To Semi’s absolute shock, Sehun was still there when she woke up the next morning and wandered into the kitchen in need of coffee.

“Morning,” her brother yawned at her as he nursed a steaming mug of tea.  “Did you sleep okay?”

Semi’s eyes shot open and she stared, her surprise cancelling out her need for a caffeine fix.

“You stayed the night?” she demanded dumbly.  “Where did you sleep?”

“The guest room.”  Sehun yawned again.  “It was really comfy.  Didn’t want to get up.”

Semi knew exactly how comfortable that bed was because she had slept in it several times herself.  She suspected it wasn’t the best of ideas to inform her brother that there wasn’t actually a guest room in the apartment.

“So….”  She hovered by the fridge, searching for the right question to ask.  “Did you and Minseok… settle your differences?”

Sehun grunted.  “He’s charming.  And disarmingly honest, which wasn’t something I was expecting.”

“He’s not one for lying or hiding things.  He keeps his promises, too.”

“He says he keeps his promises, you mean,” Sehun grumbled.  “That doesn’t mean he actually does.  And I bet you he is hiding stuff.”

“Well… yeah,” Semi mumbled, eventually realising that it was bad for the fridge to keep the door open and taking out a yoghurt.  “I take that back.  He does hide things.  But nothing that’s important for me or my safety.”

Sehun let out a world-weary sigh.  “You like the guy, don’t you?”

Semi saw no point in denying it.  “Yes, I do.  I’ve already told you I think he’s perfectly nice, except for the fact that he’s a criminal.”

“No, no.”  Sehun frowned, waving a hand over his tea as if the drink understood him better than his sister.  “I mean you like him.  As in, you’re attracted to him.  It’s the only reason you’d ever stick up for his nonsense.  You’re usually much more sensible than this.”

Pausing with a yoghurt spoon in her hand, Semi tried her best to fight off a blush.  Sehun was right that she found Minseok attractive – she’d resigned herself to that fact long ago and was even prepared to admit more than just a fleeting crush, though probably not to her brother – but that didn’t mean that what the rest of what he said was true.  That said, her brain definitely wasn’t up to handling that kind of topic this early in the morning.

“I spent hours talking to him last night,” Sehun went on, thankfully sparing her that conversation.  “And honestly, when I came away, I felt like I’d been hypnotised.  And that’s not a good sign.”

“Hypnotised?” Semi repeated.  “How?”

Sehun threw his hands up in frustration, accidentally knocking over his tea.  “It’s just the way – oh, sh*t, whoops – the way he says things!  Like he’s so earnest and convincing about everything or genuinely worried, and then you figure, but wait, that’s probably how he tricked people into believing him in the past when he was scamming them!”  Belatedly, he righted the mug and glanced around for a cloth.  Spotting one by the sink, he got up to retrieve it.

“Sehun, there’s no way he could be lying about absolutely everything he says.  There are some things he genuinely cares about.”

“Name one,” Sehun snapped at her.

“The kid next door, for one, and Luhan—”

“And Luhan,” Sehun deadpanned.  “That’s ing great.  Luhan wants you dead, remember?”

Realising it had been a stupid thing to say, Semi bit her lip.  “Sehun, I know he’s not the best person in the world and he’s made plenty of mistakes—”

“Mistakes?” her brother scoffed.  “Would you even listen to yourself?”

“—But he’s changing.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but he is.  He goes to church every week; he’s becoming more cooperative with the police; he’s even starting to examine where he went wrong in life.  Literally the only area he’s holding out on is anything that involves Luhan, but that’s only because they’ve been friends for over twenty years and I’m sure that’ll crack someday too—”

“Oh my God,” Sehun breathed in disbelief, sinking back into his chair.  “Oh my God.  Semi, please don’t.  I only found you two and a half years ago – I don’t want to lose you to this guy.”

“Sehun, if the police don’t catch Luhan, that’s my only hope,” Semi said somewhat desperately.  “But the chances of that happening are going to be absolutely minimal if everybody’s hostile to him.  Can’t you just give him a chance?  If he’s genuinely remorseful, it’s unfair and immoral to deny him the chance to repair things.  He should be encouraged, not shot down!”

“If he’s genuinely remorseful,” Sehun stressed, his voice beginning to rise in volume, “but that still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want my sister getting cosy with a murderous convicted pimp!”

Semi stared at him, shocked.  Sehun was gazing at her with pleading eyes, almost terrified.  She had to admit that she understood to an extent where he was coming from, but she didn’t know how to impress upon him that Minseok was no longer that much of a danger.  She hadn’t meant to defend Minseok quite that strongly, either, but rescinding any of her words would just give her brother more grounds for insisting that Minseok was absolutely not to be trusted, and while trust was definitely a contentious issue with the man, Semi was certain that treating him as a pariah was definitely the wrong way to go about things.

“Wow,” said a voice from the doorway before she could open .  “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting to start my morning by walking into a heap of insults.”  Minseok was standing shivering in the doorway in his pyjamas – thankfully, Semi noticed, the full set rather than just the shorts he usually wore.

Sehun flinched guiltily and busied himself with wiping up the spilt tea.  Semi felt her face reddening from embar