Chapter 7: Eggs and Bacon

I helped Jong prepare the breakfast.

We had time to talk while we cooked eggs and bacon, as requested by Myung, who went back to bed after waking me up. I almost felt like I was back home, since eggs and bacon are my favorite.

"Jong oppa," I called his attention while he flipped the bacon. We already finished cooking eggs a little while ago.

"Hmm?"

I reached for my pocket and pulled out the handkerchief. "I think this is yours." I handed it to him, but he refused. 

"I already gave it to you, so I won't take it back." He smiled without looking at me. "Think of it as a good luck charm from your Jong oppa," he chuckled girly. "Weird that someone calls me oppa."

I giggled while I put the handkerchief back in my pocket. "Why is that? Your fan girls call you oppa anyway."

"Yeah, but you're different. I mean, you're like a dongsaeng to me. I've never met someone who's as eager as you. Like, you said you were looking for your friend right?"

"Yeah."

"That's really cool. I told Sungyeol Hyung last night that I would have done the same. We had an argument last night after you left."

Oh, I thought. Of course I wouldn't tell him that I heard and saw everything. I'd be considered as their stalker if I admitted it. So I just said, "Really?"

He continued, "Yea, well, I really didn't like the way he talked towards you. Even if he's my hyung, he can't just do that to anyone."

The bacons were almost finished when he asked, "By the way, where did you go last night when you left?" He looked up at me as he placed the cooked bacons on the plate I was holding. 

"Oh, I, uhm," I didn't know what to say. So I made up things. "I got lost around the block. And, uhm, went back here and slept on the stairs."

Jong dropped the tongs. "Oh no you didn't!" 

"I actually did. I didn't know the way back to Myengdong so.."

"You should have knocked! Poor dongsaeng."

"I couldn't. I was still angry at Sungyeol o.. Sungyeol opp.. ARGH!" I grunted in frustration. "Now I can't even call him oppa." I rolled my eyes.

Jong sighed. "I'm sorry about him. I didn't know what's up with him."

And then I wondered about what happened last night when I passed out. So I asked him, "Oppa, can you tell me what exactly happened when you saw me being chased by those guys?"

His expression darkened a bit, and started telling me the whole tale. "It went like this. That playground where we found you is special to all of us. We always went there during our trainee days and last night, we decided to give it a visit." He paused as he put the frying pan in the sink and started washing it. 

He continued, "And then we heard screams. So we followed where it came from, and we saw you there, helpless. Nam hyung was the first one to call on those rapists. He called one of them 'ugly '," he giggled. So it was Nam. Okay, I thought. He added, "And then I went to help you up while the others beat up the bad guys, but you were unconscious and your chin was bleeding. So Hoya hyung and I brought you to the nearest clinic, and brought you home, here."

"So what was Sungyeol doing the whole time?" I asked.

Jong tilted his head, "Well, I think he was the one who called the police. I don't exactly remember. But there's a reason why among the five of them, Gyu hyung, Nam hyung, Dongwoo hyung, Sungyeol hyung and Myung hyung, Sungyeol hyung is the only one who didn't get any bruise. I bet he didn't bother getting into the fight."

I shrugged, "He must have really hated my aura."

"Where are my eggs and bacon?!" shouted Myung from the common room. "Can you guys do it a little faster?!" He peeked at the kitchen with his bed hair, a frown, and a new batch of morning glory in his eyes. Damn this guy. He must really like sleeping and eating. Not to mention eggs and bacon.

“Coming!” shouted Jong.

“Do you always cook for them? I mean, are you, like, their mother or something?” I asked as I looked at Myung, who was now sitting on the common room floor, hugging a long pillow and looking straight at the door.

“Sometimes. But that’s alright, I love cooking.”

We served them their breakfast, and everyone gathered in the common room. I noticed Sungyeol was shocked to see me in their house again, after I howled at him last night for being so insensitive. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t greet him a good morning though. I even seriously hoped he would never have good mornings anymore.

We chatted while we ate. Dongwoo laughed from time to time, but was avoiding eye contact with me for some reasons. Maybe it was the.. nope. Not now, I thought. The eggs and bacon were so good to be ruined by that thought.

Gyu and Nam were talking to each other, Myung was pretending the bacon was a train and his mouth was the tunnel, Hoya was in the kitchen making coffee, and Dongwoo and Jong asked me too many questions, like “Do Filipinos eat babies?” and other weird and exotic stuff like that. Dongwoo always had hilarious questions to ask, while Jong, he asked pretty legit questions like “How was school?”

Sungyeol didn’t talk to anyone during breakfast. He finished his eggs and bacon quietly, and avoided eye contact with anybody. Nam, who was sitting beside him, elbowed him and said, “Why are you so quiet?” Sungyeol didn’t reply. “Do you like the eggs and bacon?” Nam asked, and Yeol nodded.

And then everyone made a teasing noise. Nam said, “Dongsaeng-" he stopped and turned to me. “Ah, what’s your name?”

“Lily,” I said.

He faced Sungyeol again as he nodded, and said, “Lily here cooked the breakfast for us.” He grinned at both of us. And they made teasing noises again.

“No, Sungjong did,” I said. “I only helped.” I said emotionless.

Sungyeol stopped chewing, put down his bowl of rice, and stood up. “Then if that's the case, I’m full.” He kept his poker face, and walked out. I dropped my jaws. Just because I helped Jong cook breakfast, he won't eat anymore? Aish, I thought. He went back to his room, and looked back at us in the common room, and said, “Ya, Myung,” Myung looked up before the bacon sized train entered his mouth. “That’s not a train. That’s a bacon.”

I realized Sungyeol was watching Myung eating the whole time. Myung dropped his fork, and said, “It’s a what?”

Everyone glared at him, “BACON.” And we burst into laughter.

After breakfast, I decided to go back to my hotel. I really needed to get some decent sleep on the bed. My back hurt for sleeping on the stairs, and my sleep there wasn’t enough. So I bid goodbye to them. Gyu repeated the directions, Jong gave me his phone number, and said, “Give me a call when you need me.” I nodded, and went home.

When I came to the hotel, I dove into the bed and felt so much better. But then I remembered Devon. I wondered where to look for her next..

The answer hit me. Hongdae.

And then I drifted off to dream land.