Chapter 25

Sara rushed into the building as fast as she could; her arms full with grocery packets.

She was now well enough to go about on her own, and she was happy to do so, for life with the boys had turned out to be very lonely indeed.

Their different schedules, and strange sleeping times made it difficult for her to keep up with them, but they always made it up to her when they could. The only person whom Sara had been seeing plenty off, strangely enough, was Donghae.

Sara wondered why he never had any work to do, but she didn’t question it. They hadn’t exactly become friends, she was still too reserved around him; but they had developed a comfortable relationship, where they had gotten used to each other’s presences.

He kept her company most of the day.

They didn’t talk much, but did other things, like watch movies, or play with puzzles and board games. Sara had come to understand his personality, but was still struggling to comprehend what had pushed him to behave the way he had on that day. She could find no fault in him. He never got angry, he endured the teasings of his hyungs, and when he thought she wasn’t looking, she always caught him smiling at her.

She shifted her packets, and entered the elevator. It was warm inside the building, but she kept her face mask on. The boys had advised her to wear it whenever she went out, so that no one would recognize or remember her face. Otherwise people would start questioning why the same foreign girl kept on entering SJ’s dorms.

The elevator bell sounded, and Sara walked out. She hadnt taken two steps when someone came running into her, pushing her back inside. Sara let out a yelp of surprise, and staggered backwards, trying not to drop any of her packets.

It was Donghae. He hurriedly jabbed the button to close the elevator doors, and then pressed the number 12 button.

“What are you doing? What’s going on?” Sara asked him.

“There are reporters inside out dorm. You’ll have to wait in the upstairs dorm until they’re done”, he said hurriedly.

“Oh…”.

Sara was abit tired of having to hide all the time.

“Is there nobody in the upstairs dorm?” she asked him.

Donghae checked his watch, and then said “It should be empty around now, but just stay in my room until I come back for you, ok?”

They reached to dorm, and he opened the door for her. Once she was inside, he winked, and then locked it from the outside.

Sara sighed, left her packets at the kitchen table, and then looked around. This apartment looked almost the same as the bottom floor, just abit neater. She was about to look for Donghae’s room, when her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered.

It was her manager. “Sara, where have you been these past few days? You haven’t answered your phone, and I’ve been to your apartment, but you were never there.”

“I haven’t been well, I’ve been staying at a friend’s place after the hospital…wait, did you say that you’ve been to my apartment?”  Sara asked straightening up.

“Of course, I’ve been looking for you”

“But how did you get there? Did you take the stairs?”

“I took the elevator Sara. What kind of a question is that?” her manager answered.

“When did you first try to visit? Sara asked.

“Last week. I think a day or two after you got out of the hospital."

" Listen, your pictures from the photoshoot have been released overseas, and the reaction has been really good. Tomorrow the posters will be all over Seoul, and in two days, there will be a press conference with the designers, magazine editors, and the models. Since Super Junior members were involved, it will probably turn into a big event, so I need to help you shop for a dress. Are you better now? How is your leg?”

Sara was struck dumb. The elevator had been working. Were the boys lying to her this whole time, or hadn’t they known?

“Sara, how is your leg? Can I come over to your place now?” her manager asked again.

“I’m…I’m fine…yeah, sure, I’ll see you there in an hour.” Sara hung up, and looked around. She didn’t want to be angry with the boys, and there was no evidence that they had been lying to her, so she decided to believe that they hadn’t known about the elevator working. She couldn’t go down and tell Donghae that she was leaving right now, but she had to come back later anyway for her suitcase.

She left the dorm, but then hurried back inside. It was still chilly outside, so she grabbed a white scarf from the closet next to the door, and then headed out. She hurried towards the elevator, but as soon as she turned around the corner of the hallway, someone bumped into her.

Sara lost her balance, and fell onto her bottom. She heard someone cursing, and looked up to see a man with shoulder length hair rubbing his face in pain.

“YAH! You hit my face!” he shouted.

Sara was taken aback at the loudness of his voice, but she slowly got back up, and said coolly “We ran into each other. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake? What am I going to do if this bruises? Huh?”

“Hey! I also got hurt, but I’m not complaining about it!” Sara replied hotly.

“What?! Who do you think you’re talking to? He asked her. “Take off your mask, I want to know who I’m dealing with”.

Sara’s eyes widened in fear. The boys had told her never to take off her mask while she was in the building. What if this guy was one of their managers? The boys would get into trouble.

“I…I can’t…” she mumbled, pulling her scarf higher to cover .

“Hey…Is that my scarf?!” he made to grab her, but she ducked, and quickly ran to the end of the hallway.

The elevator opened just in time, and she ran inside, frantically pushing the button to close the doors. It closed just in time, because she heard him pounding the door on the other side.

She crouched down and breathed a sigh of relief. “That was close”, she thought.

She pulled off the scarf, and looked at it. She found three golden letters sewn into the corner. “K.H.C”

“Kim Heechul”, she whispered to herself. She couldn’t believe it. She had met another one of the members. She remembered reading that he was one of the oldest amongst them. No wonder he was so grumpy. “What a temper”, she puffed.

The elevator door opened, and Sara walked out. But for the second time that day, she was pushed back in. This time, it wasn’t Donghae.

Heechul walked inside, closed the elevator door, and pressed the emergency button to stop it from moving. Then he grabbed the scarf from Sara, pushed her against the wall, and said “So, are you a sasaeng fan or something? Why did you steal my scarf? And how did you get into our dorm?”

Sara had nowhere else to run. She tried looking away, but he immediately held her jaw in his hand, and then slowly pulled off her mask.

“No…!” Sara gasped. But then it was too late.

Heechul took in a sharp breath, and then took a step back.

Sara was bewildered by his shocked expression, but she was even more confused when he shouted “Ballerina!” and pulled her into a bear hug.

Sara’s cheeks flushed bright red, and she stood there, unable to move as Heechul held on to her tightly. He let go after what seemed an eternity.

Slowly, he bent down, kissed her cheek, and said “Nice to meet you, finally”

Sara had no words. She saw him grinning at her, and strangely found herself smiling back.