The next day was a short, half-day break for EXO and the twelve boys had the whole morning to do whatever they pleased. Kai and SeHun were in EXO M’s dorm while Xiu Min decided to go visit around, maybe stop by Henry Lau’s place if the said boy was in town. Yang was playing cards with Tao, Chen, Lu Han and her brother while two koalas clung onto her sides. Kris sat in a chair in the kitchen, reading one of his self-improvement books he left on their Korean apartment’s book shelves. The TV was playing some Korean movie in the background, forgotten by everyone who had planned to watch it in the first place.

               “1. 2. 3! All Hearts; beat that!” Tao threw his three last cards down on the coffee table and the three other players groaned in frustration as they dropped their various cards down on the table. It was game over and Tao had just one their third game. He may seem like a conservative person but inside EXO’s dorms or any other private area, Tao was the loudest. Especially when it came to a competitive game of any sort. He was one of the most enthusiastic about things, but then again, Zi Tao is the baby of EXO M. 

               “Oh whatever!” Yang rolls her eyes as she tries to move her restricted arms a bit. “I’m being hung onto like a Mama Koala! I’m at a total disadvantage!!”

               Tao, Chen and Lay burst into fits of laughter, watching as the two youngest of EXO K continue to snuggle into Yang’s arms. The door bell suddenly rings and Yang is struggling to stand up. “I’ll get it,” she stands up, but finds herself rooted down by Kai and SeHun. She laughs lightly, “come on, Koala Babies, let’s go open the door...”

              Yi Xing picks up the cards scattered on the table, only to shuffle them with the bridge technique. He was dealing out the cards for another round for the four players when Chen and Tao suddenly burst out into laughter right after sighing after their first fit of laughs. He looks up to find their younger cousins latched onto Yang’s front and back. 

              “Uhm...help?” Yang calls out, her voice muffled by the scarves of the two children. Almost immediately, Lu Han is at her side, picking up the 5-year-old child latched onto her front while Yi Xing is behind her, untangling the 7-year-old boy on her back. She sighs when she finds SeHun and Kai still glued to her arms. “What about these big babies?” 

              “SeHun,” Lu Han says sternly, and the said boy immediately detaches himself from Yang, quickly but somewhat reluctantly with a whine. Lu Han then nudges Kai with his foot, and the older boy is detached from her other arm. The suddenness of this act causes Xiao Yang to gape at Lu Han. She never knew that he had so much power over the two boys. It took her a few moments to realize that Lu Han had been watching her being hung onto by the two boys without doing anything to pry them off.

              “Hey! Why didn’t you do that earlier?! My arms are sore from them holding on for the past few days!” 

              Lu Han chuckled, amused by her sudden outburst. The light brown-haired boy squirmed in his arms, turning around so that he was being carried in Lu Han’s arms and not being held with his back facing him. “Hey there, little buddy. Long time no see,” he smiled at the small boy. “Do you remember me?”

              “Lu Han ge...” the boy said shyly. His small hand held tightly onto Lu Han’s thumb as the light-haired boy laughed.

              “Xiao Yang-ah,” Yi Xing called his younger sister, gaining her attention. “Did Auntie ask us to babysit again?” 

              “Yeah...she just dropped them off, said something about being in a hurry, hearing I was in town and needing me to babysit, then she just ran off in a frenzy,” she shrugged. “Well...I guess it’s something for us to do...?”

              “Let’s take them to the others,” Yi Xing laughed at her explanation, placing the black-haired boy in his arms on the ground. He took the 7-year-old’s hand and led him towards the couch.

             “So Xiao Fu, how has my best friend been?” Lu Han shifted Xiao Fu in his arms, the shy boy wrapped his arms around the older boy’s neck. Unlike a ‘little tiger’ as his name describes, Xiao Fu was shy and rarely talked around crowds of people.

             The little boy muttered a small “okay” in response. Kai and SeHun moved to go back to the couch while Lu Han and Yang stood next to each other. Tao exclaimed something about Kai and SeHun not clinging onto Yang for once and she laughed from where she stood in the entryway.

              “Do you want to go over there with Xing Xing?” Lu Han asked the five-year-old boy. Xiao Fu shook his head, his long, brown bangs swaying from side to side as he did so. The little boy never really was one for the large crowds. Yang giggles softly, ruffling Xiao Fu’s short hair with one hand. The small boy grabs ahold of her longer fingers, with both of his hands.

              “Jie jie needs to come too,” he says softly. Lu Han’s eyes look up to see Yang smiling at her little cousin. Xiao Fu turns his head to look at Lu Han who just nods, not wanting to risk an unsteady voice.

              “Of course she’s coming,” Lu Han responds to the younger boy a bit reluctantly, starting for the room he shared with Min Seok. Yang follows with Xiao Fu’s small fingers clutching onto her larger hand. 

              When they get to Lu Han’s room, he throws the small boy onto his bed with a playful roar, causing him to let go of his cousin’s hand. He crawls on top of the little boy, tickling his sides. Xiao Fu bursts into little fits of giggles, his small hands reach for Lu Han’s in a feeble attempt to pull his larger hands off of his ticklish body.

              “Ge ge! S-stop it!!” the small boy yells out in Mandarin. Yang begins to smile at the scene. She finds herself thinking about how much of a wonderful father Lu Han would be when he had his own children. She sits down on Lu Han’s bed, making sure not to crush Xiao Fu’s small figure as she does so. After a little bit, Lu Han gestures to Yang to help him. Without hesitating, she does so, her thin fingers gently running across the 5-year-old’s exposed neck. “Jie jie!” Xiao Fu whines, scrunching up his shoulders in attempt to hide his neck when he realizes that the person tickling his neck was his cousin.

              After a few minutes of tickling, the two older ones pull their hands away, falling down on either side of the small boy. Their chests move up and down at random intervals, showing that they’re just as out of breath as Xiao Fu is from laughing. Xiao Fu wraps his arms around Yang and Lu Han’s neck, pulling their heads closer to his, consequently making their two head’s closer to each other. 

              “Jie jie, Ge ge...do you know I love you two very, very much?” he whispers to the two of them like any sweet child would do.

             “What about your Yi Xing ge ge?” Lu Han chuckled, bringing his hand around to ruffle the smaller boy’s hair.

             Xiao Fu’s eyes trailed up to the bottom of the bed above them for a few moments, showing that he was thinking about something, “I like Lu Hang ge the best! But don’t tell Yi Xing ge I said that!” 

             Yang laughs lightly, kissing Xiao Fu’s pale cheek. “We’ll keep your secret.”

              Xiao Fu giggles in response, rubbing the spot his cousin had kissed. Lu Han smiled, planting a kiss of his own on the brown-haired boy’s other cheek. 

              It wasn’t until the laughter between the three of them died down that Lu Han realized how close he was to Yang. His heart began to race and he cursed himself mentally as he gazed at Yang’s face and her beautiful features.

              Her eyes were closed, giving Lu Han the freedom of looking at her face without her questioning. A nearby lamp casted shadows from her long eyelashes, making them even longer and giving her skin a golden tone. Her lips were slightly parted in a small smile. A small strand of her dark brown hair fell from it’s place behind her ear; Lu Han resisted the urge to fix the strand as much as he could. Just as he was about to reach out, a smaller hand reached up and clumsily pushed the strand away. With a giggle, Yang opened her eyes, gazing at her little cousin lovingly. Staring into those warm, dark eyes now, his eyes began to close and Lu Han lost himself to the pull from the sea of their memories.

              It wasn’t until Lu Han felt a light flick on his forehead that he awoke from his daydream. He sat up, rubbing his forehead softly.

              “Shh...” Yang had gotten off of the bed and was standing above him, one arm held a bar from the top bunk while the other shook his shoulder gently. “Xiao Fu’s asleep. Come on, let’s go.”

              Lu Han gave the 5-year-old boy a glance to see him lying on his stomach. One of his small hands lay between his head and Lu Han’s pillow while the other hand lay just a few inches from his face.

              With an affectionate ruffle to the younger boy’s hair, Lu Han cautiously made his way off of his own bed so he wouldn’t wake the 5-year-old up. When he was standing at his full height beside Yang, Lu Han noticed her watching him. He unconsciously brought his hand up to rub something off of his mouth.

              “Is there something on my face?”

              A small giggle escaped from Yang, making his heart skip a subtle beat, “no. You’re face is completely clean.”

              “Then why–”

              “I was just thinking about how you’d be such a good father, nonetheless a wonderful husband,” her face suddenly became serious, catching Lu Han off guard with her words. “You’re wife will be one lucky person...” 

              The singer’s heart broke a little at her words. He frowning at the realization that she didn’t see herself as an option to be his wife. Then it hit him...oh right, she’s with Kris.

              “Hey, don’t look like that,” Yang reached up to pat his cheek lightly. Her hand on the bar dropped to her side as she did so, just like her sad smile. “You look as if I’ve told you something horrible.”

You sort of did...

              “Cheer up,” she smiled at him.

              “Yang! Xing Xing says he wants your cooking!!” Yi Xing’s muffled voice breaks their short silence through the door. Yang let’s out a small sigh, letting her hand fall. Lu Han’s hand flinches, wanting to reach up and hold her smaller hand.

              “We should go back outside...”

              Yang had started for the door, walking around Lu Han, but she tripped over a stray shoe that most likely belonged to Xiu Min. Before she even had a chance to catch herself, Lu Han had caught her by her arm, pulling her back into his embrace. Now the two of them stood face to face, both their heartbeats pounding in their own ears.

               Staring into Lu Han’s eyes, Yang could see the hurt, the loss and most importantly the longing in them as he stared back at her. These three things may have been the cause of unconscious actions. Lu Han, on the other hand, was so caught up in cursing himself to let go of her that he hadn’t noticed Yang standing up straight in his arms. He hadn’t realized that she put her hands on his shoulders until she was standing on her toes and kissing his lips.

She...she kissed me... 

My dear readers,

           I am terribly sorry for missing a whole week of updating. School got in the way...big English Reports.. blah blah blah... I'll try to write a longer chapter for you all next time. Sorry!!

-KissMe_Angel97