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A/N : Hi everyone! I'm sorry if I haven't written for quite a while coz of school. Anyway, it's vacation now so I'm back to updating as often as I can. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :) And thank you for the comments and the votes :D

CHAPTER 14 : A Truce

MINA’S POV

*flashback*

Without any comeback to retort with, I sat beside him, his shoulders grazing mine. It was quiet except for the broken pattern of our breathing and the tremor of the air conditioning. I swallowed in nervousness, I wanted to look at Luhan beside me but I was scared that If I did our faces would be too close to each other. After a few minutes, Luhan’s head fell on my shoulder, my body tensed all over, and I grabbed my knees tighter for support. I felt my heart pumping like it was about to explode,

“Luhan?” I called to see if he would wake up.

And when he didn’t budge, I shut my eyes in defeat. This is going to be a long night.

*end of flashback*

It took every part of me to stop myself from doing it. But I could no longer hold it in. I really really had to sneeze. I took a deep breath to suppress the air, but without warning, a loud achoo broke off from me. My whole body shook from the sneeze, making Luhan fall off my shoulder.  And in a flash, he woke up completely.

“Ex -Excuse me.” I awkwardly said.

He kept silent, taking time to process where we were again, and why his head rested on my shoulder. At some point, I wondered whether or not I should go back to sitting far away from him, but after seeing his pale face, I decided not to.

He looked at his watch, “I’ve been asleep for four hours?”

“You have?”

“It’s 3 am,” he quickly added, “You didn’t sleep?”

“I couldn’t sleep for some reason.”

“Someone will be here by 6, I’m sure.”

I nodded, hoping that they will come earlier since I’ve already started to feel the effects of lack of sleep. I remembered that in a couple of hours, we still had to come back for the polishing of their new song. At least Luhan was able to sleep a bit, I thought. When I glanced at him though, he did not look anywhere near fine. He was massaging the temples of his forehead, his brows furrowed.

“Are you okay?”

“Never better.” He said sarcastically.

Worried, I placed my hand on his forehead to check his temperature, and immediately compared it to mine. He was burning up, and I panicked.

“We have to get out of here.”

“Calm down, I still feel fine.”

“How can I possibly calm down when you’re clearly not okay?” I said abruptly, stood up and looked around the room. I thought of outrageous ways of getting out like breaking the door, or shouting like crazy in hopes that someone was still around. But in the end, I gave in to the fact that we were really locked there, and I couldn’t even do anything about it.

“Sit down.” Luhan said weakly.

I sighed in defeat and sat beside him. I watched him make deep breaths and shiver in the cold. I couldn’t take the sight of it anymore so I took both of his shoulders and laid him on my lap.

“What are you-?” he tried to speak up.

I shushed him, “Lie down.”

I knew that he wanted to argue with me, maybe spill some cruel remarks, but the heaviness of his body and the fatigue it felt crashed him right onto my lap. His back was facing me as he snuggled his head carefully on my knees. I cringed in worry upon seeing how weak he was, and immediately felt extreme hatred at Yeol Ra for locking us up.

“Don’t think you’ll get a raise for doing this.” Luhan joked.

I ignored his remark completely and insisted that he sleep so he could get better and attend the final recording tomorrow. Unlike his usual self, he submissively agreed and closed his eyes. After a few minutes though, he turned his head towards me.

“I take it back,” he said. “You can date someone if you like.”

I was caught off guard, thinking why he said such a thing out of nowhere. I didn’t even know what to say, since it was never like Luhan to do anything near nice.

”Why?”

“Because there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.”

For some reason, his answer made me feel uncomfortable. I didn’t really know why but a part of me did not want to hear that from him.

“You should sleep some more.” I suggested.

“I want to, but I need my bed.”

“Right,” I said sarcastically, “it’s not like you don’t sleep everywhere.”

“Everywhere doesn’t include being stuck with my assistant in a 0 degree celsius rundown library.”

I laughed, “You do have a point.”

Oddly, he closed his eyes and after a few seconds, he asked ordinarily, “You were from Paris, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“Well I wasn’t about to spend practically everyday with someone I didn’t know.”

“You mean you reviewed my application?”

He nodded, “I know you graduated top of your class in Sorbonne, I know you took up comparative literature, and that you speak like a dozen of languages. The only thing I don’t know is why you chose to work as my assistant.”

“I - I uh…”

“You’re not one of those stalker fans are you?”

“No - no of course not!”

He laughed, “I’m kidding.”

“I actually uhm,” I swallowed, “I watched your concert in Paris.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

I rolled my eyes, aware that he wasn’t looking at me, “Look, I admit… I am a fan, but I’m not a stalker.”

 “So why are you working for me then?”

There was a battle in my head, whether I should tell him the truth or not, but in the end, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay.” Luhan put his arm over his forehead.

“I don’t.” I said flat-out like I was the boss of myself. I didn’t know who was more surprised, me or him.

I thought that that would be the end of our random conversation. But after a few minutes, he spoke up,

“You have really bad luck.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well let’s see, it’s only been a month since I’ve met you and you’ve been abducted, you’ve been lost in a maze, you’ve been terribly bad at your job, you’ve been set-up by Yeol Ra, and now you’re locked up in a library. How’s that for bad luck?”

He laughed like I’ve never seen him do before. I was about to laugh too when his words suddenly struck me, I took a deep breath, “What?”

“What what?”

“You knew that Yeol Ra set me up?”

Luhan’s face immediately changed, I saw it written all over his face - he didn’t intend to say that.

He hesitated before answering, “Yes.”

“YES?” I sighed in disbelief, “You knew exactly what was going on and yet you still asked me to apologize?”

He probably realized that I was angry and that he was no longer welcome to lie down on my lap. He sat upright and heaved, “What do you want to hear from me?”

“I just want to understand.” I shut my eyes in frustration, “Do you - do you hate me that much?”

“Are you seriously fighting with me when we’re stuck here?”

“Please answer my question. I just want to know why you make things hard for me. I’ve been working hard - I think I have. I’ve been keeping in mind every single thing that you tell me so I don’t make mistakes again. But everytime, it feels like it’s not enough I just-”

He instantly cut me off, spurting quick words breathlessly, “The only reason why I asked you to apologize is because I knew Yeol Ra! And she wasn’t going to stop making your life miserable. I asked you to apologize because I - because I didn’t want you to have a hard time!”

My eyes widened in surprise like electricity jolted in me.

“I didn’t know.” I looked down in embarrassment, “I’m sorry.”

“Then stop assuming that you know everything.”

I nodded and kept silent. The thing is, I’ve always been that kind of person. I always assume about things, I overanalyze, I overthink, I worry too much. It’s a really bad habit, a habit that often gets me into trouble. A part of me was too embarrassed to even continue staying in the same room with him, but at the same time, I felt happy. I was happy that it seemed that he cared even If a little bit. My mood suddenly changed, and it scared me how Luhan’s words can affect me completely.

“Look,” Luhan faced me, “if you promise to follow all the rules I gave you, and if you swear you’ll do your job right… Maybe we can call a truce.”

I smiled, “A truce? What are we, in the 18th century?”

“Well don’t force yourself.” he gleamed sarcastically.

“I promise to work hard sir, and yes I would really like a truce.”

We smiled at each other - a faint smile that for some reason, made my day. After a while, I watched Luhan gently close his eyes, then realized that for the first time, a friendly “truce” seemed to be dangerous.

LUHAN’S POV

“Wake up Sir Luhan. Wake up.” I opened my eyes and when I saw the maintenance man, I immediately got up.

It took me awhile to come around, still feeling burnt out. I looked around, and Mina was nowhere to be found.

“Did you see the girl with me?”

“She went out in quite a hurry.”

I got worked up thinking where she could have gone, but in an instant she appeared in the doorway carrying my jacket.

“Let’s get you home.” She said, before putting the jacket over me.

I didn’t say anything to her on our ride back home, but I felt how she looked at me from time to time, probably checking if I was still conscious. I remembered the truce that we made last night and though how out of character it was for me to such a thing. But I guess, it was the mature thing to do - instead of fighting with her every time.

 When we got to the dorm, everyone was still asleep. She took me inside my room and covered me with the blanket. I saw how puffed up her eyes were, and how pale she had become, she obviously needed some rest herself.

“You can take the day off today,” I said.

Like she didn’t hear a word, she headed out, “I’ll be right back.”

After a few minutes, she came with medicine she apparently bought from the pharmacy. She held me up carefully, and helped me take it.

“You can leave now,” I insisted.

“I’ll be right outside if you need anything.” She turned her back and headed to the door.

“Go home Mina.”

“But I want to-“

“Go home before I fire you.”

“You’ll call me if anything happens right?”

I smirked weakly, “It’s not like I have any other assistant to call.”

She closed the door behind her in defeat, and once more, I drifted off to sleep.

MINA’S POV

On the way home, I set my phone on loud mode, I kept looking at it in case Luhan texted. I wondered whether I would be able to sleep at all when I’m worried to death that he’s sick. But when I got to my doorstep, I realized there was no rest waiting for me. Woo Jin stood by the door, his arms crossed.

“Mina.” He approached me, “Do you know how many times I’ve been calling?”

“I’m sorry, something came up.”

“You don’t look well.” He said, moving to touch my face.

I impulsively evaded him thinking back to his confession. He put down his hands, confused and disappointed.

“Let’s talk.” I finally said.

I led him inside my small apartment, and gestured him to sit on dining table. I poured him a cup of tea and sat right across him.

“I don’t think I’m going to like this talk.” He said with an upsetting smile.

“Woo Jin…” I hesitated, “You’re one of the few people I feel comfortable with, one of the few people I can actually open up to… so this is really difficult for me…”

“It’s fine Mina, you can tell me.”

“I want you to give me time to think about things. The truth is I’ve always seen you as a friend… But if you give me time, maybe I can figure out what I really feel about you. And you can figure out why you like someone as complicated as me.”

He beamed, “It’s all already figured out on my part, but I’ll wait till you figure out yours.”

I smiled back at him, unsure of what exactly I said. Honestly, I didn’t even have time to think of a reply to Woo Jin since I was too busy being locked up. But for some reason, the decision just came out. Besides, I realized that there was no harm in trying to get to know someone more, especially someone like Woo Jin.

“I think you need to get some sleep.” Woo Jin stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

I nodded, and led him to the door. Before leaving completely, he looked back at me one last time and said, “I’ll wait Mina.”

I threw myself on the bed feeling like I’ve ran the entire day.

“What exactly am I doing?” I thought aloud.

A truce with Luhan and a waiting game with Woo Jin? Define complicated.