Word Count:  3,189

 

"I can't believe you actually kept her."

 

That was what Jonghyun heard the next morning when he woke up and saw Key's figure hovered over his bed.  He grinned and cuddled the little girl beside him beneath the sheets.  "She's so cute though~" he mumbled as he stared sleepily at the girl's facial features.  She was currently asleep.

 

Key continued to glare at him.  "Jjong, there are 3 bedrooms in this flat.  One is Onew hyung's, another is mine & Tae's, and this is yours & Minho's.  Where are we going to put her in this small flat?"

 

Jonghyun simply shrugged and held onto her tightly.  Minho woke up and slowly yet silently sat up in bed, staring at Key, then at Jonghyun.  He sighed inaudibly and slowly stood up, walking over to Jonghyun's bed, and pulled the bedsheets off.  Jonghyun squealed at the loss of warmth from the covers and held the little girl more.  Suddenly, she woke up from the struggle and stared at Jonghyun wide eyed.  Key pointed at her facial expression.  "See?!  She's scared!"

 

Minho quietly moved to where Key was standing, which was near the girl.  He pried Jonghyun's arms away from her and carried her in his arms.  "I'm going to help her take a shower.  She's still wearing dirty clothes, and we haven't once seen her try to walk or stand."  he simply voiced out, then walked away to the bathroom.

 

Jonghyun sat up in his bed and pouted, making grabbing gestures towards the girl as Minho left with her.  "No~ I want my Cheonsa~ [Angel]" he protested  Key raised an eyebrow in question.  "Your angel?"

 

The elder man nodded with a sudden smile on his face.  "Yeah~ Onew hyung said she's probably mute, so we'll never know her name.  So I named her.  Cheonsa."  He continued to open and close his hands, staring at them.  "You know, when I was hugging her in my sleep, I think she was a B or a C cup in the chest area.......she could be around Tae's age - OW!"

 

Key unrolled the magazine and tossed it back to where he got it.  "You're an idiot.  And a ert."

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Cheonsa' stared at Onew in shock as he finished eating his 2nd plate of fried chicken .  She sat beside him on the dining table while Key finished cleaning the kitchen and sat across the table from Onew.  Taemin, in his grey sweatpants and black tank top, skipped back to his seat, which was across the table from Cheonsa's seat.  He smiled and started moving his hands in the air.  Key stared at Taemin and scrunched up his nose.

 

"Tae, what are you doing?"

 

Taemin blinked and looked at him.  "Sign language.  Maybe she understands it?"

 

Just then, Minho walked into the kitchen and glanced at Cheonsa near the dining table.  He was eating a banana and holding 3 more in his free hand.  He momentarily stopped eating and swallowed.  "Hey, Jjong hyung says that he's calling you Cheonsa from now on, since we don't know your name.  Is that okay?" he asked in reassurance.

 

Cheonsa nodded slowly as she finished her breakfast, which was pancakes and syrup.  He held up the 3 bananas in his hand.  "Do you want fruit?"  he offered.  Cheonsa nodded happily upon seeing the yellow fruit.  Minho tossed her one and placed the rest of the bananas on the kitchen table next to the oranges before leaving the kitchen.

 

Key turned to Taemin and smirked.  "See that?  She can hear, she just can't speak."

 

Taemin sighed and pouted.  "Aish, I spent the whole early morning studying sign language!" he exclaimed.  Cheonsa stuffed most of the banana into right when Jonghyun walked into the kitchen.  His eyes widened and before he could say anything, he was pushed back into the living room by Key.

 

"GET BACK INTO YOUR CAGE, YOU HOUND DOG!  I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, ERT!" Key yelled, causing Cheonsa to look up in question after taking a bite of the banana.

 

Onew & Taemin watched as she finished her fruit and slowly got up to put the banana peel in the nearest trash can she could find.  They gaped at her.

 

"KEY!"  "UMMA!"

 

Said man walked into the kitchen and glared at them.  "What are you two shouting - "  He stopped and gasped as he saw Cheonsa standing in the middle of the kitchen floor.  "JJONG!  MINHO!"

 

Said people walked into the kitchen beside Key and stared at him.  "Key, what on Earth is all that shouting...."  Minho trailed off as he and Jonghyun stared wide eyed at Cheonsa, who simply stared at all of them back.

 

Key took in what she was currently wearing and scoffed.  "Who gave her this random ?"  he demanded, pointing at the girl's attire.  She was wearing loose. red-checkered boxers and a very loose blue t-shirt.  He leaned closely to her and took a very good look, frowning.  "Is she even wearing underwear and stuff like that?"

 

Minho gave him a deadpanned look.  "We're all men here.  She was barely here for one night.  What do you think?"  he asked sarcastically.

 

Taemin meekly raised his hand.  "Those are my clothes she's wearing...." he mentioned.

 

Jonghyun shrugged and suggested, "Why don't you buy clothes for her today, Key?  After all, you're the only one rich enough to buy anything."

 

"I'm not rich!"  Key snapped at him.  "My father is, not me."  He grumbled incoherent words and took his wallet on the counter anyway.  He simply left the 'home' and slammed the front door shut.  

 

Everyone grew quiet for a moment until Jonghyun broke the silence.  "I'll.....go after him.  I sort of know Cheonsa's sizes anyways, so - BYE!"  He yelped as he ran past the door before Minho & Onew could reach and grab him.  Cheonsa started to blush, remembering where she woke up that morning.

 

Taemin stood up and walked towards her, holding out his hand.  "Would you like a tour of our 'home'?"  he asked her with a smile on his face.  She nodded and slowly took his hand and walked with him to look around the rooms.  Minho glanced at his watch and cursed out loud.  ", I don't want to be late for class!"  He quickly said his goodbyes and ran out the door after taking his car keys.

 

Onew looked around and shrugged, plopping himself onto the living room couch and turning on the T.V.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"And lastly, this is Onew hyung's room!"  Taemin exclaimed as he opened the door for Cheonsa.  She looked around the room in awe.

 

Since Onew had his own room, he's able to do whatever he wants in his room.  It wasn't messy, but it wasn't exactly clean, either.  There were a few items of clothing on the floor and papers scattered over the dressing table.  There was a bookcase full of books.  Cheonsa recognized a piece of paper and pen on the dressing table and hurried over to snatch it up.  She started writing something and showed it to Taemin.

 

Taemin read the note carefully.  "Is Onew his real name?  No, it's not.  He doesn't really like telling anyone his name."  He smiled at her.  "Hey, this is good handwriting.  Want to communicate with me through writing?"

 

Cheonsa nodded her head happily.  Taemin quickly checked underneath Onew's bed and found an unused Post-it notes pack.  He ripped open the wrapper and gave one pad of sticky yellow notes to Cheonsa.  She wrote something down right away and showed it to Taemin.  "You've told me everyone's real names except for his.  Are you and Onew-sshi really close?  Yeah, of course!  We're brothers.  Honestly, I don't really know why Onew never reveals his real name to anyone.  Only I know his real name, but I swore to never tell it to anyone."  He answered her.

 

Suddenly his cellphone rang and he answered it.  "Hello?  Ah, Kai!  Hold on,"  he turned to Cheonsa apologetically.  "Sorry, Cheonsa.  Onew hyung will have to entertain you."  Cheonsa nodded and brought the pen and notes with her to the living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onew looked up at Cheonsa and turned off the T.V.  He smiled widely at her.  "Hello, Cheonsa!  How are you today?"  he chirped up.

 

Cheonsa simply stared at him and wrote something on her notepad.  She removed the note and stuck it on Onew's forehead.  He chuckled and peeled the note off his skin, reading the note carefully.  "I'm fine.  I have a question though.  Well shoot the question."

 

She stuck another note on his shirt.  He peeled it off again and read the message.  "Why don't you let anyone know your real name?"  He froze at the question and looked up at Cheonsa.  She simply stared back at him with no emotion on her face.

 

He sighed and leaned back on the couch.  "No offense, but why would I tell someone I barely met why I don't hand out my personal info?" he asked her.

 

In reply, Cheonsa moved to the coffee table in the middle of the living room and sat down on the rug.  She slowly wrote down something and slapped a note on the surface of the table.  She started sticking each note next to the previous ones, and pretty soon, it constructed into a weird shape.  Nonetheless, Onew got curious and leaned forward from the couch to read each note carefully.

 

"My grandmother told me a story about how my mother met my father.  She never used her real name because she was afraid of letting people know her.

She didn't want to feel hurt like how her mother felt hurt, who is my grandmother now.  My grandmother in her past had given herself too much to my grandfather, whom I don't know of because he left her while she was pregnant, my mother still in her womb.

So my mother decided to use random words on the streets to make up a name.  My father bought the lie, and together they turned into the best of friends.

Then one day, my father took my mother out on a date for fun.  I was told that back then, rich people were expected to be in arranged marriages.

At the time, my mother was poor and my father was rich.  He wasn't supposed to hang out with my mother and the likes of her, yet he snuck out that whole day he was supposedly 'locked up in his room'.

That night, he took my mother to the grassy fields underneath the starry night sky.  He suddenly confessed to her how much he loved her and also about his situation with the marriage."

 

Onew looked up at Cheonsa, who finished posting the rest of the notes onto the table.  He continued to read, "My mother grew in a panic, because although she opened up to him, she hadn't told him what her name was or where she lived.  All my father probably knows about her for certain is that she was poor and her personality traits.

He loved her for that, but my mother never seemed sure.  She was always scared of love.

The next month was a bliss for my parents, and yet after that my mother ran away back to her home.  My father would never find her even if he tried, because he never knew her real name.

If people miss you when you go away and try to find you, how will they be able to find you if they don't know your name?  You'll never know who truly cares for you unless you reveal yourself; at least your name."

 

There was a moment of silence until Onew spoke up.  "So.....you've finally figured me out, eh?"

 

Cheonsa wrote something and stuck the note on Onew's shirt before walking away.  "I figured it out when Taemin-sshi showed me your room."  He read aloud after peeling it off of his shirt.  "Cheonsa...." he called out to her.  She stopped walking and turned to the older man.  

 

"..........I'll make you a deal.  I'll reveal my name if you reveal yours."  He smirked at her.  "Verbally."

 

Her eyes widened in fear and she ran in Jonghyun & Minho's room.  Onew chuckled and sat back down on the couch, staring at the last note she stuck on the table.

 

She knew I was scared, though.......scared that if people knew my real name, they'd remember who I am and why......why Taemin & I became orphans..... Onew sighed and slumped in the couch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Xiao Gou."

 

Jonghyun froze at the doorway of his room.  That was the first thing that came out of Cheonsa's mouth as he walked in.

 

"Eh?"

 

Cheonsa pointed at him and repeated, "Xiao Gou."

 

This time, Minho walked inside the room, pushing Jonghyun inside with him.  "Jesus, Jjong hyung!  People live here, you know!" he complained.

 

Jonghyun took Minho by the shoulders (at least reaching for them) and shook his body.  "Yah!  Hear her right!" he yelled, causing Cheonsa to giggle.

 

Both men turned to stare at her in shock.  Cheonsa pointed at Jonghyun again.  "Xiao Gou."  she kept calling him.  Minho thought for a moment, then chuckled.  Jonghyun frowned at him.  "What are you laughing at?  She spoke!" he exclaimed.

 

"Hyung, she called you a little dog in Chinese."

 

Jonghyun's eyes widened and turned to Cheonsa, smiling widely slowly.  "You gave me a nickname?" he asked excitingly.  Cheonsa nodded and smiled at him.  He squealed in joy (it was more like a bark to Minho) and jumped on his bed to hug Cheonsa.

 

While that occured, Key walked into the living room and noticed the huge stack of notes on the table.  He turned to Onew, who was still on the couch.  "Hyung, what did you do here?  Why did you make a star?" he asked quizzically.

 

"Eh?"  Onew raised an eyebrow and took a good look at the table.  "Huh.  I was wondering why Cheonsa would do this...."

 

"Cheonsa did this?"

 

"Yeah, why?"

 

Key took a moment to stare at the notes for a moment.  His father always talked about the stars in the sky and the constellations.  His eyes widened in realization and ran into Jonghyun & Minho's room.  Out of curiousity, Onew followed him.  Pretty soon, everyone was in the same room.

 

"Hey, guys!"  Jonghyun gestured Cheonsa to go ahead to do something.  "Who am I?" he aksed her.

 

"........my xiao gou (puppy)."

 

Everyone else gasped in the room.

 

"And who are you?"

 

".......your.....angel?"

 

"That's right!"  Jonghyun exclaimed and kissed her cheek.  Cheonsa blushed.

 

Key stared at Cheonsa calmly until he spoke.  "Byul."

 

Cheonsa instinctively turned to Key, a little shocked.  It took Onew a while, but he realized what Key found out.  The notes spelled 'star' (Byul)...... he thought to himself.

 

"Is your name Byul?"  Key asked softly.  The whole room grew tense at Cheonsa's silence.

 

Cheonsa sat still and stared at Key, then glanced at Onew.  He looked like he had something to say and fidgeted where he stood near the doorway, causing him to fall backwards.  Everyone turned to him then, and sighed in irritation.  "Hyung, really?"  Taemin gave his older brother a look.

 

"Yeah, my name is Byul."

 

Everyone, including Onew, turned to the little girl on Jonghyun's bed.  

 

"Do you know your last name?"  Key asked contemplatively.  'Byul' shook her head.  

 

Jonghyun hugged her again.  "Don't worry, I'll still call you 'Cheonsa', and you keep calling me 'Xiao Gou'!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night, after Byul changed into a complete change of clothes, she came out of the bathroom and quietly tiptoed to the living room.  She decided to sleep on the couch.

 

"Byul."

 

She gasped and turned around.

 

"My name...."  Onew began, though he started to sweat a bit through his palms.  He felt nervous to confess to someone he barely even knows.  "Well, you already know my last name through Taemin, so......might as well give you my first name."  He lamely retorted.

 

Byul slowly smiled a bit and nodded.  

 

".......it's......it's Jinki.  Lee Jinki."

 

On his way to the bathroom, Taemin stood still as he heard his brother's voice.  His eyes widened at the scene before him and decided to keep quiet.

 

"The reason why I don't like people knowing my name..........is because of the fear...........the fear of people remembering who I am........"  Onew trailed off and stared at the hardwood floor.  "Even Taemin doesn't remember how we got into the orphanage; he was just a baby."

 

Taemin's expression softened and he silently stood nearby, waiting for his brother's explanation. 

 

"........he was only 4 and I was 8.  People around our neighborhood in Seoul barely knew Taemin's name, but they remembered mine.  They had to - they always boasted of my intelligence.  But I would remember how I would be compared to my parents by the public, of how they were poorly gifted.  They had the worst luck ever - they never even loved each other.  My father only married my mother because she got pregnant.  I was a mistake child, and people pitied me because I was really smart.  They pitied our family even more when my mother was....well, let's just say pregnant again, but with another man's baby."

 

Taemin couldn't help but gasp.  Onew turned around in shock at his brother.  "How long were you standing there?"

 

"Since you said your real name, hyung....." Taemin whispered, a tear slowly going down his cheek.  "Is it true?"

 

Onew slowly nodded and sighed, giving Taemin a hug, to which the latter embraced full-heartedly.  "It's true.  In the end, we ended up as orphans because my father.....my father killed our mother, then killed himself."

 

"........at least now you guys know who your parents were."

 

Both brothers turned to Byul, who looked towards them solemnly.

 

Taemin then noticed what she was wearing.  "Ah, Byul-sshi, is that what Jjong hyung & Key hyung bought you?"  he managed to ask with a smile on his face, wiping the few tears that fell from his eyelids.  Byul blushed and pouted, staring down at her nightgown.  It was a pink, lace-trimmed satin nightdress.

 

Onew laughed.  "Yep, that's Key's favorite color.  And it would be of Jjong to give you that dress length." he commented.

 

Key walked out of his & Taemin's room, yawning cutely.  "Yah, yah, yah.  Why are half the people in this house awake?  Go to sleep, all of you!"  he complained.

 

"Yes, umma."  The Lee brothers said in unison and headed towards Onew's room.  Byul stared at them with her eyebrows raised.  Key noticed this and sighed.  "Yah, Byul.  From now on, you'll be sleeping in Taemin's bed until we find your parents."  He informed her as he slowly turned back into his room.

 

"I don't know my parents."

 

Key stopped and cocked his head slightly towards her.  "What?"

 

"I only know my grandmother.  My mother died when I was young and my father probably doesn't know who I am."  Byul stated simply.

 

Key slowly nodded and turned back to grasp her hand slightly.  "Okay then, starting tomorrow we'll find your grandmother, okay?"  Byul nodded her head.  "Okay, so let's sleep!"  He eagerly pulled her in his room, tired as hell.