The next morning, your body hurt all over and the first thing you did was grab the earmuffs and put them on after showering, scared that you might forget it. As you brushed your teeth and headed downstairs to give the meal plan to the cook so he could start cooking, there was a creak and you looked up to see Renjun trot down the stairs grumpily.

“Good morning,” you greeted, Renjun snapping.

“Not a good morning, thank you very much,” he said, rolling his eyes. You noticed that he had three coats on him and a cap on. He would continue to have a phase in the later future and it was something you would find amusing—but since it was the first day of him coming home and still feeling the eeriness of being , Renjun would be a headache to deal with.

Training would go as normal and as the elevator dinged, you went to grab the tray that the cook had provided. You placed it on the table, about to remove the earmuffs when a loud scream could be heard and you paused, happy that you didn’t.

“Chenle’s awake,” you say to Renjun warily, the male tightening his grip on the three coats. “Aren’t you hot?”

He ignored your question, grabbing the food and beginning to eat it when a yell sounded and Na Jaemin bounded down the stairs. He beamed. He wasn’t necessarily a morning person but he had slept so soundly last night that he was up and energetic. He began to make his coffee and you sneakily poured some of it down the drain just because you knew that it was in his meal plan not to take too much caffeine.

“I saw that,” Jaemin wiggled his eyes at you and you blushed. You gave him another mug, putting milk in it.

“Too much caffeine is bad,” you said simply, patting Jaemin on the shoulder. “and eat breakfast while you’re at it.”

“Whateverrrrr,” Jaemin rolled his eyes playfully, gulping down the coffee when your eyes widened. “Ah, hot, hot, hot—”

“Jaemin, why?”

“Yeah, Nana. Why?” a voice asked and you all turned to the side to see that Jeno had come out. “Here to get a banana and grace you with my presence.”

“Wow, Jeno. I’m honored,” Renjun muttered, stabbing his hotdog with a fork.

“What do you have up your arse?” Jeno asked, grabbing a banana and peeling it. “Is this all because you walked around yesterday?”

Renjun glared at him, adjusting his cap when Jeno rolled his eyes.

“Jeno,” you say under your breath, giving him a warning glare. You knew sensitivity when you saw one and you knew it wasn’t smart to push Renjun’s nerves. “Take as much time as you need, Renjun.”

“Yeah, I’ll be in bed under fifteen blankets and no one should even think of bothering me today!” Renjun said hotly, finishing his food and standing up. He then stalked away and you gulped.

“Guess one less person to train today,” you said under your breath, pursing your lips. Jaemin chuckled, stretching out. “You first.”

You pointed to Jaemin, Jaemin saying that he knew. He’d go and run a few laps and then he’d come back to tell you when he was ready. Shape charades, he chortled. Another round! You nodded, grabbing the plates and putting them in the sink to see Jeno with a banana in his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something. Jaemin quickly left.

“Then me?” Jisung asked and you nodded, smiling at him. “Ms. Star, you think you can find a way to make my training fun? How about trying to run up a cliff?”

“One, where are we going to get a cliff? Two, I’m sure there are ways to make it interesting without trying to kill yourself, Jisung,” you told the boy, rinsing the plates. “How about I put an obstacle course?”

“If Jisung gets an obstacle course, then I get an obstacle course,” Chenle said pointedly and you sighed.

“Is there a competition between you two that I should know about?” you asked, Chenle shaking his head. “Because you seem to want everything Jisung has.”

“We’re the same age, we deserve the same things.”

“You’re older than me,” Jisung pointed out. “But that sounds great. Maybe it’ll be the first duo training session. You know, we never work on team work.”

“Mhm, I was thinking of that too, Jisung. All of you have individual training sessions when you should all have them at the same time.”

“You can be the first to implement it, though I’m sure Jeno hyung isn’t going to be very happy about it.” Jisung pointed at Jeno who stopped chewing, looking like he had no idea what he just said. “And Jeno hyung, Beebo is broken. His story was turned dark and he didn’t say “I love you” before he left the room only after he left the room.”

Jeno choked on the banana, coughing and you saw a beeping light by the couch, Beebo wheeling himself into the kitchen.

“Yeah… Must have downloaded the wrong story…” Jeno murmured and you tried to hide a laugh when Beebo spoke from the ground.

“Liar,” Beebo said before he turned away. Jisung reached down to pat Beebo, Jeno glaring at the robot before dragging a finger across his lips. Beebo seemed to get the message, turning away.

“I fed him more data last night, he’s just wonky,” Jeno told Jisung, the male shrugging and saying that it could happen. Beebo, however, knew what story he had to tell. It was never him who told the stories, it was Jeno. He beeped and waited by the couch for Jeno when everyone heard a scream.

“I did it! I did it!” Jaemin’s voice yelled and everyone pushed out of the kitchen to rush to the backyard. “I’m a pyramid!”

And surely, Jaemin was a pyramid.

All sides covered.

“Woooohoooooooooo!” Jaemin yelled out, Jisung clapping his hands as congratulations. Chenle pointed and Jeno nodded. He did feel a tad bit proud, knowing that it was a milestone achieved. “Yahoooooooooooooo!”

“Good going, Jaemin!” you called, Jaemin bouncing back to his original form as a human, stretching. “Now, how did you do that?”

“A lotta believing and prayin’,” Jaemin said, beaming. “Well, I’m tired.”

“I can tell,” you said, Jaemin’s suit turning a certain color. He was wet with sweat and you tugged on the sleeve. “Okay, you got to put this in the laundry.”

“Now, what’s Jeno doing here and not back in his basement? He hardly stays this long out,” Jaemin said, Jeno clicking his tongue.

“Way to talk to me like I’m not here, Nana.”

“Whateverrrrrrrrrr,” Jaemin rolled his R’s and you push him into the house so you can handle the suit. “Can I call off Shape Charades? I’m deciding in my head whether I should watch Bridgerton or House of Gambits as a celebratory reward.”

“You can do whatever you want,” you tell him, ping his suit and Jaemin stepped out of it, in his house shorts. He, unlike Renjun, didn’t seem to be fazed about being topless. “Go.”

“Off, I go!”

And he disappeared, your eyes falling on Jisung and Chenle who was looking at you with big eyes.

“What?”

“But we want to watch Bridgerton and House of Gambits, too!” they chorused and you frown, glancing at the schedule that was plastered on the refrigerator.

“And why should you get what Nana gets?”

Silence, Jeno silently on the side as you tried to negotiate them. No, you weren’t strict. You just liked to go by the book and you knew spoiling them was something that wouldn’t help. Not in the long run. You weren’t there to make them like you, you were there to make their life easier.

“We…” Chenle paused, grumbling to himself. “Fine.”

“Thought so,” you said, patting their heads as they ate quietly. Jeno cleared his throat and you looked back to see that he was there with a half-eaten banana in his hand. “Yeah, Jeno. Is there anything?”

“So, uh… when’s my turn?” he asked slowly and your eyes shift to the side.

“You’ll be after Chenle,” you said, Jeno nodding.

“Okay.”

And with that, he had finished his banana and walked away, whistling. You wondered what Jeno had in store for you, watching Beebo wheel away after it’s master. Chenle and Jisung finally got their team-duo training session and you smiled when you saw Chenle and Jisung laugh at their shenanigans.

“You just think that because you’re my best friend!” Chenle said once and you smiled, almost forgetting that this was a training session. A good thirty minutes passed and you saw the door behind you open, Jeno peeking out.

He was showing his face a little bit more than usual and even you knew that, despite being new to the job. You raised an eyebrow, Jeno blinking twice.

“Yeah?”

“Is it my turn now?” he asked and you were taken aback at his eagerness to start his training time. You proceeded to tell him that you had an hour left and he answered with an “Oh.” before closing the door behind him. You turned back, frowning.

Jeno had prepared a lift of things he wanted you to help him with. Whether it was data processing to watching documentaries to trying on his new suits. He realized the night before that some things he couldn’t complete because he didn’t have another person with him—now he would have to utilize you. He was excited, to say the least, that he would be able to try to connect you to one of his machines.

He hummed to himself, entering the basement before he began to count the documentaries that he had written down. If you stayed… If you stayed, it would take him 10 training sessions to finish all of them since each training session was only an hour and a half. He highly doubt you would stay with him over time, watching these with him. Maybe even more than ten, Jeno found himself thinking.

He connected himself to a machine and to Beebo, also searching up a documentary on the SmartTV. He guessed that you would just have to multitask. He paused. Did you know how to multitask?

Because then he also had other equipment that he wanted you to try on. He went to pop up some popcorn to pass the time, already writing on a board a list of things and a schedule of when he wanted it done when the elevator opened and you stepped in.

Chenle and Jisung had called it a day but since it worked out really well, you let them off. Jeno looked up hopefully, Beebo whirring from beside him as Jeno saw you stand there. You weren’t wearing your work blazer anymore. Only jeans and a T-Shirt, Jeno waiting for you to speak.

“So, what did you want to do?” you asked. You would be lying if you said you weren’t scared because god knows what Jeno would ask you to do. You pointed at the machine, stepping closing as Jeno pushed the machine towards the couch. “What’s that?”

“Data. Feeding my thoughts to Beebo,” he said and you took a seat as he motioned to the couch. “I want to see if you can try it on. It’s obviously my programming but then god knows if it works the same with other people.”

He grabbed pads and placed them on your forehead, Jeno clicking on the remote as a documentary came on. You read the title, “Documentary of Chernobyl”.

“You want me to sit here and watch this with you with this thing stuck to my head?” you asked, Jeno nodding and reaching out to adjust the pads on your head before inserting an earpiece in his ear as Beebo stationed himself on the ground. “Uh… start the documentary, I guess. Why don’t you watch this with the rest?”

“They watch cartoons. Jaemin also falls asleep. Not like he tries, though. He does,” Jeno’s voice was clipped and you nod. You weren’t fond of documentaries but—

“You’re not fond of documentaries?” he asked suddenly and you turn to him, surprised.

“Yeah.”

But you’d try, it couldn’t be that bad—

“But you’ll try because it can’t be that bad?” he asked again, his eyes on the screen when your mouth dropped open. How was he saying your exact thoughts? You blink, turning back to the TV to try to hide your flustered state.

“I mean, yeah,” you said and you looked back to see him staring at you, his eyes curved in that eye smile and you couldn’t help but smile back. It was like gravity, Jeno’s cheeks pushed up in a genuine grin. Damn, those eyes would be the death of you, you thought. His eye smile was enough to make your heart quiver—

“Now, why would your heart quiver just by seeing me smile?” he asked suddenly and you jolted up. Jeno was amused and his handsome face had lit up. “Good to know that you find me good looking.”

“Jeno!” you gasped, leaning against the edge of couch, now scared. Jeno tilted his head at you and you shook your head. Were you imagining this? Were you hallucination? “How?”

“How? How what?” he asked, Jeno leaning forward boldly as his body crept closer. You gulped, leaning back when the back of your neck hit the arm rest of the couch. Jeno didn’t stop there, enjoying the blush that crept up your cheek. He took into account how red your ears were and how your hand was pressed against your heart.

You couldn’t hide your feelings for , Jeno thought, chuckling to himself. His eyes fell onto your features, your pupils shaking and you were holding your breath. He wanted to tell you to breath, he knew that he was taking you by surprise but you weren’t as strong as you were when you were with him compared to rest, were you?

“Is this a hallucination?” he asked and you let out a choked gasp, your feet moving as you gathered your knees up against your chest. How long would it take for you to realize that he could read your thoughts as the machine spoke them into his ear? That you were connected to a machine?

“Get out of my head,” you said shakily, glaring at him. He smiled, body hovering above you with one arm propped up on back of the couch, his other arm on the other side of your head. “Lee Jeno.”

He was too close and he smelled good. A little bit too good for your liking because the Lee Jeno you had first met was shy. This Lee Jeno made you wonder what changed, Jeno trying not to look too pleased at the words that he could hear in his ear.

He smelled a little between a mix of Axe body spray but also dualistically pleasant like luxury perfume and you couldn’t wrap your head around it, your head slightly spinning at the pressure as Lee Jeno leaned forward, his breath hot against your cheek.

“And that is enough,” he whispered and you felt his fingers remove the pads from your forehead. He then pushed himself up, gathering up the pads and leaving your chest thundering like a stampede. Your stomach did a flip and you slowly sat up to see Jeno hooking himself up to the machine.

“What the was that?”

“That was a mind-reading machine. That’s how I put the data into Beebo,” Jeno said and you hated how he seemed so nonchalant about it. You literally spurted out your thoughts and it was an invasion of privacy, Jeno looking back at you.

He had a small smile on his face, the male settling on the couch when he leaned back.

“It’s okay for people to know that you think they are hot, Star—” Jeno began and you turned and punched his shoulder, the male letting out a howl. “Ow! Okay, wow. That hurt.”

“That was an invasion of privacy, Lee Jeno!”

“Geez, it wasn’t that bad,” Jeno defended himself but when he looked at you, he saw that you were pissed. “I—”

“You can’t just hook people up to a machine that reads their thoughts!”

Jeno honestly did not understand why you were acting too sensitive but you… You knew that there were certain things you didn’t want anyone to know. You took in a deep breath, Jeno trying to calm you down.

“What’s the big deal? Is this because you’re flustered? A lot of girls think I’m good looking, I don’t see why it’s that—”

“Ignorant and cocky?” you shot at him, standing up to dust yourself off.

“I’m just saying that you’re not that different,” Jeno began, standing up too. You wanted to help him. You wanted to spend time with him… his way. Now that he was giving that to you, you were mad? It made no sense to him.

For you, you were ready to try your hardest. You knew you did, you just didn’t like being taken advantage of. Had he asked for permission, you would have give in. Lee Jeno crossed a line and you didn’t like it.

“You know what Jeno? You preach about privacy yet you have no idea how to respect it,” you snapped, giving a huff. God knows what he would have found about you if he got into the deepest darkest places of your thoughts. You were just like every other girl, he said, and you knew that was true. The problem was that you, like every girl should know out there, knew your worth.

So, you stalked out of the basement, kicking the elevator as it opened, your fury leaving Lee Jeno in the dust. You fumed, feeling annoyed and frustrated, moving to your bedroom and slamming the door shut. This was it, the others in the house thought as they heard the door slam.

Were you like the rest of them?

Were you going to leave on the second day?

J