Leo was getting sleepy.

The third time he attempted to suppress his yawn, Rose decided to put her foot down.

‘I told you, I’m fiiiine!’ Leo yawned at her, stubbornly refusing to lay down.

‘And I told you, bull,’ Rose responded. If Lily was here, she’d reprimand her at the use of such language with her older brother but she always had an easy camaraderie with Leo. ‘You look like you’re sleep walking. Go to sleep, I’ll go back to my room.’

‘But…’ he whined, which further confirmed that he was sleepy. Sleepy Leo turned into a whiny baby.

‘But nothing. You need to rest, you know what mom says,’ Rose told him firmly, tapping her foot and waiting until he’d slid down.

‘Happy?’ he asked, pouting petulantly.

‘Very. Sleep tight!’

‘Rose,’ Leo called her when she’d reached the door. She glanced over to her brother. He smiled. ‘I love you, little sister.’

She smiled. ‘Love you too, oldie.’

Closing the door behind her quietly, she stood there for a couple of moments, thinking, before deciding. Things needed to be done as quickly as possible. She didn’t remember much of the dream but she did remember that Evil was involved and she wasn’t taking any more chances.

The moment she stepped outside, she was greeted with a warm smile, curls falling into brown eyes.

‘Morning,’ Chen chirped, looking far more cheerful than he’d seemed last night.

She smiled back unsurely, sensing Star’s interest, her attention towards him. She couldn’t remember her nightmare from last night but she did recall that it had involved Chen somehow.

‘Morning,’ Rose replied, observing him closely. His face didn’t betray any of the intensity she’d seen last night, nor the same concern. She suppressed the sadness that rose inside her, moving forward.

‘How’s Leo?’ he asked conversationally, falling in step with her.

‘He seems perfectly fine, thank goodness,’ Rose replied, lips curving naturally. She was beyond happy that her brother was okay.

‘That’s great to hear. Where are you going?’

‘Uh…’ She side-eyed him. ‘I was hoping I could talk to Suho.’

‘Oh?’ He pouted, a surprisingly cute gesture that made her blush. She was being stupid. ‘About?’

‘A couple of things…’ she replied vaguely.

‘Hmm… well, Suho is out with Angel right now, so you can either wait for him or…’

‘Or?’

‘Or you can talk to Kris. He’s the one in charge right now.’

Kris, the scary looking one? She felt intimidated.

‘Come on, I can take you to him right now, if you’d like.’

‘Uh…’

He didn’t wait for her, grabbing her hand and pulling her along. Inside her, Star was all attention, but she didn’t try anything. So, it was even sillier that her heart started beating faster at the feeling of his warmth seeping into her palm.

By the time they reached Kris, she was sure her face was as red as her hair. The eyebrows raised at her arrival didn’t help either.

‘Rose said she wanted to talk to Suho about something,’ Chen explained, pushing her in front of the tall guy encouragingly. ‘I said she could talk to you.’

‘Of course,’ Kris nodded, and turned an icy gaze on her. ‘What did you want to talk about?’

Rose swallowed.

……………………………………

They ended up in D.O’s room, the Legend eyeing her critically from his place across from her, arms crossed. The other Legends who’d come in with him were all eyeing her with varying degrees of awe and respect.

‘You’re willing to put yourself through that?’ he clarified for the third time.

Rose nodded, more resolute than before. ‘I won’t risk my family… or yours.’

‘You do realize that this essentially means you’re on house arrest.’

She didn’t see why he was reluctant to accept her proposal. Since waking up, this was all she’d thought about.

‘I don’t care.’

‘It may not be a day or two, it could last for weeks.’

‘I don’t care,’ Rose reiterated.

He leaned back, eyeing her strangely. Kris was looking her pretty much the same way, so she looked at Chen instead. He smiled, his eyes grave but he gave her a thumbs up. She took heart from it.

‘We’ll have to discuss it with Suho and the rest but…’ D.O’s lips curled into a half, almost self-deprecating smile. ‘You’ve really made things a lot easier for me.’

‘Well…’ Rose’s voice came out huskier than she’d intended, inexplicable emotions roiling inside her. This was the least she could do for her family and for these people. ‘I want to help.’

‘Let me be clear. You’re willing to keep a tracker on you at all times and have one of us accompany you at all hours of the day, even in the presence of your siblings…’

‘Especially with them,’ Rose reasserted.

‘And you’ll answer any questions I have for you?’

‘Yes.’

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. ‘I don’t like this,’ he muttered, making Rose frown. But before she could say anything, Chen had landed a slap across D.O’s head, making the Legend scowl fearsomely.

‘Stop overthinking everything. She’s literally telling you to make her your prisoner, I don’t see why you’re complaining!’

D.O had the grace to look sheepish, looking away without answering. Kris turned his gaze back on her but it was significantly warmer than before. ‘I’ll talk with Suho, I don’t think he or anyone else would have any issue with this…’

‘Except Lily,’ Chen threw in helpfully. ‘And probably Leo.’

Kris ignored him. ‘But we’ll need to fine tune a few things and figure out how this can be done so it doesn’t become burdensome for you. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?’

Rose shook her head. It had occurred to her that the only way she could protect her siblings was by helping the Legends, so she would willingly do whatever they asked as long as they kept Leo and Lily safe.

‘Alright then,’

And then, wonderfully, Kris smiled, making his whole icy demeanor change. Rose smiled back in relief and Chen positively beamed at her. Which apparently annoyed D.O – or perhaps, he was taking revenge for earlier but he landed a slap on Chen’s head, jumping away when Chen yelled and attacked his…

Shadow, Star supplied softly.

Rose ignored her.

………………………………

Lily wasn’t sure coming here was a good idea.

‘You’re overreacting,’ Tiffany dismissed her concern, tying her apron. They were in back of the storage room. ‘Of course, it’s a good idea. The entire gang’s here.’

She didn’t have a problem with the gang.

‘I think it’s time you stopped pretending,’ Tiffany told her, smirking smugly. Raina had filled her in on the Beast’s mark and how Xiumin had left his on Lily. Needless to say, Tiffany had been gloating ever since.

‘I didn’t ask him to mark me,’ Lily muttered defensively.

Tiffany grinned evilly. ‘The beast can’t do anything unless the mate’s interested, just so you know.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Tiffany buffed her nails casually. ‘Hm? Oh, Sehun told me the reason we mated was because at some level, I’d been interested in him. If I hadn’t been, no amount of kissing, accidental or otherwise, would’ve worked… just like with Mei and Kai.’

Lily stared at her friend balefully. ‘We were dating at that point and we’d been physical hundreds of times before that so I don’t…’

‘Hundreds?’ Raina widened her eyes, looking envious. ‘Don’t do this to me, please. I still haven’t made it past first base.’

Even Tiffany was eyeing her with something akin to jealousy. ‘Really?’

‘Uh…’ Trust her friends to get stuck on the wrong things. ‘It’s a figure of speech.’

‘Or is it?’ Raina nudged Tiffany. ‘Remember that time when we caught them making out in the hall?’

Tiffany nodded, joining in. Naturally. ‘Yeah, and that time when you told me she was all jumpy and Xiumin went up to help her? You burnt your hands but they were too busy to come check…’

Lily’s face was flushing like crazy, each of those times flashing through her head, complete with step-by-step replay.

‘Oh oh oh and that time when they trended on Your-tube!’ Tiffany and Raina let out simultaneous shrieks of excitement as they jumped around.

Lily covered her face. ‘I don’t know what…’

‘I mean, I can’t blame them either, right? Like, Xiumin’s a total hottie...’

‘And we all know Lily’s a dominatrix-‘

Not this again. Lily her heels. She did not come here for this. ‘Alright, I’m leaving…’

‘Where are you going, mistress?’ Raina called, literally crying with laughter.

‘Probably to get her leash,’ Tiffany responded, loud enough to carry across the room. ‘Minnie’s been a bad boy!’

‘Tiffany!’ Lily exclaimed, scandalized. Really, she’d forgotten her friend’s tendency to throw away her filter.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Tae and Ken stood in the doorway, mouths hanging open. ‘I didn’t know they had this kind of...’

Lily didn’t wait for Tae to complete her sentence, pushing past the duo and marching to the manager’s room. Xiumin was manning the counter, having sent Ken to the bakery and Lily desperately needed to be alone. Away from Tiffany and her wayward mouth.

The piles of papers waiting in the office were nothing short of a godsend, and Lily dug into the task with abandon. She was never going out, ever.

Of course, Tiffany’s words kept repeating in her head and now she had this highly inappropriate, extremely y image of Xiumin with a collar around his neck. With the way she’d been these past months, the image had an intense impact on her and a full body shudder ran through her.

She forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths and calm herself down. In, out, in and out again. She could do this, she was Lily. There was business that needed to be taken care of. Shaking her head to make sure the image stayed dislodged, she picked the thickest stack of papers she could find and started reading it.

Within moments, she was completely immersed.

………………………………………

Xiumin was whistling as he worked, setting up the machine and putting in the coffee beans to start roasting.

After a really long time, things felt like they were going in the right direction. Star was alive and Lily was back, both in his life and in the shop, beside him. His lips quirked of their accord and he turned, looking up to find two pairs of shocked eyes and two amused ones staring at him.

‘Someone’s happy,’ Tiffany commented cheekily. He raised a brow at that, not getting it.

‘I don’t know why you guys are afraid,’ Raina muttered, donned in her work attire, lifting the counter door to slide in behind him. ‘Xiumin’s a cool boss.’

‘Hm?’ Xiumin had no context but the way Ken and Tae were looking at him made him feel self-conscious. ‘What are you guys talking about?’

‘Nothing,’ Ken replied, showing all of his teeth in a charming smile. It was obviously fake.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t know what you did with them but they’re scared as hell of you.’ She eyed him sternly. ‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing!’ Xiumin felt compelled to defend himself. ‘I wasn’t even coming here…’

‘I think it’s his bad mood,’ Raina threw over her shoulder, busy digging out cups and setting up the bakery items. ‘You know how he was when Lily wasn’t here.’

‘Now that you mention it, yeah.’ Tiffany replied, getting busy with her own work. The duo had worked with him and Lily long enough to have made their own routine in the shop, setting things up efficiently.

‘I am right here,’ Xiumin said sardonically. Ken looked marginally less scared when he sidled next to him behind the counter. ‘I can take things from here, boss; why don’t you check the books?’

Xiumin nodded, handing the keys to Ken and calling to Tiffany. ‘Show Tae around, will you?’

Tiffany gave him thumbs up and Tae bounded up to her. Xiumin looked around the place; everything was set up and the customers were starting to trickle in. Nodding at Ken, he turned and headed towards the office.

The scent didn’t register until he’d opened the door but then, it smacked into his face like a bucket of cold water. He blinked, stunned, before peering inside.

Lily was perched behind the desk in his – her – seat, a pencil between her slender fingers as she frowned slightly, sharp eyes taking in the document in her hand. The pencil tapped against her lower lip occasionally which, naturally, drew his eyes to the said part. It seemed to have been bitten red. He stared at it, entranced, slowly tracing his eyes over her features, taking in the fact that she really was here and not just a figment of his imagination.  

Emotions welled up in his heart. Indescribable fondness, nearly painful in its intensity, made his heart feel full to bursting. Protectiveness – this woman, right here, he would do anything to keep her safe. Possessiveness, rising like the beast inside him. She was his, to love, to hold, to touch, to take care of.

He swallowed them down, letting out a shaky breath and slowly stepped inside. His office was positively infused with her aroma and the beast growled its approval inside him.

She was so engrossed in whatever she was doing that she didn’t notice him approaching. But he was observing her closely and he noticed the way her eyes, sharp and focused one moment, glossed over the next, taking on a dreamy look and a soft pink filled her cheeks, making her glow.

He wondered what had brought that about. She looked… she looked… absolutely, stunningly beautiful. The way she looked right after he kissed her.

He coughed, trying to not think about that kind of stuff.

The sound startled Lily who jumped in her seat, the paper falling down from her hands. When she caught sight of him, she blushed even more.

‘X-xiumin…’ she said, a hand coming up to her neck, fingers fluttering nervously, ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

Xiumin shook his head, smiling lopsidedly. ‘You seemed quite busy in whatever you were doing…’

At that, her face flushed brighter. He’d never seen her blush so much. It made him curious; just what had she been thinking about?

‘What were you doing?’ he asked slowly, amused at her obviously flustered state.

Of course, being who she was, Lily didn’t stay that way for long. She shook her head, clearing and taking a deep breath. ‘I was looking at the paperwork you’ve obviously been ignoring,’ she retorted, picking up the paper and placing it in front of herself.

Xiumin’s shoulders slumped. There went his chance. He pulled a chair in front of the desk, sitting across from Lily. ‘I wasn’t feeling too good…’ he muttered. She arched a brow but changed the topic, mercifully.

‘Then, it’s a good thing I’m here,’ she responded briskly, pushing the papers towards him. ‘This is an interesting proposal. Their rates are quite reasonable and we’ve worked with them before… I think it’s a viable option…’

And so, they got to work.

…………………………………

A/N

For real tho, Xiumin with a choker.... exo with chokers O///O 

Sorry for being AWOL. I really wanted to update on Chen's birthday but... T_T anyway, happy belated to our vocal king and everyone had better prepare for his second album. I can't believe (cue Chen).

Anyway, to makeup for the lack of update last month, enjoy this double update :3 

Bye~