Suho turned to Lay worriedly. ‘Are you sure it’s safe to leave her with him like that?’

Lay shrugged, wincing at the movement. ‘Angel found you like that. Did you hurt her?’

‘Of course not!’ Suho responded promptly, pulling his wife closer to him. ‘The beast would never hurt it’s mate!’

Lay nodded. ‘Exactly.’

‘But his fever…‘

‘Oh, fever!’ Kai exclaimed, nodding. ‘Yeah, that explains it.’

Lay smiled at the cub who’d panicked and teleported everyone from the karaoke bar, almost passing out afterwards.

‘Help me up,’ he said, lifting his arms. Kai eyed him apprehensively, noticing his wince but obliged, bending forward and letting him grab his shoulders.

He heaved, pulling him to a stand and Lay used the opportunity to heal him. Kai pulled back immediately, looking reprimanding. ‘Suho said you should rest.’

Lay smiled as Suho frowned at him. ‘Seriously, you need to save your energy.’

Lay shrugged again, wincing a little. Xiumin had barely used any force but it had been enough to crack a few ribs and his arm was probably going to hurt like a once he slept on it. It was going to be painful but that was little price to pay, especially if it got Xiumin to finally claim Lily.

Both of them were running out of time and both of them were stupidly stubborn – Lily with her foolish revenge, Xiumin with his stupid hesitancy. With Xiumin’s fever, it was too good an opportunity to miss, so he’d taken the chance.

Now all that remained was to see if it paid off.

‘How long until this defrosts?’ Mei asked, poking at the icy wall Xiumin’s bomb had erected as she snuggled into Luhan.

‘A couple of hours,’ Suho answered, ‘a day at max.’

‘Does that mean we’re trapped here?’ Tiffany enquired. Sehun had made himself home on the floor and was pulling Tiffany down with him.

Suho shook his head. ‘We’ll have to see. Chanyeol, can you do something?’

‘I’m trying to melt it,’ Chanyeol responded, his hand glowing red as he heated it up. ‘Unfortunately, it frosts over too quickly to let anyone out.’

‘D.O?’

The Legend nodded, pulling his arm back, calling his power as shadows slipped out of him like a terrifying aura and let loose. There was a loud bang as his hand connected with the ice. They watched in fascination as a massive crack appeared, spreading from the point of contact to the top where the ice met with the roof.

‘Luhan,’ Suho motioned for the Legend. Luhan flicked his wrist, not bothering to stop his conversation with Mei.

There was another loud bang and another crack appeared alongside the one D.O had created but the wall stood firm.

‘Alright,’ Suho announced, heading towards one of the stools. ‘We’ll wait for Kai to recover and then, he can take us home. Make yourselves easy, this might be a while.’

There was a collective groan but the group moved to settle into the coffee shop. Ken offered them coffee on the house.

‘I’m sure Lily will agree,’ he said, shrugging when Raina asked if it was okay.

‘Let’s continue our party here,’ Tiffany threw in. Everyone cheered and with that, Xiumin and Lily were forgotten.

……………………………………………….

The snow had started coming down in earnest, piling up rapidly. And despite sharing body heat with Kris, Tae was beginning to shiver.

‘We should get you somewhere warm,’ Kris muttered, as she sneezed three times in a row. ‘Or you’ll get sick.’

Reluctant as she was to interrupt their date once again, she had to agree. Her head had always been sensitive to cold. Already, she could feel her nose clogging up.

Unfortunately, the snow was coming down too fast to risk running through it. And the alcove they were standing in wasn’t doing a good job of protecting them anymore.

‘Tae?’

‘Hm?’ she hummed, trying to keep the dizziness of sneezing so much at bay.

‘How good are you with heights?’

‘Uh, I don’t particularly like them but its fine as long as I have something to hold on to, I guess.’

‘Good, then you can hold on to me.’

‘What?’ Tae didn’t have time to say much else because they shot straight up and she yelped, grabbing onto Kris. Thankfully, before she could freak out too much, they’d landed on the rooftop of the building they’d been walking beside.

Kris tugged her, rushing them to the door. He turned the knob but it was, predictably, locked. He took a step back, looking at the handle contemplatively.

‘I guess-‘

Her words were interrupted by the loud wham! of his leg slamming against the lock. It swung open, the wood around it broken.

‘Well that works too, I suppose,’ she mumbled, a little surprised. Suho had told them they were stronger than the average human but it was something else to see it with her own eyes. Kris hadn’t even put in a lot of force in his kick.

‘Come on, you go in first,’ he said, gesturing for her to move.

‘Uh, thanks...’ 

She stepped onto the landing, Kris following close behind her. When he closed the door, he used some metal pipes that were lying on the roof, to bolt it in place. Once it closed, the stairs became quite dark, since there weren’t any windows on the floor and the sun had hidden behind the clouds because of the snowing.

It also became significantly warmer. She hadn’t realized just how chilly it had become outside but now, her bare arms had goosebumps all over and she started shivering, sneezing three, no, four times in a row again.

When she managed to get her bearings, it was to find Kris leaning over her concernedly.

She smiled, then scrunched her nose again at another incoming sneeze. ‘Sorry, I get cold really easily,’ she said, sneezing immediately after.

‘We should get you warmed up, then,’ he muttered, straightening to look around.

She didn’t say anything, feeling a bit miserable. Now that nothing else had gone wrong to interrupt her date, she had to go and sneeze like an idiot. Sneezing was not an adorable look, definitely not something that would encourage kissing.

Kris came back and plopped on the stairs beside her. ‘Okay?’

She nodded, sniffling lightly. Her nose was still itchy and she knew from experience that she would have a fever tomorrow. Her shivering had yet to recede; it was her own fault for dressing so lightly.

‘Stupid,’ she mumbled to herself, sniffing loudly. Her nose was beginning to run. 

‘Tae?’  

She looked to find him patting the stair a step below him. ‘Why don’t you sit here? I’ll warm you up, you’ll get sick at this rate.’

‘It’s okay,’ she muttered, not wanting to be babied by her date. She didn’t want to be seen as helpless. ‘Besides, Lay can heal me.’

‘I’d rather if you didn’t get sick in the first place,’ he said firmly, patting the spot again. ‘Come on.’

With a half whine, half laugh, she shifted until she was seated on the stair. His legs stretched on either side of her, caging her in and his body loomed behind her. She had to admit it felt nice because it was warm and cozy… and she wasn’t averse to some – or any, for that matter – skinship with him.

Something soft landed on her head, covering her eyes. ‘Put this on.‘

Was it what she thought it was? Tae hurriedly pulled the cloth down and yes, she was right. It was Kris’s button down, the one he’d been wearing this whole time. Did that mean he was… shirtless? She had to see this, she simply had to.  

She stared at the shirt as she tried to think of a way to ogle him without making it obvious. Kris took her inaction for reluctance.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t have any spare and you were so cold, so I thought…’ He sounded nervous. ‘Um, you don’t have to wear it if you’re not comfortable with it…’

She shook her head vehemently. ‘No, no it’s… very sweet of you.’ Now was her chance. She turned her head around, heart jumping to in anticipation. Were there abs? Please let there be abs!

‘Thank you!’ she said, a little breathless.

He wasn’t completely shirtless, no he was wearing a vest. A vest that molded over his form very flatteringly as he leaned back, making him seem somehow even more attractive than he was.

He smiled the gummy smile that made him look like a dork and she felt like sighing.

The moment was broken, this time by a sneeze from Kris. It echoed loudly through the empty floor and Tae burst out laughing. Kris covered his face, groaning.

‘I think you should keep it,’ she said, still giggling, holding the shirt up.

He shook his head. ‘No, put it on.’ Stubborn.

Well, who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth? Shrugging, she straightened it and tried not to act like a ert by sniffing it. Instead, she put it on and did her best to not melt into a puddle.

Hot and considerate. She was in trouble.

…………………………………………

Chen observed Rose, discreetly watching as she animatedly interacted with the girls.

She had become much more confident and comfortable in her own skin, and it was obvious that she was getting better.

He should be – he was – happy for her.

But he was worried about Star. He’d been unable to properly communicate with her ever since Rose had pushed her away. Even so, he’d been able to get a gist of what she was feeling, tune into her emotions and satisfy himself that she was alright.

But over the while Rose had spent with them, Star had become progressively quieter. Too quiet.

Usually, he could see her in Rose’s eyes whenever they were together. He had a feeling Rose knew about his and Star’s connection because it would be impossible to miss, with the way Star was wont to getting excited when it came to him. He liked that, liked that he could see his mate, even when she wasn’t the one in charge of Rose’s body, even when she was hidden behind the red-gold flecks in her eyes.

But this whole evening, Star hadn’t shown up even once. He thought he’d caught a glimpse of her when he’d picked Rose up in the morning but she had vanished immediately. And since then, it had been all Rose.

He didn’t want to resent the girl her agency but part of him felt angry that it was her and not his mate who was there.

More than that, however, he was worried.

Star was hiding herself away and he was worried it had something to do with Evil. He knew Evil had tortured him that night to manipulate her, but he hadn’t had any episodes since then. Sure, Evil had visited once or twice, but Chen had managed to retain his senses on all occasions. So he knew nothing untoward had happened. And Star hadn’t done anything either.

With Rose’s consent, they’d put in a camera in her bedroom, so she could be observed twenty four seven. There were times when Rose would wake up at night but usually, that was just a toilet break. If Evil had possessed Star, they would’ve been able to see it.

So why wasn’t she talking to him? And keeping herself locked away? He couldn’t even follow his link to her anymore, facing a hard block that was more than just Rose’s doing.

Star…

He tried to follow the link now but there was nothing, just this big blank wall of nothingness. It twisted his stomach in knots.

She had to be okay, he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Rose caught him staring and blushed, ducking her head and tucking her curls behind her ear. He blinked impassively and looked away, missing the disappointment that crossed her face.

‘She’ll be fine,’ Lay mumbled, sitting down beside him with a groan.

Chen gave a humorless smile. ‘I hope so.’

‘I know so,’ the healer asserted, groaning again. Chen sighed, turning to look at him.

‘Shouldn’t you stay still?’ he asked, a little irritable. Lay smiled, dimple immediately making its appearance. ‘Where’s the fun in that?’

Chen shook his head, his gaze going back to Rose. She didn’t look so animated anymore and it made his mood even worse.

Lay leaned into him. ‘I can sense her in there, you know. Star is fine.’

Chen whipped his head around. ‘You can sense her?’

Lay shrugged. ‘I am the healer. I can sense all souls, even if I can’t see them.’

‘Can you…’ Lay was shaking his head before Chen could complete his hopeful query.

‘I can’t talk to her because we aren’t connected, not like you are.’ Chen didn’t know if he should be surprised that Lay knew about this too. ‘But her presence is very clear.’

He sighed, only marginally satisfied. If she was okay, why was she hiding from him?

Lay looked at him. ‘You aren’t the only one with plans, you know.’

Chen shook his head. ‘I don’t know if its creepy or cool that you seem to know everything.’

Lay sighed dramatically, making a face. ‘Such is the curse of the healer and the oracle.’

Despite himself, Chen laughed.

Lay beamed.

………………………………………  

A/N

Hello ~ hope you guys enjoy this update. Also, Ramadan Mubarak to everyone, I hope this month gives us the opportunity to cleanse our souls and do good deeds. I'll probably update after Eid because I'll be busy. But I'll try to update earlier if I get the time. 

Let me know what you guys think :) 

Annyeong!