Nobody's POV

Nichkhun watched Qian, a soft smile playing on his lips as she walked toward him from inside the school, carrying several bags. Her school bag, her dance kit and... two other smaller bags of unknown origin. She was struggling with them, making her way forward. He hadn't noticed before, but it seemed like she was always carrying something. It was lunch time. Well, it had been lunch time for a while already, but Qian had insisted on staying until they had gone through the routine one more time. His smile broadens as he remembered her concentrated expression, the very same one she was doing back during the routine, and even now as she tried to balance herself. He found he couldn't stop smiling. The way her bottom lip pursed automatically, as a crease formed between her brows, her eyes slightly squinted. Every now and then during the routine, she would bite her lip anxiously, especially during harder parts like the lifts and more atheletic moves. But the cutest bit by far, was when she would succeed in her routine, and finally her expression would crack and she rewarded herself with a carefully proud smile. She looked like a kid, too modest to claim her prize, even as she won first place.

Adorable. 

Snapping out of his daze, he began to walk forward as she finally exited the school, going to meet her. She had told him to wait outside the main entrance before going to get changed, when they had finished their rehearsing, about 20 minutes ago. He had changed, and then waited here for her for the past 10 minutes. Before she had turned up, he was just beginning to worry as to her whereabouts. Now it was quite obvious she had made a quick trip somewhere, to have had returned with two extra bags. 

Qian sighed as she made her way outwards, focusing only on the bags. It wasn't like she was weak, oin fact, she was stronger than she looked, being a dancer. But thesess bags were proving to be a handful. She struggled on, oblivious to the approaching figure. It wasn't until he stopped her, that she noted his presence. 

"Qian," he called at last when she didn't look up, stopping in front of her. 

She glanced up at his voice, her eyes widening as she noted his presence. "Nichkhun."

He nodded, holding back a chuckle at her bunny-caught-in-headlights expression.

"What's all this?" he asked, glancing down to the bags momentarily. 

Qian shifted uncomfortably. These bags are a lot heavier when I'm standing still.

"Oh erm..." she bit her lip, her cheeks feeling a little too hot. "Just... food?" she framed it like a question. 

He chuckled slightly, leaning down and taking the bags from her, before looking back to her, as she stretched her arms in relief. 

"Food?"

Qian nodded, trying to get past her embarrassment to answer him properly.

"Well, I was packing the girl's food last night and I assumed we'd all be eating together... so I packed a little extra."

"I see," Nichkhun bit back a grin as he encouraged her to continue to her point, partly due to her caring attitude, so large that she prepared meals for her friends, but mostly cause he was liking this rare side of her.

"But since we aren't eating with them, I thought that I should bring the food and we could sit outside somewhere to, well, so... we could eat it...?"

She finally looked back up to meet his gaze, her tone questioning again. He just looked at her for a few seconds, the silence a mixture of feelings, as he softly smiled.

"I never liked the cafeteria food."

She smiled instantly, the action making her whole face glow, as he eyes shone like a little kid being praised. Nichkhun's grin broadened, as he took her hand, pulling her to the school gardens. 

 * * *

Nichkhun strolled back, his pace just a little too fast with purpose. After the two of them had found a nice spot with an empty picnic bench outside, Qian had sent him off to get some drinks from the cafeteria. He had agreed, thoyugh he was more than a little curious about what she had brought to eat. 

Nichkhun had already tasted the wonde that was her cooking, and he couldn't deny he was anticipating the picnic she had prepared. He smiled again at her expression as she sent him offf, full of purpose. Qian wasn't always so easy to read, not for most people, Nichkhun just happened to figure out what was on her mind, most of the time any way. Today however, was a different story. 

She was behaving differently. A lot more like a teenage girl in high school, less hesitant in her actions, and a lot less troubled. Her eyes were clearer and it may have just been Nichkhun, but he felt her emotions were a little more clearly portrayed. Almost as if her shield had slipped. 

See with Qian, it was like she was constantly on guard. It was one of the first things Nichkhun had noticed about her since they had become closer, but also one of the things he had put down to her character. But now, she was being a lot more light hearted. Which was how it should be. So maybe it wasn't an attribute of her personality at all, maybe it was just another impact of Changmin's foreshadowing. Now that he thought of it, she had seemed a lot more like this before, during the biref encounters they had spoken, or that day amost a year ago, when he had come to her aid. She was a lot more free behaving back then, a lot less strung up in her emotions. Nowadays, she would retsrain all of her emotions. Whether conscious or subconsciously, she did it all the time. She was softly spoken, and even discouraged others from portraying too many emotions. She would hold back her anger. But if her remembered correctly, that day a year ago, she had slapped a ddue straight accross the face with little hesitation. Could he imagine her doing that now?

No. But she was more likely to do something like that now, than she had been a few weeks ago.

So restraining any strong emotions. This must be another of Changmin's impacts when he left. Nichkhun frowned to himself, finding himself worrying about the girl who meant so much to him, yet again.

She used to show emotions clear as day. She had chosen to. She wasn't affraid to express her feelings, from her love for Changmin, to her anger to Jin. But even as shesaw Yunho, he reaction was halted. She had made absolutely no move, not until she was certain of his reaction. That's when she finally revealed her feelings, perhaps even to herself.

It's a defence mechanism... Nichkhun finally realised as it clicked.

When Changmin had left, Qian must of felt pain. But from what he had heard from her friends, and even her, she had hadly shown it. She had gotten it out of her system, and was perfectly concealed the next day. After that, she had not expressed any emotion on the subject, not up to the day she finally caved in Nichkhun's arms, barely a month ago. The only way Nichkhun could think of that would allow someone to hide their pain for that long, was to become numb to it. It would solve the issue after all, since Changmin wasn't there to let it solve itself. The strongest feeling she held was misery. So better not to feel at all. Put it all on hold until he was back. And that's what she did. Halted deep emotions, anger, conusion, love, all apart from her feelings for her family and friends, which were simple any way, so needed no strong emotion. But most of all love; she had hidden it away. 

But since Nichkhun had officially entered her life, things had changed. He was breaking down the shiled, freeing the numbness. And she was feeling, whetehr she wanted to or not. But now, instead of feeling lost love or no love, there was another option. And that was Nichkhun. He was why she was coming out of her cave, why she was letting emotions run free.

A small smile formed on Nichkhun's face as he realised this, but his pain for her hurting still held him back from any more than a small smile. After all, the emotional drain it must've been for her to withhold/put into place that barrier, must have been exhausting.

I see what Lian(Lian = Luna... read a/n for more) meant by Changmin making her grow up too fast... 

His thoughts came to a halt right on cue, as he heard a voice calling out to him. 

"Nichkhun!" 

He looked up, to be greeted with a smiling Qian in teh distance, waving happil at him. Yes, she had dinitely loosened up. The ture her, minus the Changmin misery, was coming out. Nichkhun rethought the set thought he had been havinng for days. Maybe Changmin's not that much of he life after all... if I can reset it in just a few weeks...

Sure, it was no secret Changmin's apparent return was just a day away. But Qian seemed to be far from Changmin right now. Whether that be because she was subcosciously distracting herself or because she was intentionally making the best out of the time they had, he didn't mind. Either way, she had pushed him away fro today. And Nichkhun didn't want to ruin it with questioning. 

Smiling Nichkhun made his way to her, carrying two bottles of drink.

Qian smiled happily as Nichkhun drew closer and closer. She hated to admit that him being gone for 5 minutes had caused her to miss him, but it was true. Not only that, but she was more excited then she should've been to see his reaction to her preparation. Sure, Qian knew faintly that her behavior was changing. But she found, she didn't mind. It was nice not to worry about something for once, the constant nagging of Changmin finally leaving her mind momentarily. At the moment, all she cared about was seeing Nichkhun.  

Especially as it was the last day it would be this simple.

Nichkhun finally reached the table, and set down the two bottles, unable to tear his eyes away from Qian. The happiness in her eyes made his heart soar. 

Qian herself saw the gleam in his eyes, but it only made her smile wider. 

She beamed, and raised her arms in flourish, presenting the picnic table. His eyes shifted reluctantly, still crinkled from his wide smile, but immediately widened at the sight before him. 

He hadn't known what he was expecting but it wasn't this. There were about 5 plates on the table, covering the whole surface neatly, each with separate foods on