Jongin invited himself round for dinner that evening and managed to dispel what would otherwise have been a very awkward atmosphere with a bunch of incredibly bad jokes.  Xiumin almost asked him to stay over.  Semi looked happy around her old friend, and he also didn’t have to think so much before saying anything since Jongin was always talking.  Jongin left at eleven, though, and as soon as she had shown him out of the door, Semi took herself off to bed.  Equally relieved and disappointed, Xiumin finished the washing-up and returned to his own room, the new wine-red jacket hanging smartly on the back of his chair.  He wondered when a good moment to give it to Semi might be.

It was raining again the next morning, and Jongin popped up at the apartment door this time, ringing the bell obnoxiously until Semi opened the door, hair in a bird’s nest from the previous night and clutching a half-eaten bowl of cereal.  Xiumin was a little more awake than she was, but only with the help of coffee.  Jongin made himself breakfast and then chivvied them all out of the apartment.

“I should request a car,” he said as Xiumin drove them through the streets of Seoul towards the university.  “Then you wouldn’t have to do this.”

“I don’t mind,” Xiumin said before he could stop himself.  He nearly cursed out loud.

Jongin, however, didn’t seem bothered by it.  “On the other hand, I don’t have to pay for petrol.  This is definitely better.”

Semi remained silent as she stared out of the window, apparently not even aware of the conversation.

The day passed quickly enough as Xiumin had requested to meet with Lay, having received new information from Luhan and also some heavy-handed hints that Luhan felt February 15th was the deadline for Xiumin to sort things out so that Luhan could arrange to pull him out, about the Suho issue.

“Luhan’s managed to set up a meeting with Suho that he wants us to go to so we can arrest Suho,” Lay said slowly once Xiumin had finished speaking.  “Why?”

“He’s not going to go himself.  He’d think it’s too dangerous.”

Lay eyed him.  “Something’s fishy about this.”

Xiumin met his eye.  “Luhan’s practically handing Suho to you on a silver plate.”

“Which is exactly why I’m suspicious.”

“Suho’s one of Luhan’s main rivals—”

“So wouldn’t he want the satisfaction of shooting him himself?”

“Not if it put him in danger.”

Lay pursed his lips.  “I’m going to forward this to national security.  And maybe the army.”

Xiumin made a mental note to tell Luhan he suspected that February 15th wouldn’t be the best date to try to escape.

Jongin was still bounding about happily when Xiumin went to pick him and Semi up from the university, but Jongin declined a ride because he had made firm friends with Tao and they were planning on going bowling together.

“Not like you can kill her!” he called over his shoulder with a wave as he and Tao departed.  To Tao and Seulgi, it looked like brotherly banter, but Wendy looked a little concerned.  Semi assured her it was fine, and then spent several anguished moments looking at the car.

Just get in, she told herself eventually, even though she didn’t particularly want to.

The drive back was predictably awkward.  Semi had chosen the back seat and spent most of it pretending to be asleep, but often when she opened her eyes just a slit, she caught side of Xiumin glancing at her in the rear view mirror.  It looked almost like he wanted to say something.

Once they were in the underground garage, however, Semi could no longer pretend to be asleep.  For a start, she knew that Xiumin would probably carry her up to the apartment, which she didn’t particularly want.  He made to take her bag from her as it was, and it was only when Semi glared at him that he dropped his hand.  Xiumin bit his lip, clearly a little upset at the gesture, but he didn’t complain.  Semi followed him over to the lift because she was too lazy to take the stairs, and then followed him down the passage in silence.

Semi was, in fact, the first to speak up when Xiumin passed the front door of their apartment without a second glance at it.

“Xiumin,” she said irritably.  “The apartment’s right here.”

He spun on his heel, blinking rapidly.  “I’m babysitting Taeyong tonight.”

“You never said.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to know.  Or come.”

Semi glanced at her university satchel.  “I probably ought to, actually.  Last time I saw the Kangs was when I was having a panic attack.  Taeyong was terrified.  I probably ought to tell him I’m still alive.”

Xiumin winced.  He had a pretty good idea he knew which panic attack that was and that he was largely responsible for triggering it.  Rather than dwelling on it, though, he continued on to the Kang’s apartment, Semi pausing briefly to chuck her stuff through the door of their apartment before hurrying after him.

Taeyong was absolutely ecstatic because the cat had had kittens – something that Xiumin hadn’t been warned about – and he kept trying to take the tiny animals away from their mother so he could coo over them.

“She’ll get very violent if you keep approaching her babies,” Mrs Kang explained in a rush as she clipped on an expensive diamond-studded necklace.  “And if you’d like a kitten in more than a month’s time, then feel free to pick one out.  I need to go.  Bye, Taeyong, darling!”

She kissed his head as she passed him on the way out, and Taeyong waved a silently mewling kitten at her.  Semi hastily relieved him of it and gave it back to the mother cat, who was hissi