Chapter 19

Day 1 of Cooldown mode:

The boys played Rock Paper Scissors to see which boys had to go clean the unsanitary kitchen before they could make any breakfast. The game escalated into a wrestling match when a boy (Kai) was suspected of cheating, which was a bit unfortunate. In the end, Chen, Baekhyun, Kai, and Lay ended up with the cleaning supplies and scrubbing at the mildew.

"This...is disgusting." Baekhyun complained, washing the sink.

"Tell me about it." Chen responded. Kai finished scrubbing the grimy fridge and opened it. He groaned.

"Great. There's no food anyway, Hyungs."

"Looks like we'll need to go on a food run." Lay said, getting up from cleaning out the cabinets. He tossed the pots and pans into the sink, causing Baekhyun to gasp in alarm. Water sloshed all over him.

"Great, now I'm wet again."

"Lay made you wet?" Chen grinned wickedly.

"Well yeah he....CHEN!!"

"You saw that coming."

Baekhyun groaned. "Yeah, whatever." and off he went to scrubbing the pots and pans.

It took more hours than they thought to finally get the kitchen to a decent-looking shape, and finally it was time to go stock up on food. Chen and Baekhyun volunteered automatically to go out, swearing that their senses were so full of cleaner that they would explode if they stayed inside any longer.

"Maybe you can get one of the girls to go with you two, as a symbol of peace." Lay suggested. The two agreed that it was a good idea. But who to go to first?

The two went to Sam and Scar's room first, but discovered that the two were asleep. Not wanting to get on their bad side, the two snuck out and tried Eva's room. Since most of the doors didn't lock they just walked on in.

"Hey, Eva! Do you want to go on a-" Chen stopped mid-sentence, jaw dropping. Baekhyun's eyes went as round as saucers.

Eva turned to the two and screamed, quickly scrambling to fasten her bra. Those two boys, the s of the entire group, just saw her American sized milkshakes in full glory. "CAN YOU PLEASE LEARN TO KNOCK?!?!" She screeched, finally fastening her bra. She tossed on her shirt and began pushing the two boys out of her room.

"But we wanted to know if you could go on a food run!" Baekhyun protested.

"Beat it!" She snapped, and slammed the door.

Chen scratched the back of his neck, cheeks flaming pink. "Well...so much for that truce."

"Yeah...but did you see how big they were?" Baekhyun asked. Chen rolled his eyes.

"Of course I did. Should we try with the other two?"

Baekhyun shook his head. "No way. I do not want to interfere with Ice Princess or Heartbreaker."

Chen thought for a moment. "Let's go with the latter. She seems the safest."

Baekhyun reluctantly agreed and this time knocked on Aisha's and Sage's door. They heard a soft "Come In," and entered.
Aisha looked up at them from her laptop and groaned. "What do you want?"

"Where's the heart-I mean, Sage?" Chen asked. Aisha cocked an eyebrow up.

"Bathroom." She stated, and with that Sage opened the bathroom door, accidentally but successfully hitting Baekhyun and half of Chen with the door.

"Double-whammy." Aisha smirked, and went back to playing her brain games.

"Oops..." Sage mumbled. Chen and Baekhyun groaned, rubbing their noses. "What did you want?" She asked, straightening up.

"Food run?" Baekhyun asked through a plugged nose.

She shrugged and said, "Sure...why not?"

They both shared a telepathic moment: excellent, now we can find out the dirt on the Luhan situation! Sage looked at the two with concern, but nonetheless followed the two out of the nasty hotel and into clean air. Baekhyun noticed Luhan watching from one of the windows before quickly shutting the moth-eaten curtains.

They walked a few blocks in silence until they came upon a convenience store. Sage walked in, slightly humming to herself as she picked up microwaveable food items she knew her girls would like. The two men looked at her strangely. Chen walked up to her after picking up a few drinks and asked:

"So, how are things with you and Luhan?"

Sage, caught off guard, jumped and almost hit him in the face with the ramen she was holding. "Sorry...and I'd rather not talk about it."

"Why not?" Baekhyun asked.

"Because it's personal..." She said slowly.

"Oh...personal..." Chen mused. "Did something...ehm...intimately personal happen?" He wiggled his brows.

"No." She deadpanned.

"But you wannnnnnt to..." The two teased.

"I'd rather be caught by the police." She snapped.

Baekhyun let out a low whistle. "Damn she's mad." He made a mental note to contact Luhan about the situation. "Ya know...we didn't mean it..." He tried again.

"Doesn't matter." She said, bringing the now huge armful of food to the checkout. The two men put their items on the checkout and paid. The rest of the trip was in awkward silence.

Sage walked back to her room, passing Luhan without even glancing at him. He glanced back at her, longing filling his gaze. He made his way to the kitchen where the two s were putting up the groceries, quietly contemplating amongst themselves about the situation.

"Where did you guys go?" Luhan asked, standing in the doorway. The two jumped at the new voice and relaxed when they saw it was Luhan.

"On a food run." Chen said. "Your girlfriend is mad at you...like really really mad."

Luhan shrugged helplessly, not bothering to correct them.  "I don't know what to do, guys."

"Don't look at us." Baekhyun said.

"We have never been in that situation." Chen added. Luhan sighed in exasperation.

Day 2 of Cooldown Mode:

Tao confronted Scar around lunchtime while the other girls went out to buy clothes for some odd reason. Scar didn't want to risk getting caught by the police in broad daylight. She had been casually located in the lobby, practicing her self-defence skills. He scoffed at her stance, startling her.

“What do you want?” She groaned, facing the slightly intimidating man.

“Do you want some help learning some actual useful skills?” he questioned. She rolled her eyes.

“Since you’ve been in this business longer, be my guest.” her tone insinuated that she was annoyed. She walked over to the corner of the room, giving him plenty of space to do his wushu skills. He pulled out nunchucks from his back pocket, swirling them around a couple of times to warm up before he performed any moves. As he got into a stance, Scar raised her hand.

“Quick question: Why do you have nunchucks in your back pocket?”

Tao ignored her, and began a simpler move that Scar could pick up on. She was not giving up on the random appearance of nunchucks that easily.

“What, exactly, do you plan on wushu-ing? A fly that gets too close to your ramen?”

“It’s not what, it’s who, and I will wushu you if you don’t pay attention!” he stated firmly, coming uncomfortably close to Scar. Her eyes widened, and then she noticed a long wooden stick on the ground. She picked it up casually.

“Couldn’t we start with this?” She asked, twirling the stick around between her fingers