"Minho-Hyung? Why are you sleeping on the couch?"

Felix stood over the older dancer who wasn't fully awake and mumbled under his breath.

"Hmm...my bed."

"What was that?"

"Rose is -"

"Rose-Noona? What has this got to do with Noona?"

Minho groaned and rubbed his eyes as he sat up. Technically, Rose had only asked him not to tell Chan.

"Rose is in my bed."

"Okay... why?"

"She slept over last night."

"And you let her have your bed? Hyung, why didn't you tell me? You know I would've happily - what's wrong?"

"Huh? How do you know something's wrong?"

"Hyung!"

"Rose... well, she had a run-in with some sasaengs."

"Oh god, is she okay?"

"I didn't think it was a good idea for her to go home alone - not that she wanted to."

"Does Chan-Hyung know? Why isn't he here?"

"No. She wouldn't let me tell him."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. She didn't want to disturb him while he was working."

"Hyung's going to be so mad."

"That's why you should tell him."

"Me? But-"

"He's going to find out sooner or later. The company will be putting out a statement today. Rose's attackers were caught on camera and once the police find them... I think it's better if it's your sweet face that he's looking at when he finds out."

"Rosie-Noona's been attacked?"

The two dancers looked towards the door to see that Changbin had just come in.

"Morning, Binnie -Hyung!"

"Minho-Hyung? What's happened?"

"Sasaengs. Rose is asleep in my bed... wait, Changbin!"

The rapper headed straight for the older dancer's bedroom and knocked gently on the door. He opened the door ever so slightly while calling out Rose's name to see if she was awake. When he got no reply, he opened the door wider and peeked inside.

Rose felt like she hadn't slept at all. Which wasn't completely a lie. She had spent the night flitting in and out of sleep. In the early hours of the morning, she hadn't gotten up. She ached all over, but her side was the worst. Walking over to stand in front of the mirror, she lifted the T-shirt Minho had given her to sleep in and a tear ran down her cheek. The whole of her side was covered in a deep blue bruise.

A gasp had her turning her head towards the bedroom door before dropping her top so that she was covered up. Changbin was standing in the doorway, staring at her with a look of shock at what he had just seen. Rose quickly wiped away the tear from her cheek.

"Changbin? What are you-?"

"Noona... I'm so sorry."

"What-? You have nothing to be sorry for. It looks worse than it is. Promise."

"I do. They hurt you because you were close to us."

"A risk of the job I suppose."

Rose tried to laugh and when she raised her hand to run it through her hair, she noticed that her hands were shaking. Changbin gently took her in his arms and held her close.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight. I'll protect you. No one will ever hurt you again."

When Rose broke down into tears for the first time since the attack, Changbin just held her tighter and if he released a tear or two as well, he would never admit it.

The boys tried to convince her to take the day off work, but just like last night, she didn't want to be alone. Just this once she allowed herself to be selfish. She borrowed some of Minho's clothes until they got into work where she kept a spare set of her own. Felix and Changbin had offered their own clothes, but Minho had teased them that they were too short and Changbin was too broad for their clothes to fit Rose properly.

She was called in to talk to some senior staff who updated her on the investigation and the statement they had already released that morning. After confirming that she didn't want to visit the hospital to get checked over and didn't want to take any time off, they let her go.

Rose found most of the boys gathered in the lounge and she could hear them arguing from outside the door.

"Well, someone has to tell him. No doubt he'll see the news soon if he hasn't already, and management all know who the staff member was. It'll be worse if he finds out from them instead of us that his soulmate got hurt."

"You're right, Minho-Hyung. I think this is a job for the oldest."

"His soulmate got hurt on my watch. He'll kill me. And I already delegated this to Felix."

"But I hate making Channie-Hyung sad!"

Rose didn't know whether to sigh or laugh, but she knew how to solve their problem. When she entered the room, they stopped talking and Felix immediately ran over to her and tried to get her to sit down in a chair.

"Are you really all that afraid of Chan?"

"We like to say we have a healthy respect for him as our leader."

"Right... Anyway, I'll tell him so you can all relax, okay?"

"I'll go with you."

"But you just said - "

"I was there. I don't want you downplaying what happened."

When the two entered Chan's studio, the leader was reading something on his phone.

"Hey, guys! Have you seen the statement the company released this morning? I can't believe that there are people who would go so far - What's wrong?"

"We have something to tell you?"

"To tell me?"

"Yes. It's me. The staff member they're talking about that - that -"

"That got attacked by crazy fans."

"You? My Rose? What? Sit down! Are you okay? It says you were hurt. Why are you at work when you should be at home resting?"

"I'm fine."

"She's not fine and she insisted on coming into work."

"Tell me what happened."

Rose told the story up until the point where Minho appeared and then he took over. At first, Chan looked worried and sad, but by the end, he was frowning.

"And you didn't think to inform me that all of this was going on?"

Minho hesitated to answer when Rose cut in.

"I asked him not to."

"Thank you, Minho."

The dancer glanced at Rose who nodded slightly before leaving the two soulmates alone.

Chan leaned against his desk with his arms folded across his chest.

"Why? Why didn't you want to tell me?"

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?"

"So, you preferred to be looked after by Minho rather than me?"

"No... I just didn't see the need to disturb you while you were working."

"Don't tell me that you really think that I would prioritise work over you... over you being hurt."

Rose didn't say anything because that was exactly what she thought. She jumped when Chan banged his fist on his desk and didn't say or do anything as he walked out of the room. Instead, she curled up on the sofa and a wave of exhaustion came over her. She went to lay down but looked around to see if there was a blanket somewhere, all she found was her soulmate's hoodie on the back of his chair. At first, she hesitated to touch it, but she needed the comfort. Laying down she covered herself with the hoodie, holding one of the arms in her hands and immediately fell asleep.

Chan had gone to the gym, needing to work out some of his frustration. When he got back to his studio, he found Rose fast asleep on his sofa. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, that he couldn't help but just stare at her for a moment. Not wanting to wake her, he sat down and did some work while he waited.

Every so often he turned to check on her. Rose looked so cute hugging his hoodie to her cheek that it made him smile every time he saw it. After a couple of times, he decided to take a picture of her, just for him to look at. After a couple of hours, he turned to see that she was awake.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry I lost my temper earlier."

"No, I'm sorry I didn't tell you last night. I didn't expect you to react so strongly."

"Why wouldn't I react strongly to the news that my soulmate had been attacked?"

"Because we're not... I mean, just because someone's your soulmate doesn't mean that you have to feel anything for them."

Chan sighed and leaned forward in his seat to take Rose's hands in his.

"I know we haven't known each other that long, but I care about you. Rose... I like you, a lot, probably more than you would believe, and I know that we got off to a rough start and that's all my fault, but I hope that you can learn to trust me and rely on -"

"It's not your fault."

He was interrupted by Rose's finger pressed against his lips, shushing him. She had leaned forward to reach him and her closeness caused him to lose his train of thought. Chan wanted so badly to kiss her, but Rose was in a vulnerable state, and he felt like he would be taking advantage of that. He leaned back in his chair.

"Just promise me that next time something happens, anything at all, that you'll tell me. Okay? Or I'll order the others to go against your wishes and tell me anyway."

Rose burst out laughing and looked up at Chan who was smiling fondly at her.

"They'd do it too. I don't understand why they're afraid of you. You're like the least scary person I know."

"What? I can be scary."

"Hyunjin and Minho are the scary ones. This face is just too cute."

Chan blinked in surprise when Rose poked his cheek. If he was cooler, he might have shown her a darker side of him, perhaps by pinning her against the sofa, but instead, he blushed and tried to hide his reaction by tickling her.

When she reacted more strongly than he had anticipated, Chan got a mischievous glint in his eye. Noticing this, Rose tried to move away.

"No!"

"This is your punishment!"

The studio was filled with the sounds of the two soulmates' laughter.