Rose walked into the practice room with some snacks and drinks for the boys. She was worried about some of them dieting to look good for the concerts, so she had been plying them with food whenever she could. By now, she had learnt all their favourites, so she knew what best to tempt them with.

"Noona, save me!"

At Jeongin's cry, Rose's head snapped towards him looking for danger. The youngest was being chased around by Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix who were all trying to kiss him. She left out a sigh of relief before smiling as she put her bags down. The Maknae was doing a rather good job of holding off the other three boys as she walked over to them.

"Come on, boys. Leave poor Innie alone."

The boys pouted but let Rose pull Jeongin away from them. The youngest boy relaxed in the safety of her arms, letting his guard down as the others did as they were told.

"Thank you, Noo- Hey!"

Jeongin stepped away from Rose, his hand to his cheek as he looked at her in shock. She had taken the opportunity to do what the others had failed at and kissed the Maknae on the cheek. Hyunjin and Felix broke out into giggles.

"Noona, you're the best!"

"I thought I could trust you, Noona, but you're just as bad as the rest of them."

Luckily, Rose had watched enough Stray Kids content to recognise when Jeongin broke out into fake crying, otherwise, she might have felt bad for joining in with the teasing.

"Are you saying bad things about your Hyungs, Jeongin?"

"No? No, Minho-Hyung, no!"

The room was filled with laughter again as Minho tickled the youngest.

"What's going on in - Oh, snacks!"

Changbin, Jisung, and Seungmin walked into the room and the oldest immediately started rummaging through the bags.

"Hey! Those are for us!"

"Don't worry. I brought enough for everyone."

Rose walked over to where she had left the bags and began handing out the food until there was only one thing left.

"Where's Chan-Hyung?"

Changbin answered while happily opening his snack.

"I think he's in the gym."

"Again? He's been working out a lot recently."

"He's trying to bulk up again after he lost all that weight."

The boys glanced around at each other as they noticed Rose frowning.

"Luckily, he has Rosie-Noona looking after him now, so that won't happen again."

"That's right, and if any of you start any crazy diets..."

The boys quickly spoke up.

"We won't, Noona. Promise!"

Jeongin nudged Felix, who looked up to see Rose staring at him. The dancer began eating the snack she had just given him and smiled at her whilst munching away.

"Good. Do you know how long he's been in there?"

"Umm, I'm not sure. He was gone before I got up this morning... came back after I went to sleep as well."

Hyunjin wrapped an arm around Changbin's shoulders and leaned on him.

"How do you know he came home then?"

"He did."

Rose gritted her teeth after speaking up too quickly.

"Oh, okay. Wait... Noona, how do you know that?"

Jisung gasped dramatically.

"Woah, has Channie-Hyung been getting some company on his late nights in the studio?"

"What? I don't know what you mean. It's my job to look after you all and know where you are."

"Yeah, but most people gave up on Chan-Hyung because other people need more than a couple of hours of sleep each night."

Felix looked worriedly at Rose.

"Noona, is that why you've been looking tired?"

"I look after you remember, not the other way around. I'm going to make sure your leader doesn't work himself into exhaustion."

The boys watched her leave in silence, unsure what to do and then Minho ran after her. Rose stopped when he called her name.

"It might be your job to look after us, but we care about you. You're part of our family now, so let us take care of you. Okay?"

Minho wished that he could see past the mask Rose was wearing so he could understand what she was thinking at that moment. After a moment she smiled and nodded. The dancer watched her walk away as he thought about what he had really wanted to say to her.

Rose did find Chan in the gym, which luckily, was empty apart from her soulmate. She stopped dead in her tracks as she laid eyes on him.

Of course, he works out shirtless.

After a few minutes, she caught herself staring and decided to leave before she got caught. Rose wasn't sure what she would do if Chan saw her and came closer. She wasn't sure if she would be able to speak if he talked to her either. So, to avoid embarrassing herself, she carefully backed up, almost tripping over some equipment and then ran out the door.

Later, when Rose was sitting in her normal room waiting for Chan's Room to begin, all she could think about was what she had seen in the gym. Of course, she had gotten glimpses of his muscular body before - as it didn't always stay hidden by his clothes - but seeing him working out had been a whole new experience.

During his V Live, Rose was listening to Chan read out comments when she almost choked.

"Can you pin me up against the wall? What the - Umm... Say please."

Rose blinked at the screen as she tried to process what her soulmate had just said. In the end, she was imagining what it would be like to be pinned up against a wall by Chan and her mind wandered back to him at the gym. She shook her head trying to rid herself of the picture she had created. It only hurt more to daydream this way when in reality they would never happen.

By the end of the V Live, she had calmed down and thought she was safe, but then for his final song, Chan played the OT8 version of Red Lights. It wasn't the first time that Rose wondered if she should be embarrassed at how worked up this song got her. She couldn't imagine that Chan and Hyunjin had planned for this type of reaction when they wrote the song. Hyunjin had a hard time just admitting that it was a sexy song at first.

However, this was the final straw. Rose couldn't take any more of her soulmate's teasing, whether it was on purpose or not.

Chan groaned as he collapsed in his chair after ending another episode of Chan's Room. He was a little embarrassed after playing Red Lights because he knew the creation it got, but he did it because he also knew how much the fans loved it. He jumped in surprise when Rose barged into his studio.

"You're such a tease!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Say please. Really? What are you trying to do to STAY?"

"Say please? What...? Oh!"

Chan studied his soulmate. She looked a little ruffled compared to her usual put-together appearance. He thought back to the comment she was referring to. Was she worked up over the idea of him pinning someone against a wall? Did she want him to pin her?

The leader wasn't completely oblivious. He knew Rose had watched him working out in the gym earlier. While he had pretended not to notice her, to see what she would do, he had seen her reaction and seen her run away. He was glad that she was affected by his body as the memory of her hands brushing his skin as she adjusted his stage outfits made him need to work out harder.

With a sudden burst of confidence, Chan rose out of his chair and walked toward his soulmate. This was his chance to push for more, to change his relationship with his soulmate. He only hoped that he wouldn't mess it up.

"What? What are you-"

Rose backed up until her back hit the wall next to the door and gulped as her soulmate moved ever closer.

"Was that you saying please?"

She watched speechless as Chan rested his hands against the wall on either side of her. Her mouth was dry as she waited for him to start laughing. While part of her thought that he must be joking with her, a bigger part hoped that this was really happening.

As she stared into his eyes, Rose realised that this wasn't a joke. In fact, she wasn't sure she had ever seen this look in Chan's eyes before. She could hear her heart beating as she stood trapped between the wall and her soulmate. Her breath hitched as she watched his gaze lower.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Please."

The kiss started off softer than Rose expected, but it soon went from a light sizzle to raging fire, until she felt as though she was drowning in the feeling of Chan. As she felt their bond form, she clung to his arms to keep him close. It was like a puzzle piece clicking into place. She finally felt as though she could breathe even though she didn't know she had been struggling before.

Rose had been waiting, dreaming of this moment for so long, but her imagination could never have done it justice. Before she had worried about what it would mean, to complete the bond with her soulmate, but in the moment, nothing else mattered other than the joy she was feeling.

When Chan pulled away, she barely restrained a whimper at the loss.

"I don't want to be just friends anymore."

Rose couldn't help the grin which took over.

"Well, I'd hope so after that kiss!"

Although he wanted nothing more than to cuddle on the sofa with Rose for the rest of the evening, Chan had a lot of work to do. Instead, she ended up sitting on his lap, curled up against his chest as he worked while pressing kisses to her lips as often as possible, but it was still perfect to her.