When I walked through the door, I was more or less surprised by what I found. Kai sat stuffing feathers into pillows while Suho secretively pulled the feathers back out and threw them on the ground when Kai wasn’t looking, much to his confusion. The room was filled with feathers.

            “Do I want to know what happened in here?” The brothers looked up at my inquiry and smiled. And where’s my sister? I looked around but saw no sight of her. Nor could I find Xiumin. I grinned as I made the connection.  “Hey, where is your brother?” I called out to Suho and Kai. Looking up from their work with the feathers, they pointed to the back door. Carrying the shoes I had just gotten, I walked to the door and opened it.

There wasn’t much out there. Two cement walls enclosed an area where dumpsters might have been kept if the ware house was still functioning. There was a dense forest blocked only by a wire fence just 15 ft away. There was only one door that lead out. It was a heavy door. It hardly let any sound in or out. In fact, one time, Baekhyun had been out in the woods gathering wood for the fire. While climbing the fence, instead of using the gate like a normal person, he fell and twisted his ankle. He tried to get up but couldn’t walk. He called for help for hours but nobody heard him through the door. It wasn’t until D.O. was sent to go find out what was taking so long, that he was found and helped back to the warehouse.

As I stepped out into the cold air, I heard what sounded like the scurrying of feet, almost like someone trying to hide. I walked towards the sound, which came from behind one of the walls.

          “Phoenix?”

          “Channie?”

Phoenix’s head popped up over the wall.

          “What are you doing?”

          “I’m playing a game. I’m supposed to hide and Xiumin has to look for—“

Suddenly, her head disappeared and she let out a surprised cry. I ran around the wall and found Xiumin holding her bridal style, a smirk on his face.

          “Found you.”

          “That’s not fair! I was talking to Chanyeol!”

          “I still found you.”

She kicked her feet making him put her down. I smiled.

          “Now, you better not be messin’ around with my sister. Got it?” I teasingly scolded. I walked up to Phoenix and handed her the shoes Auntie Anne had given me.

          “They’re pink…”

          “Hey you got shoes didn’t you? Shut up and be grateful.”

          “But they’re pink!”

          “I like pink.”

We looked at Xiumin surprised. Not that if surprised us that he like that colour, but more that he would state it so blatantly.

          “Fine.” Phoenix snatched the shoes from my hands and quickly put them on. Sitting on the ground she looked at them intensely, studying them. “Ok, they’re good.” She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back and winked at Xiumin before I turned around to go back inside.

~*~

Phoenix’s POV

Once I walked through the door, D.O. called my name. I looked up to meet his gaze and heart-shaped smile. I smiled back and waved. He beckoned me over but in the middle of his action, froze and dropped his smile. His eyes had switched their focus to behind me. I turned around to see Xiumin just walking through the door. His head was down but he rose his eyes to see D.O. glaring at him. Xiumin looked at me, then back to D.O. When I turned back around, D.O. had switched his attention back to me and gave a quick fake smile and continued waving me over. I turned back around and saw Xiumin walking back to his brothers. I wasn’t exactly sure what just happened, but I didn’t want to instigate and more by asking questions. Once I reached D.O. he handed me a bowl. The re-heated soup made me forget what just happened and immediately start eating. I sat on the ground next at D.O. He put his arm around me but I hardly noticed. His grip tightened and I glanced up at him to see him glaring at something in the distance. He shook himself out of his trance and looked down at me. He smiled reassuringly and loosened his grip. I went back to eating, but slower now; concerned about what was bothering one of my best friends.