Thirty-FIve

     It is already 10:22 p.m. at night, almost half an hour later than the estimated time Yuri and the boys are supposed to be at their dorm.  Everyone is in the black minivan.  Yuri is so exhausted, having to have walked from places to places, the stress of making sure the boys are on time and especially at the fact that she had to make sure no one was left behind.

     Yuri lets out a long and tired sigh.  How did Appa do this?  No wonder he doesn’t have a set schedule.

     “You must be tired, right?”  Taemin asks.

     Yuri immediately smiles. She’s so happy that Taemin’s worrying about her.  Her energy rises and with a bashful face, she says, “Oh, no.  I am fine, thanks.”  Taemin responds back with a satisfied smile.

     Minho catches this and scoffs in disgust with Yuri’s shy acting, “She’s really shameless.”

     Out of the blue, Key perks up from his gadget.  He makes sure Yuri isn’t looking and listening and whispers Onew, “Tonight’s the night, right?”

     Onew confusingly looks back at Key, “Ha?  What are you-“  Onew realizes what Key means and shoves Jonghyun into the discussion, “Yah, we so totally forgot about Yuri’s welcoming party!”

     Jonghyun’s eyes beat up wide!  I’ve been too focused on my problem that I forgot about the party!  With a menacing smile, Jonghyun believes he will take this chance to ask Yuri out on a “date”.  “We’re definitely going to surprise her!”

     “But, we haven’t finished decorating the room,” Key whispers.  The trio starts thinking together.   

     Yuri sees Jonghyun, Key, and Onew chatting secretly amongst themselves and asks, “What’s going on?  Is something wrong?”

     Jonghyun bluntly panics whereas Key and Onew maintain their posture.  Yuri becomes suspicious, “You guys…did something happen?”  Taemin and Minho also curiously look at the trio, wondering what they are doing.

     There is a long pause and each second seems to trigger Yuri’s anger meter.  Just as she is about to explode, her cell phone rings and saves the explosion.  “Eunhyuk Oppa!”  She excitedly exclaims with a happy face.

     Jonghyun takes this chance and pulls in Minho and Taemin closer, “Yah!  The party!  The party!”

     Taemin remembers and snaps his fingers, “That’s right!  I forgot about it, too.”

     Minho pulls away, “Didn’t I say that I’m not throwing one for her?”

     Jonghyun clicks his tongue, “You were serious about it?”

     Minho glares at Jonghyun, “Yes, I was, and I am sticking to it.”

     Taemin leans in closer, “But, Hyung, we haven’t finished decorating.”

     Key nods, “I just said that.”

     Onew squeezes into the conversation, “We need someone to distract her while we finish decorating and getting things in order.”

     “You guys are doing too much for one girl who doesn’t deserve this kind of greeting,” Minho monotonously inserts his opinion.  Apparently, he is ignored as everyone else tries to come up with a plan.  “Yah, did you guys-“

     “Minho, you do it!”  Taemin excitedly announces.  Minho raises an eyebrow.  The rest of the SHINee boys suddenly accept it as they cheer.

      “That’s right!  Minho, you do it.”  Says Onew, smiling.

     “Do what?”  Minho annoyingly asks, already not liking what he is going to hear.

     Key sits up straight, “You’re going to help distract Yuri for us.  So, spend at least an hour or so with her.”

     Minho stiffens.

     Jonghyun chuckles and pat Minho on the back, “It should be no problem since you don’t want to decorate.  We’ll be counting on you!”    

     Because it is an unanimous agreement, Minho had no choice but to accept.  As Yuri still happily talks to Eunhyuk on the phone, the four excited SHINee members happily discuss their plan.  Minho lies back on his seat, angry at what this event had made him get into.  His eyes slowly trace to Yuri. 

     You.  Don’t think you’ve done well today.  It was just an easy schedule.  Because of you, I’ve got into messes I don’t want to get into.  Minho finds pleasure in reprimanding Yuri in his sinister mind.  But, as he looks at Yuri, he sees a smile he hasn’t seen from her and becomes captivated.

     “Yes, no need to worry,” Yuri says to Eunhyuk over the phone, “I’ll properly eat and sleep, so stop worrying about me.”

     Yes, yes.  Whoever you are, you don’t need to worry about this troublesome girl.  Minho rolls his eyes as he thinks about wanting to say this. 

     “Oppa,” Yuri’s voice changed.  Instead of the usual enthusiasm, Minho hears a low, sad, and worried tone and becomes curious at the sudden change of tone.  “…he…wants to…have dinner with me.”

     Dinner?  Eh, so even guys have disgusting and shameful tastes in girls like you?  Minho becomes more attentive.

     For the next few seconds, it seems that Yuri is paying close attention in listening to what her ‘oppa’ has to say.  Just then, Yuri’s head immediately raises and she looks around.  She and Minho’s eyes catch one another.  Minho sees a worried expression.  Minho slowly sits up straight and notices that Yuri’s expression changed from being worried to being scared.

     “…Oppa.  I’ll text you later.”  Yuri immediately hangs up the phone, not averting her eyes from Minho.  Did he hear?  When did he started listening?  I was so worried about the dinner with the President that as I spilled my worries to Eunhyuk Oppa, I forgot I was with the SHINee boys!