You stuck your head through your doorway, cautiously glancing around before stepping out into the hallway. You held your breath as you closed the bedroom door as quietly as possible behind you and crept down the hallway towards the stairs.

You didn’t know why you were acting like this, as if you were a prisoner trying to escape from her cell. But in the morning stillness of the mansion, even the softest of noises could wake the eleven sleeping Guardians behind their closed doors.

You allowed your hand to drag down the smooth banister as you walked down the stair, reveling in the memories that you knew were in fact real and not a dream. You padded towards the kitchen, feeling the faint chill of the night before cling onto the tile under your feet.

“Good morning.”

You froze in your spot and looked up at the source of the voice, your eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

“O-oh, good morning, Sehun,” your voice was barely above a whisper.

Sehun continued to lean against the counter and stare at the cup of orange juice in his hand as you slowly walked towards the refrigerator.

“You missed breakfast,” he said, forcing himself to act like the carefree kid that you knew him to be.

You bit your lip as you kept your head stuck in the refrigerator, “I did?”

“Yeah, do you want me to make you something?” he offered, hoping to ease the awkward aura he was feeling from you.

You closed the door to the refrigerator and set your eyes on a basket of fruit in the middle of the kitchen’s island, “No, it’s okay. I think I’ll just have fruit.”

You sat down on one of the stool and immediately immersed yourself in peeling an orange.

But Sehun kept his eyes on you.

He could tell that you didn’t want to be there, how you hoped that you would be alone in the kitchen. He could tell that you didn’t want to see any of them or even be near any of them for that matter.

Even though he knew if wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t blame you. He’d be pretty upset if he was in your position too.

Sehun let out a sigh and downed the rest of his juice before placing the cup in the sink.

“You don’t have to worry about seeing the other members,” he mumbled when he saw you take a quick glance behind you at the hallway that led into the kitchen, “They left for training already.”

Your hands froze and you cleared your throat, “What?”

“I can tell you don’t want to see them … us.”

You slowly lifted your head to meet his eyes, “Is it really that obvious?”

Sehun nodded and stared down at his feet.

You dropped the half-peeled orange onto the counter and stared at it. For a while, neither of you spoke a word nor made any motion.

“I’m really sorry, Sehun,” you whispered.

Sehun looked up at you and blinked in confusion, “Huh? What for?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, pushing the orange around with your pointer, “For just barging back into your lives all of sudden with no warning.”

Sehun shook his head and walked over to you, sitting in the stool next to yours, “You didn’t barge back into our lives, Miyoung.”

You looked up from the fruit at the Wind Guardian sitting next to you, “Um, I kinda did actually. I mean -”

“You didn’t barge into our lives because you never left,” he finished with his signature eye smile.

The two of you stared at each other for a few second before simultaneously bursting out into laughter.

“That was so cheesy!” you lightly shoved his shoulder.

“But it worked! You don’t look all doom and gloom anymore and you’re laughing!”

You rolled your eyes and gave his shoulder another shove as you tried to hide the small smile on your face.

“But seriously, Miyoung,” Sehun said when the laugher subsided, “it should be us who are apologizing to you.”

“No, I understand,” you shook your head and stared down at your lap, “Suho said you guys were just trying to protect me.”

Your heart clenched a little when his name left your lips. You mentally cursed yourself. How could just the mentioning of his name have that much of an effect on you?

You bit your lip to control your emotions and hoped that Sehun didn’t notice your sudden change in mood.

But of course, he did.

“Speaking about hyung,” he started, “What happened -”

You let out a sigh in relief and relaxed a bit when his sentence was cut off by someone opening the door in the kitchen that led to the back porch of the mansion.

“Sehun!" Suho called, looking into the kitchen.

You felt your breath get caught when you heard the voice of one of the last people you wanted to see.

"What's taking you … so … long?” Suho's voice started to falter when he finally noticed you sitting beside Sehun.

You stiffly turned your head to meet Suho's eyes and you saw something flash through them. Was it hurt? Anger? Sorrow? Regret? Whatever it was, Suho's quickly blinked it away and tore his eyes away from yours.

Sehun bit his lip and glanced worriedly between the two of you. Although he didn't know exactly what happened, he could tell that whatever it was wasn't good.

"What are you doing?" Suho asked the younger Guardian in an uncharacteristically stern and emotionless voice, "You said you were just going to get something quick to drink."

"Sorry, hyung," Sehun jumped up from his seat, "I guess I got a little sidetracked."

"Well, don't let it happen again," your eyes widened at the harshness in Suho's voice. Never have you once seen or heard the gentle leader scold one of the members.

"What if you get 'sidetracked' on a mission?" he continued, "You could put one of the other member's life or even yourself in danger."

"I'm sorry," Sehun mumbled as he stared down at his feet in shame.

Suho let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, "Just get back outside," he ordered, "The others are waiting for you."

Sehun ducked his head further towards the ground and briskly walked towards the door and out of the house.

Suho turned to follow him without another word or glance at you. Just as he was about to walk through the door, you stood up off of your stool.

"Suho, wait."

But he continued to follow Sehun, not reacting at all to your call. You flinched when he slammed the door shut and stared at the door, partly in shock, partly in disbelief.

Did he really not hear you? Or did he just choose not to?  

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Ahhhh, it feels so good to be back! Well, I'm not totally back, but after my last final which is on Thursday, I will be totally back to writing! I don't think I'll be able to update this fic again until then, so please be a little more patient! >.<

-Admin Kelc