By the time the weekend started, the police were fairly certain that it would be safe to move back into the apartment.  Kyungsoo had said there was no sign of it being externally monitored, and nobody suspicious had tried to get into it.  Minseok was busy working with Lay, though, and Semi refused to go back to the place by herself, so while the living room was done up on the Saturday, she remained at Sehun and Chanyeol’s.  Her brother invited her to stay for the rest of the weekend, which she did.

“Wendy said you got abducted,” was Tao’s greeting when she showed up to the Monday morning lecture.  She tried very hard not to wince because he was clutching her arm right where Baekhyun had cut it.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmured, pushing him away.

He followed her to her seat.  “Are you sure you’re ready to be back?” he pressed.

“Yeah, you don’t look well,” Wendy told her with concern.  Seulgi whacked the pair of them over the head with a binder before Semi could reply.

“She’s said she doesn’t want to talk about it and she’s probably here to get distraction from the trauma, so shut it and talk about Disney.”

For the first time in a week, Semi was able to crack a smile, and it made the muscles in her face incredibly sore.

Wendy insisted on walking her home once their classes for the day were over.  At first it was as far as the nearest public transport, but as they were waiting for the metro to arrive, Wendy plopped down into the seat beside Semi instead of continuing on down the road to the bus stop.

“What are you doing?” Semi asked her.  “You’re going to miss the bus.”

“Making sure you don’t get abducted on the train.”

Semi snorted.

“Somebody made off with you in broad daylight in a café,” Wendy reminded her.

“What happened to you?” Semi suddenly remembered.  Minseok had mentioned that Wendy had been injured, and the girl had worn fingerless gloves the entire day, so it was impossible to see whether or not there were bandages.

“Some thugs came after me and I escaped out of the bathroom window.  Went straight to the police station.”  Wendy snuck a sidelong glance at Semi.  “Your husband interviewed me, actually.  Didn’t even take a proper statement or anything and fed me some story about being an undercover cop.  I don’t trust him at all.”

Rolling her eyes, Semi let out a sigh.

“I’m being serious.  There’s something really fishy about him.  I can’t believe you’re so blind to it.  He was really weird over the fact you’d been kidnapped—”

It continued like that for the entire train ride, and Semi was nearing breaking point as they stepped down onto the platform at the other end.

“You know, it’s almost like you’re hiding something from us,” Wendy persisted.  “You almost never talk about him, and you married incredibly young, and you always try to keep the conversation away from him, not to mention you’ve shown up with some pretty bad injuries recently and none of us have ever been round to your house, and they’re all warning signs, you know—”

“For God’s sake!” Semi exclaimed.  “Okay, fine!  Come have dinner with us this evening and then you can see you’re just being completely paranoid!”

It shut Wendy up, but only for about three seconds.  “Fine,” she said.  “But I’ll be watching carefully over the next few days in case he does anything to you.”

Semi resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and groan, instead stomping off down the street and almost slipping on a patch of ice.  Shaken, she righted herself and continued on.  Wendy trailed after her.

Neither spoke until they reached the apartment door, where Semi found herself faced with a fingerprint scanner and iris recognition.  Jongin had told her that Kyungsoo had insisted on installing it, no matter how ostentatious, and that the balcony window, by which Baekhyun was thought to have entered, was now bulletproof and operated on similar principles.

“Wow,” said Wendy, staring at the high-tech security.  “Is he a control freak or what?”

Ignoring her, Semi passed the tests and pushed the door open, kicking her shoes off.

“Minseok!” she yelled down the corridor.  “What’s for dinner?”

It felt very weird to be back.  Semi tucked her hands under her armpits, trying her best not to think back to what had happened the last time she’d been there.  If she had a panic attack, Wendy would probably go ape on Minseok, and that was the very last thing she wanted.

Minseok appeared from the study, rubbing a tired eye.  “I was just going to do a simple fry-up, but there’s not very much in the kitchen and—”  He stopped dead when he saw Wendy, and his face went white.

“I brought a guest,” Semi told him belatedly.

Swallowing visibly, Minseok nodded and turned back to Wendy.

“Hi,” he said.  “How are your hands healing?”

“What the hell is up with your front door?” Wendy demanded aggressively.

“Somebody tried to break in and kill the pair of us and my co-worker suggested it,” Minseok replied, still looking rather nervous.

“That’s not the story she told,” Wendy fired back, pointing at Semi.

“Wendy!” Semi complained, tugging on her arm.  “For God’s sake….”

It didn’t stop.  Wendy was passive aggressive at best, thinly veiled accusations at worst, and Semi quickly regretted bringing her home with her.  She hadn’t realised just how much animosity the girl possessed.

It didn’t really help that Minseok did nothing to stick up for himself other than trying on occasion to change the subject, which she was sure only compounded Wendy’s suspicions.  When they finally got a break because Wendy asked for the bathroom, Semi slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs, feeling like she’d just run the marathon.

“I can’t take this anymore,” she muttered.  “I think I’m just going to tell her.”

“Tell her what?”  Minseok turned away from the stove.

“The truth.”

“Are y—?”  Minseok glanced at the door and then back at Semi.  “Are you crazy?  She already hates me – she’ll probably kill the pair of us!”

Semi shrugged wearily.  “She’s only going to continue pestering us both otherwise.”

“But—”

“And you do realise that your fear of her is completely irrational, right?”

It silenced him and he looked away.

“It’ll also mean I can stop trying to remember