The new house still smelled of fresh paint and unpacked boxes. Stray Kids had just moved in, and instead of rooms filled with furniture, there were mattresses scattered around, take-out containers stacked high in the kitchen, and laughter echoing through the half-empty hallways.

You were there because of Seungmin, your adopted brother — but by now, the guys treated you like family too. They’d all flopped down into the same room, shoulders pressed together, blankets dragged across the floor to create one big nest.

And you? You ended up right next to Bang Chan.

At first it was casual — just him handing you cards for Uno, his sleeve brushing yours, his smile pulling you into comfort like gravity. But the more rounds you played, the more it became a private game between the two of you. He started teasing you for picking the wrong color, you started bluffing just to make him draw four, and the laughter that left you both was loud enough to make Han tell you to shut up before he lost his focus.

But every time you looked at Chris, it felt like more than just playing cards. His gaze lingered. His voice softened when he said your name. And when you leaned forward to put down your winning card, your hair brushing his arm, his entire body went still for a moment. Like he had to remind himself to breathe.

Everyone else in the room carried on — throwing down cards, yelling when they lost, arguing about rules — but you felt the shift in the air between you and him. The way his laugh lowered when it was just for you. The way his knee brushed yours under the blanket and he didn’t move away.

There was this unspoken understanding: The leader, the older one, the one who carried the world on his shoulders. And you — Seungmin’s sister, still young, still figuring yourself out. But somehow, in that messy room with nothing but mattresses, you felt like equals. Like maybe all the walls between you were thinner than you thought.