Enthralling [in-ˈthrȯl-ing] verb - to capture one's attention completely; fascinating; spellbinding

Mihyun returned to the cages the next day at an ungodly hour of the morning, and she greeted the sleepy Noyes with heavy bags under her drooping eyes.

“You look exhausted, Mihyun,” Baekhyun frowned as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

“I’ve just been busy, that’s all,” Mihyun murmured sleepily as she stumbled towards them in small strides.

Sehun felt worry consume his chest, and he immediately left Luhan’s side to go to Mihyun’s. He stood firmly next to the girl’s swaying figure, ready to catch the weak body if it were to collapse. “You shouldn’t have come. You should have gone home to rest.”

“You told me to come back soon, didn’t you?” Mihyun murmured through drooping eyelids.

Sehun was both embarrassed and amazed that she had heard his silent request, and he couldn’t help but feel a sudden happiness burst through his chest. Still, he refused to let his glee show on his face, and he forced his eyes to narrow at the exhausted girl. “Not if you were going to come like this. You should go home to rest.” No, don’t leave.

“I can’t,” Mihyun murmured as she sunk to the hard ground. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested the side of her face against her knee caps. “I already sent my driver away for the night.”

It was beginning to get even harder for Sehun to force the frown on his face. “You like being so much trouble, don’t you? Well, since there is no choice, I guess you can slee—”

“You can come sleep with me, Mihyun!” Baekhyun piped up cheerfully as he patted the open space next to him.

Sehun’s jaw dropped. What exactly did Baekhyun think he was doing? He should know his place, and his place was definitely not at Mihyun’s side. That was Sehun’s place! It was Sehun that Mihyun had chosen at the hallways, it was Sehun that belonged to Mihyun, and it was Sehun that the girl had called beautiful. How dare his Hyung even offer to share his scrap of blanket with his master?

“It’s quite alright, Baekhyun,” Mihyun responded as she closed her eyes. “I would take up too much room. Just return to sleep, alright?”

Baekhyun and Sehun would have laughed at the words that the girl stated if they didn't want to interupt her rest. How could a girl of such small size actually think that she would consume too much space? Baekhyun opened his mouth to protest, but through the dim moonlight that came through the barred window, he accidently met eye contact with Sehun. The other’s angry orbs were enough to tell him to shut his mouth. “I… I’ll be getting to sleep then. Goodnight.”

The other’s fake snores that came seconds after were much too obvious, and Sehun resisted the urge to face palm himself. Luckily enough, Mihyun was simply too exhausted to care for distinguishing the differences between real and fake snores.

“Come,” Sehun stated silently as he scooped the small girl into his arms. She gave him weak protests as he transported her over to his scrap of a blanket, and laid her across the thin protection from the cold floor. Sehun frowned when the girl shivered, and he never hated the poor living arrangements of the cage more. He lied down next to Mihyun and slid his arm underneath the girl’s neck, transferring her head to his strong chest as a better source of warmth and support.

Sehun was overjoyed when the girl didn’t protest against the new sleeping arrangements and his lips spread so wide that he was afraid they would have ripped when the small female curled closer against the radiator of heat. Her quiet, even breaths that sounded seconds after were enough to tell him that she had fallen asleep, and now he dared to open his eyes and stare at the small girl.

He couldn’t see much except for a nest of hair, and internally cursed himself for positioning her at such an angle.  Now how could he admire the girl’s delicate, doll like features?

Sehun’s eyes immediately widened in realization, and he would have slapped himself if his arms weren’t all too comfortably wrapped around Mihyun’s small shoulders. He let out a long, quiet groan as he thought about the current situation. He was giving in to the girl much too quickly for his liking. He found it utterly ridiculous that after 3 years of knowing Baekhyun and Chanyeol, he still didn’t completely trust them, yet with only a week of knowing Mihyun, he was already willing to give up his life for hers if a situation were to demand it.

That scared him. He never cared for anybody other than Luhan before, and the fact that those that he needed to watch over and protect doubled in numbers, scared him.

Sehun quickly decided, however, that he would erase the fearful thoughts from his mind and simply enjoy life as it was. Life in the present. Life with Mihyun.

Little did Sehun know that he wasn’t the only who had changed so quickly after the introduction of a new character into their life. Mihyun had transformed her character in an even more dramatic way than Sehun had. No longer did the petite girl speak in soft tones of such few words at a time. Although her character stayed rather monotonous when she was home, she seemed to slip under a whole new persona when she was with the boys. She was still soft spoken of course, and wasn’t fond of too much excitement, but she enjoyed herself a lot more. She spoke complete sentences, stringing several of them together at a time. She found herself actually making an effort to talk to the boys, and to sneak them food and medicine, to care for them. Most importantly, she found herself smiling with them.

The boys had made her smile more in the past few days then she had in almost her entire life.

It seemed as though fate was working rather quickly in turning the gears of their relationship; as if it to make up for all the time lost.

Sehun woke up the next, or to be more exact, later on that morning from the hushed giggles and whispers that flew across the room.

“What the hell is going on?” Sehun grumbled as he rubbed at his eyes. He tried to get up, but a light weight against his chest reminded him not to. His face softened as he felt the warm puffs of air from her lips skitter across his thinly clothed chest. Due to his restraint, he strained his eyes to see the faces of his giggling hyungs.

“You got cozy with the angel pretty quickly,” Jongin stated with a smug expression and crossed arms. “The two of you look as if you’re glued to each other with the way you’re sleeping.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Sehun didn’t want to interrupt Mihyun’s peaceful sleeping, especially with how tired she had looked earlier that morning, he would have thrown the girl off to strangle Jongin to death.

“S-S-Sor-Sorry S-S-S-Seh-Sehun,” Kyungsoo stammered as he fiddled his thumbs together. “I-I t-t-told th-th-them to b-be qu-quiet, b-b-but th-they would-wouldn’t l-l-li-listen to m-me-me.”

“Kyungsoo, your stammering hasn’t improved the slightest bit these past three days. Did you not practice?” Mihyun’s quiet voice sounded.

Sehun mentally groaned as felt Mihyun’s long eyelashes flutter open against his shirt before slowly pushing herself into an upright position. “You should have practiced even if I wasn’t here to help you.”

Kyungsoo pouted and he seated himself in front of the sleepy girl. “B-B-But I-I-I did-did-d-didn’t kn-know w-w-when y-y-you-you we-were-were c-c-c-com-coming b-b-b-bac-back.”

“Why does it seem like your speech as has gotten much worse?” Mihyun sighed as she flicked the other against his forehead.

Kyungsoo yelped from the action and rubbed the spot on his forehead with a pout. “Y-Y-Y-You s-s-s-said-said i-it w-w-wa-was-was c-c-cut-cute!”

Mihyun chuckled at the boy’s defensive tone, and she reached out with one hand to blindly dishevel the boy’s hair. “I did, and I still think it is cute. Isn’t it you who wants to get rid of your stammering so quickly? Then you should be the one practicing every day.”

Kyungsoo sighed in defeat and nodded his head. “I-I-I’ll pr-prac-pract-practice ev-eve-every d-d-d-day th-the-then-then.”

“Good,” Mihyun smiled as she gave the boy a final pat on the head.

To Sehun’s surprise, the next thing Mihyun did was fall backwards to rest her head on Sehun’s chest. “Now all of you should be quiet so I can sleep. I’m tired, if you hadn’t noticed.”

Chanyeol chuckled at the girl’s childish action, and chimed out, “Sleep, sleep!”

“Come on Kyung, until Mihyun wakes up again I’ll help you with your speech,” Jongin stated as he wrapped an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders to lead him out of the cage.

“Luhan, do you want to come fetch the daily meal with us?” Baekhyun invited the elder as he and Chanyeol prepared to depart the cages.

Luhan bit down on his bottom lip in hesitance. He never went to fetch the daily meal without Sehun, but now he saw that Sehun was too preoccupied to go with him. He certainly didn’t want to pull Sehun out of his happiness, but he didn’t want to get the daily meal without Sehun at his side either. Luhan gave Sehun one last glance before agreeing to leave with the pair.

"Luhan's coming with us, Sehun," Baekhyun called out the younger as the trio made their way out of the cages.

Luhan glanced over his shoulder and smiled when he saw that Sehun hadn't even noticed the other's notification.

Luhan was surprised that he didn’t feel any sort of bitterness or jealousy towards the figure that was lying in Sehun’s arms. He always pictured himself as the sole figure of importance in Sehun’s life, and now that another one had come butting in, he thought that he would hold the girl at a level of contempt. He honestly had no such feelings, however, and was actually happy that the younger had found another person to protect.

After all, the protection that Sehun offered Mihyun was different from the one he offered Luhan. Sehun’s loyalty towards Luhan was to some extent, almost mandatory in Sehun’s eyes. He saw Luhan as the last of his family who obviously needed protection, and therefore provided it. Mihyun, however, Mihyun was somebody that Sehun chose to protect, and that made Luhan happy. He was happy that if something, some day, were to happen to him, he wouldn’t have to go through the guilt of leaving Sehun all alone. Sehun would have something to live for, even if the younger didn’t realize it yet.

Honestly, Sehun was at that point wide awake, but he decided to not even make the slightest movement in fear that it would cause the girl on his chest to awaken. He would never admit it, but he liked the radiating warmth of the small girl. Carefully, he raised his free arm and with a single finger, lightly brushed the girl’s hair away from her face in hopes to get a good look at her.

His action was in vain, but he was still content with the soft skin the tips of his fingers had come in contact with. Were all girls this nice to touch? He doubted it. Mihyun was probably the only girl in the world with skin so creamy and soft.

“Alright, it’s time to get up now,” Chanyeol’s loud voice announced after what seemed to be only seconds.

Sehun let out a small growl when Mihyun was tugged off of him, but immediately bit it back as he watched how she cutely rubbed her fists against her eyes. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a small yawn that resembled a puppy.

“How late is it?” Mihyun murmured through closed eyes.

“Late enough for you to be up, that’s for sure,” Baekhyun replied as he plopped down next to Mihyun. “You were gone for so many days and you look so tired, what happened? I was worried that you were never going to come back.” At the latter part of his words, several dirty gazes were shot over at Sehun.

“I had meetings to attend,” Mihyun answered as she finally opened her eyes, blinking several times to get adjusted to the light. “I haven’t been able to sleep for very long during the past few days.”

“What kind of meetings?” Chanyeol asked curiously as he settled himself on the other side of Mihyun, giving no room for Sehun to scoot forward.

Sehun let out a quiet sigh and glanced up when Luhan gave him a gentle pat on the head with a knowing expression.

“Business meetings, just boring things,” Mihyun replied, wanting to quickly change the subject. “Where are Kyungsoo and Jongin?”

“Jongin should be helping Kyungsoo with his speech right now. They should be back here soon enough,” Baekhyun answered before going back to the previous topic. “Why do you have to attend business meetings, Mihyun?”

“I… I’m going to inherit the company from my father,” Mihyun murmured as she gazed down at her lap. “So I have to attend the meetings to know what to do when it’s time.”

Baekhyun nodded his head, his curiosity satisfied with her answer, and moved on to talk about something else.

Sehun noticed how Mihyun’s eyes remained trained on the ground, however, and he couldn’t help but think that maybe the girl wasn’t so fond of the idea of taking over her family business.

Luhan quietly made his way over to Mihyun’s side and sat silently behind the girl. Mihyun felt a tug on her sleeve, and she looked down to see Luhan staring up at her with his large orbs of eyes. He pointed down at the ground, and her gaze followed his outstretched finger to read what he had written.

Will those guards really be punished?

Mihyun fell silent for a few seconds before simply responding with, “I always speak the truth.”

Luhan appeared satisfied with that answered, and he cleared the message from the ground to replace it with a new one.

Thank you for saving me.

Mihyun stared down at the message for a few seconds before slowly climbing to her feet. She held out a hand to Luhan and he stared at it with a confused expression.

“Take a walk with me,” Mihyun suggested gently.

Luhan stared hesitantly at Mihyun’s outstretched hand, but slowly he slipped his fingers into her grip. Mihyun gave him a smile, happy that he trusted her enough to willingly travel alone with her.

“Luhan?” Sehun asked with alarm when he caught sight of the two exiting the cage by themselves.

“We’re just going to go on a walk, Sehun. I won’t be of any harm to Luhan, you know that,” Mihyun reassured him as she held up her and Luhan’s intertwined fingers. “I’ll keep him safe. Nobody will dare to mess with him if he’s found with me.”

Sehun looked to Luhan for reassurance, and was satisfied with the small nod that he received.

“Be back soon,” Sehun stated simply as he relaxed in his seat.

“I won’t keep you away from Sehun for too long,” Mihyun stated once the two of them were a good distance away from Sehun’s ears. “I just wanted to talk to you for a little bit.”

Luhan had an idea of what she wanted to talk to him about, and he took a deep breath to prepare himself. Honestly, he didn’t know if he would be able to hear the words the girl had to say without breaking down in tears, but he really didn’t want to. He didn’t want to seem even weaker in front of her.

“Luhan…” Mihyun stated slowly. “I wanted to know if you actually want to be my Noye.”

Luhan stopped midstep and blinked. That wasn’t what he was expecting to hear.

“Sorry, I must have surprised you,” Mihyun bowed apologetically. “I just… I guess I just wanted to hear your opinion on the matter first before I make any decisions without you.”

Luhan nodded his head slowly but remained silent.  He then stopped mid step and squatted down to write into the ground. Why haven’t you asked Sehun?

“Because you’re making the decision for him,” Mihyun responded simply.

Luhan cocked his head at the vague response and stared at her with a raised eyebrow of confusion. What do you mean?

Mihyun chuckled quietly and turned to him with a bemused expression, “I would never split you and Sehun up, Luhan. The two of you… I’m not sure how to explain how I view your relationship. Perhaps... symbiotic? I don’t think you two could live without the other.”

Luhan soaked in her words, and continued to squat there for a few minutes unmoving. It wasn’t until he began to feel the burn of his stiff muscles that he finally outstretched his finger to write once more.

“What is this? The master taking her pet out on a walk?” the nasty voice stung the ears of Mihyun and Luhan, and they looked up with intense glares already positioned on their faces.

“Such a cold welcome,” Jaemin scoffed as he used a hand to pat down his perfectly gelled hair.

“You aren’t being welcomed,” Mihyun retorted with a tone of voice that paralleled her cold face. “Come, Luhan.”

Jaemin was quick to cut in front of the two, his footsteps kicking away the reply Luhan had written into the ground.

Luhan frowned as he stared at the dust that hid away his response to Mihyun’s question.

 I want to stay with you.