Minseok cried that night, and there was nothing that Semi could do to console him.  Betraying Luhan had taken a much bigger toll on him than even he’d suspected, and Semi was worried enough to ring Chanyeol up for advice.  Chanyeol prescribed lots of TLC as Minseok was probably going to be feeling low for quite some time.

When Sunday morning came round, Minseok packed himself off to church and didn’t come back.  It left Semi bewildered for a long time as he hadn’t even taken his phone with him, but when Jongin showed up with her brother (who had ended up not coming round the night before, apparently on Lay’s recommendation) and Chanyeol, he told her that Minseok had just stayed in the cathedral and looked like he wasn’t ready to move anytime soon.

“He needs time to sort himself out,” Chanyeol told her as he took an enormous cake out of the hamper he was carrying.  “Just give him a little space and he’ll come back in his own time.  To him, this is the equivalent of you giving up Sehun.”

“But this is good,” Jongin added in an attempt at humour.  “At least he can’t criticise the cake for being bought instead of homemade.”

Semi managed a wry laugh.

All three of the boys knew her well enough to be able to take her mind off things and Semi spent a happy, lazy afternoon floating around town with them and Chanyeol producing pieces of the massive chocolate cake at odd points as they walked along.  By six in the evening, Jongin was pretending to be sick every time he was offered some, and Sehun suggested that they ought to find other willing victims to eat it instead, so they ended up at the hospital Junhong was still staying at.  He looked ecstatic at the prospect of anything that wasn’t hospital food and asked them if they couldn’t find some way of hiding it for him where the nurses wouldn’t find it.  He wasn’t up to a long visit, though, as he was still very fragile and he was needed for police and legal interviews, and possibly to give testimony in court against Seungri, who Chen had managed to catch with his other blood brothers through the army’s help.  Once he had fallen asleep and left them standing around the bed like lemons, Sehun slipped several pieces of cake under his pillow.

“Right,” he said.  “I think we should visit Tao.”

Seeing Tao sitting up and chatting animatedly in Mandarin to people who must have been family members, nobody would ever have guessed that he’d taken a bullet to his side and one to his collarbone just a few days previously.  His arm was in a sling, but he’d been off opiate painkillers for a while and it was pretty clear that he was getting restless.  None of his family spoke Korean and none of Semi’s group spoke Mandarin, so Tao introduced them and acted as the interpreter.  He was soon distracted by the presence of the cake, however.  Like Junhong, he asked if he could keep some of it because he didn’t like the hospital food, and Chanyeol happily offloaded some onto him.

“Oh, and Semi!” he called out when the hospital staff came to turf them out because visiting hours were over.  “Those pearls are beautiful!”

Freezing momentarily, Semi’s hand went to , where the pearls Minseok had given her rested.  The others turned at Tao’s call.

“Those are new,” Sehun observed as they left the ward.  “When did you get them?”

“Minseok’s birthday present to me,” Semi answered in a small voice.  “He remembered me saying in the first week we were living together that my favourite stone was pearl.”

“Pearls aren’t technically stone—” Jongin began, apparently unable to tame the trivial knowledge monster in him forever.

“So what exactly is happening with you and Minseok now?” Sehun asked, tone thoroughly unenthusiastic.  “Please say you’re not planning on sticking together.”

Semi continued fiddling with the pearls.  “We currently have no plans to split up.”

“He’s going back to prison,” Jongin pointed out.  Semi shot him a dirty look.

“Ever heard of a long-distance relationship?”

Sehun closed his eyes and sighed.  “Are you sure this isn’t going to be an appalling mistake?”

“No, but you have to take some risks in life.  And besides, Minseok didn’t give Luhan up just because he’s in love with me.  He gave him up because he wants to live a normal life.  Lay’s already offered him a job for when he gets out of prison, so he’ll have solid foundations to build on.  If he didn’t, I’d be worried about remaining attached in any way because it would be much easier for him to change his mind.”

“His past, though….”

“Hounding somebody about their past when they clearly show remorse is incredibly damaging for the psyche,” Chanyeol cut in.  “Not to mention it makes you incredibly judgemental and narrow minded.  One of my colleagues is a prison psychotherapist and he says it’s depressing just how many people – young people – who are imprisoned for a short span – six months, say – for something stupid that they really regret end up back there a few years down the line with serious convictions because pe