“Oh my, thank you so much! I’m relieved she’s safe.”

“Don’t worry. No matter how stubborn she is, I feel like we'll always be the ones saving her.”

Smack!

“What the heck, Kai?! What was that for?”

“How are you going to say that in front of them, dude?”

“What? Sehun told me that they say she’s stubborn too!”

“Aw, I’m so happy you guys are together again,” Mrs. Oh chuckled at the little argument between Baekhyun and Kai. “Oh! She must be heavy. Kai, just lay her down on her bed. Up the stairs, make a right and her room will be on the right side of the bathroom.”

“Yes, auntie.”

Mira was half-asleep when she heard familiar voices speaking, not exactly sure what they were saying.  She felt the sudden warm atmosphere, completely different from the winter’s air and assumed she was back at home. Home. It’s great to be back home.

Not even a minute later, she fell back to sleep and the last thing she remembered was being carried on someone’s back as they headed up the stairs.

As Kai carried Mira up to her room, he opened her bedroom door and was exposed to a blossom-like and fruity smell; it was both sweet and tangy. He liked it. It definitely screamed 'Mira'. 

Subtly and quietly, Kai uncovered the bed sheets a little and sat on the edge of the bed to strip Mira off of his back and lay her delicately on her bed. After laying the covers on top of her and tucking her in, he looked down and was captivated by her features.

"Tch. I kind of like it when you're this quiet," Kai spoke lowly. She was much more calm and less annoying while she was asleep. All the creases on her face that were caused by stress were gone. Mira looked peaceful, like an angel almost. Almost.

Tired, Kai decided to sit down on the big beanbag across her room next to her closet. He had the perfect view of Mira and to be honest, he was a bit jealous that she was able to sleep so peacefully like that. "Huuuuuh," Kai yawned as he stretched his body along the beanbag.

It was a lot more comfortable than he expected and he sunk in not too much, but enough similar to his bed. Slowly but surely, his eyes started to feel droopier.

"No. Can't fall asleep. Not here, not now," trying his best, Kai tried convincing himself that he wasn't tired. Pinching himself didn't help at all, instead it just irritated him.

Sitting in a relaxed position, he drifted into deep thought. Today was a lot for everyone to take in and going out to find Mira was tiring. 

He couldn't put into words how horrible he felt. How guily and disgusting he felt for putting Mira through this. Is it worth the pain? Is what they're doing worth it? The last thing he wants is to hurt Mira and push her away even more. As selfish as he was being by trying to bring her back, he never thought about how this would affect Mira or if this even mattered to Mira.

To her, they were still strangers to her. Whether if she remembers anything or not, she won't speak a word about it. She may see them as strangers, but they still see her as their best friend, especially Kai. All those memories that were made together within those two years of knowing each other couldn't be forgotten.

Despite the short period, Kai could never get himself to forget about her. Within those two years, she has witnessed both the good things and bad things about him. Just like he has with her, Mira has been with him through some of his hardest challenges in life, as well as the greatest moments of his life.

How could he possibly leave such a friend like her behind? The answer is: he couldn't. He wouldn't. Not as long as he lived– no– not for a million years. Not for eternity, if possible. 

Feeling drained, Kai closed his eyes for moment as he basked in the serene silence. Pretty soon he couldn't help it anymore and unintentionally he fell asleep on the beanbag comfortably.

As if on instinct, Mira slowly woke up and yawned as she stretched. She slugishly stared up at her ceiling and realized she was safe and sound in her own room.

Mira yawned once more, letting out a couple of moans as she stretched again. Because of all the crying earlier, Mira found herself inevitably sleepy and was out of it. She looked at her clock to check what the time was and was surprised to see how early it still was.

“Huh, only 8:54 pm? Seems a lot later,” she mumbled to herself. Her drowsy eyes roamed aimlessly around her room, not sure if she should sleep some more or get something to eat. “Wait, what the–“

Just then, something caught her eyes. Trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness in her room, she squinted and wondered what it could be. It was then that she noticed familiar blonde locks of hair shining in the minimal light.

“Huh? Kai? Why is Kai in my room?” Mira tried to recollect her memories from earlier today, but all she could remember was being at the park and being hugged my Kai, which Mira immediately blushed when she thought of it again, and being home and on someone’s back.

Her first reaction was to pull up her blanket to her body, embarrassed of how she may look but she realized soon that she was still in her normal clothes. Thank goodness.

"But then, where are the others?" Mira wondered if they were still here or if they had gone home. Probably back at home and mad at me...

A frown crept onto Mira's face and she knew she deserved it if they were angry at her.

She slowly got out of bed and inched closer. Mira was able to get a better view as she crouched down to get a closer look at the sleeping Kai and noticed how cute he looked. He reminded her of a sleepy puppy with innocence laid upon his sleeping face., his breathing was deep and so relaxed.

Kai was lying on his side as he laid his head on his hands. He had chubby cheeks when he slept that she just wanted to poke them and he looked so heavenly. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on her arms, showing a little pout on her face.

“Damn it, Kai. Why do you have to be so cute in your sleep?” Mira cursed quietly to herself. Great, now I’m stuck staring at Kai. Why must he look so much like a puppy?

Her face was only an inch away from his as she continued to observe his features. She never noticed it before, but he had really clear skin and his eyelashes were beautiful. Mira didn’t even notice how close she was until she felt Kai’s breath as he exhaled slowly, yet she didn’t back away.

A smile crept onto Mira’s face and she didn’t even know why. After everything that has happened earlier, she’s surprised that she wasn’t really mad at him or the others anymore. There were many reasons for them to be mad at her, but how could she be angry with them when Kai and the others looked for her restlessly?

No one knew, but when they were all heading back home, she was in the car with whom she believed were Kai, Sehun, and a few others, and she overheard their conversation.

“So… How did you know she was going to be there?”

‘Hm? That sounds like Sehun,’ she thought with both her eyes closed, still half-asleep.

“I didn’t,” Kai answered straightforwardly.

Sehun scoffed in what sounded like amusement. “You know, if it wasn’t for Kris, you wouldn’t have known where to find her.”

‘Kris? How would Kris know?’ Mira asked herself, and tried not to furrow her eyebrows. Good thing her hair was partly covering her face.

“Actually… I already had a feeling that I should probably look there. Whenever we all had a problem… That was our safe haven.”

Sehun nodded his head in agreement, but Mira couldn’t see and only heard silence for awhile.

“Plus it was thanks to Suho, too. That dude is so— he's so—” Kai started but stopped what he was about to say when he noticed Sehun shaking his head.

‘Ah, so it was Suho who told Kris. Of course...’ But the way Kai mentioned Suho's name sounded like he was agitated or irked and it made Mira question as to why.

Unknown to Mira, Sehun widened his eyes and kept his mouth closed as he nodded his head at Mira, trying to tell Kai to keep his mouth shut. There was no reason to since she was asleep, or so they thought, but just to make sure, Sehun didn’t want to talk about Suho around her.

It was still a mystery to them on how she even knows Suho and vice versa. Mira was waiting for whatever answer or comment that was going to come out next, but instead was met with a long silence.

‘What about Suho?’ It was driving Mira insane but she couldn’t really do anything. Whatever Kai was going to say had to be put aside for now and she allowed it to slide. Just this one time. There was no doubt that she would figure it out in the future.

A wave of guilt was sent over her body, she felt bad for doing what she did without hearing their explanation… Their story... Their reason. She felt grateful for the boys. They have been there for her, despite the short period that she's known them. Yet she still couldn't understand the situation she was in and wasn't sure where she should go.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her door opened suddenly, making her turn her attention to the person.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Baekhyun gleefully said with a smile for a second but then he turned his attention to Mira who was crouched down, super close to Kai who was sleeping.

Mira caught a glimpse of what he was looking at. He looked at her, then to Kai, then back to her. Realizing how close she was to Kai still and how this may look to Baekhyun, Mira stood up instantly and cleared . She was surprised Kai didn't wake up, although he did twitch in his sleep.

“Ah, Baek. You’re still here?” Mira chuckled nervously and hoped he wouldn’t assume anything. There was nothing going on, anyways. She was just looking. At a guy. In his sleep. Not creepy at all. Not at all.

“Yeeeessss…” Baekhyun dragged out his answer and mumbled to himself, “Why were you…?”

Mira’s face remained blank and curious as to why Baekhyun was in her room.

“Eh, never mind. Well, that’s where Kai was. Heh, he ended up knocking out here,” Baek said, then went on to answer Mira’s question.

“But yeah, we’re all still here actually. We just wanted to rest a little, but I think we may all just sleep over.” The bright smile that he had earlier returned and Mira was thankful he didn’t ask whatever he wanted to ask.

Although knowing him, he won’t let her off that easily. She knows he’ll come asking her again soon about why she was so close to Kai.

“What? Really? No you’re not. No, no, no…” Mira continued mumbling ‘No’ to herself, eyes widened by his comment. Instantly, she brushed past Baekhyun, not noticing his frown, and marched downstairs while Baekhyun followed her.

Just like what he said, she found all of the guys there either in the dining room eating again or the living room chitchatting with each other.

“Mira!” Chanyeol boasted happily, making Sehun and Lay who was with him turn their heads, but she passed them without even looking. She was on a mission to find her parents. 

Chanyeol frowned and sat back down in his seat, which made the others laugh at him. “She, she… She ignored me. My heart.” Baekhyun stood behind Chanyeol and patted his shoulder, "I think Mira is just shocked... Don't worry."

"Oh no, what did you do now, Baek?" Lay glared at Baekhyun, who shrugged his shoulders with a timid smile.

As she continued to look for her parents, she passed the dining room where the other guys were eating. They called out to her, but she blocked them out.

Mira found both of her parents in the kitchen laughing about whatever they were talking about. Oh, so you think it's a good time to be laughing like this?

“Ma! Pa!”

Both of their heads turned to Mira’s direction and were surprised to see her awake so soon.

“Oh honey! You’re awake!” Mrs. Oh grinned as she walked over to hug Mira.

“You should sleep some more. It’s been a long day,” Mr. Oh stated as he half-smiled at Mira, upset that she had to suffer through a lot.

Mira scrunched her face as she looked at both Mr. and Mrs. Oh, making them question why she was acting like that.

“Ma, Pa. Is it true that they're all going to sleep here tonight? In our house? With us? Tonight? Especially after what happened today?!” Mira whined annoyingly. She wasn’t mad, she just wanted to know why it was so sudden. 

“Ah, because everyone is really tired and it’s the weekend. Everyone is already here and they already let their parents know. Of course they said yes since we all–“ Mrs. Oh bit back her words and contemplated if she should continue talking, but thought she was already halfway done, so she continued, “–since we all know each other already…”

All Mira did was make an ‘o’ shape with and nodded. The truth was still a major shock to her and she wasn’t exactly sure how she should take it. Everything they said earlier still seemed so unreal to her. If her parents are agreeing to it, then it must be true. There’s no reason for any of them to lie– well, what else would they lie about? But it still made Mira feel both confused and guilty.

Guilty because she can’t remember meeting them as a child and being so close to them, and confused because she still sees them as strangers and doesn’t know how she feels about them sleeping over.

To Mr. Oh, Mira was like his own daughter and even he wouldn’t agree for allowing a bunch of guys sleeping over. But they weren’t just random guys, they were all like his other sons too, despite the long period of not speaking or seeing each other.

“Don’t worry, love. This isn’t the first time you all had a sleep over together,” Mr. Oh admitted with her cheeky grin, making Mira’s eyes widen.

“Wait. What?”

“Plus, they’ve seen you without makeup before already, so no need to worry,” Mr. Oh added, completely ignoring Mira’s comment.

Oh my god, he’s totally not making this any better. How embarrassing… Mira closed her eyes in embarrassment and shook her head.

“Well, that was back when we were kids, supposedly, right? I can’t have them seeing me all scrubby and not all dolled up! I don't even remember having sleepovers with them!” Mira stomped her feet like a little upset girl who wasn’t getting what she wanted.

This time Mrs. Oh chuckled a bit, “Oh honey! It’s not that bad! You’re still beautiful without makeup and there’s no need to impress anyone. It’s just them.”

Mira heavily sighed and rolled her eyes in response. It was as if her parents were ignoring everything Mira was saying and were disregarding her feelings. Why would they allow this and why would they even want her to go through this difficult time?

A smack was heard behind Mira, so she turned around, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Oh, who turned their attention to the commotion behind Mira.

They found Chanyeol laying on his stomach as he was rubbing his head while he scrunched his face from the pain he received, while the rest of the guys were hiding behind the door frame, giggling at Chanyeol.

“Uh, do you guys need something?” Mira asked, surprising all of them and making Luhan, who was in the front, push them back into the dining room, leaving Chanyeol still on the floor.

“Go, go, go!”

“Ah! Stop pushing so hard!”

Mira scoffed at the guys and couldn’t believe she was friend’s with them. Even Mr. and Mrs. Oh chuckled at them for being so nosy. To them, everything seemed so similar to when they were children.

“Are you okay, Chanyeol?” Mira asked as she walked over to him and crouched next to him. There was a big red mark on Chanyeol’s forehead and the side of his head.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just, uh, fell on my face. Thanks to those guys…” He mumbled the last sentence, obviously annoyed by his so-called friends who kept messing with him by pushing him and putting their weight on him while he was on all fours.

“Sorry Mira. We just wanted