Xiumin had sensed that his Shadow was pissed off but he hadn't realized the extent of it until now. Suho was barely clinging on to his sanity, as it was.

He glared at Luhan, who was sitting in a corner with his football team. Luhan grinned cheekily, gave him a thumbs up and ducked his head so he was out of sight.

Stupid , Xiumin thought again. He wasn't sure what had raised Suho's ire so much but he was sure it had a lot to do with Luhan's stupid joke.

He shook his head at the theatrics, though. Crashing the door like that, how tacky could you get? Xiumin didn't want any part of the mating drama Luhan and Kai were going through.

He had no feelings for Angel – other than the urge to protect her, which was natural, he supposed, to anyone who saw her. The girl had a kind of adorable helplessness about her that brought out his protective instincts. Made him act like the older brother. Maybe because of his own sister…

Now isn’t the time to think about it, he told himself, ignoring the twinge of regret the thought always brought. He had to deal with Suho before he escalated this drama anymore.

An hour later, they were still going over the same topic.

How did this idiot become our leader? Xiumin thought, frustrated beyond measure. It was like no matter what he said, Suho couldn't comprehend. He kept harping over the same thing, about how Xiumin'd lied and said he had no interest in her. If he didn’t, why had he invited Angel inside? Why was she saying hi to him and not talking to Suho? Why had Luhan warned him if there was nothing going on?

Xiumin cursed Luhan under his breath fluently, closing his eyes and replying through gritted teeth.

'For the last time, I have no interest in her – never had, never will. I invited the both of you inside, not her exclusively. I have no idea why she isn’t talking to you – that's between you and her – and Luhan was just joking. Can we finish this? I have work to do.' He rubbed his forehead, barely restraining the urge to hit him right in the kisser. And Luhan, who was still cracking up in the corner over how well his little revenge had worked.

'I don't believe you.' Suho stated. Again. He'd been staring at Xiumin intensely the entire time and Xiumin was frankly surprised his eyes hadn't crossed by now. He groaned. 'I have no interest in her. Zilch. You're my Shadow, you know I'm not lying!'

Suho eyed him angrily. 'You're insulting my mate? She's the most beautiful person in the world, how can you not have interest in her?' He demanded, thumping the table, in full alpha-mode now.

'Oh great…' He gave a death glare to Luhan who was now on the floor, holding his stomach. 'I didn't mean she's not beautiful…'

'Then what did you mean?' Suho was obviously rearing for a fight. Xiumin thought that no matter what he said, Suho would find a way to twist it and quarrel over it.

He glanced around helplessly and his eyes landed on Lily, who'd dealt with the customers alone for the past hour and was now sliding behind the counter. She caught his eye and shook her head in mock-pity.

An idea struck.

'It's because I've someone I like already.' He replied.

Suho stopped mid-rant. 'What? Who?'

'My girlfriend.' Xiumin nodded. 'I have no interest in anyone but her.'

Suho looked suspicious. 'You're not lying?' Xiumin sensed him trying to poke about his feelings. 'How can I believe you?' 

He smiled, confident. 'I'll prove it.'

……………………….

Xiumin and his band of brothers had to be the biggest bunch of drama queens she'd ever seen. She'd been working with Xiumin for some time now and she thought she'd seen just about everything.

But this had to be the best so far.

Suho was usually the calm one in the bunch, dealing with the others' rowdiness and handling arguments. He was polite and charming most of the time.

Right now, though, he had none of that smooth charisma, only anger. Directed at Xiumin for some reason. And obviously perpetuated by Luhan who was rolling around on the floor, laughing.

His football team had left some time ago, as had a lot of customers. A lot more had come in, though. Because what the hell, it was a live drama and who'd miss that?

She felt for Xiumin though, because he looked like he was going through hell and barely restraining himself. He met her eyes when she was sliding behind the counter and she shook her head at him in mock pity.

The situation was funny after all. He suddenly smiled, as if struck by an idea and turned. Lily casually wondered how he'd handle it, then bent down to slide the tray back in place.

Xiumin was leaning over the counter when she straightened. 'Hey!' He gave her a flirty smile. 'Will you kiss me?'

'Sure sugar.' She leaned over, placing her elbows on the counter. It wasn't like this was the most preposterous thing he'd asked for. That credit went to his sudden need for tampons – someone had told him they worked wonders for nosebleeds and he'd asked her to lend him some for Luhan after a particularly rigorous match.

She was going for his cheek but he turned his head and kissed her full on the mouth.

Shocked, she tried to pull back but he put his hand behind her head and used the other to trap her wrists and keep her in place. Xiumin was strong, much stronger than he looked and her wrists felt like they were held in a vice.

After a hard kiss, he backed off a little and whispered. 'Just play along.'

Lily's lips pursed, irritated. Especially because the entire room was focused on her now.

Smiling, Xiumin turned to give a thumbs up to Suho. 'Smile with me.' He whispered out of the corner of his mouth, tilting his head back to give her another flirty grin.

'You are so dead.' She told him, smiling right along. 'So, so dead.' She pinched his cheek hard. 'Go away before I kill you.'

'Oh you!' Xiumin winked at her, then strutted back to his seat. 'Satisfied now?' she heard him say.

'Yeah.'

She knew everyone was staring at her. Even Luhan, whose mouth was hanging open.

Ignoring them all, she busied herself like getting kissed out of the blue was normal. Absolutely normal. Once she bent to put things away, she sat down and fanned her face because it felt like it was burning.

Xiumin was going to pay big time for this.

………………..

'How come I didn’t know?' Luhan bugged Xiumin for the nth time. 'You never said anything.'

'Let it go, will you?' Xiumin shrugged. 'It must've slipped my mind.'

'I don't believe it!' Luhan told him.

Neither do I, Lily thought. They were alone, the shop closed for some time now.

'Whatever. Go bug Mei.' Xiumin pushed him towards the stairs, then made his way towards her.

'Lily…'

'Don’t.' She told him, forcefully folding up the tablecloth. 'I don't know why I even put up with you!'

He hung his head. 'I don't know either.'

She ignored him. 'I mean, I should report you for ual harassment in workplace.'

He nodded. 'You should.'

'Stop agreeing with whatever I say!' she snapped. 'Do you know how many customers deliberately spilled their drinks so I'd have to clean up and listen to their catty remarks?' Xiumin was quite popular among the ladies and most of his regular customers were females.

'I'm sorry.' He pouted. 'I didn't think they'd go that far.'

'Save the cute act for them. It doesn’t work on me.'

He sighed. 'Okay fine. But I'm really sorry, okay? I just… Suho was getting on my nerves.'

'Aarghh!' she groaned, unable to keep angry for long. 'I know, okay? And that's the only reason I'm going to let this go.'

'Thanks Lily, you're the best…' he moved to hug her.

'But…' she raised her voice over his happy squeal, hugging back. 'You try anything like that again, I'll scratch your eyes out. We clear?'

'Absolutely.' Xiumin nodded.

'Get a room, you two!' Luhan threw something at Xiumin's head. 'Seriously, how come I never noticed? It was so obvious...' He went back to his room.

They looked down at what he'd thrown – her tampon box, the one she'd lent despite her reservations.

They stared at it for some time, then looked at each other and burst out laughing, collapsing against each other.

'Okay, just for that, you owe me another one.' Lily told him, wiping her eyes.

'Done.' Xiumin grinned.

They started cackling again.

………………………

A/N

Suho in alpha mode is kinda cute :3 more importantly though, you have to get the tampon thing - really. Tell me where did that come from :D XD