"I still can't believe we really did that!"

 

Hyunae was still reeling from excitement from the positive feedback they got for the impromptu performance that Apollo had to do just hours ago in "Strong Heart". It was an unexpected reward that she had gotten through the show.

 

"I can't believe the audience would actually like it,"

 

Even the usually cool Minhee was thrilled. The shooting for "Strong Heart" had just ended, and the two girls were leading the small group of SM artistes who were heading back to their respective dressing rooms. Behind them, Sunjung, along with the other three permanent guests of the show, was following chatting animatedly about the trio’s impromptu performance,

 

"Daebak! I don’t remember Apollo being this good in singing? "

 

" Eunhyuk hyung! We were a band who was well known for our strong vocals!”

 

Indignant at the remarks that sprouted out of Eunhyuk’s mouth, Sunjung defended her band with vigor.

 

“I mean I won't be surprised with Minhee being able to do it. But Sunjung and Hyunae? Woah! That was really shocking!”

 

“Yah! How can you say that? I know Minhee is your best friend, but you can't be so biased!"

 

"Sunjung-ah, Eunhyuk is right! For a minute I thought you have brought trouble upon yourself with your big mouth!"

 

Seeing Sunjung’s disgruntled expression, Shindong participated in the teasing, exchanging a hi-5 with Eunhyuk. Everybody burst out in laughter as Sunjung shoved the two guys good-naturedly into the dressing room and pretended to lock them within.

"Hyunae ah, we'll gather here later okay?"

 

Sunjung instructed as she stopped her mischievous antics, pulling the two men out from Hyunae’s dressing room. Gesturing for Hyunae and Minhee to go on ahead, she pushed the still sniggering Eunhyuk and Shindong further down the corridor to their own dressing room. Following behind them at a slower pace, Leeteuk secretly lifted up his right fist to his ear, extending his thumb and pinkie outwards into a call sign, reminding Hyunae to inform the rest that they were on their way back. With a quick nod of her head, Hyunae acknowledged both her leader's words and his hint before she entered the room.

 

They had been planning this secret party for a while. It had been Hyunae's idea, after Minhee and her both received invitations to go on Strong Heart. With Hyunae scheduled to leave in a week's time with Siwon for a fashion show in Paris, she would not be around to celebrate the birthday of her favourite unnie. Besides, it was rare that all the members of both groups were in town. Thus this party was a good reason for all of them to spend some time together to catch up with one another after a while.

 

Since Donghae, Sungmin and Ryeowook only had activities in the morning, they were given the task of decorating the house, letting themselves in after the girls had left for the show. With both groups being so familiar with one another, they had no qualms in exchanging the passcodes to their respective apartments. As a result, it was a common occurrence for members of either group to appear in each others’ apartments unannounced.

 

Pulling out her phone once she was sure Sunjung was out of earshot, Hyunae dialled Sungmin's mobile, her well manicured fingers running swiftly across the screen with familiarity. Amongst the two groups, the relationship between Sungmin and Hyunae went back the longest. They were family friends whom had grown up together. Treating each other as family, their closness extended to even their family,  addressing each other's parents as Omma and Appa, instead of eomeonim and aboenim.

 

"Annyeong Minnie oppa!"

 

" Hyunae ah? Done with the show?"

 

"Ne, oppa!"

 

" How did it go?"

 

"It was great! Guess what happened? Apollo got the chance to sing on the show!"

 

Unable to tamp down on her excitement, Hyunae failed to even give Sungmin any time to response to her question, rambling on without pausing for breath. 

 

"Eh? Jinja?! Did our Hyunae perform well?"

 

"We didn't make any mistakes because Unnie was there! Otherwise I'll be lost, but there were some parts where I think I could have done better..."

 

Back in apartment 1001, Sungmin tried to stifle the laugh that was threatening to escape his lips. No one else was more sure of Hyunae’s capability than him, and he was certain that she would have managed perfectly without Sunjung. Even though Hyunae was better off than the average person, having both the talents and the looks, she was a perfectionist whom always demanded only the best from herself. It was also due to this trait that made her insecure when facing live audiences and guesting on variety programs as there was no second takes in these circumstances. Since young, she would constantly monitor her own performance, and always finding them lacking even when everyone else was assuring her that it was a job well done.

 

Being the only daughter of the wealthy household, she was coddled and doted upon by both her parents and her two older brothers.. With them granting the majority of Hyunae’s wishes without hesitation, she often got whatever she wanted. Although she was not considered to be spoilt, she was not all sugar and no spice either. While Hyunae was mostly a kind and gentle soul, she became wilful and stubborn when she met something that she really desiredWhen this happened, her family had no other options but to give in to Hyunae. Having grown up with her, even Sungmin was not spared from her tantrums. Before Hyunae became a trainee, Sungmin had resigned himself to the fact that there was no one on Earth that could control her.

 

However, Hyunae met her nemesis the day she was placed in Apollo. She met the one person who could control her - Sunjung. Tried as he did, Sungmin could not fathom the nature of the unlikely relationship between the two vastly different girls. Hyunae adored Sunjung like a real unnie, and had grown extremely reliant on her. She would always seek Sunjung's opinion when she needed to make major decisions. Her trust and dependence upon this unnie had grown to such an extent that she would always heed her advice over those of others. Even when she had already spoken about her troubles with either Donghae or him, she would still go back to Sunjung for comfort and advice.

 

If Sunjung tells her that the sun rises from the west, Hyunae would believe her...

 

Sungmin grinned suddenly as an image of Hyunae nodding fervently at Sunjung who was giving her a lecture popped into his mind.

 

"Is it Hyunae?"

 

Donghae asked earnestly as he patted furiously at the corner of the banner he was holding onto the wall, trying to make it stick. He and Yesung were trying to get Sunjung's birthday banner up.

 

"Oppa? Oppa! Are you there?"

 

"N-Ne! I'm still here..."

 

Sungmin hurriedly answered as he nodded in response to Donghae's question. The moment he ensured that the banner was stuck firmly on the wall, Donghae immediately rushed to Sungmin side, clamouring for the phone to speak with Hyunae.

 

"Oppa? What's that sound?"

 

"It's Donghae trying to get attention. Hold on, he wants to speak to you,"

 

"Annyeong, Hyunae!"

 

"Donghae oppa! I miss you! I've haven't seen you for days!"

 

"Ne~ I just got back from China!"

 

"Did you buy any presents for me?"

 

"Yah! I just came back from a tiring trip and all you think about is your presents?"

 

"Oppa~ I know you won't feel tired! Because this is what you love doing isn't it? Anyway, what were you going to tell me?"

 

"Tell you? I was going to scold you! Aish! How can you be so biased? I know Teukie hyung loves to eat sushi, but the rest of us have our own favourite food as well you know? Why is the entire table filled with sushi?"

 

"Yah! Oppa! Sushi is my favourite food too! Besides, I ordered your favourite seafood too right? There's also other food!"

 

"Ne, but it's still not as much as the sushi!"

 

"Prince oppa~ There's your favourite chicken doritang in the fridge…"

 

"REALLY? WHY DID YOU TELL ME ONLY NOW?! I WAS SO HUNGRY JUST NOW!"

 

Before Hyunae could answer, she heard was the sound of someone running across the room and a shuffling sound of the phone being passed to someone else.

 

"Annyeong? Annyeong? Am I still connected?"

 

"Ne! This is Ryeowook,"

 

"Ah, Ryeowook oppa? Where did Donghae oppa go?"

 

"He's rummaging through the fridge now. Are you done with recording?"

 

"Ne, we're going to the dressing rooms now. I think we'll be leaving soon. Is everyone there yet?"

 

"Ani! We're still missing Heechul and Kyuhyun! I'll text you when everyone is here okay?"

 

"Arasso… But try to call them and get them to hurry up! I can't keep unnie away forever!"

 

"I will, Annyeong!"

 

"And oppa, there's your favourite ice-cream in the freezer. You can eat it if you're hungry. Annyeong,"

 

Hyunae set her mobile phone gently on the dresser before yawning widely. A quick glance at the time showed that it was already about 9pm at night. The recording of the programme had took more than four hours. Crashing down onto the swivelling chair in front of the dresser, she just could not find the strength to pull herself up to change. A tired looking young girl who was dressed up to the nines stared back at her through the mirror as she plopped her elbows onto the tabletop, using her hands to support the either sides of her head. As she reviewed the events of the days, she felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier…

 

"Hyunae ah? Are you done?"

 

Sunjung's questioning voice came from the other side of the door. With a jolt, Hyunae snapped awake. She was so tired that she had dozed off while sitting at the dressing table. Stretching her sore body, Hyunae rolled her chair over to the door and pulled it open.

 

"MWO?! YOU'RE STILL NOT CHANGED?"

 

Sunjung's exasperated voice almost blew out Hyunae's eardrums. Using the most innocent face she could conjure, she looked back at her annoyed leader as Minhee closed the door behind her as she followed her leader quietly into the room. Both of them had already changed out of their stage-wear and removed their makeup.

 

Gosh… How long did I doze off for?

 

"Unnie… Mianhae… I-I fell asleep…"

 

Staring at the innocent look on Hyunae's face, Sunjung tried her best to force the corners of down. The tiredness in her dongsaeng's eyes did not escape her. Pasting a deliberate frown on her face, she threw herself down onto the sofa in one corner of the room and crossedher arms in mock anger.

 

Is Unnie angry at me? Oh no! She's angry at me! What do I do?!

 

Her exhaustion dissipated in a split instant at the rising panic in her heart at the thought of Sunjung’s anger. Swivelling her head frantically towards the other direction of the room, she stared at Minhee pleadingly, but the maknae of the group was fully engrossed in the National Geographic magazine that she had pulled out from her woollen bag. Desperate, she peeked a gaze back at her silent leader and began to look around the room helplessly in search for her misplaced bag. When she realised it was nowhere in sight, she got onto her feet and started rummaging through the many drawers of the dressing table.

 

If I ignored her, she would definitely change at the speed of light.

 

Sunjung reasoned as she observed the panicking Hyunae through the corner of her eyes. Out of the many things that Hyunae could not stand, having another person stayed mad at her was at the top of the list. Being with each other for so long, Sunjung knew exactly how to play Hyunae's strings, and used it to get things done.

 

Finally, the visual finally found her bag in the bottommost shelf, and hastened to grab her clothes from within before bursting into the changing room. Sunjung finally let out the laughter that she had been holding in, causing Hyunae to poke her head out from behind the curtain with a relieved smile on her face.

 

"Unnie! You're not angry with me anymore?"

 

"If you hurry up and get change in the next 10 minutes,"

 

Sunjung's reply sent Hyunae hurrying back into the changing room. Heaving out an exasperated sigh at her dongsaeng, Sunjung uncrossed her arm and pushed herself up from the couch wearily. As usual, it had been a long day for her with her hectic schedules and if she continued to rest on the comfortable sofa, she would find herself drifting off to sleep like Hyunae did. Stifling a yawn, she ambled over to the mirror and checked out her nicely styled hair out of habit. From the reflection, she noticed that Minhee had her thumb held up at her without even glancing up from the magazine. Having lived together for almost 6 years, Sunjung understood that the maknae was praising her ability to control the princess of the band.

 

"And that's why I'm the leader!"

 

" It wouldn't work on me though,"

 

Minhee's simple reply left Sunjung looking at her with a bemused expression on her face. . Despite having stayed together for 6 years, Sunjung and Hyunae still had trouble controlling the cool Minhee. If Hyunae did not want to do something that she had been instructed to, Sunjung typically take about 5 minutes to get her moving. It only took the other two members at most 10 minutes to persuade Sunjung in a similar situation.

 

However, if it was Minhee, their efforts would mostly be futile no matter how long they tried. Being the cool one, Minhee would usually do something when she fancied it.

 

I wonder if the oppas are done with the preparations…

 

Minhee wondered silently as she absent-mindedly flipped the pages of the magazine. She was not really reading it, but using it merely as a place to focus her eyes on. She was afraid that Sunjung might suspect that something was awry if she caught sight of the looks Hyunae might send in Minhee's directions.

 

Hyunae unnie is really not very proficient in keeping secrets. We should be glad that unnie is so fond of cats that she hasn't let this one out of the bag yet….

 

Minhee’s lips twitched upwards as the memory of the time her other two members had planned a secret welcome party for her when she came back from a musical in Japan. Hyunae had blurted out the surprise before they made it back to the awaiting company van when the duo had picked her up at the airport. Minhee had already noticed Hyunae’s restlessness even before that, moving about exuberantly as she was unable to keep still with the secret bustling inside her.

 

"Annyeong! Are you girls done?"

 

Leeteuk's voice suddenly came from behind the closed door, accompanied by a couple of soft knocks on the door. Minhee glanced up briefly at the door before looking back down at her magazine again, with no visible intentions of getting it. With a helpless shake of her head at the atypical behaviour of the team’s maknae, Sunjung shouted out from across the room.

 

"The door's not locked. Hyunae ah! If you don't hurry up, we're leaving with Teukie hyung and without you!"

 

"Aniyah! We're leaving without you girls,"

 

Eunhyuk replied as the three Super Junior members walked into the room.

 

"That's right, Hyunae-ah, take your time and let Sunjung do the waiting for a change,"

 

"Yah! Park Jungsoo! What do you mean by that?"

 

"Well, they usually have to wait for you to wake up isn't it?"

 

Leeteuk teased as he ducked nimbly from the cushion that Sunjung had hurled at him. It was a well known fact that Sunjung is a very heavy sleeper, and that it was nigh to impossible to wake up in the morning.

 

"Come on hyung, let's go! Bye everyone!"

 

"Yeah, yeah. Annyeong!"

 

Waving them off dismissively, Sunjung dropped onto the chair that Hyunae had vacated previously, slinking downwards as she pulled out her schedule for tomorrow, studying it with pursed lips.

 

It’s another full day for me tomorrow…

 

She was so engrossed in her thinking that she did not even noticed Hyunae coming out from the changing room and plopping down into the chair next to her to remove her makeup.

 

Just then, Hyunae's phone buzzed as a text message came through. Hyunae snatched the phone off the tabletop almost immediately, glancing at the mirror to see if Sunjung heard the vibration. The secrecy of the whole incident was killing Hyunae, who was definitely not used to keeping anything to herself. She was actually glad that it had been a tiring day, so tiring that she did not even have the energy to be restless.

 

We're just missing you girls.

Take your time though,

Pizza delivery guy just informed that he would only be coming after another half an hour

 

Hyunae hurriedly skimmed through the text message from Donghae before sliding her phone into the front pocket of her jeans. She met Minhee's eyes through the mirror and gave her a quick nod before returning to her task.

 

Minhee had barely looked back down at her magazine after exchanging looks with her unnie when she felt her phone vibrated. It was a text message from Eunhyuk to delay their return because the pizza guy was not there yet.

 

There's only so much time we can delay by even if Unnie removes her makeup slowly… What else can we do?

 

"Unnie, I'm hungry. Can we go grab a bite before heading home later?"

 

Hyunae suddenly requested as she reached into her bag and pulled out the bottle of makeup remover.

 

"Hungry? We had dinner only like a few hours ago?"

 

Sunjung threw an incredulous look at Hyunae, surprised that her dongsaeng was already feeling hungry.

 

"We only had a light dinner, the food has long been digested…"

 

"Light? We had bento dinner!"

 

"Unnie… We worked hard for today… Can't we go eat something?"

 

"Ms Visual, you will get fat like this. Supper is so fattening!"

 

"Sunjung unnie, you know Hyunae unnie and I would never get fat! I'm hungry too,"

 

Minhee suddenly quipped, leaving Sunjung and Hyunae gaping at her. Minhee was right about Hyunae and her having bodies that many women are jealous of. The food that they eat just seems to magically disappear from their bodies without leaving behind any traces. However, unlike Hyunae who loves to eat, Minhee usually stick to her three meals and rarely exceeds that.

 

"Arasso, arasso… We'll go eat something later…"

 

Sunjung shook her head, knowing that she had lost the battle. Actually, she was feeling a little hungry herself. Hyunae clapped and cheered happily as she pumped a handful of the remover lotion onto her palms. Trying her best to delay the time, she took another 15 minutes to remove her makeup, pretending ignorance at the exasperated look that her leader sent in her way whenever pumped another handful of lotion into her hands. The moment she was done, Sunjung leapt to her feet and dragged her other two members out immediately.

 

“What would you like to have?”

 

Sunjung asked as the three girls settled onto their usual seats of the company van.

 

“Manager oppa, we’ll like to make a quick stop for food before heading back to the dorm.”

 

“Er… How about the small eatery near our apartment? That way manager oppa won’t have to wait for us while we finish our food.”

 

The considerate Hyunae suggested as she caught wind of the small sigh their manger heaved the moment he heard that there were more stops to be made before he could go home. While they had it tough with their hectic schedules, the staffs that were constantly with them had it tougher, waking up before they do and knocking off only after they had.

 

Nodding in response to the suggestion, Sunjung snuggled into her seat for her usual nap during their travelling while Minhee pulled out her earphones, closing her eyes as loud classical music floated out, filling the interior of the vehicle. After confirming the destination once more with their manager, Hyunae then dug inside her bag to retrieve her unfinished handicraft and began to work on it once more.

 

"We're coming back. ETA 20 minutes,"

 

"Lee Hyunae, didn't you said you were very hungry? Why are you staring at your phone instead of making orders?"

 

Sunjung looked down briefly at the menu that laid in front of Hyunae before looking back at her. Hyunae jumped at her sudden words as she was engrossed with typing her warning message to the Super Junior members and threw Sunjung a questioning look.

 

"But if I eat now, how am I going to eat later?"

 

At Hyunae’s words, Minhee choked on the mouthful of fruit juice that she had just taken while Sunjung threw her an incredulous look. Meanwhile, the ignorant Hyunae glanced puzzledly between them before a look of realisation took over her face.

 

"What are you planning to eat later? Aren't you going to eat now?"

 

"I-I…"

 

"Unnie! We promised not to leak it out! How can you tell Sunjung unnie that?"

 

"I-I… I…"

 

"Tell me what?"

 

"Aish… Hyunae unnie bought some Lotte Mochi Ice Cream in the afternoon after you went out. We had an agreement to share them tonight after you go to sleep…"

 

"WHAT?! How can you eat that without me?!"

 

Sunjung exclaimed as she glared accusingly at Hyunae, who was gaping at Minhee. Reaching out to whack Hyunae's head, Sunjung then launched into an all out lecture on her about not sharing the ice cream. Hyunae simply sat there in stunned silence, staring helplessly at the beads of saliva that periodically flew out from Sunjung's mouth.

 

"Aish! You shall not have any of the ice cream! That will be your punishment! Let's go!"

 

Sunjung picked up her cup, drowned the soju that was inside in one mouthful and got onto her feet. When Minhee passed by the guilty Hyunae, she too gave her a whack on the head for her blunder despite the latter being her unnie. Poor Hyunae did not even dare to utter a sound because she was so ashamed of her inability to keep secrets.

 

Back in the girls' apartment, everything was in order. The decorations were up, the food ready, and the gifts prepared. All that was missing was the pizzas were supposed to have arrived. Ryeowook and Sungmin were doing last minute adjustments to the arrangement of the food on the tables while the rest were just sitting around and pumping up balloons.

 

From sushi, seafood, kimchi pancakes, mini hamburgers, seafood pancakes, BBQ meat to puddings and ice cream, Hyunae had painstakingly made sure that she had included everyone's favourite food in the menu. There were so much food that the boys had to bring out a folding table from the storeroom as the dining table ran out of space. The aroma of the many varieties of food filled up the apartment.

 

"They're on their way back!"

 

Donghae exclaimed as he jumped onto his feet, scattering the pile of balloons that they were blowing up. The excitement in the atmosphere immediately increased by a notch as everyone started cleaning up the ground and searched for a suitable place to hide. It was planned that Ryeowook and Sungmin would be in charge of bringing out the fruit cake, while the rest of boys would just jump out from their various hiding place and surprised Sunjung.

 

When everyone was in their places, Donghae, the watchman, ran to switch off all the lights in the house before dashing into Hyunae's room, stationing himself beside the window in her room which overlooked the entrance of the carpark to keep a lookout for the signature company van that was ferrying the birthday girl.

 

"THEY'RE BACK!"

 

Finally, the much-awaited vehicle finally came into view and Donghae dashed out into the living room, yelling his warning. He hurriedly settled down beside Eunhyuk, who was hiding behind the couch. The others hastened into into their respective positions amidst occasional complains and bumping.

 

The whole house sank into a deadly silence as everyone froze in their position, afraid that any sounds might give them away. Finally, a couple of soft beeps that came from the keying in of the door code rang out from outside the apartment. Hushed voices immediately began ringing out as they went into excitement overload.

 

"That's the lock!"

 

"Is it them?"

 

"Yes! I can hear the door opening! They're back!"

 

"Aish! Ryeowook! Stop moving! The candles are going to be blown out!"

 

"Yah! All the pabos in the living room! Shut up! They're going to hear us!"

 

The girls' voices were heard coming from behind the screen door as the front door closed with a click. Then, more shuffling was heard as they placed their shoes back into the shoes cabinet before changing into their bedroom slippers. Hyunae's muffled voice was trying to trick Sunjung into entering the living room first.

 

"Unnie, can you get the door please?"

 

"You're the one that is the nearest to the door!"

 

"I can't! I'm trying to stuff my shoes in!"

 

"Aish! You have too many pairs of shoes! The cabinet is about to explode!"

 

"Unnie! I need different pairs to match the outfits! If I'm wearing pink, I need white shoes. If I'm wearing black, I can go with bright colours, but if I'm goin-"

 

"Arasso, arasso! I'll get the door! You get your shoes sorted out…"

 

Sunjung held up both her hands in front of Hyunae to halt her stream of explanation. If she ever got into a fashion debate with the fashionista, she would never be able to get any rest tonight. Grumbling aloud, she turned to look at their maknae as she pushed the door open and stepped into their living room.

 

"Minhee ah, shouldn't you say something too? Your unnie's shoes are eating into your spa-"

 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAEK SUNJUNG!!!"

 

Sunjung almost jumped out of her skin when a loud harmonized yell rang out the moment her left foot touched the wooden flooring of the living room. Smashing down the light switch, the sudden brightness that flooded the room blinded her temporarily. When she finally got her eyesight back, she was struck speechless by what she saw.

 

The living room was beautifully decorated with streamers and balloons, and the air was filled with the aroma of food. A giant black banner was put up on the wall at the far end of the living room. The glittery gold words read, "Happy Birthday Sunjunggie!!! Saranghaeyo!!!"

 

Her surprise grew when the members of Super Junior started popping up from all over the house in pairs. She caught sight of Donghae and Eunhyuk jumping out from behind the couch, as well as, Siwon and Yesung emerging from behind the curtains in the living room. Leeteuk, Heechul, Kyuhyun and Shindong was also spotted walking out from the two washrooms.

 

However, the pair that gave her the greatest surprise was Ryeowook and Sungmin, who were walking out slowly from the kitchen, with Ryeowook holding a cake and Sungmin protecting the flickering flames on the candles.

 

As the people in the house broke into a birthday song for her, Sunjung simply stood rooted to the ground with both her hands covering , still reeling from shock. When the song came to an end, the whole house erupted in cheers, claps and laughter as everyone was tickled pink by Sunjung's frozen face.

 

"Yah Paek Sunjung, do you expect us to stand around like this till daybreak?"

 

"Heechul oppa! Don't shake unnie like that! She's still in shock!"

 

"Aish! Hyunae unnie, if Sunjung unnie don’t blow out the candles soon, we will be eating wax instead of cake later on.”

 

"Did we scare her to death?"

 

"Kim Ryeowook, does she look like she's dead?"

 

"Maybe she's been fossilized,"

 

"Donghae ah, I think she's more likely to have fallen asleep!"

 

At Leeteuk's quirky comment, everyone burst into laughter again. The sudden outburst of giggles caused Sunjung to snap out of her daze. She slowly lowered her hands from her face, and stared at the cake in front of her.

 

"Oh look, she woke up!"

 

"Sunjung ah, hurry up and make a wish! I don't want to eat a wax-coated cake!"

 

"A-Arasso!"

 

Sunjung nodded in compliance as she leaned forward and blew out the candles. Cheering, Ryeowook and Sungmin moved off to put the cake on the tables, while Hyunae and Minhee slipped away into Minhee's room. The rest of the people surrounded the happy birthday girl, with their gifts held out to her.

 

With a grateful smile, Sunjung began accepting all the presents her oppas had passed to her. Distracted, she did not even realise that her two members had disappeared. Thanking each person as they handed her the gift, she felt as if her back was going to break from all the bowing.

 

"Kamsahamnida, Yesung oppa,"

 

"Ne!"

 

"Kamsahamnida, Siwon oppa,"

 

"Happy Birthday!"

 

"Kamsahamnida, Sungminnie oppa. But why did you choose a pink wrapper?"

 

"Because it is pretty!"

 

"De~ Arasso… Oh! Kamsahamnida Leeteuk hyung!"

 

"Yah! Why did you use ‘oppa' for the rest but ‘hyung' for me?"

 

"Aish, get used to it! Kamsahamnida Ryeowookie hyung!"

 

Leeteuk shook his head resignedly as he moved off to the table to get some food. Sunjung had a weird habit. Unlike other girls who used‘Oppa' to address boys who are older than them, she only used it to address boys whom she was not close to. The moment they became close, she will start using ‘Hyung’, claiming that the term ‘Oppa' was too girlish for her liking.

 

After 5 gruelling minutes of repeated bowing and thanking, Sunjung was finally done with receiving all the presents from the members of Super Junior. However, just as she set all the presents down on the couch, the doorbell rang. Throwing a look at the boys who were now crowding around the table with the food, she decided she had to be the one to get the door.

 

"Pizza delivery for Miss Lee Hyunae,"

 

A guy apologised profusely for being late as he handed the stack of pizza boxes to Sunjung. He explained that the tyres of his van had punctured, thus resulting in the delay. When Sunjung assured him that it was no big deal, he suddenly gulped as he noticed who had answered the door.

 

"You're… You're Paek Sunjung from Apollo right?!"

 

"Ne, I am…"

 

"Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm a huge fan! Oh my god!"

 

The guy jumped up and down repeatedly, unable to mask his excitement in having met his idol. Sunjung gave him an embarrassed smile as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Even after all these years of being in the industry, Sunjung had never gotten completely comfortable with the fame, unlike Hyunae, who was completely at ease with the attention that the entertainment industry had brought.

 

Eventually, Sunjung managed to send off the fan with an autograph and a picture. However, she had barely made it back to the living room when the doorbell rang again. Shouting for Hyunae to come and get the pizza boxes from her, Sunjung walked back to the front door.

 

Huh? More pizzas? Did they make a mistake?

 

Sunjung wondered as the intercom camera showed two uniformed people standing outside with what seemed like pizza boxes in their hands. To her surprise, the two people simply bowed to her and pushed past her into the house without uttering a single word. Shocked by their behaviour, Sunjung took a few moments before hurrying after the intruders a few seconds later.

 

"Yah! Who are you! How can you just barge in like that?"

 

Everyone in the house whipped around to look at the two intruders as Sunjung's loud yell alerted them. Unaffected, the intruders simply stood in the middle of the room with the pizza boxes in their hands held out. Hyunae looked at the two people carefully. They were wearing an ivory coloured jumpsuit style uniform with a logo in the shape of a crown on the upper right hand side of their jackets.

 

What company are they from? I've never seen ivory coloured uniform before. And… The crown logo of the pizzeria looks really familiar…

 

"Hyunae ah! Why did you order so many boxes of pizza! Do you really think we can finish it?!"

 

"Ani! I only order two boxes!"

 

Hyunae answered in self defence, looking alternatively between the annoyed Sunjung and the two people. They were frozen in their positions, with the caps on their heads pulled low and their heads lowered, hiding their faces from view. However, their bodies were shaking slightly. As her eyes travelled down to their feet, Hyunae noticed that they had high heels on.

 

"Yah! How can you wear shoes into others' house?"

 

Hyunae yelled as she stormed over to Sunjung's side, pointing accusingly at the feet of the intruders. The girl, who was in charge of the overall cleanliness of their apartment, was a little of a clean freak. Seeing the two intruders entering the room without removing their shoes irritated her more than their trespassing. Just then, she noticed that one of them was wearing a pair of heels that couldn't possibly be bought anywhere.

 

Those shoes! How could she… Unless…

 

Hyunae stared disbelievingly at the shoes for a while before realisation slowly seeped into her. Jerking her head up in surprise, she began giggling. Starting from a soft chuckle, her amusement soon grew out of control and evolved into a full fledged laughing fit. The other people in the house were staring at Hyunae as if she had gone mad.

 

"Hyunae ah! What's so funny?"

 

"I-I… Haha!"

 

"Yah! Lee Hyunae! You better tell me before I kill you!"

 

"Unnie! It's.. It's…"

 

Hyunae was now holding onto Sunjung for support as she could hardly breathe from laughing too hard. With a shaky finger, she tried pointing to one of the intruder, the girl who was wearing the heels that set off the laughing fits. It took a few more minutes of bewildered staring before her laughter finally ceased. Inhaling deeply while wiping the tears from her eyes, Hyunae addressed the girl with an amused voice.

 

"Yah, unnie! Do you think I won't be able to recognize the shoes? You should have worn something else!"