Uki’s POV~

I let out a slow breath, wiping my sweaty palm on my jeans. Why was I so nervous? All I was doing was asking for permission. Aish, why ask? Maybe I should just wait like every other normal student. No, I can’t do that! I wanna see my boys and I wanna see them now! I groaned and just paced in front of the dean’s office. Then I stopped again, looked up at the large oak door that stood before me tauntingly, and slumped in a chair. This . I’d never had to ask permission for anything before. Like…Ever. And now I was about to ask permission to take my exams a month early? I really don’t think they’d let me do that, but…I know I can totally ace all of my exams if I just tried!

I quickly stood up again. Thank God there wasn’t anybody else in here. I seriously probably looked like some psycho freak intent on killing the dean for pacing back and forth in front of his office for the past hour. Speaking of which, does this man never leave his office?! What, does he, like, live in there or something?! Aish, I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if he did. I mean, I think for the entire year or so I’ve kept in touch with Cambridge before finally coming here as a student, I’ve only met the man twice and talked with him on the phone once. Hmm…

Urgh.

I sighed again, closing my eyes and resting my forehead on the oak door. Was I seriously nervous about this? Nervous about asking for permission to take my exams early? Should I even have a real reason to be nervous?! I stood like that, my forehead against the door with my eyes closed, for so long, I could seriously almost feel myself drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden, someone’s hand slipped into mine. I opened my eyes, staring at our intertwined hands, then looked up to see James smiling down at me.

“Are you ready?” he asked me.

O.O

“Ready? Ready for what?” I asked him, a confused expression clearly on my face.

“To ask him if we can take our exams early,” he responded simply as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

“Whoa, whoa, we? James, I can’t let you take the exams early and totally bomb it,” I said, giving him a stern look.

He frowned slightly as he said, “My grandma only has a month to live. I wanna go see her before it’s too late.”

My eyes widened as sadness completely filled me. “Aww, Jamsie, I’m so sorry!”

He smiled at me, trying to hide the hurt and sadness in his eyes as he said, “It’s okay. She’s led a good life and she’s been suffering for awhile now, so I’m just happy to see her finally be put out of her suffering and misery. But yeah, I really needa take my exams early so I can go see her one last time.”

I frowned. Poor James! “Where is your grandma?”

“Seoul.”

My eyes widened. “Bwoh?!” I accidentally blurted.

He smiled, laughing that smooth, velvety laugh of his. “You’re not the only Korean one here, remember? Now c’mon. I’m prepared to fight to the death to be able to take them early.”

Giving my hand a reassuring squeeze, he reached out and knocked on the door, which was closely followed by a muffled, “Come in.”

He opened the door and dropped my hand at the same time. The dean, a kind looking man in his seemingly mid-forties or so, looked up at us, a smile on his face.

“Ahh, Uki,” he said, smiling even wider.

…Bwoh? He remembers my name despite our limited contact with each other? I don’t even remember his name. ><”

I nodded slightly, sitting down in one of the chairs next to James. Giving James a weird look, the dean asked, “What are you two doing here? I thought I heard someone pacing outside.”

I laughed at him, nervously scratching the back of my neck. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just couldn’t come up with the right words, so I didn’t wanna come in and talk to you quite yet.”

He laughed and said, “Oh, it’s okay. Most students wouldn’t even have the guts to come talk to me about anything. Now. What seems to be the problem?”

I snuck a glance at James, who urged me on with his eyes. I turned back to the dean. “We want to take our exams early.”

The room went silent for a moment. Okay, was it really that big a deal to take your exams early? Was it, like…A taboo or something to want to take your exams early? I mean, it wasn’t entirely unheard of, right? Well…THEN WHY THE HELL AM I SO DAMN NERVOUS?!

“Exams are in a month…” the dean said, letting his words trail probably in hopes of making us realize how stupid we were for wanting to take them so early.

“They are,” I said simply.

“You’ll be taking the exams without learning a month’s worth of material. I hope you know that this is nothing like high school. You can’t simply just get by because you’re smart. Trust me, everyone on campus is smart. I mean, they got into Cambridge after all! But none of them would be crazy enough to take the exams without learning the material first,” he said, giving us a look, trying with all his might to dissuade us of our possibly ridiculous request.

“Well then, call us insane, because we need to take the exams early.”

“Why?”

“My grandma’s about to die. I need to see her before she goes,” James said solemnly.

Then everything went silent again as we awkwardly stared at each other. The dean cleared his throat then looked at me. “And your reason?”

“Trust me when I tell you that if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” I said, rolling my eyes impatiently.

“I’m a pretty gullible guy. Why won’t you try me?” he asked with a smile.

“Fine. I help take care of and manage a fifteen-member…Fourteen-member…Thirteen-member? Aish. There are alotta things taking place right now that kinda questions the true number of boys in the band, but I’m a strong believer, so I say fifteen-member Korean boy band called Super Junior, which is also the band that my boyfriend and older brother is in.”

Silence greeted me once more. He just kept blinking at me, causing me to stifle my laughter. “See? I warned you that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

He shook his head for a second and said, “I vaguely remember your mother telling me something about that the last time we talked on the phone. So I believe you. However, when it comes to taking the exams early, we professors and staff here can’t hold you back from your own decisions. I give you permission; however, it’s a matter of talking to your own professors from here.”

I smiled. That should be an easy task.

Boys, here I come!<3

~~~~

I folded all my clothes—yes, I’m just that beast and has mastered the art of folding clothes with the use of just one arm(x—and neatly arranged them inside my suitcase. Gah, I was so excited to see my boys again! Hmm…Maybe I should call and tell them that I’m flying out tomorrow night? I smiled, deciding against it. I’ll just keep it a surprise. It’s always more fun that way. ^^ Goodness. Those exams?

EASIEST.

THINGS.

EVER.

I don’t know why they don’t just let everyone just take it! From the way James and the dean were describing them, I thought they’d be, like, exams from Hell or something, but they weren’t! That months’ worth of material was stuff I learned back in high school! Aish, these people. I paused and looked at all I had packed. Four suitcases and two duffels. A definite improvement from last year’s luggage(x I smiled, feeling accomplished with myself, and decided to call it a night. I didn’t even get a chance to talk to the boys tonight. Oh well. They’ll have to put up with me for three straight months. A night of no communication won’t hurt anybody(:<

Sighing, I ripped my sling off and threw it in the corner. For the past week, I’d been trying over and over again to wake up my body. Sad thing was? I hadn’t made any improvement whatsoever since that one night that I’d managed to move my finger with some turn of undeniable luck. After turning off the lights, I headed to my bed and buried myself in the blankets. The moonlight streaming in from my window made for a comfortable feeling, reminding me of how the same thing would always happen in my room back in Seoul. I turned my head to my nightstand and came face to face with Donghae’s music box. I reached my arm out and lightly ran my finger along the newly restored box. Only James, man, would be crazy enough to stay up all night and put a shattered glass and wooden music box back together again. I smiled at the memory.

I seriously couldn’t believe that after Brittane broke it, he took every last bit of wood and glass and went back to his apartment to fix it. He spent all night putting everything back together and sanding out all the cracks and blemishes. God, I loved that guy! There honestly isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to make someone else feel better. I was seriously glad that I had the luck of meeting someone like him in college, making my whole college experience bearable. After a moment of turning over how I’d met James in my mind, I made the mistake of looking down at my arm again and a sudden rush of anger and disappointment filled me.

Okay, you damned thing, this is the last night you have to move before my boys see me again. Either you move or I’m cutting you off.

As if it could read my thoughts, I saw my finger twitch again. I rolled my eyes.

You’re gonna have to do better than that. That’s all you’ve been doing for the past week! I WANT ALL OF YOU TO WAKE. UP.

I sighed in frustration.

I’ve resorted to yelling and threatening my arm. I think I’ve legitimately gone insane. -.-“ I turned my head to the window, staring at the clear night sky and bright glowing moon, which oddly gave me comfort. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I turned my head to look up at the ceiling again. I need to be able to move once more. I need to show my boys that I am not weak. I need to make sure that they know they don’t have to worry about me. I need to show them that I can take care of myself.

I need to move my damn arm.

Opening my eyes, I felt a surge of newfound determinedness and obstinacy rush through me.

I was going to make this thing move.

And I was going to do it before I meet the boys again.

That is a promise you can bet your life I’ll keep.

Sorry for not updating last night! Lol. I was at a serious road block in what I wanted to write. ><"

And I'm really sorry for the story starting out so slowly. Lol. But don't worry! Super Junior's comeback is about to happen, Uki's 'bout to head out to Seoul with James, Alex and Kyuhyun are still as clueless as ever, Hangeng might be coming back into the picture, Michelle might be making a guest appearance soon, Jiwon hasn't totally disappeared yet, and of course, Teukie hasn't completely gotten over his feelings yet. I see alotta stuff happening in the future as this thing's about to pick up speed again. ;D

Kekeke~

Totally random pic, but what can I say? I'm a er for chubby-cheeked violinists. ;D