The girls and I celebrated like there was no tomorrow. In fact, for a lot of us, there wouldn't be. Not at the company. But that's why we took advantage of the last night that we had. We thundered down the hallways, played hide-and-seek around the dorm building like five-year-olds, ate until we were about to throw up, and invited our Oppas and Eonnis over. It didn't matter what we did-- everyone in the bulding was in on the party. The entire building was the party.

I wondered, briefly, what our building manager thought of it, but discarded the thought as unimportant. Of course, not wanting to miss such a crazy party, several of our Sunbaes did, in fact, come, when their schedules allowed it. 

We pumped music through the walls, dancing like mad, even when we didn't like the songs. It didn't take long for the EXO members to come out of their dorm, wondering why it was so loud. It didn't take long for them to be pulled into the environment of the party, though.

SuJu members present at the party: Henry (that's a given, though), Zhou Mi (slightly surprised at that one), EunHae (I mean...), and Heenim. 

The moment Heechul walked in the door, I tackled him with a hug, not caring whether he wanted one or not. "Heenim is the awesomest person EVEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!" I squealed, prompting him to push me off.

"Yes, I'm glad you appreciate my awesomeness. How'd you like the cuckoo bird?"

"Pretty good analogy. Only problem with it is-- when the baby cuckoo bird pushes out the eggs, the eggs can't fight back. Not the case with this. Otherwise, I applaud you."

He laughed, then disappeared into the crowd of laughing boys and girls. I turned to find Henry in his place. He hugged me and handed me a flower bouquet. I almost jumped out of my skin. "H-Henry..."

"Don't freak out. Your sister told me to. Because she couldn't."

I hugged him again, happy. "Thank you, Oppa."

"So are you happy with the way things have turned out?"

"They haven't quite turned out, yet. But the way things are right now..." I waved my hand around the parts of the party visible from where were, which, to name a few, included an arm-wrestling competition, a game of leap-frog, and a four-board twister game that put the little episode I'd seen with the rest of the members to the test. "Yeah, I'm pretty happy."

"I don't remember being this nuts when I was a trainee..."

"You weren't a trainee for very long, though," I pointed out, "Everyone here has been one for at least a year. You go a little crazy. Now come on, we've got Karaoke going in SoHee's dorm!"

I was fairly sure some alcohol was brought, so us underage kids were very careful to stick to the beverages of our own dorms. How did I know this? Because at around ten at night, Eunhyuk and Donghae were in the middle of the building, singing "I SAY EUNHAE, YOU SAY OPPA! EUNHAE!"

And the entire building would ring with a loud "OPPA!!!!" from every single floor. And then there was the fact that at some point in the party, Henry passed out in the middle of the floor of Min Hee and my dorm. We left him there and went back to the party, where I danced to "Rockstar" in a massive pit of the kids in my dance class, and, of course, my Oppas, teaching them the high-energy dance that I had made up for it.

Zhou Mi was having fun, too, sticking out like a sore thumb because of his height. I went to go get a soda and to talk to him, only to get pushed into by someone, trip, and catch the edge of the punchbowl, causing it to splatter all over him. I felt terrible. I offered to ask one of the male trainees if Zhou Mi could borrow one of their shirts, but Mimi refused, saying that I just wanted to see him without a shirt. That wasn't entirely wrong, I confessed, but not the whole reason, either.

Eventually we had to call it a night. As the sun began to peek over the horizon, those that didn't live in the dorm stumbled out into the streets, and we sent the SuJu members home, practically dragging Henry behind them.

Overall a wild success.

The next day, hangovers or not, we trainees all went back to the company, with heavy eyes, worried hearts, and gigantic bags under our eyes. We didn't regret anything, though. Whatever came of the exhibition, we'd had fun while we were together.

It was amazing how quickly it all happened. In the middle of class, and then our teacher gets the letters. We all bit our lips hard as he read off the names, one by one. They were really strong people, just getting down off of the stage, grabbing their stuff, and heading out the door, not looking back at us. I waited for my name, thinking of the destroyed play, and everything that had occurred. It made sense if I was on it, even after the discovery of Lily's cons. The names went off, one by one, again, and again, until there were no more. Over half of my acting class was gone. Lily, not surprisingly, was one of them.

And I wasn't.

I recieved a text message from Min Hee that a good majority of the classes had been emptied out, too. She'd escaped it, but the company would be much quieter, from then on. We were safe. We had made it.

Barely.

I went to the SuJu dorm after acting class was done, unlocking the door and stepping in as I usually did. I put my shoes on the mat and headed to the closet for the cleaning supplies, like always. I never actually deliberately looked to see if any of the members were there. Most of the time they weren't. So why bother?

Yeah, they were there that day. Because I turned around from grabbing the floor cleaner and furniture polish and there wass Kyuhyun, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk, all staring at me expectantly. I jumped about a foot in the air.

"Omona! Oh Jesus, you scared the crap out of me!" I took a few deep breaths to recover myself, then straightened back up. "Why are you looking at me like that? Everything's fine. I'm still a trainee."

Suddenly I was being attacked by hugs. I couldn't help but laugh, and yell, "get off of me, I have to wash the floor!"

I scrubbed and cleaned, polished and washed, until the dorms were sparkling clean as usual. When dinner (cheeseburgers, since Kyuhyun had demanded American food) was ready, I went back to the upper dorm to go get the other boys for dinner. I entered, calling, "Fishy! Kangin! Wookie?! Dinner's ready!"

I rubbed my peeked into the living room, then went down the first hallway, almost smacking into Donghae's door when he opened it. "Dinner's ready?"

"Yes, that is what I said. Now hurry up, I have to go soon."

Donghae reached out and grabbed my hands, holding them in front of his face as if inspecting them closely. "Minsung-ah... you work too hard for us. Your hands aren't soft anymore."

I yanked my hand back, blushing. "If you would do some of the work yourselves, I wouldn't have to."

He seemed to think about it, looked like he was going to say something, then shook his head, apparently deciding against it. 

"What? You looked like you were going to say something."

"Nothing," he answered, "I'll go get the guys. You can go home, Minsung. Or, to class, I mean. Thank you for... for working so hard for us. I don't think you know... how much we appreciate it."

I smiled. "Don't mention it, Fishy. I'd repeat it all on a moment's notice."

I can't say that things went back to normal, but they were close, at least. My classes were much more vacant, easily, and you could practically feel the tension in the air. Someone, or a group of someones, was going to debut soon. You could just smell it. 

Of course, "soon" is a completely relative term. November faded into December, and we waited, and worked, in quiet. There was less competition, yet it was just as intense as it had been before.

One day, the kids were stretching before dance class, chatting. 

"There's only five of us left..." Kwon Mei stated, looking around, "in this class, at least."

"They just dropped out, one at a time. First Jung Ah..."

"Jung Ah?" I asked. "Oh, yeah, I remember. From the duet performances."

"Yeah. And then there was two people after that... and then the thing with Soyu. Soyu was replaced by Lily, and then Lily was kicked out with a bunch of others during the exhibition," Min Hee finished. "So it's just Minsung, me, SoHee, Kwon Mei, and poor Ji Seong here, a lonely guy."

"SM does seem to be going heavy on the girls this year," Ji Seong commented, "do you think they're planning a girl group, since it was EXO that debuted most recently?"

"It's possible..." SoHee answered. "Do you think we'll make the cut?" she asked, looking around.

"Definitely not Min Hee. She's too tall!" I joked, and she pushed me over, but not smiling. Weird. 

"Hey, is there something wrong, Min Hee?" I asked, rolling back over.

"Nothing. Hey, come on, you guys, we should practice."

Now, if you're an ELF who really pays attention to the dates, you should know that there's something that should've been happening right about then. I'll give you a bit of time to think.

...

...

...

Got it?

You bet. LEETEUK WAS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you saw a bunch of people in sapphire blue running around like idiots, don't worry. It was just the ELF, throwing parties in the streets, because Leeteuk was back. 

You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. I actually saw a few. They were waiting in front of the dorm that day, mad because I was able to get in, and they weren't. But they were okay when I explained that I was Queen Be, and could ask him if he would come out, provided they promised to be respectful. We didn't want to get a bad rep, like the Exotics, after all. 

I went in, nervous. I hadn't spoken to the Super Junior leader since the day he'd come to Ryeowook's birthday party. I didn't know him that well.

That, of course, is also a relative term, because I am an ELF, and know the members like the back of my hand without even meeting them at all. I had Leeteuk's bed (sharing a room with Kangin, since that's the way it worked out. Let the nasty comments come) all made with clean white sheets, had the room organized and neat, ready for his stuff to come in, before he even arrived.

I unlocked the door, going in, seeing him here. I bowed, ninety degrees, and then straightened up again. "I am SOOO happy you're back, Ahjusshi! These guys were so unruly while they didn't have a leader!"

"Stop calling me Ahjusshi! I am still Oppa!"

"Oh. Sorry. Oppa. Mianhae. I mean, Choisoimida." I bit my lip. Over the past year, I had gotten so familiar with the members that I'd even dropped the formal speech, and had half-descended into informality. 

"Heechul, does she call you 'Ahjusshi', too?"

He shrugged. "No." he grabbed a piece of kimbap and shoved it into Leeteuk's face. "Now shut up and eat, Hyung. Minsung has work to do."

I bowed again, setting to work despite my excitement. I would get to know Leeteuk soon enough, there was no need to rush. 

I went into the kitchen, readying the welcome-back meal. It was going to be delicious, I knew. No bitter stuff. Leeteuk didn't like bitter stuff.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket to recieve a picture message of Min Hee and John outside EatYourKimchi Studios. "Brats," I whispered under my breath, flipping the phone closed, only to see Leeteuk, holding the fridge open, looking at me.

"Is that your cell phone?" he asked.

"Umm... Nae, Ahjusshi. I mean, Oppa."

he made a face, and dug back into the refrigerator, even after I muttered, annoyedly, in Spanish, "Estoy cocinando la cena, pero él está buscando para comida. Aya..." I'm cooking supper, yet he's looking for food...

Christmas was headed our way, and after a message to my sister (since her birthday was really close to Christmas, I went to the SuJu dorm again, still happy that Leeteuk was back in the dorm again. He was just as crazy as he used to be, taking over the variety shows. 

When I entered the dorm, the boys were mostly sleeping, since, as usual, the Christmas idol's schedule was packed. I began cleaning, then was surprised to see Leeteuk (who was absolutely not a morning person), awake, and sitting on the couch.

"Annyeonghasseo, Ahjusshi."

He stood up, and handed me a box before going into his/Kangin's room. "This is yours."

I watched him go in surprise, then opened the box, curious as to what was in it. 

A shiny, white, Samsung smart phone. OMG. I'd never had a smartphone in my life.

I looked down the hallway where he;d gone, wondering if I should thank him. Maybe I should wait until they all wake up...

I looked back at the phone, cradling it in my hands. I was afraid I was going to break it...

I turned it on, going through the motions to make it my own, making a password, setting a background, finding out what my phone's number was, tapping into the dorm's WiFi and downloading pictures, taking selcas, and then realizing I should probably change my information over from my old phone. I went to the contacts menu and was surprised to find all of the SuJu members' numbers already in there, with the one on top labelled "Ahjusshi". I smiled. I guess he wasn't such an old fart after all. 

I plugged the rest of the numbers from my old phone in, and then went to the calendar to fill that in, only to find that it had already been filled up with SuJu's schedule. I loved my Oppas. SOOOOO much. Like, seriously. And this phone was great for taking fancams at concerts. I mean...

Personally, I had though Leeteuk was annoyed with me because I was always accidentally calling him "Ahjusshi", but clearly this was not the case. Or maybe he was just embarassed to see my tank of a phone. But he'd taken the time to put all of the info in... maybe he was just a ladies' man. Ahjusshi really needed to get married, like Shindong-oppa. 

Eventually I had to stop admiring my amazing Christmas present and get back to work, cleaning with even more vigor. I laughed at the pair of white underwear covered in red hearts, knowing them to be Leeteuk's, as I did the laundry. I hummed to myself as I worked.

When the door opened to a yawning member, I already had supper ready. Everything was set to go. When Leeteuk's came through it, I was quick to thank him.

"Oppa is amazing! Thank you so much! I really didn't expect..."

He shrugged. "Minsung-ah makes mistakes, but you're a good kid. Your phone was just so old, I felt sorry for you..."

I laughed. "Oppa, come have supper! You have a schedule to go to!" 

I saw movement behind him, and my eyes skipped past his face to see Kyuhyun emerging from his room, walking like a zombie with his eyes closed, and absolutely no shirt on.

I screeched and hid my face behind me hands. "Kyuhyun-oppa! I'm still here, you know!"

Of course, any fangirl knows that curiousity should be the eighth deadly sin, because I couldn't help but peek through my fingers. When I did, I dropped them, tears welling up in my eyes.

You could see Kyuhyun's scars, from the accident. Not pretty, not pretty at all. It made bile rise into my throat, suddenly reminded of what pain he must have been through...

I choked back the tears, walking over to him, not bothering to wonder if his sleepy brain was wondering what insanity had come over me. 

"Kyuhyun-oppa... your scars..."

He looked down at his chest, then was suddenly awake, dashing into his room to go get a shirt. When he was absent, I felt the color come to my face when I realized I'd been staring at his bare skin. When he came back out, I bowed repeatedly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was rude of me! I didn't mean to... oppa, you have a very pale chest... but that's not important! Oh geez, so embarassing..."

I peeked at the table, only to see the other members laughing.

"Minsung... you're not the cleanest-minded, are you?" Eunhyuk commented.

"Of course not! I'm a fangirl! You know this better than anyone, you y bastard!" I snapped, shaking the image of Kyuhyun's scar out of my head and replacing it with that of Eunhyuk dancing shirtless.

"She swears, too?" Leeteuk asked, taking a bite of rice. 

"Like a sailor," Kangin answered.

"AISH!!!!" I huffed, my cheeks still red. "Just eat your supper, you jerks! I'm leaving!"

Behind me, I heard someone yell, "Merry Christmas, Minsung-ah!!!!"

"Merry Christmas, Sungmin-oppa!" I shouted back. 

I webchatted with my family again, showing them the new phone, giving out the new number, and then having to explain at least twenty times how I had gotten it. It was a Christmas present. No, he's not my boyfriend. Not even close. No, he;s not even flirting with me, at least I really hope not. Seriously, Jackie, he's like fourteen years older than me. He's just being awesome. Things like that. 

Sadly, my friends were not there this year to add flair to the Christmas season, but I still talked to them wondering what their lives in college were like. Apparently things were going well for all of them, not that that was a surprise. Although they all wanted me to come out for a visit.

Everyone congratulated me on my success at the exhibition, and had liked the videos I'd sent them. They were proud of me, and I was happy with myself. Things were going okay, now. I told them that I didn't know if I would debut soon, but I wasn't afraid of getting kicked out anymore, at least. 

Like usual, when the countdown hit midnight on New Years Eve, I cried "Happy Birthday Lee Sungmin!" instead, and then sent him a text with my shiny new phone declaring the same thing. He just sent a smiley face. 

The days passed in an endless circle, on and on. Min Hee and I practiced, slept, and worked, occasionally going out around town. I hung out with FASE, made Jonghyun cry because we'd "stolen" his bike and hidden it, then laughed quite a bit at his expense. I practiced my Chinese with Victoria and Mimi, then having them taste my attempts at Chinese food, then stuffing it in Zhou Mi's cheeks until he started laughing and couldn't eat any more of it. I played with Heechul's cats, and fed Yesung's turtles, and took the SuJu dogs for a walk, half-wanting to go to the dog park where I'd met Yoochun, but deciding against it. I didn't want to get in trouble again.

Days continued to go by, time after time. My life was steady. I was used to it. I didn't want it to change, as happy as I was.