'So… some family history, huh?'

They were standing on either sides of the bed they'd slept in until this very morning – when she'd still believed he was nothing but a normal, albeit rather mysterious, person like herself. Boy, was she ever wrong.

Xiumin nodded, smiling a little. 'Some family history…' he looked at her, 'how're you feeling?'

'A bit overwhelmed, to be honest.' She shook her head, slowly moving to sit down on the bed.

'Tempted to run away?' He asked, dreading her answer. After all, what sane person would choose to stay in a situation like this, deliberately putting themselves in danger?

She rolled her eyes. 'It's not that bad. I've had worse.'

He arched a brow; really, what could compare to an entire lesson in the history of an ancient, alien civilization?

'Get my mom started on her extended family and how each and everyone is related to her, in how many ways and from whom we inherit what traits.' She shuddered. 'Trust me, that's worse. At least Suho stayed to the point.'

Well, he couldn't argue with that. 'You're not scared of me now, are you?' He asked, a bit curious as to how she was taking it.

She rolled her eye again. 'Does it look like I’m scared?'

Well, she was alone in the room with him. That was definitely not scared. 'Good enough. So, we'll be leaving tonight since it's not safe around here at present.'

She didn't say anything for a while. 'What about Rose? I can't just…'

'Your family…'

'I'm going to tell them not to visit anymore. I can't put them in danger like this.'

So like her to think that. Pragmatic to the core. 'I can talk to Suho… we're taking Chen and Lay along as well of course, so…'

'Can you do that?' She looked at him hopefully. He shrugged. 'I don't see why not? Lay'll be up and about soon enough hopefully, so they can keep each other company.' He smiled at her.

She nodded. 'I'm sure she'll like that.'

'Great, we'll do it then. Anything else?'

'Not really.' She shrugged. 'I can't believe you did this to me, though.'

Something in her tone warned him this was not good. 'Did what?'

'Hide such important details about yourself.' She looked him in the eye

'Well… I wasn't sure how to bring it up…?' He trailed off, seeing her arched brow. 'What? When did I have the chance to tell you about it?'

'Oh I don't know, any time before you decided to get in my pants?' She turned away, crossing her arms and leaning against the headboard. 'I mean, we've known each other for over two years, right? You know almost everything about me and yet you couldn't be bothered to share something this important… you see what I'm getting at?'

He did, unfortunately, and he was feeling uncomfortable about it because she had a valid point.

'So… are you going to break up with me?' He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Sure, he'd decided they had to break up but like, not right now! He'd decided he'd make memories he could cherish later on, so this was out of the question and he was ready to fight for their relationship with everything…

'No, I'm not.' She told him, halting the rant inside his head. 'But that doesn't mean you're getting away scot free either. So…' She turned her head, nodding at his pillow, 'You can sleep on the couch.'

'What, seriously?' He snorted. 'C'mon Lily…'

'I'm not joking, Xiumin.'

'But…'

'I'm not sleeping with you until I can reconcile myself with all this information – which I should've gotten from you but we don’t always get what we want, do we?' She huffed irritably at the end, turning away.

Xiumin picked his pillow, dragging it deliberately slowly across the mattress. 'I can't sleep without you…' he muttered pathetically.

She pretended not to hear. He sighed. 'Fine, I'll just suffer through the nightmares alone. By myself. With no one to hold me…' he glanced over his shoulder; her eyes were closed but she was smiling. He continued, making himself sound even more pathetic, 'Like I've done all these years…'

'I'm not giving in, Xiumin. Your tricks won't work.'

He shrugged, grinning. 'Worth a try.'

'Whatever.'

…………………………….

'You could've just said it wasn't him instead of letting me fool myself like that.' Raina pouted against her friend's shoulder. D.O had gone off, once again, to meet with Suho. According to Baekhyun, they were planning what their next move should be. So Kyra was finally available to anyone other that D.O – geez, the guy was so damn possessive.

'But you're cute when you're foolish…' Kyra reasoned, patting her head. 'Besides, I was in the hospital, how was I supposed to know who it was?'

'You've been here for a while now.' Raina pouted again.

'Well, you know now.'

Raina was quiet for a while. 'Why do I still feel so much for…?'

'You've spent this entire semester devoting your attention and energies for the guy, of course you're going to feel it.' Kyra rolled her eyes. 'It's not going to end in a day just because I said something.'

'I have a question,' Baekhyun suddenly appeared over Kyra's shoulder, making her yelp in surprise. He steadied her in the chair, 'I also kind of thought she was Lay's mate because he can only heal properly when she's around, ever since his powers started fluctuating and stuff.'

Raina had no idea that was the case. She stared at Baekhyun, open-mouthed. 'Really?'

Baekhyun gave her a familiar flirtatious grin, 'Really.'

'Why…?' Both of them looked at Kyra for explanation. She put her hands up, 'I'm just a plain old seer…'

'No, you gotta have something!' Raina grasped her knee, 'Pretty please… with cherries on top of Baekhyun!'

'Ya, you want D.O to kill me?' Baekkhyun asked, before making a pleading face at Kyra. 'Pretty please with cherries on top of D.O!'

Kyra started giggling at the image of serious D.O with cherries topping his head but she shook her head. 'I don't know…'

They made such pathetic faces at her statement that she sighed. 'Fine… I'll try.'

She cleared , crossing her knees and placing her palms on top of them. 'Okay… Baekhyun, I'll ask you a few questions about him since you're his brother. You can refuse to answer if you feel uncomfortable and I assure you that anything you say to me will remain between the two of us unless I feel that there's a chance of you harming yourself or someone else or…'

Baekhyun leaned closer to Raina, 'What's wrong with her?' He asked, out of the corner of .

'She's going to conduct a diagnostic interview… it's a psychologist thing.' She added at Baekhyun's blank look.

'Any questions?' Kyra finished.

Baekhyun shook his head, 'Nope.'

'Okay, then…' She gestured at Raina to get up and leave.

'Why?' Raina whined. Kyra gave her a stern look. 'I promised the information will remain between me and him. Please leave.'

Sighing, knowing she wouldn't budge on this – client's confidentiality is the most important thing, Kyra had often told her while she was interning at the clinic – Raina got up to leave. She had no idea where she would go because Tiffany was with Sehun, Mei was indisposed and Angel…

Her train of thought broke when she came face to face with the person she'd been actively avoiding since this morning, particularly after Suho's statement.

Maybe because now she knew what this meant or maybe she was just anxious, but her heart started thudding really, really hard. And the time slowing thing didn't help her in the least.

At least, now she knew what was going on.

'H-hello!' she said in an overly-cheerful way, her squeaking towards the end. 'Eventful day, huh?'

Tao gave her a stare that made her freeze in place because a) it was unusually intense, even though Tao was naturally a master of intense stares and b) his eyes were red which was kind of... dare she say it, y?

'Go away.' He told her rudely, turning away, then started walking away, muttering angrily under his breath.  

She stood there in silence, shocked. If anyone had the right to be mad in this situation, it was her! She was the one who'd been suffering through these weird time warps, going through the extreme dilemma regarding him and Lay, literally losing sleep over it.

She wasn't prone to crushing but nowadays, she was veritable puddle of emotions waiting to latch onto someone. Or that's what she'd been thinking about herself these days – like she was so easily influenced by her friend's suggestions and was so desperate for a relationship that anyone who said anything was making her swing this way and that.

And could you even imagine what it did to her self-esteem? And yet, here he was, telling her to go away. Like it was her fault! Of all the outrageous things… weren't they friends now? Was that how you treated your friend?

'Ya!' She threw the nearest throwable thing – which happened to be a journal of some sort with rather heavy, leather binding – at his back.

It hit him with a thud, the edge digging painfully. He stiffened a moment before letting an almighty yowl of pain and turning around with a roar. She felt a momentary flash of fear – his eyes were redder than before but then, water filled them. 'What d'you do that for?' He asked, pain evident in his voice.

'Why're you being so rude?' She asked, feeling a bit guilty about hitting him. They'd decided not to fight anymore. She offered him a paper napkin as a peace offering. 'Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to…'

He accepted the tissue paper, patting his eyes dry. 'That's… okay.' He sighed, 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so abrupt.'

They both looked at each for a few moments. 'Friends?' They asked simultaneously. She started laughing, feeling relieved. He took a deep breath and then, a most interesting array of emotions crossed his face, like he was going through some extreme internal struggle, unsure whether to swallow or throw up and regretting breathing at the same time.

She discreetly sniffed herself – she didn't stink, did she?

He laughed at her. 'No, you don't stink.'

She stared at him suspiciously – was mind-reading part of his powers? Wait, how did time-control lead to that?

He conked her head. 'Stop thinking so much. It's just that you… your scent…' he turned a little red, looking away and suddenly moving, putting some distance between them. She followed, 'is kind of… well, very nice.'

She had no idea how to respond. 'Thank you?'

He gave a half-smile. 'The mood-swings are part of the whole maturing thing, so if I get kind of snappish…'

'It's okay,' she was beginning to feel for him, 'I understand.'

'Thanks.'

They'd reached his room. He looked at her. 'Wanna come in?'

She wondered if she should try to read into it but then decided against it – she'd already done it too many times and suffered because of it and he didn't sound like he had any ulterior motives, just that she'd be left standing alone in the corridor with no company. Plus, his room was kind of awesome with all those weapons and workout equipment and she was kind of hoping he'd let her try some of them out. She gave him her best smile. 'Sure!'

………………………………

'Really?' Sehun was annoyed.

'I'm sorry, I had it until…' Tiffany was distraught, wringing her fingers, 'but then, things happened and now, I can't find it anywhere!'

He sighed, 'Let it go, it was just a stupid souvenier anyway.'

'It's not a stupid souveneir!' She glared at him.

'So what can I do?' he threw his hands up, 'Why're you bugging me?'

'Come with me, I'm sure it fell somewhere in the woods.' She looked at him pathetically, 'Take me there, let's look for it.'

'Meh.' He stretched his legs, relaxing. 'I'm going to sleep…ya!'

'Get up.' She was pulling her arm back for another punch, 'You mightn't care about it but it's important to me!'

Sehun totally wanted to ignore her rant – he could take any punches she threw at him – but the beast was constantly whining inside his head, ready to give in because look at her, she looks so upset! How can you leave her like that?

He opened one eye to look at her. Ugh, she had to make that pathetic face, hadn't she? Ugh.

'Stop whining, I'll get up.' he mumbled, cursing the beast and his own soft heart for being unable to resist her. It was a stupid teddy bear anyway and even if he had been annoyed that she'd lost it – when he'd specially won it for her – he could get her better things. All he had to do was go bug Suho about it.

'Sehun…' she whined again, fluffling up her cheeks and opening and closing her hands like a baby, gesturing for him to come to her. He blinked, unsure what he was seeing. Was she really trying to be… cute?

For some reason, he felt heat rising on his face and he turned his face away, putting a hand out to cover her face, 'I'll ask Suho.' After all, he couldn't just fly her there with Evil so obviously on the prowl for the mates.

'You're the best!' She told him, happy that he'd acqueised. He watched her prance around for a while before deciding she was being too comfortable around him. They'd had like, one date… besides, he liked her flustered.

So, when she came near him the next time – like a butterfly, she was fluttering around the room, curiosity evident as she poked around – he put out his arms around her waist and pulled her near. She stiffened a bit and the pink flush that suddenly rose satisfied him that his tactic was working. Just to be sure though, he leaned down and kissed her.

It was hard and brief and it left her surprised, a bit dazed. He smiled down at her, satisfied with her new look and let her go, whistling as he busied himself, patting his hair and admiring himself in the mirror.

……………………….

In the end Kai had to take him to the spot – after whining at Suho for so long the leader decided to just let him go rather than bear any more of his annoying grumbling – and they were both poking around in the trees, trying to find the stupid teddy bear.

'I mean, why is it even that important?' Sehun muttered for the hundredth time.

Kai shrugged his shoulders. 'You won it for her, of course it's important.'

Sehun had been a bit uncomfortable about bringing Kai along, his being her ex and all – the beast bared its teeth, snapping at Kai – but he was obviously okay with everything and given his recent feminine bent and matchmaking interests made him a rather valuable source to understand the female mind.

Sehun sighed, bending down to look closely at the ground. All he could see was burn marks in the grass and loads of ashes, a buttload of broken branches and bent trunks, courtesy of his tornado last night and a piece of cloth that looked suspiciously like the hole in his pants. But no teddy bear.

'Argh, where did she drop it???' Sehun pulled at his hair, getting more annoyed by the second.

'Go over the date with me.' Kai pried his fingers away, patting his shoulder. 'What did you guys do after we left?'

Sehun eyed him resentfully – a guy couldn't even pull his hair in peace, tch – before scrunching up his face, thinking back. 'We toasted ourselves… then ordered… and had dessert. We also talked a lot.'

Kai nodded his head encouragingly. 'Then we started walking by the river side and we went over the bridge and got into that wooden thingie…' he gestured with his hands to indicate the pavillon.

'Pavillon.' Kai supplied helpfully.

'Yeah that… um then we, erm… we…' Sehun faltered, not really comfortable sharing their first kiss – well, first official, completely intentional kiss – with a third party. But he closed his eyes, thinking about it.

It had been magical, even though Sehun wouldn't be caught dead saying that kind of cheesy stuff. Her lips, rather cold, had warmed pretty quickly against his and she'd responded, shyly at first and then with increasing abandon. Her fingers had felt so good, so perfect, twined around his and…

That's when it hit him. The pavillon, of course!

'I know where it is!' He announced, suddenly running and dragging Kai along wih him. 'Where're we going?' Kai asked, 'I can teleport us there.'

'The pavillon but you're staying outside.' Sehun told him. Somehow that place felt sacred, special and he didn't want anyone else going in there. Rather foolish, he knew, but he couldn't help it.

Kai teleported without warning and Sehun let him go with a gasp, stumbling when they reappeared. 'I hate you.' He told Kai, knocking his chest to regain air. Teleporting always made him feel claustrophobic. 'Warn me before you do that.'

Kai merely smirked. 'Get on with it.'

He flipped a bird over his shoulder, stepping inside the pavillon and looking around. In the fading light, it was as magical as it had been the night before and he spotted the teddy, resting at the foot of one of the columns – where he and Tiffany had kissed.

An unconscious smile formed on his face as he hurried towards the bear, picking it up and gently patting it clean. He glanced around to make sure Kai was out of sight before patting his pockets and drawing out the pen he found. It was dry but for this task, that was even better.

It took him around five minutes and Kai threatened to come inside more than once but he made him swear on Mei's life that he wouldn’t; but he was satisfied when he was done. Smiling down at his handiwork, he looked around to make sure he wasn't missing anything – maybe she'd dropped an earring or something equally outrageous – before heading back out.

'What took you so long?' Kai asked, before staring at the teddy bear. 'Aw, did you get her that? That's so sweet, Sehunnie… I'm so proud of you!'

Sehun ducked to avoid his proud-mama hug, then poked his side. 'Come on, let's go!'

Kai teleported them back.

…………………………