“And so none of you stopped her?” Kris growled as he stared at the 5 guilty people in front of him, hanging their heads in shame.

“D.O Hyung and I tried!” Sehun protested. He cowered under the intense glare Kris gave him, and mumbled unintelligibly under his breath.

“And what the hell were you guys doing? Just letting it happen? You’re just as guilty as the two of them!” Yongguk barked at Himchan, Zelo, and Chanyeol who shied away from the angry B.A.P leader.

“I-I was eating ramen,” Himchan muttered as he scratched the back of his head. “I don’t listen to anything when I’m eating.”

“I was watching a movie,” Chanyeol defended himself. “I didn’t know anything was happening.”

Yongguk turned his gaze to Zelo, waiting for the maknae’s excuse expectantly, “Well?”

There was a beat of silence before Zelo finally mumbled, “Hanmi’s scary.”

“Just give Hanmi her space,” Baekhyun spoke up as he leaned against the stair banister. “Hanmi’s not dumb or irrational, she obviously left for a reason. We should trust her enough to know that she’ll come back soon and safely.”

“Yeah, because you know her so well, don’t you?” Kai snorted as he shot the other a dirty look.

“What the hell is your problem, Kai?” Baekhyun growled with narrowed eyes. “I hope you’ve noticed that a lot of the damned fights start because of your immaturity.”

Kai let out a loud snarl as he pounded his feet into the ground over to Baekhyun. He snatched Baekhyun’s collar and pulled the elder towards him, “Are you saying that she left because of me?”

“No, but you are a big part of the problem,” Baekhyun shot back with a glare.

Kai’s eyes flashed with anger, and he pulled his fist out to bring it flying forward.

“This is exactly why Hanmi left, you idiots,” Luhan shouted as he flung Baekhyun and Kai to opposite sides of the room with his telekinesis. “Have you learned nothing with Hanmi’s absence? It’s because we’re all ing idiots who think that raising our voice and our fists will solve our problems. We’re all the reason why Hanmi left, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves and each other.”

“So what, are we supposed to just expect everything to be okay and run off into the sunset holding hands?” Kai scowled. “We’re all not going to suddenly get better just because Hanmi left, who does she think she’s kidding?”

“Don’t be such an , Kai,” Chanyeol glared at the other. “Baekhyun’s right, you have been the cause of a lot of our problems lately. What the hell has been wrong with you? You were always dark and secluded before, but now… now you’re just…”

“Just what? Just what, huh? Say it, Chanyeol!” Kai snarled, his veins pulsing with rage.

Chanyeol paused before he finally muttered, “You know, people usually say that they’ve changed for the better, but that’s the complete opposite in your case.”

Kai pressed his lips together as he processed the other’s words. They stung a little bit, he had to admit, but he wouldn’t let it show. “And whose fault do you think it is that I’ve changed?” Kai whispered softly, painfully, under his breath.

“Kai don’t—” Luhan was cut off when Kai suddenly disappeared from his spot.

“That kid really likes making trouble, doesn’t he?” Yongguk muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Baekhyun’s right, Hanmi’s not stupid and she knows how to take care of herself. Let’s just give her time to cool off.”

Suho nodded with his words, “Take this time to think about exactly why Hanmi left, while you’re at it. In all honesty I don’t blame her for leaving, because our team work has been complete and utter lately.”

The boys flinched at the crude language Suho used, for the gentle leader never spoke in such a way to them often.

“But at the same time, Kai’s right,” Chen spoke up uneasily. He rubbed the back of his neck and voiced the unpopular opinion, “If Hanmi expects everything to be solved just by her leaving for a couple of nights, she’s going to be disappointed. I want us all to get better, I really do, but running away from her problems isn’t going to solve anything.”

“That’s true, but don’t forget that she’s not running away, Chen. She’s just taking a break, and there’s a difference between that and running away,” Luhan spoke up in Hanmi’s defense. “The Hanmi we know would never run away from her problems.”

Heads nodded in agreement with his words, and Kris clapped his hands to get their attention. “Let’s all just get to sleep. Hanmi can watch over herself for one night, and we should be able to trust her to do so safely.”

The boys rose from their seats to depart to their respective bedrooms, but they all knew they would endure a restless night. Not a single one of them was free of guilt from the tension that had built up over the course of the past few months, and although they didn’t expect everything to suddenly get better, they did suppose that they could slowly work at it.

Slowly, but surely, they could build up to the friendship they all once had.

--------------- ---------------------------

The next morning, the boys awoke to the smell of sizzling bacon and frying eggs. It took them a few seconds to register the scent, for they hadn’t woken up to such a smell for so long of a time.

Suho was the first to leave the warm confines of his bed despite the fact that there was still a good two hours before they all had to leave for training. He heard the familiar sounds of laughter as he tip toed down the stairs, and his jaw dropped when he saw Hanmi and D.O cooking and giggling together side by side.

“Yah, don’t make too much noise or you’ll wake the boys,” Hanmi whispered as she bumped D.O to the side with her hip.

D.O rolled his eyes and bumped her back with his own, “If somebody’s making a lot of noise, that would definitely be you. I don’t know why I agreed to wake up this early to help you cook anyways.”

“Please, you were pretty eager when I snuck into your room this morning,” Hanmi scoffed as she nudged him with her elbow. “Besides, who else could I wake up to make breakfast with? You’re my cooking buddy, aren’t you?”

“More like I do all the cooking,” D.O muttered good heartedly as he flipped the sausages that were frying in his pan.

“I miss this,” Hanmi said suddenly as she leaned her hip against the counter. “I miss cooking with you in the mornings.”

D.O glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and a sad smile slipped onto his face, “I missed this too.”

“Do you think we could start doing this again? Waking up early to make meals for the other boys?” Hanmi asked hopefully as she eyed the other boy.

D.O paused as he slid the sausages onto a plate with hesitation, “I don’t know…”

Hanmi’s face fell and she scuffed the back of her heel against the ground, “I just thought, you know, that maybe we could resume how things were before…”

“I guess,” D.O spoke up after seeing the girl’s down casted expression, “We could do this a couple of times a week – maybe 2 or 3. Don’t expect me to wake up early to cook for these ungrateful bastards every day, though.”

Hanmi’s face brightened as she stared up at him with a wide grin stretched across her face, “Thank you, D.O.”

D.O flushed at her heartfelt expression and he muttered a “yeah, yeah,” as he went to add more bacon to the pan.

“What are you guys doing? When did Hanmi come back?” Suho called out quietly once there was a pause in their conversation.

The two figures jumped in surprise, and they spun around to see one of the Exo leaders standing there with his arms crossed and his eyebrow arched.

“I came back earlier this morning,” Hanmi answered with a toothy smile. “I was craving an actual breakfast rather than just microwavable things, so I woke D.O up to come cook with me. Were we making too much noise? Did we wake you up?”

“No, I was always an early riser,” Suho responded as he made his way to the cabinets.

“What are you doing, Suho?” Hanmi asked with a cocked head as she watched Suho rummage through the cabinets.

Suho pulled out a stack of plates and flashed her a smile, “I thought I would help set up the table. It’s going to take up a lot of time to make room for all 19 of us.”

Hanmi’s eyes lit up at his words, and she immediately nodded her head eagerly, “Thank you for helping, Suho!”

“No,” Suho chuckled under his breath as he made his way to the dining room. “Thank you, Hanmi.”

After another hour or so, the other boys seemed to rouse from their sleep around the same time. They made their way down the stairs one by one, not even bothering to clean themselves up due to their curiosity.

“Ah, I see most of you guys are up,” Hanmi grinned brightly as she and D.O finished setting the last plat