A month seemed to drag by slower than Sung-hee ever thought possible.  Practically being Mee-Yon’s maid was the worst job she could ever think of and since she refused to accept Hyo’s money her savings account slowly disappeared trying to keep up with personal expenses.  Those personal expenses being art supplies, she had finally started to go to the art center by Hyo’s house and just last week she had her first gallery.  While there were no admirers that approached her it felt so good to get back into the art community, only problem was she was running low on cash and she hadn’t managed to gain much profit from her work yet. 

“Alright we’ve got everything else loaded up!”  She couldn’t help but laugh a little with how disappointed he sounded, he already expressed to her last night that he didn’t want her to leave so soon but he couldn’t go against his wife he was not in the mood to sleep on the couch again.  Considering the circumstances Sung-hee didn’t want to leave either.  Humming You she carried the medium sized box out of the now bare room with one arm and down the stairs to find her brother leaning against the front door frame the breeze tugging at his hair her large stuffed bear under his arm. 

“Oppa you look like you’re trying to woo me its awkward stop it.”  She teased and stuck her tongue out at him as she walked over.  Sung-hee wasn’t oblivious that her brother was an attractive man, she remembered her school mates swooning over him when he picked her up and she always made a habit of making fun of him for it.  He rolled his eyes and playfully flicked her forehead. 

“Don’t be jealous I got all the good genes.” 

Sung-hee stared up at him for a moment resisting the urge to rub her forehead knowing she would drop the box if she did so.  “Nope mom gave all her good genes to me haven’t you seen pictures silly?”  She was the spitting image of her mother especially as she got older.  Hyo grinned and shook his head at her half not wanting to think about their mother and half from her lame comeback.  Actually he was surprised with how comfortable she was getting talking about their mother.  

“Oh just get that in the van before I tie you to the top of the car!”  He raised the large teddy bear to hit her with but she let out a squeal and ran away before he could smash the fluffy toy against her.  He rolled his eyes and shook his head affectionately, closing the door behind him he saw Sung-hee already in the passenger seat of the van and on her phone.  “Probably texting that boy toy of hers.”  Hyo admitted that was one thing he wouldn’t miss; they had far too many late night conversations for his taste and sleeping habits. 

She didn’t look up from her texting and Hyo wondered how long he would be able to stand in front of her door before she realized he was there.  “Yah hurry up we don’t have all day!”  Apparently quite a while. 

“I’m right here dummy.”  He reached into the car and flicked her forehead again making her finally looked up from her texting and she pouted rubbing her forehead once again.

“Oppa you’re going to give me a welt!”

He didn’t answer her for a bit ignoring her as she glared at him walking around the front of the car and slipping into the driver’s seat.  Finally he glanced over at her with a slightly raised eyebrow.  “Keep being whiny and I will.”  He mumbled only half serious while he fished around for the keys and adjusted his rear view mirror.  Sung-hee pouted darkly, crossed her arms over her chest and glared into the side view mirror muttering under her breath about how Hyo was a big meanie.  “Glaring into a mirror that I have to look at often is not smart dongsaeng.  Besides there’s still plenty of time before your interview you said it wasn’t until six, right?  It’s only noon.”  She winced a bit as if to say don’t remind me and slumped further into her seat.  Working as a bartender wasn’t her idea of a good time but it was a place she’d be able to talk to Thunder somewhat freely and the pay would be good, that was if she got it.  When she didn’t respond he sighed, “You know if Sanghyun could come by you know it would go faster.” 

That finally got her to talk.  Cheeks flushing she turned to look at him and stuck her tongue out, “You know damn well that he’s got a schedule today until really late it’s not his fault he’s busy.  And besides my arm is doing better anyway.”  Sung-hee added that at the last minute grumbling and rubbing the healing spot in question.  The doctor said it would take another month to fully recover but she was doing well so far.  She really didn’t want to think about the fact that a variety show was keeping him from helping like he said he would.  She understood the life of an idol was beyond hectic but that didn’t mean she had to like it. 

Hyo shook his head and turned his attention back to the road nearly to the new apartment.  “Smooth your fur dongsaeng I’m not accusing your boy toy of anything.”  It was one thing to think it but another thing to say it, the words boy and toy together when it came to Hyo just sounded so awkward.

Sung-hee stared at him in shock for a moment before shaking her head and leaning back in her seat.  “You really have been spending too much of your time with me oppa I mean boy toy?  Really?  Your wife would be so disappointed.”  A blow she wouldn’t have dared to make a few weeks ago since, like Hyo said, they had grown too far apart.

Hyo narrowed his eyes at the road and pursed his lips.  “Yah!  Don’t bring my wife into this that’s-”

“Just not nice dongsaeng!”  She finished for him in the same offended tone and as Hyo parked the car she grinned at his slightly annoyed expression.

As he unbuckled his seatbelt he grumbled and then pointed an accusing finger at the younger girl resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at her.  He really had been spending too much time with her he was starting to pick up her habits well more like his old habits.  “That’s rude I do not talk like that!”

Sung-hee scoffed and shook her head at her older brother of course he would be oblivious to how he talked, then again she would be just as fervent in her denying.  Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make fun of him for it though.  “Yes you do.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

At this point Hyo and Sung-hee were both rather flustered prodding each other’s chest and giving the best pouts that they could trying to sway the other.  What came out of Hyo’s mouth was pure instinct and completely unintentional, “Chicken !”

This ended all conversation.  Sung-hee who was slinging the duffle bag around her good shoulder stopped halfway and stared at Hyo.  Hyo held two boxes loosely in his hands shocked as well with what came out of his mouth.  They both stared at each other in surprise completely ignoring the fact they looked rather ridiculous to any who passed by.  Finally Sung-hee cleared and finished putting the duffle bag on her shoulder.  “Believe me now oppa?”

Hyo cleared his throat as well and tightened his grip on the boxes.  “Right well don’t tell my wife I said that she’ll smack me.”  Hyo sighed a little bit before he tried blowing a few strands of hair out of his eyes and failed.  “I see now why she wants you out you’re a terrible influence.”  He grinned and winked at her before running towards the door to avoid Sung-hee’s wrath. 

Of course that didn’t work too well, as he made it through the door she slipped in after and kicked his shin with a face clearly saying he was the worst oppa ever.  “Don’t be so grumpy!  Do you want to see your new apartment or not?”  He wiggled his eyebrow almost suggestively and she nodded furiously.

“Stop teasing me with it oppa I wanna see it so bad!”   She bounced anxiously at the elevator as Hyo laughed at her but she just ignored him ready to have her own house again.  You’re not paying for it so it’s not even yours yet.  She shook this unpleasant thought away not wanting to let it affect her while Hyo was there. 

Hyo didn’t speak for a while and instead watched his dongsaeng bounce excitedly and wondered if perhaps she had eaten too much sugar with Shin that morning.  In his opinion she was getting too old to have that much candy in the morning and not get affected by it.  When the elevator finally arrived, he was the first to step in and hit the button labeled number nine and leaned against the wall.  “You’re apartment three and the key code’s one five nine two.”  He watched as she mumbled the digits over and over again to herself, it would be her first time having an apartment that had a key code so he knew she was determined to remember the code since she always lost or forgot her keys.  Of course she didn’t know that he had already told Thunder what the code was.  But she would find that out later. 

“Thanks again oppa.”  She mumbled when the elevator opened and she stepped out first this time glancing around for which way the apartment was.  Hyo turned to the left and a very short walk later they were in front of a metal door with the number three hanging on it.  Her first attempt at opening the door but after chewing on the inside of her cheek and trying once more she managed to open it and allowed for Hyo to step inside first since he had more than she did.

At first glance they were in a narrow entrance hallway with a closet just on her left, already slid open revealing how much space was inside.  Further in a room about the size of her old living room completely bare expect for the curtains that hung over the windows facing towards the street.  To the left there were two opens doors one revealed a small kitchen and the other the bathroom.  On her right there was another small closet she would probably put shelves in for extra space.  With a small hm she let the duffle bag drop and started to shuffle over to the window to check out her view.  “Dongsaeng you forgot about upstairs pick a place you want you,” before he could finished she zoomed past him and up the narrow set of stairs observing the bare area with a smile, “want your bed.”  He finished shaking his head at her hyper demeanor and set the boxes down. 

She then disappeared from his sight and with a furrowed brow he travelled up to find she was laying on her back and would scoot over every so often, her face would screw up in concentration and then she would move again.  He tried his best to stifle his laughter as he watched her until she finally flipped over to lie on her stomach and propped her upper body up with her elbows.  “I’m deciding where I want my bed oppa what do you think?”

“I think that can be decided when we actually get it up here or did you forget we still have to get your bed, art supplies, clothes and dishes up here still?”  He watched as her face contorted from shock to annoyance and finally a blush while she scrambled up and brushed her jeans off. 

In her mind he had to cut her a little slack.  She was moving into a new apartment and they have brought most of her clothes and art supplies up first; big mistake for him since now all she wanted to do was break them out and play around.  “Aish well what are you standing around for let’s go!”  She once again zoomed past him but this time stopped, turned, and yanked his elbow pulling him along with her back down to the van. 

The process of moving everything took much longer than either of the Park siblings would have liked.  Getting all her boxes in alone and into need and categorized piles alone took the better part of an hour.  No thanks to the elevator being slower than molasses to the point Hyo actually started to just take the stairs instead.  Sung-hee however stuck to the elevator already knowing they would have to use the stairs to get her bed in and she was in no mood to waste her energy on meaningless exertion of energy.  Especially with her mother’s rocking chair, she had practically quarantined an area in the elevator off for that precious chair.  When the final box of pots and pans had been placed on the kitchen counter the two took a short break opting to share an apple in Sung-hee’s bag.  During their short break they both joked that they were glad she was having her new coffee table and couch delivered in three days or they may never get it done as it was they were contemplating leaving the bed in the van. 

Quickly the fifteen minute break turned into an hour break and all too quickly it was two-thirty much to Sung-hee’s chagrin.  Stupid Hyo being too damn entertaining for his own good!  He’ll make me late for sure!  Pride wouldn’t allow her to blame herself even when it was mostly her fault whining that she didn’t want to get up to actually get the bed and frame.  But after more delay they both agreed to go downstairs and at least get the frame upstairs and unfolded.  The frame was a simple wooden frame that would be enough to support her rather thick mattress without being too high up and with her new bed there was no real need for a box spring.  Despite being the frame for a full sized bed fitting it into the large elevator would be no problem considering it folded in half. 

Despite the lack of bulkiness getting the heavy contraption up to the room and folded out took around twenty minutes from waiting for the elevator, and getting it up her small stairs.  Her bed on the other hand wasn’t even that successful.  Getting the awkwardly large but comfortable object, even through the building’s door was an adventure.  It was a good thing Sung-hee hadn’t applied for a movers job she’d get fired the first day, her brother wasn’t doing much better of course.  Next time they both agreed to just it up and call movers.  A break had to be taken at flight five and at flight seven, Sung-hee started to spit death threats while Hyo grew rather snappy.  By the time they made it to her apartment’s stairs they were sweating, tired and beyond annoyed with each other only to have Sung-hee’s phone buzz against her jeans.

“Yah!  Sung-hee Park if you answer that I’ll-oof!”  He was cut off as she dropped the bed and he was forced to support its weight nearly falling back from the stairs.  Sung-hee though was too preoccupied smiling to herself as she pulled out her phone already knowing who the text was from.

I feel so bad I couldn’t help today manger hyung just gave us a break ^^;;

The smile on her face widened and she instantly pulled up the new message and started to type away.  Its fine oppa and I are almost do- “Yeo dongsaeng I swear to god if you don’t pick your side up right now I’ll break that damn phone!”  Almost instantly the sound of the phone sliding shut was heard and she picked up her side with a low grunt of effort.  A few minutes later the bed had been securely placed on the frame and ignoring Hyo’s glares Sung-hee wiped out her phone again.  It’s alright oppa and I just finished (:  After she slid her phone shut she looked up to find Hyo sitting on her bed and bouncing lightly testing the strength of the frame out and he smiled in satisfaction when he caught her eye. 

“Just be careful not to hit your head when you get up in the morning or at night okay?”  His overprotective side had returned now that the stressful situation was over.  Wiping some sweat from his brow he fell back into the bed his arms spread wide and sighed heavily.  It was finally setting in that his dongsaeng would once again attempt stability outside of his sight and he hoped this time it would work they were both sick of leading such dysfunctional lives.  Sung-hee took a place next to him with her fingers laced together and her connected hands behind her head.  Neither said anything knowing that it wasn’t needed the conversation had been played out a hundred times before. 

Sung-hee’s phone buzzed in her pocket again and Hyo turned his head to face her, “Tell him that you’re terrible help when it comes to lifting.”  She stopped reaching for her phone, instead her hand flew to flick Hyo’s forehead and he rolled away dramatically holding his forehead with both hands.  “You’re so mean!”

“You’re one to talk.”  She mumbled before pulling out her phone and sitting up before sliding it open.  Wait it was just you and Hyo?? Did you take any breaks????  A warm feeling of comfort and pleasure washed over Sung-hee and she allowed it to take over for a moment loving the fact he was capable of doing that with just a worried text message. 

Oh you know me of course we did oppa has to leave soon though.  Sung-hee glanced at her older brother who had rolled back over and was now sitting as well but he was distracted with his own phone that he used solely for work.  Yup he’ll definitely be leaving soon.

You should come visit then :D

She shook her head at this, as much as she loved him sometimes he was so forgetful.  Not that he didn’t have a lot to remember in the first place that was a fact she would have to keep reminding herself of for quite a while.  Aww I can’t job interview remember? :P 

Yeah yeah to the place you won’t tell me.

The annoyance with secrets practically oozed off the phone screen and Sung-hee couldn’t help but giggle and shake her head smiling like an idiot and completely forget that her brother was there.  Laughing at her too but she didn’t even hear him as she texted back.  It’s a surprise ^^

But baaaaaaby <3

She nearly rolled around on the bed but refrained herself and instead shook her head unconsciously and giggled while typing back.  A part of her wondered if he got just as giddy as she did whenever she texted him.  Not going to wooooork

“Oh I may vomit.”  Hyo’s teasing voice was enough to knock Sung-hee out of her rather good mood and she tried to kick at him only to miss over and over as he smoothed out his clothes.  She could see that he was more preoccupied with planning out some schedule of sorts.

Rolling her eyes she finally managed to land a hit on him before tucking her leg under her other leg again and stuck her tongue out at him.  “Shut up you and Mee-Yon are way worse it’s really disgusting actually.”

Hyo stopped his planning and looked at her with pursed lips and a half hearted glare as he fiddled with his watch a common nervous habit of his. “If I had a pillow I’d smack you with it.  But that would incite a war and I have a surprise meeting to get to before we lose the buyers from Italy.”  With that he sighed and fell on top of her forcing her into a hug.

“Ewww oppa you’re so sweaty get off!”  Sung-hee squealed flailing around like a fish while Hyo all but cackled and as he rubbed his cheek against hers rubbing some more sweat on her face much to her displeasure.  Finally when she smacked his arm he kissed her forehead and stood.  “Text me when you get settled dongsaeng we’ll have a house warming party or something.”

Still disgusted Sung-hee rubbed her arms down trying to fling some of the sweat off though she knew all she was doing was rubbing it in more.  With a disgusted sound escaping her lips she glanced over at her brother and gave him a small smile.  “Yeah that sounds good we’ll have to make it a day when Delphine can come as well.”  Delphine was a slightly younger Japanese girl who frequented the same art center as Sung-hee and over the past few weeks they had gotten to be good friends, not exactly close but they definitely admired each other’s skill.

“Right later dongsaeng!”  With that Hyo was down the stairs and out the room with just a slight sound from the door and Sung-hee sighed.  She’d have to unpack everything later right now she was too tired and still had to get ready for her interview.  Picking up her phone just as it vibrated she smiled a little slightly proud of herself for it and slid it open.  You’re so mean ): 

Ah but you love me <3 I have to get ready I’ll text you later (: I love you <3

Before she even had the chance to pocket her phone and stand he had texted her back, usually a sign he was about to go back to working or was texting her when he wasn’t supposed to.  Blah fine :P Fighting!  And I love you too (:  Smiling, she finally pocketed the phone and headed downstairs to grab her clothes and a towel out of the box and her other things before heading for the shower.

~~~~~~

While she had spent the entire time a nervous wreck nearly stumbling over her words so many times and her hands shaking lightly she had made it past to be trained for the next week to see if she had the potential that Blaise apparently saw in her.  Of course she had texted Thunder the second she was in without actually revealing that she was going to be working at Escape.  She wanted to wait until they were at least face to face so she would be able to actually see his reaction not just hear or read it.  He had tried for a few minutes to get her to reveal where she was working but she still refused, in fact she didn’t give him a single hint to her whereabouts.  Delphine on the other hand had been told instantly and she joked that when she turned twenty-one, Sung-hee would have to make the drinks for her.  Her humor was one of the many things that Sung-hee liked about her.

The next few hours though were like hell for Sung-hee.  Blaise threw orders at her left and right trying to find out what drinks she already knew; actually she surprised him with her knowledge.  He demanded she take a book home and learn their particular specials that she would be tested on at the end of the week.  He came at her with different pompous attitudes trying to break her but she refused.  Somewhere deep inside she hoped that she had made a good impression with him even if he didn’t show too much pleasure or displeasure on the matter. 

It was ten before she managed to get back home and it felt like her arms were going to fall off.  Coming home to unpacked boxes and an empty bed was not her idea of a good thing to come home to after all that.  She made a beeline for the shower more as a relaxer than a cleanser and when she managed to feel a little more refreshed she unpacked enough to make her bed and left the box of stuffed animals of all sizes open not really caring too much.  After that though it was eleven but she still couldn’t wind down to sleep, instead she spent an hour putting up her clothes up in the drawers on the closet and piled what wouldn’t fit on the top somewhat neatly. 

Around twelve-thirty she finally managed to crawl into bed and took the pillow next to her into a tight hug her eyes fluttering shut.  She heard her phone buzz dully against the bed next to her but she paid no attention to it instead allowed dreamland to take her over.  Two hours later in her dream she imagined hearing a door open and close and a cake appeared hovering over to her and asking if she wanted to eat it.  Of course she didn’t realize it was a dream well the part about a door opening and closing as someone entered her apartment as quietly as possible.