“Buzz...... Buzz...... Buzz......” Sunggyu’s handphone kept vibrating on the bed, which didn’t help to nudge the owner to awake to life. It was a schedule-free day, when Sunggyu finally cracked his eyes open, it was already 2:20pm. He reached out for his handphone to check for the time. He saw a few unread messages and miscalls.

‘Hyung, I’m going to my parents’ house and will be back tomorrow. Don’t miss me okay... hahaha...’ – Dongwoo, 7:30 am.

‘Hyung, meeting up with friends. Don’t worry.’ – Howon, 10:23 am.

‘Hyung, where r u?? Lunch with me???’ – Sungyeol, 12:09pm.

Sunggyu wasn’t surprised to see that the several miscalls were all from Sungyeol alone. He replied a short message to Sungyeol and throw his handphone onto the bed. He rolled to another side and hugged his second pillow, tried to sleep again but after some time he was still conscioused, that was when he decided to wake up. It was 3:30pm.

He did some simple washed up then wore a T shirt and a shorts whichever his hand first grabbed. He didn’t concern of what he had put on because the dorm was empty and he didn’t plan to leave the dorm. Since his stomach was grumbling, he headed to the kitchen and found the ready-rice pack in the cupboard, so he took an egg and some soy paste from the fridge then put them onto the rice and shoved the rice pack into the microwave.

After 2 minutes, the food was readied. Sunggyu stirred the rice with a spoon so that the egg, soy paste and the rice could mix well together. He brought his food to the dinning table where his iPad was resting and started to eat his food, or to be exactly, to swallow his food, because he finished the mixed rice within 2 minutes. Yes, he didn’t really care of the food during the free day like this, he just wanted to fill his angry stomach.

Then, Sunggyu held his iPad and headed to the living room, he lied on the couch and started to play games until he felt bored. He also checked the social media and even logged in to fan cafe and chatted with fans. Fans were very excited to see him in the chatroom, they kept sending messages asked him a lot of questions. He was happy to the exciting fans but he didn’t stay long, because he felt bored again. He logged out and put down his iPad, he didn’t know what to do then.

Suddenly, he thought of Lily. He looked at the clock, it was 6:40pm. He started to search for his handphone because he wanted to text Lily, then he realised his handphone was still lying on the bed. He went to his bedroom, found his handphone and started to type.

‘Noona, r u at home?’

Sunggyu tapped his fingers on the bed while waiting for Lily’s reply.

‘Yeah, y?’

He sit straight excitedly and typed fast.

‘Members all went out, can I go to ur place and dinner with u?’

The message was delivered but there was no instant reply. He waited impatiently and his fingers tapped furiously on his handphone case. After a few minutes, he got the reply.

‘I only have rice and some soup, u mind?’

‘Perfect! I’m coming now.’

Sunggyu jumped off the bed, put on a hoodie and grabbed the keys then headed to Lily’s place which was 2 floors above his dorm. Didn't want to wait, he ran up through staircase instead of waiting for the lift. When Lily opened the door, he waved and smiled happily to her as if she was his life safer, then walked in to the living room and took off his hoodie, that was the first time he saw his wearing: a grey Mickey Mouse T shirt and a printed floral pattern shorts in green. When he was still looking at the shorts confused of how it happened to appear in his wardrobe, Lily couldn’t help to smile at the funny scene and assured him, “Don’t worry, fansites aren’t around, fans won’t see this.” Sunggyu tried to explain, “It’s Dongwoo’s!” “I know, he wore this a few times to studio. Serve yourself comfort okay?” Lily smiled and walked to the kitchen, left the confusing Sunggyu in the living room, “He did??” He couldn’t believe that he had wore this greenish floral shorts for half a day and he didn’t even notice it until now! He only hoped that the hoodie had covered his face well when he rushed to Lily’s place just now.

A new kind of delicious scent reached Sunggyu’s smelling sense, he turned to the kitchen and saw Lily was cooking. “Noona, you cook?” “Very simple home cooking, you okay with it?” She turned to Sunggyu and saw him staring at the stove, “Hungry already?” “Huh? No... just... it smells good. What’s that in the pot?” He pointed at the pot. “We called it ‘ABC soup’.” “ABC?” She smiled and continued her half done cooking, “You’ll see it later.” He sit at the dinning room looked at the cooking Lily, it felt like how he used to looked and waited for his omma to prepare meals for him. Warmth suddenly oozed inside him. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he looked at his cooking omma in the kitchen, but he knew he should find time to visit his omma, it has been a long time since his last visit.

“Food is ready~” Lily’s voice brought him back to real time, and one dish was placed on the table. Sunggyu looked at the dish and inhaled the smell. “Minced pork with eggs.” Lily explained and gave him a bowl of soup and a full bowl of rice. “It’s very dark...” “It’s cooked with thick soy sauce.” Then he looked at the ‘ABC soup’, he saw some potato and carrot cubes, some tomato slices and onion slices. “Sunggyu, you look like those jury of the Master Chef Korea and I feel so stressful now...” Lily put her hand on her forehead as if she was really stressful, but she was smiling, so he knew she was joking. He smiled his embarrassing smile and said, “Sorry, sorry! They look new to me, I can’t help... can I eat now?” She passed him spoon and chopsticks, “Finish everything even if the food tasted badly.” Lily smiled while saying that and Sunggyu knew she was joking too, just that it caught his attention again because this was what his omma used to tell him, ‘Finish everything even if it tastes badly, don’t waste food.’.

Sunggyu ate quietly. It was how he was taught since small that one must not speak while eating, on the other hand, he was tasting the new food carefully because it was a new taste to his taste buds. The minced pork with eggs looked simple but it tasted really good especially when having it with rice, it was how the Korean used to call, the rice stealer. The ABC soup was the opposite, it has mild taste of potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and onions. It was a good balance with the minced pork and eggs, he finished the dishes with 2 full bowls of rice.

When they finished the meal, Sunggyu helped to clean the table while Lily washed the plates. He stood beside her, waiting. The confused Lily asked, “Still hungry?” “Huh? No, no... I had more than enough.” He smiled and rub his satisfying stomach. She waited for him to finish, and finally the sheepish Sunggyu said, “Noona, can I...... stay for longer?” Lily raised her eyebrows, he continued, “The dorm was empty and I was all alone......” Lily couldn’t stand for his puppy face, “Alright, but don’t mess up my place, okay?” “Yes, mam!” Smiled his happy big smile and followed Lily to the living room.

Sunggyu sit on the couch and Lily sit on the floor with her back lied against the edge of the couch. She placed her iPad on the coffee table and passed the TV remote control to Sunggyu, “The TV is yours.” He switched on the TV and flipped through a few channels while she started to check on a few pages. Curious, Sunggyu leaned to Lily’s side and looked at her iPad, wondering what she was checking on. It was some music stores’ website and some social media’s pages. She turned to him and saw his curious eyes, “Now I’m curious, why don’t you go out and meet some young friends? Meet some girls and get a girlfriend, you really shouldn’t stuck in an old lady’s house with this...... greenish floral pants......” Lily pulled the hem of Sunggyu’s pants a few times and couldn’t help to chuckle.

Sunggyu sit up right and started his defence, “Aish...... noona, I didn’t know why Dongwoo’s pants was in my wardrobe, I just put on anything I got in hand, and I don't want any girlfriend right now. Having girlfriend is troublesome.” Lily raised her eyebrows in questioning his statement but he ignored and continued, “And you don’t look old at all so don’t call yourself as an ‘old lady’, okay......” She looked at Sunggyu with her narrowed eyes and Sunggyu added, “It’s true! You look like around my age. Okay...... maybe 1 or 2 years elder but definitely still looking young.” “You don’t have to be sweetie to me just because I’ve just fed you dinner.” She looked into his small eyes but they seem honest. “Noona, I never lied to you.” Lily took the chance, “Okay, then what’s with the ‘having girlfriend is troublesome’?” Her question caught him off guarded, he thought for a while and answered, “I don’t want to simply start a relationship again when I barely know her.” She remembered what he told her at the Han River Park, so she nodded as to let off the topic and continued her work with iPad.

Then, Sunggyu leaned in again and continued, “Speaking of going out, noona, don’t you think you should go out more often and know new friends? And... get a boyfriend... maybe?” Lily turned to look at Sunggyu, this time was his questions that caught her off guarded, but he looked genuine, so she didn’t feel annoyed, just returned her gaze to her iPad and said, “I don’t feel like having a boyfriend now.” Lily looked calm but Sunggyu heard something else in her voice: She was in pain. He didn’t like it when Lily was in pain, whenever he saw her in pain, he felt protective to her. He didn’t know why, he just couldn’t help it, as if he felt the pain too.

He remembered the first time he felt protective to Lily. A year ago, when Lily followed Jung Yeop’s order and wouldn’t tell Ms Choi about his daily schedule. Ms Choi had a big crush on Jung Yeop, she thought Lily wanted to ruin her chance and she slapped Lily furiously. Sunggyu nearly pulled Ms Choi out from the office but Lily stopped him. Lily didn’t cry and she looked calm, but he knew she was upset and in pain of humiliation. Since then, Sunggyu kept an eye on Lily. His ex-girlfriend complained a lot about it but he didn’t care, still tried his best to be there to protect her from any harm or any pain.

The second time just happened recently. Lily didn’t really take alcoholic drinks because she would get drunk very easily. That night, Sunggyu came over wanted to ask her about the schedule, the drunk Lily opened the door for him then fell unconscious on the couch, but her tears kept flowing. Sunggyu didn’t know what had happened but he felt so painful to see her in pain. He stayed with her until she stopped sobbing, then only he returned to his dorm.

“You don’t want to simply start a relationship again when you barely know her. How long do you think you need to actually know a person?” Her gaze fell on her iPad but Sunggyu knew that she was looking at somewhere else. “I spent 10 years with a man, I thought he was the man I would marry but he seemed never planned for it. He kept saying that he wasn’t readied for marriage but you know what, he married another woman six months after we separated. Six months…” Sunggyu regretted for asking her to get a boyfriend, which led her in remembering all the painful memories, and buried herself in the miserable emotion. “Worse... I just found out that their first child was born 3 months after their wedding. Do you know what does that mean? Can you believe it??” Lily laughed and shook her head a few times, after a heavy sighed, she rose and walked to the kitchen. Sunggyu followed behind her and watched over her carefully in case she was going to do something harmful. She got herself a big mug of cold water and drank it all at once. She didn’t turn around, with her back facing Sunggyu, she looked vulnerable.

“Noona......”

Lily didn’t turn around. He went to her and slowly turned her around to facing him, then, his heart sunk. She didn’t look up, but her eyes were wet in redness. Gently, Sunggyu pulled her over and hugged her tightly. At first, Lily was shocked and her body turned stiff under Sunggyu’s arms. Slowly, her shoulder started trembling, Sunggyu rubbed her back gently and said with his soft voice, “It’s okay, I’m here with you...” And then, she started her sobbing and hugged him tightly in return. He rest his left cheek on her head, at the same time loosened his arms a bit and move one hand to pat her hair, like a father would do to appease his crying daughter.

They stood there for a long time. Sunggyu felt a little released when Lily’s breathing returned steady and even. When her mind backed to real time, she felt embarrassed and blushed under Sunggyu’s embrace. Slowly, she loosened her arms and pulled away from him, “I’m sorry, your Mickey Mouse is all wet now.” She smiled embarrassingly and avoided his gaze, he replied in his care less tone, “Don’t worry, it’s Sungyeol’s T shirt, so never mind.” “What... Dongwoo’s shorts and Sungyeol’s T shirt?” She finally looked to his eyes and smiled in disbelieving, which caused him smiling together with her. He felt glad to be able to crack her a smile, then, he reached out to wipe off the tears trace on her cheeks with his thumbs gently. With the tenderness in his smiling eyes, warmth and touched filled Lily entirely. She looked away and tried to say something, “Do you want some tea? Give me a few minutes, wait at the couch okay...” She started to prepare tea, Sunggyu gave her some time to adjust her emotion and retrieved to the couch.

She returned to the couch with 2 mugs of lemon grass tea, they both sipped the tea quietly. “Sorry... I’ve made you worried.” Sunggyu looked at the sheepish Lily and said with his soft voice, “There’s nothing to be sorry, really.” She looked at him, remembered that was what she said to him few weeks ago at the Han River Park. “I can stay... if you need some company...” Second wave of warmth and touched filled her again, “Jung Yeop helps me a lot in this, he gives me some busy but simple tasks that keeps me occupied. So, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Sunggyu just nodded and let it off, then continued to drink his mug of tea.

He stayed for a while then decided to go back. He put on his hoodie and a mask from Lily to make sure his face was well covered. “Thanks, noona.” He smiled his big smile behind the mask. “Me too, thanks for everything...” She looked into his eyes, genuinely thankful to him. His eyes were smiling, then, unexpectedly, he reached out to a flock of her hair and put them behind her left ear, “Have a good rest, noona.” Lily blushed a little, but she still greeted him goodnight. He opened the door and before leaving, he turned to look at Lily for one last time, waved her goodbye and helped her closed the door. Then, he walked back to his dorm. He didn’t have to rush back because he was well covered.

When he reached his room, he took off the clothes for a warm shower. The greenish floral pants was thrown into the laundry basket but the Mickey Mouse T shirt was hung up behind his room’s door, while the mask was placed nicely beside his hanphone on the writing table. He had a quick shower then put on some loosen and comfortable clothes, but this time, he looked carefully at the clothes so that he wouldn’t wear his dongsaengs’s funny clothes again. Then, he lied on his bed and thought of everything just happened in the evening. He liked the dishes Lily made for him, but he spoilt the evening by brought up Lily’s painful memories, that was what he hated so much. On the other hand, he felt good that he finally knew what had happened to her, why was the drunken Lily and her quiet sobbing. At least he knew it now, he told himself. Before he turned off the light, he looked at the Mickey Mouse T shirt again. Many things flashed in his mind, hence, he decided to keep this Mickey Mouse T shirt to himself.