“Noona!”

“Oh, Luhan, hello.”

I didn’t mean to be rude or rough but my mind was too busy panicking to think straight when I dragged my favourite noona by her wrist into some janitor’s closet. She rubbed her wrist when I let her go. Maybe I grabbed it too hard. But she didn’t scream or yell at me. Instead, she asked me what was wrong.

“I don’t know how noona, but Xiumin knew that SHINee was supposed to consist of 5 members.”  I told her.

I could see her shocked expression clearly even when she tried to hide it. With a calm tone she asked,

“Did he tell you how he knew?”

“No, noona.” I whimpered.

“Calm down, Lulu. It doesn’t mean that they know that Onew was the other member…”

“S-Should we tell Joon-hyung?”

“No. Joon is a very panicky person. Don’t even tell if he asked.”

“A-Alright…”

Before we could discuss this matter further, we heard Jessica’s name being called. The both look at each other and we knew that we couldn’t continue this discussion. Jessica said that she would text me and without another word she exited the closet. I waited for about fifteen minutes before I left our discussion place. If we exited the closet at the same time, we might catch the attention of some people. And the last thing I would want is to have some sort of scandal with my noona.

I tried my best to keep calm and think about something else but being around the company didn’t seem to make me feel better. I went and inform the dragon-head that I will be heading home. Checking whether I had my card to my apartment, I walked out of the building.

On the way home, I had to pass the park. I was hoping to find Nulli there and there, I see her on the swing again. The moment she saw me she ran and hugged my knees. I carried her and observe her, worried to find any bruise or scars on her. To my relief, her condition was fine like how she was this morning.

“Oppa!” she exclaimed.

“Nulli-ah, how have-”

I didn’t even have time to finish my question when the rain suddenly started pouring down heavily. Without any hesitation, I ran to my apartment with Nulli in my arms. After taking out my card using one hand, I swiped it above the handle of the door. It beeped and when the small blue light glow, I opened it and entered my home.

I placed Nulli down and closed the door before I held her hand as I welcomed her to my apartment. I led her to the couch and offered her to sit there, telling her to make herself at home.

Nulli plopped on the couch, making her feet dangle at the edge of sofa. I figured that she really like that orange couch because she was bouncing up and down on it while giggling.

Nulli, you never fail to be so cute!

For the second time of the day, my tummy rumbled. I patted my stomach as I head to my kitchen. I guess tom yam ramen would be nice. As I reached for the cabinet, I asked Nulli whether she wanted anything. The younger replied no and walked towards me. I took the ramen cup and tore the cover open. Carefully pouring the hot water into the cup, I my lips, thinking about how tasty this was going to be. I left the ramen to be cooked and took out a box of Pocky I had. I opened it, took one of the strawberry covered biscuit and the rest, I handed them to the kid. The shorter gladly accepted the snack.

“Oppa… May I look around your house..?” she asked shyly.

“Of course.” I replied with a grin. “You can explore it if you want.”

Her face glowed with excitement as she wanders around my house.

 I don’t get what is so exciting about my home.

I didn’t realise that she entered my room. How I found out that she did go in my room was when she too out an old dog plushie which was obviously from my room. My tummy rumbled again, reminding me about my ramen. I glanced at it and smile when the noodles I felt with my chopsticks already soften. With a glass of iced water, I brought my meal to the dining table. From there I could see Nulli playing with my doggy.

Slurping on my noodles, I noticed the child talking to the toy. I couldn’t help but observe the way she was playing. She made the dog walk and move its hands as if that it was really chatting with her. I don’t know what was in her mind when she got up and took a tissue. She tied the tissue around the plushie’s neck gently so that it wouldn’t tear. Once she was done, she held the toy by its waist and made it fly around my house horizontally like Superman.

I, who was sipping on the spicy tom yam soup choked when I saw Nulli’s adorable actions. I coughed as I reached for my drink and gulp it down quickly.

I will always remember that no matter how mature she is, she’s still a kid.

Finishing my meal, I threw away the ramen cup and washed my glass. I was washing the few plates from yesterday when Nulli tugged my shirt to get my attention.

“Oppa… Where are your parents?”

“They passed away two years ago…” I replied calmly.

“I’m sure that your mother is very pretty and your father is handsome. Because Luhan oppa is good looking!” she told with a smile that showed her pearly whites.

I chuckled and said thanks. She nodded and hopped (?) away cheerfully as she continued to explore my apartment. When I finished my chore, I went searching for Nulli in the intention of playing with her. I called out for her but didn’t receive any respond. Worried, I began searching for her.

I guess I got worried of nothing when I found her lying on my bed, listening to my Ipod. When she noticed I was there, she took out the headphones and pointed at one photo.

The photo was placed nicely in a dark brown wooden frame on my study table. There stood a boy, who was wearing a black tuxedo standing between two tombstones that was decorated beautifully with colourful flowers. The boy who was in the photo was standing there, hands behind his back and he was smiling.

“Oppa, why were you smiling?”

I wanted to tell her so much. I wanted to tell her the whole story of why I was smiling at my parents’ funeral. Wanted to tell her what happened. Wanted to tell her how much pain I felt. But all that came out was,

“Someone I cared for told me to do that.”

I was expecting some question from her but nothing came. I guess she knew that I didn’t want to talk about it.

Nulli got into my covers and yawned. I lied down next to her and gave her my doggy. The child accepted the plushie and snuggled it as she drifted to sleep. I patted her back while singing a slow song that Kyungsoo taught me before. I observed the sleeping figure and the question she asked came running to my mind again.

“Oppa, why were you smiling?”

I couldn’t (and even wouldn’t) tell her the real reason why I smiled. But what I replied wasn’t all lies. Someone I care did tell me to do that. I got up slowly, not wanting to wake Nulli up. I went and sat at my study table. I took a glance at the photo as I recalled back what happened four years ago.

So sorry for the boring chapter! But the next chapter will be much more interesting because I'll be going to the past which is four years ago. Let's see what happened during that time, shall we?