'Somebody's a bit down today'

'Good morning, oppa'

D.O handed you a glass of juice and you sat down at the table, resting your head against the glass.

'Didn't sleep?'

You shook your head.

'Is that because of your little midnight chat with Sehun?'

You lifted your head off the table, 'how did you know about that?'

'I watch you in your sleep' D.O said, trying to keep a straight face, 'you look very pretty when you sleep with your mouth wide open by the way. Not that you don't look pretty all the time of course'

You smiled slightly, amused with his energy so early in the morninng. 'Did you sleep well then? You were really tired yesterday.'

'Slept like a baby. No problem whatsoever.' D.O replied, eyeing Kai who had stepped out of the shower looking well dressed and skin glowing gloriously.

'G'morning Haneul, how's your finger?'

'My finger?' You looked at your bandaged, wound and bound thumb, 'well it doesn't hurt'

'That's good. I was wondering if you'd come with me to check on the high school later. I wanted to see how Aoi and Aki are doing.'

You had almost forgotten the Japanese twins. They idolised Kai and everything he had worked for during his reign as head of student council and now they were in charge having faithfully learnt the ropes by staying around him whenever and as much as they could. They were good kids, not that much younger than yourself and they had hearts of gold. Anything Kai said, would go. You remembered that on more than one occasion, Aki would save your skin with her quick thinking.

'Sure, I'll come. Definitely.'

'Then let's cook dinner tonight' D.O blurted, 'together.'

'Tonight?' You said, 'are you sure?'

D.O nodded quickly, avoiding Kai's burning gaze, 'yeah, of course. We can cook something together, alright? Since you've been saying you want to prove Sehun wrong. I'll get the ingredients and everything. What shall we make? Pasta? Rice? Curry?'

'That sounds great! Let's do a spicy curry! Oh Sehun...' You said, narrowing your eyes, 'you won't know what's hit you.'

'Don't poison the food with your bad cooking' Kris said, pulling up the chair beside you, 'good morning everybody'

'That's cruel, Kris. I'd expect Sehun to say something like that. Not you.'

'Oppa is sorry. Oppa apologises.'

'Oppa my .'

 

***

 

'Knock knock!' Said Kai cheerfully rapping his knuckles on the all too familiar wooden door, 'anyone there?'

'Come in!'

Opening the door, you were greeted with a rupture of squeals.

So this is what it's like to be in EXO and have girls bow down at your feet

'Kai! Kai-oppa! Oppa! Why are you back?'

'Oppa, are you staying long? Shall I make you something to drink?'

'Haneul-unnie, do you want something too?'

'Noona, are you and Kai-hyung dating?'

You and Kai both laughed until Kai cleared his throat. 'Anyone seen Aoi or Aki?'

'They're dealing with a fundraiser at the moment. They should be outside in the courtyard.' said someone in the student council room, 'look for two Japanese kids in red. Aki's in braids today.'

'Red? Got it. Is Aoi's hair still blue?'

'Of course! He's gelled it up all Goku style'

Kai chuckled, 'Cheers guys!' and began walking out, happily waving to his high school juniors, 'come say hi when you move up to university'

'Bye noona!' one boy screeched after you You laughed, waving back.

'Bye!'

 

Once outside the council room, you headed down the left wing taking the stairs to the second floor. There you took a turn, heading down a corridor leading to the music rooms. It was the quickest route out of the building and as you passed the heavy industrial lockers, you felt a pang in your heart. Stopping at one before a corner, you gently touched it. The dents in it were all too familiar.

'Haneul?'

Kai was suddenly aware that you felt a little emotional all of a sudden.

Time of the month? No, don't be weird. Maybe she's just tired from hanging outside all night. Wait but what if it's cramps? What if she feels like she can't talk to me because I'm a guy and what the hell do I know about periods and pads and tampons and all of that...

'Haneul, are you alright? You can tell me what's up'

'Isn't it funny that I'm treated better once I leave this place?'

Kai looked at you strangely.

'It was here when this fell on me. This exact spot. I sort of erased the memory but... Sorry... It just came back a little... vividly. It was here where Lay got hit instead of me.'

'When you were coming to give me dinner. I feel like I'm partly at fault. If I had stopped being so about my duties and studies and position in the school then you wouldn't have needed to come out and you wouldn't have got hurt and neither would have hyung. I still feel guilty about it.'

'Well don't. Because it wasn't your fault at all. I hardly remember it. Must have supressed all of it away.'

'It was Aki that found the two of you. If Lay hadn't been there, you could have been completely winded and even killed. That thing could have completely flattened you.'

Kai walked around you to the back of the locker and kicked at it. As expected, the bottom had been screwed into the floor to prevent it from ever toppling over again, accident or otherwise. It had taken him one call from the hospital to Mr Park to get permission to drill them in.

'There's an unsettling thought, eh?' you said, 'imagine.'

'You dying? I don't even want to think about it. You know, we were all so frantic when Hyun Ki called us. Even at the beginning, we cared about you so much from the get go. It was so strange because we'd never been protective over anyone apart from each other.'

'Weren't you told about me before?'

'I was but... I assumed we'd be friends but I didn't think I'd become so attached to you. Asking for you to live with us wasn't a part of the plan. As soon as you began living with us and the awkwardness had gone, that was it. We all felt like we needed to protect you from anything that could hurt you.'

Even if it's some more than others

You touched a series of three scratches. The paint had chipped off revealing the steely metal beneath.

'My life has always been full of fear and yet I was always been so stupid about it. I lived in bliss but the fear of being murdered was always with my parents. I casually walked these halls having people openly hate me and try to get rid of me and the only ones that actually seemed to want to prevent me getting hurt were you guys. It's like when I arrived... I was living to be in pain. I didn't care about anything. I just wanted to flit through life and if I got hit and died, so be it. I know that deep down, I must have seen that the locker was going to fall on me. I must have known someone was there, trying to hurt me and yet I still walked. I walked on, not caring about whether or not I got hurt. I don't think, at that point, I valued my life.'

Kai took hold of your shoulders and lowered his head so his forehead was touching yours. You didn't know where to look and settled for staring at your feet. He gently tilted your chin back up and you locked eyes.

'You're precious, Haneul, and life is precious. If anything happened to you now, God forbid, I don't know what I'd do. Please don't ever joke about dying. Please don't talk about your life not being worth anything because it is... It just so is and I wish I could have told you this earlier. I wish I could skip back time to last year and tell you how special you are so you'd try and at least keep up your sense of danger. I wish I could have known about how you felt and that you were purposely ignoring everything, feeling the need to punish yourself. It makes so much ing sense now, oh God. Haneul... Knowing this is how you felt really hurts. You've always seemed so happy around us.'

'You've always thought I was just oblivious, right? Easy to lie to. Never notices anything. Didn't notice when her best friend was plotting some sick revenge. Didn't notice her friend secretly ing on her and waiting to take advantage,' you said, eyes staring into Kai's, 'what if I told you it was my way of coping? Allowing myself to simply ignore and forget life's dangers. It was exhilarating. I felt worthless so I lived like I was worthless.'

'That's crazy!' Kai stepped back, taking a deep breath before wrapping his arms around you in a warm hug, 'never ever ever ignore the feeling of danger. If you're pretending to be oblivious then stop. God... If something happened to you...'

He held onto the back of your head pressing closer against you. You rested your forehead against his chest.

'You never stopped caring about me and you never once gave up trying to help me. Whenever I got into trouble, I'd wake up with someone by my side. Without fail. Luhan would sing to me. D.O-oppa would feed me and give me strength. Yeollie would talk to me. You would hug me and Lay would save me. I think that's when I realised my worth- when I realised you weren't going to let me die like everyone else'

Kai squeezed you tighter.

'Like this. When you hug me like this, that's when I know you care. You're not going to let me die like my family. You're not going to let me just return back to London without a fight.'

'I'm going to keep you by my side for as long as I can'

 

***

 

'How was your trip?'

'My trip?'

'Back to school? With Kai?'

D.O was carefully chopping the chicken into bite sized chunks. You were given the job of washing the rice as you were now deemed a liability holding the knife.

'Oh. It was great, I really liked seeing everyone again. They're all so sweet.'

'The twins doing well?'

D.O put the chicken pieces into a bowl with marinade and cornflour.

'Yeah, they were fine. A little stressed about the upcoming fundraiser but nothing they can't handle, I'm sure.'

'Kai told me you got a little upset. Are you okay now?'

When Kai informed him that you had a half breakdown, D.O began to get a little worked up. Kai was no better either to be honest. He was scared himself, which led him to tell D.O despite now being competitors. He had cleverly chosen to leave out the details of the tight hugs and forehead to forehead contact. He wanted to boast a little, but not be a complete prat about it. D.O however had been thinking about how to show Kai he was close to you. He wasn't up for revealing he had already confessed since he wasn't sure where he stood with you. At the moment, all he cared about was whether or not you were okay.

'I'm fine, don't worry'

'What happened?'

'Nothing'

'What are you hiding from me?'

'Nothing!'

'Tell me!' 

D.O's eyes grew dark and he backed you up against the wall, his palms resting on the wall but not his fingers, for fear he'd dirty them with curry sauce. He softened a little when he realised what he was doing and stepped away, rubbing at his chest with his wrist. It hurt in the way it does when you're asthmatic and you haven't run for a long time. A deep, choking hurt. One where you can't catch your breath again.

'What's going on here?' Chanyeol poked his head around the corner. 'Is everything alright?'

You both nodded, 'we're fine.'

'Smells good already by the way, I can't wait. Just make sure to put extra chilli in Sehun's portion.'

'Naturally'

Chanyeol nodded, happy his order had been understood and left the two of you alone. You didn't look at D.O, running the knife under the tape and moving to cut up some garlic.

'Don't!'

D.O grabbed your wrist and the curry smeared all over your skin. You looked at him dumbly, dropping the knife on the chopping board. He let go again and this time he hit his head with palms, cornflour flying everywhere all over his hair. He was punishing himself for frightening you. He was punishing himself for being forceful and forgetting his manners.

'Stop! Stop hitting yourself!' you cried, grabbing hold of his arm, 'oppa, what's going on with you?'

'Well, what's going on with you?!'

You sighed loudly and D.O dragged his palms down his face in an attempt to A) control his growing anger and B) stop himself from crying. You picked up the knife again in silence, neatly chopping the garlic into tiny pieces and dumping them in the bowl with the chicken. 

'Haneul, I'm sorry. You said no secrets...'

'Haven't you been keeping a secret from me? Why won't you tell me why you were so tired about? Why are you so quick to be worked up all of a sudden? What's changed? What's making you so angsty?'

'You're also not telling me what made you upset.'

'Kai didn't tell you?'

'Why would he?'

'Brothers? No?'

D.O ignored you had said that. Sure, brothers. But not now. Now they were competitors. You don't share your knowledge with the person you want to beat.

'I just want to know you're alright, that's all. You know why. I like you and...'

There were footsteps approaching and you both whipped your heads to look at the door. 

'Just popping in to get some milk!' said Baekhyun waving, 'thanks for making dinner by the way! I can't wait to see Sehun's face! Chanyeol's told me all about it, such a good plan by the way, and-'

'Baekhyun, get your milk and leave.' D.O hissed, giving him a pointed look, 'ppali'

He scurried out of the room no more than a few seconds later. D.O squatted on the floor, not caring about how weird and odd he looked in front of you.

'Have you thought about what I said?' he asked you, face hidden behind his hands.

'Is this why you've been on edge?'

He nodded, still with his face smooshed up against his knees. It was like embarassment was eating up at him and he kept pulling on his face. 

'I... I need a bit more time to think.'

He let out the biggest sigh you had ever heard- enough power to blow out a hundred birthday candles you reckoned. 

'I'm sorry...'

D.O stood up, lightly patted his cheeks in this sort of adorably cute way and smiled, 'no, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine.' He washed his hands at last and gestured for you to wash your forearms that had been stained a yellow color from the curry. 

'I won't rush you, Haneul. Take your time.'

Just don't take too long. I'm dying of jealousy and uneasiness.

 

Dinner was cooked not long after and everyone sat around the table in anticipation.

'Rice for you. Rice for you. Oh woopsie Sehun, no rice for you'

'Yah! Haneul!'

D.O was spooning out the curry sauce and sneakily added in a few drops of hot tabasco sauce into Sehun's whilst Chanyeol distracted him. Baekhyun had hidden the electric fan and on a hot night like this, air conditioning probably wouldn't be enough to keep Sehun cool after you were finished pranking him.

'Woah, this looks incredible!' Luhan said as you placed his bowl in front of him, 'it smells freaking good too!'

He s his arm around your waist and you laughed, feeling the love. You dished out Lay's food and then Huiling's next and it didn't take much effort to accidentally slip in a drop of tabasco sauce into her food too. 

Just for the jokes. Wow, I'm mean.

It wasn't as many as Sehun's (that boy's curry had turned a slightly different color from the amount of red in it) but it was almost definitely going to be more than she could handle. 

Wow, I must be awful.

For added fun, D.O chucked in a couple of drops into Chen's food too, winking when you caught him doing so.

'Just to give him a taste of his own medicine. He turned the hot water off on me when I was showering yesterday.'

 

Needless to say, about 10 minutes into everyone digging in, Sehun announced he needed a glass of milk. And of course, Baekhyun had taken the liberty of finishing it earlier. All of it.

'Hey! Where did it all go?! I swear I bought an entire bottle this morning! Two in fact! Where have they both gone?!'

Suho looked over in Sehun's direction, 'you mean they're not there?'

Chanyeol hooted with laughter and Kris kicked him, knowing exactly what he and Baekhyun had been planning. Sehun settled for a glass of water and returned to the table, staring at his food.

'Aren't you going to eat some more, Sehun?' Luhan asked, 'Haneul made it you know. You should at least finish'

Sehun gulped, 'do you actually like it?' he whispered

'Of course! It's good!'

'I'm going to get seconds' said Lay

'So am I' Baekhyun said

You and D.O both smiled and helped to distribute more as Sehun frowned into his bowl, gingerly taking another bite, pain settling on his tongue. 

'Is yours not spicy, hyung?' he asked Suho who simply shook his head in answer, too engrossed to say anything

'Are you that much of a weakling when it comes to spice? Because this has a little but really not much' said Tao, oblivious to the mastermind plans.

You noticed Huiling had turned a little pink and Chen had stopped talking altogether. No one however could beat the red faced and sweating Sehun. 

'Maybe we could open the windows?' he suggested

'We've got the air con on' said Kris, 'we can't really be opening the windows and letting the hot air in.'

'Then the fan?'

Kris shrugged, 'if you can find it.'

 

It took Sehun over an hour to finish eating, even if you had finally given him some help at the end out of the kindness of your heart. Everyone else was done by the time he had so much as made a dent in his food and that's including seconds. He was pink cheeked and his hair stuck to his forehead. 

'You look like a roasted pig' you teased

'You did this to me, didn't you?'

'Well I cooked it, didn't I?' you said raising your eyebrows in glee, 'so Sehun, am I a good cook?'

'You '

You held up a glass. Inside it was a white liquid. Milk. Sehun's eyes opened wide at that point.

'Can I cook or not?'

'I'm not succumbing to pressure. I'll finish this if it's the last thing I do.'

Baekhyun walked out of his room carrying the large desktop portable fan. He grinned and passed it to you.

'How about now?' you said again 'Am I a good cook or not?'

'No, you're not.'

It was time to bring out the big guns and Chanyeol ran out of the kitchen with the missing bottle of milk. 

'What the-... How did you find that?!'

'I hid it. Of course I'd be able to find it.'

'I should have known, hyung...'

You placed the glass of milk and the bottle of milk beside each other and next to the fan. You then folded your arms.

'I'll ask you one final time. Don't make a mistake. Am I a good cook? Say the right thing and you can have all of this. Say the wrong thing and I'll make sure you'll never feel your tastebuds ever again.'

'You're cruel, Haneul.'

'I take after my brother-from-another-mother Kris then.'

'You're a good cook.'

'Sorry, what was that?'

'You're a good cook.'

'I didn't hear that? Can you say it a bit louder? Once last time, Sehunnie-oppa.'

'You're a good cook!! There! I said it! You're an amazing cook, Haneul! Better than anyone! Amazing! Perfect!'

He grabbed the glass of milk and chugged it down, not caring about some of it trickling down his chin and further onto his neck.

'Mansae!'

'Hooray!'

'Did you get him to crack?' Luhan asked, his eyes twinkling despite Sehun laser cutting anything in sight. 

'Sure did'

Sehun tutted and grabbed the plug to the fan, putting it in the socket and switching it to high. He opened the bottle and drank a long swig straight from it.

'Sehun! Don't drink straight from the bottle!' Suho yelled, 'I'm back for two days and I already have to keep you in check?!'

Sehun scowled as he put the bottle back down on the table and began pouring it into the glass. 

'I hate you all. You're all so mean to me.'

Baekhyun grinned and ruffled the maknae's head. Chanyeol was too busy running around the dorm with his shirt over his head like an over excited football player. Kris stuck out his foot, tripping up the giant and scolded him, telling him 'put on a shirt. No one wants to see your underdeveloped abs' to which Chanyeol proudly bodywaved his rather well defined abs in Kris' face. 

 

 

---

TODAY WAS EXO'S 1ST WIN AND THE FIRST WIN OF MANY TO COME!

I woke up, ill as heck, checked twitter and BAM. THEY WON! THEY REALLY WON! Isn't this like kpop history?! Without meaning to sound sentimental, I am so so proud of them. They've broken so many records with this comeback that I honestly think they're going to be legendary. And by legendary, I mean even more so than other groups that are considered legendary now. Well done to EXO for giving us such a wonderful comeback to celebrate and well done to us for supporting them! They did it! We did it! We are one!

The amount of angst-y-ness in this chapter...  I wanted to explain Haneul's obliviousness to give her another dimension (and also because come on, no one is THAT much of an idiot if they've been involved in some sort of mass murder thing), whilst also slipping in a romantic (not really but sort of... okay not really) way. Kyungsoo however... My poor baby is breaking and I'm breaking with him sobs ;_; I can just imagine him being as frustrated as he is here about the whole Kai Haneul thing: