8

Lyorin woke up earlier than usual and went to have a nice warm shower before starting the day. Dressed in an over-sized baseball jersey and denim shorts, she stood in front of the mirror and brushed her hair neatly. She looked at her reflection and caressed her neck. She realised she had lost a lot of weight when the baby fats under her chin seemed to have disappeared.

“No wonder Kai insisted that I should eat.” She sighed and mumbled to herself. She had been in her room for the past few days, and never got the chance to meet the rest of them. She was such a coward, she thought. That morning, she needed to face them bravely. She needed to trust them like how she used to. Actually she trusted them all along but she was just too afraid. Nonetheless, everything was over. She had gotten better and life had to move on, like finally.

Slowly, she crept out of her room and heard voices coming from the first level living room. EXO guys were already awake. Of course, it was already ten in the morning. She walked slowly and peeped down to the first floor. Tao and Chen were talking while laying down the plates for breakfast. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were sharing the earpieces while looking intently on the iPad. She chuckled softly looking at their adorable faces.

“Is someone spying?” A voice startled her from the back. She turned around and saw Sehun grinning.

She soothed herself and then scolded him. “You scared me!” Without wasting any more time, Sehun embraced her tightly, accidentally lifting her off the floor.  “S-Sehun, I-I can’t br-breathe.” She gasped because he was almost crushing her bones.

Lay appeared together with Kai from their room and saw the both of them. Lay quickly bumped his fist on to Sehun’s arm. “YAH SEHUN! Let her go!”

Sehun released her and apologised. “I’m sorry.” He scratched the back of his head guiltily. “I miss you ~”

“I miss you too, Sehun.” Lyorin comforted and gave him a warm smile after a long time.

He smiled widely and tugged her hand, dragging her downstairs. “Come let’s eat. Someone needs to eat more.” He whined while she turned red hearing his remark.

While walking down the long stretch of staircase, she saw Kris sitting cross legged on the sofa chair with a laptop on his lap, concentrating on his screen. Suho was just beside him, reading the papers with a focussed look. They were indeed the leaders. Actually more like the fathers of the group, she thought and smiled to herself. She walked timidly with every step. She was nervous because it had been quite a while since they talked. Furthermore, she assumed the incident may have caused a slight friction between them. Well, that was what she felt but the guys never thought of her in that way. They believed it brought them closer to her knowing how vulnerable she was. They felt the need to be around her all the time.

Kris heard footsteps and accidentally glanced up and saw her. He was surprised yet happy that she finally decided to leave her room. His face was still as serious but he did acknowledge her presence with a small smile. Suho was flipping the paper when he looked up and instantly his face brightened. He was so glad she had gotten better and her face had colours instead of just pale white. The rest of them stopped their activities and concentrated on her entrance. They were simply happy to see her.

Tao jogged up and welcomed her with his hand reaching out. "Joining us for breakfast?" Lyorin nodded and smiled. He gave her a hug and whispered, "I'm glad you're finally back with us." She gulped nervously at the sudden contact. She realised the guys had become more physical towards her after Aunt Marie went away. Hugging and cuddling seemed to be a normalty for them. However, she couldn’t help but be shy of it especially now when Tao was only wearing a black sleeveless top. She could feel his bare skin brushing against hers and his toned and muscular arms, she blushed almost instantly when she felt it.

Of course, if she hugged one, she had to hug the rest of them.

Chanyeol teased, "About time someone leaves her comfortable bed." Lyorin punched his stomach playfully only to receive a painful knuckle in return.

"OUCH!" She welped. Of course, why did she even try punching him?

Chanyeol gave a proud smirk and ruffled her hair messily.

Suho walked up to her and held on to her shoulders with his hands. He bowed to her eye level and inspected, "Are you feeling better already?" An angelic smile spread across his face.

Lyorin was thankful for Suho's help the other night, especially his therapeutic whispers that managed to calm her down. She remembered his warm touch and words that helped her braved the stressful period. "Yes, oppa. I'm a lot better, thank you." She confirmed with a smile.

Soon, all of them were already on their breakfast; eating and laughing like before. It had been a while since the mansion was filled with noise and laughter. She ate her food and watched the boys as they talked almost about everything and anything. She was amused at how these guys could manage to stay happy and cheerful despite the heavy responsibilities they shouldered.

"How do you guys stay happy all the time?" She posed the sudden question.

Baekhyun replied, "Well, YOLO!"

Then, everyone erupted in laughter including Lyorin.

"Aha true. But also, only by being happy we are able to overcome almost anything that is in our way. Beside, we enjoy each other's company." Chen added.

"Jeez Chen, that sounds so gay." Chanyeol threw a piece of strawberry at him but Chen cooly caught it with his mouth.

Lyorin smiled. "You guys need girlfriends." She mumbled softly.

However the guys seemed to have heard her. "Nope. You are the priority." Tao said.

"Why me? If Luhan ~"

"Don't drag me in this." Luhan begged.

"Lyorin, if we want to have girlfriend, we will find one." Suho assured.

"Okay good. Because I don't want to be the reason you guys lack dating experience ~"

"Please girl, none of us lack dating experience at all." Baekhyun confirmed.

"So you guys had girlfriends before?" Lyorin probed curiously.

D.O pouted rather cutely and answered, “Wow, I can’t believe you think so lowly of us. I’m hurt.” He faked a chest pain.

Lyorin smiled shyly and realised how dumb the question was. EXO guys were good looking. All 12 of them were handsome and nice guys. Undeniably, girls would fall for their charms easily.

"Yea. Everyone had a girlfriend before; at least once in our lifetime so far. Kai has the most ~" Kai jabbed his arm towards Chanyeol and prevented him from continuing his sentence.

“Kai has the most?” Lyorin asked impatiently. Anything regarding Kai, her ears would perk up instantly.

“Hmm.. Nothing. Kai was much popular.” Chanyeol ended and shot an apologetic look at Kai. The mouth of his could get out of control at times. He was about to say that Kai had the most girlfriends before but then realised it would be too awkward to reveal it to Lyorin especially when everyone knew Kai’s feelings for her already.

Chen then turned the table and asked her, “Then you; don’t you have a boyfriend before?”

Lyorin was quite surprised at the question making its way back at her. She just wanted to tell them straight that she had not been in any relationship before but she was afraid the guys would judge her. “Me.. Well I.. don’t –“ She stammered.

“So, are you and Hyunsik dating?” Lay interrupted before she could answer.

The question was somehow posed at her on purpose in front of Kai.

“No!” She answered directly. “We’re just friends.” She clarified and then looked towards Kai. However, the guy kept looking down on his plate of food.

“But I think he likes you.” Lay commented further. Kai pretended to be busy eating but his ears were all sharp waiting to hear her respond. As much as he was angry at Lay for asking her such a question, a part of him wanted to know how she felt towards Hyunsik.

Lyorin stared blankly and was in deep thought. It would be lying if she says that she was not aware of his feelings for her. It was rather obvious; however, she liked his company. She didn’t want to end their friendship just because she could not reciprocate his feelings. “Even if he likes me and I like him back, it’s not like we can date right?”

“So, you do have thoughts of liking him back?” Lay asked.

“I like him as a friend  but –“ She stopped to look at Kai. “I’m not in the position to decide. It’s all up to him.”

She filled the ladle with the mushroom soup and put it in a small bowl. She reached out and placed the bowl in front of Kai; passing it to him so that he would eat. She wanted to make it up for yesterday. He took the bowl and ate it silently, still avoiding her eyes. At least, she was glad he took it.

What a baby, she giggled to herself and continued her meal.

~*~

 “Ah I’m tired!” Sehun whined and dropped to the floor of the basketball court. He wiped the sweat with the back of his palm and then summoned his power. A mild wind blew across his face as he cooled down after a two hours straight game of basketball with the rest of EXO.

“Come on Sehun! We’re not done yet!” Lyorin shouted across the court and threw him the ball. However, he dodged and as a result the ball rolled elsewhere. “YAH!” She yelled.

“I’m tired.” He complained with a pout.

“Okay, let’s take a break.” Luhan declared and everyone abruptly stopped the game.

Bottles of water were passed around and everyone drank their thirst away. It was a good work out for the boys and a good energy booster for Lyorin who had been lazy in bed for the past few weeks. She needed to sweat it all out and maintained her stamina. If she kept being indoors, she might just lose the title of being the top female runner in school.

“We should go on a holiday somewhere.” Out of a sudden, Xiumin proposed. His suggestion created a commotion among the boys as they began naming the places they wanted to go. Lyorin, on the other hand, gave a questionable look at the two leaders. She wanted a holiday as well, but she didn’t want to get too excited only to end up being disappointed at the end. It was still up to the leaders’ decision.

“I think we should go to the beach!”

“Or maybe we can go hiking at the mountains.”

“Nah, we already went hiking a lot of times.”

“I say, we go Jeju!”

“Yes! I vote for Jeju too!”

Kris let out a grunt and stood up. “Excuse me! The leaders aren’t gone yet okay?”

“Come on Kris hyung, everyone needs a well-deserving break; even you. I can already see the stressed wrinkle under your eyes ~” Tao pleaded.

“Another word and you can say goodbye to this trip, Mr Kungfu Panda.” Kris cut him off sternly.

Tao sulked and kept quiet. Kris and Suho got up and went to the side of the group. They were discussing secretly.

“You know, I can hear you.” Luhan mocked. He was positive that the leaders would allow them the holidays.

After the brief discussion, Suho came up to Lyorin and asked, “So, Lyorin where would you like to go?”

“Wait, you’re letting us go? Are you serious?” She had to confirm her doubts.

Suho chuckled and said, “Yes silly, unless you don’t want –“

“No! I mean yes! Let’s go!” She exclaimed enthusiastically.

“You decide the place, Princess.” Kris stated.

Lyorin looked at the rest of the guys. They were mouthing the word, ‘Jeju’ to her. “Jeju sounds fun.” She answered meekly, slightly shy when she was given the final say in it.

“YES! JEJU HERE WE COME!” The guys cheered.

(To be continued)

Hello to my lovely readers! Anyway, just a note before I start on the next chapter. I have never been to Jeju so please don't mind my weird descriptions of the island.