Uki’s POV~

After we left, we quickly headed home, beating the guys there. Alex rushed to her room and quickly de-girlified herself, a sad look crossing her face as she slowly wiped off the makeup and hid away the girls’ clothes. It just wasn’t fair that she still had to keep up this façade! She shouldn’t have to give up the best years of her life hiding away as a guy. She’s such a pretty girl and it’s a waste for her to hide her looks like that! She deserves to go around flaunting it!

“Uki, is it selfish of me that I wish Donghae had never debuted?” Alex asked me as she was slowly wiping the foundation off her face.

“Why would you wish such a thing?” I asked her, giving her a confused look from my place on the bed.

“It’s not necessarily the fact that he debuted…It’s just I kinda wish he was still just Donghae, my big brother, not Donghae, from Super Junior. Don’t you ever wish that about Siwon?”

I thought for a second. “Not really. Siwon, Jiwon, and I have always led separate lives. Siwon was focused on his singing, Jiwon was focused on her medic studies, and I was focused on my law studies. When growing up as kids, Siwon and I were always really close. Jiwon was always kinda the outsider. But despite us always being close, we kept to our own business, so it didn’t really upset me that he debuted.”

“Did it upset you that you had to give your job up for him?”

I shook my head immediately. “Not once have I ever regretted giving SM up for them. Like I always said, it was something I had always wanted to do, just never could do because of the treatment toward the employees. Super Junior just gave me a reason to quit, and I took it.”

Alex smiled, and after finally destroying any trace of makeup ever being on her face, she turned to me. “Thank you. Thank you so much for going today. I know how hard it was for you, but it really means a lot to me and Hangeng that you went anyways.”

I smiled at her. “I’m glad I did. I don’t know what would have happened to our poor Henry and Zhou Mi if I hadn’t shown up when I had.”

She laughed. “Me neither. But I don’t like to think about it. Just the thought of them being gone sends chills down my spine.”

“Mhm,” I agreed.

We both heard the front door open and the guys walking in, laughing amongst themselves. I rolled my eyes. “I think they went out for a drink.”

“I think so, too,” she agreed.

We both got up and walked to the living room to see that our suspicions had been right. All the guys were red faced and buzzed, but thankfully none of them were flat-out drunk. At least, I didn’t think they were.

“You guys drove home without a designated driver?! Are you crazy?!” I chastised angrily. “Don’t you ever do sucha thing again! What if something were to happen, huh?!”

“Yah, Uki, quit being a mother,” Eunhyuk said, “and Leeteuk was our designated driver. He only had two or three shots.”

I let out an angry huff. “You should have called me or Alex to come pick you guys up instead of being stupid and risking such a thing.”

All the guys just brushed me off, but Alex said, “Yah! Uki’s right! Don’t be so stupid next time! I thought you would have learned after the car accident! What if something like that happens again?!”

Then it seemed as if they sobered up some.

“You’re both right,” Leeteuk said. He sighed and looked at us, giving a sincerely apologetic look. “Sorry.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Why didn’t you just have Donghae drive? Or Henry? Or Sungmin? They obviously didn’t have anything to drink.”

“We had about a shot or two, but that’s all,” Donghae said. “But I can’t handle alcohol very well, so we decided it wasn’t the best decision to let me drive.”

“I was already starting to feel a headache coming on, so not the best idea to let me drive either,” Sungmin responded, holding his head in pain.

“I at driving, so whether or not I was drunk, the results would have been the same,” Henry replied, shrugging his shoulders.

I rolled my eyes at their incompetence. “Next time, call Alex or me to come pick you guys up. I don’t wanna get a call in the middle of the night saying someone was in a car accident. Sungmin, come here.”

He looked at me, his face scrunched in pain. I grabbed hold of his arm, leading him into the kitchen, sitting him down at the table. Grabbing an ice pack from the freezer, I wrapped it in a paper towel and handed it to him to put on his head.

“Thanks,” he said.

I sighed. “If you can’t handle alcohol, don’t drink! It’s that simple.” I pulled the kettle out and after filling it with water, stuck it on the stove.

“We were celebrating Henry and Zhou Mi being able to stay,” Sungmin responded, flipping the ice pack around since it was getting too cold on that side. “I didn’t wanna just sit there. Besides, I’m not totally vulnerable to the stuff. It’s just I’m not very good at handling it.”

“Oh yes, just so long as you’re not vulnerable to it,” I replied sarcastically. Then I called a little louder so everyone in the living room could hear me, “Does anybody else want some hot tea and honey?”

“Yes, please,” they responded.

“You’re just like a mother,” Sungmin said with a smile. “I like it.”

“You like the fact that I’m like a mother? Hmm…You don’t hear that often,” I said with a shake of my head. After dripping the tea bag in the hot water and adding honey in, I handed a cup to Sungmin. “Here. Drink this then go straight to sleep, understand?”

“Yes, mother,” Sungmin said, sipping at the tea.

I rolled my eyes.

“You know, you and Teukie are a lot alike. You both are the mommies of the group,” Sungmin said, sipping at the tea and icing his head still.

I smiled sadly at the memory of our conversation up on the roof. “Funny how that works out, eh?” And before he could say anything, I grabbed a platter of thirteen cups filled with the tea and honey and walked into the living room, passing the cups out. “Now, after you drink this, you go straight to bed, understood?”

“Yes, mother,” they all replied jokingly.

I let out a sigh and said, “I give up. Alex, can you take care of them from here? I have a headache.”

Alex nodded to me. “Sure thing. Go ‘head and get some sleep.”

I nodded and headed to my room, shutting the door for the night.

Alex’s POV~

After Uki left, I went around taking care of the rest of the guys. Donghae looked like he was about to pass out. Aish, this guy.

“Hyung, go to bed. You look like you’re about to die,” I told him, putting a cold cloth on his forehead.

“I needa talk to Uki about something,” Donghae murmured, his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You can talk to her later, Donghae. She’s sleeping.”

“But it’s about finally asking her out again.”

The room went quiet.

“Y-you’re gonna ask Uki out again?” Leeteuk asked, looking at Donghae.

He opened his eyes and looked at everyone, a smile on his face. “Yeah. I really hope she’s gonna say yes.”

That’s when Siwon stood up and sat down next to Donghae, clasping his shoulder. “Look here. I’m totally fine with the idea of you asking her out, but if you do anything to hurt my baby sister again, I’m putting you straight in the hospital. Got it?”

“Don’t worry, Siwon,” Donghae reassured, “I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not gonna do anything to hurt her again. Besides. Uki can totally defend herself nowadays.”

Siwon smiled at Donghae. “At least we can understand each other. Any who, I’m going home.” He stood up and walked to Uki’s room and I could barely make out, “Uki, can you drive me home?”

All I heard was her grumbling in response and I heard the jingle of car keys. I snuck a glance at Leeteuk. He was silent after his question. Poor guy. He always gives everything up for the others, even if it’s a girl he’s undeniably fallen head over heels for. Leeteuk, go and fight for her! Ask her out first! But wait a minute, that would mean that Donghae wouldn’t be happy. I don’t want an unhappy Donghae to take care of! He cries too much! Yah! Predicaments!

Siwon was heading toward the door, putting his shoes on, while Uki came shuffling out of her room, wearing a light coat over her shorts and tank. Does she never wear normal clothes around here? Jeez. Her eyes were half closed and she was huffing, irritated at losing sleep once more.

“One of these days, I’m just gonna take an entire bottle of Benadryl and knockout before any of you can bother me,” she said, blindly putting on her boots.

“Hey, Uki, can I ask you something?” Donghae asked, standing up with a smile on his face.

“Hmm? Oh, Donghae, what is it?” she asked, turning around and grabbing her beanie off the coat rack. Everyone had a smile on their face, waiting for Donghae to ask already.

All except for Leeteuk.

“Do you wanna—?”

“Hey, Uki, can you take me to the store while you’re dropping Siwon off?” Leeteuk suddenly interrupted. 

The room went quiet, everyone staring at Leeteuk. Poor Uki. She was the only one who didn’t know what was going on! Donghae looked at Leeteuk, his mouth dropped in shock.

Uki blinked confusedly, looking around the room, her brows furrowed in confusion. Finally, she just shook her head and said, “Erm, yeah, sure. Come on.”

“Uki, wait!” Donghae said, jumping up and catching her arm.

She looked at him, a suspicious look in her eyes. “Donghae, what’s going on?”

“Uki, come on, your brother looks as if he’s about to pass out,” Leeteuk once again interrupted, pulling Uki out the door by the arm.

“But, Donghae—”

The door closed, ceasing any of Uki’s protests. Donghae turned back to face us, his buzzed state no longer apparent. He was just flat out angry now. “Did that really just happen?!”

“Donghae, he probably just…” Kyuhyun trailed off, not knowing how to finish.

“Probably just what?!”

Nobody answered. We didn’t know what to say! We just kinda looked around at each other nervously, wondering if someone had an answer to his question besides the obvious of course. I looked at Donghae. My poor older brother! He’d probably been thinking about asking Uki out for months. Why did Leeteuk all of a sudden just have to work up the nerve to go after Uki? Then I thought of something. Sungmin?!

I looked around for Sungmin and saw him sitting next to Eunhyuk on the couch. He was just laying his head back on the couch, icing his head to be rid of his headache. Hmm…He didn’t look upset. Maybe Uki was right. Maybe they were just friends.

“Ugh! Leeteuk’s gonna steal her away from me!” Donghae exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

“Donghae, I think you’re overreacting,” I told him gently. “Look, just finish your tea and go to bed? Maybe you needa sleep this off?”

“I can’t just sleep this off!” Donghae complained.

“Look, am I gonna have to have Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun knock you out in order to get you to go to sleep?” I threatened.

He let out an angry huff and walked off heatedly to his room.

After he left, the rest of the guys just looked at each other uneasily.

“Do you really think Leeteuk would…?” Ryeowook asked.

“No, Leeteuk wouldn’t do a thing like that!” Eunhyuk defended. “…Would he?”

“I just see more drama heading our way,” Zhou Mi said, sighing and loosening his tie.

“Donghae called dibs…Leeteuk’s breaking the guy code at this point,” Heechul said, downing the rest of his tea. “Anyway, I’m going to bed. I can already feel the hangover coming on.”

I watched as he walked away to his room and only one thought was running through my head: You better pick the right guy, Uki.

Leeteuk’s POV~

I honestly have no clue what came over me back at the dorm, but some force just compelled me to interrupt Donghae! Aish. What mess am I getting myself into now? I feel so bad that I just stole the chance away from Donghae like that! As I was mentally arguing with myself, Uki pulled in front of Siwon’s apartment building.

“Hey, hyung, do you mind helping me with something real quick? My door’s been acting up lately and I wanted you to take a look at it,” Siwon said.

“Um, yeah, sure,” I agreed, opening the door and getting out to follow him. I noticed Uki immediately locked the doors, resting her head on the steering wheel for a nap. Crap. Didn’t we just agree that we weren’t gonna bother her anymore? Ugh. Siwon should’ve just spent the night at the dorms.

We didn’t even get to his apartment before Siwon stopped me. “Look, hyung, I dunno what possessed you to do what you did back at the dorms, but I’m telling you now. If my baby sister ends up heartbroken over this again, someone’s gonna get in trouble, got it?”

I sighed and nodded. Yeah, I saw that coming. “I’m sorry, Siwon. I don’t know what came over me. I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

Siwon smiled gently at me. “You like her. That’s the only reason why you spoke up the way you had. But…We’ve already had this discussion, hyung. Please don’t do anything to hurt her. She’s already been through enough.”

I felt this weird ache in my chest and all I could do was nod. He nodded back and headed upstairs to his apartment. I sighed and slowly made my way back to the Escalade, knocking on the window for Uki to open up. She immediately threw her head up and looked rapidly from side to side to see who had disturbed her. When she saw it was only me, she unlocked the door and gave me a tired smile, her eyes thick with sleep, or lack thereof.

“Are you ready to—” A yawn enveloped her words as she daintily covered . She gave a slight laugh. “Sorry about that. Anyway, are you ready to go to the store?”

“Umm…” I looked at her innocent, tired little face, and smiled sadly to myself. “It’s okay, Uki. Let’s just head home. I can come back tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I nodded, a sad look in my eyes. Why was I feeling like this? Uki was never my girl to begin with. I was just simply there to watch over her. To make sure she was okay. To make sure that nothing hurt her…Not fall for her.

But as I snuck a glance at her, at her light green eyes with gold flecked in the irises that were staring up at me full of innocence, her beautiful midnight black hair that seemed to fall into place no matter what, her perfectly angled face, her creamy and flawless skin, her pouty lips, I knew I had done just that. When it happened, I wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe it happened somewhere in between us watching Sleeping Beauty together, or eating eggs and rice, or talking about Super Junior, or yelling at each other over scandals, or sharing stories of our past, or our conversation on the roof. When it happened, how it happened, and why it happened were complete mysteries to me, but all I know is that it happened. And I had never felt happier in my life.

This girl, the one that I had known my entire life, the one that has gone to Hell and back for Super Junior, the one that would argue to the death to protect the other guys, the one that makes sure others around her are happy before thinking of her own happiness, has gotten me falling head over heels, there’s no more denying it. Uki was special. She was different. She was unique. And no matter how much I tried to avoid it, she was there in my head. I thought about her all the time.

But…I would give the world to this girl, which means…

“Uki, Donghae has a surprise for you when you get home,” I said, smiling sadly. “Hear him out, okay? I guarantee you that you’ll be happy.”

She slowly looked at me with her tired eyes. “Hmm? Oh, um…Yeah, sure, whatever you say.”

I smiled sadly at her again through the heartache I was feeling.

I love you, Uki Seohae Choi.

But if Donghae makes you happy…Then so be it.

I think every time I see Teukie crying, I cry, too! T^T