I understand that some of you are doing exams at the moment.  Good luck!  I hope that everything goes well, and that you get some time to sleep and relax in between them.

Happy 200 votes!  Even though that was ages ago.  Thank you for your support <3

There were two things that irritated Xiumin when it came to confessionals.  The first was that they were dimly lit, which made writing neatly rather hard, and the second was that something about them gave him the urge to spill his guts about all the crimes he genuinely had committed to the priest on the other side of the grill instead of the list of lies he was pretending to be sorry about.  But technically, they weren’t even lies – he had lied to his wife, and he was deliberately antagonistic towards one of his co-workers (most of them, actually, if you genuinely counted the police as his co-workers), and he had neglected to tell his next door neighbour important things… like the fact that he was a convicted criminal and that by law he probably shouldn’t be allowed to babysit her son.

He glanced over the list of things he’d written out for Luhan as the priest dispensed advice about being honest in a marriage that probably would have been very sound if Xiumin’s marriage had been a normal one.

Finally beginning to break her down, was right at the top.  But she still won’t talk.  Yeah, this wasn’t anything like a normal, happy marriage.  I went to her for the first time last night instead of waiting for her to come to me, because everything’s taking so long.  She’s receptive, though, so it’ll probably be quicker.

He glanced further down the list, over other details like Semi’s term time dates at the university and information he’d managed to pick up from the police – the most important one being to stay away from the Topp Dogg gang area for the week as the police were planning a raid, and even though Luhan was unlikely to be anywhere around the place, it was still better to make sure that even the remotest chance of likelihood became zero.

Crossing out the fact that Taeyong was coming to stay (on second thoughts, it wasn’t at all relevant to anything Luhan needed to know), Xiumin slipped the note carefully into a crack in the floorboards and silently placed the kneeler back on top of it.  He’d already read and memorised the information Luhan was supplying to him that week; it was up to whichever of Luhan’s minions was going to wander into the confessional later in the day to dispose of the evidence.

After waiting patiently for the confession to reach its natural end, Xiumin thanked the priest and left.  The cathedral was still heaving with people – many of them tourists – even though Mass had long since ended.

The apartment was noticeably cooler when he got back, and at first Xiumin was puzzled: he was pretty sure he’d been told nothing could be done about the situation until Monday.  A quick peek into the kitchen, though, the windows of which had been thrown wide, and into the living room, where he found Semi playing the piano, explained why.

“Have you opened literally every single window in the apartment?” he asked her when she came to the end of the piece, pointing to the gaping balcony doors.  Semi jumped and looked around, and then a pout crossed her face as though she’d found herself in trouble for something that she didn’t think she should be blamed for.

“The heat was bad for the piano.”

“Oh, I’m not angry,” he told her.  “It’s Siwon who’s footing the bill for this.  When did you wake up?  Have you eaten breakfast?”

“Eleven, yes, and I slept well, too,” Semi replied.  He eyed the bags under her eyes.

“Really?”

“Yes.”  She played a chord.

“I don’t think you slept long enough.”

Xiumin’s point was punctuated by a yawn.

“I haven’t had a decent sleep in a couple of weeks; obviously I’m still tired,” she told him tersely.

“Yeah, you’ve also been running pretty much on adrenaline as a result, and because your body’s pretty much still in flight mode from all that hyperventilating.”  He looked around.  “We should probably both get out of the apartment, you know.  It’s not good to stay holed up in one place the entire time, and you might actually get cold in here with all the through draughts.”

Semi didn’t look totally convinced.  Xiumin snapped his fingers.

“Oh!  And I spotted a spa on my way back from church and thought you might appreciate a relaxing massage and whatnot, so I booked you in.”

An expression of gratified surprise passed across Semi’s face.  “Really?”

“Yep, really.”  He looked incredibly proud of himself.  “And it’s not one I used to own, so there’s probably nothing dodgy going on with it.  Let’s have lunch and then we can sort out what’s going to happen this afternoon.”

The day passed in a calm and happy blur for Semi.  Xiumin dropped her off at the spa while he went to pick up food and other things they were going to need while Taeyong stayed with them, and Semi spent a relaxing couple of hours getting a back and head massage.  It had been a couple of years since the last time she’d received a professional massage, and she was about ready to fall asleep by the time he picked her up.

“Had fun?” Xiumin asked with a chuckle as she yawned and nearly tripped, catching herself on the car.  Semi nodded blearily as she got inside and snuggled up into the leather upholstery on the back seat.

“I feel free!”  Flinging her arms wide, she slumped back with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

“You look like you’re on drugs,” he commented.  “How’s your fracture doing?  I asked them not to go near it.”

“S’fine,” Semi mumbled around another yawn.

“That’s good.”  The engine purred to life and he reversed out of the parking space.

“Minseok?”

“Yes?”

“Can you cook that pasta again tonight?”

There was a short pause as he raised his eyebrows and glanced at her through the rear view mirror.  If he hadn’t known better, he would have assumed she was asleep.

“Sure.”

Once they’d gone around and closed all the windows after dinner, it took all of about thirty minutes for the apartment to regain its sweltering heat.  Semi retreated to her bedroom and rang Jongin to demand him to do something about it, but he told her that they kind of couldn’t without making it obvious that it was a prank – which Xiumin would probably get rather pissy about – and that it was Kyungsoo’s day off and he was the only one who could control the heating system long distance.

Disgruntled, Semi sat on her bed and looked at the window, wondering if she was desperate enough to open it and turn her room into a freezer.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Yeah?” she called out.

“I got thin sheets we could use instead of duvets when I was out earlier,” Xiumin informed her as he let himself in, sheets in tow.  Semi swallowed and quickly averted her eyes when she realised he was topless.

“And also,” he added, “you’re still shattered and last night was definitely the best you’ve slept in a while, not to mention you got a full eight hours while I was there, so I thought I’d stay with you tonight too so we both get a proper night’s rest.”

Whatever the temperature in the apartment had been up until that point, it suddenly seemed to shoot up several degrees.

“If that’s okay with you, of course.”  Xiumin set the sheet down on the chair and started folding the duvet up.

“U-uh….”  Semi was incapable of anything beyond incoherent stammering.  She wasn’t even sure there was a right answer to go for.

Xiumin took it as a yes and started making the bed again.  “Hey, can you grab that corner and tuck it in for me?”

Semi just went with it wordlessly, and moments later, the bed was done.

“Right.”  Xiumin surveyed it, dusting his hands off.  “You’ve had a good meal, you’ve had a relaxing day, and now I’m here to make sure you sleep well.  Should be all the ingredients for a perfect night.”

“Y-yeah.”  Semi looked away, fidgeting, and only then realised that she wasn’t yet in her pyjamas.  “I’m gonna go change.”  Fl