For the past couple of days, Luhan had been, needless to say, miserable. His habit with whispering with Xiumin was still there, he was still finding a hard time fixing that because even though he's hyper aware of Xiumin right now, he still wanted to hear those lovely whispers. One thing he did find hard was to look directly at the other man's face, because every time he glanced at his best friend he was getting reminded at how stupidly slow he was at realizing his feelings for him. He had been oblivious, too oblivious to the point where even the other members noticed it before him. His naivety led him to assume that his attraction to Xiumin was merely a product of getting too comfortable with a same age friend, only to be proven wrong by his own unconscious action. However comfortable two friends might be, will you really feel the desire to kiss someone's lips? 'Of course not!' a little voice inside his head immediately answered.

He lied on his bed, covering his eyes with his forearm as he reminisce his first meeting with Minseok. With a glance, he immediately found him pretty and cute, even presuming that he was someone younger only to be taken aback by the fact that he's actually older than Luhan. Minseok had approached him and greeted him comfortably, even though most of his fellow trainees stayed away from Luhan at first because he was a foreigner. Since day one, they had stick together like glue, mostly Luhan following Minseok around everywhere in his quest to be as close to him as possible. He didn't even stop to think why his attraction to Minseok was quite different from others. All he could think about was how he wanted to be a special existence for him.

Now, thinking back on all those occasions, it will be more surprising if the other members didn't find it weird that they were together almost all the time. And yet, he didn't notice or realize a thing after more than a year of being together. 

"Damn it!" he cursed as he threw the pillow he was resting on just a few seconds ago. He was getting so damn frustrated at himself for being the stupidest idiot known in history. With things as they are now, he didn't even have the time to have a ual identity crisis because there's no denying the fact that he loved that soft-spoken member he referred to as his best friend just until recently.

With frustration building up in him once more, he proceeded to take out his anger on the poor innocent bedding.

While he was in the middle of murdering his blankets, their group's maknae quietly opened the room's door and stuck his head inside, silently finding amusement at Luhan's current state of mind.

"Lu-ge. Kri-ge said that if you don't have anything better to do than killing the poor bed, you should go and make yourself useful by taking care of Xiumin-ge."

"The hell, Tao! You're in on this, too?!" Luhan exclaimed at the smiling young member. Actually, he didn't even need to get Tao's answer to know that since he's quite sure that even if they don't fully understand, his co-members at least have an idea about his feelings for the oldest member.

"Just take care of him. It's just a cold anyway so you don't have to do much. Yixing-ge's already out with the manager to get some cold medicines. Chen-ge's out attending Chinese classes. Kris-ge and I will just go around the shopping district for a while." After finishing what he had to say, Tao went out and shut the door. Almost immediately though, he reopened the door and remarked "Don't jump him just because he's sick, okay?"

A pillow was sailing through the air towards Tao as soon as Luhan heard that. But all the hard-thrown pillow managed to do was make a soft thud at the door as their youngest's high-pitched laugh echoed even through the close room.

Reluctantly, Luhan dragged his feet out of the room and into Xiumin and Tao's shared room. He quietly opened the door, just to be safe in case the other member was sleeping. Not wanting to focus instantly on the member quietly asleep at the far end of the room, he distracted himself by observing everything that doesn't include a "Xiumin" in it. The room was neat and well organized in general but half or the room was a tad bit more organized than the other half. Of course, that half was Xiumin's part of the room.

Thinking that he had avoided Xiumin for far too long, he quietly approached the bed to observe his condition. Maybe because he was trying not to look at Xiumin's face these past couple of days but his face was obviously paler than normal, even his lips looked really pale, those thin, small, pink lips of his. Luhan caught himself. He was staring at Xiumin's lips again. His stupid mind had managed to zero in on that beautiful face upon seeing it within less than a few seconds. 

"Snap out of it, Luhan!" he quietly scolded himself.

Xiumin had always been a light sleeper but probably due to the cold, he stirred in his sleep far too easily than normal. With heavy eyelids and slightly unfocused vision, he tried to concentrate on the person that had made the noise.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Luhan said in a soft voice. He was being careful not to cause additional stress on Xiumin as he fought the urge to caress his face.

"Nah, it's fine." 

That took Luhan by surprise. Xiumin's face might've obviously hinted that he was sick but his voice, his usual soft voice was nowhere to be found, instead, his voice came out all husky and low. His heart sank, the sound of Xiumin's sick-laced voice quickly ate him with guilt. He blamed himself for not paying attention to his friend's well-being. He should've tucked his unnecessary frustrations under his arm and focused more on taking care of his co-member.

Luhan sat at the side of the bed and lightly placed his hand on Xiumin's forehead. He ignored the tingling sensation it was causing him and focused entirely on taking note of the warm skin under his touch. 'He's still a bit feverish.' he thought to himself as he withdrew his hand.

"Did you take your medicine already?" he asked softly, trying his best to stop himself from seeking Xiumin's hand. Xiumin hoisted himself and sat up, resting his back on his pillows.

"I've taken... (coughs)..." Whatever he was trying to say was cut short by his continuous cough. At this, Luhan's hand instantly threw itself at Xiumin's back and it lightly, trying to at least ease him up.

"Are you okay? Do you want some water?" he inquired after the coughing had calmed down.

"I'm just fine, Luhan." Xiumin answered, still with the same huskiness as before.

His chest felt heavier the more he listens to the unusual sound of his voice. It was stabbing him with pain every time Xiumin tried to speak with difficulty. Unconsciously, he had voiced out his concern before he even had the time to register what he was saying.

"Don't get sick like this Xiumin. Your voice turns all husky and low and I hate it. I like how soft your voice is, not this."

The moment he heard himself, he looked with concern at Xiumin's face. He didn't say anything, he only smiled at Luhan and readjusted himself on the bed. Luhan helped him get to a comfortable position and watched as Xiumin's still sleep induced state yawned softly as he settled back on his pillow.

"I should start getting better then." he said in a lazy tone, already fighting the sleepiness away so he can finish talking with Luhan. "Thanks, Luhan."

"For what?" Luhan said almost whispering, finding amusement at how Xiumin was struggling to stay awake.

"For saying... that you... like my voice."

"Yes. I like your voice. I love it, and I love you." he said in an almost whisper, but Xiumin was already snoozing away.