Lani and Niel sat around the shed, not speaking much -mainly because they had nothing to say to each other- bored out of their minds. Lani's mind drifted in and out of the images of L.Joe with another woman, but she shook those thoughts out of her head every time she realized what she was thinking about. It had been just over 25 minutes since the two had entered the shed, and it had been just about 25 minutes of silence.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to practice?" Lani was the first to speak up, breaking the silence.

"Why? Do you not want me around?" Niel chuckled as he joked with her.

"No! That's not what I meant!" Lani frantically tried to explain herself, not wanting to hurt Niel's feelings.

"I'm just joking!" Niel laughed once more, "Calm down," he teased.

"Oh..." Lani fell silent as she looked down at her hands on her lap in embarrassment. 

"We got the evening off at L.Joe's request," Niel explained to Lani.

Instantly, Lani's mind returned to the scene in front of the building, L.Joe with that woman, laughing and smiling. Her stomach turned, and her chest tightened, she felt sick even thinking about it, she never thought L.Joe would do something like that, and the worst part was, she didn't know how long he had been doing it.

Niel's eyes widened as he saw the glisten of the tears b Lani's eyes, he panicked as he watched her try to wipe the tears away.

"Are you okay?! Did i say something wrong?! Lani! What's wrong!?" Niel bombarded her with questions, not giving her time to answer. 

Lani swallowed hard before forcing a smile, "I'm fine, just a bit hungry, that's all."

"I only thought the maknaes cried over food," Niel joked trying to lighten the mood. He knew that wasn't the reason why Lani was so upset. If it was, she would've just gone somewhere to eat rather than hiding away in a dark shed. It was obvious to him that something had happened between her and L.Joe -given the fact her eyes saddened every time he mentioned his name- but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Why don't we get out of this stuffy place and grab something to eat?"

A small nod was all Niel needed from Lani to know it was time to get out of there; he headed towards the window and slid it up as he did earlier and helped Lani get through it.

They walked down the street side by side contemplating where they wanted to eat. They couldn't decide until Lani suggested they just eat street food, it was cheap and fast and had such a large variety of different dishes. Niel agreed and the two stopped at the next red tent, walking in to find a surprise.

"Oppa?" Lani cocked her head to the side at she stared in confusion at the table in front of her.

Two heads turned her way, both instantly lighting up when they saw her.

"Lani!" Sungyeol sang as he ran to her as a child would. He opened his arms and scooped her up into a hug, spinning her in the small space, nearly knocking Niel over. He put her down nearly stumbling over his two feet and Lani could smell the alcohol in his breath. Woohyun walked over to her, not in a very straight line, and smiled with his red cheeks.

"What are you doing here?!" Woohyun exclaimed, clearly tipsy.

"I came back for a visit, I texted you last week about that, remember?" she replied to him, slightly caught off guard at his tipsy state. He was acting weird, but what else could she expect from someone who had been taking shots.

"Come sit with us!" Woohyun tugged on her arm.

"You too!" Sungyeol exclaimed as he turned to face Niel. "Oh," Sungyeol's goofy smile was replaced with confusion as he stared at Niel, "You're not L.Joe," he blinked at him.

"Uh..." Niel wasn't sure what to say to him; every time he had met Infinite it was in a more professional manner.

"I won't tell anyone!" Sungyeol slurred as he pretended to zip his lips shut.

Niel and Lani were dragged to the table where they joined the two Infinite boys, ordered some more food and a few bottles of soju at Sungyeol’s request. Within the next hour, Lani had completely let loose and drank most of the alcohol before anyone else could. She wasn’t normally a drinker, the only other time she got tipsy was on her birthday with Infinite, but with so much flooding her mind she couldn’t help but intoxicate herself to the point of no return. The four laughed and joked, just enjoying themselves until Lani was sleeping on the table and Woohyun and Sungyeol were completely wasted. The two Infinite boys headed home in a taxi when their hyung called and scolded them, and Niel was left alone to deal with the sleeping Lani.

“Uh, hyung… I have a problem,” Niel desperately said into his phone.

“Wae? What’s wrong Niel?” the leader questioned with concern.

Niel explained everything to CAP before carefully lifting Lani onto his back and securely carrying her down the street. He walked a couple of blocks with Lani lifelessly slumped on his back, when she started to mumble words in her sleep.

“Nappeun namja…” she slurred in a sleepy voice, “bad L.Joe,” she continued. Lani mumbled words that didn’t make much sense to Niel until he made it to the company building where CAP was waiting. CAP eased Lani onto his own back, letting Niel stretch his stiff shoulders, as they walked back to the dorm together, sneaking Lani into CAP’s room without anyone else noticing. L.Joe was yet to come home and the maknaes were busy playing video games, making it fairly easy to get Lani through the dorm without questions being asked. Niel explained to Chunji what had happened earlier and he made it his duty to watch over Lani as she slept. CAP took the couch, earning questions from L.Joe when he returned home, and Chunji slept on the floor in CAP’s room making sure not to be too far from Lani if she needed anything.

here's an update for you~ i have a mid term tomorrow :( sad face~ maybe i should start studying :P anywayz, hope you enjoyed the chapter :))