Tuesday, December 23, 2008…

            Sungmin and I were busy making cookies all morning, having nothing to do all day long and knowing that our hyungs would praise us for making them sweets.  Besides, it almost put me into the Christmas spirit.  Most of them would be going their separate ways the next day, spending time with their families.  Tomorrow it wouldn’t feel much like Christmas with everyone gone, so I figured I ought to enjoy their company while I could.  We had the radio blaring Christmas music and I’d just taken a batch of sugar cookies out of the oven, when Kyuhyun shuffled into the room, his hair sticking up every which way, and yawning with his mouth wide open.

            I felt my heart jump in my chest at seeing him and silently cursed my rebellious heart for loving someone I could never have.  Still, as angry as I was at myself for having inappropriate feelings for him, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as he neared, looking over my shoulder at the cookies.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Making Christmas cookies,” I said, smiling like a dumb idiot when he rested his chin on my shoulder.  “Did you just wake up?”

            “The dumb didn’t go to sleep until five in the morning!” Sungmin complained, sounding bitter about it.

            “Why so late?” I asked, turning my head towards his, which put my face dangerously close to his.  So close, I could feel his warm breath as he spoke. 

            “I was playing Starcraft.”

            I lifted my mitted hand and ruffled his hair playfully.  “You shouldn’t do that.  You’ll be tired.”

            Kyuhyun yawned again and reached around me for a cookie, but I quickly slapped his hand away.  “You’re going to burn yourself!  Those just came out of the oven.  Wait for a few minutes!”

            “He doesn’t need to have any until later anyway!  We were going to wait until later to eat them when all the members came back to celebrate together.”

            Kyuhyun turned his direction and glared at him hard, finally releasing me.  I smiled to myself, loving the fact that Kyuhyun always felt so comfortable around me.  It was a kind of torture that seemed to keep me alive.  Someday, I would grow to resent it because I could never have more of him than hugs and cuddling, but for now it was enough.

            “He’s the baby, Minnie.  And you can’t expect someone to smell that for hours on end and not give them a few to eat,” I explained, turning to look at our hyung.

            “! Ow!” cursed Kyuhyun from behind me and I spun around to face him as he juggled a cookie between his hands.

            “What are you doing?” I asked, grimacing as he shoved the crumbling pieces into his mouth and tried to eat the cookie openmouthed to cool the crumbs.  “Idiot!  You’re going to burn your mouth!”

            Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes at me and then walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk.  He opened it and began drinking it right from the carton.

            “Damn you!” Sungmin cursed.  “Use a glass, you little !  I have to drink from that too!”

            “That one was almost empty,” I defended Kyuhyun as he downed the last of the milk.

            “Well then he can go and get us some more,” Sungmin shot back.  “We’re going to need some for the next recipe.”

            “I’ll go get some once this last batch is done cooking,” I offered while Kyuhyun threw the carton in the trash and headed back out of the kitchen.  After hearing his bedroom door close, I sighed heavily, sorry to see him leave so soon.

            “I really don’t know what the hell you see in him,” Sungmin said, rolling his eyes.

            “Shhh!” I said, slapping my hand over his mouth.  “What if he hears you?”

            “Wookie, we have the radio blaring in here, which is probably what woke him up, there isn’t a chance he can hear me,” Sungmin said, flinging my hand away while he finished rinsing off the mixing bowls we used for the cookies.

            “Well, someone else might!”

            “There’s no one else here right now.  Everyone else is either working or they’re Christmas shopping.  We’re all alone except for the stupid brat that likes to keep me up half the night playing his damn games.  One of these nights I’m going to lock him out!”

            “Won’t he just end up getting revenge on you tenfold for messing with him?  Is it really worth that?” I questioned.

            Sungmin shrugged.  “He’s not as nasty to me as he is to everyone else because we’re roommates.  I think he has a slight fear of me deleting his progress on his games or something,” he answered. 

            “He would kill you,” I said, sure of myself.

            “Whatever,” he said, shrugging.  “It would be worth it to see his agony.”

            When I took out the last batch a few minutes later and transferred them all over to the cooking racks, I took off my apron and hung it on the hook.  “I’ll head to the store now.  What else do we need besides milk?”

            Sungmin looked over the recipe cards.  “A couple pounds of butter, some more vanilla extract, and a sack of white sugar.”

            I nodded, heading to the bedroom I shared with Leeteuk to grab my wallet.  As I headed for the door, I heard the other bedroom door open, but did not turn around to see if Kyuhyun was headed to the bathroom or to the kitchen again for more cookies.  I slipped on my boots, as it had snowed a couple inches the night before and I doubted that the sidewalks were all miraculously going to be shoveled this early in the day.  I was about to reach for my coat when someone else beat me to it and opened it for me.  I looked behind me, shocked to see Kyuhyun already in his coat and holding mine open for me.  When I stared at him, dumbfounded, he shook it to get my attention and I finally shrugged into it and began to button it up. 

            “Are you going somewhere?” I asked.

            “I’m coming with you,” he informed me, turning the knob and opening the door, holding it open for me.

            “You really don’t have to.  I can manage carrying the groceries back on my own.”

            “You’re walking?” Kyuhyun questioned.  “Are you crazy!  It’s cold out…and it snowed last night…and its several blocks away!”

            “I really can go by myself,” I offered.

            “No,” he muttered.  “The hell if I’m staying at the dorm alone with Minnie when he’s on the rag.  Besides, I have to go with or I’ll be worried you’ll get abducted by fangirls.”

            “Here’s hoping that most of them stayed home due to the weather,” I only said, entering through the doors of the elevator.  “I’m sure that it will be a rather uneventful trip to the store.”

            Kyuhyun followed me into the elevator and stood there with his arms over his chest as the elevator descended.  In the meantime, I dug my stocking hat out of my po