“What are you up to this time?” asked Donghae, eyes sparkling with excitement. But next to him, Hyukjae was biting his lip, eyeing Evil Kyu and Lady Hee Hee suspiciously.

“You’ll know in time, hyung. But we really need you to deliver this message to Yesung hyung. Ne?*”

“Sure!” smiled Donghae, utterly oblivious. Had he only known he had just helped create the biggest embarrassment in Yesung hyung’s entire life – and there was a heavy competition for that title!

***

“Errr… Onew hyung?”

No one, NO ONE IN THE WORLD enjoyed chatting with Onew while the latter was eating chicken. Everything about it was awkward – the way Onew absolutely refused to even glance away from his meal, the way his mouth watered and eyes glistened - and the tender words he’s sometimes whisper to his chicken wings.

“Nice, crunchy chicken… Mmm… You’re amazing, you know that?” confessed Onew to a chicken leg, which he carefully held with one hand as you would hold a fancy wine glass.

“Onew hyung? … Umm… Errr…..”

“Leave it to me!” snapped Key, pushing aside a very disturbed Taemin. I should’ve told little Tae to stay in his room! Now my poor child will be traumatized for life by his chicken-obsessing uncle!

Snapping out of his motherly mode, Key snatched the chicken Onew was holding, which consequently lead to Onew trying to bite off Key’s hand.

Alarmed, Key stared at his leader, unsure of whether this was a playful joke – or not.

Sure enough, Onew smiled a sweet grin, one which made his eyes turn into cute half-moons. But only a second later, his face was deadly serious, every trace of sweetness instantly wiped away.

It would be extremely tough to choose what was more awkward and creepy – the way Onew chewed on the meat as though he hadn’t eaten for eons, or the way the leader’s facial expressions melted and transformed into their opposites without any pause or particular reason.