A few hours later, at around eight, Jinah’s alarm went off. Luhan woke up from the blaring ringing from her room. He realized he had forgotten to close the door last night. He rubbed his eyes as he woke up groggily, and grunted at the sound. He hadn’t slept well last night – he’d been occupied with Jinah, waking up once in awhile from her coughs. Luckily, she slept on, but for Luhan, it cued him to fetch a new bowl of water for her forehead before trying to fall asleep again. Not to mention his uncomfortable sleeping position; the muscles in his neck were sore and his whole body was stiff. A few minutes later, Sehun dashed out of the room with a blank face, but when he made eye contact with Luhan, a little crease formed on his forehead.

            “Ah, Sehun,” Luhan yawned. “Jinah’s here. She’s just sick.”

            Sehun nodded in understanding before he headed back into his room without another word. At that, Luhan let his head drop again onto Jinah’s arm and stomach, but then jolted up. Did you seriously… Luhan thought to himself as he blinked profusely. His gaze fell on the empty porridge bowl on the coffee table and the semi-damp towel, discarded by Jinah in her sleep. You did. He looked at Jinah. Her sleeping face was nothing special, but she was. His face softened at it. Her lashes were fairly long and her breathing was steady. She seemed to have recovered enough to sleep for a few hours peacefully. Luhan sighed to himself and sat back, resting an arm on a knee, and ran the other hand through his hair. You really did. What the hell…

            He frowned. Something inside him was beating quickly. He felt his pulse again, which was really fast. Must’ve caught the cold. He exhaled deeply when he looked at Jinah again. Why I change so much around you, I wonder… Then, frowns formed on his forehead. Luhan, that… that reason… Is that the reason? To make up for –

            Jinah let out a noise of waking up before she stretched her arms and wrinkled her nose. She let go of all the pressure at once and let out a half-sigh. She faced the other side of the couch, away from Luhan, who chuckled. He felt her forehead. It wasn’t as warm. She was cooling down. She looked confused and tired, but less pale.

            “Morning, Jinah,” he greeted.

            “Mm,” Jinah replied, but suddenly twisted around with swollen but panicked eyes. “What are you doing here?!” Her voice sounded croaky and dry, as if she’d been deprived of water for days in the desert.

            “That’s some way to treat someone who’s been looking after you. Think about it a little,” Luhan remarked. “And don’t let go of all the force you put into stretching so suddenly. Do it gradually or it’ll harm your muscles.” He got up and went to the other couch because he knew that if he tried to sit next to Jinah, she’d kick him off with the unique audacity she had despite being a girl.

            Jinah stared at the floor, bewildered. Then, she sneezed. It sounded duller than the ones from last night, so Luhan took it as a sign that she was recovering. His was mind in a relatively calm state as a pleasant grin widened at her lazy, slow thinking face. She was processing. It was going to be slower than ever. Take your time, Jinah. He levitated the remote control and the TV. He sighed in content. He flicked through the channels and glanced at Jinah, who was still thinking. She was a mess; her hair was uncombed, her eyes were heavy, and her face unwashed. Luhan let out a small chuckle, which Jinah couldn’t hear. What Jinah also couldn’t hear was Luhan’s thoughts, especially a particular one.

            Luhan sighed again in slightly disappointment, but then a hopeless smile cracked on his face as his eyebrows lifted a bit, as if feeling nostalgic. Looks like our date has to be postponed.

However, a postponed date wasn’t the only consequence. Throughout the entire day, Jinah’s cold got worse. Her fever was unreasonably high and judging from the way she swayed side to side, she was dizzy. Jinah protested, saying she was fine, and for the next two days, she fixed the gang, meals as a zombie. They hadn’t gone out because she was obviously too sick to do so (which Xiumin complained about and called Jinah a nuisance) even though she insisted she was okay. She sneezed and coughed, but one thing she made sure to do was fix all the meals at the right time properly. She didn’t know why, but she felt a tug in her gut to do so. However, because Wolf was overall very nice, she could have slacked and rested a bit, but she didn’t. One, because she figured she’s have to deal with Xiumin, and two, because she was a female. The conversation with Liha still had some impact on her, especially the Minjung part, but Jinah wasn’t thinking about that now. She was thinking about what to make the next day as quickly but normally as possible… for Wolf.

          Fortunately, a few days later, just when the gang was about to hold a discussion, Jinah was showing clear signs of recovery, so they canceled it. It was just before noon, and the gang had already eaten the brunch that was made by Jinah (cream scallop soup with the last bits of buttered and toasted baguette from Nana’s Bakery). Although Jinah’s fever was dropping and her sneezes became less frequent, Xiumin was sure she was getting worse and strongly urged the gang to sign a release form for her incompetence to recover. They brushed him off like a fly.

          Wolf sat around the couch and was staring at the TV with no particular goal. They’ve been watching TV as soon as they came out of their rooms. Just then, at around quarter to three, Jinah asked, “Hey, why’d you guys wake up early today?” For most people, eleven may seem like waking up late, but to the gang, anytime before noon was like the crack of dawn.

          “What do you mean early?” Suho drawled. “We woke up at –” he stopped dead.

          Chen’s yawn halted midway. Baekhyun and Lay stopped laughing at the comedy show. The chips in D.O’s hand never reached his mouth. Sehun blinked. Luhan remained silent but Chanyeol’s jaw dropped. Kai shouted, “Jack, the Rave!”

          “!” Kris cursed.

          “You guys should go,” Luhan said calmly. “Get ready and stuff.”

          “How did we forget?!” Kai barked. “Guys, let’s go! Lay, make a reservation with 4MINUTE & SISTAR! Now! Move!”

          Jinah frowned. Was Kai taking the lead?

          “Go! Go! Go!” Kai yelled repeatedly as he put on his team jacket and grabbed his wallet. Lay punched the number in his phone and called 4MINUTE & SISTAR for a reservation. The others scrambled for their clothes and wallets – all but Luhan, Jinah, Xiumin, Tao, and Sehun. Sehun was getting ready, too, but he was doing it at a much slower pace than the others. He grabbed the car keys and put on his shoes. Just then, in the midst of the ruckus, Suho and Chanyeol bumped into each other.

          “What the are you doing?!” Suho said angrily.

          “Watch where you’re going, shorty!” Chanyeol hollered.

          “I’m 173!” Suho argued.

          “I’m 185! That’s sixteen centimeters shorter!”

          “It’s twelve centimeters, !”

          “Enough,” D.O, the shortest among them, stated firmly. He grabbed both of the guys’ ears and tugged them to the entranceway. “Let’s go. We’re already late.”

          And just like that, the base became unusually quiet, until Chen ran back inside the base to get the other car key for the second van. He frowned at the four people who hadn’t moved an inch. “What are you guys doing? Come on!” Chen urged and waved them over. “Jinah, you take the longest, your dress! Let’s go!”

          “She has plans with me,” Luhan said. “You can take Xiumin and Tao though. I don’t plan on taking the two with me.”

          “No, we have plans too,” Xiumin snapped. “You guys go. Tao and I will skip this time.”

          “What plans?” Chen queried. “Guys, do it later – we have to go! It’s the Rave!”

          “We have to go get some groceries,” Luhan said. “I’m hungry right now and I want to eat. Our refrigerator is empty. I’m going to go get food and I need Jinah to pick out the ones that are edible. I have no idea how to shop for groceries.”

          Jinah didn’t plan on going to go buy groceries with Luhan (although it wasn’t that bad of an idea), but she agreed anyway. “Yeah. Groceries. Urgent. I’m hungry too, Chen, let your Prix eat bountifully.”

          “Tch. Greedy girl,” Xiumin muttered. Jinah ignored him.

          Chen rolled his eyes. “Suho’s going to kill me… y’all owe me okay?!” Chen dashed out the entranceway and his footsteps echoed. When they heard the jade statue rumble from above and close, that’s when the talking and movement happened.

          “Come on Jinah, get dressed,” Luhan said.

          “I am dressed,” she said, frowning.

          “Do you want to go out like that?”

          “Are we actually going to go grocery shopping?” she asked. Sure, they were running low on stocks, but she didn’t know that Luhan was actually planning on going.

          Luhan, however, nodded. “Yes. Get dressed.” Jinah, who thought a little fresh air couldn’t hurt, when to her room to change. “And you,” Luhan pointed at Xiumin and Tao, who were just getting up from the couch. “Neither of you guys are coming with us. Go to the library or hit a club somewhere – don’t follow us.”

          Xiumin snorted. “This is one of the rare chances I’m away from that girl. I’m not going to waste it.”

          Just when Luhan was about to say something, Jinah came out in her camouflage-patterned pants, white shirt, and her team jacket. She grew very fond of the leather jacket with a white wolf’s head imprinted at the back. “Ready?” she asked.

          Luhan grinned. “Whenever you are.”

          Xiumin scoffed. He nudged Tao as both went into their room. What they did, neither Luhan nor Jinah knew, and none of them were curious, so they didn’t think further about it.

          “So where to?” Jinah asked in the car as she put her seatbelt on. “The supermarket? Wait, the gang wouldn’t come to the base until after at least two in the morning, right?” Over the two months she’s been with Wolf, she knew very well that the gang liked Raves, and that was normal. They liked staying late. “That means I don’t have to cook dinner tonight.” Jinah smiled a bit at that thought. A break. “We could eat out. I don’t feel like shopping for groceries just to feed Xiumin and Tao, and we still have some scallop soup and cereal leftover for tomorrow lunch. Or Baek and I can go grocery shopping at noon-ish. He always gets up earlier than others. So how about we eat at a restaurant?”

          Luhan smirked as he started the engine. “Are you suggesting we go on a date?”

          Jinah’s smile died. Pink feathered her cheeks. “W-What?”

          “Hey, I’d love to go on a date with you, but I’ve been craving Nana’s Bakery goods. Hate to postpone the offer, but let’s eat after we get some bread from the bakery,” Luhan said, and glanced at her just to give her a cheeky smile.

          “T-That wasn’t me asking you out on a date!” she stammered.

          “Yes it was,” Luhan said as he lightly tapped her nose, having too much fun teasing her.

          “Just put your seatbelt on,” Jinah said instead, looking away to the window.

          That one sentence triggered a memory inside Luhan. That one sentence, those five words – that was what Jinah had said in the car, just like now, a little over two months ago. They, at that time, had also been going out to buy Nana’s Bakery goods. It was because of that sentence that Luhan figured that Jinah’s walls may not be so sturdy. Several weeks after, Jinah is still a mystery, but she seemed to be a lot more comfortable now.

          Luhan grinned at her, even if she wasn’t looking at him. You are so fascinating.