Almost three days remaining to go now….

Taemin was home, his all schedules were wrapped up by now….. and packing & having dinner with his hyungs and family for the evening, was the plan he was anticipating for today.

The door-bell rang, as he was busy trying to figure out the packing list sent by Key last night. 

He got up from the bed, to walk out, leaving the things he had got out to pack, on the bed as it is.

“Is Eomma already here?” he murmured, with his eyes on the list, as he went directly to the door.

It was still morning, being hardly past 10, and he wasn’t expecting his mom to be here that soon.

Without looking for his monitor, already anticipating his mom, he opened the knob, pulling the door, “Eomma, why are you here so early in the morning?” he looked up, as his jaw dropped seeing a familiar but unexpected person in front of him.

His mouth was wide open as his eyes went round, seeing Hyerin in front of him.

She moved in touching his jaw,  pushing it to close his mouth, as she moved inside with the backpack on her back,  giggling at his expression, making him follow her, too shocked to say a word out.

“Kkoong!” she called the tiny one, as she walked in, looking under the sofa and around the house for her, “Noona is here!” she shouted a bit more loudly, as she saw the tiny fur, walking out at it’s pace, from Taemin’s bedroom’s door, as she walked near her, kneeling down, to take the soft furry being, in her palms, petting her as she made herself comfortable on the sofa, putting her backpack aside on the floor, “You’ve grown so much in three months” she kissed kkoong on her back, caressing her longer & fluffier figure.

Taemin was standing at a distance from the couch, still taken aback by Hyerin physically being there, “Yah!” he finally exclaimed but a bit loudly, as kkoong shuddered, before running away from Hyerin’s lap, “Oppa, you scared her” she whined, before looking up at him.

“You come here” he narrowed his eyes on her, calling her with his fingers, as he chewed on his inner cheek, trying to wrap his head around this situation.

She looked up blushing, trying to not laugh, standing up to move in front of him, “What?” she pouted, making him scoff, as her lips parted in a subtle smile.

“What?”

“You told me to not call you because you had ‘an important session’?” He stressed the last words in inverted commas, exaggerating them with his tone, making her bite her lips, “Do you know how sad I was to not talk to you since yesterday?” The frown on his face was too innocent, as she felt guilty for fooling him now.

“It was supposed to be a surprise!” 

“I had no other excuse to keep you from calling me when I was traveling” she explained innocently, making him melt, but he was gonna play hard now that he had chance, 

He turned to walk away to the kitchen, knowing that seeing her puppy face look was not gonna help him in his motive, as he felt her following him, making him stop at the outside of his kitchen counter, instead of going in, waiting for her to convince him.

He was so happy to see her, but the way he suffered last night, missing talking to her, he was not gonna give up without taking his revenge.

But as soon as he felt her arms around his waist, as she had her head against his back, he knew he had lost the battle.

“Did you cry?” she asked, her husky voice, due to the jet lag, echoing through his chest wall, as he hummed in response, touching her arms around him, ending up exposing himself, “I did” 

He turned to look at her, “I was feeling so lonely” he sighed, watching her soft eyes on him.

“That’s why I’m here” she smiled, pushing his cheeks with her palms, as he pulled her waist, hugging her tight, and tears started to fall down, when his body was relaxed in the warmth of her arms now, “Oppa?” she tried to pull back as she heard him sniffing, but he held her close by wrapping his arms around her shoulders more tight, “Thank you”

She got back to crossing her arms around his waist tighter this time, “I’m so sorry, to do it this way”

He wriggled to bury his face in her neck, as he held her tight again, wrapping his hand around her waist, making her smile at his actions now, “I am hungry” she interrupted, but he just hummed continuing to hold her.

“I am seriously hungry” she said in a complaining tone this time, patting his back, “I don’t like airplane food” “I haven't eaten much” she added, feeling the soft growl in her stomach, as he pulled back to look at her with wet eyes, “food?” she added scrunching her face, watching him, wiping the remnants of his tears on his cheeks, as he observed her before pulling back to himself, “Just 5 minutes more” he said, making her laugh, as she grunted now, “Ah!” “I am hungry” she had a crying tone, making him smile in the hug. 

He pulled back after more than five minutes, ordering her some food online, as he walked with her into the kitchen, reaching for chex box from the cabinet & a bowl, as she walked to get milk from the fridge. 

He was standing in front of her, as she continued to munch the chunky chocolate chex, sitting over the counter, filling with spoon after spoon, hardly looking at him, as he continued to watch her eating nonstop.

“You were really that hungry?” he frowned, watching her adorably.

She slurped the milk without responding, which ended up staining her lips with the milk, as he reached to wipe it off her lips with his thumb, making her finally look up to him, “I couldn’t have my dinner as I had to take the evening flight” “And I ended up eating too less than I expected in plane” she explained, making him smile at her cute-eating-face right now, when he got the thumb to his lips to wipe the chocolate-flavoured-milk on his finger.

“It’s hard to eat on plane” she shook her head, scrunching her nose, as she watched him smiling at her, “It’s not that bad” he commented, making her shook her head again with a pout, “It’s not the food, maybe, I think it’s plane & my stomach” he nodded, as she took the last crumbs in her spoon, to stuff them in before slurping the bowl, to keep it aside empty.

“Tissue?” she looked at him as he stepped back to open the cabinet to get her the box of tissue.

“Everyone is coming here for dinner tonight” he announced, excited, turning to her with the box, to see her nod calmly, “I know” 

“You know?” he exclaimed surprised, making her look at him flustered, “I mean I had to know if they were planning something in these two days”  she continued, pulling out the tissue to wipe her lips with it, “So I called Ryujin eonni & aunty before making my plan to come here”

“So everybody knew except me?” he asked sulking again, putting the box on the counter, seeing her nod, as he let out an offended scoff watching her, making her give him a soft push on shoulder, “I wanted to surprise you” she chuckled, seeing him walk away, pouting again.

“Aren’t you being too stingy?” she ran to close distance between them taking his hand in hers, as he looked at her, watching her silently, “I wanted to make your heart race when you see me suddenly” she added in a cute & fast tone, as he continued to stare her with blank face, when they started walking to his bedroom, 

“Well” she watched his blank stare on her for a second, “I guess it was a wrong idea” she nodded looking away from him with a sad pout, as he raised his eyes, “Maybe I should go back” she turned to walk away with a teasing smile, as he pulled her back, as expected, shifting his arms on her shoulder as he held her in his arm, for their eyes to meet perfectly, “I think it’s racing too damn fast” she smirked, looking in his eyes, as her hand was on his chest to feel his heart thumping for real. 

He leaned in to kiss her, making her smile against his lips, before her lips parted to kiss him back.

—--------------------

“Thank you Hyerin-ah!” Taemin’s mom walked out of his bedroom, as both of them followed her, “You have helped in one of my biggest work” she let out a long sigh, as she took a glance at her grinning son, before turning to Hyerin, extending her hand to pull her in front beside her, “I was worried if he was gonna do it right” 

Hyerin had helped Taemin pack according to Key’s list, and it was hard to do with Taemin’s endless disturbance but she had managed to complete most of it, till the time Mrs Lee had arrived in the evening.

“It looked like a huge piece of work when I came here” Hyerin smiled as she walked ahead, beside her, “So I thought it would get easier if I did some of it” “I had time” she responded to Mrs Lee with a cute smile.

“You should’ve rested for a while” “You probably came here directly from the airport?” Mrs Lee asked, watching her softly, making Hyerin give her a nod, “I did” “I took a nap for a while after lunch” 

“That’s better” Mrs Lee gave a nod in response, as both of them moved into the kitchen, making Taemin follow them until he changed his direction to walk to the sofa.

“When are the kids coming?” Mrs Lee turned to Taemin, making him look up from his phone to answer, “I don’t know” he looked at the time, saying 6:00 pm, “They should be here by now”

The bell rang as he stood up to reach the door, opening it.

“Annyeonghaseyo Lee taemin-ssi” “Thank you for inviting me to your house-warming ceremony” Key’s announcement in formal tone was ringing in the hall, as he moved inside with the bag of groceries, as the other four entered behind him laughing, making the two ladies, standing inside, laugh too.

“Isn’t hyung too late for that?” Taemin chuckled, as he closed the door behind them, “It feels like a housewarming party to come here with everyone” “I also brought grocery, you know” “So?” Key laughed, walking inside to notice Hyerin & Mrs Lee in the kitchen, which made him bow to them, walking himself to the kitchen with a warm smile.

“Didn’t you say you’re going to cook chicken cream stew?” Minho walked behind him, passing by him faster to hug Mrs Lee, as she hugged back watching both the boys giving each other an eye of envy, “Ah!” “Really?” she exclaimed,

“Am I finally going to be the lucky person to have that?” Mrs Lee smirked, passing her eyes to Key approaching her as he extended his arm around her shoulders, “I can’t make you starve for three hours, eomma” he smiled shy, making her laugh back, “Let’s keep it simple today” he added, as she nodded smiling in his arms.

“Oh!” “Hyerin-ssi is also here” Minho moved to stand behind Mrs Lee, having a forged surprise expression, taking a glance at Taemin, as Taemin pouted noticing his overexpression, “She already told me that you all knew” 

Minho did a soft ‘Ah!’ in realization as he turned to Hyerin, “Looks like he’s still sulking” as she nodded, stifling a laugh, making Minho smile, before looking between her & Taemin, as he turned to walk out of the space when he saw Ryujin walking to the kitchen counter too now

Mrs Lee decided to walk out for a while, as she saw how small space she was standing in, to gather everybody, when she saw Ryujin walking to her, meeting her midway, “I mean isn’t he big enough to sulk even now over such things?” Ryujin commented, giving Mrs Lee a suggestive expression, getting a laugh back from her, as they hugged each other.

“I don’t think that’s gonna change ever” Mrs Lee giggled, pulling back from the hug, making everyone in the room smile at her words, looking at Taemin, who had a sheepish shy grin on his face, with her words.

Mrs Lee was almost near the sofa walking ahead from Ryujin, as the eldest boys walked to her, to hug her from either side, making her smile cutely, as they almost sandwiched her for a while, before each of them moved away.

Ryujin noticed Hyerin walking out of kitchen with Key, as she went a bit ahead to close the distance, extending her arms, as Hyerin reached to hug her back after noticing, “I missed you” Ryujin cooed, making Hyerin giggle, “Isn’t eonni supposed to tell me something?" she pulled back from the hug, watching Ryujin, before she turned to land her eyes on Jonghyun, who had his arms around Mrs Lee, with a adorable smile on his face, as Ryujin followed her gaze, to pick up what Hyerin was suggesting, which made her blush, as she looked back at her, “Taemin oppa told you!” Ryujin shook her head, smiling, looking at Taemin, making him watch them suspiciously, as he