'Thanks, hyung'

'What for?'

'You really saved me earlier this morning. Xiumin-hyung was about to give me away and you cut him off.'

D.O flicked through his work notes, his fingers. 'I didn't do it for you so you don't need to say thanks'

Kai was slightly taken aback by D.O's snappy tone of voice and he sat up on his bed, turning his head towards D.O's desk where he was sat.

'Hyung... What's wrong? You're usually not hostile.'

'Kai, I'm losing my mind here. I don't want anyone to confess to her. I don't want my chances to be reduced. I know we said we'd be civil but I can't! I want to be selfish and keep her to myself!'

'Well that's not fair, is it?'

'All's fair in love and war.'

'Why are you even telling me this? Aren't we supposed to be competing against each other?'

'I stopped Xiumin-hyung this morning so that Haneul wouldn't find out about you. Because if she finds out about you...' D.O sighed and whispered, 'where would I be?'

'You're so emotional, hyung' Kai joked lightly, 'cheer up. It's not the end of the world.'

D.O glared at him. 'You try saying that once you've confessed and been left without an answer.'

'Fine.' Kai stood up and D.O's eyes followed him as he grabbed his phone and wallet from the jacket hanging behind the door of their room. 'I'll do it I'll confess to her.'

'What? No, wait. Why would you do that?'

'If you don't want me to confess to her, then I'm going to. I'm not going to let you win her just because you get emotional about it, hyung. I'm being brutally honest.'

'But-'

'You'd be an idiot to think I wouldn't confess just because you're getting worried.'

'Kai-'

'All's fair in love and war, hyung. All's fair in love and war.'

 

***

 

You sat in a lecture, head bobbing forwards every now and then, trying to stay awake. Suho sat in front of you, spending his time making half assed notes and playing Snake II with the girl beside him. Lay was seated beside you, his hand gently resting on the table directly in front of you. You suddenly leaned forward too much and your head crashed to your desktop hitting Lay's palm with a 'smack' sound. You jolted up, now fully awake and aware that everyone had turned to stare at you. When everyone returned their focus to the speaker, you gingerly rubbed your sore forehead.

'Hey, you alright?' Lay asked, slightly concerned that you might be suffering a bad hangover.

You pulled an ugly face, 'please tell me you're not listening either'

'Nope'

You chortled a sort of disgusting, hearty chortle and Lay laughed quietly. 

'So... how did it go with Taejoon?'

You shrugged, 'alright, I guess.'

'Not going to give me anymore that 'it was alright'?'

'There's not much to say really... Just that he won't be chasing after me anymore.'

'That's good.' Lay said quietly, scarcely making a sound, 'I wish Huiling would do the same to me.'

'Do the same?'

'Stop chasing me.'

You stopped and stared at him, eyes wide and mouth open.

'You mean... you're not together?'

Lay shook his head furiously, 'who told you that?'

'Well... you're always together and we all just assumed you're going out but keeping it quiet.'

Lay frowned, 'no, that's not it at all. She's a lovely girl but I don't have feelings for her.'

'She certainly doesn't seem to know that.'

'Probably my fault'

'Yup'

'Thanks Haneul'

'Anytime.'

You didn't say anymore but you found more and more questions accumulating in your head. If Lay didn't like Huiling then why was he always around her? You couldn't blame him for finding it hard to make it clear. You had waited it out a while and although the main reason was to limit the damage done to Jinri, you knew a part of you had been scared. Although you had no feelings left for Aaron, letting him down was like a kick in the face. You weren't sure if he'd be able to find it in him to look you in the eye again. Sure, he had hugged you as a sort of parting request but would he become one of those people that were there once but no longer?

And why did Lay give Huiling that necklace?

And why has Lay been mixing me up with her?

And why had he been shifting his attention solely onto her and no one else? Not even the others in the dorm?

The laptop Suho was playing Snake II on suddenly let out a victory bleep from it's speakers and everyone jumped. The girl beside him quickly shut the top down, blushing furiously. Lay chuckled and nudged you, pointing inconspicuously to the clock by the door.

'2 more minutes' he whispered, 'do you want to do something afterwards?'

'Like what?'

'Want to rent a DVD from the library? We can watch a movie tonight, how about that?'

You nodded, 'sounds good.'

The following two minutes were excutiatingly painful as you watched each second go by, eagerly waiting to get out of the hot and stuffy lecture hall. Once the hour hand struck, everyone stood up and you and Lay raced out of the door, thankful to make it out alive. An apology and explanation text was sent to Suho and it was quickly returned with nothing more than a smiley face and a photo of himself holding what looked like the girl's bag.

'Nice, hyung... Nice...' Lay said, zooming into the photo. 'Should I send this to the others? Let them all know that hyung is actually on a date with a girl?'

You punched Lay lightly, 'no, don't do that! Think about the girl! She might not be happy with you doing that.'

Lay sighed but agreed, putting his phone back into his pocket. You headed up to the library where you stupidly allowed Lay to pick whatever movie he wanted. 

He chose a horror film.

One of the things you hated most.

And later that night, you sure regretted it. 

 

After dinner, you sat with Lay, Chanyeol, Sehun and Chen and watched through your fingers as you saw people die and get sawed in half. It was everything you hated. Sudden scares. Horrific deaths. Gore. Murderers. Scary children. Everything you'd find in your worst nightmare. About halfway through the movie, Lay turned to you.

'Haneul... Do you not like horror movies?'

'Who does?' you squeaked, 'do you like them?'

Lay chewed on his butter popcorn thoughtfully.

'I don't hate them'

Great.

'We can turn it off you'd like?'

'No! Keep it on!' Chanyeol said, 'we're getting to the good part!'

Lay diverted his attention back to the television screen and you ducked down behind a pillow, unable to take any more scares.

'Come on guys...' Chen said, standing up and poking you to come out of hibernation, 'Haneul isn't enjoying this.'

'Then Haneul can go to sleep' Sehun retorted, turning the volume up slightly louder, 'and we men will carry on watching this'

'Yah, you brat. Don't joke about men being better than women.'

Chen hit the back of Sehun's head playfully and Sehun got up to retaliate, knocking the popcorn all over Lay. 

'Woah, woah, woah!'

Lay stood up abruptly despite everyone's anguished cries telling him not to and popcorn spilled onto the floor. Pausing the movie, Chanyeol groaned and immediately bent down to pick them up, stunning yourself and everyone else because Chanyeol was not one to voluntarily clean up. 

'Haneul, do you want to go to sleep?' Chen asked you quietly and you nodded, glad to get away. You brushed your teeth and quickly climbed into bed, nodding off faster than you had expected- tired out from shrieking and jumping. 

 

You opened your eyes and found yourself in a room surrounded by faceless figures looming over you ominously. They didn't have feet nor were they fat or thin. They were human body forms but grey with no humanisation. The walls around you were moving closer and you looked up after feeling a drop of water fall onto your head. It wasn't water. It was blood. Pinned to the ceiling that was getting lower and lower with each passing second was Hyun Ki, his eyes still open. You looked away and heard a shout from the far corner of the tiny room you were trapped in.

'Haneul! Haneul! I'm going to die!'

You looked over and saw Taejoon being pulled away from you and ripped apart. You shut your eyes in horror but willed yourself to open them again when you heard another yell from a different area. Trapped in the corner of the incoming walls was Kai and at his feet lay D.O. You watched as Kai was swarmed by the shadowy people and dropped to the floor beside D.O, their faces grey and wrinkly like the life had been out of them. 

And then you saw Lay being dragged away.

'Haneul! Haneul! They're taking me back! They're taking me back to China! I don't want to go back to China! Haneul! Help me!'

The figure pulling Lay by his arm looked eerily similar to Huiling, with a thin body outline and long flowing hair that wrapped around the figure like a cape. In their free hand, they held a whip and beat at Lay's back with it. Blood seeped through his crisp white shirt and he was covered in red from his head down. 

'Haneul!'

You opened your mouth and screamed.

'Lay! 

'Haneul!'

 

You suddenly woke up to Lay who was sweating and shaking you violently. You were safely inside your room but a cold sweat had broken out and you couldn't muster any words when you saw Lay looking straight at you, the moonlight highlighting his face. You started to cry.

'It was just a nightmare, Haneul. Nothing more. None of it was real, okay?' he said softly

'Everyone died...' you croaked, 'Lay... You...'

Lay gently hugged you, pressing you against your chest but you felt violently sick, your cold sweat not taking his body heat too well. 

'Come on, let's get you a drink and we can talk outside.'

You shook your head and Lay pointed to Huiling who had fallen asleep with headphones on, her music still playing.

'If we talk, we might wake her up.'

You couldn't move from your bed, frozen in fear so he wrapped your arms around his neck and scooped you out of your bed and walking you out to the sofa. Popcorn crunched under his bare feet and he pulled a face, obviously stepping on a sharp piece now and then. Settling you down, he turned to get you something to drink but you clung to him.

'Don't go... What if something happens?...'

'Nothing's going to happen, Han-'

There was a creak of floorboards and you shrieked again. Moments later, Chen appeared at his door and he walked out.

'I'm just getting a glass of water.' he said as he walked across the room towards Lay who was in the kitchen, quickly trying to make something. 'Bad nightmare?'

Lay nodded, 'I don't think it was a good idea letting her watch that movie'

'At least now we know she can't deal with them'

Chen grabbed a bottle from the fridge and retreated back to his room. Lay was only behind him by a few seconds when he presented you with a glass of warm milk.

'Drink it, okay? It'll calm you down.'

You were still crying and your cheeks were wet as you hiccupped.

'Shhh, it's okay. Nothing's going to happen to you, Haneul.'

'Lay... In my dream, something... happened to you...' you said before getting a stern look from Lay and obediently drinking.

'I know... You screamed my name, Haneul. That's why I came running.'

'And I saw my cousin pinned to the ceiling' 

Lay decided to let you carry on with your story as you had stopped crying now. If that was a coping technique for you, he was prepared to listen to whatever you had to say.

'His blood was dripping onto my face' you whispered, 'and then I saw Taejoon getting torn up like that guy in the movie.'

'I should never have let you watch that film.' Lay muttered to himself

'And then Kai and D.O oppas also died. They had their life out of them and then they fell to the floor.'

Lay kept silent.

'And you were being beaten up. You were covered in blood and they were taking you away.'

'Where were they taking me?'

'To China.'

Lay breathed in sharply, 'It was a nightmare, Haneul. Nothing more.'

'But it was so real... Your shirt was all bloody and-'

'I'm not going to China. I'm not leaving here and I'm not leaving you.' Lay said adamantly, 'and if you're still worried, I'll show you my back. It's healing from that time Jongjae came round but I'm doing fine.'

He gently hugged you and this time, the feeling of being sick wasn't there. The warm milk had calmed you down and your sobbing had stopped. You were just very worn out and a little nervous still.

'Haneul, I made you this promise a long time ago and it still stands. As long as you're here, I will be too. I'm not going to leave your side because you're my rock and I don't know what I'd do without you. So don't cry over a silly, scary nightmare because I'm not going anywhere.'

 

 

 

---

I guess a lot has happened in this chapter and I guess you might either want to scream because your ship is sinking or laugh and dance upon the sinking ship.  Either way, I don't mind! Do whichever you like!

I wanted to update soon because I'm going to be busy busy busy this weekend (alas no update) and I mean, this story needs to move faster! FASTER FASTER FASTER! I'm all in, adrenaline pumping, ready to get these confessions rolling and then BISH BASH BOSH I STUN YOU WITH THE ENDING BOOM BAZAM BUZOOM

I'm incredibly tired right now as you can probably tell because I'm talking out of my like an absolute WEIRDO SO I'm gonna go now and leave you to comment with your good hearts saranghaeyo 4ever baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!