The nightmare didn’t return after the soup and toddy, but Semi might as well have taken the sleeping pill, since she woke up well after midday but feeling refreshed.  Her phone was blinking wildly at her and when she picked it up, she saw that she had a veritable spam of messages from Tao and one from Wendy threatening to call the police in case of domestic violence if they didn’t hear from her before university was over.  Mussing through her tangled hair with one hand, Semi sent back a quick I’m fine, I just overslept and got up.

There was salad on the kitchen table, though with no note attached, and Semi chewed absently on it as she wandered through the apartment after loading some onto a plate.  What little she’d seen of it the previous day had appeared extremely messy in the aftermath of Taeyong, but now it was almost neater than when they’d first arrived there.  Xiumin really had a thing for being tidy.

The office door was ajar when Semi passed it, and she paused, contemplating.  While Xiumin had never told her to stay away from the room, she’d never actually been in it, and she wondered what he used it for.  She still wasn’t entirely sure what he did all day.

Coming to the end of her lettuce leaf, Semi pushed the door fully open and walked in.

The meticulous organisation of everything on the desk was unsurprising.  The laptop was off, though Semi could see a USB in one of the ports and a wireless mouse sitting beside it.  Several books lay on the desk, one open and a few others with post-its in them.  Semi recognised one as the book on the psychology of ion that Xiumin had been reading the other day.  The title on the spine of the book underneath it gave the book away as one analysing emotional trauma, and she saw at least one of gangs and violence alongside another called The Politics of .

Frowning, Semi tore her gaze away from the books and looked instead at the paperwork.  There was a file resting open just beside the book pile, and after a moment or two of contemplation, she began to flick through it.

The first twenty or so pages appeared to be incomplete profiles of… she wasn’t sure.  One or two had grainy photos and various had names – some of which were obviously nicknames of some kind, because Semi was pretty sure that G-Dragon wasn’t an actual name in any language she knew, and nor was Feeldog.  The others just had very vague information, like “seen with X” plus a date, and sometimes a description or “possibly X?”  Here and there, Xiumin’s handwriting had corrected details or filled out new ones.

After the profiles were a full thirty pages of statistics, which Semi glossed over, picking a radish off her plate and munching it, and then there were maps.

She didn’t get beyond the one mapping out brothels and another that seemed to have a couple of places marking what Xiumin had labelled as slave markets before she decided enough was enough, snapping the file shut and leaving the room.

For a moment, she paused outside the office, leaning against the door and trying to calm her spinning brain, though the feeling of absolute disgust wouldn’t go away.  She crammed the rest of the salad into in an effort to distract herself and then returned to the kitchen to put the plate in the dishwasher.

As she was exiting again, the main door clicked open and Xiumin came in, stopping briefly just inside to take his shoes off and place them meticulously on the shoe rack.  Semi froze when she saw him, her windpipe closing off.  What had he been doing with all that information on ion and human slavery?

Xiumin spotted her as he straightened and came down the passage.  “Oh, you’re up.  Sleep well?”

He handed her a bag as he passed her and Semi stumbled as she took it, stunned.  It was several moments before she regained coherent thought and found herself still standing there.  After a moment or two, Xiumin re-emerged from the office, probably having gone to put something in there.

“The stuff in the bag’s for you, by the way,” he told her, crossing through to the dining room.  Surprised, Semi looked down at the bag and then opened it up.

She just had time to catch sight of some piano books when Xiumin abruptly popped his head back around the door.

“Oh, and what were you doing going through my stuff in the office?”

Semi almost decided to play innocent when she remembered that the file had been open when she’d gone in there and she’d closed it, so she couldn’t pretend she’d done nothing.

“What are you doing with all that information on ion and slavery?” she demanded.

Xiumin snorted, giving a little laugh.  “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you feisty.”

“Answer the question!”

Xiumin seemed most amused at the little stamp of the foot she gave.  “Calm down, honey.  It’s all legal – I’m helping the police.  Ask if you don’t believe me.”

Semi’s little show of petulance came to a screeching halt as she gaped at him.  It was a few seconds before she found her voice again.

“A-and you’re happy with that?”

Xiumin shrugged.  “Not particularly, but they aren’t the only ones who’ve trampled on my pride.  Besides, I keep the information hostage to use as a bargaining tool and they know that.”

Semi’s fingers tightened around the bag handle.  “I’m taking that file to the police.”

“Sweetie, you’re brave, but there’s no point.”  Xiumin’s gentle smile at her declaration sent chills down her spine.  “They already know everything in there.  Have you forgotten how many cameras and microphones there are in this place?  All the extra information is up here.”  He tapped the side of his head.

Semi forced herself to swallow.

“And there’s no need to be so scared,” he added.  “What am I realistically going to do to you when I’m watched like a hawk the entire time?  I could kill you, but I doubt I’d get very far afterwards with this microchip.”  He raised his arm.  “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

It really didn’t comfort Semi at all.

What Xiumin had said kind of got to Semi – not necessarily because of his words, but because he was being so blunt and open about the fact that he genuinely didn’t give at all for the police plan and was blatantly only there because he had to be.  She supposed that she must have hoped living together for a few weeks already, especially after seeing him around Taeyong, might have changed him.  The more Semi thought about it, the more she viewed him as a caged tiger, pacing restlessly about and waiting for somebody to open the cage door just a couple of centimetres, or for the cage to show just the barest hint of weakness, so that he could exploit it fully and break free.  She ended up retreating to her room to ring her brother.

Sehun didn’t pick up, so after several moments of worrying her bottom lip, Semi resorted to ringing Jongin instead.

“Yo!  Hey, you got me at a good moment – I’ve just come off my shift!” he greeted her cheerfully in English.  “Let me guess: husband problems?”

“I don’t know what to make of him,” grumbled Semi.  “He’s ridiculously nice most of the time but then he goes and says something that reminds me he’s a criminal and it’s really disturbing.”

“If it’s any consolation, he’s been losing a lot of sleep over you,” Jongin replied.

“He has?” Semi asked in surprise.

“Yup.  He’s a very light sleeper.  Wakes up every single time you have a nightmare.”

“Kai, that doesn’t count.  That’s taking ‘losing sleep’ very literally.”

“Hey, at least you’re pissing him off just as much as he’s pissing you off.  Karma, huh?”

It was enough to get a small giggle slipping past Semi’s lips.

“And now you’re smiling,” Jongin said, evidently proud of himself.  “Aren’t I awesome?”

“You’re such a tool.”

“But I’m an awesome tool.”

“No, just a tool tool.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Semi gave an ungainly snort.

“Oh, and guess what, guess what?” Jongin suddenly added.  “You’re never going to believe this!”

“Try me.”

“I went on a date yesterday!”

“Okay, I actually don’t believe that – you were right.”

“Hey!” Jongin protested.  “A little faith, here!  She said she wanted to go out again sometime.”

“What did you bribe her with?  Kai, you’re hopeless with girls.”

“Yeah, but Kyungsoo isn’t.  He gave me a few pointers.  And admittedly I was scoping her out for being a mole.  It’s kind of easy to be confident when you’re faking it.  Though she was really nice.  Dunno if she’d be my type.  Dunno if I have a type, really….”

“She must have been an alien, since you consider girls to be gross and icky.”

“It’s possible,” Jongin admitted in the tone of voice that he usually used when he shrugged.  “Anyway, I need a nap, because I’m supposed to be taking the nightshift for the cameras and I won’t stay awake otherwise.”

“Bye.”  Feeling marginally better, Semi hung up, taking a deep breath to stabilise herself.  Somehow, knowing that Jongin would be on the cameras was a relief.  He was somebody she could trust.

And her calmness went to hell when there was a knock on the bedroom door and Xiumin peeked in.

“Dinner?” he said.  “I cooked your favourite pasta.”

Semi was so confused it hurt.

Surprisingly, Semi had a nightmare-free sleep, and when she got a text from Tao asking if she was still up to clubbing, she responded with an enthusiastic yes.  From the undertones to his message, though, he and the others had been worried about her being missing from university in case her husband had done anything to her, and her suspicions were only confirmed when she got a text from Wendy inviting her to go shopping for the afternoon before they went to the club.  Semi had been about to refuse – she didn’t particularly fancy an afternoon on the town – when another text had come through with either that or I’m coming round to yours, and if you refuse both I’m ringing the police just in case, and she figured she had to.

“Where are you off to?” Xiumin asked with some confus