Julia and Sunggyu we’re engaged. Now Myungsoo and Sungjong were madly in love. And Hoya just had the other three guys with all of their silly antics to keep him company. The truth was he was always hanging around these three, but he was actually very different from them. Hoya could be fun and silly, but he was more often serious. He watched them joke around with amused, but sharp eyes. Someone had to keep an eye on them.

            Hoya had always felt it was his job to guard this family; even though he wasn’t the leader. The truth was that sometimes if he didn’t watch out for the guys there wasn’t anyone else there to do it. Sunggyu and Julia were the leaders. They were in charge of everyone and cared about them with their whole hearts, but they were also wrapped up in their own lovey world. They had their own promotions and now they had a wedding to plan.

            But that was fine with Hoya. He understood. Their group as a whole was a lot for just the two of them to handle.

            So Hoya helped. He was the silent watcher. Especially when it came to noona. She had a big heart and tended to worry about everyone but herself. He had always kept a special eye trained on her. Hoya never had a girlfriend or a sister. The only woman in his life was his mother and he saw her rarely. He called her every couple of days, but he had a hard time talking to her. Hoya was the one to make the call, but then he was always at a loss for words. He mostly called her because it was nice to hear her voice and to know that she was okay. He felt he had to guard over everyone he cared about.

            Everything had been great this last month though. Hoya wasn’t worried about anyone. Julia and Sunggyu were happy and planning their wedding. They argued sometimes, but Julia almost always won. It was a little sickening the way they pouted at each other and whined, but they were happy so Hoya didn’t care. Myungsoo and Sungjong were always together now. Hoya loved seeing them acting like best friends again. They snuck around playing their little pranks and scheming together. The only difference now was that their schemes usually ended with them making out. They too were happy though, so Hoya didn’t care.

            He was afraid of what would happen with a whole new person living in the house. The only good thing Hoya could see about the visiting cousin was that noona was ecstatic. When Julia was excited everyone felt it and absorbed that feeling like a sponge.

            The whole house was full of positive energy now that Myungsoo and Sungjong were together and the wedding was approaching. If noona was happy; Hoya was happy, but he couldn’t help but be worried. When he looked in Sunggyu’s face he saw the same concern there; like two watch dogs with a sixth sense.

            Hoya played along with the others but he wasn’t actually that excited about their new visitor. The other guys wanted it to be like a competition almost. Who could win her over? But he didn’t want to win her over. Life was great for right now. He worked his whole life and had given up a lot to get to this point. After the sacrifices he had made; he didn’t want anything to distract him. Hoya certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship and he wasn’t the type to just toy with girls for fun.

            The fact that they would soon have a strange girl living with them was weird enough; never mind turning it into a competition. He remembered when he first joined the band and it was the first time living with Julia. It took him awhile to get used to it. He had found himself attracted to her instantly. Her smell and her smile and her laugh were intoxicating. They still were intoxicating, but Hoya didn’t look at her that way anymore. She was Sunggyu’s and to be honest she always had been.

            It had become totally natural to live with Julia right away, but this girl was a complete mystery. He couldn’t help but wonder if Julia even knew what they were getting in to. Hoya knew that Julia hadn’t seen her cousin in years because they lived half a world apart. She could be different than what she remembered. A complete stranger. Hoya tried to ignore all of his anxieties and paid attention to the others.

            Woohyun, Sungyeol, and Dongwoo were almost as excited as Julia was about the arrival of Shelly. They waited in the main room for Sunggyu and Julia to come back from the airport with her. Hoya watched his band mates and smiled through his unease.

            “She is going to fall head over heels in love with me,” Woohyun said to them all with a smirk.

            “I’m taller,” Sungyeol said quickly and received a glare from Woohyun. “Girls like tall guys.”

            “Why didn’t noona fall in love with you then?” Dongwoo asked with a laugh.

            “Because she clearly is into grampas,” he said with a shrug. “Moody little grampas who boss people around and wear too much leopard print.”

            They were all laughing. Poking fun at Sunggyu when he wasn’t around was a favorite past time of the other members. So long as it didn’t get back to him.

            “The point is… Shelly is Julia’s cousin so she is probably just like her. Which means she is going to fall for me,” Woohyun reasoned with Sungyeol.

            “Why do you say that?” Hoya couldn’t keep quiet any longer. It was alright though; his speaking up would make him seem interested in their silly game. Even though he really wasn’t.

            “Are you saying if not for Sunggyu, noona would have fallen in love with you?” Dongwoo laughed. Always laughing, Hoya thought with a smile.

            “I’m just saying that sweet innocent girls, like noona, love my Nam charms. I will throw her one heart and she will be mine.” He raised his eyebrows and steepled his fingers like a mischievous cartoon character. These three were so ridiculous sometimes.

            Hoya heard Julia approaching the door before it opened. The muffled sounds of her excited voice came from the hallway all of a sudden. Once the door swung open her excitement only increased when she spotted them all standing there waiting.

            “You guys! Shelly’s here!” She exclaimed as if they couldn’t tell when the girl in question entered their hallway.          

            Hoya had seen the photograph, but seeing Shelly in person was different. She was taller than he was expecting. She was as tall as him. And that was without counting her voluminous head of curled red hair; like untamed fire, Hoya thought to himself. Her build was different from Julia’s too. Hoya had always thought Julia had a curvy frame, but when he saw her next to Shelly he realized that Julia’s curves were slight in comparison. Shelly had an hourglass figure. Her jeans hugged her shapely hips. Her v-neck shirt was low cut and showed a substantial amount of cleavage; at least for what they were used to. The best description he could think of for her body type was voluptuous.

            He saw no resemblance to Julia whatsoever as he looked her over, but then she grinned. Her plump lips spread into a little smile that looked like Julia’s. If only the smile had reached her eyes more it would have been beautiful, but her cool green eyes weren’t smiley. They were sharp and on guard as she looked them up and down at the end of the hall.

            “Nice to meet you all,” she said brightly. Hoya was still watching her eyes as she scanned their faces. Her eyes stayed on his suspicious ones for a second longer than the others.

            “Shell has seen all of our music videos and interviews so she already knows everyone a little,” Julia informed them.

            Shelly approached the four of them and went over to Woohyun first. With her back now turned to Julia; Hoya noticed a change in her expression. Her smile morphed into a smirk as she looked Woohyun up and down.

            “You are Woohyun, with the passionate… voice,” she said looking towards his chest before moving her eyes to the next member. “Sungyeol, the tall one,” she said with a wink. Sungyeol went tense when she winked at him. “Dongwoo, with the big grin and the big lips.” She bit her own lip for a second as her eyes traveled to his bottom lip. “And of course Hoya, the dancing machine,” she said. She looked into his eyes and he was expecting her to do something flirty like she did with the others, but she became uncomfortable when she stared into his wary eyes.

            She only met his stare for a second before turning back to Julia. “Where are the other two?”

            “They went to the store. They should be back soon,” she answered with a little frown.

            As if the thought conjured them up, Myungsoo and Sungjong appeared at the open front door behind Sunggyu. They had been holding hands, but as soon as Sungjong saw Shelly he let go of Myungsoo and ran up to her.

            “You must be Shelly. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Sungjong.” He then gave Shelly a big hug. Hoya couldn’t help but enjoy the wide eyed look on Shelly’s face and the bright smile on Julia’s.

            “Nice to meet you too,” she smiled at Sungjong. Now Hoya could see that Julia brightness in Shelly. She had viewed the others with a weird sort of predatory look in her eyes, but it seemed Sungjong had the same effect on Shelly as he had on noona. Instant affection. Maybe she wouldn’t be so bad, he thought to himself.

            “I’m Myungsoo,” Myungsoo called with a little wave from behind Sunggyu. The smirk was back on her face when she eyed him from head to toe.

            On second thought I was right. This girl is trouble.

            “Here let me take your coat, Shelly,” Sungyeol said as he approached her. Hoya tried not to snicker while Sungyeol made his first move. He wasn’t sure whether to be proud or embarrassed of Sungyeol’s courage.

            “Oh that’s very nice of you,” she said with a smile. “Here can you just hold this while I take it off,” she said before reaching in her coat pocket and pulling out something round and white. She put it in Sungyeol’s open hands and then everyone went crazy.

            Sungyeol shrieked and ran to hide behind Hoya and Dongwoo. Sungjong screamed in delight. Sunggyu cursed. And Shelly laughed. Her laugh could have been called beautiful if it wasn’t also so wicked. She knelt to the ground and picked up the object Sungyeol had dropped in abject terror.

            Hoya watched as she held it to her face and kissed it. It was a fat white rat. Its beady red eyes looked around the room quickly before it ran up Shelly’s arm and hid itself in her curly hair.

            “I’m out,” Sungyeol whispered behind them. “You guys can have her.” So much for being proud of his courage.         

            Dongwoo laughed boisterously and Hoya couldn’t hold back his own laughter. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about their silly competition at least. If Sungyeol was out that just left Woohyun because Hoya knew that Dongwoo didn’t really care about the competition. He was just trying to have a good time; as always.

            Hoya had to admit she was intimidating. And they’d only just met.  

            “I hope no one minds that I brought Ghost,” Shelly chuckled. “She is really nice I promise.”

            “Shelly, you brought your rat!” noona exclaimed as she stepped forward to get a look. Sungjong was already searching through Shelly’s curls so that he could pet the rat. Sungjong always wanted a pet.

            “I couldn’t leave her home alone for three weeks,” Shelly said as she scrunched her face up. It was a face he had seen Julia make before when she thought she would get in trouble.

            “You could have had your parents take care of her,” Julia said innocently.

            For some reason it looked like Shelly had been slapped. Hoya seemed to be the only one who noticed because everyone else was looking for the rat in her hair. But Hoya saw how her eyes widened momentarily. He looked down quick to see her hand shaking a little before she held it against her leg to stop it.

            She was smiling again when she said, “You know my mom. She shouldn’t be in charge of any living creature.” Her chuckle was bubbly, but fake. Hoya could see the fake coming off of her, but Julia didn’t seem to notice.

            “That is true,” she laughed. “Just keep good track of her. Some of these boys might have a heart attack if she got loose.” Noona looked to Sunggyu and smiled sheepishly. He was shaking his head as if to say no to having the rat in the house and noona pouted at him in response.

            Hoya watched their silent debate for a moment, but he couldn’t stop thinking about their strange new house mate and what they all had in store for them. She was hiding something. He could tell already. And he was going to find out what it was.