Xiumin winced in sympathy as Lay pulled the pins out of Luhan's knuckles and blood oozed out from the holes in his skin.

They were in his room now, Luhan lying spread eagle and unconscious on a sheet they'd spread on the floor so the blood wouldn't stain it and Lay prepared to, finally, heal him. He could feel the happiness oozing out of Lay to be able to do that – he was humming softly under his breath and for some reason, it struck Xiumin as rather creepy. How could Lay look so happy amid all that blood and taking out pins from his fingers?

As if to complement his thoughts, Lay glanced up at him and gave him a sweet smile, the dimple appearing in his cheek as he rubbed a hand over his mouth, leaving bloody stains. 'Hold him,' he told Xiumin.

Xiumin, who'd offered to help Lay, tightened his hold around Luhan's shoulders and winced again when Lay mercilessly rearranged his – once again – broken bones. Luhan, who'd been knocked out like the dead since he'd arrived, let out an almighty yowl of pain and struggled to jerk himself out Lay's grip. Feeling sympathetic, Xiumin tightened his hold and kept him still as Lay worked.

Luhan thrashed underneath him, almost bucking him off but he held fast and then, after a few seconds, Luhan relaxed, his eyes sliding shut again. 'There, it's all over!' Lay cooed, patting the unconscious Luhan and Xiumin let go, getting up so he could get rid of the discarded pins and the bloody bandages.

Lay had shifted him to the bed when Xiumin returned and was in the process of slipping in beside him. Xiumin raised a brow – everyone knew Luhan's bed was strictly off limits if you valued your life.

Lay shrugged and proceeded to do as he'd planned. Shrugging himself, Xiumin closed the door. Let the healer have some privacy with his patient – hopefully, Lay would still be alive when he came back and not torn to shreds for overstepping the sacred boundaries set by Luhan.

………………………..

Lily had found Tiffany crying in the middle of the lane and had taken her away. Now, they were seated inside Xiumin's shop and she was encouraging Tiffany to eat something, maybe drink the bubble tea Xiumin had so kindly offered.

Tiffany kept bawling and Lily patted her hand in consolation as she tried to figure out – from the numerous hiccupped, broken sentences – what had upset her so much.

'I was just trying to help!' Tiffany cried, finally forming a coherent sentence.

'I'm sure you were.' Lily patted her hand again, the offered a tissue paper when Tiffany teared up again.

 'But she hates me now…' she whispered and Lily wondered who she was talking about. Tried to pay attention as her words turned into mumbles, her crying much more low-key and all the more heartbreaking because of it.

Tiffany, as far as Lily knew, never cried. She always had the impenetrable, thick-skinned aura of a city girl who'd been there, done that and bought the t-shirt; and she never let anything get to her. And when Lily said never, she meant never – like even if the teacher stood her in the middle of the class and bullted her to heaven and back for crappy results or not turning in assignments on time or skipping one too many classes, Tiffany would flip her hair over her shoulder and sit down, cool as you please. Or when other girls tried to hurt her with scathing remarks regarding her rather free nature – Tiffany was a flirt with a wandering eye and she took pride in that instead of letting it bother her.

After straining her ears, Lily figured out it had something to do with Mei and Luhan.

'Those two…' she sighed, shaking her head.

Tiffany had now settled on an occasional sniff and was finally drinking some bubble tea. 'If I hadn't interfered… I should've just kept my nose out of it… now she's hurt and she hates me…'

'Aw, honey, she is just angry!' Lily ruffled her head. 'She doesn't hate you.'

'But…' Tiffany sniffed.

'Look, even if you didn't do anything, she would've still been hurt. She was already upset because of their fight, wasn't she?'

Tiffany nodded. 'And I didn't want to see her cry like that…'

'That's right.' Lily encouraged. 'And Luhan obviously wanted to break up with her. He would've done it one way or the other and Mei would've still ended up hurt, right?'

'I guess so…' she mumbled.

'So stop crying already.' Lily told her sincerely. 'It doesn’t suit you.'

Tiffany swallowed the sip she'd taken – coughed a little because it was too big a gulp – then gave a wobbly smile. Lily smiled encouragingly. 'That's right, smiling is more like it. You're Tiffany the Tearless!'

Tiffany choked out a laugh, then giggled in earnest. 'Tiffany the Tearless?'

'Excuse my lack of spontaneity.' Lily apologized. 'My poor vocabulary can't encompass your awesomeness.'

Glad that she was smiling again – seeing Tiffany cry was making her question everything about life as she knew it – Lily picked up the, finally, empty cup to dispose it off and take care of the bill.

Which Xiumin absolutely refused to accept. 'It's on the house.'

'Come on.' Lily insisted, pursing her lips when he merely shook his head. 'That's not how business is done!' she nagged him, irritated.

'Consider this employee benefit.'

'I'm not the one who drank that.' She persisted.

'But I gave it to you. It was your choice to pass it someone else…' Xiumin shrugged. She lightly hit him on the shoulder, annoyed and pleased at the same time, then returned to her seat beside Tiffany. 'Idiot.' She muttered fondly.

'Who's that?' Tiffany wiggled her eyebrows and Lily smiled.

'That's Xiumin, my boss.' She told her, leaning back in her seat.

'Ooh…' She looked at her, curiosity and obviously dirty thoughts apparent on her face. Lily laughed, then turned as the doorbell jingled and a familiar crowd stepped inside.

'Hiya pretty lady!' Baekhyun, the guy with the infectious smile, spotted her at once and waved. She waved back, then excused herself, going to give Xiumin a hand – she was here already, so it didn't really matter if her shift started a bit early.

For some reason, Chanyeol sighed when she placed his ice-cream in front of him and gave her a pathetic, puppy dog look. 'I wish I had a girl too… Xiumin's so lucky.'

She blinked, not sure how to react. Chen slapped his back with a laugh. 'Ignore him, he's seen too many couples today.'

Shaking her head, she took the tray back. And closed her eyes at the gloating voice that followed her over the counter. 'So… you're dating the boss?'

She sighed because now, she would get mercilessly bugged and teased by Tiffany about her relationship. Which wasn't a relationship to begin with but of course, no one believed her. Xiumin and his silly joke had gone too far already and she needed to put an end to it. So, she turned around to deny it fervently…

And sighed in defeat as Sehun slipped into the stool beside Tiffany and smiled at her. 'Hello.' Then saw Tiffany and bared his teeth. 'You! Leave my family alone!'

Resisting the urge to smack her face or Xiumin's head, she studiously ignored Tiffany's 'This is more serious than I thought and you need to give me details right now' look and busied herself in making chocolate bubble tea for Sehun.

'She's my friend before she's your family!' Tiffany told him haughtily.

'Pfft, as if! She's been working here for two years now!' Sehun defended his questionable – really questionable – claim. Then, in shock. 'What's wrong with your face?' He'd finally seen her puffy eyes and blotched mess of a face.

'None of your business.' Tiffany stood up and smiled at Lily. 'Thanks a lot.' Then leaning close ostensibly to hug her, she whispered in her ear. 'We'll talk about you two later.'

'There's nothing to talk about.' Lily insisted.

'Sure there isn't.' Tiffany winked, then waved and wobbled out of the door.

…………………….