tao said walking into the room with cake. He glared at Kai.

Kai chuckled and turned his head back to the TV. You got up to take the cake from Tao.

“Is this really cake?” you asked, your eyes widening. You only had cake during special occasions because your mother always scolded you for wasting money on useless things.

“Yup!” he saw your awed expression. “What’s with that face? You never had cake?” he asked shocked.

“I just didn’t have it often….” You trailed off.

“Omo. Come on, we’ll get you the first slice!” he said gently pinching your cheeks.

You helped Tao cut the cake for all the members. You and Tao then went up to his room to eat your slices of cake.

“Aii. Quiet at last!” said Tao.

“They’re not too loud. I like them. They’re all so nice to me.” You said smiling.

“Yaa…but you like me more right? Right? Right? –buingbuing-“

You laughed at Tao’s aegyo. It was definitely irresistible. You and Tao ate the cake in companionable silence. You finished your cake first.

“That was so yummy!” you smiled.

“Do you want more?” Tao asked grinning at you. He moved forward slowly. Your heart begins pounding uncontrollably. He gently wipes of some cream off the corner of your mouth. He began leaning in slowly and before you know it, his lips were on yours. He gently moved his mouth against yours; his hands moved up to slowly caressing your jaw. You tasted the cake on his mouth; it was sweet, but it tasted sweeter on his mouth. You have never given yourself this much to one person; it felt good, it felt right.

You broke away first and looked away, blushing. “Umm…”

He chuckled. “Did you like that? From your expression, it seems you want more.”

“N-n-n-no. Umm I’m going to go brush my teeth now.” You placed the plate down and walked briskly to the bathroom. To your humiliation, there was only one toothbrush, his.

“Um Tao..” you said peeking out the bathroom door. “There’s only one toothbrush.”

“Oh yeah I bought you one today,” he said, reaching into a nearby bag. “Here.” He tossed it. You missed and it hit your head. “Ow. Thanks Tao.” You said rubbing your head.

Tao laughed. “Oh sorry! I hope that didn’t hurt too much.”

You went into the bathroom.

Tao’s POV

I’ve never, ever been that nervous kissing a girl before. I’m glad she didn’t push me away. Her lips tasted just as I imagined. Sweet and soft. But it was much better than I imagined. It took all my self control to not go too far with her. I'm afraid she won't trust me anymore. I sighed, fully contented and happy. It’s been a while since I’ve felt like this…

She came out of the bathroom. “I’m done Tao. You can use it now.”

I went up to her and kissed her forehead softly. “Okay, we’re going shopping for new clothes tomorrow.”

She nodded and whispered, “Thank you Tao, really…”

“Aish whispering to me.” I said. But honestly, it really to see her so feminine and innocent around me. She seriously has to stop whispering and talking so softly like that; she has no idea what kind of affect it has on people, like Kai.

I came out of the shower, only to find that she already drifted off to sleep. I smiled. At least she remember to cover herself this time, I thought tucking her in. Otherwise I don’t know what I would do….

I slept on the sofa a little after that. I’ve never slept so soundly….until I heard….

Sniffling and coughing.

Oh no not again. I''m not going to lose her, not now...