Ryeowook rubbed his eyes to chase away the tiredness, owning him a scolding from the stylist that was currently blow-drying his hair. Turning out her voice he closed his eyes to get just a little rest before the recording would start in a few minutes. He hadn´t gotten much sleep the night before as his mind had been occupied by the mysterious present in front of his door. He had spent at least half an hour search for a clue who might have placed it there, but he hadn´t found anything. Even the little note hadn´t contained any hit as it had been typed and so he had had no chance to recognize the handwriting.

Letting out a silent groan his mind returned to the same thoughts that had kept him awake the night before. It hadn´t been to long since he moved out of the dorm so not many people knew where he was living yet. In addition the complex´s security was pretty good, so that only chosen people were able get onto his floor. The people who had access were mostly people from SM, family and a few friends and he couldn´t imagine any of them sending such a present.

For a moment he had wondered if any of the members had just tried to cheer him up, but the red rose told a different story. No one would send a red rose just to cheer somebody up! Suddenly a thought acured to him. Could it be that Dongwoon had been the secretive sender? Yet, the younger never again showed any interest in him since their date. Instead they had become good friends so why would he sent him a present like that now? This thought for interrupted by his manager who ushered him to the recording place.

The following recording seemed to take forever and when it finally ended Ryeowook was the first to hurry into the waiting room to change his closes. He had spent at least an hour of last nights worrying, thinking about what to wear. He didn´t want to seem like the dressed up for this but at the same time he didn´t know what to expect and what clothing would be appropriate. In the end he had settled for a tight, dark grey jeans and a simple white T-Shirt covered by a checkered shirt.

He was already dressed when his manager appeared in the dressing room. Telling the older he would take a taxi to meet a friend, Ryeowook expected the other to oppose but it seemed his manager was just glad he was finally leaving his apartment again. Whishing the other a good day Ryeowook quickly escaped through the back entrance of the recording studio before calling for a taxi.

To his luck he didn´t have to wait long for an empty car to stop by his side. Taking a quick look around he made sure he wasn´t discovered by any fans before giving the driver the address to the old SM building. Knowing it would take a while to get there he leaned back into the seat, focusing on the changing images outside the car. Watching the houses and people flash by, the young Korean took a deep breath to relax his mind. He had been anxious before but the nearer they got to the destination the bigger the fear in his hear grew.

He had a spent a good time of the last night thinking if he should follow the mysterious invitation or not. On one side he had been more than a little curious about finding out what was the meaning of all this but on the other one hand he had been more than a little scared of what would be waiting for him. There was a big chance the present had been by some crazy fan who had found a way into his building. Still he couldn´t think of any reason why a fan would ask him to come to the old SM building where there would be employees around all the time. In the end his curiousity had gotten the better of him and he had decided it was safe enough even if the secretive sender turned out to be an overly attached fan. What had been decisive though was that when his alarm clock rang the next morning he noticed that he had been so busy thinking about the mysterious present that he hadn´t had any time to think about Yesung. Therefore he had decided to just give this try, hoping it would help to fix a least a little part of his broken heart.

His thoughts returned to reality when the car came to a halt in front of the wellknown building. He had been here so many times, yet the sight in front of him had his heart beating in an intoxication mixture of excitement and fear and Ryeowook felt like it was the first time, since he had seen Yesung confess, that he was feeling anything but the dull pain in his heart. Still he hesitated to get out of the taxi and for a moment he wondered if he should just return home but when the driver threw him a questioning gaze, he quickly paid the fee. Stepping out of the car he searched for anyone he might know but the street was nearly empty and none of the people passing by or standing around seemed as if they were waiting for him.

He waited for about 10 minutes before starting to look around ones again but still it didn´t seem as if any of the passerby took an interest in him. Wondering if the secret sender would ever show up, he threw a worried glance at the sky that started to darken rapidly. He waited another 10 minute before the first heavy drops hit is face. Cursing silently to himself he quickly headed under the roof of the entrance. Shaking his head to get the water droplets out of his hair he slowly felt the hurt return to his heart. He had no idea what he had hoped to happen but to be stood up like this definitely wasn´t what he expected. Suddenly he felt so stupid ones again. It was obvious that someone had played a prank on him and of course he had fallen for it. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes slowly but he wiped them away angrily.

Ryeowook was about to turn around and just return to the safety of his home when his eye fell on a paper glued to the wall. On it there was a big black arrow pointing to the door and a little smiling giraffe sitting on top of it. Furrowing his brows in confusion he starred at the picture for a moment. He had no idea what was the meaning of this but ones again he couldn´t find in him to ignore his curiousity. Following the arrow he stepped into the building only to find himself in front of another arrow pointing towards the staircase. Not forgetting to greet the portier he quickly made his way up the stairs.

It didn´t take long until he had followed the arrows into the long hallway with the training rooms attached to it. Searching for the next arrow he found it pointing directly towards a training room that the young man recognized immediately. It was the very same room he had first met the members in and the place he had heard Yesung´s voice for the first time. Quickly shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts about the older member he brought his eyes back to the door in front of him.

Although he couldn´t really explain why, Ryeowook felt his heart accelerate its pace as he stepped towards the door. Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open, only to be met by an almost empty room, except for the little giraffe that was sitting in the middle of it. It was the same giraffe as before and just as the last time it was holding a red rose. Quickly hurrying over he picked it up only to notice that instead of a paper it was holding a white envelope with his name written on it.

Feeling his heart starting to beat wildly in a mixture of excitement and anxiousness he sat down in the same corner he had sat the day he was introduced to the other members. Turning the envelope in his hands a few times he took a breath before opening it, pulling out a folded paper. Unfolding it quickly, he immediately started reading the letter that was ones again neatly typed out.

“I guess it has been a while since you have been here, hasn´t it? Do you still remember? It was in this very room that you were first introduced to us.”

Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion he threw a glance at the little giraffe he had placed beside him. What was the meaning of all this? The only persons he had ever been introduced to in this room were the other members, but why would any of them send him on this kind of paper chase? And why would any of them give him red roses? Could it be that one of them had a crush on him? He could feel worry creeping up into his heart at the thought, but he quickly shook his head. Just because he had been stupid enough to fall for one of their members, didn´t mean everybody else was as well. Yet, he couldn´t help but wonder who might be responsible for this as he turned his attention back to the letter.

“To be honest we weren´t really happy when manager told us the day before. In fact we had decided we would just ignore you. It´s not that we had something against you personally, but we were already so many and competition between us was hard enough with only the eleven of us. Yet, when manager brought you into the room I immediately knew that there was something special about you. I had been in a pretty bad mood that day but when you were standing in front of us being all shy and starring at your feet, I couldn´t help the little smile that placed itself upon my lips.

There was just something about you I couldn´t explain and when you were sitting in that corner I knew I wanted to know more about you! ”

A smile placed itself on the Eternal Maknae´s lips, but it disappeared the moment the mental image of Yesung talking to him that day appeared in front of his inner eye. Thinking about it now, he had probably fallen for the older that day already, even if he hadn´t known by then. Feeling his heart starting to ache again he quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind before reading the last part of the letter.

“I know this might seem a little weird to you, but if you want to know what this is all about please go to the third training room on the next floor for now”

The request confused Ryeowook even more. He had no idea what this was all about, even less who might be responsible for this. Yet, he decided it was ok to just go with it for now as he folded the letter back together, placing it into his bag together with the giraffe and the rose.

Heading up the stairs, he tried to figure out which one of the members might be the mysterious sender. He knew he could definitely exclude Kyuhyun. First of all the younger wasn´t even in the company yet when he had been introduced to the rest of the members and in addition their Maknae had a boyfriend himself so he definitely wouldn´t send him red roses. He was also sure that this wasn´t Shindong´s nor Sungmin´s work as both of them were married already.

Arriving at the room he mentally eliminated Yesung, Heechul and Siwon as well, but even like this he couldn´t think of any reason why any of the remaining members would do something like that. Deciding to postpone this thought for later he stepped into the room much more confident than the last time. Being encountered with yet another giraffe he didn´t hesitate to pick it up and free the latter from its hold. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster as he opened the envelope and pulled out the folded paper.

“Dear Ryeowook,

Do you remember this place? It was here that you first had singing practice with any of the members.”

Without him noticing he nodded to himself. Of course he remembered! It was here that he had first heard Yesung sing and it was that moment where he had known that to him there was nothing more beautiful than their oldest main vocal´s voice. Looking at it now it probably also had been the moment where he had fallen for the older. The thought immediately turned the smile on the Eternal Maknae´s lips into a frown as he returned his full concentration on the letter in his hand.

“You know, if I am being honest, I was extremely nervous that day. I don´t think I even was that nervous before our debut stage. Even though we had grown closer by that day I was extremely scared to embaress myself in front of you so when teacher-nim asked me to sing, I gave it my best. I don´t know what you thought about it but until today I still hope I impressed you a little. But what made that day so memorable was that when you started singing I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Your voice was just so clear that not even an angel´s voice could have been that lovely.”

Reaching for the giraffe he quickly read the new instruction telling him that the taxi waiting for him in front of the building would take him to the places from now on. Gathering everything he could feel his hands starting to shake. It was starting to become clear to him that there was more behind this than just some friendship thing. Instead it felt more like some kind of confession and the sudden thought of it caused his hands to get sweaty, nearly dropping his bag.

Given the information for the last latter there were only two persons that could be responsible for this and neither made sense. That day only Yesung and Sungmin had been present, but the thought of one of them confessing was just simply absurd. There was no doubt that Yesung was in love with Heechul. And Sungmin? Sungmin had married not too long ago so that didn´t make any sense either.

For a moment Ryeowook wondered if he had missed some clue and instead it was some kind of confession by a crazy fan after all, but he quickly discarded that thought again. There had never been any video footage of that day so fans couldn´t know about that day. Plus it just didn´t make any sense why a fan would pretend to be one of the members.

Shaking his head vigorously he tried to get rid of the thought but he just couldn´t stop wondering what reason Yesung or Sungmin might have for all this, as he took the elevator down to the ground floor. If he was asked to choose at this moment he would probably say all of this was Sungmin´s doing. Even though the older was married he did see even less reason why Yesung would do something like this. In addition their oldest main vocal just wasn´t the type for something like this. Yet he wished whole heartedly that he was wrong. Not only would he feel completely guilty towards the older´s wife, but he also knew that if Sungmin would confess he himself would never be able to return his feelings and the last thing he wanted was to break one of his best friend´s heart. Even less so since his own heart break still hurt like it was just yesterday and he didn´t wish for anyone to ever feel the same.

Trying to calm himself down, Ryeowook started to reconsider the exclusion of every single member but he still ended up with the same result. Letting out a silent groan he decided there was no use in wracking his mind as long as he didn´t knew anything else, as he quickly left the building and got himself comfortable in the back seat of the taxi waiting for him.

~*~*~*~*~

Finally found the time to update. Hope you all enjoy this