Ling's POV

Sehun greeted me in the morning as I left my room. Together we met up with a curled up Xiumin in the living room. He nodded at us as we entered, but his usual energy was not there.

"Xiumin?" I sat next to him on the couch and he covered his face shyly.

Sehun sat on the other side of him, squishing Xiumin between the two of us. He grumbled to himself and coughed into the collar of his hoody.

I frowned, "are you sick Xiumin?"

Suho and Kai walked in chattering and sat at the counter after nodding at us. Sehun grinned at me and pointed at Kai. I slapped his hand away and tried to look at Xiumin's face, with very little success.

"I'm fine." He mumbled, his voice was deeper than it usually was.

Sehun looked at him with a concerned expression. "You should ask Hyung-nim for a day off."

He laughed lightly. "I'm not going to get a day off, just leave me alone."

With much effort, I pushed my hand past his and placed it on his forehead. "He's burning up, when's your manager coming to pick you up?"

Sehun bit his lip and looked over at Chen and Lay who just came out of their rooms.

"Oh? Is Xiumin sick?" Chen asked peering into his face. "Should we call Hyung-nim?"

"Yes!" I stood up and Xiumin grabbed my wrist.

"Ling, it's none of your business, just leave me alone," He said firmly and coughed. His tone sounded awful.

I shook his hand off as Chen dialed for their manager.

Moments later their managers stormed into the room. "Minseok, I've told you all to take care of your bodies have I not?"

The EXO members filed into the living room and all bowed. Xiumin struggled to get up and bowed weakly. Their manager placed a hand on his forehead and bit his lip. "You'll do half of your schedule today."

"No!" I stood up abruptly. "He needs rest, you have to understand. It'll only get worst."

His rolled his eyes and turned on me. "Again, who are you? Why do you have a say in this?"

D.O gripped my hand from the side signaling for me to back off but I didn't care. "I am the representative of the fans, they will not want Xiumin to be put through this."

He glowered at me. "They won't know."

I snickered and pointed at the cameras set up around the living room. "Oh yeah?"

I watched as his mouth twitched in annoyance. "It's not like the fans like you anyways."

In the end, Xiumin was allowed to stay home for as long as he needed to recover. I stood at the door and waved goodbye as the EXO members left for their schedule. I returned to the curled up Xiumin on the couch and kneeled beside him.

"You poor thing."

He looked at me with his tired eyes and placed a hand on my cheek. "Thank you, Ling."

I grinned at him and under his guidance, found his medicine cabinet.

"Xiumin is staying home today?"

I turned to see Luhan standing at the kitchen counter. I felt my heart skip a beat but quickly ignored it.

"He has a fever," I returned to his side. "I convinced the manager to let him have the day off."

Luhan stood beside me and looked at Xiumin. "Aren't you lucky, if Ling was there when I was sick, I'd still be in EXO."

Luhan left for his rehearsal angrily, not once looking back at us. I stared at Xiumin awkwardly hugging the medicine box in my chest.

Xiumin rolled onto his side to look at me in the eyes. "Sorry, you're going to have to take care of me today."

I shrugged at him and helped him take his medicine. "You should sleep now, take some rest."

I covered him with a blanket and stroked his hair as he fell asleep slowly. Little by little I started to feel drowsy with my head on the couch until eventually, the two of us fell asleep.

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Xiumin's POV

Ling fell asleep before I did. Her body was sitting uncomfortably on the ground and her head rested on her arm in front of my face on the couch. Her hand slid off from my head and fell onto my face. The coolness of her fingers made me feel a thousand times better.

I watched her sleep, thinking of how determined she was to get me to stay home. Luhan had been right, if Ling was there back then, there would've been no reason for him to leave EXO. I stroked her hair and smiled. Ling was an incredible person, she's surprised me with her actions countless times.

I bit my lip and leaned towards her face, my eyes lingering on her lips. Does she remember the feeling of the kiss in the haunted house?

I pecked her on the lips, immediately holding myself back remembering that I was sick and eventually, I fell asleep with her face engraved into my mind.

When I woke up, Ling was in the kitchen. It was noon and she was cooking up a meal. The aroma reached my nose and I got up from the couch to join her in the kitchen.

"Oh!" She squealed as I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Xiumin, you should be in bed."

"Aish, it's too stuffy there!" I whispered in her ear and leaned my chin on her shoulder. "You know, Xiumin is my stage name right?"

She looked over at me and our noses bumped into each other. Her cheeks turned red and she looked away again. "Yes, I know that."

I grinned and held her closer to my body. "My real name is-"

She pushed me off and turned around. "Kim Minseok, please maintain your distance, you are sick."

I held back my laugh and placed my hands on the counter pinning her between me and the kitchen counter. She looked at me with a surprised expression as I placed my forehead on hers.

"If you're sick, I can take care of you."

She blushed and I moved closer to her, eventually wrapping my arms around her. She wrapped her hand around to my back and together we waddled back to the couch. She pushed me back to the spot where I was lying and crossed her arms.

"You stay here Minseok," She pouted. "Until you get better, you're not leaving this spot."

"Yes, Ling."I smiled at her embarrassed expression.

She brought over a tray of food and placed it in front of me. I watched her slowly bring a spoonful of congee to her lips to test its temperature.

"Here," She handed the spoon to me.

I opened my mouth, motioning for her to feed me. She flushed and stuffed the spoon in my mouth. "Eat it yourself!"

She got up and began cleaning the kitchen as I started to eat. When I finished, I helped her with the dishes and the two of us returned to the couch after.

Half way through her checking my temperature, Ling received a call from Sehun. Naturally, I made her put it on speaker phone so that I could hear what they were talking about.

"Ling?" His voice blared through her phone.

"Yes Sehun?" Ling muttered as she looked at the thermometer.

"Kai agreed to kiss you!" He said excitedly.

My mind went blank and I looked at Ling who froze on the spot.

Notes

//Author's Note:
Sehun made plans to help Ling find out who kissed her in the haunted house starting with Kai, and Xiumin is the first out of the EXO members to hear about it. Knowing that he is the one who kissed her, how is Xiumin going to stop this kiss from happening?

Thanks for continuous reading!
Enjoy the story.