so i'm FINALLY updating and i am SO, SO, SO, INCREDEBLY SORRY for taking this long!!
i had written out this AWESOME chapter and it was going to be TOTALLY, and i mean TOTALLY mindblowing
but then my harddrive failed and i lost it ):
i mean, i can get it fixed, but it costs like... 1600$+ and i simply do NOT have that kind of money TT______TT
so yeah, here i am with a new chapter (/new version of my original chapter T^T)
i hope you guys enjoy it ^^

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– Key’s POV –

So while the other guys were outside shooting animals, Sunghee, Minho, Dongwoon and I stayed in the kitchen and helped with preparing the meals. Taemin, Yoseob and Kikwang walked in looking a little deflated a while later. Turns out their gun keeper played by the government's rules and wouldn’t let the minors touch the weapons. So instead, we all sat on stools peeling a pile of vegetables the size of Mount. Everest, making jokes and listening to Dongwoon give us a free lecture on the structure of the universe. It's actually rather interesting once you get a hang of it. I might even start paying attention in Sungmin’s lengthy physics lectures.

We finished two or three hours later and left the goods in the trusty hands of the women of the house before going to help out with setting up the eating hall. To my surprise, the children who got started before us did a fantastic job of it. There wasn't much for us to do other than put up the streamers and balloons in the higher up areas and the places that required the assistance of a ladder. The kids had even managed to move half of the potted flowering plants into the hall.

As I watched Sunghee work, I realised just how much of a caring person she was. She helped the women in the kitchen with whatever they needed without a complaint. She tolerated the children’s mistakes in the same way that a good mother would. And in doing all this, she still managed to keep all five of us from feeling bored or with nothing to do. She listened to me go on about this summer's latest fashion. She catered to Taemin's sudden need for a whole litre of banana milk. She paid attention to Dongwoon lecture her about brown dwarf stars and even asked questions the same way a student would to a professor. She made sure Kikwang had plenty of heavy boxes to lift so that he could keep 'working his abs and biceps'. And she kept Yoseob busy with a jar of marshmallows since he was still looking overly upset from not getting a go at using a gun. Heck, she even held up a lengthy conversation with Minho, who has a maximum conversation life expectancy of practically 10 seconds.

Honestly speaking, she reminded me a lot of my mom. Minus the homophobia.

"Hyung? Are you ok?" Minho's voice suddenly popped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked, still in a daze. "Oh, I'm ok. Just thinking... About stuff..."

"Hyung. You've been, staring at Sunghee and sighing for the last 10minutes. Are you sure you're you just 'thinking'?" he asked again.

"Well aren't you talkative? That's new." I replied, attempting to subtly change the subject of the conversation.

"What can I say? She’s just that kind of person." Minho said, shrugging casually.

I successfully avoided the awkward topic!
"Good choice hyung." He said, giving me a pat on the shoulder before going back to helping Sunghee with whatever it was.

I rolled my eyes and let my head bang lightly on the table I was sitting at. I was never going to hear the end of this. Minho may be the silent type and all but he's a closet sadist.

“Hey Key, you’re good at picking what goes well together right?” Sunghee walked up to me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, I guess. What do you need help with?” I immediately stood up, eager to help her with whatever it was.

“I was wondering if you could help with arranging the flowers?” she asked. “I’ve been trying to get the ferns and the flowers to work but I can’t quite seem to get it right.” She said rather sheepishly.

“Oh, sure.” I replied, gesturing for her to lead the way.

Since everything else was done, for the next hour or so, Sunghee and I stayed in the dining hall talking about whatever came to mind whilst arranging the fifty or so vases of flowers. I think, in that time, I got to know her better. I found out that she likes the color blue, she likes food in its original flavour, she loves kids, she has six pet dogs, a cat and she wants to study psychology in college. A genuinely smart and down-to-earth type of girl.

Time passed by quickly and before I knew it, it was 4:30, an hour and a half before the feast was to begin. The guys who went hunting came back at around the same time and as soon as their catch was handed over to the women in the kitchen, Sunghee got us all to go back to our rooms and wash so that we would be fresh and clean. She explained that the feast would begin at 6pm and end at around 10. Birthdays were considered an important event, so they were celebrated traditionally. She then told us that she had gotten some people to take hanboks to each of our rooms and accordingly set them on our beds. There would be an ‘afterparty’ later in her room where they would drink and just have fun. Usually BIGBANG would just sleep on the floor when they got tired so she told us to bring extra pillows if we wanted to crash in her room as well.

Anyhows, on to the dinner. SHINee and Beast sat down at one table and everyone else just spread themselves out however they liked. BIGBANG and Sunghee sat in a row at the ront of the hall. Sunghee and GD sat on either side of Mr. Kim, who sat in the center of the row and everyone else spread themselves out accordingly.

She was wearing a light purple hanbok that looked slightly more royal than the average traditional dress, but what surprised me was that she was wearing the female one. Her short hair was kept neatly to the side with some decorated pins and I could have sworn she was wearing the slightest hint of makeup. Anyway, as soon as everyone gathered and settled down, her grandfather stood and gave a short speech.

“I still remember the day when my granddaughter came home from a routine shopping trip with her favourite ahjusshis, Hwangmin and Jokyung, and brought a little boy back with them.” He began. “Every day, little Sunghee would look after him, teach him things and train him, and I’ll admit, at first, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of letting him be one of us, but as I continued to see how devoted Sunghee was to making him into a Kim, I’m glad I made the decision to keep you with us and make you our family. Since then, you’ve only been a great help to our family, helping out whenever you visit, cooking, cleaning, training and teaching. Everything I could ask from one of my sons and more. Today, Jiyoung, you turn 20 years old. May this new year bring you good health, good luck and fortune. Happy birthday!” He raised his glass and everyone else followed, cheering as they did.

And then we got to the food and, sweet baby Buddha, it was spectacular. And I mean it tasted like stuff made for royalty. Maybe it was because I’ve been eating instant ramen for too long, but I swear, I ate so much, I must’ve gained at least five kilos in that night. The festivities dragged on until it was late and when it hit 10 o’clock, the food stopped coming and everyone started to slowly pile out.

Sunghee left first to take her grandfather back to his room and went to change into casual clothes, and GD stayed by the door to thank the guests for coming. BIGBANG led us to Sunghee's room and we got started on the drinking. We sat around, discussing whatever came to mind; clubs, classes, teachers, girls and by the time Sunghee joined the party, some of us were already reduced to incomprehendable, drunk sods. One of them being me.

– Sunghee’s POV –

So here I am wide awake at about four in the morning, sitting in the middle of my room with 15 wasted idiots and a sleeping baby. The three gangs all went completely overboard with the alcohol and got themselves wasted in a matter of two or so hours. With a reluctant sigh, I picked up and carried each of the boys to the beanbags conveniently placed around the edges of my room and covered them all with blankets.

All of them were soon tucked in and sound asleep. Except for Key. He seemed to like thrashing around a bit in his sleep so I decided to keep him for last. I was hoping he would die down a little before I tried anything.

But he didn't.

He would grab at my clothes and scratch and hit. All in all, he was the worst drunk sleeper in the world.

“He~y. Sunghee~ he he he~” he slurred in his drunken state, his head bobbling close to mine. “You so pre~tty.”

“Ugh, Key. You’re so drunk.” I coughed, choking on the stench of the alcohol in his breath as I tried to lay him down on one of the bags.

“Kekeke~” he giggled, not letting go of my jacket. “C’mere and give oppa a hug~”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. This was really starting to get on my nerves.

“Kim Kibum, get your hands off me and shut the up.” I barked at him.

He sighed, beginning to let go before suddenly pulling me onto the beanbag with him, causing me to crash onto his body.

“Whoa! What in the actual is wrong with you Kibum?!” I almost yelled at him, however, when I looked down to his face, he was already falling asleep.

“Shush Sungie, I want to go to sleep.” He mumbled.

“Aish, let go of me .” I hissed, hitting him on the arm, but that did me no good. The boy was sound asleep in the blink of the eye.

I attempted to pull myself out of his arms, but because of his iron grip and my awkward positioning, I got nowhere.

I huffed, blowing my fringe out of my face since my arms were secured by his. There wasn't really any point in trying to keep struggling. It was far too late to cry out for help and I didn’t want to wake the others either. And my phone was also conveniently placed on the table in the centre of the room. With no other choice, I gave into my fatigue and allowed myself to fall asleep in Keys arms.

– Next Morning –

– Taemin’s POV –

I woke up grudgingly the next morning, rolling out of whatever it was that I had been placed in last night. I landed on the ground with a soft thud as I tumbled off the large-ish beanbag. I rubbed my eyes and took in my surroundings, coming to the realization that was still in Sunghee’s room. Speaking of her, I scanned the room for the female student. And I wasn’t very happy with where I found her.

Sunghee.

And Key.

Were sleeping together.

On the same beanbag.

With Key’s arms wrapped around her.

With their heads resting next to each other.

WAE.

This had to be a misunderstanding right? Maybe there weren’t enough beanbags for her to sleep on? But then… what if they got together last night while I was asleep? OH NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. NO, NO. TAEMIN IS NOT HAPPY. I LIKE NOONA TOO. I DON'T WANT OMMA TO STEAL NOONA.

And just like that, I realised just how much I liked her. Just the thought of her being with someone else was driving me insane.

In my panic, I didn’t notice Omma waking up.

“Oh god, this hangover…” he groaned, holding his head in his hands, groggily opening his eyes one at a time. For some reason, he didn’t notice noona’s head resting right next to his.

“HOLY . SUNGHEE WHAT THE ARE YOU DOING ON ME?” he screeched, waking everyone up.

Sunghee didn’t respond at first, but after a moment, her eyes opened to dangerous slits and she slammed her hand over his mouth. “Shut. The. . Up.” She snarled viciously.

Note to self: Never, Ever, EVER wake up noona in the morning.

Key, on the other hand, wasn’t thinking enough to worry about taking notes of such a nature.

“What the crap are you doing on my lap?” he repeated, pulling her hand off his mouth.

“Well, you were drunk last night and decided to make me your blanket. And thanks to your drunk iron grip, I couldn't get anywhere.” She snapped, picking herself off and dusting herself off.

“I did what?” he asked again.

“YOU FREAKING PULLED ME ONTO YOURSELF AND WOULDN’T LET GO.” She yelled back at him.

Someone’s a bit snappy. But that’s ok. Because it’s kinda cute. Kekeke~

– Key’s POV –

I definitely didn’t expect my own reaction. I mean, I thought I wouldn’t mind waking up next to a beautiful girl who I think I like, but surprisingly, it was kinda… weird. It was like I’d slept with a sibling or something. I’d spent ages trying to get closer to her, and now that I was, it felt… awkward.

Something was definitely up. Maybe I had been coming about this the wrong was all along? Throughout the day, I kept thinking about it and no matter which way I tried to get around it, I always came to the same result.

There was no spark.

Relationship-wise, there was no spark, connection, click, or attraction to be found. Yet there were a whole bunch of strange and mixed emotions floating around my head.

Over that week, I began to subconsciously distance myself from the girl. Not that I stopped talking to her or something, but my behaviour around her changed, a LOT. We started to get back into our old routine of insulting each other upon every possible opportunity, got ourselves into brawls and fights and chased each other around like no tomorrow.

So there I was, getting chased by this crazy who was hot on my tail with a scary wooden katana and enough malicious intent to fuel the holocaust for a good 20years. Our chase through the hanok ended around 10minutes after it had begun and the two of us were left in one of the small gardens panting and gasping for air.

“It’s good to have you back, Key.” She suddenly said after regaining most of her breath.

“Say what?” I asked, totally confused.

“I don’t know why, but after our little D&M in the kitchen, you started becoming real mushy. Like a little puppy.” She chuckled.

I blinked. “Is that a bad thing?” I asked, not really getting at what she was trying to say.

“It’s not completely horrible, but it’s not you, y’know what I mean?” she replied.

“What’s that meant to mean?” I scoffed back. “I can be a softie too.”

She didn’t reply and simply shook her head as she let out a soft laugh. “You’re the scary diva omma. You’re tough and won't take BS from anyone. Being the omma that chases her kids around and asks if they want more banana milk totally doesn’t suit you.” She said.

I scowled at her. “I guess you have a bit of a point, but it’s not like I'm a complete .” I muttered.

“I never said that.” She chuckled back.

“Yeah, well you were implying it.” I shot back.

With nothing more to say, probably because I found her out, she stood and shook her head. “Later face.” She cooly said before leaving the small area.

I sat there in shock for a second. She’d never called me a ‘face’ before. “Yah! I’ll get you for that !”

– Taemin’s POV –

We stayed at the hanok for another week before we left to return to school. After the situation in noona’s room, the intimate-ness between them started to disappear. Whether that was because they got actually got together or because they lost interest in each other, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to take any more chances.

Operation Win Noona’s Heart is now in action. Plan A: Subtly try to gain her attention.

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yay~ taemin's going to start manning up~!
kekekekeke
anyhows
i'm already started on the next chapter
its going to be cute and a bit fluffy
and then after that, we get into the reaaaaally hardcore stuff >D
haha
also, i've reduced my chapter minimum word count to 3000words instead of 4000
hopefully, the updates will be more frequent and it'll be easier to follow ^^

anyhows, take care guys
xxTom