Lucid

Chapter 11

POV: Rei
I woke up that morning around 7, and slowly came to. Sitting up, I could see the sun already up over the neighboring buildings. Gaeul was up, tidying her room.
"Good morning Unnie. Did you sleep well?"
"I slept quite well. And you?"
"Ah, I think I slept the deepest I have in years." She nods, thinking about something.
"And how are you... feeling?" That's an odd question to ask so so early in the morning.
"I feel fine Unnie. Why? Is there a sickness going around?" She shakes her head.
"No, but after yesterday, I wanted to check." Suddenly, all the terrible memories of yesterday come back. From the group of guys stalking and surrounding us, to the guy who almost grabbed Gaeul then lost his hand, to Fixer beating up all the other ones. I pause a moment, but it doesn't hurt like it did yesterday. I swallow, then answer,
"Actually, I'm doing ok. I feel a lot better." She comes over, and wraps her arms around me, hugging me close.
"That's good. I was worried about you. I was worried about everyone. Even me. I'm here if or when you want to talk about it." I hum an agreement, enjoying the comfort and warmth of the hug.
"Thank you Unnie. I'm so glad Fixer came to save us." At this, I can feel her slouch slightly, and she begins to let go.
"About that..." I can tell she has something on her mind. "Nevermind. I'll ask you later." That's odd. I walk over and step into the living room, then suddenly stop. Then I turn around, and grab Gaeul urgently.

Timeskip- 5 minutes.

POV: Wonyoung
The group stands around the couch in a semicircle. In the center is Fixer, sleeping peacefully on their couch. They share looks, smirking and giggling. His mouth is slightly open, and his legs are splayed, one along the couch and one resting off the side. There's an assault rifle in his lap, it looks like he was sitting here as a guard and fell asleep.
"He was here this whole time? Creepy." Liz says, clearly put off.
"I asked him to protect us, before I went to sleep. I guess he took that to heart." Says Rei, defending him.
"He did well when I asked him for help yesterday. I don't know why you can't trust him for now, he's never done anything to break our trust." I say, arguing for him. I don't like how they all dislike him, even after all the good things he's done for us and others as well.
"You were the one who called him?" Gaeul asks, sounding irritated. Apparently she heard about that.
"Yeah. We needed someone to protect us and we'd get too much attention if we called the police." That should be obvious, I'm not sure why she has an issue with it.
"Why didn't you call someone we can trust?" At that, I could feel my frustration rising.
"I did." I say, firmly, trying to shut her down. But she won't stop.
"Ok, let's do a show of hands. Who trusts fixer?" She offers. I raise my hand, and I'm happy to see Rei raise hers as well. Gaeul rolls her eyes slightly, then asks, "And who doesn't trust him?" She raises her hand, and Liz follows. Yujin and Hyunseo stand there, seemingly torn between the two. "Yujin? Hyunseo?" Yujin looks over, and starts to talk before Hyunseo cuts in. "I'm not sure. I think he's nice, but I wouldn't say I trust him. But I'm trying to give him a chance." She says, surprisingly wise from the baby of the group. Yujin adds,
"I agree. I'm not certain yet." Gaeul sighs, frustrated.
"But isn't it obvious he's toying with us? What are his real intentions? That's what I want to know." She says, looking at him intensely.
"Maybe we could at least be polite? While he's here, sleeping on our couch because we asked him to protect us? He hasn't even asked for anything back for anything he's done." Rei says, sounding mad. "He handled Wonyoung's hater. He cleared visa papers. And he fought off how many guys to protect us? Maybe we should be a little nicer." Liz turns to her, startled.
"He handled your papers? When did he do that?" Rei suddenly looks away, remembering that she didn't tell anyone else about that, and I only learned after.
"I asked him to, after he left our apartment that first time." This time, Yujin interjects.
"The first time? You mean there were more?"

"I mean-" Rei blushes this time, and I realize I should step in to cover for her else we both get exposed.
"He's here now isn't he?" Yujin gives me a side eye, then nods.
"I see what you mean. Sorry, I got confused by how you said it." That was close. "So... what should we do now? He's still on our couch."
"Can I move his gun? It makes me nervous the way he's holding it like that, I feel like he'll shoot it while he sleeps." Hyunseo asks, and Gaeul puts her arm in front of her.
"Let me do it." She inches closer, and reaches out to take it. She takes ahold of it, but before she can move it, Fixer's mouth moves.
"I wouldn't touch that."

She jumps backwards, and lets out a small shriek. Fixer, still seemingly asleep, says, "It's on safeties, and my finger isn't on the trigger. It won't shoot accidentally. I have failsafes in place, Leeseo." She nods, relieved.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."
"You didn't. I've been awake this whole time, actually." After saying that, he grins. He has a nice smile, he looks almost cute when he does that. Gosh, I need to stop, that's weird. He opens his eyes, then turns and stands up. He reaches behind himself and puts the gun on his back, and it sticks there somehow. "So, how did you sleep?" The others all agree, they all slept well, deeply. That's odd, I know Yujin always lightly.
"You slept deeply, Yujin? You don't usually do that." I see Fixer rub his neck, then says
"Actually, your manager and I gave you something to help you sleep. It's important for mental recovery. How are you all feeling? Is it still pressing on you?" I can see the others shake their head or shrug their shoulders.
"I'm somewhat better."
"It's not bothering me."
"I feel ok." I'm happy to hear they're all doing well. Fixer also seems happy, he grins again. Gosh, his eyes practically sparkle when he does that. Stop it, Wonyoung! Ugh.

POV: Fixer
Well, that's good. But I don't want them dwelling on it.
"Alright, got it. Now, breakfast! I'll make some food." Everyone perks up a bit at the mention of food. I had gone down to the lobby last night after having someone deliver some ingredients, so I was set. "You all ready for some French toast?"
"What's French toast?" Asks Leeseo. Ah, right. These people haven't been overseas much. As I walk over to the kitchen, I explain to them,
"French toast is an American breakfast. I'll explain it in a second." I grab what I need from the fridge, then start cracking eggs. They gather around, watching me with interest. Wonyoung asks,
"Would you like some help?" Gaeul looks at her, then turns to me as well.
"I can also help." I point to the fridge and say,
"Grab the bacon. I got some extra ingredients, so I have enough to make you all some food. I figured it would be nice, since I don't usually cool for seven." Gaeul opens the fridge and grabs it, looking at it with a bit of confusion.
"So, it's just Samgyeopsal?" Aish, this girl.
"This right here is genuine, American-made Bacon. Thin, crispy, and wonderfully greasy. Cool it up in an oven and it'll work for every meal of the day." She looks at it again, seeming disappointed. "You'll see. Lay it out in a pan, flat, no overlaps. And turn your oven to 200 degrees." She starts working on that, and I turn to Wonyoung. "Grab 6 plates." Then, to the others, "get whatever you want to eat this with. You'll need a knife." I begin battering and frying the bread, as they Organise the things behind me. "Alright, here's how this works. You take the bread, on your plate." I grab a plate and put a piece on. "Then, you put on a bit of syrup, and some sugar." I demonstrate, poring and sprinkling as I go. "Then, make sure it's even and voilà!" I cut off a piece, stab it with a fork and hand it towards them. "French toast!"

I put the fork on the plate, and turn around. Opening the oven, I grab ahold of the bacon pan and pull it out, setting on the stovetop. It's sizzling wonderfully, and I begin serving some to each plate along with the toast. Once all six are distributed, I hand them each their plates and they go to sit and eat. Although compliments aren't forthcoming, the sound of satisfied humms, scraping knives, and poking chopsticks tells me they're enjoying it. I set to work on the dishes, and they continue eating. As they do, they talk about a visit to the US, and Yujin and Wonyoung explain some things about the US and traveling as an idol group. I throw in a few comments about other counties, having lived in the US and travelled across this world, and I usually get a few nods, agreements, and one or two scowls fron Liz or Gaeul. As they finish, I finally succeed in getting the grease off the baking sheet, and put it away.

"So where did you get the ingredients to make this? I don't think we had this all in the kitchen." Asks Gaeul, as she starts rinsing dishes before I can take them from her.
"Ah, I had a few things dropped off to me from my house. I had this planned last night, to be honest." She nods, and surprisingly, she seems ok with that.
"The bacon was really good!" Says Leeseo, and Liz and Wonyoung both agree.
"Glad you enjoyed it. Now, I'm going to get going, I have work to do today." I grab a towel and start drying my hands. "If you need anything, all of you have my phone number. If you want to talk about what happened, let me know and we can meet up and talk through it. Alright?" I flash a smile, hoping to reassure them before I left. They nod and agree. I'm glad they're warming up to me. If I'm going to keep taking care of them for some undiagnosed reason, I would hope they won't hate me while I do it.