Baekhyun’s POV

“Ah, maknae! You’re home!” Chanyeol grinned wide, flashing his pearly whites. I frowned. Something was definitely creepy about that smile of his.  

“Neh,” Sehun nodded and headed for his room.

An arm stuck out to stop him. It belonged to Chen. A mischievous grin appeared on his face.

“Tell me, who is she?” he asked, pulling onto Sehun’s arm and preventing him from escaping.

Sehun immediately blushed furiously. The sudden flush showed up more obvious on his pale skin.

“Ooh... So our Sehun was really out with a girl...” Chanyeol cooed, leaning close to Sehun and wiggling his eyebrows. I cupped my mouth to smother a laugh. Chanyeol’s facial expression was too epic and derp; I couldn’t take it.

“Yah! Oh Sehun! How dare you keep this from me!” Luhan pouted, folding his arms and pretending to look cross.

“So, who is it? Is she cute? Do we know her?” Xiumin hopped in front of Sehun like a bunny, his mouth wide open in anticipation.

Sehun stared at all of us in shock. He was completely speechless, and his face turned beet red in seconds.

“I think we do, baozi,” Chen hooked his arm around Xiumin’s neck. Both of them grinned at Sehun, who was utterly embarrassed and defenseless.

“I didn’t know our maknae was a sneaky one,” I chuckled, standing on my tippy-toes to whisper into Chanyeol’s ear. Chanyeol started whistling.

“Our maknae’s got it going on!” he continued teasing. The others followed suit and howled like crazy fanboys.

“He was with Jiyeon,” Lay said quietly, from the corner. A deafening silence came over us as everyone gaped at Sehun with his largest eyes possible. Including me.

Honestly, I never expected this. That they’d be this close.

“Mwoh? Seriously, are you sure you’re the maknae, Sehun ah?” Kris pressed his temples and shook his head.

“Yeah, why didn’t it occur to me? And I’m your freaking roommate,” Suho remarked, seemingly displeased at his own obliviousness.

“You’re so sneaky, Sehun,” Luhan narrowed his eyes.

“I never succeeded in getting her to go out with me,” he continued. His doe eyes held a tinge of disappointment and hurt.  

“It’s okay, you’ve still got me,” Xiumin mussed Luhan’s hair and puffed up his cheeks. Luhan guffawed and wiped fake tears away from his eyes.

“Aigoo,” he pinched Xiumin’s cheeks till they were red.  

“I wasn’t serious about her, anyway,” Luhan chuckled. I tilted my head and glanced at the both of them. Something told me Luhan wasn’t telling the truth. His disheartened gaze – that was, definitely, genuine.

“In any case, all the best, Sehun ah,” Luhan pursed his lips into a smile and patted Sehun’s head. Sehun blushed furiously like a tomato.

“I-I’m not-we’re not dating,” he stammered, looking at the ground.

“Aish, so confusing,” Chen exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“That’s why I stick to my dramas. In any case, all the best, if it were meant to be something,” Tao smirked and rolled over onto the couch. He grabbed the remote and began switching channels to watch his prerecorded drama.

“Aw, it’s the last episode already,” Tao whined. D.O. immediately dashed to the kitchen and got a brand new toilet roll. He threw it into Tao’s lap. Tao looked at him, confused.

“You’ll need it, you crybaby,” D.O. smirked. Tao stuck his tongue out, but deep inside, all of us knew D.O. was right. After all, the last episode of any drama would garner the most tears – especially so, since it was Tao watching it.

“Does anyone know when Kai is coming home?” Suho asked, stealing a glance at the clock. It was already 10:30 PM. On other days it’d be considered still excusable to be back home past ten, but we had a schedule the next morning.

“I texted him, he said he has some things to settle,” Lay spoke up.

‘That punk! What thing could possible take so long to be settled?” Kris complained, his eyebrows forming knots. Woah, Leader seemed unhappy tonight.

“First we have a casualty, then two members return home, much later than stipulated! And we’ve got a schedule in the morning!” he raged on, his eyes spewing flames of anger.

All of us kept mum and cast our gazes to the parquet floor. No one talks back to Kris when he’s mad – one of the unspoken rules among the EXO members.

“Okay, I think we should turn in. Shall we?” Suho tried to mediate the tense situation and pushed us all toward our bedrooms.

“Omg that was so weird! Baek, I didn’t see that coming! So what’s gonna happen to Kai and Jiyeon now?” Chanyeol grabbed my shoulders and asked. His large eyes were searching for an answer – which I didn’t have.

I’m Byun Baekhyun, not Cupid. Neither am I the all-knowing Master Guru Baekhyun. But some people like Park Chanyeol just don’t seem to get it.

“Ssh! You don’t want the rest to hear us!” I shushed him and pushed him into our room and closed the door.

Lay’s POV

Luhan lay on his bed and started fiddling with his Rubik’s Cube. He looked disoriented.

“Luhan,” I called.

“Yeah?” he mumbled a reply, his eyes still fixated on the Rubik’s Cube. For some reason, he could not solve it today. Minutes had passed, but he was still fiddling with the cube. Something seemed amiss. 

“Are you alright? You seem lost, and not your usual self,” I said folding the freshly-pressed clothes hanging on the wardrobe.

Silence.

I turned around to face Luhan, who was still fiddling with the Rubik’s Cube. He seemed to be thinking about something. A small frown appeared on his face.

“Luhan?”

“Hmm?” he blinked. I couldn’t believe this. He hardly ignored anyone, even if he was trying to solve the Cube. Luhan was pretty capable of multi-tasking.

“I was talking to you,” I spat my words out sternly.

“Oh, uh, sorry, Lay. I was thinking about something,” he softly apologized. He sat up on his bed and stretched, placing the unfinished Rubik’s Cube (which was an uncommon sight) beside him.

“What were you thinking about?” I folded my arms and leaned against the bedframe.

He paused for a few seconds.

“I-ah-Yixing, I don’t know if I should be thinking about this,” he mumbled, looking up at me. I straightened up when I heard him call me by my real name. It must have been something serious.

“You could always tell your best friend,” I sat opposite him on my bed, resting my elbows on my knees.

“Yixing... promise me you won’t tell anyone about this,” he implored.

“Of course.”

“I-I don’t know why, but this unpleasant feeling filled me after I found out Sehun scored a date with Jiyeon,” he confessed, playing with his fingers.

“Aish, I don’t know what’s come over me,” he sighed and stumbled across the room to my bed. He slumped beside me and leaned against my side.

“Oh Luhan... Are you jealous?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t feel like when someone told me another person was better looking than I was – I know that was jealousy. This time, it just felt... weird,” he murmured into my shoulder.

I looked down at the mop of blonde hair on my shoulder.

“Yah, you didn’t fall for her, did you?” I patted his hair.

“I don’t think so. She just felt special, like different, from the other girls I’ve flirted with before. Interesting’s the word, and I guess it was the feeling of loss when I couldn’t succeed.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be toying with others’ feelings, for one,” I reminded him. I smiled when he nuzzled into me in response.

“Lay Lay~” he sang. I felt thin, strong arms surrounding my middle.

“Yah, stop being so touchy.”

He pouted and squeezed me even tighter before releasing me.

“Can I sleep with you tonight? Please?” Luhan whined, unleashing all his aegyo.

“Sure. But honestly, your aegyo doesn’t work on me,” I replied with a stoned expression.

“Tch. You’re no fun, unicorn,” he rolled his eyes and plopped his head on my lap.

Despite being older than me, Luhan pretty much retained the demeanor of a child. His ability to be playful and carefree – but yet mature when necessary was truly his winning point, which attracted many.

“Thanks, Yixing.”

I heard an almost inaudible sound emitting from the tufts of blonde hair on my lap.

“I promise I’ll go back to normal, happy Luhan tomorrow that everyone knows.”

I gazed at my best friend, whose face was well hidden by his mop and my thighs. Even though I couldn’t read it, I could pretty much guess what his expression was.

I patted his back and nudged him lightly. He rolled over to the other side of the bed. I climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over us.

Tonight was going to be a long night, with a deer joining the unicorn’s bunk.

Jiyeon’s POV

Dinner with Sehun was fun. Other than Baekhyun and Ha Eun, Sehun was one other person I could be myself with. Strangely, when he showed me the star-studded night sky, I could not help but recollect the memories Jongin and I shared at that field. No matter how many times I tried to erase those memories, they still remained at the back of my mind, somehow.

Nonetheless, I was inexplicably touched by his kind gesture tonight, and happiness filled my little deprived heart. It was as if a flame had been kindled within me, small yet bright.

I quietly uttered a prayer of thanks to the heavens for my wonderful friends made in this new company.

I fiddled with my bandage uncomfortably. It was a tad too tight, but I had tons of trouble getting it off. It seemed to become tighter and more binding every time I twisted it.

Someone grabbed my shoulder and hauled me around to face him.

It was Jongin.

“Kai...”

Seeing his face so close made me remember our encounter at the airport when Jinsoo and I sent the EXO boys off to China. Butterflies filled my stomach and I reddened immediately.

“Your hand, is it okay?” he pointed at my hand and asked. His face was deadpan.

“Well, yeah, I suppose,” I answered, looking at his feet. Without saying anything, he quickly pulled me to a chair nearby and sat me down. Kneeling in front of me, he pulled out a first aid box and skilfully cut my bandage open with a pair of scissors. He gasped at my wrist, which probably didn’t look like a wrist anymore.

“What are you doing? I’m okay, really –” I instantly pulled my swollen hand away from his grasp.

“It looks bad, Jiyeon.” He muttered, meeting my eyes. His expression was ineffable.

“And it’s palpable that your bandage was too tight. Look, there are signs of water retention in your fingers,” he tapped my fingers lightly. I gulped when I realized he was right.

My fingers looked like swollen sausages.

He rolled out brand new gauze and cautiously wrapped it around my wrist. A tormenting longing filled me as I watched him handle my wrist delicately. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as the bandage went round and round my wrist several times.

Why are you so nice to me, Jongin? The things you do keep getting my hopes up. I keep thinking we’ve still got a chance, when we obviously don’t. It really makes me feel so pathetic right now.

Everything became a blurry as the tears clouded my vision.

“Done,” he smiled, satisfied. He snipped off the excess and fastened the bandage in place with a pin. 

 I felt a tear roll down my cheek and it made a noiseless splash on his hand. I secretly prayed that it would go unnoticed.

Jongin froze when he felt the minute impact on the back of his palm.

“Yah, are you crying? Does it hurt?” he gazed at me, concerned.

I could not say anything, and bit my lip.

“Is it too tight? I’ll do it again.”

He began removing the bandage. I grabbed his hand to stop him.

“No, it’s wonderful. Thank you,” I smiled and stood up. Before he said anything, I made a run for it. I heard him call after me, but something told me I couldn’t stay there any longer, or my feelings would just overflow.

Thankfully, the bus came in the nick of time, and I boarded it before he could reach me. The hour was late, and there were only a couple of hobo-looking people in the bus. I slumped onto a seat in the back and hugged my bag. Closing my eyes, I let the remaining tears fall.

Yes, it hurts. My heart hurts like crazy. 

And this concludes chapter 16, which is kinda heavy, in my perspective. Because... there are many people feeling sad and all ): 

Comment replies

@lightitup haha yes jealousy scenes show the most in people! Thanks, I'll keep them at that length then! :)

@thepwahlove oh mann poor sehun! :0 I'm wondering if your impression of Luhan has changed ;) 

@vylovestrains HAHA yeah Sehun has begun stepping up his game OHH~~ 

@chickenx thank you so much :') I'm so touched, and honored to be on your top fics list x) OF COURSE I'll continue it! ^^

@lululemon_lover24 Yeah Sehun's really got a thing for tugging at girls' heartstrings ^^ Thanks for the encouragement and support, really! :) 

@MyWorldIo HAHA trouble? With a girl around EXO there's always gonna be trouble ;) 

@iamawesomeness aww :) I know how you feel! I'm having a hard time too LOLOL 

It really brings me joy to read your kind comments and know that... people are still reading this story! :) Thank you so much everyone +bows+ I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH IMMA EXPLODE!!!! +sobs+ 

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