As usual, Onew stopped by the butcher shop where his mother and father worked at to help out. He usually stayed there for  4 hours before returning home to finish his homework, do the dishes, study for his tests and to review. The butcher shop wasn't that big, but it was the main source of the Lee family's income. You see, Onew wasn't that rich and he knew he wasn't rich. Yet, his parents tried not to say the "p" word around the house. Instead, they often say that they were just having financial crisis for a little bit and that it will pass. Since his family wasn't as rich as the kids who went to his school, he was devoted to get good grades so he will get into a good college and be able to support the rest of his family members. In which was why, he was super worried when the whole volunteer accident happened. 

 

Onew rested his bike against the wall and entered the butcher shop, calling out for his mother. He went to the back door to see his mom chopping some meat. Scratching his head hard, he began to casually talk about what had happened that day, explaining the situation with Jonghyun and him. His mother dropped the sharp cleaver on the metal table, shocking Onew. 

 

"My baby! You shouldn't get in trouble! You are immune to trouble! This will look bad in your files.. Ah.. we will have to send you off to college by bribing the principal with our best meats.." His mother took off her gloves and began squishing her son's soft and delicate cheeks.

 

"No no no. It's okay because I was given another chance. The principal isn't putting the record in my files. He told me if I did this babysitting service thing .. It will blow off." 

 

"Aish.. you and that kid named Jonghyun? The one whose father owns all those big companies?"

 

"Yeah, that kid."

 

"He's probably spoiled. I don't think you two could work ou-"

 

"Umma, he's not spoiled. He's a good person. Don't judge people so quickly."

 

She let out a huge sigh before replacing the yellow rubber gloves to continue cut the meat. Onew shrugged it off and proceeded to get another pair of rubber gloves to help his mother cut the meat. 

 

"Cut carefully." 

 

"I know, Umma.."

 

Onew's mother was very protective over her son because of one reason. First off, Onew was her one and only son. Even though she wanted another child, a visit to the doctor told her she was enabled to because of medical problems. This means Onew would be her only baby and she didn't want him to get hurt or to even die. She kept her protective instincts on 24/7, making her son do ridiculous things such as making him wearing too much protection when he rode a bike that would itch his skin, not allowing him to go out the house after 9pm and him avoiding the stove area when she cooked meals. What concerned her more was the fact her son would be working with Kim Jonghyun, a male who had a reputation with many families. He was portrayed as the good looking but the special child of the Kim's. And by special, it didn't mean a good special. Compared to his sister, SongDam, mostly everyone thought of her the graceful, respectful, and lovely child, but between the lines, Jonghyun knew fully SongDam was having and doing drugs at her best friend's house during her college years. 

 

Not once had Onew's mother trusted her son being over the Kim's house during their old project. She always had a slight worry in her fragile heart that something bad would happen to her child. Onew told his mother all the good things about Jonghyun whenever she failed to see so. How he was so devoted to music and how he was a good kid, trying to do his best, yet his mother would always question her son why he always defended Jonghyun. He never replied to that question, but deep down, Onew slightly knew why. He knew exactly why.. and if you thought it was because he was in love with Jonghyun, that was a hard statement to agree or disagree to. 

 

When Onew finally finished his work at the butcher shop, his mother waved goodbye to Onew, making him wear his protective gear that made him look dorky. He smiled goodbye to his mother and began peddling slowly and built up some speed when he was out of his mother's sight, knowing she would nag about him going fast. On the way home, Onew would always pass Jonghyun's house and would take a lot of time when he was in that area. Strangely, he would admire the beautiful house and would feel the urge to stop by to say a "hello" to his "friend." But, he knew Jonghyun would probably lose his temper and yell him to go home and eat some tofu, yet he still wanted to do it anyway. He stopped the bike in it's tracks, staring at the white house Jonghyun was in. He put the bike down on the sidewalk and stared at the opened window, hearing Jonghyun's beautiful singing. He proceeded to the door, getting closer and closer to the doorbell. He was about to press it, but chickened out. He bit his lip and sighed loudly, whispering some words to himself before he ran back to the silver bike and began peddling as if nothing happened. 

 

Roo looked out of the window and began to bark loudly when she saw Onew's presence. Jonghyun stopped strumming the guitar, putting it down and looked outside to see Onew riding his bike.

 

"Hey, it's Tofu Kid again. Why is he here? Is he trying to convince me again? God, he's so desperate." 

 

He peered out the window for only another second before replacing the green curtain and to continue his song writing session. With all his passion and soul, he sung loudly in the empty household. He strummed his guitar loudly, not caring if the world looked down upon him badly.

 

"Does this sound better, Roo? Two barks means a yes."

 

Jonghyun often questioned Roo for her opinion about his new song. With much thought, he was slowly finishing his divine masterpiece. Jonghyun had a huge passion for music and it was no doubt he was far more talented than his peers. He would tap his fingers on the table, making a beat out of them, sing popular songs and change their lyrics, making it a funny parody, strum his guitar loudly and create new tunes, and make up lyrics about his current moods. Lately, he had been feeling quite different than normal which caused him to write angst songs. Most of songs dealt with love and nobody would have expected that...especially his clique. He was a soft guy with a strong boulder protecting him. It would take something to break that protector down. 

 

"Yeah, same. I kinda liked flowed better with those lyrics." Jonghyun wrote down the next note for his masterpiece. 

 

 

An hour passed by quickly. Jonghyun took the realization of this when he saw the watch's hour hand touch the 12, finding that he never has enough time to do what he wants. He looked at the finished product, feeling proud of his hard work. He grinned big and sung the song loudly, plucking the guitar strings gently. Roo barked along the song, which caused Jonghyun to have a small chuckle. He rested the blue pen on his ear, his tongue gently gliding across his lips. 

 

"All we need to do is figure out a title."

 

"Got any ideas?" 

 

Roo turned her head to the side, whimpering a bit. Jonghyun threw her favorite toy across the room, laughing loudly.

 

"Rome wasn't built in one day. The title will come to me soon." 

 

He returned the guitar to it's right place, going downstairs to cook his dinner with Roo following  after. Since nobody was home often, he didn't eat a balanced diet. He looked through the pantry and took out a cup of noodles, sighing and looking at Roo.

 

"I guess we're having this again. Great..."

 

He wasn't the best chef, but he was the type of person who could boil water and not burn down the whole house. As he waited the water to boil, he sung loudly and made up a song about him boiling water. When the water finally started boiling,  he was already losing his patience. Three minutes wasn't long but for Jonghyun, it was equivalent to waiting for three years. Finally, the water was hot enough to be poured onto the noodles. He knew he had to wait for 3 minutes but,  since he was a very impatient, he ate the noodles after they were being soaked in the hot water for 2 minutes.

 

"I don't waste my time for stupid , Roo. Even if these noodles are crunchy, you have to remember. You only live once." He slurped the noodles loudly.

 

Onew finally reached home, resting the bike against the wall of the house. He took the key out of his pocket, opening the door and taking off his shoes, placing them neatly on the floor. Onew ran upstairs to his small room, jumping on his bed and enjoying the comfort it welcomed with. He snuggled with the old rabbit plushie that he had kept ever since he was a young boy. Placing it back where it belonged, Onew went downstairs to get a snack. He was a huge health freak and didn't eat any junk food because he knew it was bad for you. He usually ate salads and was picky with his food portions. But, his only exception was fried chicken. When he finished eating his food, he ran back upstairs to do his homework and to get prepared for his math test. It was within a couple of minutes of him doing his homework, the worry feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. He knew Jonghyun would not even study for his math test and that he was failing math. He overheard Jonghyun complaining a couple days ago about how he was unhappy with his grades, but did no effort to change it. At that moment, it hit him. He finally knew how to convince Jonghyun to do the babysitting offer. He let out a loud and sinister chuckle before continuing his homework.