You rushed up to the coffee shop, terrified of what scene would welcome you.
At the door however you came to a halt.
That single gunshot…
It rang through your mind like a dull and hollow notice of finality.
The sound was inextricably connected to tragic and trauma.

Then it happened fast.
Before you could decide whether you were or weren’t going to go inside, the door of the coffee shop flew open and Micky ran into your arms, followed by Max.
‘What happened?’ you asked, but the guys were too eager to leave that neither of them attempted to explain it to you.
Micky pulled you with him, off the coffee shop’s property, around the corner where he went to stand against the wall, pressed you to his chest and produced a gun.
You saw Max had taken his position on the other side of the street.
You weren’t given much time to take in the situation as the following moment, you heard another gunshot being fired and you saw a bullet hole appear in the brick wall that stood a little further off, between Micky&you and Max.
HeeChul was coming after you!
‘Quick!’ Micky whispered, pushing you in the direction away from Max and HeeChul.
Without questions you did as told.

It was getting later in the afternoon and Xiah was still in dreamland, or deliriumcountry might actually be a little more accurate.
‘Do you want some soup?’ Hero asked U-know, who sat next to Xiah’s bed, looking bored.
‘Yeah, that should be nice…’ U-know replied, sat up in his chair, rubbed his face with a hand and yawned lazily.
‘You need a drop of liquor in it too?’ Hero grinned amused. ‘I guess I could get that for you, Xiah won’t eat soup now anyway, besides I already made some…’
‘You ever ate soup with liquor?!’ U-know asked.
‘Well… no, but coffee with liquor works, so why wouldn’t soup as well?’ Hero defended.
‘I think coffee and liquor have a more similar taste…’ U-know reasoned, frowned his eyebrows and occupied his mind with recalling the taste of coffee and various types of liquor.
‘So, you want the soup or not?’ Hero asked, already turning.
‘Bring it on. Oh, and without liquor!’

As Micky lead you away from it all, the tension you had felt started to come out in the form of tears and shivering.
‘Shh... It’s alright…,’ Micky tried to calm your nerves, ‘Max will meet us at the dorm. He’s going to take another route, but he’ll be okay.’
With a thumb he removed the tears of your cheeks.
‘Now smile, you’re with me again.’ Micky said, smiling brightly.
He sounded smug and full of pretense, but this time it only made you smile back at him, because after all, you were really happy to be in his presence again.
‘I have to do something about my tone, don’t I?’ Micky grinned, using the same smug tone as before.
You hugged him close, wasn’t he perfect?

Max saw Micky and you leave but decided to hang on a little longer around the corner, to back you up, if that was needed.
HeeChul was still wearing only one sock and no shoes, so he carefully took steps forwards to avoid hurting his feet.
Back in the coffee shop Max had found HeeChul pushing Micky down onto the ground and to get him out of focus Max had threatened that he would shoot and had fired one shot into the ceiling.
Since HeeChul had no gun on him, Micky and Max had time to get away.
However, HeeChul had returned, gun in hand, tip-toeing his way towards them.
It was pretty hilarious to see him skip around the street, obviously aware of the lack of trees to hide behind, but the fact that a gun was in his hands made the matter dead serious and far from funny.
When Micky and you were out of sight, Max dashed back and rushed over to a cab that was waiting for costumers.
Luckily for Max, the road parallel to the one with the coffee shop was a main road.
Realizing the cab driver was looking at Max with fear, Max put away his gun, that was previously in his hand.
‘I’m sorry to scare you like that, I’m a good guy,’ Max smiled explaining, ‘but I do am in a hurry to get away! If you could just drop me off at the Central Station, that would be great.’
“Never give anyone your address, certainly not when they know bits about your profession.” Max recalled the golden rule about residence secrecy.
The rest of the journey shall be by feet…

‘The house!’ Xiah screamed and sat up, making U-know drop his spoon back into his bowl of soup.
‘Are you having a bad dream again?’ U-know inquired.
Xiah shook his head, then nodded and let his upper body slump back against the propped up pillows.
Having woken up from the memory, Xiah was indeed having a bad dream, but it was about the cottage he had discovered in reality.
‘Hyung… I think… I think I saw the cottage we were looking for…’ Xiah breathed, a trickle of sweat rolling down the side of his head.
His voice was hoarse and his head spun.
Xiah began to doubt whether he’d really seen the cottage or he’d dreamed about finding it.
‘It was just a dream Xiah, try to get some more sleep, you’re still high on fever.’ U-know advised him and pulled the blanket higher over the boy’s shivering body.
‘No really, hyung! I’ve seen it with my own two eyes!’ Xiah protested, but was merely bluffing, for he himself was still in doubt.
‘When was that then?’ U-know wanted to know.
‘I… I can’t remember…’ Xiah said, surrendering to U-know’s advice to let it go.

‘That jacket, huh… It really suits you!’ Micky commented, taking a look at you in Max’ jacket.
The two of you were taking the train back to the dorm.
‘It does? But it’s a guy’s jacket!’ You protested, secretly loving Micky’s attention and compliments.
‘You are beautiful, that’s what does the trick. I bet you even look pretty and stylish wearing a garbage bag!’ Micky grinned and gave you a little kiss on the nose.
Internally you melted and you smiled as you rested your head on his shoulder.
For a moment or two, you forgot about everything and felt perfectly happy.

________~END OF CHAPTER 48~________

xD I at naming my chapters, don't I? I really have no inspiration for them! ^-^"