The next morning, I woke up in shock with images of the nightmare still in my head. I calmed myself down; it was a dream and not a vision, a past that daunted me. On the table, was a piece of paper with list of chores and a note:

Hi,

We have gone for schedule and will be back by evening.
Do not worry if you can’t finish your chores, just try your best.
Also, for dinner, just cook something you are familiar with. The money is on the table. (:

Onew

He wrote it all in English, just for me. I felt a little annoyed. He thinks he is helping me, but no one ever help me. If not for the burglar, I would be free now.

Then, I noticed the whole list of house chores. I never did so many chores before. I only experiment a few when I was with them. I laughed bitterly at the thought of ‘thinking’ about them. I am going to escape once I earned enough money. Without another word, I started cleaning, scrubbing, and doing everything on the list.

At late afternoon, I started to prepare for dinner. I fixed up a small dinner with the ingredients. Satisfied with my cooking, I took a rest on the sofa. I concentrated again, trying to use my powers. But nothing worked. It was pitch black yet again. I gave up; it was just too mentally exhausting. However, I had to find the reason why. I fell asleep unexpectedly, mentally tired from all the thinking.

“Smells good in here, I say.” A manly voice I still do not recognize spoke, in Korean.

It woke me up. I let my guard down; falling asleep in a place I was unfamiliar with. I frowned, suddenly tense, and was on guard. They were back from work, or I should say schedule.

They all smiled the moment they saw me, except Jonghyun, if I remembered. What is wrong with this guy? They questioned me through dinner, asking things about me. Only uninterested person was Jonghyun. He stayed as far as the dining table could go, without joining much of the conversation.

I cleared the table after dinner while they took their leisure time for television or computer. They were not more than ordinary. To me, they are just people, normal teenagers, with some talent that others didn’t posses. Especially Jonghyun, he had a distinctive voice.

 Onew invited me to watch television with them after clearing up. It was a show broadcasting their performance on the stage named “Music Core”. I was very impressed by their professionalism.

Though I have been ‘grounded’ by them since young, I still know the world outside, using my powers. They had gotten me interested how they were like. Onew was kind enough to give a short bio on them.

They even gave me a copy of their CD to listen, which earned a cold look from Jonghyun. I quickly rejected it, with the lame reason that I did not own any MP3 now. I had to throw it away, knowing that it was installed with tracking devices. I would not take the risk to let them find me. But Onew insisted to let me have it, telling me I could use the player in the dorm.

Jonghyun’s coldness was starting to make me annoyed. No one has ever treated me like this. Or maybe they did. But I never had this feeling of infuriation. It was new to me, although I knew I deserved it, giving how I treated people.

Once everyone cleared the room, I found myself pondering once more. He seemed fine in front of the members. Taemin, Minho, Onew and Key were comfortable with me already.

Not long after, I was out. This was the first night that I slept so soundly till I dreamed of Jonghyun. He was just smiling in my dream. Troubled, I woke up and couldn’t sleep again for what seemed like a very long time.

The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed to prepare breakfast for the boys. As I finished preparing, they walked into the room.

“아침(Annyong),”Taemin greeted me first. I knew this. It is hello.

“Morning,” I greeted back, like a robot pretending to be a normal person. This was the attitude I had learned during those days, those torment days. I tightened my grip on the handle of the pot as I thought of it.

“We have performance later and we hope you can come with us. Our manager is sick, so you need to substitute him, if you don’t mind. His job is quite simple.” Onew grabbed a spoon.

I nodded in natural response, accepting everything I was ordered to do. I had to change out of my clothes. Dang it. I only had jeans and a shirt to wear. I should have bought winter clothing. Singapore did not have 4 seasons, but Korea did. What a stupid mistake to miss the simplest thing. Frustrated, I pulled on my jeans and shirt.

“You will get sick wearing that. The weather is starting to turn cold. Don’t you have own jacket?” Onew frowned at me, as I got out of the bathroom. I shook my head in response. He grabbed a brown jacket nearest to him and handed it to me.

“Wear it first, it will keep you warm for today,” Onew smiled. He was very caring.

“No, it’s okay.” I rejected.

“That is mine, hyung.” Jonghyun objected too. The jacket belonged to him.

“Never mind, just go. We will be late.” Onew rushed them. “Wear it.” He stuffed the jacket to me. I stopped in my tracks, a warm feeling filled my heart. What is this? A human feeling or is just a normal thing that people would do? No one did this before, ever, in my life.

I pulled on the brown jacket. I took a deep breath and smelled a sweet scent that the jacket had, it felt familiar. It was like a perfume that I would spray for a long time. I climbed into the front seat of the car. JongHyun was still staring at the jacket. I was too warm to return it back to him now.

 The boys sang along and talked throughout the whole journey, while I occupied myself with learning Korean language from the book I bought in Singapore. I bought it on impulse once, when I wanted to learn Korean. I never knew it would come in handy today.