After that night Kikwang and I grew closer.  When I wasn’t busy with my portfolio or showcase song I was almost always texting him.  Even when I was out with Skyler nine times out of ten we would be talking, surprisingly Skyler the boy who hated being ignored didn’t mind at all.  If anything he seemed to encourage it, taking every opportunity to tease me.  The only time that I wouldn’t text him back, was when I was with Ben, which was getting to be less often now that I thought about it.  Especially after his mother visited again but, with the showcase only two weeks away now, I tried to not think about what his mother was up to.  In fact, I hadn’t even bothered to try and see him on my day off today.  Instead, I opted to sleep in as late as possible and then maybe go to the studio. 

Sleeping in wasn’t working out as well as I had hoped.  All night I had weird dreams, none of them I could remember fully.  And just when I was finally starting to get some rest I heard Skyler announce that he was back, and brought company apparently.  Silently I thanked god that my door was closed and he would probably assume that it was locked as well. 

“Hey!  Best friend don’t tell me you’re still asleep it’s nearly noon!”  Skyler knocked on the door a few times and I grumbled incoherently while trying to find my glasses with my eyes closed still.  “Seriously get up!”  Just as he opened the door I sat up, grumbling, and put my glasses on, yawning.

“You want to tell me why you’re making me get up on my day off?”

He shrugged and leaned against the door frame.  “Because I have a message for you,” I raised a brow amused, “in about half an hour we’ll be graced with a visitor and rather you’re ready or not he’s dragging you out of this apartment.” It took a moment for the words to sink in before I stood and Skyler looked me up and down.  “I’ll pick out your clothes you go and shower and fix that hair it looks a hot mess.”

I didn’t bother arguing with him, I knew how bad my hair could be in the morning.  Sure enough when I looked in the bathroom’s mirror my hair was sticking up all over the place and pieces clung to my face stubbornly.  My hair is a monster I swear.  “Still say sleeping is better than going out.”  I grumbled while pulling my clothes off and fiddling with the shower’s temperature.

“You better be happy when you get out of that bathroom missy!”

Sticking my tongue out at the door and making a face I scoffed, “Bite me!”

Despite my attempts to remain grumpy I found myself waking up and in a fairly pleasant mood after I showered and blow dried my hair.  I blame it on the kiwi shampoo.  After blow drying and putting my hair in a lazy bun I opened the door only to be bombarded by Skyler. 

“Okay so cute college girl winter look or I know how to look y even when it’s freezing outside?”  He held up a black and blue, slightly oversized, polka dot sweater and a scarf and a deep red long sleeve shirt with a brown camel coat.  Without thinking I grabbed the polka dot sweater and scarf.  “Cute it is.  Let me go grab your parka and wear your ankle shearling boots and your straight leg jeans, the dark ones!” 

Muttering to myself about how Skyler was going crazy, I walked back to my room and started to get dressed.  I had nearly forgotten how fuzzy and comfortable the older sweater was.  Just as I pulled on my dark blue straight legged jeans, as demanded, Skyler came back in and grinned.  “I think you’re crazy.  Why are you so excited?”

“Because my best friend looks so cute,” he cooed and tied the scarf around my neck before stepping back and examining my outfit.  “You should let your hair down and a little eye liner would make this perfect!” He snapped his fingers and walked over to where my makeup bag was.

“Skyler what in the hell are you going on about?  Why do I have to wear makeup I-” He shushed me and dragged me to sit down at the stool by my make up kit.  “Don’t shush me!  Why do I have to get all dressed up for this?” 

Rolling his eyes he motioned for me to look up which I obliged to knowing he would threaten to stab me eye.  “Why don’t you want to dress up?  Besides this is a really important guest and trust me you’ll thank me for it later.”  He applied a light amount of blue eye liner to match the dots on my sweater and stuffed the stick in my small black purse along with my bus pass, lip gloss, gloves, phone, and black sunglasses.  Just as Skyler handed me the purse there was a knock at the door.  “Now I wonder who that is why don’t we go see who it is best friend?” 

Looping arms with me, Skyler practically dragged me to the front and helped me into my Parka before opening the door.  I felt my jaw dropped the second I realized who was at the door.  “What are you doing here?”

Kikwang grinned and adjusted his coat and scarf, “You have a promise to keep get your shoes on, we’ve got people to see.”

I smiled and put on my shoes and just as I was about to leave Skyler poked my cheek.  “Be good you kids, I don’t want you coming back at some ungodly hour alright?  Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do and stay safe.”  Just as I was going to comment that there was a lot that he would do, Kikwang pulled me out the apartment and down the hall. 

As we waited for the elevator Kikwang pulled up the hood of his coat, put his sunglasses on and positioned his scarf to cover his mouth.  “So I’m really going to meet your members?” He nodded and I was tempted to pull his scarf down to see if he was smiling.  I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but that smile was always something that I looked forward to.  “Then why do I feel like I’m meeting the parents?”

“Don’t, my band mates are a lot scarier than my parents,” he must have notice my nervousness and held his hands up, “I mean my band members will ask you weird questions my mom would just smile and call you cute.”

Weird questions?  Oh god why must friends always ask weird questions?  “Well that’s fi- wait I’m cute huh?”  Oh I just couldn’t resist teasing him. 

“Wha-I mean um or look the elevator!” He darted inside and took the far left corner.  Laughing I followed him into the elevator. 

“You’re not very good at avoiding questions muscle boy.”

“Hey!” He pulled his scarf down pouted in that cute way he always did and flicked at my bun.

Grinning I turned and tapped his forehead, “It doesn’t matter if they’re just for eye candy or not, you’re still a muscle boy.”  As the elevator opened I stepped out and nodded to a few of the people waiting and I have to admit I got a weird sort of satisfaction knowing a few of the girls to be Beast fans and he was with me.  Well not with me but with me.  That made no sense.  And now I’m going to give myself a headache.   

He easily caught up with me, with his scarf over his mouth again, and casually hooked his arm through mine.  Nope didn’t give me goose bumps, not at all. “Oh so you admit I’m eye candy?”  I didn’t have to see under his scarf to know that he was smirking. 

Scoffing I looked him up and down with mock arrogance, “Ehh you’re alright for a short guy.”

Again I didn’t need to see the rest of his face to know he was pouting and I hated to admit it but even knowing it was there made me want to give in.  Darn boy.  “What?  You’re shorter than I am.”

“Yeah but I’m older so I’m automatically more awesome.”  Usually I never used that excuse considering it doesn’t make sense at all and most of the time being called noona made me feel old. 

“Only by a little bit.”  I didn’t want to mention that I actually felt pretty old considering I was a month older than Junhyung but then again that shouldn’t really bother me.

Shrugging I stuck my tongue out at him, “Still counts.”  We passed the bus stop and I nudged his side with my elbow, “aren’t we going to take the bus?”

Kikwang glanced back at the bus stop and shrugged before he started walking again, picking up the pace a little as the wind started to pick up as well.  “Why?  We’re only a few blocks away.”

Was he serious?  How did I not know that before?  Out of all the things we had talked about we never mentioned where we lived.  Maybe he didn’t even know how closed we lived to each other until a little while ago?  “Wha-really?”

“Yeah never knew you lived so close to such awesome people huh?”

“I think it’s the other way around sir.”

This time he pinched my side and I squealed while jumping away from him.  He knew I was ticklish, that punk is so getting it when we get inside.  “Well isn’t someone being mean today?”

Pouting I tried to walk ahead of him, “Nope I’m being nice I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

I wasn’t able to get far before he wrapped his arm around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder.  I repeat I do not have goose bumps.  And my stomach?  Yeah it’s not flipping either.  Since when was he this touchy feely anyway?  “You know you keep walking you’re going to pass the turn to my dorm.”  He laughed when I didn’t say anything and took my hand, pulling me to the left.

We didn’t talk for the remainder of the walk.  Which I have to admit I was grateful for, a part of me was certain he was planning revenge for calling him short and not agreeing to him being awesome.  Just as the wind was starting to get ridiculous he pulled me inside an apartment building.  I hadn’t realized how cold my hands had gotten until we got inside.  Grumbling a little at my forgetfulness pulled my gloves out of my purse and put them on.  “Don’t judge me!” I snapped at Kikwang before he could say anything. 

Grinning he stepped in the elevator and shrugged, “I’ve done it before.”  That little liar.  Once we were about halfway to their floor he pulled his scarf down and took the sunglasses off, pocketing them in his coat.  “Wait to leave the elevator until I tell you,” he scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, “sometimes fans like to wait around the dorm for us to come and go.  I didn’t see any when I left but they might have shown up.”  He was sweet but he was also just asking for a rant on how I felt about fans that invaded an idol’s private life.  Oh the angry rants I’ve had with Skyler, they would scare anyone.  Regardless I did as he requested and waited for him to give the okay. 

There were a few presents by their dorm but I figured that was just delivered from earlier and no one had heard the door and gotten them.  Kikwang bent down to pick them up but I was faster, with the presents in hand I grinned at him.  “What are you standing there for?  Open the door.”  I laughed a little when he smiled and opened the door for me. 

We were greeted with cheers, annoyed cries and the smell of ramen.  The place was a lot cleaner than I would have expected it to be, especially for six boys living together.  “Guys we’re back!”  There was a chorus of ‘okay’ before they went back to whatever game they were playing.

At Kikwang’s annoyed expression I laughed again and shrugged while putting the presents over with the rest that haven’t been touched yet.  “Boys will be boys.”

He shook his head and took my coat, placing it in the nearby room before he motioned for me to follow him.  In the living room Yoseob, Dongwoon, Hyunseung and Junhyung were all playing Mario Kart on the Wii.  Yoseob was complaining that Junhyung was cheating while Dongwoon was attempting to distract Hyunseung since the older male was in the lead.  “Yah!  You guys are ridiculous.”  But none of them paid attention to Kikwang and continued to play.

Patting Kikwang on the shoulder I smiled, “It’s cool I’d be the same way I’m obsessed with this game but,” I turned and counted ‘heads’, “where is Doojoon?” 

“Um,” He looked around and pouted, “I’m not su-”

The door swung open and someone, I assumed to be Doojoon, didn’t bother being quiet.  “I come bearing pizza!”  A few seconds later he appeared in the living room and the others instantly asked him to wait a second so they could finish the lap.  Shaking his head and laughing Doojoon put down the three boxes of pizza and looked over to Kikwang and myself.  He’s taller than I thought he would be.  “Anais it’s nice to finally meet you though I feel like I know you already Kikwang never stops talking about you.”  He glanced over at Kikwang whose face flushed and he shifted away a little.

 Smiling I bowed a little to Doojoon a little, “It’s nice to meet you as well if I had known you were getting pizza I would have given you money though.” 

He waved me off, “Don’t worry about it adding one extra person wasn’t much more and you like cheese right?  I remember Kikwang telling me that but I wasn’t sure and I left my phone here so-” 

Before he could finish the room erupted into outrage as Yoseob had somehow managed to win.  It seemed as though the pizza had been completely forgotten.  Doojoon was about to snap them out of it but I shook my head.  A few seconds later I whistled loudly and everyone stopped and turned, I loved that my whistle still could silence a room.  “You guys are letting the pizza get cold you’ll have another match later but right now eat what your leader bought for you.” 

They scrambled over to the boxes like scolded children while mumbling greetings and I couldn’t help but laugh, Skyler always told me I would make a good teacher.  Dongwoon however was the first to realize that he had yet to greet me, walking over he grinned sheepishly and bowed a little.  “Hey noona,” I bowed back a bit, “so you’re spending the day with us right?”  I nodded and his grin widened, “Awesome you can play against me next!  Hyung said you were good at Mario Kart.”  Oh I’m a beast but I wouldn’t reveal that just yet instead I just nodded and took of my gloves. 

“Sounds fun but first eat I don’t think fans would be too happy if Godwoon lost weight.”  Still grinning he went back to the pizza.  After the others got their pizza they turned and chorused a greeting similar to what Doojoon gave.  Turning to Kikwang who was now shifted awkwardly away to the pizza I grinned, “I feel so popular you guys know me already.” 

“Sorry noona we were distracted.”

“Don’t worry about it Yoseob but,” I pointed to them and smirked, “I challenge you to Mario Kart after I devour this pizza.”  I wasn’t sure what they were laughing at that I would beat them or me devouring the pizza.  Before I could even come over Kikwang handed me a plate.  “So prepare yourselves boys.” 

Still laughing they let me take a seat on the couch next to Kikwang and Doojoon sat next to him while Hyunseung squeezed in on the edge.  Junhyung took a nearby chair and Yoseob sat at his feet while Doojoon sat near the game.  Small talk kept the air light, mostly they asked about how my portfolio was going.  Eventually the conversation turned to how much food I could actually eat after I finished my fourth piece of pizza.  I expected something along the lines of I ate too much and that I was going to get fat since I heard that all too frequently from my Korean friends at school.  Instead they were completely fascinated by it.  “What you guys act like it’s impossible for a girl to eat a whole pizza or something.”  Granted I had only eaten half but still.  “My friend Annabelle can eat a whole pizza and still have room for some sort of dessert and she’s skinner than me.”  None of them were convinced of that.  Eventually I had to pull up Annabelle’s Facebook page and showed her to them.  Even then they hardly believed it.  If she ever found out I showed her picture to idols I think she’d skin me alive.  “And no she doesn’t work out either she’s just got damn good genes.” 

I debated on getting another piece but decided against it and after cleaning up my small mess I pointed to Dongwoon who had already devoured four pieces of pizza himself.  “You sir, I challenge you to a battle of the ages.  Do you accept?”

He smirked and handed me a controller, “Bring it on noona.”  I took the controller and sat down on the floor away from the others knowing that I can get kind of violent with this game. 

I have to admit that I wasn’t surprised that the room was pretty much split on support.  As the game started Yoseob, Junhyung and Doojoon were rooting for Dongwoon while Kikwang and Hyunseung were behind me.  About halfway through the match it turned more into a match of who could shout the loudest, as if that helped us play better.  I just barely ended up winning and after some victory high fives from Kikwang and Hyunseung Dongwoon poked my shoulder. “Best two out of three?” 

“Bring it on.”

Needless to say he beat me the second time.  Teasingly I told him that he was holding back on me before but I was convinced for a bit that he was really going to beat me.  Imagine my surprise when I just barely managed to win the third round.  I honestly didn’t believe it and after Kikwang tackled me into a hug I asked the younger boy if he let me win.  He assured me that he didn’t let me win but I wasn’t entirely convinced.  “Who shall be my next victim?”   In a best two out of three match I beat Junhyung and Yoseob. And I have to admit I never thought that a game could bring people together so quickly.  By the time that I beat Yoseob all the awkward atmosphere disappeared and Dongwoon was even teasing Kikwang about not bringing me over sooner.  Crazy boys. 

After Hyunseung pretty much demolished me I accepted defeat and took my spot next to Kikwang again.  They all battled each other for a while until Yoseob held up Soul Caliber, and declared himself the champion of it.  Which led to a lot of insults thrown back and forth before Doojoon was the first one to challenge him to a battle.  And, let’s just say Yoseob was dethroned quickly. 

We ended up playing that for the rest of the night and used the left over pizza and some ramen for dinner even though someone mentioned ordered chicken but we all completely forgot about it.  After three different ‘tournaments’ Junhyung was declared the almighty ruler of all things Soul Caliber which came as surprise I think the only way he beat Doojoon was by button mashing.  Granted I’m a button masher too.    

Around ten, I got a couple of calls from Ben and against my better judgment I decided to ignore them and kept talking with the boys as if nothing was wrong.  After a little while they asked about my music interest and when I told them about the Beatles and how I could play most of their songs on the guitar I instantly regretted it, they wanted to hear.  I hate my mouth I swear.  If they all weren’t amazing singers I probably wouldn’t have minded but they were and it scared me witless.  Just in time Ben called me again and I pretended to be shocked.  “And looks like the boyfriend wants me back home.  I’ll see you guys later?”  They all groaned unhappily and tried to convince me to stay but another call from Ben quickly silenced that. 

After quick goodbye’s and demands that I should visit them again I slipped out the door, making sure that no one saw me.  I was waiting for the elevator when an arm looped through mine.  I didn’t need to look up to know who it was.  “Did you think I’d let you walk home all by yourself?”  I grinned and shrugged; “Besides your boyfriend has called you about five times not entirely sure I want you to meet him alone.”

He honestly sounded so worried but I couldn’t share the same worry, laughing a little I shook my head and shrugged again.  “Ben is harmless if anything he’ll get yelled at for leaving me angry voicemails.” 

Kikwang didn’t look all that convinced.  “I guess.  But you had fun today right?”

“Oh it was amazing your band mates are awesome!”

He laughed and I knew his was smiling by the way his eyes crinkled.  “Much better than meeting the parents, huh?”

Blushing, I nudged his hip with my own and chuckled.  “I have to admit Doojoon is kinda like a dad though.”

This time he laughed a little louder drawing the attention of some of the people that were in the entrance area of the apartment building.  “Yeah he gets that a lot.” 

I remember reading somewhere how Doojoon was like the dad and Junhyung was like the mom but I never really thought much about it until today, it really was true.  “So I’ve heard.  But you realize now I’m going to have to brush up on my Mario Kart and Soul Caliber skills and come back and defeat you all?”

Even though he had his scarf covering his mouth the white puff of air still made its way through the thick material and I smiled a little.  “I’m sure we’ll all look forward to it.” 

The rest of the walk was quiet mostly because the wind was almost too strong to try and talk much.  In a way I was glad I liked the quiet moments with Kikwang, he was one of the few people besides Skyler that I didn’t feel nervous around when it was quiet.  When we got to my floor and down my hallway I was surprised to see Ben standing outside my door looking angrier than I expected.  As we got closer he seemed to get angrier and it wasn’t until we stopped a few feet from him that I still had my arm in Kikwang’s.  As casually as possible I unhooked arms with him and smiled half-heartedly at Ben.  “What’s up Ben?”

“Can we talk?”  His voice was grim and left no room for argument. 

“Uh…yeah sure I guess.”  I turned to Kikwang and smiled just a little.  “Thanks for walking me home Kikwang I’ll talk to you later alright.”

He glanced between Ben and me and though he looked like he wanted to protest he sighed and gave me a brief hug and leaned down to me ear.  “If you need me don’t hesitate to call me alright?”  I nodded and hugged him back.  He looked at Ben one more time before turning and leaving, and once he was down the hall I turned back to Ben and waited for him to say something. 

When he shifted awkwardly for a bit and didn’t say a word I grew a little nervous.  “What is it Ben?”

“I’m going back to England.  For good.” 

Okay wasn’t expecting that.