Deer Luhan,

Why is it that every time I think somebody’s normal they turn out not to be?

Leigh

Luhan looked almost as ill as D.O.  He kept spacing out and the water bottle in his hand was trembling so violently he couldn’t drink from it without spilling the water all over himself.  He and Sehun had vanished into their room almost the instant Yi had finished talking, and not that long after, the manager had burst in to say something about today’s schedule going ahead as usual, but everything after that was being postponed for emergency press conferences and meetings with mayors and parents and things.  When I’d excused myself to go after Luhan, the manager had been babbling something I didn’t totally understand about damage control, but he also hadn’t exactly been speaking understandable Korean, and I figured it was up to somebody else to figure out what he was saying, because Luhan had looked like he really needed a hug.

Sehun had been the one who’d let me into the room (practically wordlessly), and he’d vanished into the bathroom, leaving me and Luhan alone.  Luhan seemed content to just sit beside me on Sehun’s bed, legs swinging idly as though he was a small child, but other than that, he was essentially unresponsive and wouldn’t even answer my questions.

With a small sigh, I took the bottle of water off him as he went to drink from it a fifth time in a row with the cap still screwed on (I’d made sure of it the last time he’d spilt water down himself).  He was in shock, and I didn’t blame him at all.

“Luhan,” I said gently, though I had some doubts as to whether or not I’d actually get through to him, “I don’t really think you’re in much of a condition to film that variety show today.  I’ll go instead.”

As expected, there was no response.  Biting back another sigh, I looked up at the ceiling and patted his back.

Finally, he spoke.

“This is all my fault,” he whispered.  I turned to him quickly and found that he’d managed to unscrew the bottle cap and was now fiddling with it, staring down at his fingers.  “I basically gave away where my mum was hiding.  And it’s my fault the fans were taken.  I… I just….”

I poked him lightly on the cheek and he glanced up at me.  “It’s not your fault there’s a sick-minded freak after your mother, Xiao Lu.  You’re just caught in the crossfire.”

He looked down again and continued fiddling with the bottle cap.  “It still feels like my fault.”

“Okay, okay.”  I withdrew my hands and held them up in a stop motion.  “You want something that’s your fault so you can see the difference?  It’s your fault that I’m here right now, and has anything bad come of that?”

Something that wasn’t quite a smile briefly crossed his features.

“Not really,” he said in a low voice.  “But I’m scared it might.”

“I’m a big girl, Luhan, I can look after myself.”

“I know.”  He didn’t look up.  “But what do I do?  I can’t see a way out.”

“Our only hope is that we can find those girls before they want you to show up and that they’re keeping all the girls nearby and in the same place.”

Luhan exhaled heavily and finally met my eyes.  “What are the chances of that?  Be realistic, now.  This isn’t the idiots we blew up in the factory anymore.  This is the guy who broke into the dorm and was cautious enough to have people sweep the building on the off chance you were there and then set up at least one bug we know about in the midst of trashing the dorm to look for you.  He’s going to have his bases covered – he’s clearly planned this out.  The girls going missing will probably have hit national news by this evening and international news by tomorrow night.  Unless my mum has cut herself off from access to the outside world, she’s probably going to turn herself in so I don’t have to.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn’t think of anything to say.  Yi had already said the chances were slim, but I didn’t want to depress Luhan further.

“Not to mention the game’s up as soon as it’s obvious the security forces are getting involved.”  Luhan swallowed.  “How long do you reckon I have, a day?  Two?  Maybe three if I’m lucky.”

“They’re probably already prepared for that,” I pointed out.  “They’ll know the police are already looking.”

“Then if they plan to keep the girls beyond this evening, security arrangements are going to be ridiculously tight around wherever they are.”

“That depends.  If they’re going for stealth, they might not be.  If they just want them secure, they won’t care if they’re obviously in a nuclear bunker or a tank.”

There was a pause, and then Luhan made a brief noise of agreement in his throat and averted his gaze.  His eyes looked teary.  I searched for something else to talk about.

“Where’s Sehun?” I asked when I realised he hadn’t come back into the room.  “Is he constipated or something?  It’s been at least fifteen minutes since he went into the bathroom.”

To my absolute astonishment, Luhan let out a little chuckle.  It sounded slightly hysterical and somewhat forced, but the fact that he was actually still capable of smiling took me by surprise.

“He’s not constipated.”

“Oh.”  I frowned, fixing my gaze on the bathroom door.  “Sehun, are you okay in there?”

I thought I heard the tap at the sink come on for a couple of moments.  Then the toilet flushed and the shower started up.  What the—?

“He showered earlier,” I said blankly.  “His hair was damp when he came out with you this morning.”

Troubles apparently forgotten, Luhan arched an eyebrow at me as if to say you noticed that and actually remember it?

“He’s avoiding you,” he told me, point blank.

“What?  Why?”

Luhan actually had the nerve to eyeball me.  “You know why.”

“I have no idea what you’re—”  Avoiding me?  Now that he mentioned it, I’d only seen Sehun twice since the game of Blind Man’s Water Buff, and both times had been this morning.  The only words he’d said to me were “Luhan’s shellshocked”.  He’d only met my eyes once, and that had been for a grand total of three and a half seconds.  Yeah, Sehun was definitely avoiding me.  And the most likely reason—

I felt my cheeks turn crimson.  Luhan patted my head.

“Just give him a little space for a bit.”  He sighed and turned away, and I thought I heard him mutter something along the lines of “dammit.  Why’d everything all have to happen now?”

I abruptly got to my feet, my face absolutely burning.  My lips were tingling and I had a sudden craving for the smell of chlorine.

“T-tell him thanks,” I stuttered.  “Y-you know, for the oxygen.”  Thanks for the oxygen.  Great one, Leigh.  And I escaped before Luhan could point out just how stupid that sounded.

Looking distinctly better, Luhan came to find me about half an hour later to tell me that absolutely no way was I going to leave the dorm.

“I’ll go to the filming,” he insisted when I tried to tell him to rest.  “I need to keep my mind off things.  Besides, you’ll be safe here.  You’ve got Huang and there are police everywhere and you even h