Lay's POV

I watched the door intensely, waiting for the girl to pounce in. I glanced up at the wall clock hanging above her bed, to see the perfect time for her to come back from school.

“When do you guys think she’ll be ba—“ just when I asked the boys loitering around, the door of the apartment was smacked open and inside came a panting Hani. She shot us quick grins before closing the door, dropping the –seemingly- heavy bags of food in her hand on the floor. Before I could ask her if she were alright, she dropped herself on her bed and moaned.

“Oh sweet home. School is getting on my last nerve,” she said, her voice coming out muffled due to her face being buried in her fluffy pillow. She was honestly so adorable, like a child.

“Is it the physical training again?” Xiumin hyung snorted from the same chair he had fallen asleep at. Hani shot up in her bed to give him a large-eyed look, where he uncomfortably tried to avoid.

“You’re awake?” then she took a whole scan on the room, finding both Sehun and Jongin awake, already feasting on the bags of food she brought. “Oh my god, you are all awake?”

“Yeah,” Sehun answered distractedly while he was searching through the bags for something to eat, his face entirely stuffed inside. “We woke up after you went to school immediately. It was the best kind of sleep,” even then, his voice was still rough, as if he just woke up from sleep. “I’m starving, all these hours sleeping had taken a toll on my body. I didn't even know we can get this hungry..,” he continued to speak.

I looked back to Hani, finding her gaping at Sehun with her still wide eyes. She flickered her eyes to Xiumin Hyung and Kai, before flittering them to a yawning Chanyeol.

“Are you tired as well? Do you want to sleep?” she asked the silent boy, and Chanyeol immediately shook his head. He wiped his face with his hands as if he was wet, and then shot her a blinding smile while raising two thumbs up. He wasn't fooling anyone. Hani shifted her stare to Joonmyeon hyung pointedly, as if telling him something with her eyes only they could understand. Joonmyeon hyung simply looked away.

“Chanyeol, you can sleep if you want to, you know that, right?” she tried to reason, crawling off of her bed, wincing slightly when she pushed herself up with her arms. I could sense some tight muscles in her arms and shoulders, all the way to her back, and before she could walk to Chanyeol, I stopped in front of her.

“Lay!” she exclaimed, surprised at my sudden interruption. I gave her a gentle smile.

“I feel some tight muscles in your arms. Do you want me to heal you?”

“Oh,” she blew understandingly, looking back at Chanyeol and then at me. “Okay. Chanyeol, come here please,” she called, sitting down on the edge of her bed and beckoning Chanyeol to sit beside her. While I knelt in front of her and took her arms in my grasp. She shot me a mere glance before glancing at Chanyeol, who shuffled closer to her and subconsciously wrapped an arm around her waist to snuggle her closer to his body heat. Since he controlled the flames, he was immensely hot, just as Xiumin hyung was the coldest.

I could see him from the corner of my eyes rest his chin diligently on her shoulders, jutting his lips unconsciously. I saw Hani lean closer to mumble whatever she was thinking about in his ears, so only he could hear, and I saw Chanyeol’s face morph into all kind of expressions. Their intimacy was kind of.. nice, a nice change, somehow, from the cold and raw way we are usually treated with.

I concentrated on stretching her muscles to return to a phase where it won't hurt, and won't slow out her progress in combat training. I sent a wave of energy as well, so she wouldn't drop down and groan all day on her bed. After I finished, I let go of her arms slowly, and once she noticed, she gave me a gentle smile, ruffling my hair, and stood up to stretch.

“Lay, thank you so much. I feel much better. I wish I didn't have to go to combat training..,” she pouted at the end, flexing her arms. I found myself smiling, and she saw it, and shot me a glare. “You can mock me, I don't mind. I just really hate moving..,”

“So you confess you're a lazy bum?” Kyungsoo said, a mocking smirk on his face with his arms crossed against his chest. She looked at him with a fixed expression, and Kyungsoo let out a small snigger at her anger. He obviously loved annoying her.

“I do, and I’m not ashamed of admitting it,” she pompously lifted her nose in the air, making Kyungsoo snort.

“Hey, Hani. We can eat all of this right?” Kai called while holding three wrapped cupcakes, equal in number chips, and two bottles of soda. He was blinking innocently while lifting the stuff so Hani could see them, and the girl blinked back, before lowering her gaze to Sehun, who was already mindlessly stuffing his face with the food.

“Jongin, haven't you seen how Sehun is already shoveling food down his throat?” she wondered with a blank stare, still eyeing Sehun. Sehun only shrugged carelessly while Jongin cleared his throat. Despite all these years in knowing these doofuses, they haven't changed. Jongin is still the sweetest while Sehun was an . Period.

“Because I don't know if you’d like that? Without your permission, I mean?” Jongin shyly muttered, and Hani cooed out loud, while Sehun rolled his eyes.

“Jongin, you are so polite. Go on, you can eat them. I brought them all for you because I always become starved whenever I wake up from sleep, so I guess that's why I bought all of these, I thought you’d be hungry.”

“Damn right you are,” Xiumin hyung vigorously said, crawling down to sit beside Sehun before taking a cupcake with a bottle of soda to dig in. “I’m like, going to die from hunger. I may have missed what's it like to sleep, but hunger is the feeling I did not miss at all.”

We all sniggered at Xiumin hyung’s annoyed expression, looking especially funny with the way he munched on a cute pink cupcake with all that anger on his face. I looked back at Hani, and I suddenly caught the wince on her face she tried so hard to hide. Her cheerful expression changed into one that is upset, curiously upset. I stopped chuckling to furrow my eyebrows, wondering why she suddenly looked so.. sad.

“Guys..,” she called gently before I could confront her, and I found myself unbelievably gulping my saliva. I was starting to get really worried. The boys all stopped making jokes and laughing to look at her, and she took a deep breath before taking out her blazer. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sehun opening his mouth to share, no doubt, a crude comment, but I smacked him with my foot secretly. I shot him a glare, and he only scowled at me. Thankfully, he didn't say anything.

She walked to the middle of the room and dragged the chair Xiumin hyung had sat on before. She sat herself there and started fiddling with her fingers. “I have something to share.. with all of you..,” she met my eyes for a millisecond at that, and I realized what exactly she wanted to tell us—to tell them.

“Okay..,” Joonmyeon hyung seemed distraught with her words, and easily sat down on the ground before her. “It seems like whatever you're going to share is not.. comfortable news.. so lets all just.. sit down,” I have never seen Joonmyeon so worried and disturbed before, and I’m guessing he had already sensed the seriousness of the topic she was going to say. It left him uneasy.

The boys all followed Joonmyeon and sat down, some sitting beside him while some beside Jongin and Sehun. I saw Jongdae slowly sitting himself beside Jongin, and I could catch the hopeful look lighting up Jongin’s entire face.

“Do you remember—“ she started speaking, and I snapped my head back to her immediately, the rest doing the same. “—when I had suggested we go visit Joonmyeon’s house because apparently we are in the same neighborhood? That actually.. wasn't the only reason,” both she and I held our breath, wondering how the boys would react. Joonmyeon was the first one to question.

“What is your other reasons?”

“Actually, I don't know where exactly your house was, as it wasn't registered anywhere. I had read a small paragraph in one of the many books I had been reading that it could be from Kwang-do, the neighborhood right besides mine. That was before, today, these two neighborhoods had been merged into one. I had asked if Joonmyeon wanted to check his house so he could show me the route.. to where his aunt’s house was.”

“Why?” Joonmyeon asked quickly, a frown taking place on his face. I noticed how he kept fiddling with his fingers nervously, and Hani seemed to notice too, as she hurriedly jumped out of her chair and knelt in front of him, taking his