The last few hours spent with Luhan were interesting and a blur. D.O and Suho were still trying their hardest to get Chihiro to utter a word by speaking in hushed voices so she wouldn't feel pressurised but it made no difference. The girl had willpower. Baekhyun and Luhan sat at opposite ends of the table and you were seated 2 spaces away from Luhan yourself. Kris was beside you and Chanyeol was beside him. Lay had arrived to join for dinner and sat opposite Chanyeol where they exchanged friendly glances and knew the argument was over. 

'Tao, could you pass that sauce?' said Chen, stretching over the table.

'This one?... Or this one?'

'The first one... Yep, perfect. Thanks!' 

Xiumin took a large dollop of the red spicy sauce shoving it in his mouth. He suddenly put down his chopsticks and began fanning himself frantically. 

'Hyung... What's wrong?'

'Hot! Hot! Hot!'

Chen smirked. 'It's chilli sauce you dumbo. Not red bean paste!'

Tears began streaming from Xiumin's eyes and Jiyoung hit the 'call' bell on the table. A waitress rushed out with a glass of water which Xiumin downed in 10 seconds flat. Everyone was laughing and Kai was clutching his stomach as it hurt so much. 

'Aigoo, Xiumin!' said Jiyoung, shaking her head

Xiumin let his tongue loll around which caused even more laughter and even more uproar. The meal was one of the happiest you had had so far. 

Luhan carefully rolled up a lettuce wrap for you and fed it to you. He knew that this would soon come to an end and he wanted to savour every bit of it. Lay watched from the other end of the table, half jealous but half understanding. He knew that Luhan was giving up on you and he knew that it was right to have Luhan enjoy your presence before he was completely deprived of it. 

The dinner came to an end and it was soon time to drop Luhan off at the building. The entertainment company that had scouted him wasn't one of the Big 3 companies but it was still well known and the company's only promoting girl group was ranked highly in popularity with the Korean nation. The future looked bright. 

Luhan hugged everyone, one by one, before stopping at you. He noticed you were crying and held you tightly.

'You'll see me soon so don't cry. I promise you won't even notice I'm gone so cheer up a bit, ne?'

'That's not why I'm crying, Luhan'

You held on tighter to him, shuddering with every tear that fell and clutching onto the back of his jacket tighting. 

'Then what's wrong? You can tell oppa, can't you?' Luhan whispered

You nodded. 'I'm just happy for you.'

'Happy for me?'

'This is what you've always wanted and now you've got it. I'm just really happy to see you following your dreams because you're really really good, Luhan and I'm not just saying that'

You hiccuped and Luhan laughed softly, carefully smoothing your hair. 

'Can I tell you a secret, Haneul?'

You nodded again.

'If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten up on stage.'

You stared at Luhan curiously who smiled and picked up his bag, giving you a kiss on the forehead. Everyone held their breath and you rubbed your eyes. 

'It's not too late to stay...' you mumbled quietly

You hoped Luhan hadn't heard but of course, he had. Before he pushed open the glass doors to the building, he gave one final look at Chanyeol and Lay, nodding his head slightly. I'm giving her to you two now. Mess up and she's mine again. 

He quickly went in where he was greeted by the receptionist. Eventually he was lead away and into the lift to visit the CEO. No one stopped waving until he was completely gone. 

***

The weeks passed rather quickly. Phone calls to Maddie were made by Baekhyun. Dissections of lamb heart's and frogs were done by Lay, Suho and you during classes. Textbooks were thrown around the living room by the anguished Kris and Kai and flowers were bought by Chen for Seohee. Sehun was back and seemed jolly for a guy who had lost his best friend. Chanyeol and Xiumin still went to work every Friday with the few exceptional days off. Jiyoung was flying across the world with her new muse, Chihiro and D.O went on feeding the family. Tao spent more and more time training by himself. Swimmng was still your excercise of choice with Jaemin breathing down your neck whenever you turned up late. Jinri carried on singing and Taejoon carried on pursuing. 

A friend of Kai's was elected the new Freshmen head and he treated you all for a meal. You were worried about Kai's reaction but he was sincerely happy. He knew the position had gone into good hands and it made you happy that he was suddenly full of life, despite wanting to tear his hair out over his math assignments.

Kris was forever in and out of the library trying to finish endless History essays and he was forever turning down love confessions and dodging the evergrowing 'Kiss Me Kris' fanclub that had begun to form. It was a topic that came up every night at dinner and it always ended up in Kris whacking whoever it was that brought it up again. 

Sehun kept being asked about whether he was the boy that fell out of the tower by complete strangers on campus. Jaemin was concerned about him and had come to stand as a hyung for Sehun along with Taejoon as well. He was getting roles in plays and his grades were remarkable. The coming exams looked like they wouldn't be a problem for him at all for him.

Chen carried on dating Seohee. She had come round for dinner once or twice and the Chen Seohee couple often went on double dates with the Jenny Minwoo couple. Seohee was always curious as to how D.O could cook so well and now it was Chen's ambition to bake her a cake as good as his. A few weekends had been booked for baking classes between D.O and Chen but after the first Saturday and D.O running out of the kitchen screaming for Suho to tell Chen to put down the electric whisk, the plans caved in and Chen had to learn by himself when D.O wasn't there to tell him to leave. There were a few times when the smoke alarm went off in the dorm and the sprinklers but now Chen had learned to open the windows and everyone else had learned not to be near the kitchen when he was in there. 

There was just more stress due to exams. Nothing had really changed. 

But then it started to get worse.

Chanyeol and Xiumin came home every Friday night, completely exhausted but their grades never took a toll. Their skin and health did however. Xiumin began to thin out and Chanyeol was so lanky he could hide behind a lamp post and still not get found. Whenever he hugged you, you felt cautious about holding him too hard. You could feel his ribs against yours and his spine jutted out at the back. 

Baekhyun was working hard to learn English and his weekly chat with Maddie was proving to be useful. You weren't sure if it was just you but it seemed like he was beginning to have a thing for your friend. You had wanted to ask Chanyeol about it to see if you were right but whenever you saw him, he was either sleeping on the sofa or sleeping on his homework and you knew it wasn't right to disturb him when he needed that rest so badly. 

D.O was frantically trying to cure everyone's health at first but once Suho began to feel poorly, he didn't have the strength to do it anymore. What used to be exquisitely made banchan became store bought kimchi. Kimchi spaghetti slowly turned into kimchi ramen. Bibimbap slowly turned into plain rice. Everyone was tired out. 

Medicine looked like a rocky road too. Lay had caught up on the syllabus but the hours of revision were finally pushing down on you all. Suho looked pale, Lay looked weak and you were having constant migraines and headaches. The others worried for the three of you but you knew that by pushing hard and working together, the results would be in the palm of your hands. All you had to do was persevere and not get too ill. 

Well hello everyone, look who's back for business?!

please comment (or tweet me @haneul_gateun) your thoughts on this comeback chapter and I'll love you!!!!!!!!!~~ 

no seriously, comment or tweet me. or else. ;)