Chapter Text
The next few days go by quickly, some days you'd accompany Changkyun to his various schedules other times you'd wander the city with BM and Yeonjun. And around dinner time you'd find yourself having dinner with Changkyun either in his hotel room or some restaurant you'd passed by while you were out and wanted to try. Before you knew it, you were already on a plane back to Korea.
Instead of going home with Changkyun he drops you off at your brother's. Jooheon had called you a few nights ago, wanting to check in and make sure that you were okay before suggesting for you to stay with him, just in case your exes wanted to drop by Changkyun's unexpectedly. You quickly agreed seeing as his apartment building required a card to enter the lobby and a pass code to access other parts of the building. You didn't want to deal with them, not until you'd sorted all your thoughts and feelings out.
"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you up?" Changkyun questions as he pulls your suitcase out of the trunk. You wave him off as you take the suitcase from him. "I texted Joo, he should be down any moment." As if on cue you hear the door behind you open and a familiar voice calling out to you. You watch as your brother makes his way over to the both of you, quickly greeting Changkyun before turning to you and pulling you into a hug. "Let's get you inside Sweets and we can talk more." He takes your suitcase from you before thanking Chan for dropping you off and saying he'd see him later at the studio.
You let him guide you through the lobby, quickly greeting the receptionist before he's pushing in the pass code for the elevator. It's silent on the way up, but not at all awkward, you know your brother wants to ask you some questions but he knows to ask when you're all alone.
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Once you finish taking a shower you plop yourself onto the couch, (well more like you slowly lowered yourself onto the couch, there's a limit to how fast you can move now) your brother already waiting for you with food and the movie you would watch together as children waiting to be played on the mounted flat screen.
He doesn't say much, just telling you to eat before he's pressing play on the movie. You can tell he's curious about why you'd left Paris with the constant glances he throws your way, but he has yet to ask you about it and you're interested to see how long it takes before he breaks.
It takes a good 12 minutes into the movie before he finally cracks. You're honestly impressed that he waited this long. "Okay. I can't take it anymore. I need to know what happened." He says while pausing the movie so that he could focus all his attention on you. You take a deep breath before telling him everything that happened in Paris and what caused you to leave earlier than planned. You watch as he sits there trying to process everything you'd told him, a frown on his face.
"So you're taking a break from them?" He finally asks. You let out a sigh before nodding. There isn't really anything else you could do, you needed your space. "I haven't really spoken to them about it yet, but that's what I'd like to do. I think some time away from them while I try to figure out what I want would do me good." You watch as your brother's eyes soften while looking at you, noticing the determination on your face. "I'm glad Sweets. Take as much time as you need."
He pulls you into him, laying your head on his shoulder before he hits play on the remote and you turn your attention towards the TV. "Whatever you want to do, I'll support you." He says while giving you a squeeze. "Thanks Joo." You reach for his hand and give it a soft squeeze to let him know you'd heard him.
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News of your arrival had somehow reached the 7 men, texts and calls coming in from them throughout the day asking to see you or to at least get a response from you letting them know you're okay. You let out a sigh, deciding to respond so they would stop bombarding your phone with calls and texts.
You read the text messages before deciding to open a separate one. You know you can't keep Jungkook away from going to checkups with you, that would be too cruel.
You let out a sigh. It's hard not giving into them so easily. You can clearly see how much they care about you but you know that you need some space from them. You need time to gather yourself and to figure out what you want, hopefully you'll figure out things sooner rather than later. You don't want to have to worry about it when the twins arrive.
Glancing at the clock you see it's around the time for you to start making lunch so that you can take your vitamins but you're suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. You look through the peephole to spy Kihyun talking on his phone. You raise a brow, curious to know why he's here when he should be at work. "Are you going to let me in Sweets?"
You immediately unlock the door opening it to find him smirking at you. "What are you doing here?" You question as he pulls you into a hug. "Pack warm, I'm taking you on a little getaway." He replies as he untangles himself from you. He notes the confusion on your face before he's motioning for you to start moving. "What are you talking about?" He waves you off before walking in the direction of Jooheon's guest room.
You trail behind him as he plops himself down on the bed. "Come on Sweets, we still have to make a few stops before we head out." You let out a huff, annoyed he won't give you anymore details but you get to packing, knowing that if you don't he'll do it himself. You toss a few clothes from your suitcase into a duffle bag before leaving the room to grab your toiletries from the bathroom.
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You pull into a familiar underground parking lot. After a few minutes you hear the elevator ding, and notice someone getting off. You smile when you watch Shownu approach the car, a duffle bag similar to yours in hand. Kihyun pops the trunk before getting out to greet the older man. Unlike Kihyun it takes you a little longer to get out of the car. "I was going to come over to say hi, Sweets. You didn't have to get out." He tells you.
"Too late." You reply as you lean into his hug. "Now can you tell me where we're going since Kih doesn't want to?" You pout, hoping that it would weaken his resolve. He lets out a chuckle before shaking his head. "Sorry Sweets. No can do. Let's just get you in the car. The quicker you do, the faster you'll get your answer. You let out a sigh but do as you're told. You hear Kihyun chuckle from beside you, you shoot him a glare before buckling up that easily shuts him up.
After about fifteen minutes of driving you find yourselves at a drive thru, specifically the drive thru of the restaurant you were whining about missing while you were out of the country. "Get whatever you want. Hyung's paying." Kihyun says with a smirk, before glancing into the rear view mirror at said man. "I would never dare to think it'd be the other way around whenever I'm out with you." Shownu responds, rolling his eyes as he does. You offer to pay for the meal not wanting to hear them bicker for however much longer you have to be in the car, but they quickly shut you down.
"Get whatever you want Sweets. The drive is long and I doubt you had lunch with how quiet you've been." Shownu tells you, already browsing the menu for what he's going to get. You can't help but smile at how well they know you. You finally get your orders before you set off to wherever they were whisking you away to.
You take turns feeding yourself and then Kihyun so that he could focus on the road, wanting both his hands to be on the steering wheel, the winding roads making you more anxious. "Since you guys won't tell me where we're going, can you at least tell me if it's just us or will the others be there too?" You ask while feeding Kihyun a bite of his food.
You watch as they share a look with each other through the rear view mirror before they both nod their heads. "You really can't just wait for the surprise. Huh Sweets?" You let out a huff before crossing your arms, taking with you the fries Kihyun was about to bite in to. "Kih shows up at my brother's place with no explanation just that I need to pack warm and then we pick you up and you say the drive is going to be long. That's all the information I get, of course I'm going to be curious." You notice a smirk on Kihyun's lips from the corner of your eye.
"Minhyuk and Hyungwon are almost there. Jooheon and Changkyun weren't invited." He informs you. Your jaw practically drops at his response. "What? Why?" Kihyun waves you off as if you're supposed to know the reason. "If they're there you'll either cling to Changkyun or your brother will cling to you. It's better this way, sorry Sweets." Shownu responds as if it's the most obvious answer. "And we want to spend time with you without them there. You need a break from those two." Kihyun says before looking over his shoulder to switch lanes.
After a few hours and a quick stop at a popular fried chicken restaurant you finally pull up to a cabin. Cabin being an understatement, it was more like a mansion in the mountains. You've only been here a handful of times, so the size of the cabin still takes you by surprise. "Come on. I know those two are waiting for us." Kihyun says as he and Shownu unload the bags. Kihyun refuses to let you carry your bag so you're tasked with bringing in the food.
As soon as you step inside you hear music playing in the background, almost being drowned out by the sound of Hyungwon and Minhyuk's laughter. "What's so funny?" Shownu questions as you all step into the living room. They must have been in their own world and hadn't heard you enter, they both practically jump out of their skins. "Don't sneak up on us like that!" Hyungwon scolds while clutching his chest. Minhyuk had dropped the bottle of water he was holding, the water spilling all over the floor.
You watch as they both scramble to wipe it up. "I guess that's our cue to get settled in our rooms. We'll be back." Kihyun tells them before motioning for you to put the food on the coffee table for them. You do as you're told before you let the two men lead you to your rooms. Kihyun leads you to your favorite room that has a wall that's just paned glass that allows you to look out into the mountains and surrounding trees, sometimes when you're lucky you'll see the occasional wildlife.
You sit on the chaise by the foot of the bed, deciding to check if you had any notifications that you needed to respond to.
You quickly get settled in before you decide to head back into the living room. You find Hyungwon and Minhyuk setting the food out and getting it ready for when you all return. You decide to make your steps a little louder so you don't startle them like earlier. "Oh hey Sweets." Hyungwon greets you before standing up to pull you into a hug. "Do you need help with anything?" You question as you glance at the spread on the coffee table. "Even if we did, we wouldn't ask you to help. You need to rest." Minhyuk says while pulling you into a side hug.
You let out a huff before crossing your arms. "That's all I did on the 3 hour drive here! I need to do something or I'll go crazy." You whine, getting tired of everyone treating you as if you were made of porcelain. Minhyuk let's out a chuckle before patting your head. "Sorry Sweets. We just want you to relax, we don't want you to worry about anything. Plus, we've got everything taken care of. You don't need to worry." Before you can respond, you're alerted of the arrival of the other two by the laughter coming from Kihyun.
"Now that everyone's here, let's eat! I'm starving and I'm ready to start getting my drink on." Hyungwon says as he starts handing out plates and utensils. "You've been drinking since we got here. You've had like 3 beers already." Minhyuk points out which causes everyone else to laugh, besides Hyungwon who looks affronted by being called out. "It's okay, we're on vacation." You say trying to soothe him, which earns you a smile from him.