I woke up the next morning in a tired and pissy mood. I could already tell that today wasn’t going to be a very good day. I rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door, barring it with a chair. Let’s just say that another little incident had happened in the two months that I’ve been here and that was just two times too many.

After showering and readying myself, I threw on a pair of Sophies and a loose white V, messily putting my hair up in a bun and slipping my feet into a pair of black house slippers. Shuffling into the kitchen, I was surprised to see a giant meal already on the table, all the guys plus Alex sitting down, saying grace.

“Amen,” Siwon said, followed by a chorus of “amens” from everybody else.

They all looked up to see me standing there, a confused expression obviously on my face.

“Uki! Good morning,” Ryeowook greeted, smiling at me.

“Good…Morning?” I responded.

“Are you okay?” Kyuhyun asked me. “You sound a bit sick.”

I poured myself a cup of coffee and said, “I’m fine. Just a little…Off this morning. Why are you guys so…Dressed up? And food cooked without me? I’m impressed.”

Everyone chuckled politely.

“You must forget that I used to be the cook around here before you or Alex showed up,” Ryeowook said, eating his eggs thoughtfully. “However, I don’t think my food is even good enough to begin to compare with yours.”

“Agreed,” Eunhyuk said, pushing his food around his plate. He looked up at me. “Uki, wanna make me something better to eat?”

I laughed over the rim of my mug. “Sorry, guys, Uki is checked out for the day. No cooking, no drama, no nothing for me today. Just blissful sleep that I’ve been denying for the past two months.”

“Good, you deserve it,” Leeteuk said, smiling at me.

I eyed each and every one of them individually. All of them—even Alex—was dressed up. “Okay, what’s the deal? Why are you guys so dressed and everything?”

“Didn’t somebody tell you? We have a performance today and a photo shoot afterward,” Donghae responded, fighting Eunhyuk for a strip of bacon despite the fact that there were approximately 60 billion other strips on the plate. Ahh, Eunhae~

“Oh yeah,” I said, a bit dazed sounding. “I vaguely remember Teukie saying something about that to me.”

“Uki, you okay?” Siwon asked me, giving me a concerned glance. “You sound a bit…Weird.”

I nodded, taking a sip of coffee. Then I noticed Sungmin eating at the head of the table, laughing about something with Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi. I blinked a couple times.

“Ukii~” Siwon called.

I shook my head slightly and looked at Siwon. “I’m fine.” I set my mug down on the counter and went back to my room, shutting the door quietly.

Siwon’s POV~

I looked at the other members. “Does Uki seem a bit…?”

“Weirded out?” Eunhyuk finished.

“Just a bit,” Ryeowook said. “What’s the deal? Still not over her breakup yet or somethin’?”

“I’m not sure,” I responded. I thought for a moment. “She was just fine yesterday.” Then I looked to Sungmin. “What did you do to her?”

Everyone snapped their looks to Sungmin, who paused for a second.

“What?” he asked. “I didn’t do anything to her. We just went out to eat and that was the end of that.”

“Are you sure?” Donghae asked, an irritated look creeping into his eyes.

“I’m sure,” Sungmin said solemnly. “Besides, since when has Uki been the type to mope over something petty? I’m sure that she just felt a little sick today which is why she’s acting like this.”

I looked up at the sound of the room door opening again. Uki poked her head in the kitchen doorway.

“Do you mind if I join you guys today?” she asked, sounding more like herself but still a little weird.

“I thought you wanted to sleep,” Yesung stated, feeding his turtle—I wasn’t sure which one it was—a small tomato.

“I do, but I’m gonna be lonely staying here alone all day long,” Uki responded, smiling slightly at us.

I laughed at her. “Um, yeah, you’re welcome to join us, although I highly suggest you stay home. You look like you’re about to keel over dead at any given moment. If Mom were to see you like this, she’d lecture me for hours about you losing so much sleep.”

“Oh it’s okay. I just realized that I have way too many things on my mind to actually sleep right now.”

“Things like what?” I asked her.

She pursed her lips and came into full view, sighing. “Okay, so don’t try to kill me when I tell you this, but I’ve been up thinking about this all night.”

“Oh no,” I said.

Things that start out like that never had good endings.

Uki’s POV~

I looked up at all of them, but dared not look anyone in the face. Instead, I chose a little spot above Kyuhyun’s head and said, “I got accepted into Cambridge.”

Siwon smiled. “Uki, that’s great—”

“And I’m leaving by the end of this week,” I interrupted.

The room went dead silent. Nobody moved a muscle. I worked up some nerve to look at Donghae. He looked like he was about to cry. Leeteuk. He looked like he was about to throw something. Sungmin. He looked like he was about to yell. Siwon. He looked like he was about to do all of the above.

Finally, Alex, of all people, says, “Why?”

That seemed to set off a chain reaction because next thing I knew, everyone began firing questions at me. My head rang with all the yelling that was going on.

“WHOSE GONNA FEED MY TURTLE?!”

“WHOSE GONNA COOK?!”

“WHOSE GONNA CLEAN?!”

“WHOSE GONNA KEEP ME COMPANY WHEN I’M LONELY?!”

“WHOSE GOING TO BE MY SUSHI EATING BUDDY?!”

“STOP IT!” I shrieked over everybody. They immediately ceased. I sighed, placing a hand on my throbbing head. “Like I said, I’d been thinking about it all night long. It just took a couple of events to happen yesterday to finally show me that I don’t belong here.”

“Uki!” Siwon yelled, trying to reason with me. “This is your home. Of course you belong here!”

“No, Siwon!” I responded. “This isn’t my home! This is your home. And Teukie’s home. And Donghae’s home. And the rest of Super Junior’s home, but it most certainly is not my home. I don’t belong here. Why do you think I worked so hard to leave this place? I hate it here. I mean, not in this dorm, but Seoul in general! My past here was corrupted and ruined all hope for any kind of future for me here, but yours is a bright one. Live it up, Siwon! You have so much potential, so much to offer. All I’ve got to offer to the world is my smarts, and I plan to give it the best I can. I mean, let’s face it. I was bound to leave sooner or later. It’s just…I got the acceptance letter earlier than I had planned, and I figure, why wait? It was gonna take some time to adjust to life in England, so I needed to head back home, pack the rest of my things, and start focusing on my college education. But I’m here for the rest of the week, so I’m spending as much of it as I can with my brothers ‘cause I regret not spending any time with you guys in the past two months.”

I paused and looked at each one of their faces. “So there it is, laid out right before you guys. No misinterpreting anything, no adding anything, no changing anything. It’s just there.”

Siwon took a deep breath and said shakily, “What influenced your decision?”

“I had time to think last night. I just sat there and reviewed everything in my life and have come to the conclusion that this is the best decision,” I answered. “It may not be the most well liked decision, but it is the best decision.”