---

Sehun's alarm clock rings at seven AM sharp the following morning. His back still aches from spending two whole hours hunched over whilst cleaning up the spilled coffee and picking up the objects on the floor (some of them had rolled under the bed, and Sehun's head still hurts from bumping it against the underside of the bed whilst crawling underneath it). Surprisingly enough, he managed to fix his desk to look somewhat presentable, but it can no longer hold the weight of a laptop, much less ten textbooks. Sehun honestly doesn't know how many hours he's slept, but figures it's not enough, and he sits up before getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom to wash up.

Speaking of laptops, Sehun figures he'll be taking his to the repair shop, but he wonders if it's worth it since the fall caused the hard drive to become dislodged and busted, so either way, he won't be able to retreive his old files. As he finishes washing his face, he re-enters his room and sits on the edge of the bed. Whilst he rolls up his socks, Sehun nearly feels queasy at the thought of having to stay up even longer for at least a week straight to redo Jongdae's report as well as his own. Sehun feels his eyes burn with fatigue when he stands up; he blames the frantic thunderstorm for keeping him awake for half the night, since he found himself tossing and turning for God knows how long until he must have fallen asleep. Despite that, Sehun can't help but feel like there's something more to it, and before he knows it, he's eyeing the spot at the foot of the bed.

Right.

Now that he thinks about it, Sehun does remember feeling strange after tossing and turning and not accidentally kicking the usual lump he's grown used to being at the end of the bed. Being half asleep, he didn't think much of it, but now that he's up and (hardly) awake, Sehun bites his lip as he walks over to his closet and grabs another one of his 100 white blouses. The pang of guilt that erupted in his body when he first heard the knock on the door still lingers in Sehun's body, although he, being on the verge of sleep at the time, soon dozed off mere seconds after he heard Jongin's voice.

Sehun remembers being jolted awake when the storm became more frantic, which was closely followed by Jongin begging to be let in. Now, Sehun actually did contemplate opening the door, and despite his actions, Sehun actually had zero intentions of keeping Jongin out of his room all night. It's just that he got too exhausted to sweep up the shards from the mug and decided to go to bed, and Sehun figured he would rather toss himself off a building than risk letting Jongin sleep in his room with sharp shards of porcelain only six feet away. Not to mention the frustration and panic over losing his files made it impossible for Sehun to think straight, anyway.

Nevertheless, Sehun quickly throws his suit on, nearly forgetting his briefcase before he unlocks the door and opens it. He has no idea where Jongin is, and Sehun makes his way down the stairs and immediately notices the half empty glass of milk sitting on the counter, as well as the chair still propped up next to it. Thankfully, Jongin remembered to close the fridge door this time, and Sehun makes a mental note to put the glass in the dishwasher later as he walks into the living room, only to halt in his tracks.

Jongin is splayed out on the couch, one arm dangling off the edge as he sleeps. A cushion rests on top of his head, presumably to drown out the sounds of the storm, which makes the guilt already coursing through Sehun's veins grow. Sehun is actually kind of surprised that the living room, let alone the house, is still standing, which he's thankful for, because the last thing Sehun wants to deal with right now is a trashed living room. Jongin doesn't even move a muscle when Sehun slowly walks up to the couch, and the latter figures the storm must have the energy right out of him. 

Watching Jongin's back rise and fall as the latter sleeps deeply, Sehun briefly wonders just how different things would be if Jongin simply slept like this all day until he got back from work in the evenings, instead of being his usual, restless self. Nevertheless, Sehun reaches out and gently shakes Jongin's shoulder and hopes the latter won't jolt awake and accidentally slash his eyes out. At first, Jongin doesn't even move an muscle, aside from his ears twitching as usual, and Sehun has to say Jongin's name four times before the latter's eyes slowly flutter open.

Jongin blinks, his head feeling like it's been trampled by an elephant as he blinks repeatedly. It takes him a while to figure out what on Earth he's doing on the living room couch instead of upstairs in Sehun's bed, and reality hits him like a freight train as he swallows the lump in his throat. Sehun stares in awe as he proceeds to paw at his tired eyes before lifting himself up on all fours and stretching. Except Jongin doesn't make it very far into his morning stretching routine when he turns his head, and he emits a loud squawk before falling halfway off the couch in surprise at the sight of Sehun hovering over him. Now fully awake and alert, Jongin stares wide eyed at Sehun, who only blinks. "Whattheheck--"

"Hey," Sehun says and stands up straight. He adjusts his tie before adjusting the strap to his briefcase. There's a certain tiredness in his eyes that Jongin doesn't think he's noticed before. "How'd you sleep?" 

Scratching the back of his head, Jongin shrugs. "Okay," he mumbles. It suddenly hits him that he's not, in fact, being dragged out by the ear and thrown onto the porch and he blinks in surprise. He looks up at Sehun's unreadable expression before rubbing his eyes. "Are you...are you mad?" The knot in his stomach from last night is still there, and it only tightens when Sehun remains silent.

"Yeah, I am," Sehun simply says before checking his watch. "Go wash up before we leave." He runs a hand through his hair as Jongin nearly stumbles whilst getting off the couch and trudging towards the stairs. When the sound of footsteps scurrying up the steps fills the house, Sehun sighs to himself before walking into the kitchen and grabbing his car keys. It suddenly hits him that he has yet to clean up the shards on the floor, and in his dazed state, Sehun internally panics when a crash is heard upstairs. For a second, there's only silence, and Sehun curses as he makes his way towards the stairs. 

Thankfully, Jongin comes downstairs right in that moment, thankfully unharmed as he sports one of Sehun's shirts (his best dress shirt, much to Sehun's mild dismay) and a pair of the latter's black jeans. The spring in his step seems to back, at least somewhat, and he points to the fridge. His stomach growls and he worries he might pass out if he doesn't get anything to eat soon. "Please?" 

Sehun sighs before nodding slightly. "Go ahead, but hurry up or we'll be late," he says lowly whilst checking his watch. He watches as Jongin grabs a chair and places it by the counter before climbing up and grabbing a glass from the cupboard. Sehun lowkey worries Jongin might fall and break his neck when he jumps straight from the counter and onto the carpet. "Jongin, please, we'll be late--"

"Don't be impatient," Jongin mumbles, the irritation of not being able to unscrew the cap to the carton making him scowl. He eventually gives up and practically rips the cap off before pouring the milk into the glass. Jongin accidentally ends up pouring too much, a low 'Whoops' leaving his lips when the glass overflows, much to Sehun's dismay. Despite that, Jongin manages to finish everything without making too much of a mess, and he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before skipping to join Sehun in the hallway. After wordlessly putting on his jacket, Jongin blinks when his fingers graze something in his pocket. Jongin bites his lip, figuring he should probably say sorry somehow, and he eyes Sehun's briefcase whilst the latter puts on his shoes. 

--

Jongin exits the car, shivering when the cold air hits the sensitive tufts of fur on top of his ears (he won't admit that Sehun was right for telling him to zip his jacket). He's in desperate need of entertainment, since Sehun only spoke as much as four words to him during the entire ride, as counted by Jongin, and the latter eyes the tall, white building with wary eyes. Maybe he could hang out with Baekhyun, or continue looking at Jongdae's boxes, or simply chase his tail in Sehun's office, Jongin figures, and flinches when Sehun suddely grabs his arm when he's about to walk up to the door.

"Listen to me, Jongin," Sehun says, keeping his voice low as other people proceed to get out of their cars a few feet away. "You have to promise me to behave today, and all week, for that matter, alright? Hey--" He his head in slight irritation when Jongin fixates his gaze on a pigeon subsequently. "Are you listening? I mean it, I want it quiet all day, understood?" He isn't even sure if Jongin is listening or not when the latter nods, but Sehun decides to take his word for it before patting his shoulder. "I think Jongdae's collecting his stuff on Friday, so you're free to entertain yourself in there if you want to." He wordlessly scans his ID card and lets a tired chuckle slip past his lips when the door opens and nearly hits Jongin in the face. "Careful."

Jongin ends up sitting cross legged on the floor of Sehun's office, humming to himself as he kneads the carpet in boredom. With the door wide open, Jongin can see straight across and into Jongdae's office, and Jongin feels himself shiver at the sight (he's at least 99% sure he can smell the smoke still lingering inside said room from where he's sitting).  He'd walked into Baekhyun's office an hour ago, only to be thrown out after the latter mumbled something about 'expecting an important phone call', and Jongin found himself mindlessly wandering the hallway for a few minutes afterwards.

Eventually, boredom caught up with him and Jongin bounced back into Sehun's office, and even though remaining silent was a relatively easy task for the first hour or so, Jongin is honestly starting to feel like a mindless zombie as he plays with his tail to the sound of the keyboard clicks. Jongin honestly doesn't know why Sehun is so stressed out about his work, considering the latter has got one computer at work and one at home, but he doesn't bother questioning it.

Eventually, Jongin worries his nerves might burst from restlessness and he eyes Sehun's back as the latter works in his chair. They haven't exchanged a word since they entered the room God knows how long ago, and Jongin sighs, barely avoiding hitting his head on the wooden floor as he flops onto his back. He proceeds to count the amount of cracks in the ceiling to entertain himself, but Jongin barely makes it past four when he feels his tail tremble from understimulation, so he gets up and walks over to Sehun. "Sehun, Sehun, Sehun--"

Sehun sighs before spinning around in his chair and looking at Jongin, whose tail looks like it might fall off as it sways back and forth frantically. "Jongin, I thought I wanted it quiet," he says softly, running a hand down his face when Jongin only grins widely. "Why don't you go talk to Chanyeol if he isn't busy?"

"But I'm bored and Baekhyun won't talk to me," Jongin whines, catching a piece of lint as it floats in the air. "Can we do something fun? I've been quiet for a long time now," he adds before he tenses slightly. "I don't wanna talk to Chanyeol." He reaches out and scratches his ear nervously before Sehun sighs. "Why are you always so busy, anyway? It's like you appreciate your work more than me."

"It's only been two hours," Sehun huffs after checking his watch. "You know my computer broke and I need to redo most of just about everything, which is why I want it dead silent until it's time to leave. Got it?" When Jongin only pouts, he furrows his eyebrows. "And you know I don't--"

"But Baekhyun and Jongdae were really busy and they let me stay and talk to them, so why can't you," Jongin blurts out before he can stop himself. He blames his bottled up energy that's threatening to send him off the edge any second before he pouts again. He walks over and attempts to sit on the edge of Sehun's desk, only for the latter to shove him off with perhaps a little too much force than necessary. Jongin ends up nearly burning his tail on the lightbulb in the desk light, and the pain that travels up his tail makes him hiss. "You've been doing nothing but work for the past two weeks," he exclaims in exasperation, only feeling his irritation grow when Sehun attempts to shush him. "What's the point of me even being here if you're not gonna pay any attention to me?!"

Sehun blinks, slightly taken aback by Jongin's words as his eyebrows furrow. "...You do realize I wouldn't be working non stop if it wasn't for you causing all my files to disappear, right?" he asks, making sure to keep his voice low as his boss walks past his office. A noise of irritation leaves his lips when Jongin attempts to sit on his desk again, and he has to move his thermos aside to prevent it from being knocked over (he doesn't know how he'd react if the universe granted him with a repeat of last night). "Jongin, cut it the out already--" He has to get out of his chair and literally drag Jongin off the table when the latter refuses to move. Suddenly, Jongin picks up his briefcase and begins rummaging through it, the latter only flattening his ears and hissing in hostility when Sehun attempts to pry it out of his hands. "Jongin, damn it, let go-- I thought I told you to behave--!"

Jongin doesn't know if it's the understimulation taking its toll or simply the coiling in his stomach refusing to go away, but he finds himself growling low in his throat when Sehun successfully manages to yank his briefcase back before placing it on the desk. "Why can't we do anything together anymore," he exclaims, feeling the lump in his throat grow when Sehun hushes him. "You're always working on something, I miss just doing things with you--"

"We will, as long as I finish this," Sehun sighs, his sleep deprived mind preventing him from thinking straight as he sits back down in his chair. "But you know it's gonna take some time--"

"I already said sorry!" Jongin cries, clenching his jaw in irritation when Sehun sighs again. "Remember? When you locked me out of your room?" His heart trembles as he recalls trying to fall asleep to the sound of constant thunder mere hours ago. The thought makes his frustration skyrocket and he can't hold back the hiss that leaves his lips subsequently. 

Sehun exhales deeply before he runs a hand through his hair. "We'll talk about this when we get home, alright?" 

"You're always ignoring me nowadays," Jongin says, avoiding Sehun's eyes as he puffs his tail. He suddenly thinks about his first foster family and clenches his jaw. "You're doing what they did, right? You think I'm wearing you out so you you're ignoring me, right?" He knows he's being far too loud but he doesn't bother lowering his voice as Sehun sends him an unreadable look. 

Sehun is silent for a minute. "Jongin," he says, shaking his head, "that's definitely not what--"

"I knew you were end up being just like them, just like everyone else," Jongin yells, unable to control the blood rushing in his ears, blindly swatting at Sehun's hand when the latter attempts to calm him down. He's beginning to feel lightheaded and desperately wants to lie down. Jongin barely registers Sehun's response as he turns on his heel and rushes out of the room. He nearly trips over the threshold as he scrambles into the hallway.

Baekhyun nearly jumps right out of his chair when loud scampering suddenly fills the silence of his office, and he blinks when he sees Jongin standing by his doorway and breathing heavily. "Hey, what are you--" He blinks when Jongin wordlessly walks over to his couch. "I heard shouting just now, was that you?" he asks, raising an eyebrow as he types without looking at the keyboard.

Jongin doesn't say anything. Instead, he flops onto the couch, which smells like tarpentine, and lies so he's facing the backrest and proceeds to knead the soft cushions. It brings him little comfort and it's not until Baekhyun tosses him a piece of candy that he sits up and feels slightly better as he unwraps it. The strawberry flavor momentarily calms his nerves and Jongin simply lies back down and sighs when Baekhyun asks him what's wrong. The confection barely makes it past the lump in his throat but Jongin forces himself to swallow it anyway.

"Is there anything I can do to...uh, help?" Baekhyun asks, spinning around in his chair and crossing his legs. He's gotten a haircut, and Jongin kind of likes it.

Jongin pouts before shrugging. "He's...uh, busy with...with work," is all he manages to croak out before he sighs again. "It, uh, put him in a bad mood." He balls up the wrapper in his hands before going back to kneading the cushions. If it wasn't for the fact that his head is spinning a million miles per hour, he'd fall asleep right this instant, smack in the middle of Baekhyun's couch, no questions asked.

Baekhyun sends Jongin a look before nodding. "I'm suffering with him," he chuckles, rolling up his sleeves. "Or, to be frank, we're all suffering right now." He opens up his half finished report and resumes typing. "Does he know you're here, though?" He looks up when someone enters the room and he wrinkles his nose. "You smoke too much, ."

"Yeah, yeah, shut it," Chanyeol mutters before placing a black portfolio with papers in it on Baekhyun's desk. He's about to say something else when he notices Jongin, who's lying on the couch a few feet away and staring wide eyed at him. "Well hello," he coos in a dramatically, false sweetness as he walks over and proceeds to scratch Jongin behind the ear. The latter flinches at his touch.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Such a in' sap," he scoffs.

"You're not any better yourself, dimwit," Chanyeol retorts and it's not until Jongin swats his hand away after he ruffles the latter's hair that he blinks. "Feisty," he chuckles and adjusts his tie. "Where's your master, if I may ask?" He sends Jongin a look that has the latter clenching his jaw. Baekhyun only cringes.

Jongin hangs his head. "He's...mad," he mumbles, internally screaming when he catches a big whiff of Chanyeol's tobacco stained clothing. When Chanyeol doesn't leave, he clears his throat awkwardly. "Go away," he whines and fights the urge to slash Chanyeol's pants open.

"Mad, huh?" Chanyeol hums, eyes scanning the paper in his hand. "Surprising," he mutters sarcastically, only to roll his eyes when Baekhyun scoffs. He briefly tells the redhead to shut it before looking at Jongin, who avoids his gaze. "What for?"

"Could you get out of here, you're scaring the poor guy," Baekhyun mutters as his fingers scurry across the keyboard. Chanyeol sends him a look and he shrugs unapologetically. He goes on to complain about how far behind he's falling but Jongin is too busy contemplating if he should just slip out of the room and curl up in a corner in the hallway. "You better not smoke in here," he says as Chanyeol walks over to the window. "You --"

Jongin lays on the couch, mind blank and stomach coiling as he stares at the empty green fruit bowl on the table a foot away. As if his urge to burst into tears wasn't strong enough already, having Chanyeol stand less than fifteen feet away is doing nothing to calm Jongin's nerves as he sighs deeply. Through the wall, he can hear typing sounds emitting from Sehun's office. The smell of fresh tobacco soon reaches him and Jongin buries his face in one of the cushions.  Maybe he'll live in Baekhyun's office for the rest of his life. "Can I have some more candy?" he asks, lifting his head off the pillow and sending the redhead an innocent look.

Baekhyun chuckles. "I feel like you're getting more thrills out of this thing than I am," he says before reaching into the jar and picking up a green piece of candy. He tosses it at Jongin and blinks when the latter effortlessly catches it in his mouth. "Careful, you could choke to death!"

"Their impulsiveness always gets on my nerves," Chanyeol mumbles, hair blowing in the wind as he stares out the window and takes a drag.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Then get out, dip."

Jongin only sighs. His body feels like it weighs a hundred tons as the thoughts pile up inside his head. The room falls into silence, which is occasionally broken by Baekhyun typing at his computer and Chanyeol shifting into different positions as he leans against the window sill. Jongin feels like crying for reasons he doesn't even know and he just wishes Chanyeol would disappear already so he can wallow in his own thoughts for just a second. Unfortunately, fate doesn't (ever) seem to be on Jongin's side when a tall woman, whom he assumes is the boss, shows up in the doorway and asks to speak to Baekhyun. When the latter leaves, Jongin remains motionless, momentarily preoccupied with the fact that she seemingly didn't even react to a hybrid just laying about in the room, before he listens to the sounds of cigarette smoke being puffed a few feet away. Eventually, the knot in his stomach makes Jongin inch his way off the couch, but he doesn't make it very far when he hears a voice behind him.

"It's so stupid," Chanyeol says, mainly to himself, as he takes another long drag. "Just in' moronic, if you ask me." He turns around and immediately locks eyes with Jongin, who blinks, before blowing smoke directly into the room.

Jongin finds him petrified for a solid minute before he works up the courage to move his lips. "What--" He momentarily chokes on his own saliva before turning his face away. "Uh-- What's stupid?" he asks, trying to distract himself by listening to Baekhyun's voice through the wall. Except all he hears is the white noise coming from the air vents above, which brings him little comfort. He briefly contemplates walking over and swiping a few candies, figuring Baekhyun won't notice.

"That at some point in this whole...thing," Chanyeol mutters, pulling Jongin out of his thoughts, "someone decided it would be a swell idea to have us and you co-exist." He chuckles humorlessly before wrapping his lips around his cigarette. A lock of black hair at the back of his head blows in the wind when a strong breeze enters the room, which has Jongin shivering.

Jongin finds himself nodding along, even though he's well aware of the fact that he isn't paying attention. He's too busy listening and trying to pick up sounds from the other side of the wall and in the hallway, but he soon realizes that it's now dead quiet and swallows. The couch isn't nearly as comfortable and soft as it was a mere half hour ago but the knot weighing down his stomach makes it impossible for Jongin to get up, so he opts to remain on the sofa whilst attempting to ignore Chanyeol's existence and wait for Baekhyun to return. Jongin ends up slowly growing used to the rhythmic pattern of Chanyeol's smoke puffs and the the nearly hypnotic sounds of the ventilation humming in the ceiling, and he doesn't know if he's got the heaviness in his gut or overall sleep deprivation to blame, but he finds himself slowly dozing off whilst hugging the cushion against his chest.

Jongin isn't sure how long he slept, or if he slept at all to begin with, but at some point, he feels his ears twitch as they usually do when they pick up a noise. It sounds almost like footsteps, which seem to come to a halt after less than five seconds, but in his dazed state, Jongin thinks nothing of it. It's not until he weakly registers the scent of tobacco that Jongin groans and paws at his face, ready to hiss at whoever or whatever it is that's trying to interrupt his beauty sleep. However, instead of hissing, Jongin ends up emitting a choked squeal after opening his eyes and seeing Chanyeol squatting so their faces are no more than ten inches apart.

In his mind, Jongin is scrambling off the couch and rushing back into Sehun's office before hiding under the latter's desk, but in reality, he's laying petrified on the couch as he clings onto the cushion for dear life, with his tail puffed up twice its size. Jongin feels his pulse echoing in his ears as he stares at the taller, and it's not until he sees that he's no longer holding the pillow that he realizes he ended up whacking Chanyeol square in the face with it. Jongin braces himself to launch an attack if Chanyeol were to reach out and try to strangle him, or smother him with the cushion, like he's seen in the movies.

Chanyeol doesn't kill Jongin, much to the latter's relief, and the former only fixes his messed up hair before sending Jongin a look. "You're cute, it's a shame you had to go screw everything up for yourself," he says in a low voice before standing up. Jongin doesn't even get to ask him what he means before Baekhyun appears in the doorway, and Jongin nearly cries in relief.

"Sorry that took so bloody long," Baekhyun huffs, only to blink when he looks at Chanyeol. "Asswipe, ever heard of personal space?" He walks over to his desk before sitting down in his chair. "You're scaring the little one," he says and tosses a piece of candy to Jongin when the latter sends him a puppy eyed look. "That's enough or you'll spoil your appetite. Now scram, both of you, I have a call to make." He picks up his phone and sends Jongin and Chanyeol a look.

It takes Jongin way longer than usual to even think about dragging himself off the couch, and when he does, he feels the knot in his stomach returning as he stands up and trudges towards the door. Once he's outside (and Baekhyun has slammed the door behind him), Jongin briefly feels his mind go blank as he scans his surroundings. Jongin feels his heart clench when he sees that Sehun's door is shut and locked, and Jongin finds himself avoiding it like the plague as he makes his way down the hallway. Chanyeol's office door is slightly ajar and Jongin finds himself avoiding it, too, when he hears shuffling noises coming from inside the room. The only room that isn't occupied is Jongdae's, and even though Jongin wants nothing more than to storm out of the building and sleep the rest of the day away in a berry bush, he finds himself inching towards the empty room anyways. 

Dust scurries across the floor as Jongin opens the door wider. Inevitably, the boxes sit on the floor in the same way he left them earlier. Jongin sees the photo frame peek out from one of the boxes and fights the urge to hurl it out the window, but he feels like all the energy has been out of him as he climbs onto Jongdae's desk and curls into a fetal position. Wrapping his tail around his right ankle, Jongin hears the monotone clicking of keyboards and the rather irritating sounds of phones ringing before he rests one hand under his head. The patch of dried up coffee on right sock is starting to feel like cardboard and Jongin is about to kick his shoe off when a voice nearly makes him jump out of his own skin.

"Oh, there you are," Sehun says, running a hand through his hair. He's got his briefcase strapped across his shoulder and, despite the bright rays seeping through the windows, Jongin can see the dark rings under his eyes as he sends the latter a tired look. "I figured I'd finish early today and continue at home." He eyes Jongin for a minute before raising an eyebrow. "...Are you coming?"

Jongin bites his lip. Even though his brain is screaming at him to get off the table and run to Sehun, deep down he knows that there isn't much use in following Sehun home, only for the latter to continue ignoring him since Jongin knows he'll probably end up combusting. So he simply shakes his head before proceeding to kick his shoes off. They land on the floor with a dull thud. "I don't wanna," he mumbles, picking apart a piece of lint with his fingers. 

Sehun is silent for a minute before he raises an eyebrow again. "What do you mean you don't wanna?" he asks in mild confusion. He isn't making any move to step inside the room, which sort of maes Jongin want to cry. "Don't be silly, let's head home." He's about to make his way down the hallway when Jongin shakes his head again, which makes him blink. "So you're just gonna stay here all night, then?" When the younger simply hums something in response, he mutters a low 'Suit yourself' before Jongin hears him walk down the hallway.

Jongin remains on the table, his socked feet feeling extremely cold as he rests his cheek against the cool wood. He feels his heart race as he listens to Sehun's footsteps become more and more distant until the usual dead silence fills the building. Jongin can picture Sehun getting into his car and driving home before getting to work, and Jongin can also picture himself lying on Sehun's bed craving the latter's attention, only to get none, so he figures lying on what used to be Jongdae's desk by himself is a minor improvement, even though the hard surface is starting to make his body go numb.

When the air from the hallway carries Sehun's scent into the room, Jongin finds himself kneading the hard desk, and he isn't sure if he's imagining things or not (it really wouldn't surprise him at this point), but he thinks he hears the sound of Sehun's car starting up outside subsequently. Trying to block out the sound, Jongin closes his eyes, and he's so exhausted that he ends up dozing off with half his body hanging off the table.

It's the feeling of his body shivering that awakens Jongin a while later. He isn't sure how long he slept, but he shoves the thought aside before sitting up slightly. The boxes on the floor haven't moved an inch and the hallway is still as quiet as ever. It's not until Jongin shivers again that he turns his head and realizes that the window is sitting wide open. The cool air jolts his brain awake, and as he hisses at the pain spreading through his back, it doesn't take long for Jongin to register the fact that the entire room reeks of cigarette smoke.

---