The next day, Saturday, the oldies came back home around midday. They had returned to stay overnight at the hotel the other night. They took Luhan's car going back to the hotel. When they got back at around ten in the morning, I looked at each of them with suspicion. I didn't know if I was the only one who knew of their previous plan on drinking, but I tried to get a whiff of them smelling like vodka, but I didn't get any. Luhan just chuckled and poked my cheeks as he passed me by. Lay and Suho didn't meet my eyes as they went upstairs to dump their overnight bags. Kris and Xiumin sat on the living room couch and reclined. They looked like they had showered at the hotel already. The two oldies placed their feet on top of the coffee table. Luhan had gone to the kitchen to get himself something to munch on.

Papa hadn't gone down yet. He had requested to have his breakfast be brought to him to his office. Mama had gone to get his food to him and stayed with papa in his office.

I had just gone down after shower when the oldies came back. Baek and Chen were in the living room as well. They had plugged the XBox on the TV and were playing. Chanyeol had called dibs on the media room. He had asked Kyungsoo to help him with some notes on a song he was composing. Since Lay had not been home earlier, he asked Kyungie for help. He had plugged his acoustic guitar and was strumming the melody he had done so far.

Tao was still asleep. The parents had not bothered to wake him up. There was no school, no martial arts classes, and no special event to go to. It was the start of the Christmas holidays. Kai was awake, but only so. Because after he ate his breakfast, he had gone up to the first floor lounge and stayed there, lying down on the cushions. Sehun just woke up. He had followed me downstairs and scoffed at the oldies who had just came back home. He was actually envious of them, because he wanted to spend the night at the hotel too. But of course, since we were grounded, it didn't happen.

Since I was grounded, I decided to just distribute the gifts to my half Korean brothers, and Lay ge, who were leaving for Korea the next day. I shouldn't be too sad to be grounded. But the thought of warm cocoa drinks and cupcakes at the bakeshop we frequented at the mall, made me groan faintly.

Why did I have to be grounded this week again, of all days...? Ugh.

I walked over to the couch where Kris and Xiumin were sitting on. I went to stand behind them and leaned forward. I whispered softly.

Me: Did you or did you not drink last night?

Kris: Huh?

Xiumin: Huh?

Me: I think you did. You just brushed your teeth and showered it off today.

Xiumin: Mei baobei, why do you think like that?

Me: You can just say yes or no.

Kris: No.

Me: I don't believe you.

Kris: Why are you so nosey all of a sudden?

Me: Because I don't like it.

Xiumin: We didn't...

Kris: Honest.

Me: Hmm...

Kris closed his eyes and pretended to snore. Xiumin patted my arm. I wasn't going to get any honest answer from them. Luhan saw and walked towards us, holding a bag of chips.

Xiumin: Where'd you get that?

Luhan: Fridge. Already opened, anyway.

Xiumin: Give us here, juseyo.

Kris: What's for lunch?

Xiumin: Let's go out for lunch?

Luhan: I don't know. Maybe you should go pack your stuff.

Xiumin: I already have.

Kris: I'm not bringing lots of stuff, just clothes and some gadgets.

Xiumin: Same here.

Luhan: Okay, suit yourself.

Kris: Yeah. Oh...and lunch outside sounds tempting. Papa home?

Luhan: I guess. His car's in the garage.

Kris: Oh. I didn't really notice.

Me: Does papa know that you...

Luhan: Nothing happened, Yinzi.

Baek and Chen were busy with their videogame that they didn't really minded us talking. They had placed bets on each other, so they didn't take their eyes off the screen. I bet they heard us though.

Me: Okay. You said so.

I shrugged and walked away. I went to sit beside Baek who was intensely pressing the buttons of the gamepad. LOL. Chen was huffing and puffing on his hair that kept falling in front of his eyes. He needed a haircut. I made a mental note to myself to volunteer to cut his hair for him, even if he will protest. Hahahah.

I decided to bug them. Well, they always bugged me anyway.

Me: How much did you bet on each other?

Baek: Huh?

Me: I said, how much did you bet on each other?

Baek: One thousand RMB.

Me: That's a lot.

Baek: It's nothing.

Chen: You're just saying that because you get more money. I bet my last money, you know.

Me: Why did you have to bet?

Chen: I want more money to buy something.

Me: Just ask papa.

Chen: If I lose, I'll ask papa.

Baek: Pffft... I will win this game.

Chen: Shut up.

And they fell silent again, focusing on their game. I kept bugging them, though.

Me: Have you paid Lu ge yet?

Baek: Shhhh...

Me: I think you haven't.

Baek: I have. I have. Shhhhh...

Me: I think you'll lose, Chenchen.

Chen: Go away.

Me: You know, you can't be a spy if you're easily bothered by noise.

Chen: I don't wanna be a spy. Shhhhh!

Me: You're dying. That one's behind your team...

Baek: Gaahhh! Go away, Xiao Yi!

I laughed and hugged them both before I got up and sat in between Kris and Xiumin.

Me: I'm giving out your Christmas gifts today. Because you're going to your moms for the holiday, I'll give it earlier. However, you can't open them yet. You have to open them midnight or Christmas eve, okay?

Kris: What did you get me?

Me: It's a secret until then.

Xiumin: Can I peek?

Me: No, of course not. That would be cheating.

Xiumin: Just a little.

Kris: Yeah, can I peek, too?

Me: If you're just gonna peek, might as well just open them.

Kris: Oh? Sure?

Me: No. No. No. You can't open it until Christmas eve.

I gave them my best pout ever. They just laughed, but nodded all the same.

Lunch was not outside, but papa promised that dinner would be. That afternoon, I spent my time just writing stuff for school. Even though there was no homework given for the holidays, I just decided to study. It was better than being bored because I was grounded.

Kai was happy. He was grounded while he was in Beijing, but because he was going with his eomma to Japan, his punishment would be lifted then. Tao and Sehun were no more happy than I was. We were still going to be grounded.

Tao woke up just in time for lunch. He had darker circles under his eyes. I guessed he didn't sleep well the other night moping about his punishment. Sehun was no better, actually. Even if he woke up earlier than Tao, it was clear from the look on his eyes that he had cried himself to sleep as well.

Boys do cry.

Especially when papa was the one who makes them cry.

I honestly wanted to punch papa more. Not only because of the dilemma he had put me through, but also because my brothers suffered from his strict rules.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

I had growled rather loudly.

Everyone in the room had looked at me just as I clamped my hands over my mouth. I was seated on the first floor lounge and had my books and other school stuff on the table. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo poked their heads out from the media room. They actually just left the door open. Chanyeol had unplugged his guitar and was just writing down the notes and chords on a clean sheet of paper after Kyungsoo made a draft of the ones he wrote. Kai had resorted to just lying back on the cushions after lunch. He looked at me like I was some crazy lunatic.

I quickly improvised, telling them that I just had a little problem with some of the lessons. They believed my lie. Hmmm... I closed my books and piled them on the table, before I laid down on the other cushion. Kai had gone back to staring at the ceiling. I stared at where he was looking. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo went back to what they were doing.

Kai: I'm excited to move back to our house.

Me: Jinjja?

Kai: Ne, I am. Aren't you?

Me: Hmm, a little.

Kai: Why just a little?

Me: I don't know. But I miss our house.

Kai: Me too. I just had the same feeling I had before moving from Tianjin.

Me: Yeah. Now that you mentioned it, I kind of miss Tianjin.

Kai: The beach, right?

Me: Yes. We could easily just go to the beach when we wanted to.

Kai: Kind of like Florida.

Me: Maybe we can ask papa to bring us back there?

Kai: Or to Phuket.

Me: Oh, oh...yes!

Kai: Next summer, I wish papa will take us there.

Me: If papa's going to open the resort then, I think he'll take us all there.

Kai: Do you know if he'll push through with that?

Me: I think so. Isn't that what Lu ge and the other oldies are working on extra?

Kai: I saw Lu ge draw up a plan in our room.

Me: The resort?

Kai: I think so. It was different from the other paperwork he had from papa's office. Much like the one he did on his laptop with Baek.

Me: Will you miss them when they leave for college?

Kai: Yes. I honestly don't know what will happen to us when they leave.

Me: Suho, Lay and Baek ge will still be here.

Kai: I know. But it's different when it's the three oldies are incharge.

Me: I know right.

Kai: Maybe papa will let us visit them in London.

Me: Pffftt...I don't know about that.

Kai: Why not? You don't think so?

Me: It's a long way to London. I doubt papa will let us visit them for only a few days.

Kai: We went to Florida.

Me: But it's different.

Kai: Still, I wish papa will let us visit them.

Me: Or them visit us.

Kai: Pshh. They won't be allowed to. I bet papa will let them stay the whole semester and just let them home during Christmas.

Me: Hmm...can I ask you something? Just between the two of us...

Kai: What?

Me: Do you have that...you know..sometimes...the urge to punch papa?

Kai: Hahahaha! Why do you ask?

Me: Because I have.

Kai: Shhhh... papa might hear you.

Me: He's upstairs, sleeping.

Kai: You know he's got like sixth sense.

Me: Geez...

Kai: But yeah, since you asked. I sometimes want to.

Me: *sigh* I thought it was only me.

Kai: You are not alone.

And as if on cue, Baek appeared on top of the stairs and belted out Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone." Kai and I looked at him, startled as we were. We thought he heard us talking about punching papa. Baek then pushed Kai to the wall and laid down beside him, squishing Kai in the process.

Baek: You don't like my song?

Me/Kai: We like it.

Baek: Do you have to answer in unison?

Me/Kai: Yes.

Baek: Are you...like...twins?

Me/Kai: No.

And we burst out laughing. Baek snorted and closed his eyes. He covered his eyes with his arm and shushed us. "I'm going to sleep, so don't be noisy."

We fell silent and a few minutes later, I heard Baek and Kai snoring. I chuckled and closed my eyes as well. I knew I was going to fall asleep and not gonna be bothered by their snores.

It was later afternoon when I woke up. Baek and Kai were still sleeping. I slowly got up and picked up my books and school stuff from the table and carried it upstairs to my room.

One thing I wouldn't miss when we move back to our house, was the third floor stairs. Three floors was not my ideal house. Not unless the top floor is already the roofdeck. LOL. Jungkook's house was three floors. His room was on the third floor. I haven't heard him or his hyungs complain that their house was three floors. Hehehe. Maybe because they were boys and they didn't really care about these kinds of details when buying a house. What's more was they have a larger area to chase each other to. Gaaahhh.

Anyway, I heaved my books up as I tried to stretch my arm to open my door. Good thing I didn't drop them. I carefully placed them on my bedside table and plopped on my bed.

The life of a grounded person.

Boring.

I would be grounded until next Saturday which was Christmas day. But I was sure that if we went out for lunch or dinner, I won't be left home. Those kinds of situations temporarily lift the punishment.

Dinner was at the Revolving Restaurant on CCTV Tower in Haidian. They served buffet and they served various Chinese, French, Italian, and Japanese cuisine. They were open until ten in the evening. It was overlooking the bright lights of Beijing. I kind of liked the view from the top, but Luhan preferred not to look. He had acrophobia. Fear of heights. He steered clear of the French windows. He didn't mind us visiting the Pacific Underwater World after dinner though. They were open until eleven in the evening, since it was a weekend.

And because it was almost Christmas, there were several tourists who were there as well. The boys rather liked talking to some of them and ask them how they liked their stay in Beijing. The three oldies practiced their english skills by talking to some American tourists and looked smug when they were commended for their english skill.

I enjoyed myself with dinner and going to the underwater tunnel. I was grounded for the rest of the week and this was the only time I was going to get out of the house. Tao and Sehun also showed the same excitement as I had.

Prisoners.

I didn't care as long as I enjoyed myself tonight. LOL.

When we got home an hour later, I hurriedly went to my room to get my gifts for the boys who were going to Korea, Singapore and Japan respectively. I went to knock on their doors to give them their gifts. I made them promise not to open it until Christmas eve. They promised me. I had to trust them not to peek.

They were leaving early morning. MK was going to pick Kai up early morning as well. Kai pleaded his mom that he'd spend the night with us instead of with her at the hotel. His mom didn't think it was a good idea for her to show up at our doorstep again. The last time caused lots of stress and tension. Kris would be going to Singapore to his mom. The rest would be going to Korea.

I would miss them.

Especially because it was Christmas.

I felt like crying. It was always like this whenever one of them had to go spend time with his mom. I easily cried at stuff like this, although I don't really show it to them much. They loved to tease me when I started crying. Geez.

After I gave them their gifts, I bade them goodnight and went back to my room. I hugged my pillow and cried myself to sleep. I wanted to sleep until they left already. I didn't wanna have to cry as they step out the door and place their luggage in the car. And then bear the agony of seeing them wave at me from the car as they were off to the airport.

I at goodbyes.

Even though it wasn't goodbye forever.

Ughhh...

I fell asleep about an hour or two later. I woke up middle of the night. I forced myself to go back to sleep. When I woke up the next day, the boys were off to the airport. Papa and Luhan had driven them to the airport using the Odyssey.

I checked my phone for the time. It was already almost eight. The boys had an early flight and they probably were about to board now. Kai, I supposed, was already with his eomma and was off to Japan with her. Kris ge must have boarded the plane by now. Then I sent each of them a message to take care on the flight and to call or send a message as soon as they land safely on their destination.

Then I went downstairs. There was not much to do because I was grounded. Sunday was a boring day when one is grounded. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have minded being alone at home, because I knew I could go to the mall when I wanted to.

Anyway, when I went down, I didn't see anyone except the househelp and Suho. He was watching the TV in the kitchen as he forked his baked mac. Hmmm...so, someone had the heart to bake macaroni this morning. I smiled. I greeted him good morning and he briefly turned to look at me and nodded in response. Then he went back to watching TV. He was tuned in to a news channel. The news on at the moment was about the Soo Kui Christmas party last Friday. Somehow, I felt as if he was watching out for trivial news that stemmed from the party. Like the vodka bottle disappearing from the kitchen, for example, and finding it broken outside the back door.

I went to help myself with the baked mac and sat down next to him. The househelp was not inside the house. They probably were out the back, pruning the garden flowers.

The house was in it's unusual silence. Mama was not there. Suho had said she went to the pedia center because her help was needed. Baek had gone with Luhan and papa to the airport to see the others off.

Except Tao and Sehun.

Of course. They were grounded. Baekhyun was the only other Wu left in Beijing who was not grounded, aside from Luhan and Suho. I actually was debating whether to tell papa about the vodka incident and see how he reacted knowing the oldies were in on the plan. I bet he won't just ground them. He'd probably ship them off to military school right away. I didn't want that. I'm good suffering being grounded at home than having any of my brothers be shipped somewhere they didn't want. I was okay at home.

Really.

Papa, Luhan and Baek returned after about an hour and a half. It was a forty five minute drive to the airport from this area. Or they may have dropped by a store or something. When they entered the house, Baek was all smiles. Turned out he was the one who drove back home from the airport.

Surprisingly, papa didn't leave the house all day. Mama had used Suho's car to the pedia, so she didn't have to ask papa to come and pick her up. Papa had insisted to buy her own car, but mama just waved it off, saying she didn't really need a car of her own. She was fine with papa being her driver most of the time.

LOL.

Tao and Sehun appeared from the back door. So, they were out by the swimming pool. They had gone swimming early in the morning. Being grounded didn't mean not being able to enjoy yourself at home. It's just you weren't allowed to go out and enjoy with the outside world. You had to work your way to have fun without the outside world while you are grounded. But, depending on the punishment at hand. Unless specified, you are still free to use any entertainment stuff found in the house.

And because the whole week was spent at home, there's no need to tell you what I did. Because it would be boring. It was like a ritual everyday. Wake up, eat breakfast, watch TV or play videogames with Tao and Sehun or go swimming or go online or text friends, eat lunch, repeat step three, have dinner, etc. and then sleep. Hahaha.

And throughout the week, I didn't receive any text messages or calls from someone I missed. I had sent him a text message on Wednesday asking him how he was and if he was going to spend Christmas in Beijing with his family. I didn't get a reply. I stalked his SNS accounts and didn't find any new entry. I didn't try calling him. I was scared I would get ignored like he ignored my messages.

I sneakily tried to know his whereabouts by asking Taehyung. However, the Min family was in Hong Kong. Mr. Soo Kui was holding a Christmas party for the Hong Kong office, as well. Wednesday. Since Mr. Min was head of the HK office, their family was expected to grace the party. They were going to spend Christmas there, too. Taehyung had given me one helpful information though. Since he was close buddies with Jimin...he knew that the Kims were just in Beijing. Taehyung had said that he had just spoken with Jimin who was at the rooftop of their house. I didn't really ask him more about the Kims. I didn't want him to feel I was only talking to him because I wanted to know where Jungkook was.

I wondered if they brought V with them. And Suga. LOL. So, I asked him. He said that they had to spend at least thirty minutes at customs just to smooth out the papers for the two pets. There was no problem with bringing V with them, because he was a dog. But with Suga, it was a different story. Nobody else brought an iguana to Hong Kong. Hahahahaha. But since they couldn't just leave it home alone, their papa had to call every possible connections just to let them bring the iguana to Hong Kong. Actually, the problem was they didn't want Suga to be placed with V at the pet compartment of the plane. They wanted to just carry him with them on their seats. Hahahahaha!

I wished Taehyung a happy Christmas and to enjoy his stay in Hong Kong with V and Suga. LOL. He had sent ten smiley faces on his last message.

I had to give it to him to make my day bright even if it was cloudy.

Taeyong.

He was in Hong Kong, too.

Obviously.

Where his appa was, he was supposed to be there. Especially since it was a party for their company employees. However, he had sent me messages to tell me that for Christmas, they'd be going back to Korea. His harabeoji and halmeoni had requested for them to spend it there. They would be coming back after the Korea yearend party.

I kind of missed him too. But I didn't tell him.

My heart was not in a good condition. Some of the people who were dear to me where somehow far from me.

Grrrrr... I didn't wanna cry again. I still had papa, mama, Luhan, Suho, Baek, Tao and Sehun to spend Christmas with.

*** wipe tears ***

LOL.

Christmas eve was on a Friday.

It was fairly cold and I wore a cardigan over my shirt even from inside the house. The househelp were dismissed for the day. Of course, since it was the eve, they were expected to be with their families. Mama and Suho were incharge of the kitchen. I had to help of course. Baek was the errand boy. Luhan had to help us in the kitchen as well. Mama had told him that he needed to learn to do kitchen stuff as soon as possible, because in London, there would be no Lay, no Kyungsoo and no househelp to cook for them.

Luhan: Ma, there's always takeout.

Mama: Don't humor me, young man. I don't want you eating takeout all the time. Do you understand me?

Luhan: Kris can cook.

Mama: And what if he's not around?

Luhan: I'd call him.

Mama: No. You better learn now and not bother Kris or Xiumin just to cook for you.

Suho: Ma, just allow him go for takeout or their dorm will burn down.

Luhan: Harsh.

Suho: It's true.

Mama: The better for you to start now, Xiao Lu.

Luhan: I can cook rice. Without burning the kitchen.

He had stressed the word "without" and looked knowingly at Suho who laughed at him. Mama shushed them both and told them to start grating the cheese and slice the onions. I was peeling the mangoes for the mango smoothie that papa requested.

Speaking of papa, he had gone to buy last minute gifts, because he found out that he was the only one who didn't have gifts for each of us at home. LOL. He didn't bring Tao or Sehun with him because he had said that the two might ask him to buy them stuff aside from the gifts.

The two were asked by mama to decorate the tree. Yes. It was late for our family to decorate the tree. I was actually telling them five days ago to put up the tree, but they just kept saying "later" until it came to this.

The two were tall enough to reach the highest boughs of the tree, so mama asked them to decorate it.

The gifts were placed under the tree after. Baek had slept on the couch in the living room after going back and forth the nearest grocery for the ingredients. Tao had wound tinsel around the tree while Sehun the Christmas lights.

Christmas instrumental music played in the background. Baek had plugged his iPod in the loudspeakers and placed it on the table.

The boys in Korea had called via Skype earlier and asked how we were doing. Lay was having a swell time over at Chanyeol's mom's house. Kyungsoo snapped a photo of the cake he baked for the eve. Chen let us see the inside of his mom's music school. Kai had called from Japan as well, but forgot he was using up his phone credits, so he promised to call back using Skype. Kris had sent pictures he had taken as he explored Singapore with his mom.

Papa returned with two big shopping bags full of wrapped presents. He asked Tao to put them under the tree for him, then went to the kitchen to ask for a sample of whatever it was we were cooking. Mama shooed him away and told him to help Tao and Sehun instead.

Hahaha.

Mama ruled during Christmas.

Beep!

I always kept my phone in my pocket in the hopes that someone would remember to reply to my message.

And he did remember.

"Hi. I'm sorry I didn't get to reply right away. But I wish you a happy Christmas with your family."

And before I could press the reply button, another one came in.

Beep!

"P.S. I forgot to tell you, turn your laptop on at eleven fifty nine tonight. Skype. ~JK"

Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Merry Christmas Xiao Yi!!!!

*Faints*

I'm okay. Promise. xD

I just have a lot of feels. IDK. I can't explain it. Anyway, → 사랑해요! ♥♥♥ 我愛你們！吴愛你們！

He doesn't scare me at all. LOL. Cute Jungkook fetus. xD