|thirty-four|

"You should wake her up. I know she's probably exhausted, but she's been sleeping for a long time." Chan mumbles as the others jump around screaming.

"She was hysterical when she found out about the article—the more she sleeps the better." MinHo states as he stops running to lean down toward Chan.

I watch them closely, their reflection in the mirror more than enough to tell what's going through their minds. The article—why are we here? Didn't Chan and JiSung go home with me? We were going to talk about whatever they had to go through in their meeting.

I notice JiSung catch my gaze in the mirror. He smiles sweetly as he crawls toward me. He sits beside me and places his hand on my back. He gently scratches my back as I allow my eyes to fall shut once again.

"If she sleeps much more she won't sleep at all tonight. It's almost six." Chan mumbles as he glances over at JiSung and me.

"She's fine." JiSung reassures him quietly.

"Do you want her to stay up all night worrying? That's what's going to happen if you let her sleep too long." Chan warns as he gets to his feet.

"Besides, we do have to get going. We still have to make dinner and we have to be early to decorate for the party." ChangBin chirps as he wraps his arms around Chan's neck.

"She didn't give us our gifts yet, either." JeongIn rushes toward Chan and ChangBin from the other side of the room.

I did give them their gifts, didn't I? I swear I did. They loved them. I even told JiSung about the extra squirrel I got myself.

"I'll carry her to the dorm." JiSung jumps to his feet and immediately takes me in his arms.

I open my eyes and stare up at him. I chuckle softly as I wrap my arms around his neck. I'd love to have him carry me everywhere, but one article is already enough. I'm just confused as to why they aren't more frantic about it.

"I've got the bag of presents." HyunJin grabs my huge gift bag.

"You guys go ahead, I'm going to grab one of the blankets from the studio for her." JiSung carries me toward the door.

"Don't fall too far behind, we don't need anyone posting another article. Right now, they seem to think she's either SeungMin or ChangBin's sister—let's keep it that way." Chan calls after us as JiSung carries me down the hall.

"Wait—sister? I thought the article was about me and you—you were carrying me." I pull back to look up at JiSung's face.

"You—my dear—must have had one dream. The article was a picture of us, but also HyunJin. They had pictures of all of us together, too. They literally followed us without us knowing, but since it was all casual interactions they caught and the fact we weren't necessarily trying to be sneaky about it, they figured it wasn't a girlfriend situation. Besides, we'll probably have to deal with that in a week or two. The glorious day of Dispatch announcements is coming." JiSung chuckles as he adjusts his grip on me so he can open the studio door.

"Dream—but it felt so real. You were so upset. You yelled at the others. The look on MinHo's face was devastating. Chan—Chan tried to hide whatever was bothering you from the others because he was worried about you—we all were. But—it was just a dream?" I ask as I slip out of his arms. He grabs a blanket off the back of the couch and wraps it around me.

"Why was I upset? I mean—if someone came out and said we were dating, I'd be thrilled. It'd be such a big relief—I wouldn't have to hide it. It would be kinda rough though—I don't know how the fans would react." JiSung shrugs as he zips my coat up. He grabs my hood and pulls it over my head.

"You had to tell them everything you did when you weren't with your manager or at the company. You made it seem like there was something you didn't want anyone to know—something about late night walks." I mumble as JiSung zips up his own coat.

"Late night walks—how—how did you know?" JiSung looks at me in shock. Wait—were they real? If the rest wasn't, how are the walks?

I look at him lost. He's telling me it was all a dream, but I don't know if I should believe him.

"I'm kidding. I mean I am and I'm not—a lot of people take late night walks. I walk from here to the dorm all the time when it's dark out." JiSung chuckles as he ruffles my hair. He takes my hand in his and leads me back toward the door.

"So—so it was a dream? They didn't give you an hour long lecture? I didn't give anyone their gifts?" I continue to interrogate JiSung, clearly not willing to believe that it was all a dream.

"An hour long lecture? That just seems ridiculous. I'm sure it'd just be a five minute lecture and I really don't see them making me tell them my every move either. That's just a mess no one wants to hear about—it's much too bland. I'm usually just watching YouTube or sleeping." JiSung mumbles as he glances down at our hands. He frowns, but lets go of my hand.

"I guess it does seem kind of ridiculous." I grab ahold of his coat as we slip out the side door of the building.

"Hold my arm—it looks less suspicious than holding hands." JiSung glances around at the groups of people gathered at the front of the building.

"I wonder how far ahead the others are." I mumble as I search the sidewalk for them.

"Right here!" MinHo chirps as he wraps his arms around my neck from behind.

"You scared me!" JiSung slaps him as he steps back.

"Can we hurry? This bag is heavy." HyunJin groans as he does his best to keep it off the ground.

"Here." I delicately remove MinHo's arms from my neck and set the bag on the ground. I reach in and grab the first stuffed animal.

"This one is Felix's—SeungMinnie's—Innie's—" I hand them out one by one, the bag quickly getting lighter and lighter.

"MinHo's—Channie's—Binnie's—" I stop as I get down to the last three stuffed animals.

"Where's mine? I want it!" HyunJin chirps as he jumps up and down excitedly.

"He already knows what it is, doesn't he?" JiSung questions as he glares at him.

"Yes—yes he does." I chuckle softly as I take his llama out of the bag and hand it to him.

"Isn't he cute?" HyunJin shows it off for a moment before burying his face in its soft fur.

"What about me?" JiSung pouts as he rests his chin on my shoulder.

"There's only one left, but I got it for me. I must've forgot to grab you one." I force a frown as I pull out one of the squirrels.

"It's a squirrel. It's mine. You're clearly lying." JiSung reaches out expectantly.

"No—this one is actually mine, ask Jinnie." I nod toward HyunJin.

"It really is. She's naming it after you though." HyunJin adds to the story in attempt to make it more believable.

"I'm walking home alone then." JiSung spins on his heel pouting.

"Get over here." I grab the back of his coat and pull him back. I force him to face me as I shove the squirrel at him.

"She got two." HyunJin smiles as he flicks JiSung in the forehead.

"We should get moving, people are getting suspicious." Chan mumbles as he glances toward the front of the building.

"Here." HyunJin takes the empty bag from me and slips it under his arm.

"Piggyback ride?" MinHo asks as he squats down a bit for me.

I glance at JiSung for approval. JiSung nods as he holds his stuffed squirrel tightly. I wrap my arms around MinHo's neck, my squirrel secured between the both of us.

"Who's phone is vibrating?" JeongIn questions as he looks up from his own phone.

"Mine." I glance down at my jacket pocket, unsure as to how I'm going to answer it.

"Here—" JiSung mumbles as he meets my gaze, unsure as to if I'm okay with him grabbing it. I offer him a reassuring smile.

He grabs it and glances down at it before smiling.

"I got this." JiSung boldly hits answer and holds my phone up to his ear.

There's clearly only one person he'd be so willing to answer—JiHyo. The little chat they had at my expense at the café was all it took for him to be more than confident talking to her.

"Who is it?" HyunJin asks, slightly shocked by JiSung's unexpected move.

"It's probably JiHyo." I shrug as rest my chin on MinHo's shoulder.

"I thought she was out of town." MinHo tilts his head back just enough to see my face.

"I thought she was, too. She could be back, I'm not sure how long she was supposed to be gone. She probably told me, but I clearly don't have the best memory—or the ability to tell reality and dreams apart." I sigh as I fall back onto how real that dream had felt.