"So, on a scale of one to ten, how awful is Luhan to live with?" Mira asked as she walked with Chen to the convenience store.

"I wouldn't really know since I don't share a room with him. You'd probably be better off asking Lay, Xiumin, or Kris," Chen replied, turning to look at the girl beside him. "Why are you all bundled up in that sweater? Aren't you hot?"

"Yeah, but I don't think people are really going to appreciate me walking around with you and if they can't see my face, I'll be safe for a while," Mira laughed lightly, turning to smile at Chen through her sunglasses.

They arrived at the store and entered into the inviting air conditioned space. Chen watched Mira carefully as she went up and down the aisles, grabbing items to put into her basket. He wondered what kind of relationship she had with Luhan. When Luhan told them that she would be coming to live with them, he hadn't really supplied any reasoning for it. The way the two of them interacted when they arrived, though, made Chen wonder if Mira was Luhan's secret girlfriend. Either way, Luhan was going to have to explain to the company the situation given that they couldn't hide Mira from the public forever.

"I'm done," Mira said, appearing before Chen who had spaced out while she was shopping.

"Ready to head back then?" He asked, motioning to the door.

"Yeah." Mira nodded and followed after him back into the summer heat.

The two walked for some time in silence. Chen kept glancing at Mira from the corner of his eye, trying to decipher who exactly she was. After a few minutes, though, he couldn't contain his curiosity any more.

"Are you and Luhan dating?" He asked, catching Mira off guard.

"No, no, no." She shook her head, laughing. "I mean, once upon a time in high school we dated, but that's in the past."

"So you guys went to high school together?" Chen cocked his head to the side, curious.

"More like we grew up together. I've known him since forever. We even lived together for a time when we were in primary school," Mira explained as they arrived at the dorm building.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you living with us now?" Chen inquired.

"I don't mind, but I have no clue. That would be a question for Luhan." She shrugged. "Speak of the devil!"

"Hey." Luhan smiled from the top of the stairs, looking at Mira with eyes that made Chen wonder if he hadn't let go of those high school feelings.

"Hey, stupid." Mira smiled back and trotted up the last few steps to reach Luhan.

"Get what you need?" He asked.

"And a little more," she laughed sheepishly, opening the bag to look at her purchases.

As she did so, several packages of sweets and snacks tumbled from the plastic bag. Mira laughed once more and bent to pick them up as Luhan looked at her with an expression I couldn't quite place. It was like a mix of sadness and relief and almost a hint of anger. Towards who the anger was directed, though, Chen couldn't decipher.

"Let's get inside so you can take that hoodie off before you have a heat ," Luhan said after Mira was done picking up her dropped snacks and led her towards the door. "Everyone can't wait to meet you."

As the three walked into the dorm, all eyes turned to see the new arrival. Everyone was curious to see the girl that meant so much to Luhan. When they saw her, they were shocked to see someone smiling brilliantly at them. She seemed so happy and vibrant that they almost doubted Luhan's explanation as to why she was there.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Mira." She bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you too," they all replied in what was more or less unison.

"Now, you can talk to them after you finish unpacking. I already took your stuff to an empty room that we have," Luhan interjected before anything else could be said.

"You all share rooms, but you had an extra one?" Mira asked doubtfully as she was led away from the eleven men watching her intently.

"It was our storage area-ish for all our junk, but I moved it all to make room for you," Luhan explained.

"Luhan, you don't even clean your own room, I find it hard to believe you cleaned a room full of other people's junk," Mira laughed.

"Shut up or I'll call you Mirabelle until the day you die!" He protested, shoving her into the room and closing the door behind her.

"Knock, knock," Mira said timidly, standing in the open doorway of Lay's room.

"Hey," Lay looked up from a book he was reading, "if you're looking for Luhan, he went out with a bunch of others to go shopping."

"Well, it's a good thing, then, that I was looking for you," Mira laughed. "Chips?"

She stood in his doorway still and held out a bag of chips that she was busy eating from. It was almost comical to see her petite form elbow deep in a family size bag of chips and Lay still wondered how this could be the same girl that Luhan was in tears about keeping alive.

"Well, if you're offering me junk food, how can I resist?" Lay laughed as well and motioned for Mira to come inside.

"So, I asked Chen this, but he said you'd be better to answer. How's it like living with Luhan?" She asked and plopped next to Lay on his bed.

"I only share a room with Luhan in China, so we don't really stay together a lot, but all of us are really like one big family. We have our ups and downs and sometimes we really can't stand each other, but we're all that we've got," he answered, reaching into the bag of chips that Mira was offering to him.

"Well that's good. I'm glad that Luhan has such supportive people around him." Mira smiled into her lap, biting her lip in a way that Lay found oddly attractive.

"You were worried about him, weren't you?" Lay leaned forward to look at her face as he spoke and was shocked to see an expression so filled with pain and regret.

"Yeah, I was," Mira laughed bitterly. "I promised Luhan that I would always look after him and I disappeared after high school because I was being selfish. I just...it's a relief to know that he's got other people to look after him."

Lay watched Mira carefully, unsure of what to say. It was almost as if Mira thought that if Luhan had the other members of EXO to look after him, he wouldn't need her. The way she looked down at her hands folded neatly in her lap made Lay feel so helpless. Just moments ago she had been bright and shining and laughing and now she was so dull and lifeless. He could really see a person who no longer had a will to live where previously a girl full of life was sitting.

"I have an idea," Lay said suddenly with determination and stood up so rapidly that he got a head rush.

"What?" Mira looked up from her hands with confused eyes.

"While the others are gone, let's cook something. Eating is the best way to pass time and the greatest food is the food you make," Lay exclaimed and held out his hand for Mira to take.

Luhan was depending on them to keep Mira alive. He wanted Mira to see the beauty of life and Lay was going to try his damn hardest to fulfill his friend's wish. Not only that, but he couldn't stand to see a person suffer with so much pain the way Mira was suffering. No one deserved to feel the want to die.