Sungmin’s P.O.V

Of course he was going to know the truth immediately. Kyuhyun has an IQ equal to Shiwonnie’s height.

It was stupid of me to go out last night and even think of finding the idiots who did this to him.

Here was me thinking he could defend himself. I will have to teach him. I might have to deal with the others first if they annoy him.

Why is Heechul smiling?

 

_________

“Wow, Kyuhyun.” I unwillingly looked to my left to meet Heechul’s amused eyes. “Did things get a bit rough with the girlfriend?” I could have walked over and smacked him…if Kangin hadn’t beaten me to him.

“Babo, can’t you see he’s hurting?” Sometimes Kangin’s strength can be frightening but this time Heechul didn’t back down. He simply grinned.

“Yah, you’re only jealous because you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend either.”

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Are you crazy?” The two moved to the back and had a silent scuffle.

Shiwon stepped in front of them. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nod. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re not,” Kibum smiled his pearly-white smile. “I’m sure Heechul would kiss it better. Really, he wouldn’t mind.”

“Don’t make me come over there!” Heechul shouted from a distance.

“Or what? You’ll kiss me?”

“Why do you all insist on bringing that up?!”

Sungmin stuck his hands in pockets. “Well, hyung you have kissed a lot of people.”

Heechul re-joined the group. “Have not.”

“Me.” Shiwon put his hand up.

“Me.” Sungmin nodded.

“Almost me.” Hangeng added.

“Jungmo.” Yesung supplied.

“You kissed me good-night,” Donghae shuddered. “Horrible experience.”

“He’s probably going to kiss Hongki next.”

“I bet you he already has, we just don’t know it.”

“Do you reckon he’s kissed Jessica?” Eunhyuk adopted a thoughtful look. Donghae tried to join him and failed. Dismally.

“Aniyo, she would have told Yoona who would have told us.”

“Mm, you’re right.”

“Plus she’s a girl.”

“Ah, of course.”

“If you guys don’t shut up,” Heechul gave Eunhyuk and Donghae such a death stare that the latter ran to cower behind me. “I will kiss each and every one of you and it will be the Kiss of Death – not kidding.” Luckily Donghae was saved at that moment by our manager hyung coming around the corner.

“Leaving now, television stations don’t wait you know?” He did a double take when he saw me however. “I don’t think there would be enough make-up to safely cover your face.” This brought up snickers from the others. This was the exact reason why I didn’t want them knowing. They were going to make fun of me. I felt myself turning red and looked at the ground to save myself.

“Um, manager? Can’t we just re-shuffle the schedules?” Sungmin asked. Oh my saviour, wouldn’t the manager already be thinking about that?

“But you guys have a ‘Sorry, Sorry’ performance. Kyuhyun-sshi is one of the strongest vocals in that song.” Clearly the manager wasn’t thinking. I sighed. Did I have to act cute again?

“But manager hyung…” I put on my best whiny voice. “I don’t want people seeing me like this. The antifans will have a field day. Can’t we just re-shuffle my babysitters for the day instead?”

I could see our manager weighing up the comment about antifans. Had I swayed him?

“Okay,” His brow furrowed in thoughtfulness. “But your hyungs will have to swap around during the day.”

“Can I have Sungmin hyung first?” I grabbed his arm to make my point. To my surprise, Sungmin flinched. A flicker of confusion crossed my mind.  I thought he only went to the police…

“You’ll have to wait for any of them until one.” The manager glanced at his watch. “That performance has to be done. We’ll make an excuse for you.”

My face paled, I didn’t want to be alone now. Again – frustratingly – Heechul laughed.

“Don’t worry little baby,” I rolled my eyes; his try-hard English was so comical. “It’s not like anyone has your keys.” My keys? My keys! Oh crap. Maybe I didn’t drop them…no, I did…didn’t I? How did I know?

“Okay, the sooner we leave the sooner we get back.” Manager hyung ushered everyone to the door. They all shouted goodbye to me but I grabbed Sungmin before he walked. Again, he flinched.

“Key please.” He dropped his keys into my hand. “Kumawo, and –”

“Bye, Kyuhyunnie.” He waved and hurried away.

I was left standing there feeling incredibly confused.

 

_________

Sungmin’s P.O.V

Oops. Forgot to also tell him the obvious. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice.

Maybe by the time I get back, he will have forgotten.

But he’s right about those jerks, they can pack a punch.

Wait…Kyuhyun has that look…hmm, he won’t forget.

 

_________

I felt paranoid.

Whilst in my dorm room, I kept the curtains tightly shut but couldn’t help but peek out of them every so often. Just to make sure. I would find that I sat down on the sofa before jumping up and heading to the kitchen. Then I would look through the curtains again. The sound of the phone ringing jerked me from my paranoid state. Reluctantly, I picked it up.

“Yo-buseyo?”

“Yo-buseyo, Kyuhyun you little baby.” Now Micky’s English was much more impressive than Heechul’s. “I heard about what happened last night – or this morning.”

I frowned. “How did you hear?”

“Oh, Eunhyukkie mentioned to it Junsu who passed it onto me.” Ah, the monkey had lived up to his name.

“So, I’m no longer the evil prince that everyone thinks I am.”

“Aniyo, you’re still evil and you can keep your crown.” He laughed. “Are you okay? I could ditch my schedule and hang with you if you like.”

“What would Yunho say?”

“He doesn’t have to know.”

“But he would.”

“Shut up now if you want to retain your evil title.” Hey, I liked my nickname too much but…

“Aniyo, you don’t have to ditch your schedule, I’m making the others do that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, you’re becoming incredibly worrisome, if you’re not careful, you’ll turn into Shiwon hyung.”

He sighed loudly in my ear. “Fine…ooh…gotta go anyway before Jaejoong wrestles the –” There was a scuffle on the other end and I rolled my eyes.

“Yah, who’s there?”

I smiled. “That’s Your Highness to you.”

“Kyuhyun-ah, my dongsaeng!” I held the phone away as Jaejoong shouted down the line. “Hate to break up the mother’s club but we’ve gotta get going. Say goodbye children!” A few muffled words later, Micky was back on the phone.

“Mianhae but we do have to go.”

“Its okay, my babysitters will be back in a few hours.”

“Fine I – shut up Yunho!” I held the phone away again. “– I’ve gotta –”

“Yeah I know, bye.” My paranoia came back as soon as the phone was back in its holder. Looking aimlessly around the room, I decided to jump on the computer. Starcraft would help me relax and the others weren’t around yet to nag me. I didn’t even reach the game though before numerous messages popped up.

From Jonghyun:

Hyung, why do you get yourself into so much trouble? Hope you’re okay.

 

From Henry:

Yah, gege, only you would find trouble like this. Are you trying to get out of SJM preparations?

 

From Zhoumi:

Dongsaeng, what can I say?

 

From Hongki:

At least it wasn’t Heechul who beat you up!

 

Eunhyuk hyung was so dead when he got back.

 

_________

I became so wrapped up in my game that I didn’t realise how quickly the time went. When a knock sounded at the door I became cautious once more. I tip-toed to the door and opened it as far as the security lock would allow.

“Paranoid much?” Ryeowook’s eye stared at me in the gap.

“Just a little bit.” I said unlocking the door. To my delight, he’d brought Sungmin with him. Now I could grill him.

“Who’s hungry?” Ryeowook wandered off to the kitchen. Neither Sungmin nor I answered him. Sungmin was too busy making a big fuss out of hanging his coat up and I was too busy watching him, waiting so I could talk to him.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Ryeowook muttered cheerfully, oblivious to the silent atmosphere in the lounge area. Sungmin finished hanging up his jacket and looked at me.

“Yes I went after them.” He puffed.

“Hyung, wae?” I whined. I was more than happy for him to go to the police for me – let them deal with it – but going after them – definite no no.

“Because,” He wandered aimlessly around the room. “Because, it’s what I do. I look after people who are younger than me. I used to look after my brother every single day until – until I became a part of SuJu, not that I regret it. But I miss him and looking after him so,” He paused and looked at me. “To me, you’re sort of my substitute brother. I want to take care of you and I don’t want you to get picked on. It’s what family does; we look out for one another.” He smiled sheepishly.

Anti-skinship aside, I hobbled over and gave Sungmin a massive hug. I didn’t know that he cared so much. All of his friendships with the members were strong; to know that mine was on such a brotherly level reminded me of family too. The life of an idol can be difficult and there isn’t always time to visit loved ones.

 

Aaanndd, then I remembered what we were really talking about.

 

“Hyung,” I punched Sungmin lightly on the arm. “No more going after the mean people.” Childish wording I know, but I can’t be mature all the time.

“Well, I just thought if I could maybe talk to them…”

“They’re not the talking type, they’re more the,” I pretended to take a big drink and then smoke and then crash on the sofa. Sungmin laughed.

“You actually do that pretty well, is there something you haven’t told me?”

“Don’t you mean you?”

“Huh?”

“They obviously didn’t talk.” I pointed at his arm. Sungmin shrugged as he threw himself onto the sofa beside me.

“I thought I did a pretty good Chinese burn, that small guy brings a whole new meaning to it.”

“Weasel’s good at that,” I reminisced. “Hang on; you lost to a Chinese burn?”

“Well, I –”

“The taekkyon guy lost to a Chinese burn?”

“It wasn’t –”

“Lee Sungmin lost to a –”

“I get it.”

“Just making my point clear.” I smiled. Hey if I’d learned cuteness from Sungmin, I’d learnt annoyance from Eunhyuk and Donghae. I wasn’t the ‘evil prince’ for nothing. “Did you get a hit on him?”

“Ani,” Sungmin turned the TV on. “You can’t just do that. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“Then what the heck did you do?”

“I talked. Basically, I told them to back off and that clearly didn’t get through to them.”

“It wouldn’t.”

“Then I went to the police.”

“And came back without a shred of dignity.”

“Haha. Not funny.”

“Hilarious.”

“Lunch!” Ryeowook bustled in from the kitchen area with plates.

“You’d make a good housewife Wookie.” I pointed out. Sungmin smacked me on the head.

“What?!”

“Did those guys knock the real Kyuhyun out of your brain?”

“No, because only the real Kyuhyun would play Starcraft for four hours.”

Ryeowook nodded “He’s normal.” He didn’t seem offended by my comment. And so, the stony atmosphere cleared up like that. I knew that Sungmin was now intent on doing all he could to help me figure this out and I was ready to accept his help.

I felt a little disappointed when the time for changeover came but was happy when I saw who was here; Shiwon, Kangin and…

Eunhyuk.

“Oh, hyung,” I walked over to Eunhyuk and he immediately looked cautious. He should. “You look tense. Come here.” I steered him over to the sofa and made him sit.

“What are you doing?” He tried to wriggle out of my grip.

“Massage hyung.” I started to rub his shoulders but then strangled him. Not seriously of course. Tempting though.

“Why did you go and tell everyone we know about what happened last night?!” I shook him back and forth with every word. Kangin just burst into laughter while Shiwon seemed torn between concern and humour.

“I can’t answer when you’re choking me!” Eunhyuk shouted. I let him go – reluctantly. He quickly darted a safe distance away from me before turning around.

“I only told everyone because I thought they would be caring about it.”

“What exactly did you say?” I stepped toward him and he backed cowering into a corner. Wow, I can freak out a 23 year-old.

“I said that…” He took a deep breath and then spoke quickly. “Something had gone down last night and you’d come off worse and that we were having to look after you like you were a little baby.” He looked up to see me glaring at him. “I meant it in the nicest way possible.”

Nice try.

“That’s why they’re all accusing me of trying to get out of schedules, plus they all think I’m weak.” I walked over and began punching him.

Obviously not for real, I think we all know how well – or rather how crap – I am at any sort of fighting or self defense. Kangin just started laughing his head off again but Shiwon came over and pulled me away, obviously worried that I would do some serious damage to Eunhyuk.

“Fine, I’ll let you off.” I mumbled grumpily. “As long no-one else said anything.”

Here all three of them paused.

“It was Heechul wasn’t it?” I huffed.

“Well…” Kangin said.

“What did he say?”

“You know how Heechul is with his whacked-out brain and all.”

“That’s not telling me what he said.”

“He was throwing around comments like, um, ‘you have a face only a mother could love’ and dropping other hints and sayings in front of the audience.”

That did it.

I stormed off down the hall and slammed the door of my bedroom. If people call me a brat then what is Heechul? How could he say those things on live television?

“Kyuhyun?” Shiwon knocked on my door.

“Go away.”

“Are you okay?”

“I said go away.” Again, I knew I was acting spoilt but I didn’t want to go out there.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah, well, he has to apologize to my face then doesn’t he?” There was silence on the other side of the door and I thought Shiwon had gone away but…

“Well, then at least let me come in and talk to you.”

“No.”

“Waeyo?”

“Because you were probably laughing as much as the rest of them.” Childish, childish, childish…

“Kyuhyun, would I?”

I gave him no response; instead I turned my music up and resumed playing my game. That was how it went for the next three hours. It was almost six when I heard another knock at my door.

“Kyuhyun?” I heard Teukie’s voice shouting at me. For my leader’s benefit I turned the music down.

“What?”

“Shiwon tells me that you haven’t been out all afternoon.”

“That’s because I don’t want to come out.”

“Waeyo?”

“Ask Heechul.” Again there was silence.

“Kyuhyun, I already know what Heechul said.” Teukie told me.

“So you were laughing too.” I threw my hands in the air. Like that would do anything for emphasis. Teukie is on the other side of the door, he wouldn’t see me.

“I wasn’t. I swear. I told him not to say it.” Leeteuk said defensively.

“Sorry, I’m only accepting apologies from Heechul.” Again there was no noise outside the door. I sat back down at my desk. A few moments later however, I heard noises outside. After a lot of muttering and someone sighing, I heard another knock.

“Kyuhyun-ah, mianhae.” Heechul sighed through the door.

“How do I know you mean it?”

“Because you don’t just have a face a mother could love. I love it too.” That didn’t sound right.

“Who told you to say that?” I asked.

“Told you he’d know.” I heard him mumble to someone.

“Then you apologize with your own words.” Leeteuk whispered.

“Kyuhyun-ah…” He paused. “I’m really sorry that I made fun of you today. I…should’ve been respecting the state that you’re in and…to make up for it…oh God what am I doing?” He asked himself. “I’ll play whatever…weird computer game you want me to.”

That got me out of my hole.

“Kumawo, Heechul hyung.” I nodded as I walked out of my room. We were all walking down the corridor before I heard a snigger behind me. Looking back, I saw Heechul laughing again. My frustration peaked again and I started storming back to my room.

“Mianhae, mianhae.” He quickly tried to say. Sungmin grabbed my wrist and dragged me back.

“Uh, uh. You’re not disappearing again.” He pulled me back in the direction of the others.

“But you’re going to keep making fun of me.” I whined.

“That can easily be solved by kicking Heechul out –”

“Hey!”

“But you’re not going back into your hidey-hole.”

As we reached the lounge, I threw myself into my favourite sofa and stared aimlessly at the television. Sungmin sat next to me.

“What would you want to do that would cheer you up?”

“Go back to my room.”

“Apart from that.” He smiled. Drat, well it was worth a shot.

“Sit here and stare aimlessly at the television like I’m doing.” That didn’t work either. They all immediately started asking what I wanted to do. As much as I disliked having too much privacy, I equally disliked them all fussing over me. No matter how much of a spoilt brat the public believed me to be.

“Just leave me alone and I’ll go back to normal eventually.” I tried turning away.

“Kyuhyun,” I turned to look at Kangin. “You have to excuse Heechul for being so…how do I put this?...blatantly honest but that’s his way of looking after people.”

“Then I don’t want to be looked after.” I was being selfish again.

Kangin hyung just smiled.

“I know what will cheer you up.”