The next morning, Ara woke up before her alarm clock and rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. Before walking to the bathroom to start her day, she grabbed her cell phone from her desk. Since she didn't contact anyone else besides Kyungsoo, Ara found her phone extremely useless. A family picture of Ara, Kyungsoo and their mother greeted Ara once she unlocked the phone. She smiled softly, remembering why she decided to keep her phone. All of the pictures she had on it were priceless. Pictures of her from high school and of her family were the only evidence that she was ever normal before the accident occurred. 

After taking a last glance at her wallpaper, she checked her inbox for any messages from Kyungsoo to see if he texted her to tell her that he didn't come home last night. Seeing that there weren't any messages, she shrugged and walked to the bathroom. After a quick shower, Ara changed into a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top with a gray cardigan. Her damp hair fell past her shoulders and down to her lower back as she let it air dry. She walked up to the mirror and frowned at her reflection. 

If anyone saw you, they would wonder why you dressed up if you were just going to stay home all day, she thought with a sigh. After almost changing back into pajamas, Ara decided that her outfit was fine and walked out to the kitchen to get breakfast ready. As she made her way to the fridge, a faint snore could be heard coming from the couch. Did Kyungsoo oppa sleep on the couch last night? I guess that's not too strange... But since when did he start snoring? She quietly tiptoed to the couch and peered over at her brother.

With his back turned to her, Ara found it hard to look at his face that was pushed into the couch cushions. Noticing that the couch would be bad for his back, Ara placed her hands on his back and attempted to wake him up. What she didn't notice was that the person on the couch happened to be much taller than her brother and with much broader shoulders as well.

"Oppa? You should wake up and go sleep in your bed~" She cooed, lightly shaking him awake. The person, still sleeping, turned over and groaned in response to Ara's attempts. Once he turned over, Ara slightly gasped once she realized this person wasn't her brother at all but a stranger. She stared at the handsome stranger, their faces only a few inches away from one another. Ara was frozen in place, unsure of what to do besides to stare at him. It was the first time she had ever been so close to another person's face.

She studied his peaceful expression, taking advantage of the moment. His messy hair looked soft and fell in all of the right places. Without thinking, Ara reached out pushed his fringe out of his eyes and smoothed away the hair that fell onto the side of his face. At the light touch, the person's eyes fluttered open. Ara froze again, her hand still touching his face. A crimson blush rose up Ara's face and onto her cheeks. She snatched her hand away in embarrassment and prepared to explain herself. Her jaw gaped open as she attempted to say something but she just couldn't get the words out. She hurriedly stood up and ran to hide away in her room. She felt her breaths become more shallow and her palms grow sweaty as she ran off.

As he was leaving his bedroom, a slightly hungover Kyungsoo spotted his sister hurrying off and caught her before she could hide for the rest of the day. Even though his head hurt like hell, Kyungsoo completely forgot the fact that he was hungover and made sure to check that she was okay. Kyungsoo's arms grasped Ara's shoulders as she grabbed onto his arms to keep herself steady. He caught a glance of her red face as she attempted to hide it while looking down and covering it with her hair. She whimpered quietly and struggled to stand up, her knees feeling like rubber. He brushed her hair away from her face and knew what was going on once he looked into her panic-stricken eyes. 

"Ara, listen to me. You need to breathe. I know you feel helpless and like you're losing control, but the important thing is to breathe. Inhale and exhale, okay?" Kyungsoo began to breathe in and out, staring Ara straight in the eyes as she followed his commands. Her shallow breaths started to feel normal and she no longer felt dizzy and faint.

All the strength she had in her legs depleted and she collapsed onto the floor with her hands still prying onto Kyungsoo's. He crouched down onto the floor and wrapped her up in his arms. She felt weak and trembled slightly in his arms but he tightened his grip around her, attempting to help her feel stronger as well. It seemed to work as she deeply exhaled into Kyungsoo's shoulder and her shaking ceased little by little. He helped her stand up and smoothed her rustled hair with hands. 

"What happened? What made you like this?" He asked calmly, waiting for her to recollect her thoughts. 

"Th-there was someone on the couch and I don't know why but I woke him up and when he woke up we stared right at each other and I could feel his eyes looking at me and I just lost it and--" She spoke quickly, not taking any breaks until Kyungsoo put up his hands and gestured for her to slow down. "It was stupid. I can't go a day without freaking out over looking at someone in the eyes. I'm so stupid." She quietly cursed herself, to which Kyungsoo shushed her.

"How dare you insult my sister like that. She's not stupid. She's the best person I know. She's so pretty and sweet, she's also pretty good at playing piano and composing music and she even knows how to make a mean bowl of cereal." Kyungsoo smiled as Ara blushed at all of the compliments. He always knew how to make her feel better during these kind of situations. "Don't insult yourself like that, okay?" She nodded and looked at her feet.

"Okay, I won't... By the way, who is that?" Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows at her question, trying to remember what happened last night and why someone was in their house. 

Last Night: 1:23 A.M. 

"Bye bye everyone~ Shots, shots, shots! Everybody!" Kyungsoo happily shouted in a drunken stupor as Kai dragged him out into the hallway. After the boys had the talent show and talk with Kyungsoo, Kris decided that they needed a drink. Even though it was breaking a few (or a lot) of the rules in the dorms, they somehow convinced Suho to sneak in a few bottles of soju. With the exception of Sehun and Kai, most of the members did drink a bit. Kyungsoo, however, drank a lot. The members didn't constrict his drinking, knowing fully well that he needed it the most. But once it was obvious that he had a bit too much, they knew they had to stop and get him home.

"Bye, Kyungsoo!" Suho smiled at him with a small wave before turning to Kai with a stern expression. "Make sure he gets home safely, okay? And don't worry about curfew, we don't have practice until 6 P.M. But if anyone asks, I'll cover for you." Kai nodded and said goodbye to all of the members. They wished him good luck as he closed the door behind him. 

Kai was finally able to push Kyungsoo into a cab and up to his apartment. Outside of the apartment door, Kai supported Kyungsoo's weight and wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him from falling. Kyungsoo giggled at Kai's serious expression while trying to get the keys out of Kyungsoo's pocket. Kyungsoo just giggled and slapped his hand away, not letting him dig into his pockets.

"Our Jonginnie is so. serious." Kyungsoo poked his cheek and immediately burst into a fit of giggles once his finger made contact with Kai's soft cheek. 

"Ah, hyung! Can you stop being so drunk and help me open the door and get inside?" Kai fumed. Kyungsoo immediately attempted to stand up straight and puffed out his chest. He squinted his eyes and frowned at Kai. 

"Who said I was drunk? I'm not drunk!" He insisted while placing his hands on his hips. Kai simply just stared at Kyungsoo until he stopped. Once he didn't get a response, Kyungsoo frowned and pointed at the passcode lock on the door. "Just type in the numbers and yehet~ it opens!" Kai's rejoiced once he realized he wouldn't have to wrestle this drunk for the keys. 

"What's the passcode?" Kai asked, bending down to unlock it.

"My mom's birthday," Kyungsoo replied, suddenly getting quiet. "0-4-1-4." 

Once the boys entered the apartment, Kai rushed into Kyungsoo's room and threw him onto his bed. He collapsed onto the bed as well and let out a breath of relief. Across the hall, Kai spotted Ara's room through the open door of Kyungsoo's bedroom. He imagined her in her bed, sleeping peacefully and smiled. A loud grunt interrupted his thoughts, followed by Kyungsoo kicking Kai off the bed.

"Go away! This is my bed." Kyungsoo pouted and snuggled into a pillow. Kai hissed at Kyungsoo with a glare and snatched a pillow from his bed. It was much too late to go back home, especially considering the fact that Kai was dead tired. He closed Kyungsoo's bedroom door and slumped onto the couch, more than ready to finally get some sleep. 

"Oh, crap. I can't believe I did that to Kai." Kyungsoo muttered while facepalming himself. 

"Kai?" Ara repeated. "The one I met yesterday?" Kyungsoo nodded and began to explain what happened last night and why Kai was in their apartment.

On the other side of the wall of the hallway that led to Kyungsoo and Ara's bedrooms, Kai stood out of sight of the two siblings, having just witnessed everything. At first he wanted to run after Ara and make sure he didn't scare her too much. But instead, he caught sight as Kyungsoo calmed Ara down from her panic attack by accident. He wasn't sure what to think about what happened, but he the only thing he could think was that somehow he caused her breakdown. With a heavy heart, he guiltily thought of the image of Ara trembling in Kyungsoo's arms. And he wanted so badly to be in Kyungsoo's place.

A/N: The part with Ara and Kai was fun to write <3 haha I loooove romantic moments. It's kind of a touchy subject but lately I'm kind of annoyed with myself. I feel that as the writer of this piece of fiction, I should mention this to my readers. Writing about the panic attacks that Ara has doesn't feel right to me. As a person, I can honestly say that I have experienced anxiety during social situations (which is probably normal) but I've never experienced a panic attack before. I'm afraid that I might be portraying the experience of having a panic attack wrong. I really don't want to offend anyone with this so if at any point, anyone feels offended by my portrayal of panic attacks through Ara, please do not hesitate to tell me. If it ever happens, I'm very very sorry and will remove the offensive content right away! 

Anyways, if it's not offensive and you enjoyed this chapter, thank you! It means the world to me that people are reading and enjoying my writing. I hope you enjoy the story and I hope you subscribe <3

ALSO! Sorry for such a long Author's Note today >_< I decided to add all of my subscribers as my friends! I always did this when I wrote fics on my old profile so I decided to do it again. I just really appreciate the subs and would love to become friends as well :) If you find this creepy and don't wanna be my friend, then oh... okay :( Just kidding! Haha, I'll totally understand if you would rather not be friends. Thanks for reading anyways!