I'm sorry for being away from so long. My assignments kept me busy. I hope you still follow the story though despite the time gap. xoxo

“Does it hurt?” Sehun asked worriedly as he dabbed the antiseptic soaked cotton onto one of Jamie’s cuts. The girl rolled her eyes because Sehun’s an idiotic worrywart. 

“This is the hundred times you have asked me the same question Oh Sehun.” 

“Sorry..” The boy pouted as he continued to treated the cut wounds scattered on Jamie’s otherwise smooth legs. He had blushed the moment he leveled her legs onto his laps for easier access. But once he heard Jamie’s soft hiss, Sehun pushed all the shyness down to tend to the injured girl. He tried to be as attentive as possible, asking Jamie now and then whether it hurt. Apparently, he was too attentive and it was getting onto the little girl’s nerves. 

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Jamie mumbled. “I should be sorry for dragging you into my mess.”

“You don’t have be sorry about that. I wanna be there as much as possible.” Sehun nearly cringed at his cheesiness but he wanted Jamie to know he’s 100% willing.

“Even when I’m chased by a bunch of goons?” Jamie chuckled. She knew Sehun hated how cheesy he just sounded. Oh Sehun, the forever poker face, said something so sentimental must be a first. 

“Yes.” Sehun said seriously as he turned to look at the young girl. Jamie was momentarily surprised by his gaze but soon smiled warmly at the older male. 

“Thank you.” 

Her geniune smile, which was rarely seen, made Sehun’s cheeks tinged a shade of light red. Once again he realized just how smitten he was. 

He didn’t have time to be embarrassed though because her doorbell suddenly rang. 

“You’re expecting anyone?” Sehun raised an eyebrow and Jamie just shrugged. She seldom had anyone visiting except for the old couple next door. 

Sehun slowly lifted her legs up and gently set them back down onto the couch as he got up to answer the door. Jamie’s eyes followed Sehun’s figure as he exited the living room. Her eyebrows furrowed when she heard muffled voices at the foyer. Her curiousity caused her to stood up and limped her ways to the door. She then watched with amusement as Baekhyun tried to force his body through while Sehun tried to prevent him from doing so. Baekhyun’s eyes lit up when he saw Jamie.

“Hoobaee!” He chirped.

“What are you doing sunbae?” She snorted at the comical scene. 

“I come to visit you of course!” He beamed happily then scowled at the mention of the maknae.  “But Oh Sehun doesn’t want to let me in.”

“Sehun?” Jamie crossed her arms in front of her, pretending to look mad. 

“Y-yea?” Sehun gulped, feeling slightly afraid but continued to pushed the door against Baekhyun half-in body as he grunted in pain. 

When Jamie slowly walked towards him, Sehun’s eyebrows drooped lower, afraid of angering the girl even further. He was about to apologize and let the older male in when Jamie stopped in front of Baekhyun with a smirk. 

“Unfortunately I don’t welcome you here sunbae. So I kindly suggest you leave before I force you out.” She said menacingly. 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened into saucers as her glare penetrated his poor scaredy cat soul. The oldest gulped; in fact Sehun did too; before slowly backing out his half body which made itself inside after a hard struggle. 

Jamie’s suddenly twisted, making Baekhyun temporarily confused but nevertheless scared she might really beat him up but she bursted out laughing. Unable to hold it in enough, Jamie held her stomach as her laughs slowly came out in wheezes. She desperately tried to catch some breath and fanned herself while the two males looked on in complete bafflement. 

What the heck..?

“What the…” Baekhyun muttered as he froze right when his head was the only body part left inside. 

“Y-your e-expressio- haha- ha- w-when … hahaha- you s-should have s-seen yoursel-..” She squeaked in between pants. 

“S-so you were a-acting…?” Sehun stuttered.

Wiping a single tear that had managed to slip out of her eyes,  Jamie snickered and nodded, unable to even utter a single word. 

“…”

“…”

“haha.. oh godd…”

“Sooo… Can I come in..?” Baekhyun asked carefully.

“Sure, sunbae.” Jamie wheezed as she motioned Sehun to step aside for Baekhyun to come inside. 

The older boy immediately latched onto Jamie’s neck and put her into a head lock. The young girl squeaked in surprise as Baekhyun ruffled her hair, knowing how much she hated it. 

“Sunbae!!” She yelled, trying to remove his arm around her neck but Baekhyun was much stronger than her. 

“You dare to scare me huh? You little twerp!” Baekhyun scolded as he continued to ruffle her bird-nested hair. 

“Sunbae!! Stop!” Jamie continued to protest but Baekhyun ignored her efforts. What he didn’t know was that one cut on her leg started to open as it bled.  

“Hyung! Stop it! She’s hurt!” 

Only then the older boy stopped as he took a look at her body for injuries. Sehun, who had been trying to pry his hung off the young girl, scowled as he swatted him away and led Jamie inside. The young girl chuckled at her sunbae’s shocked expression.

“Sunbae. I’m okay.”

Baekhyun immediately followed the duo as Jamie hopped slightly on her good leg. 

“I’m sorry Jamie. I didn’t know.” He pouted as they sat down on her comfy couch. 

Sehun scrambled around for the gauze and antiseptic after he cleaned up the blood that dripped down her leg. Baekhyun was too occupied with apologize to notice Sehun’s slight freaked-out-moment as he saw her blood. The boy bit his lip harshly while as gently as possible cleaned the wound again before placing a plaster over it to cover it up for good. 

“It’s okay sunbae. Don’t sweat. It only hurt a tiny bit.” Jamie reassured. 

“I wouldn’t be reacting this way if you only have a tiny cut on your leg. You have like tons of them. Even these big bruises on your arm. It doesn’t look like it would only hurt a little. Even for me it would hurt like crazy!”

“Well trust me. It doesn’t hurt that much.” She smiled despite it’s quite the opposite. When Sehun dabbed the wound with antiseptic, it hurt like but of course she didn’t need to provoke the mother hen within both males. 

“If you say so…” Baekhyun dejectedly sigh because of Jamie’s stubbornness. 

As Sehun placed a plaster over the wound, Jamie smiled before thanking the maknae. She ignored how displeased he looked while feeling grateful when he decided not to voice it out. 

“Well what’s up sunbae?” She asked nonchalantly as if her leg didn’t hurt like hell. 

“Just wanna visit my precious dongsaeng.” Baekhyun chirped happily as he cutely nuzzled Jamie’s side. 

Chuckling at the older male’s childish action, Jamie played along as she nuzzled her nose into Baek’s hair. The older giggled loudly before leaning back to looped his arms around Jamie’s neck. The boy proceed to squish their cheeks together as he cooed.

“You’re so cute, dongsaeng!” 

“Sunbae! You’re squishing me too hard!!” Jamie chuckled but Baekhyun was pressing too hard onto her bruises. Though, he quickly realized his mistake and pulled back, gasping. 

“Oh sorry Jamie! I forgot! I’m so sorry!” He fussed as he examined her bruises. Jamie slowly regretted actually letting her sunbae in. Despite so, she smiled and assured him it was fine. 

The older male, of course, had to retort. “No, it isn’t! I don’t know what happened but I bet it’s nothing nice because your body is littered with bruises! And I don’t like it that you keep hurting yourself. You better tell me what happened missy! You promised me the last time this happened that you won’t involve yourself in what ever it was anymore. And look at you! You’re all beaten up that it hurts to even look at you.” 

Sighing, Jamie closed her eyes and turned away from her nosey sundae. “I don’t remember promising you such things sunbae. I just said I’ll be careful. Besides it’s not like I could control it. What could you do when people just want to beat you up? I couldn’t just tell them to stop, could I? I think you’re overstepping yourself. I don’t think we are in such relationship which I need to report to you or you being worried about me. I appreciate your concern but I don’t need it. I’m sorry if this sounds mean and disrespectful. I just don’t want you to get involved in whatever I am involved in.” 

Baekhyun gaped as the young girl stood up from the couch. That was probably the harshest thing she had ever said to her sunbae. The girl just sighed again as she excused herself to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Sehun looked up for the first time because he knew how she never actually drank water. The young girl didn’t like the taste of plain water for some odd reasons he never managed to find out. Baekhyun, on the other hand, followed the petite figure as it slowly slipped away. Turning back to the stoic male on the floor, Baekhyun asked his bandmate. 

“What just happened?” 

Sehun sighed. It seemed to be a long day today. “It takes time sunbae. She’ll open up to you but you need to go slowly. She will feel as if her privacy is violated if you kept ‘attacking’ her. I can tell she likes you a lot but just slow down. She will tell you when she tell you. Don’t force her or else she will just withdraw herself.” The young male heaved another sigh as he closed the first aid kit. “I’ll just gonna go and put this away.” 

Baekhyun suddenly sat alone in the cozy living room, feeling cold and lonely instead. What had he done? He just chased the young girl who he desperately wanted to help away. Now Sehun seemed to be upset with him as well. Now isn’t that some turn of events? His mouth had done it this time. He just turned the whole situation awkward and he didn’t know if there’s any way to fix this right away. Maybe he should leave this for another day. Maybe Jamie needed time to calm down before they talked to each other again properly. Or maybe this problem needed to be fix right away. And maybe she would be fine when she came back from getting a drink. What Baekhyun couldn’t understand was why both Jamie and Sehun reacted so strongly about her injuries. Sure enough Jamie had told Sehun about them. Why not him? He thought himself as the more suitable and trustable people for advices and comfort. Why did she tell Sehun but not him? The two didn’t even like each other from the beginning. Baekhyun pulled his hair in frustration at the confusing situation he seemed to unknowingly put himself in. Regardless, he couldn’t put up to such attitudes from the youngsters. He would make this right. But maybe a little later.

(30 minutes later)

A tensed atmosphere somehow engulfed the small apartment. With Jamie gone into the kitchen for way longer than she should and Sehun wasting so much time putting away the first aid kit, Baekhyun’s patience snapped. The older man stood up with a determined look as he stomped to the kitchen, fed up with the attitudes his dongsaeng gave him. He meant well but they just had to be ungrateful little s. Deciding to give them a piece of his mind, the words on the tip of his tongue got swallowed as he soaked in what’s in front of him. Jamie was having her back facing him so she didn’t notice his presence but the younger male did. He motioned his hyung with his eyes. They seemingly had a brief telepathic conversation before the older male turned away and left them alone. The last thing on his mind as he left the small apartment was ‘wow, the maknae managed to top all of his hyungs.’

On the other hand, Jamie was unaware of Baekhyun’s arrival and sudden departure until Sehun informed her. Sighing heavily, Jamie continue to breath in the scent of Sehun’s sweater. It was calming to have a presence of another human being next to her. Despite feeling apologetic for using the male as moral support, Sehun had assured her he was fine, or at least he would be. 

It began with Sehun finding her staring into her mug of milk tea. The small girl seemed to be in deep thought as her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. He could sense she was having a hard time piecing things together so he came to stand next to her, leaning slightly onto the kitchen counter. Still haven’t notice his presence, Jamie absentmindedly stirred her milk tea but the ice already turned into liquid. 

Poking her cheek, Sehun chuckled. “The ice already melted silly.” 

“Huh?” Jamie snapped out of it with a dreamy face as she looked down at her mug. The ice surely melted already. She thought she just put them in. 

“Thinking about Kyungmin?” Sehun asked, catching her off guard because it’s true she was. Not necessarily about him only but a lot of things. Her situation in general that was. Her relationships with others, her training, her physical and mental health, and maybe a little bit of Sehun though she would never tell him that. 

“Just many things on my mind. Kyungmin is just a small part of all that.” She sighed. 

Sehun wordlessly reached for her wrists and pulled her over in front of him. Jamie just let the boy do whatever he want because she’s too tired to resist. 

“Loosen up a little. You seem so tense.” Sehun smiled as he smoothed his thumbs against the protruding bone on her wrists. It was surprisingly comforting. 

She surprised him in return as she leaned her forehead onto his shoulder. Jamie let out a heavy but relieving sigh. It was comfortable. Despite the thought of Tao crossed her mind, the girl willed it away because the boy wasn’t here. Sehun was. And she’s not gonna replace Sehun with Tao. She appreciated Sehun a lot, though not in the same way with Tao. She felt strangely comfortable with his presence. Maybe because her heart didn’t race like crazy or her cheeks burned like furnace. 

Getting pass the initial shock, Sehun patted her back lightly as they stayed in that position for quite a while until Baekhyun caught them. Even though his heart pounded against his rib cage violently, Sehun remained calm as he ran his hand up and down her back in a comforting manner. Informing the small girl that the oldest male had left, Jamie closed her eyes and snuggled her head deeper into his shoulder. 

“I’m so tired.” She mumbled and he hummed, acknowledging. 

“I feel like the whole world was against me. Maybe I deserve it.” 

Intrigued, Sehun wanted to know what’s going on with her life but tried not to seem like he’s prying. “How so?” 

“I did some things I regret and this might just be my punishment.” 

“Maybe one day you could face whatever obstacles you talked about heads on. For now, just take a deep breath and relax. It’s okay to worry later on.” 

“Yea, you’re right.” Sehun smiled when he felt her lips curved up through the thin barrier that was his sweater. 

Sehun continued to draw circles against her back despite his urge to run his hand through her purple locks. Talking about her hair, it smelt nice even though they ran and sweat earlier. He started to wonder if he smelt bad as she leaned against him. It would be so embarassing if he had—

“Could you pat my head Sehun?” Her small voice, really small with a tint of shyness in there stopped his trains of worries. Did he actually hear that right because he surely wouldn’t mind. He didn’t if she really did request or it was just his mind playing a trick on him.

“Sehun ah?” Her voice broke his trains of thoughts again.

“Y-yea?” 

“Could you pat my head..?” Her tiny voice was muffled against his shoulder but he heard it loud and clear this time. And he’s not gonna miss out on this opportunity.

He nearly grinned stupidly the moment his long fingers threaded through her purple strands. A wonderful feeling swelled up inside his chest when Jamie let out a satisfied sigh and rubbed her cheeks unintentionally onto the side of his neck. She was probably trying to get comfortable. 

“You know why I take pictures regularly?” She suddenly asked but it sounded like she’s talking to herself. 

“No. You did tell me you take pictures but you don’t like doing it?” 

“Maybe. I may have let that slipped.”

“Maybe...” 

“It’s a way to repent myself.” 

“For what?” 

“For taking away something precious from someone.” 

Author's Note

So yea, a small chapter with plenty of interactions for Jamie and Sehun. The flow of the chapter is not very good since I wrote the upper half long before I finish the whole thing. But I can't rewrite the whole chapter in fear I might change the whole content of it. Again, I apologized for the unannounced hiatus. Next chapter, we will meet the whole EXO again (except Tao) as they talked about their feelings towards Jamie. For now, toodles ~