By Thursday, Semi was looking distinctly better.  She by no means looked well or cheerful, but there was a tinge of colour in her cheeks and she was attempting to eat most of what was put in front of her at every meal.

“Your sister is tenacious,” Chanyeol told Sehun as the latter bustled out of the door for work, and Sehun smiled proudly before vanishing into the snow.

Chanyeol spent the morning talking to Semi while Xiumin rearranged everything neatly in the fridge for the fifth time, and then for the first time she actually came to join them in the kitchen for lunch.  After seeing her pale as she entered, looking at the chopping boards on the table, Xiumin made sure that there were absolutely no knives in sight.

“I’ve got two patients to meet this afternoon,” Chanyeol said around a mouthful of sushi.  “You two okay being here until Sehun gets back?”

They both nodded, Semi nibbling at a piece of raw fish.

After lunch, Semi insisted on having a shower, but then she wandered into the living room with the duvet from her bed.

“Can we watch a film?” she asked Xiumin, making him look up from the sofa in surprise.  “Something happy?”

He nodded, shifting over so she could settle beside him, and found himself cocooned in the duvet with her five minutes later as a G-rated film began to play.  It took a lot of restraint not to put his arms around her, but he wasn’t sure how comfortable she’d be with excessive contact not from her brother, so he didn’t try.

“Chen said yesterday that Jongin thinks he’s run Baekhyun into a corner,” Semi offered as the closing credits began to roll.

“That’s good.”  Xiumin already knew because Chen had told him before leaving.

“He also said you’re working with the police to catch Suho.”

“I am.”

“And that your sentence will be taken down to seven years.”

“That was Lay’s offer, yes.”

“What do you plan to do when you get out of jail?”

The question took Xiumin aback.  After the conversation with Luhan yesterday, he’d totally forgotten about Lay’s offer.  He could be free at any time, after all.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  “I haven’t really thought about it.”

“I think you should start a restaurant,” she told him, playing with his fingers.  “I like your cooking.”

“Would you come and eat at the restaurant?” he asked her in a playful tone.

“Only if you were the chef.”

“Even though you’ll probably never want to see me again after you’re no longer in witness protection?”

Semi scowled.  “If you come out of prison a reformed man, I wouldn’t have a problem being your friend.  You need to start again somewhere.”

“Lay offered me a job with him.  It’s probably the best opportunity I’ll get.”

“Will you take it?”

Xiumin shrugged.  “Probably, though the man still terrifies me.”  He glanced sideways at her.  “You’ve most likely already been through this with Chen and Chanyeol and your brother, and you’re under no obligation to say anything at all, but what happened in the apartment with Baekhyun?”

Semi shuddered.  “I found the living room with candles all over the floor and a bunch of them lit in a ring in the middle, and then he snuck up on me and started going on about how beautiful fire was.  And then he tried to carve two hundred and fifty million into my arm and I tried to fight him off.”  She hesitated for a moment, splaying Xiumin’s fingers out.  “He was toying with me.  He wanted to make me s-suffer before….”  She choked, and Xiumin quickly pulled her into an embrace.

“Okay, okay,” he murmured.  “No more.  The important thing is you were able to get away.”

She took a few tremulous breaths, and to his pleased surprise, managed not to break down.

“It was petrifying.”

“I know.”  He her hair, careful to avoid the injury at the back of her head.  “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

There was a lapse in conversation as she rested against his chest and he gently tucked her hair behind her ears.  Semi rearranged the duvet around them and then reached out for the remote control to turn the TV off.

“About the kiss,” Xiumin said abruptly.  “I apologise.  I shouldn’t have done it.”

Semi raised her head, frowning, and Xiumin let go of her.

“We were both panicking and it was the fastest way to calm us both down,” Xiumin clarified.  “Not that it mitigates anything.  It was pretty much ual harassment.”

“It’s ual harassment if one of the parties is unwilling,” Semi pointed out.

“Or if one party is not in a fit condition to refuse advances.”

“Don’t demean me,” Semi snapped.  “I’m still just about conscious enough when I’m having a panic attack to recognise who people are and either fight or accept the way they approach me.  If anybody else had tried to kiss me in that condition, I would have fought.”

“You accepted Heo Youngsaeng’s help when you had a panic attack in the car.”

Semi floundered for a response for a few moments.  “That’s because at the time he clearly meant me no harm.”

“What if things had happened the other way around – if he’d met you in the café first and then helped you with a panic attack on another occasion after that?”

“Can we just drop it?” Semi bit out, suddenly very on edge.  Xiumin let out a soft sigh.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.  “Though, given how you’re still so wary of them, how is it that you’re so comfortable trusting me?”

Semi froze up.  “W-well, I know you… I know you can’t hurt me unless you want to die, and I think you like me as a person…?”

Xiumin decided it wasn’t the best time to tell her that he’d once or twice been obliged to kill people he quite liked.  She blinked rapidly a few times and then looked away from him.

“Sometimes I have no choice, anyway.”  She started fiddling absently with her hands.  “And I kind of know you.”

“You’ve said that already.”

Semi continued to fiddle.  Xiumin reached out and placed his hands on hers, getting her to stop.

“Sometimes,” he said gently, “going to the ends of the earth for a person you love isn’t a very good idea.”

Semi flushed beetroot and ducked her head away.

“Nobody you ever love will be perfect,” Xiumin pointed out, “and part of loving them is knowing when to refuse them.”

“You spend too much time at church,” she muttered, pulling her hands out of his.

The front door slammed open at that point and a few moments later, Sehun appeared, still stamping snow off his boots.

“It is freezing outside,” he stated as he pulled off his gloves, “and—Semi!  You’re up!  Have you eaten?”

Semi nodded.

“She’s been talking a lot too,” Xiumin put in, attracting a scowl from Sehun, but the man otherwise ignored him in favour of his sister.  Xiumin left to give them privacy.

Semi wasn’t in much of a state of mind to go back to university, but since Chanyeol was staying home and she was doing better, Xiumin went to the police station the next day to help Lay.  He was no longer quite so rattled by what had happened, and in any case, they had to deal with Suho.

He had learnt not to expect particular reactions from Lay on bumping into him, but the sh*t-eatin