Your phone bleeped from your back pocket and you rolled over to take it out. After getting over the embarassment of having Kai outright say that to you, you had decided to go down to the sports centre in the hope of finding someone to talk to. To your dismay, Jaemin was busy coaching the new boys relay team, getting their takeover times up to speed. Consequently you left and found a bench near the basketball court to lie down on. Since finding out about the affections in the dorm and with everyone worried sick about Huiling and Lay, you hadn't had much sleep. You felt a little less than miserable being deprived of a little fun for so long, so much so that you jumped a little as you read the text Jinri had sent you.

Han, is there anything we need to bring tomorrow? Food? Drink? Or just ourselves? Taejoon and I are going to the mini-mart now so let me know!

You smiled, happy to hear that your ex-boyfriend was finally moving on. It seemed like he cared for Jinri quite a bit, given the music festival tickets and recent cinema outings. You had to make sure however, because if he was just playing with her he'd be having your fist to answer to. But seeing this message made you frown- what was happening tomorrow? Was there some sort of gathering the guys were planning without telling you?

Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow? Who did you get the message from?

A few seconds later, your phone bleeped from where in lay on your chest.

Taejoon got a text from Sehun about 5 minutes ago. You're holding a party tomorrow.

A party? For who?

Huiling.

You stared at your phone. You hadn't known about Huiling's plans to return to China. 

Didn't she like Lay? Why was she leaving?

What on earth is going on?

---

'Yixing, what are you saying?'

It had been almost an hour since Lay had gently woken Huiling up and she was still sitting up in her duvet, staring confusedly at him. When she first opened her eyes, she'd jumped back in fright, wondering why Lay had appeared in front of her at such a close proximity.

'I've been thinking, Huiling... I've been thinking a lot about what you asked of me...' 

'Yixing, forget I said that. You don't have to come with me-'

'No, Huiling, I want to-'

'No you don't. You want to stay here with Haneul-'

'No, I want to go with you.'

There was a pause. '...really?'

A nod followed.

'Are you sure?'

Another nod.

'...No, you can't come with me-'

'Why not?'

'You don't want to. Not really. Not truly.'

'I do. I do.'

'But why?' Huiling whispered, 'you don't feel the same way about me.'

'We're friends though, aren't we? Friends look out for each other and you need me to come. So I'll come. I can come home for a bit- it'll be good for me.'

There was another pause and Huiling sighed. 'Why are you doing this, Yixing? You know that this really hurts me.'

'Will it hurt less than going back home on your own?'

Huiling looked away, afraid that her eyes would betray her. She wanted Lay to come, of course she did, but she also wanted him to be happy and if that meant staying in Korea with you, so be it. She didn't want him losing out on the girl he had chosen over her just because he felt like he had a duty to fulfill. Lay was having none of it however and shrugged before leaving, not letting Huiling get another word in.

'Then that settles it, doesn't it? Next Saturday, me and you- we're going home.'

---

Rashness was probably always one of Lay's weak points. He jumped into studying medicine as soon as he heard about the bully in your class. He dived in front of the lockers to stop them falling on you, not thinking about the consequences to his own body. Thinking things through thoroughly definitely wasn't an asset Lay possessed. His unpredictability was probably the thing everyone hated most, especially Kris and Suho.

Chanyeol was similar however, often getting heated over small things concerning big people in his life. He was quick to hit or shout or yell, seeing red whenever someone he loved was hurt without considering if he'd get himself into trouble for fighting back.

On the other hand, Kai and D.O generally veered towards the calmer side where their actions weren't so rash and were pretty much always thought out. D.O didn't tend to get angry often and in arguments would prefer to take the backseat and tend to the injured. Kai liked to break up the fights and arguments peacefully and calmly. He'd often try and reason with whoever was involved and the only time you had really seen him get physical was to his brother. That incident however could be brushed aside as it was a one-off and in that situation, anyone would have acted the same. It saddened you that Kai was alone and that he had changed his daily name to go by as he didn't want to be associated with his family.

It was the same with Chanyeol. Although he had his sister, you wished he'd be on good terms with his parents too. No one ever really spoke about their family or even mentioned them. It wasn't so much as taboo to talk about but with your presence as well as D.O's, everyone thought it best not to bring up harsh memories.

D.O was happy though. Every morning, he'd say good morning to the photograph of his mother and every evening, he'd say goodnight. He tried to visit his mother and grandmother as often as possible and, of course, he kept his promise to cook for his mom every Sunday. He had never spoken about his father to you- all you knew was that he had left him in the care of his grandparents when he was young to try and build a career and earn a sufficient income. When you had asked whether he missed his dad, D.O simply shrugged, 'I wish he'd written to me when I was younger.'

On nights where you'd talk to D.O and watch the stars and planes fly past on the tiny cramped balcony, he'd tell you that he wasn't angry at his father for leaving him as he knew he'd done it to earn the money to look after him. He was only ever angry that his dad had never kept in touch. He'd ask you if you thought his dad ever visited his mom- the woman he loved so much. He'd also ask you if you thought his dad would ever come and find him. Then when he'd see you crying, he'd pull your rigid body towards him, hug you and your hair softly whispering a sad and apologetic 'sorry'.

It was on those kind of nights where you really did have no idea what to do. It was on those nights when you'd come home from working in the library all day to Chanyeol that had waited up half the night to make sure you came home safely. It was on those nights where you'd come back and find Kai passed out at his desk and you'd gently lay a blanket over him thinking about all the times he had done it for you. It was thinking about the many small things like that that had you unable to come to any decision. You didn't want to leave them all waiting especially as the suspense was starting to kill D.O but before their confessions, you had never really thought about them in such a way.

Fair enough there had been a slight inkling at the start towards D.O but that had quickly been stamped out as soon as Shinyeong arrived on the scene. You shivered a little at the memory of her- a nimble yet sassy girl who knew exactly how to get what she wanted. You wanted to know about her relationship with D.O. You wanted to know how real the fake love had been but after any mention of Shinyeong became illegal, there was never a moment to ask. D.O was doing his best to move on anyway so why couldn't you? Maybe you were still attracted to him but because those feelings had been suppressed, you now felt unsure about it?

And with Kai, D.O and Chanyeol all waiting for your answer, you were left unsure of what to do. If you said yes to one of them, two would be hurt. If you said no to all of them, all three would be hurt. It was a lose lose situation for at least two of them either way but quite frankly, that didn't put you at anymore ease. You groaned and rolled onto your side, carefully slipping your phone out and checking your messages.

There was a text message from Tao written entirely in Chinese.

Mei mei, it's getting harder. Can we go to the roof tonight?

Your mind flashed back to your past conversations with Tao. Most consisted of talking about the news or the television or about something interesting he had learnt in a lecture that day but the roof topic was special- it was about home and his wish to return.

Of course, ge ge. Let's go after dinner?

Something about that day was strange. From early in the morning, people had been missing. Breakfast had felt particularly strange without Luhan, Lay, Chen and Chanyeol around the table and you could feel an odd sensation growing in your stomach. Perhaps this was a sixth sense telling you something bad was going to happen. Your phone vibrated again and unlocking it, you expected to find a confirmation text from Tao. Instead, you were met with a call from Lay.

'Oh hello? You're out of my room now?'

'I am indeed,' Lay replied, chuckling lightly, 'are you busy?'

'Nope.'

'What have you been doing?'

'Nothing really.'

'Where are you?'

'I'm just chilling around outside. Why?'

Lay beamed from the other end of the phone.

'Let's hang out today, just the two of us.'

I'm seriously starting to flop at naming these chapters... like what on earth is 'Stranger and Stranger'?

and what on earth is Lay dooooooing