“Junghyun-ah!” Baekhyun landed three sharp knocks on her bedroom door. “Ya, oppa is bringing you food and you’re not even going to let me -” He tried the the door handle and unwittingly fell through the unlocked door, almost spilling the tray of food. “J- Junghyun…” He looked at the body on the floor with panicked eyes. She stared at him emptily. Her breathing was irregular and her whole body was shaking violently. He dropped the tray and ran to her side. He placed a hand on her forehead and a hand on his. As expected, he temperature was much higher than his. “Junghyun-ah… This is bad. How much did you drink last night?” He shook her. “Junghyun…” He shook her until her eyes slowly peeled open.

“I told you I don’t drink…” Her voice came out dry and raspy. She inhaled deeply. The action caused her to let out a croak. “Oppa… water…”

“Hm?” Baekhyun took a moment to register her words, then stumbled to pick up a cup of juice from the tray he had brought upstairs for her. “Here.” He held her head up and carefully tipped the cup so that the juice trickled gently between her lips. He sighed in relief when she started to sit up. But before long, she screamed out in pain.

Baekhyun extended his arms in the hope of calming her, but she shook with such violence that she herself fell back onto the floor. He stood to call for help, but felt a grip on his hand.

“O-oppa…” She stuttered, weakly lifting her head to look at him. “Stay…” His whole arm shook from her shivers, her touch so warm it was almost painful. He gulped. “P..p-please…” She said, biting her lip to prevent more screams.

"I'm right here." He told her, crouching back down. This won't do, Byun Baekhyun, do something... He thinks to himself. In the end, he picked her up so that he could relocate her on the bed.

When he set her down, she clung onto his arm. "Don't go."

He inhaled deeply, as if he could feel her pain, and sat himself down next to her, gently her hair. “I’m here.” He shushed her. “Everything will be okay.” Except, he knew it wouldn't. The scene was hauntingly familiar to him, although he could not place the familiarity, and he knew that from then on, nothing would be okay.

“Baekhyun, Junghyun!” Their mother called from downstairs. Junghyun’s eyelids fluttered open as she gasped for air.

She must have clenched her hands as she did so, because she was suddenly aware of the warmth in her hand, and her brother's jolt from the pain. It was only then Junghyun recognised his presence.

Confusion filled her head. She couldn't remember him coming into her room and even if she did, the fact that he fell asleep holding her hand would be difficult to explain. “Oppa…” she stared as he helped her sit up. His nose was running, his eyes bloodshot. “Were you crying?”

Baekhyun lightly tapped her head. “Of course not, silly.” He sniffed. “Why would I cry?” The lie was too obvious, and this confused her further, but she had no time  to ask questions with her mother constantly calling them for lunch.

“Children! Lunch is ready!” Their mother tried again.

“I’ll get you the dressing gown.” He ruffled her hair and stood up.

“Don’t worry, oppa.” She hoisted herself out of bed. “It's too warm for it.”

“But just now your temperature…” Baekhyun trailed off.

Junghyun disregarded the sentence, unwilling to open up any room for more confusion, and made her way out. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.” She caught her brother’s confused stare and tilted her head to one side. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” He followed. “Nothing…”

“By the way, Junghyun-ah…” Baekhyun said while his mouth was full of cake. Outside, the sun had already begun to set, turning the sky into a soft shade of orange. He tried to step as close to her as possible without stepping onto the patio. The rain earlier had dampened the ground, but he was too lazy to fetch his sandals.

Junghyun stayed silent.

He eyed the distance between him and the wooden bench she was sitting on. He decided the distance was enough for his foot to just reach her. He tried the theory, nudging her with his foot.

Their mother grimaced as she watched. “This kid… Didn’t they teach you about image in SM? Huh?”

He just grinned in reply to his mum. “Tao will be here soon. I was just going to tell Junghyunnie.”

Mrs. Lee shook her head. "I guess even a Hallyu star can't break out of stupidity..."

“Tao?” Junghyun the deck chair, suddenly paying attention. “The stupid sword guy?”

Their mother grimaced once again, catching sight of her daughter resting her feet on the table as she painted her toenails. “Junghyun-ah… I thought I sent you to finishing school for a reason…”

“Nobody can see me!” she protested. "Besides, I have perfect posture and poise now." She grinned.

“Poise!” her mother scoffed. “’Poise’ my foot!” She walked away from the scene before she could witness any more horrors in the children's behaviour.

“It’s been a while since the house is so cheerful! We missed you, son.” Mr. Lee appeared behind Baekhyun. He patted Baekhyun’s shoulder before making his way outside to sit with Junghyun. “Baekhyun-ah, no matter what people say, you’re our family, okay?”

Baekhyun bowed his head. “Thank you, Dad.” He grinned. “Anyway…” He continued to talk to Junghyun. “I already told Mum and Dad, but Tao is staying here for a bit…”

Junghyun dropped the nail polish and cleared . “Excuse me?”

“Well,” Baekhyun cleared his throat. “He’s stuck in the dorms until next week. The poor thing is homesick…” He lied.

“Heol…” She frowned. “Then I have to share you with Tao?” She pouted.

He was lucky Junghyun blindly trusted him, but believe it or not, Baekhyun would prefer for this arrangement not to happen. He had received a call from Tao last night to report his meeting with Junghyun. When he found that she had collapsed in her room this morning, he panicked and begged for Tao to check up on her. Tao agreed, as he currently needed lie low. Baekhyun neglected to ask for his reason in doing so. He was just glad someone with inside knowledge could check up on her.

“That’s not comforting at all.”

“What isn’t?” The familiar husky voice said from behind Baekhyun.

“Does everybody have to come up behind me today?” Baekhyun shook his head in disbelief. As he did so, he took in Tao’s appearance. “You… What happened?”

“I ran into some sasaengs,” Tao lied, and Baekhyun could clearly tell. It was a code to say he had been attacked. For people like Tao and Baekhyun, it was just an everyday occurrence. It was also no particular cause of concern ninety per cent of the time, but it seemed somebody had actually managed to touch him in a fight. Perhaps it was just one of Krystal’s endearing attacks… He thought, and dug nothing more out of it.

“Lee Junghyun,” Tao rested against the doorframe. “How are you feeling?”

Junghyun’s answer was rude. “Wow, since when did you care so much?”

“Junghyun!” her mother warned her, but Junghyun just returned to painting her nails.

Tao and Baekhyun exchanged looks, and the former nodded. “Junghyun-sshi... Don’t you remember what happened last night?”

She returned them a confused expression.

Baekhyun tried again. “Have you heard from Minjae?”

"I heard from Krystal that she spotted him cheating, so I just broke up with him."

Baekhyun exchanged glances with Tao again, who just shrugged and nodded his head towards the guest room.

"Wow, Junghyun-ah... That's pretty ruthless." He said. "Anyway, I'll just help Tao prepare the guest room."