Taemin opened his eyes to feel Hyerin in his arms, still in a peaceful sleep, her head buried in his neck, displaying the part of her neck covered with the bandage, as he moved back, looking down to see her face, resisted by her tight hold on the hem of his t-shirt.

He ended up caressing the part over the bandage, before pulling her head on his shoulder again, holding her closer with his arm at back.

“Are you still blaming yourself?” she whispered on his neck, her warmed breath tickling his skin, for him to pull her away quickly, “Were you awake?” he asked, his voice low & husky, still not recovered from the hoarseness due to the dry throat.

She opened her eyes, squinting slightly by the sudden exposure to light, as she took a glance at him, blinking before looking into his surprised eyes for a while.

The doorbell rang to startle both of them, as they looked at each other in confusion, “Was someone coming?” Hyerin asked, rubbing her eyes.

“I haven’t talked to anyone since last week” Taemin answered, as they both sat up on the bed.

Hyerin reached her phone on the side table, to notice that it was ticking 10 am in the morning.

Both of them rose up on the bed, climbing down from either side to walk out to the living room.

Taemin was still in his gray t-shirt & black track pants & Hyerin in the white crepe shirt & blue trouser, Ryujin had bought for her, the day before as she was discharging from the hospital.

“Oh!” Hyerin had a surprised smile on her face, watching the monitor as they both were already standing in the living room now.

“What are these three doing together here?” Taemin walked to the door to open it, letting them in, one by one.

“Why are you guys here?” Taemin asked, confused watching Jinki enter, followed by Ryujin, “I came to take my thanks.” Ryujin widened her smile, waving to Hyerin as soon as her eyes caught her,

“Oh!” “Hii, there” Jinki had noticed Hyerin too by now as he had moved inside along with Ryujin, “I just came to say hi to Hyerin-ssi” Jinki explained waving at Hyerin too with his morning smile, making her smile back, contagiously.

“Me too” Taemin heard Jonghyun behind him as he watched him walk inside, pushing the door to close behind them, Taemin was holding onto until now.

“This is my house by the way” “Hello?” Taemin scoffed, eyeing each of them simultaneously, stopping his gaze on Jonghyun who was glaring at him till now had turned around to go inside.

“Hello, Hyerin-ssi” he smiled to Hyerin making Taemin drop his jaw & chuckle at the way his hyung totally ignored him.

“Oh!” “Are you feeling better now?” Jonghyun noticed the bandage on Hyerin’s neck, as Hyerin nodded watching Jinki & Jonghyun looking at her concerned now, as she glanced at Ryujin then, making both the girls smile at each other, comfortingly. Her gaze landed on Taemin finally. He was flustered, confused, impatient & sulking a lot, looking cute, making her smile again.

“Here’s your phone” Jinki handed Taemin the cell phone he brought out from his pocket, as Taemin took it examining it for a while, “How did you get this?” Taemin asked glancing at Jinki & Jonghyun, as Jinki shrugged and Jonghyun smiled, “Well” “Euisoo hyung was waiting for us in the office this morning to hand it over to you” “He had to head out for other work so he couldn't come” Jinki explained.

Hyerin was wondering about the person they were talking of, to be their manager, as she was just a silent spectator now in this conversation.

“Ah!” “Euisoo hyung saves me every time” Taemin blurted, sighing out a breath of relief finally receiving his phone.

“Why didn’t you get it yourself?” “I heard it came yesterday morning to the company” Jinki asked as Jonghyun & Ryujin turned to Taemin in curiosity.

Taemin sighed looking at Hyerin, who raised her eyes instead asking him to explain, as the three were curiously waiting for the couple to interact with them.

“That-” Taemin hesitated, he was contemplating knowing he’s gonna get nagged from each of them separately after he confesses, but anyway they were about to know sooner or later…

“Why are you looking like a sick person?” Jonghyun noticed, as all three of them were observing Taemin with their keen eyes now.

“Because he had a high fever when I came here” Hyerin revealed without waiting for Taemin, turning her gaze to Ryujin who knew the time she was talking about.

“Fever?” "Since when were you sick?" "Why didn't you call me?" Ryujin was pannicking in shock now, as she remembered him being back since two days.

“Are you still feeling unwell?” Jinki asked, looking at him worried as Taemin shook his head vigorously, wanting them to stop worrying.

Jonghyun was observing Taemin and Hyerin in the meanwhile, as he walked ahead to stand beside Taemin who was dumbfounded in the moment, “He was already so exhausted” “It must have been a stressful trip?” Jonghyun said leaning closer to put his arms around Taemin’s shoulders, as Taemin’s relaxed, watching Jonghyun with a gratified smile, as Jonghyun smiled back, "You okay now?" he asked, contiuing to hold him in his arms, as Taemin nodded in response, "Hyerin gave me medicines yesterday"

“You did a good job by sending Hyerin here, then” Jonghyun added, sharing a glance with Ryujin, as she sighed, trying to calm down then but still couldn't stop glaring at Taemin, who sent a cute pout in return then, making her scoff finally.

“I had no option” she chuckled, turning her glance to Hyerin, “She was ready to eat my head with her questions, if I had taken her to my house”

“She was chanting his name 24/7” Ryujin continued teasing Hyerin, watching her blush, as Jinki & Jonghyun were listening with a smirk on their faces, making Hyerin search the floor in embarassment, but Taemin had his eye on her, watching her with an adoring smile now.

“And here, sir came back without his phone, unavailable for like four days now” Taemin heard Ryujin again, making him turn to her, as she rolled her eyes on him now, laughing at his lost face “I was so worried for them” she chuckled,

“I wasn’t chanting-” Hyerin cooed softly in defense, but it was already late, regretting to only gain more attention, taking more giggles from everyone.

“Oh really!?” Ryujin turned to raise her eyes at her, making the youngest blush now, as she moved to the couch taking a seat, followed by Jinki & Jonghyun behind her.

“Anyway you did a good job" Jonghyun pulled Ryujin’s cheek taking a scoff from her, as Jinki shook his head, smirking out a smile watching them silently, before Ryujin & Jonghyun turned to him to talk again.

Taemin & Hyerin were still standing, staring the single chair in the side now, as they looked at each other in the meanwhile, and he gestured her with his eyes for her to go sit there and they were forcing each other to get seated on that chair with eye-gestures then, for quite a few minutes now, spreading a long silence, for the other three in the room to notice sooner.

“Are we disturbing you?” Jinki asked, eyeing both of them raising his eyebrows at them, titling his head slightly.

The couple shaked their heads in denial, and Hyerin rushed to the chair to sit into it as Taemin settled himself on the wide hand-rest of the chair.

Both of them were so cute. It was fun teasing them for the other three now.

“Euisoo hyung was gonna send you an email regarding Gaeul’s information he got” Jinki informed his tone getting serious, as Taemin's face turned more serious hearing her name, taking Hyerin’s attention too, as both of them looked at each other.

“We need to trace the person who took photos of you guys” “Someone must be still keeping watch on you” Jonghyun suggested making a point that everyone agreed.

“I know” “That’s why I asked for her information” Taemin confessed.

“There must be some record in her calls & social accounts details somehow, leading to those people” Taemin explained before unlocking his phone to check the emails.

Euisoo-nim's email was there, as Jinki informed, so he opened it as Hyerin moved closer to look into his phone and read the email herself & he leaned down seeing her efforts to peek in, bringing the screen to her eye-level.

The three faded in the background, watched them silently holding their smiles to themselves, waiting for Taemin to read the email so that they could discuss further then.

Hyerin had noticed earlier that he had her picture as wallpaper on his screen, it looked like the picture from the Jeju-do resort, by the appearance, making her wonder about it, but she was soon distracted by Taemin, who had already opened the email from his manager, as they started reading it together.

“Oh!?” After just reading the profile details, Hyerin was watching the screen dumbfounded by something she read, “Why?” Taemin looked at her, curious about her reaction.

“She has her parents alive?” Hyerin was staring at the information in shock, “She even has a home?” Hyerin said as her eyes read Gaeul’s home address on the profile.

“Why?” “Were you not aware of it?” Jonghyun asked Hyerin in confusion.

“Yeah” “In fact, I was told by her that she was an orphan for the last six years now, she only had her grandmother she was taking care of alone since then, which was she had to work part-time in that young age” Hyerin was still not able to believe that Gaeul had lied to her about her identity itself.

“Both of her grandparents passed away a few years ago” Taemin replied, relating the info in the email, making Hyerin more disappointed.

“She left her home, so there was missing complaint against her 2 years ago” “But recently her parents withdrew it, saying they didn’t wanted to find her anymore” Taemin read the further details, “Looks like she ran away from her house then” Taemin continued looking through more details, scrolling down to get to her contacts,

“Oh here it is, her social media mutuals”

“Can we get help from the company's legal team in this?” he asked looking at Jinki who was listening to everyone patiently,

“Yeah of course” Jinki exclaimed leading the conversation now, “Euisoo hyung told me that these people are not extreme sasaengs right now, but we can’t take the risk” “They’re following you at workplaces only for now, but we know how things get worse with time” Taemin & Jonghyun nodded in unison, agreeing with Jinki, as the two girls watched them with innnocently concerned faces.

“It’s already turned into a serious matter for us to be patient” Jinki added, having an eye-contact with Taemin, as Taemin gave him a soft nod again.

Hyerin still couldn’t recover herself from the previous information she read. She was too shocked to give any input, as she was quiet for a while.

Taemin called Euisoo-manager, asking him to give those social media accounts to the legal team to investigate, as Euisoo-nim assured him that it was in process already.

“Will Gaeul go through legal proceedings too?” Hyerin asked, coming out of her trance of emotions,

“Are you concerned about her right now?” Taemin looked down at Hyerin sitting near him, “She lied to you, blackmailed you, you could even have lost-” he couldn’t say it further as his mind didn’t want to remember even part of that thought again.

“I’m not justifying her actions” she confessed, reading Taemin’s anxious eyes, “The things that happened, were all consequences of her obsession with you, which is not at all approvable” “I know” she continued, as everyone was listening to her, trying to understand her opinion,

“But-” Hyerin had a sense of insecurity in her eyes right now.

Taemin blinked restlessly, not understanding where Hyerin was reaching with this conversation, “I think I should meet her parents first” Hyerin said making Taemin more confused, “I have known her for a year now oppa, trust me she is not a person that will hurt others so easily”

“I know her obsession is something to be concerned of & it is disturbing for you already” Hyerin went on, keeping everyone silent, listening to her throughout.

Hyerin didn’t know how she should explain to Taemin, “Can we not mention whatever happened between me & Gaeul & just take action against the stalkers who are selling all this information to many others?” Hyerin added, shocking Ryujin with her latter information.

“They sell this information?” Ryujin asked shocked, “Hmm” “Not exclusively but it’s a kind of money earning thing among youngsters who enjoy all this” Jonghyun explained, as Jinki & Taemin got thinking again.

“It’s scary!” Ryujin shuddered, getting goosebumps on her arm in immediate fear, “Are you sure Gaeul is not part of that kind of business?” she turned to Hyerin making Hyerin nod in assurance, “I don’t think so” “She works at various jobs as part-timer for most of the hours” “And other than that, she can’t afford extra money to buy cameras & stuff with her managing hard to survive” Hyerin explained making everyone reconsider Gaeul.

“Better focus on putting down those stalker accounts first then” Ryujin turned to the boys, “At least we can cut off the sources” Ryujin added, as everyone agreed.

“You’re not meeting Gaeul alone again in any case” Taemin stood up to stare at Hyerin warning her with his stern eyes,

“I won’t” Hyerin nodded, assuring, before getting up to stand in front of him, “You should stop panicking” she took his hand in hers as he stared at her, his eyes filled with concern again.

She was about to speak more but her phone was ringing in her pocket as she pulled it out to see the screen saying ‘JINHO calling….’

She looked at Taemin in shock, staring at her phone screen again, as Taemin noticed the name of the caller, startling himself, “Did you tell him?” he asked as Hyerin shook her head in denial, biting her lip, “Take it” “There must be something important” he urged, convincing Hyerin to get the call.

“Noona?” she heard Jinho’s voice on the other line, as she hummed waiting for him to speak further.

“Noona, I met Gaeul today” she heard Jinho as her heart skipped a beat, as she looked up at Taemin with fear in her eyes rising, making him curious as well as anxious now.

“So?” Hyerin didn’t want to act like a fool & spill any unnecessary details by herself, digging for her own grave.

“She wanted to take her things from the cafe” “She wants to leave the job” he spilled, making Hyerin more concerned, “Yeah she told me that” Hyerin tried keeping her voice normal.

“You’re not in Paris right?” Jinho blurted the question he was holding back, making Hyerin’s heartbeats raise tremendously now.

“Where are you now?” She asked her brother, her hand holding onto Taemin’s tighter than before which made him worried now,

“What did she tell you?” Hyerin asked to confirm how much Jinho knew exactly, trying to lead the conversation now that she knew he was testing her words.

“That you’re dating Taemin hyung” Jinho answered it in a plain tone, confusing her about the way he was expressing right now.

“Where should we meet?” Jinho asked first, as Hyerin was speechless since a while.

“I’ll send you the address” Hyerin pulled off the call, but her heart was heavy now, having a bad feeling about this situation now, “Jinho is gonna hate me” she suddenly was in tears now, freaking Taemin out by her crying, as the other three also stood up in concern watching her break down.

“What did he say?” Taemin asked, trying to know what she was talking about.

“He knows,” her low voice was lost in her next sob, “What?” Taemin was confused.

“That we are dating” “He met Gaeul” Hyerin replied again, making Taemin reconsider their opinion about Gaeul. He was not sure now if Gaeul was really not their main problem right now?

“He knows I’m not in Paris” "He wants to meet me" Hyerin had her soft eyes, filled with distress on Taemin, continuing to hold onto his hand tightly now.

“But that means he also knows that you’re hurt” They heard Ryujin's relaxed voice breaking the tension, pulling Hyerin’s thought to the direction, as she looked up at Ryujin, “Will that change anything?”

Ryujin didn’t have a proper answer, “Just meet him first”

Hyerin nodded, taking a glance at Taemin’s equally worried face, showing the mixture of emotions in his head, as she turned herself to face him taking his other hand in hers again, “I know it’s easy to be said than done but-” “Please take rest for the day” “Huh?”she squeezed his hand in request, making him nod to assure her before she turned to Ryujin, “Can you drop me, eonni?” she asked as Ryujin nodded quickly, "Sure!" she walked to the door as Hyerin followed her,

-------------------

After Hyerin & Ryujin left, Jinki & Jonghyun were down on the sofa again, watching Taemin stroll in front of them since then, “Stop walking”

“That’s the part of rest” Jonghyun glared at him, Jinki being busy with Euisoo-nim on phone, discussing about the legal proceedings on the whole list of people they had found after investigating Gaeul’s social media account in more detail.

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