“______? You still awake?” Yoochun sticks his head in through the cracked door, squinting in the darkness.

“Yes,” I answer, puzzled as I lay the covers back down and walk to the door to turn on the light. “Is something wrong?”

“No, everything’s fine,” he smiles. “How’s Daniel doing?”

“Good. Only dislikes one of his classes so far and he’s started playing soccer again. He was a little confused about why I’m in Japan, but he thought it was cool once I explained.”

“That’s good. y pajamas, by the way.”

I smile sheepishly, tugging on the shirt’s hem. “It’s my other brother, Tyler’s, old high school jersey. It’s too big, obviously, but it’s comfy.”


“Well, I bet it still looks better on you than it did him. Aren’t you cold in shorts?”

Smiling, but otherwise ignoring his comment, I reply, “Not really. Oppa, you know how early we have to leave here, right?”


“Yeah. I’m not sleepy yet. Are you tired?”


“Honestly...not really, but I’ll be useless if I don’t get at least four hours sleep.”

“Well, if you come over you’ll still be able to get that. Want to?”


“Come over?”

“Changmin, Jaejoong, and I were going to have our snack and were wondering if you wanted to join us.”


“But you only bought three bentos. There wouldn’t be enough.”

“You can share with me. You in?”

Looking over my shoulder at the bed with a longing glance, I turn and answer, “Sure.”

    Yoochun’s resulting smile is enough to banish any regret for lost sleep. As I follow him down the hall and into their room, the kitchen light shines warmly. Changmin and Jaejoong are already seated on stools at the kitchen’s counter, talking quietly. They both smile when they see me trailing after Yoochun, who immediately heads to the refrigerator to get the bentos.

“So you decided to join our nightly ritual,” Jaejoong says as I pull up a stool and sit opposite him.

“Despite my better judgement,” I reply. “I apologize in advance if I’m giddy in the morning. I haven’t been drinking, it’ll just be lack of sleep. The bento and company are worth it though.”

“Here’s yours, hyung,” Yoochun announces, putting one of the bento in question in front of Jaejoong. “And your’s, Changmin, and ours.” Handing me a pair of chopsticks, he digs in.

“At least get her her own plate, Yoochun,” Jaejoong says with a shake of his head, getting up to bring me one himself. “She’s not going to want to share your saliva too.”

“I don’t when you put it that way,” I remark, scrunching my face. “Thanks, oppa.”


“It’s messier this way,” Yoochun sighs, nonetheless putting an equal portion of the bento on the plate.

“That looks like so little,” Changmin says, looking between his food and mine. “Here, noona. You can have some of mine too.”

“That’s all right. I’m fine,” I protest, but he still puts a few pieces of fish and vegetables on my plate. “Thank you.”

“What?” Changmin asks, his answering smile fading a little as he looks back at Jaejoong and Yoochun, who are frozen.


“You...gave her your food,” Jaejoong stammers, pointing a finger at him.

“Yeah. Your point?”

“You never do that unless we’re all sharing. Even then...”

“Like I said, it looked like she barely had any and if she’s going to be cooking for us, it’s the least I could do,” he shrugs.

“Hyung, write this down somewhere because I don’t think Yunho and Junsu will believe us. Changmin voluntarily gave food away,” Yoochun chuckles.

“Don’t be mean,” I laugh as Changmin rolls his eyes and goes back to eating.

“Hey, he gives as good as he gets.”

“It’s true,” Changmin admits with a devilish grin.

“Now I’m feeling bad,” Jaejoong says, glancing at my plate before adding to it.

“Really, I’m fine. You need it more than me,” I insist, trying to give everything back.

“Listening to the two of you, you’d think I hogged everything,” Yoochun complains. “I’d never do that to her.”

“It’s not that,” Jaejoong says, countering my every move. “It’s like Changmin said. We’re just repaying her a little.”

“Oppa! I’m seriously not going to be able to finish it all,” I say exasperatedly, finally giving up.

Jaejoong smiles victoriously. “Maybe not, but you have the option to. I’m sure one of us will eat the rest if you don’t. Do you have any plans for when you’re not with us in the afternoon?”

“Not with you? We have the whole day booked, don’t we?”

“You won’t have to be with us when we’re practicing for the concert since we’ll just be doing placing and timing, things like that. You won’t miss you too much, right?” Yoochun asks, giving my shoulders a little squeeze.

“I’ll try. Free time on the job. Wow.”

“Don’t you usually get some?” Changmin asks.

“Mostly it’s just meeting after meeting on business trips. It’s only with tourist groups that I might get any, but even then I usually need to chaperone them when they shop,” I explain with a rueful smile. “I guess I’ll just wander around a bit before coming back here to make dinner.”

“Take your time coming back,” Jaejoong tells me. “We’ll probably be back late.”

“All right. Is there anything in particular you would like?”

“Spaghetti,” Changmin immediately replies, making Jaejoong and Yoochun laugh.

“Jeez, Changmin,” Yoochun chuckles. “We’ll all be old by the time you decide.”
I ignore Yoochun. “I can do that. With or without meatballs?”

“With. Please.”

“All right. I guess that means I’ll just need to pick up the meat and noodles since I think Jaejoong oppa got tomatoes.”

He nods. “I did. Spices and things are in the cabinet above the sink when you’re looking for them.”

“I’m going to get everything right the first time tomorrow,” Changmin vows. “That way we can get home quicker.”

    We laugh quietly, mindful of the sleeping Yunho and Junsu. As soon as we finish, Jaejoong shoos everyone off to bed. Yoochun gives me a last goodnight hug before I let myself out and head back out to my room.

    The buzz of my alarm heralds the arrival of the dawn a few hours later and surprisingly, I feel well rested. Flitting about my room, I quickly get dressed and end up coming out at the same time as the boys. Yunho and Jaejoong greet me cheerily while the other three manage sleepy smiles. I climb into one of the waiting vans with the other staff members, getting acquainted. They make me feel welcomed, apparently not holding it against me for not spending time with them before.

    By the time we reach our first destination, I can barely contain my excitement, having never done something like this before. Although I have a good wait before my services are required as they’re taking pictures before the interviews, I’m happy to sit and observe the bustle. Jaejoong and I end up making faces at each other in the mirror while he’s getting ready, amusing Yunho and making Changmin shake his head with a smile. Yoochun and Junsu are busy already taking pictures.

    When the interview finally begins, the boys only have a little trouble understanding, but they look to me every once in a while for help with a word. As soon as the interview is over, we’re whisked off to the next. It passes in a similar fashion and after a quick lunch on the go, we head off to the television show. This necessitates another round of preparation, but I don’t mind. The recording lasts several hours, with me sitting just off camera so I’m close enough to help. After shooting ends, the rest of the staff and I go back to the dorm while the boys are taken to the arena for the concert practice. After changing into something more casual, I borrow Yoochun’s bike to explore.

    I cycle around, casually looking into shop windows before coming to a stop in front of one. Sitting on the display is a small, beautiful wooden elephant, its trunk curled around a hollow log to hold pens. My mind flashes back to Jaejoong’s smile as he watched elephants on television and the mentioning of his upcoming birthday during our late hour snack. I smile as I realize I’ve found my gift for him. I enter the store and quickly make my purchase, watching as the clerk carefully wraps it.

    Carefully placing it in the basket behind the seat, I begin having second thoughts. Is it too presumptuous to give him a present? I shrug it off. Who doesn’t like presents? I’ll just double check with Yoochun tonight or some time soon. As I’m about to get back on the bike, I catch sight of a familiar face.

“Ye Jin?” I call out questioningly.

She turns around, her eyes widening in surprise. “_______?”

“Fancy meeting you here,” I smile, wheeling the bike over. “What brings you to Japan?”

“We’re in between shows right now and we agreed to lend some set pieces to a a friend of the director who owns a theater here,” she explains, turning a little pink.

“That’s cool. I thought you didn’t speak Japanese though?” I ask quizzically.

“I don’t,” Ye Jin admits with an embarrassed smile, gesturing to a phrasebook I hadn’t noticed before in her hand. “I’m learning though. Most of theater people speak English so it wasn’t too bad dealing with them. It’s just on the street that I’m having problems.”

“Well fear no more. I can help, at least for now. How long are you here for?”

“About two weeks. I got my boss to agree to let me attend a visiting artist’s workshops while I’m here and that’s how long they’ll last.”

“Maybe you can come see the boys then,” I suggest happily, thinking of Junsu.

“No, no. Don’t tell them I’m here.”

I look at her, confused. “Why not? They’d like to if they knew.”

“It’s just that...well, I don’t want to distract them and...I probably won’t have time with studying and all,” Ye Jin says in a rush.


“If you’re sure,” I say slowly. Deciding to let her strange reaction pass, I add. “Well, while I’m here, you said you were having problems. Anything I can help with?”

“If you could help me find my hotel again, that’d be amazing,” she replies with a relieved smile. “They gave me directions on how to get back, but I can’t read the signs.”

“Not a problem. Before we do that, would you like to visit the grocery with me? I have a few things to pick up for dinner. Jaejoong oppa said it was about two blocks away.”

“I don’t mind. What’re you making?”

“Changmin requested spaghetti and I think I’ll make a salad too with all the vegetables we have. Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I offer again. “I make really good tomato sauce and meatballs.”

“I’m sure. I’m actually have a dinner meeting with the theater director in a little anyway,” Ye Jin says apologetically.

“All right. Maybe another night then.”

“________-ssi-”

“You can call me unnie if you’d like, Ye Jin since we’ll be friends. I hope good ones too.”

“Unnie,” she says with a smile. “What’s in the package?”

“A birthday present. Want to see?”

Ye Jin nods eagerly. When I partially unwrap the elephant, she passes a reverent finger along its back. “I always wished I could carve. Unfortunately, my hands work better with a power tools or brushes. Is it for Jaejoong oppa?”

I nod. “According to Junsu, that doesn’t stop you from creating beautiful things.”

“He said that?”

“He’s told me about some of what you’ve done and shown me pictures.”

“Sometimes I think he’s more proud of what I do than I am,” she laughs.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did the two of you meet?” I ask as we enter the store.

“It was by chance, really. He was taking a class at my university. One day his brother was late picking him up so he decided to wait in the theater. I was there working on a set piece. I thought I was alone so I started dancing and singing along with the music I had playing. I don’t know how long he watched me, but at some point he joined in. He scared the hell out of me and I was so embarrassed, but I couldn’t stay that way with how nice he was. After that...,” Ye Jin shrugs. Snapping her fingers, she finishes, “It was like we clicked, you know? Where you feel like you’ve known a person forever even though you’ve only known them a short time.”

My mind drifts to Yoochun. “I know the feeling. So you were friends from then on?”

“Pretty much,” she smiles as we enter the store. “I didn’t find out Junsu was famous until later, but it didn’t change anything. He’s so sweet and always makes time for me. I never imagined a guy like him would be friends with me...I guess I’m just lucky.”

“Ye Jin?”

“Yes, unnie?”

“I hope I don’t upset you by asking or make you think I’m being nosey. It just sounds like...Do you like Junsu?”

=================

Annyoung lovely readers! Sorry for the wait, but here's your update. Enjoy and saranghae!

chiohemoxa: I found it. It's just a clip, but they're still adorable! Here you go.

yellow14: I hope you keep thinking that. ^^

ChinkyKayla: It'd be beyond this world fantastic.

Jun_KOI_Mi: It is! He was kind of a 'what could have been' for her, I think. That someone you tuck away in heart to make you happy even if you never see them again.

angelisabel: Well, you all are sweet for commenting and encouraging me. I wouldn't say that Yoochun's dense exactly, since she's good at hiding it (partially because she's just figuring it out) and they have that kind of flirty, teasing relationship as friends. That last part may be coming...or maybe not. Not sure yet.

PurpleangelSJ: Maybe, just maybe.

MewNikkiChan: LOVE the last part of your comment! She's getting to it, just being make-you-want-to-shake-me stubborn.

dark_angel23: Thank you for reading and I'm glad it makes you feel that way.

WhiteAutumn_x: Ke ke, here you go lovely.

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