‘Hey, you think she’s awake?’

‘Shut up dude! Don’t wake her up!’

‘Should I poke her?’

‘What the hell! Are you some weirdo?’

I heard voices arguing, growing louder by the second. It was clear that they forgot to keep their voices down. I let my eyes flutter open, too lazy to get up yet. As soon as my eyes opened, I found 7 pair of eyes staring at me. I gulped.

‘Who are you?’ I asked.

A young looking guy who was leaning against the wall looked at me with serious eyes. He frowned slightly, yet a bit of amusement showed on his face. ‘Who are you?’ He asked me. ‘_____. What happened?’ I replied, slightly irritated that he didn’t answer my question. ‘You were knocked unconscious by a branch last night. You’ve been out for a few hours.’ He said. Oh, so these must be the guys who live in the forest… They’re not too scary… I felt a pair of eyes from beside me, so I turned to my side. ‘You know you’re pretty, right?’ The guy staring at me said dreamily. I sort of back away from him after he said that. Another person who was sitting down looked at me sternly. His eyes were really freaking me out. ‘Go back from where you came from. You can’t stay here.’ Oh yeah, that’s right. I’m homeless now… ‘Um, yeah, about that… I’m sort of homeless at the moment. Scary eyes dude glared at me. ‘Why?’ I chuckled nervously. ‘Well, my sister is sort of evil and wants to kill me, so I ran away and kind of ended up in the forest.’ At that moment I remembered about my bag. ‘And… um, do you guys have my bag?’ ‘Oh, this?’ Another person with striking red hair said. ‘Uh, yeah.’ He handed it back to me. I then realized that I needed a home, and I was in one right now. I gathered up my courage to ask the guys about staying for a little while, trying to ignore the scary eyes dude’s glare. ‘Can I stay here for a while? Please. I’m sort of desperate…’ Scary eyes immediately rejected. ‘No. You staying here = evil sister tracks you down and destroys everything.’ I opened my mouth to protest but the first guy held up his hand for silence. ‘Huddle.’ Everyone exited the room I was in, leaving me. I just sat there, anxious of their decision.

Soon, everyone came back in. ‘You can stay, but there are conditions.’ Scary eyes butted in and started to announce the conditions. ‘1. Help us with the house chores. 2. Cook for us. Ok?’ I looked at all of them and frowned. ‘Fine, agreed. But only if you say please~’ ‘Please.’ They all said at the same time. I clapped my hands cheerfully. ‘Ok! But, what are your names?’ As they started to file out of the room, they all named themselves. ‘Sunggyu.’ He smiled at me. I smiled back. ‘L.’ Scary eyes dude said coldly. ‘Dongwoo. By the way, you can call L Myungsoo.’  The red head guy smiled. ‘Sungyeol.’ He started laughing. Dongwoo appeared again. ‘Don’t mind him, he’s always laughing his head off.’ I nodded and laughed myself. ‘Hoya.’ A blonde headed guy said. ‘Woohyun.’ He gave me the biggest and most cheesiest smile yet. I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing. ‘Mmf… Sungjong.’ I could just hear him as his mouth was full of sandwich. Then they were all gone. Only then, when it was silent, I started to take in my surroundings. I was in a decent room. The walls were a pale green colour, the colour of grass buds. There was a desk to one side of the wall, and a nice large window on the other, giving me view of the forest. I sort of shivered when I looked out the window. Who knows what could be out there, or who. I didn’t know what to do so I just made myself comfortable in the bed and drifted asleep.

I found myself being awaken by Hoya. ‘Hey, wake up. Can you cook dinner for us? Please?’ ‘Ugh, fine.’ I mumbled drowsily. ‘Hoya pointed to a door at the far side of the room. Bathroom there. In the closet are your clothes. We bought some clothes for you, cause you don’t seem like you have much.’ He motioned towrads the closet and then blushed a bit. I thanked him and went to the bathroom to wash. Inside there was a shower, towel rack, sink, toilet, and a bath tub. It was spotless and tidy. Well, at least the boys aren’t slobs… I decided to have a quick shower.

I came out, wearing a pair of tracksuit pants and a tank top, but as I was living with guys, I had a cardigan over my tank top. Hoya was standing my room, patiently waiting for me. His eyes lit up when he saw me and took me downstairs to the kitchen. I started to plan what I was making, finding the ingredients and all. ‘Hey ____, do you need help?’ I almost dropped the pan I was holding. How the hell did Sunggyu get here so fast and silently?  I looked at Sunggyu and shook my head. ‘It’s alright.’ ‘Are you sure?’ I thought about it. ‘Um, if you can, could you cut those vegetables up?’ He nodded. I had only turned around when I heard the knife slice through the food. I looked over at Sunggyu, who was already cutting the vegetables. The chopping board was a good 5 metres away, and yet he got there in less than a second. I shivered. It’s just you, ____, and clam down. I continued cooking.

‘Dinner’s ready!’ I yelled, and immediately everyone appeared. I think they were hiding around the kitchen. I sat down at a random chair, Woohyun on my left and Sungyeol on my right. Everyone immediately tucked in, happy to fill their angry stomachs. I smiled happily at my success. Cooking wasn’t always my best skill.

I was doing the dishes with the help of Sunggyu, Sungjong and Dongwoo. Everyone was silent. I really hated awkward moments so I decided to try and strike up a conversation. ‘Um, so now that I’m living here… I still get on with my normal life, right? Like going to school, going to work etc.’ Sungjong nodded. ‘Yeah, you can go on with your normal life.’ He gave me a big reassuring smile. I smiled back. Sunggyu turned to me. ‘But since you have an evil sister trying to kill you, someone always has to be with you.’ I immediately shook my head. ‘I can’t let you do that. It’ll burden you and…’ Sunggyu cut me off. ‘No, I insist, ok?’ I was about to protest, but the look on Sunggyu’s face sort of freaked me, so I nodded my head glumly.

I tossed and turned in bed. I couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard I tried. I stepped out of bed and gazed out the window. Something flashed before my eyes, darting through the trees, heading out to the main road. I grew confused. Was that someone from the house? But it didn’t seem likely, so I shook it off, making up a logical reason for it. I headed back to bed, starting to feel drowsy. As sleep lured me away from reality, I swear I heard Hyeri giggle.