Chapter 25 - A very long sleepover

 "Just for this week, I promise." Kai looks away from the road, throwing Ara a quick frown. 

"You can stay for as long as you want, I'm pretty sure we have more than enough beds now." After Ara's little breakdown earlier, they had sat in silence, Kai with his arm wrapped around Ara all the while.

It wasn't until Ara's mother had started cursing and throwing things around in the living room that the peaceful silence was disrupted, Ara looking panicked and Kai angry.

When the noises had eventually stopped, and Kai had confirmed that Ara's mother had fallen asleep again, he practically forced Ara into packing her clothes in a bag so they could go to the pack house and leave the hellhole that was her house. 

"I don't want to be a burden to you," Ara mumbles, and Kai doesn't reply, pulling the car into the driveway of the pack house.

Sehun and Tao are out of the house before they even get to park the car, and Baekhyun and Luhan are standing in the house entrance, both wearing worried frowns on their faces. 

"Don't you ever leave me like that again," Sehun all but shouts, pulling Ara out of the passenger seat and into his arms, almost crushing her bones in the process. Tao is hugging her from behind now, rubbing his face into her hair, and Kai rolls his eyes, exiting the car before grabbing Ara's bag.

"Are the beds finished?" He asks, walking towards the house, and Luhan quickly nods at him. Baekhyun is still frowning, and Kai narrows his eyes in anger. "I haven't done anything to her, stop staring at me like that."

He pushes past Baekhyun and enters the hallway where Suho and Kris are standing with their arms crossed over their chests. Kai throws Ara's bag on the floor and growls in annoyance. "Are you all seriously blaming me for something you don't even know about?"

"So something did happen!" Chen says accusingly, entering the hallway with Lay, Xiumin, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in tow, all of them looking shocked and somewhat angry. 

"What did you do to her? She smells sad," Kyungsoo mutters, frowning. Kai can't believe his eyes because they think he is responsible when in fact it is Ara's mother. But he can't tell them about that, he remembers how mortified Ara had been when she found out that he knew, so he shakes his head and sighs.

"I'm not gonna say anything, she'll tell you when she's ready," and with that, Kai grabs Ara's bag and leaves the hallway, disappearing into the living room before jogging up to the second floor. Ara enters the house a second later with Sehun and Tao plastered to her, and she gives them all a shy smile.

"You guys won't mind a one week long sleepover, right?"

Sehun screams, Baekhyun squeals, Tao has to lean on Kris for support, and the rest basically erupt in joyous hollers. Ara did sleep over for two nights already, but having her over for one entire week sounds almost too good to be true.

Sehun is suddenly babbling about movie marathons and tv-shows, Tao is suggesting different snacks to binge on, and the rest are watching with fond smiles on their faces.

It doesn’t take long before they’re cuddling on the new