I sat to reflect on my time with Ken. It had been both entertaining and successful. Even when he got frustrated, we just sat and talked for a while, and he was ready to go. He might be a bit of a flirt, but at least he was professional when it was necessary. I sat at my desk to get some more composition done, but I really needed to test Hongbin and Hyuk before I made any final decisions. And then it would be lyric writing with Ravi, then concept, then choreography, then more work. I huffed to myself to try and clear my head. Getting overwhelmed was never going to help. I wasn’t on a strict timeline, at least.

                Before long, it was starting to get dark, and once again my room was pretty dimly lit, but I kept working as much as I could. I was answering some emails and texts from my phone when something caught my attention out of the corner of the eye. I nearly fell out of my chair in fright when I saw a silhouette at my doorway.

                “Dammit Leo!” I pressed my hand to my chest to calm my pounding heart, “you don’t need to be so,” I didn’t finish my sentence as I turned to look at him properly. I had been an easy guess who it was. While several members of VIXX were tall, only one would simply loom like that.

                When our eyes met, he looked away, not even acknowledging my exclamation. “Can I come in?” he asked simply.

                “Uh, yeah, of course,” I gathered myself, and turned my chair to face the one he carefully sat in.

                He looked extremely uncomfortable, and didn’t say anything for a long time. I wouldn’t make it any easier for him, so I just waited. Finally he gave a little sigh, giving that sour face that he habit of making when he was frustrated, “Would you mind if I closed the door?”

                I would be lying if I said that didn’t make me feel a little uneasy. As much as I didn’t blame him for the marks on my neck, he was certainly unpredictable. But remembering how vulnerable I had seen him the other day made me lose my resolve, “Sure,” I gestured for him to go ahead.

                He closed it gently so it didn’t make a sound. “Ravi nearly killed me,” he stated simply, frowning.

                I suppressed a laugh, “What did you do?”

                He did not share in my humor, and instead his frowned deepened before he spoke, “He says I hurt you.”

                Oh. Sighing heavily, I shook my head, “You didn’t hurt me,” I insisted. “I’m just so pale, that I get bruises and scratches easily.”

                “So you are hurt,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “Show me,” he demanded. It wasn’t a question.

                “It’s fine,” I insisted, “it’s not a big deal.”

                He stood, then. I had to admit he was intimidating, but there was no malicious intent in his eyes. “Show me,” he repeated more firmly this time, taking a step toward me.

                I rolled my eyes and tugged at the collar of the turtleneck to reveal a portion of the bruise. “See? Not a big deal.”

                Unconvinced, he stepped forward and tugged at the collar himself, revealing a little more. “Take this off,” he spoke softly still, but firmly.

                I stared him down for a moment, but it was clear he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I sighed in defeat as I pulled the turtleneck off, leaving just a plain tank top, showing off the entirety of the bruise, “Still not that bad,” I mumbled.

                His face distorted as he examined me, reaching out his hand to gently touch the discolored skin. “Halley,” he whispered, his voice clearly concerned, “I am so sorry.”

                Hearing him say my real name was oddly unsettling, but not in a bad way. It was just surprising, and different. “Taekwoon,” I countered, “it doesn’t even hurt,” I insisted.

                A real smile finally crossed his face, “You can still call me Leo if you want.” At my silence, he continued, “It sounds better when you say it, anyway.”

                “And I know Mira is easier to say,” I spoke, relieved that some of the tension had dissipated. His hand still traced my bruise, so I covered his hand with mine, “I don’t blame you for this. It got a little… intense in there yesterday.”

                Even though his smile faded slightly, he didn’t look quite as worried as before, “It did,” he agreed, then it was like he remembered something. He looked squarely at me, removing his hand from under mine, “Ken told me what you did together.”

                I raised my eyebrow. Clearly he expected that to mean something significant, but I wasn’t catching his drift on this one. “And? Are you mad I wasn’t as hard on him as I was with you?” it was a wild guess.

                “No.” he replied simply, as usual. “I thought,” he paused, sighing to himself, “I thought you might do the same thing with him.”

                He clearly was trying to portray something to me that I just wasn’t getting, but I played along, “I mean, you guys didn’t have the same issues, so,” I left the sentence hanging again for a moment, “Are you glad I spared him?”

                “I am glad,” he looked me in the eye for once, and it reminded me how intense his eyes always were. “But not because of that,” he continued, breaking our gaze again. “I just didn’t want you that close to him,” he finally admitted, as if it were the hardest thing he’s ever said. He ran his hand through his blonde hair as he continued to look anywhere but at me.

                “He is a bit of a flirt,” I agreed, “so I guess you have a point.” I stopped to think about it. I could see why Leo wouldn’t want me too close to someone like Ken. I’m mature enough to not get the wrong idea from Ken’s antics, but it was nice for Leo to be concerned about it. “But it wasn’t that bad, though, he knows when he needs to be professional.”

                That sour face appeared again, and he sighed yet again, “He probably wouldn’t have bruised you,” he sulked.

                “Oh, stop,” I sighed, but a smile crept onto my face. “Is big bad mean Leo worried about little old Mira?” I teased.

                His head bowed in embarrassment, but he managed to keep speaking, “Did Ken do well today?”

                “Yeah, actually,” I sat back now that the subject changed, “He got a little frustrated at one point, but we just took a break to talk a while, and he was fine again.”

                “Talk?” he asked, his voice legitimately surprised.

                I laughed once, “Yes, talk. Like what we’re doing now,” I pointed out.

                He glared at me, “Yes, I know. I mean, what did you talk about?”

                His question reminded me, “That’s right, you left so suddenly last night, I didn’t get a chance to ask you what to expect from the rest of your bandmates.”

                “What did he say?” Leo asked eagerly.

                “Pfft,” I waved him away, “I can’t tell you that. It was spoken in confidence.”

                Pouting again, Leo and I fell into a comfortable silence. Well, comfortable for me, anyway. I watched him fidget while he sat in my room for a few more minutes. “Ravi tomorrow, right?” he finally asked as he played with the fringe of my rug.

                “Mmhm,” I nodded.

                He hesitated, “You two seem to get along really well.”

                “Well, if all of you had the courage to come visit me, maybe we all would.”

                Leo seemed to smile a little at my comment, and he moved to stand. “I don’t mean to keep you up,” he bowed a little as he edged toward the door.

                “Taekwoon,” I spoke with a smile as I stood as well, “thank you for visiting me.”

                He stopped and gave me a little grin at the door, his whole face lighting up as his eyes squinted with the smile, “You’re welcome.”

                Once he was gone, I found myself pondering Leo’s smile. It was one of those things where a normal smile doesn’t mean that much, but from quiet and reserved Leo, that smile was so much more. My thoughts were interrupted, however, when a quiet knock came from my open doorframe. Ravi’s blue hair gave him away.

                “Hey Ravi,” I greeted lazily.

                “Sorry Mira, I know it’s late and you’re scheduled to ruin me tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he spoke quietly, but quickly.

                I furrowed my brow, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

                He gave me a half smile, “Good, Leo seemed to feel better when he got home from his little visit.”

                I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yeah, he felt so guilty about this little thing,” I pointed generally at my bruised neck. That reminded me, “Oh, can you bring this back to N for me?” I tossed the turtleneck at him, “This stupid bruise will fade by tomorrow.”

                He caught it, laughing, “Yeah, yeah.” After regarding me for another few seconds, he seemed to come to a conclusion, his face softening, “I’m glad you’re okay.” He paused for a long moment, “And I’m happy Leo came to see you.”

                “Me, too, Ravi.”