Luhan's POV

The sky had darkened outside and the EXO dorm was as noisy as ever. I stood at the foot of the stairs and watched as Ling played charades with the members with her smile radiating the whole room. I observed the expressions of the members one by one, and to my surprise, each of them seemed to view Ling as a girl rather than a sister.

Was I the only one that didn't see her that way?

I let out a sigh and retreated to my room only to be stopped by Suho.

"Why don't you play with us?" He asked awkwardly. "I know it's awkward now that you're no longer part of EXO but, we don't mind that much you know?"

I smiled softly and looked past him at the smiling Ling. I didn't want to hurt her more than I already have. I shook my head at Suho who looked disappointed and returned to the silence of my room. I lay on my bed looking at the photo of me and Borin. She was gorgeous in the photo but somehow my heart didn't move as much as it did when I saw her in person. I rolled to my side and looked through her social media profile. Endless amounts of selfies stared back at me. Her with that guy, Nam Soon, her with her friends and a picture of her and Ling.

I felt my heart race as I clicked on the photo. It was taken pretty recently before I had upset her. Ling's smile was innocent and her eyes shined like nothing I have ever seen before. I felt my heart ache as I recalled the sound of her crying outside my door and I mentally kicked myself.

You're so stupid, why didn't you go out and reassure her. Tell her it was alright and that you felt the same way about her.

Was that it? Did I feel the same way about her?

Suddenly, everything made sense. My heart raced excitedly at my realization.

My heart raced when I saw Borin because I didn't want Ling to know that I had liked another girl before her. I couldn't tell her about Borin because I didn't want her to think that she was inferior to her close friend. I couldn't reach out to her because-

"I'm not sure if I can protect you, Ling." I lay there with my hand on my chest as the world spun around me. Everything was starting to come together as I had finally understood my feelings for her.

-----♡
Xiumin's POV

Our game of charades ended when D.O fell asleep on one of the couches. Chanyeol and Suho helped him to his room and the rest of the members followed to bed. Being as tired as she was, Ling gave me a quick hug from behind and wished me goodnight leaving me alone in the living room. I blinked and looked around in confusion. Everyone just abandoned me. Eventually, I decided to follow their example and headed back to my room.

"Minseok,"

I froze at the sound of Luhan's voice behind me. Without much thought, I ignored him and maneuvered around him to go up the stairs.

"Let's talk." He reached out to me.

I glared at him and pushed his hand away. "I have nothing to say to you."

"I have things to say." He grabbed on to my wrist and pulled me into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him angrily and looked me square in the eyes. "About Ling-"

"No, let's not talk about her, I don't want to talk about her with you."

He stared at me with a somewhat shocked expression. "Minseok, why are you like this."

My face felt hot with anger and I glared at him menacingly. "Stop concerning yourself with Ling, I can take care of her myself."

Luhan's brows furrowed and he frowned. "No."

His voice was firm and confident. He leaned on the door to the washroom and stared intensely at me making me slightly uncomfortable. I scratched the back of my head in confusion. "No?"

"I'll make sure Ling isn't hurt anymore. You can't protect her as long as you are a part of EXO."

I straightened up very annoyed, my heart pounding against my chest. "What?"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew what Luhan was saying was true. I couldn't protect Ling the way I am now, tied down by Young Min and helpless in front of my fans. Yet looking at him now, it irritated me to acknowledge it.

"I'm going to protect her and makes sure that she gets the love she deserves." He said quickly.
His face flushed red and he covered it quickly with his hand. Without another word he left the washroom and I hear him close the door to his room.

What?

I slapped the counter top realizing what he meant by his words. Is he in love with Ling?

The door to the washroom swung open and Ling walked in with a towel around her neck. She stopped when she saw me and spun around to leave.

"Oh, Ling!" I called after her and she looked at me shyly.

"Were you using the bathroom? I was going to shower." She smiled at me.

I felt my face blush subconsciously and stopped myself before I had wrong thoughts. I walked out the door. "You can go ahead, I was just about to leave."

"Xiumin," she called out my name and I turned to look at her.

"Why did you leave me at the haunted house, where did you go?"

My eyes widened as I recalled the kiss I had given her. "I- I was always in there, I didn't go anywhere."

Ling looked at me curiously, paused and smiled. "Yeah, it couldn't have been you."

Before I had time to respond, Ling shut the door. I stared at the closed bathroom door and sighed.

"Ling," I leaned my arm on the door and rested my head on the door. "It was me."

-----♡
Ling's POV

I returned to my room with my hair still wet to receive a call from Sehun. I answered it with my phone tucked between my ear and my shoulder and got ready for bed.

"Good night Sehun," I muttered into the phone and crawled into bed. "You have a packed schedule tomorrow you should sleep."

"Aw, how nice of you to care."

"I'm sleeping then!" I teased him.

"Wait, wait wait!" He bellowed into the phone. "Did you find out who kissed you yet!"

"No," I frowned. "I know it's not Xiumin."

"Hmm? How, did you kiss him?"

I blushed. "No, I just know it's not him."

There was a moment of silence. "Sehun? Are you still there?"

"I think you should still check, the four of them I mean, kiss all of them."

"No, I don't think-"

"Ling, face it, you're never going to find out who it was if you don't."

I frowned. "What if it wasn't even an EXO member!"

"Aish this girl, we reserved the park, there was no one else there."

I bit my lip and rolled over in my bed. "Suho? Kai?"

"Why are you ruling out Xiumin and Luhan!" His tone raised in annoyance.

"Ah, it's late I don't want to talk about this anymore!"

He chuckled. "Alright, alright, let's start with Kai tomorrow then alright?"

"Huh?"

He hung up before I had the chance to say anything back at him.

Kai?

I imagined myself kissing Kai and my face burned. I let out a frustrated groan into my pillow and, thinking of Kai, I fell asleep, eventually.

Notes

//Author's Note:
Xiumin didn't get a chance to tell Ling that he was the one that kissed her in the haunted house and Luhan has realised his new found feelings for Ling. Meanwhile, Sehun decided to help Ling find the culprit in the haunted house starting with a kiss with Kai.
Thanks for continuous reading!
Enjoy the story.