You’d think that after spending months apart, craving just to hear her voice, he’d be happy to have a legitimate reason to call her. But the enjoyment of hearing her voice again so soon was significantly dampened by the news he was delivering.

He stared at the phone in his hand, stalling as long as he could but it wouldn’t dial itself and eventually, he sighed, giving in to the inevitable.

The dial tone rang ominously. He mentally rehearsed what he would say but then she answered. ‘Hello?’

Everything he’d been practicing went out of his head. ‘Er…’

‘Xiumin?’ she asked.

He cleared his throat. She started speaking anxiously. ‘Thank goodness you called. I’ve been trying to get in touch with Leo and Rose but neither are answering and no one’s picking the landline either. I was about to call you.  Do you know what’s going on?’

He sighed. Of course, she picked on it and her voice went tight. ‘What happened?’

‘Leo…’ he muttered, feeling like he’d failed her, ‘had an accident.’

There was a sharp inhale on her end and some sounds that indicated her falling into the nearest seat available. Her voice shook when she spoke, though she tried to control it. ‘And by accident, you mean…?’

There was no way to sugar coat it really. ‘I mean that Rose was possessed by my sister and attacked Leo.’

‘Is he okay?’ she gasped.  

‘He’s going to be,’ he replied, adding ‘hopefully’ under his breath.

There was a long silence on both sides as she processed what he’d told her and he gave her the time she needed. Eventually, she let out a shaky breath. ‘And Rose? Is she…?’

‘She’s… in a bit of a shock but otherwise okay.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked, anxiety flowing into her voice. He thought she sounded a little nasal but he couldn’t be sure. ‘What happened?’

‘We don’t know yet. Leo was in a bad shape when we got there, so saving him took priority. I’ll let you know as soon as we find out.’

‘Please do,’ she exhaled. ‘And Rose?’

He glanced at the doorway, where he could see Chen sitting and talking with Rose. The girl looked a little better than before but still shell-shocked. ‘She’s not hurt, physically at least; I checked. But she’s in a shock.’

As a rule, Lily didn’t display a lot of emotions, keeping herself composed. It was an evidence to her worry that he could hear her sniffles, the shallow breaths as she tried to control herself.   

He knew just how much she cared about her family – she’d literally gone away for their sake and he had no doubt she’d come back for them.

Tempting.

He shook his head to dislodge the awry thought and tried to soothe her. ‘They’re perfectly safe now. Leo’s going to be fine, you know that; Lay will heal him. And I’ll look after Rose myself.’

‘But…’

‘Lily, they’ll be fine,’ he spoke gently, knowing she just needed reassurance. ‘Don’t worry.

Lily let out a relieved sigh.

‘Thank you.’ She sniffed, clearing . Her voice came out a little hoarse when she spoke. ‘I just… I guess I’m used to being in charge in such situations. Its driving me crazy that I’m not there for them.’

‘I’m sure they understand.’

‘I’m going to come over.’ She spoke after a long silence. Xiumin, who’d been lulled into a trance by the sounds of her breathing, came back to reality in a hurry.

‘It’s still dangerous,’ he reminded her. ‘We have no idea what Evil is up to and we’ve only recently found out about Star. Who knows how many other abbies he’s sent?’

It would be kind of pointless to suffer this much just to have her walk back into danger for no good reason. ‘I know but they’re my family.’

‘Which is exactly why they wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.’

‘I’m in danger here as well.’ she pointed out. ‘I think it’s reasonable to assume Evil knows who I am.’ It was and that bothered him. Still… 

‘Has anything happened?’

‘No, but…’

‘No buts. You know I’m right.’

‘Hmph.’

He knew better than to think this little hmph was an agreement. She disagreed and would’ve argued had they been face to face.

‘Look,’ he began cajolingly. ‘at least wait until we find out what happened with Rose and Leo. Once we know what’s going on, I’ll bring you back myself.’

That was truer than she probably realized – he would jump at any chance to have her back by his side or at the very least, back in Oulphesden. Except if it put her in danger.

She called his bluff. ‘Even if it’s dangerous?’ she asked shrewdly.

‘Well...’ he stalled.

‘Tell me what’s going on with Rose and I’ll decide if it’s safe for me to come home or not.’ She hadn’t been so successful at running his business nearly single-handedly for nothing – she knew how to make her deals. He’d always admired that about her, even though he wasn’t feeling very appreciative right now.

She seemed to sense his discontent in that way she had. ‘I know you think I’m being reckless.’ He nodded gloomily; reckless and Lily were two things that never went together. ‘But… it’s my family.’

He sighed, knowing he couldn’t talk her out of it. For her, family always came first.  ‘One day,’ he finally entreated. ‘Just wait one day; let me make sure it’s safe.’

She let out a sigh of her own, though hers was relieved. It surprised him because he hadn’t thought his opinion mattered that much. ‘Fine,’ she acceded, ‘Twenty-four hours, then I’m boarding.’

‘Okay.’ They fell silent and he became self-conscious, feeling awkward. He had no idea what, if there was anything, else to say; it wasn’t like this was a social call. He’d just called her to give her an update and that was done.

It still didn’t feel right to hang up now.

Thankfully, Lily put him out of his misery. ‘So…’ she began cautiously, ‘you’re sure it’s your sister?’

Xiumin thought of the red-gold in Rose’s eyes, the black tattoos covering her arms; of the achingly familiar expression on her face, the inflection of her voice. There could be no doubt. ‘It’s Star, I’d recognize her anywhere.’

Her next question caught him off-guard. ‘How’re you holding up?’

‘I’m…’ he stalled. How was he feeling? Truth be told, he hadn’t let himself think about it, pushing it away any time the thought cropped up, telling himself to focus on the important stuff and not silly things like his feelings. ‘Managing,’ he finished lamely.

‘It must be…’ she paused, searching for the right word, ‘difficult.’

‘I suppose…’ he mumbled, leaning against the wall. ‘I haven’t had the chance to think about it, really.’

‘Well,’ she said in an almost-whisper, ‘if you need someone to talk to or share with, I’m here.’

He inhaled sharply. Was she actually telling him to call her, talk to her? Even after…

She spoke over his thoughts, words quickening as she tried to explain herself. ‘I know we’re not… together anymore but we’re still friends and you’ve always done so much for me. And I know you don’t talk a lot but if, you know, if you want to…’

His lips curved into an unconscious smile at her thoughtful gesture. That was just so… Lily, caring about others, even those who didn’t deserve it. ‘I will. Thanks, Lily, it means a lot.’

She quietened before awkwardly telling him goodbye and hanging up. Xiumin stared at the phone in his hands for a long moment before following suit.

……………………………………….

Lily wanted to bang her head against a wall.

What in the world had possessed her to say that and make things awkward between them? It was bad enough that she couldn’t hear his voice without reacting violently to it, her body still seemingly primed for him.

And with everything that he’d told her, regarding Leo and Rose, his fight with Evil, and now his sister, he had his hands full without her adding to it.

But like she’d told him, just because they weren’t together didn’t mean they weren’t friends anymore. And she knew just how closed he could be about his emotions, particularly with regards to his sister.

She’d seen the consequences of his emotional withdrawal firsthand, the recurrent nightmares after Evil showed up, his fear and guilt. He may pretend that he was alright, that he was ‘managing’ as he’d succinctly put it but she knew better.

He’d been unable to sleep, had gone months without properly resting before they’d gotten together. And that had been only when Evil had shown up; add his sister’s ghost into the mix and she didn’t even want to imagine the kind of mess it had created for him.

Her heart went out to him. Yes, she was embarrassed, talking like this after so much time of separation but she’d done the right thing.

And if hearing his voice to helped tide her over for a few days, that was for her to know and no one to find out.

Besides, she had other things to worry about. Like Leo’s accident.

With Xiumin, less was always more. And they hadn’t ever needed that many words between them anyway. So, if he thought it was bad – she hadn’t missed how he’d given her an indirect response instead of an outright affirmative – it had to be severe.

Her tummy twisted in knots. It was bad enough that she had to be away from her family like this. She was used to being in the center of action, handling things and just giving all of that up had been difficult, to say the least.

Finding out that the one person she could trust to take care of Rose was horribly injured, possibly dying, did not ease her nerves.

At least they had Lay to heal him. Even knowing that didn’t help settle her worry. She remembered how the healer had gotten sick after curing Mei, the emergency surgery Suho had had to perform. From what she knew about the abyss infection, it was lethal for humans. If it was anything like what Mei had suffered from…

Nervously, she chewed on her nail. Leo had to be alright, he had to. Tears threatened to overpower her but she pushed them back. She couldn’t afford to have a breakdown, when she could be doing something useful.

She’d promised Xiumin one day, which meant she had twenty-four hours to plan for her departure. She’d sort her matters in this time frame and get back to Oulphesden, see for herself how Leo was doing and take care of Rose.

She’d always been overprotective of Rose. They’d lost their father at a young age and she’d had to step in, grow up quickly, to take care of her family. But she’d babied Rose, tried to give her the childhood she’d missed out on, just so her sister would never feel like she was missing anything.

It had been hectic, emotionally wracking, when Rose had her accident – too reminiscent of how she’d lost her father. But at least then, she’d been able to get by her side, largely thanks to Xiumin. She suspected that was when she’d started falling for him.

But now, with Leo out of commission, Rose was on her own.

Logically, she knew that Rose was legally an adult, perfectly capable of taking care of herself, managing on her own until things settled. But she couldn’t suppress the older sister in her who just wanted to go and protect her baby sister from all the bad things in the world.

Unfortunately for both of them, she wasn’t Kai and couldn’t teleport to her side, no matter how she wished.

At least Xiumin would be with her.

She held onto that with all her might.

………………………………………

A/N

Hey everyone, been a long time :) I hope you're doing well and that this years started well with you. I'm sorry for not updating in so  long but life happened and well, you know how that goes. Anyway, I thought I'd update to show I've not forgotten about my stories. I can't promise quick updates but I will try to be regular, post once or twice a month... that's one resolution for this year, I guess. See you later. Also, this chapter is unbetaed so, ignore the typos. I'll probably come back to it later.