Yoonnae shifted from her side position to her back and stared at the ceiling still lying in bed. She released a long deep sigh as her eyes adverted to the large sliding glass door in front of her bed that led to the balcony. Before Yunho became busy with his celebrity life, just months ago, he used to open the large sliding glass door and let fresh air come inside as breakfast was placed on the table that sat outside of the balcony.

Yoonnae let out another deep sigh as she carefully sat up. “Yunho-oppa. Life is so hard without you here.” She brought her upper thighs to her chest and hugged her knees. “I’m trying to be tough, but it’s just so hard without you by my side.”

Ever since Yunho had left to Japan for DBSK’s Japanese promotional activities, she was left alone to care for the house. It was really hard on her as she was still young and had a job as a trainee that paid her nothing close to eight dollars an hour. Yunho had never taught her how to pay bills and where she should go to make those payments. He left in such a short notice that she had no choice but to bug the next door neighbor’s daughter about it.

‘Knock knock knock’

Yoonnae turned her head to the side slowly and looked at the closed door. She pursed her lips as she prudently lifted the corner of the blanket that covered her lower part of her body and slipped out. She flipped the corner of the blanket back in place and walked over to the door. She opened it half way and looked up at the person.

“Li-Li-Liyin?” She stuttered the person’s name when she realized who it was, the next door neighbor’s daughter. “What are you doing here?”

“To look after you of course. Yunho warned me of this.” She said as she opened the door wider. “Aiya~ look at you. You’re a mess.” Liyin grabbed a hold of Yoonnae’s hands and walked her over to the edge of her bed and gently pushed her shoulders down to make her sit on the bed. “You’re already late. Although there is freewill on time as a trainee, you shouldn’t waste it away like this.”

She walked over to the large sliding glass door and tied the curtains to the sides. “The schedule that Yunho-oppa had set up for you is a great routine as many of us used it back then as trainees.” She slid the glass door open and a good breeze of air flew in. “It’s already ten o’clock. Go take a relaxing shower as I prepare breakfast for you.”

Yoonnae opened to protest but was cut off by Liyin’s motherly look. “Uh-uh…” She waved her finger back and forth at Yoonnae. “Don’t even think about it young lady.” Liyin said smiling after when Yoonnae hung her head low and walked into the bathroom in her room.

Liyin knew how hard it was for Yoonnae as a trainee when her brother wasn’t there by her side to protect her. Sure she was a happy girl who had a smile on her face every single day when she stepped out of the house and had great Korean celebrities as friends, but that didn’t outweigh the pressure from those who disliked her strongly.

Those who hated her were like a thorn on her skin and it seems to go deeper and deeper as the years go on. No actions were needed as stares and words were enough to tear a whole in her heart. Someone trying to survive and be tough, will eventually break some day and need the most comfort than those who let it all go and cry their hearts out every night. But no, not Jung Yoonnae. She must remain calm and learn to not care.

Liyin walked over to Yoonnae’s dresser and picked out her outfit for the day which consisted of sweatpants that stopped at the knees, a black tank top, a pair of white socks, and undergarments which reflected the same color as its respected positions’ color. She placed them neatly on the bed before heading out.

- - -

Yoonnae walked out of the bathroom and headed over to her dresser but stopped in her tracks when she saw a pile of clothes on her bed. She walked over and grabbed them. She knew that it was Liyin who had picked it out for her as there was only Liyin and her who had the keys to this house.

She walked back into the backroom and changed into the clothes. She tossed her old clothes and towels into the washing bin before opening the cupboard under the sink pulling out a hair dryer. After fifteen minutes or so, she was finally done with her shower routine.

She smiled briefly at her reflection before speaking out to no one but herself. “Well… Jung Yoonnae… Here goes another day without Yunho-oppa.”

Satisfied with her fighting message, she made her way out of the bathroom and her room and headed down the stairs into the kitchen. Set on the table was grilled short ribs, spicy seafood salad, bean sprout rice, spicy stewed fish, seasoned kelp, and radish strip kimchi.

Yoonnae walked over to Liyin who was standing in front of the counter stirring the pork rib soup in a large bowl before pouring it into two smaller bowls. “Eonni. Are you trying to make me miss oppa even more?” Yoonnae said as she grabbed the two bowls and set them down on the proper place on the table.

Pork rib soup was one of Yunho’s favorite dishes. Well actually if anyone knew him, as long as it was soup, Jung Yunho was good to go. As a child, his parents would always cook that for him. Since then he would always plead for some for his three meals a day eating schedule. Because of that, she had grown fond of soup dishes and also because Yunho can’t cook anything but soup.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight since Yunho-oppa left. I’m just trying to make sure you look exactly the way you did when he last saw you.” Liyin pulled out a chair and sat down. “If he returns and you’re like a stick, not only will I be responsible, but also Minnie and Taozi.” She picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed it to Yoonnae.

Yoonnae bit the inside of her cheeks as she willingly took the chopsticks from Liyin’s hand. It was true. Since Yunho had left, she hadn’t been eating much. At most, she only ate lunch and consistently skipped breakfast and dinner. She wasn’t starving herself to maintain her skinny figure nor was she too busy with life that she had no time to eat.

Being depressed and with billions of other things to worry about outside of her personal life turned her hunger into nothing but emptiness making her forget that she was a human being that needed to eat. Liyin, Taemin, and Tao always reminded her to eat whenever they ran into her.

Liyin sighed as Yoonnae did nothing but held her chopsticks in her hand. “Aiya~ Yoonnae-yah. Yunho-oppa will be home in a couple of days. Until then, stay strong. You still have people like Taemin and Tao to depend on.” Yoonnae nodded her head and started to eat.

‘Ding dong ding dong’

Yoonnae stopped her hand from feeding herself and looked at Liyin with furrowed eyebrows. Who could be visiting her at this time? Liyin smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder twice for assurance.

“I’ll get that. You keep eating.” Liyin made walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

She lifted the metal cover that was on top of the door peeping hole and leaned her body against the door. She saw a female’s back facing the door and as she looked left and right, Liyin knew who she was. She immediately opened the door and pulled the female inside. She closed the door swiftly and locked it seconds later.

“Are you crazy Boa?! You could have caused an unintentional flash mob with just your appearance on the streets!”

Boa looked at Liyin’s aggressive hand gestures and lightly laughed. “Calm down lady. There are more important matters.” She walked over to the armchair and sat down with one leg crossed over the other as her elbow propped up on the arm of the armchair and rested her chin on her closed palm.

“What could be more important than that at this minute?” Liyin walked over and sat on the armchair across from Boa with her fingers enlaced on her lap.

“I don’t know what happened, but Yunho called me this morning at four in the morning.” Liyin gave her a confused look and motioned her head for her to continue. “I didn’t get the gist of what he was saying. But his voice didn’t sound too happy.”

Liyin looked down at the ground as she thought hard. “Whenever Yunho-oppa is angry, it’s usually something that is related to….” She took in a sudden breath when she finally realized what could be a possible possibility and hastily looked up at Boa. “Omo! Omo! Do not tell me that it has something to do with Yoonnae.”

Boa closed her eyes and nodded her head slowly. “Unfortunately it does.” She leaned forward and enlaced her fingers together before placing them on top of her knee. “But I’m not too clear of what is going on. He was in such a rush that the only words I caught on were Yoonnae, phone, this that, midnight, guy, killing, , murdering, pissed off and calling and texting quadrillion of times before he clicked on me.”

“Did you call him back?”

“I did, but he didn’t answer. I’m guessing they’re doing some kind of shooting for Elle.”

“Don’t tell Yoonnae about this until we find out what’s going on.”

Boa made no move to confirm that she agreed to her request. Instead she looked over Liyin’s head and into another being’s eyes and smiled. Liyin turned around, curious as to what Boa was looking at, and locked eyes with Yoonnae.

“Oh… Boa-eonni. Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming over?”

“I did.” Boa said looking at her strangely. “I called you during my break this morning around five but you hung up. I texted you shortly after but received no response. So I came over here as soon as I could.”

“Hung up? I didn’t…” Yoonnae stopped herself from continuing when she remembered that she had lost her phone three days ago and filed a missing item report with Taemin. “That’s right…” She mentally face palmed herself. “I lost my phone a couple of days ago.”

“Hm… if that’s the case then someone must have found your phone.”

Boa furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the table that was in front of her for no reason. She was deep in thought as she turned her head sideways to the left then to the right and back again. She began mentally putting the last puzzle piece of information that Yoonnae had just given her into place with the rest.

“Ah~” Boa suddenly said as she nodded her head up and down while rubbing her chin with her thumb and finger.

Now that all of the pieces came together and fitted in the right place, everything now made more sense; clear as glass. All those words that Yunho had literally yelled over the phone must have been directed towards the person that found her phone; a male.

“That’s no wonder why Yun-”

Liyin caught on and stood up making her way expeditiously over to Boa. She cupped her left hand over Boa’s mouth and looked up at Yoonnae with a huge grin. Yoonnae gave her a strange look and took a step forward but stopped when Liyin raised her palm up towards her signaling her to stop in her tracks.

“Boa-yah~ Let’s not hold her here any longer. Araseo?” She said as she looked at Boa who only shook her head sideways and tried to get out of her grasp.

Yoonnae looked at the scene before her and an immediate smile came on her face. Liyin smiled warmly at her. It had been a while since she had last seen that smile, a true sincere one and not one that she usually faked. Boa mumbled some words under Liyin’s hand but they were incomprehensible.

“Yoonnae sweetie-yah. I’ve already packed your duffle bag for you. It’s up stairs.” Liyin said as she shooed her to go upstairs with her free hand.

Yoonnae nodded her head and started heading up the stairs. “Oh!!! Sweetie!!! Make sure you take the purple Nike duffle bag and not the black or white or orange one!!!” Liyin yelled really loud hoping that she had heard her.

“Araseo Eonni!!!” Yoonnae yelled back as her figure completely disappeared from the staircase.

Liyin leaned her body over a bit to peak at the stair making sure that Yoonnae was out of earshot. Once she confirmed that, she looked at down at Boa and removed her hand away from . She harshly knocked Boa on the side of her head.

“Ow! YAH!” Boa shouted loudly as she stood up from her sitting position and placed her hands on each of her hip looking at Liyin in disbelief.

“Eonni~ ” Liyin whi