The doorbell rang and Lani turned down the stove before running to it. She opened and as she expected, Changjo was standing there with a beaming smile on his face, even though behind the smile Lani could still feel a heavy atmosphere. Right behind him was Ricky, who seemed a bit awkward and unsure of what was to come.

"As I promised," Changjo announced as he put a hand on Ricky's back and gave him a good shove. Lani quickly stepped aside giving Ricky plenty of space to enter the apartment.
"Well bye," Changjo said with a wave.
Both Lani and Ricky's heads snapped in his direction. "Where are you going!?" they demanded in unison. They looked at each other for a brief moment then back at Changjo for an answer.

"Home...?" he replied unsurely.

"I thought you were staying for dinner!" Lani stated, slightly upset.

"I never said that," Changjo gave them a goofy smile.

"Changjo..." Ricky said in bewilderment.

"You'll be fine," Changjo ruffled Ricky's hair before saying bye to Lani and shutting the door behind him.
With Changjo gone, the two were stuck standing in an awkward silence. Lani looked over at Ricky who was still staring at the door. 

"Ahem," Lani cleared to get his attention. "Why don't we sit down?" She motioned towards the table.

Ricky followed behind her and took a seat at one of the ends. Lani returned to the kitchen and filled two plates with chicken, mushroom pasta. Carefully she carried the dishes to the table and placed them down. Ricky's face lit up when he saw the steaming pasta sitting in front of him.

Lani quickly sat across from him and smiled. "I hope you enjoy it," she cheerfully stated.

She watched as Ricky took the first bite and couldn't help but smile as he slurped up the long spaghetti noodles. He looked up to see her staring at him and slightly blushed as he put his head back down.

"I'm glad you agreed to have dinner tonight," Lani told him in sincerity. 

Ricky nodded and continued eating. As the night went on, they were able to somewhat get past the awkwardness and have a light conversation. 

After both had finished the meal, Lani got up and grabbed the dishes. 

"Would you like dessert?" she asked as she walked back from the kitchen.

Ricky nodded in response and Lani brought out two small plates with a slice of strawberry cheesecake.

"Woah, did you make this?" Ricky asked with wide eyes.

"I got it from the café down the street," she sheepishly admitted.

The two ate the cake in silence before either of them brought up the subject that was yet to be addressed. Lani didn't want to talk about it, but knew she had to if she wanted her friend back. She led Ricky to the couch where they sat quietly for a moment.

"So..." Lani said, completely unsure of how to start the conversation. 

"So..." Ricky repeated, playing with his thumbs.

"Um... Well I don't really know where to start, so I'll start from the beginning."

Ricky nodded and waited for her to go on.

"But just hear me out first. Listen to the whole story before you start jumping to conclusions or anything."

"Okay," Ricky agreed.

Lani told Ricky the story, as she did Changjo, from the day on the rooftop with L.Joe to just a few days earlier. By the end of the story, Ricky felt sympathy for her and guilty for abandoning her in her time of need. But before he could say anything, a loud pounding was heard from the door. Both Lani and Ricky directed their attention to the unexpected distraction. 

"Are you expecting anyone...?" Ricky warily questioned.

"No... Maybe it's Changjo?" she said with it turning more into a question than she intended.

They heard the rapid knocking once again and Lani got up to answer it.

"Who is it?" she called out before turning the door knob.

"Lani?! Lani are you okay?" L.Joe's panicked voice was heard through the door.

She flung the door open and he rushed in without another word.Ricky sat silently on the couch watching the scene in front of him. L.Joe gripped Lani's arms tightly and looked at her with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Um, yeah?" she responded with confusion.

"I heard what all those anti-fans did to you, they didn't hurt you badly did they?" his voice was mixed with rage and panic.

"Anti-fans?" Ricky got up from the couch and walked towards the two joining their conversation. "What are you talking about hyung?"

"It's all over the Internet, antis have been attacking Lani for the past few days," he answered.

"Is that true Lani? Why didn't you tell me about it?" Ricky's round eyes stared at her.

"I didn't think it was a big deal... I didn't want to bother anyone," Lani stated.

“A big deal? This is more than a big deal,” L.Joe declared. “People are intentionally hurting you and you decided to hide that from the people who care most about you?”

Lani hung her head in shame and embarrassment. As L.Joe continued to rant, Ricky pulled out his phone and decided to check out the situation himself. He read of all the horrible things people did and said to Lani and even scrolled through the pictures reporters were able to take.

“Wait…” Ricky interrupted. “So you got attacked twice…? Once by the company building and once here?”

Lani gave a solemn nod without meeting eyes with either Ricky or L.Joe.

“That’s why you had Changjo’s sweater!” L.Joe suddenly realized.

Ricky cocked his head to the side looking for answers.

“So Changjo knew about this?” L.Joe questioned.

“Yes,” Lani stated no louder than a whisper.

“AND HE DECIDED NOT TO TELL ME? HOW COULD HE! THAT LITTLE BRAT! I NEED TO HAVE A LITTLE CHAT WITH HIM!” L.Joe raged as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Wait, no!” Lani called out as she grabbed his arm.

He just looked at her waiting for whatever she had to say.

“Don’t be mad at Changjo. I asked him not to tell anyone. He’s just trying to help me out,” Lani voice became desperate as she pleaded with L.Joe. She knew what L.Joe was capable of and was terrified of what he would do to the maknae.

L.Joe seemed to calm down slightly, but his eyes were still filled with rage, not only at Changjo, but all those people who were making life hard for the girl he loved.

“I think we should go now…” Ricky squeaked. “Come on hyung, it’s getting late and Lani needs her rest.”

Lani gave Ricky a small, sincere smile and lead them to the door. She couldn’t tell if Ricky was concerned with her well being or if he just wanted to get away from the awkwardness that never seemed to leave throughout the whole evening.

“Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of this.” And with that, L.Joe disappeared down the hall with Ricky trailing behind him.

Lani returned to her bedroom and checked her phone that was sitting on the side table. It was filled with notifications of texts from Chunji and Cap and a significant amount of missed calls from the two. She got in her bed and read through the messages which were generically the same thing over and over again. She gave them quick responses and closed her eyes waiting for sleep to take her. 

Waah ~ hello my lovely readers ^^ its currantly 6am, i've been up since 4am watching Teen Top's showcase! Did any of you see it!? It was amazing :D Especially CAP's aegyo <3 

Well I'm off to sleep now, good night or good morning or good day to you wherever you are ^^ I hope you enjoyed the chapter~