Ling’s POV

The dorm was quiet the next morning. Most members must’ve left early, before I had woken up. Though, to be fair, I did wake up pretty late. I rolled out of bed and headed to the kitchen where my jaw dropped open at the time.

“11:24?” I gasped. “It’s almost noon!’

“Yes it is.” A voice behind me grumbled. “Now, be quiet!”

I spun on my head in surprise. Was I not alone in the house?

Kris rose up from behind the couch with his hand in his soft blonde hair. He grimaced as he looked me up and down then turned away from me.

“Put on some longer pants won't you?” His voice was muffled but I heard it loud and clear.

I placed a hand on my hips and scowled at him. “What, are you embarrassed?”

He didn’t say anything, signalling his surrender. I snickered and retreated back to my room where I got dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a light hooded T-shirt. I was ready to leave the room when a light knock on the door stopped me. I raised an eyebrow and pressed my ear to the door in question.

“What?” I asked flatly.

“Hurry up and come make lunch.” Kris’s voice contained no humour.

I pulled open the door in a second of anger. “Excuse me?”

He let out a grunt and doubled over with his hands on his nose. It took me a while to realise that I had hit him, but by that time, he was already convinced that it was intentional. He glared up at me with teary eyes.

“What was that for?” He yelled.

“S-sorry!” I stepped back slightly at his sudden eruption of anger. “I didn’t think you were right behind the door.”

“Aish!” He moved his hands to reveal a bloody and bruising nose. “Ling, I’m an idol! What am I supposed to do with this?”

A sudden surge of guilt crept up my spine and I latched on to his arm. “Here, let me fix you up.”

He shook me off angrily. “No, I’ll do it myself.”

I followed him down the stairs and into the living room where he got the first aid kit. He glared at me, threatening me to follow him and moved to the couch. I watched as he tried to clean his nose off and couldn’t help but let out a smirk as he struggled with the bandages.

“Let me help.” I muttered and stepped towards him.

He shot me a glare but didn’t say anything, which I assumed was an agreement for me to approach him. With a sigh, I started to work on his wound.

This scene is familiar to me. I did this before.

With Luhan.

I shuddered as I recalled what I remembered last night. The cold, loud, ruthless slap. Had I really dated someone like that?

“You’ve been rubbing the same place.” Kris scowled at me and grabbed my hand.

I looked up in alarm and quickly retracted my hand. “Sorry!”

His brows came together briefly before his face fell back to his neutral expression. His eyes searched for mine as I examined his bruised nose.

“I heard you remembered more last night.”

His sudden words caught me off guard and I stared blankly at him for a few minutes before realising what he was talking about.

“R-right, yeah I did.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem very happy about that. Was it not a good memory?”

I looked down and hardened my jaw, thinking of how to reply.

“Hey,” His large hands pressed down on my shoulders. “You don’t have to talk about it, I was just curious. The other members were talking about you last night.”

I looked up at him in surprise. “They were talking about me?”

He nodded and played with the bottle of rubbing alcohol in the first aid kit. “Everyone was worried about you, meanwhile Tao and I were just on the side.”

There was a hint of sadness in his voice as his voice faded out. I furrowed my brows remembering how awkward Tao and Kris were with the members. They don’t fit in, do they?

“Kris, you and the members-” My words were cut off when he knocked the bottle of solution over. He let out a cry as it spilled all over the table and on to the carpet. I stood up and grabbed a nearby napkin, wiping the table hurriedly so not to spread the mess.

“Ah, sorry,” He mumbled and got down next to me to clean the carpet. His hands fumbled around clumsily as he grabbed napkin after napkin.

I held back a chuckle as he grabbed at the last of the napkins. “You don’t need that much.”

His cheeks flushed red and he suddenly stood up, hitting his head on the table. Not being able to contain my laughter any longer, I doubled over with laughter. I stood up and pushed back his hair to look at his head.

“I don’t need you to worry about me.” He glared at me as his face grew redder with embarrassment.

I clicked my tongue and stifled a chuckle. I flicked the spot on his head that was red with my finger and he yelped in pain.

“Who said I was worried?”

“Yah, I’m older than-”

His words were cut off when the door to the dorm clicked open. I spun my head over as Xiumin walked in, taking off his shades.

“Oh? Ling!” His face fell when he saw Kris. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have schedule?”

Kris stepped back from me and nodded his head. “I was just about to leave.”

Liar. You told me to make you lunch.

Slowly, the tension between the two of them grew so heavy that I wasn’t able to contain it any longer. Glancing awkwardly at the two of them, I wobbled backwards and back up the stairs, towards my room. As I opened the door, another click of the door signalled the opening of the door directly behind me. I froze, remembering whose room it was.

When he spoke, he sent chills down my spine.

“Ling, let’s talk.”

-----
Xiumin’s POV

The minute Ling was out of earshot, Kris dropped his act. He raised his chin at me as if he wasn’t already taller than me.

“What is it?” He said firmly. “Are you going to tell me to stay away from Ling?”

I gripped my hands into fists in my pocket. “So you know then.”

He scoffed. “You’re so easy to read, Hyung.”

“Oh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

He stepped up closer to me and lowered his head to meet me at eye level. “You and Luhan, the two of you are fighting over her, aren’t you?”

I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to say more.

“Is it worth it? To break your friendship over a girl?” He snickered. “Why don’t I just take her off your hands?”

Anger hit me straight in the face and I grabbed Kris by the collar, pulling him down before me. His knees buckled and he fell to his knees, yet he didn’t break his eye contact. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile and a low chuckle rumbled at the base of his throat. His eyes looked crazy.

“Watch what you’re saying.” I said between gritted teeth. “I shouldn’t have to put up with you.”

He laughed. “Wow hyung, look at you now. What happened to the quiet little Minseok from before?”

The base of my nose twitched and I clenched down hard on my teeth, using every inch of my muscles to constrain myself. He’s taunting me, don’t let him get to you Minseok.

I let go of my grip and pushed him back with all the anger I had within me. He fell back against the couch, pushing it back a few inches from the full force of his weight.

“I’m tell you now, if you so much as touch a hair on Ling’s head.” I cracked my knuckles and punched my hands together, threatening him.

“What, you think I’ll make the same mistake as I did back then?” He shook his head in denial. “I won’t.”

I scoffed and leaned in so that I was only inches away from his face. That’s right, the real reason Kris left EXO was hidden from the public.

“I hope you do make the same mistake again, that way you’ll never be able to come back into EXO.”

-----
Luhan’s POV

The first time I called her name, she pretended not to hear me. From her back view, I could see her ears glowing red. Whether it was from anger or from embarrassment, I could not tell.

On the third time I called her, she turned slowly around to face me. There was no expression in her face as she looked up at me, just empty eyes that seem to cry out in pain.

I reached out to her. “Ling last night, you remembered some-“

She flinched as I touched her arm but did not move away. Instead, she dropped her eyes and felt her cheeks with her free hand.

“Are you alright?” I asked slowly moving closer to her. My heart was hitting hard against my ribcage in a mixture of pain and longing. All the emotions from last night flooded into my brain at once, making me feel almost nauseous.

I searched for her eyes desperately. Were they the same as they were last night? Those wide brown eyes, filled with fear?

“I’m fine.” Her voice cracked and she took a step back. “Really, I’m fine.”

“Ling.” I whispered and backed her into the wall. Even though we were only inches away, she still refused to look me in the eye. I brought my head around and under, but all attempts failed miserably. “Ling, look at me.”

It took her a while, but eventually she looked at me. There were tears in her eyes but her expression was fierce and confident.

“What did you remember last night?” I asked again. Could it have been another false memory? Something that made me unapproachable?

She hesitated. “You slapped someone.”

I stared at her. I slapped someone? Borin?

My expression must’ve changed because Ling jammed her hand into my chest, knocking me backwards. She stared at me in disbelief and pointed a finger at me. “Why did you do it? Just when I thought that you and I were special.”

Special?

“Why did you slap Borin?” She bellowed in frustration. Slowly, her lips began to tremble until she finally gave up. Her knees grew weak and she collapsed on the ground, holding her head between her hands.

“Why did you slap Borin?” She sobbed. “Why do I feel it too? What are of these feelings, these memories? Why is nothing making sense?”

I watched as the girl I love crumbled before me and felt helpless. Just what was I supposed to say to comfort her? Xiumin was right, Ling’s memories were not something to be rushed, and yet-

She’s in so much pain, not knowing, not understanding."

“Borin, she-“ I started.

“No,” She stood up abruptly and wiped away her tears with her sleeve. “I will ask Borin myself.”

“N-no! What? She’s not going to tell you the truth!” I cried out.

“What,” She scoffed at me with reddened eyes. “And you will? How do I know you’re not lying?”

“I-”

“You know,” She turned away from me and clicked open the door to her room. “Whatever relationship we had in the past must’ve been a mistake on my part.”

I froze. No, Ling, don’t say what I think you’re going to say.

“But that just means that I will never make the same mistake again.” She continued.

She paused then turned to face me. Her expression was serious. “You and I will never go back to the way we were before. I was wrong to ever thing that I could be in love with you.”

And with that, she entered her room, shutting the door in my face.

I stood there with my mind blank of any thoughts. Even though what she said was all based off of her fake memories, I still couldn’t deny the pain that crept up my spine and shattered my heart.

“Again,” I chuckled pathetically. “I always seem to mess up our relationship somehow.”

Notes

Author's Note:
Sorry guys, this chapter was longer than my usuals... it was hard to squeeze everything i wanted for this chapter into my usual word limit so =v= have an extra long chapter... I hope you dont mind it <3

This chapter really pained me to write because of how much i really miss OT12... writing Xiumin and Kris's little fight thing was just... heart-wrenchingly painful. But yeah, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I had fun writing it :D

Anyways, I'll be going on my vacation tomorrow, so I'll be gone for a month. Sorry to throw another Hiatus at you <3 See you in a month!

Thanks for reading, and as always, enjoy the story!