CHAPTER THREE

            You’ve outdone yourself this time, Joonmyeon. I will open my heart to this girl, but if she gets hurt in the end…I will not be accountable for it. You won’t leave Exo. You’d never do such a thing. We all know that, but you made it seem so true, and for that…I applaud you.

            You were woken up by someone petting your hair as if you were a dog…again. You groaned and turned your head away from the hand, feeling somewhat annoyed that people didn’t know not to touch an eight year old’s head. You felt the hand stop and move, making the spot feel cold. You heard the person sigh and then start to shake you.

            “Sweetie,” a deep voice said. “Suho hyung said it’s time to get up…dinner’s ready.” You felt his hand on your shoulder, shaking you gently. You slowly opened your eyes, seeing Chanyeol in front of you. He smiled gently at you, making a peace sign with his fingers and waving it at you as if to say ‘hi’. You giggled, grabbed his hand, and played with his fingers, putting your palm on his to see how much bigger it was.

            “Chanyeol-ahh!” You both heard Suho yell. “Hurry up! Her food’s getting cold!” You let go of his hand, threw off the blanket that someone put on you, and threw your legs over to the floor. Chanyeol tried to pick you up, but you pushed his hands away gently, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

            “M-may I-I w-walk b-by m-myself-f O-Oppa? P-please?” You asked, using a bit of your natural aegyo. He reluctantly nodded, helping you up. You walked by yourself, Chanyeol standing behind you in case you fell. You got to a door, not really using your sprained ankle, and walked into the dining area when Chanyeol opened the door for you. You walked in, seeing everyone impatient, turning to look at you two when you walked in. All of their eyes widening when they saw Chanyeol wasn’t carrying you in like Suho told him to do. All of them – besides you, of course – knew Suho was already very protective of you. He wouldn’t let anyone go into where you were, even Kris; only Chanyeol and himself were aloud where you slept. So, it was no surprise to them when Suho stood up abruptly, his eyes almost blazing in anger.

            “CHANYEOL!” He bellowed. You cringed, backing up to Chanyeol. “Didn’t I tell you to carry her here?! She’s hurt!” He growled out the rest like a dog and was about to come and carry you himself when Chanyeol swooped you up, setting you in a chair with a bunch of books on it. It was like a make-shift booster seat and it made you upset to see you were sitting on really expensive College books.

            Chanyeol then sat in his own seat next to you, Suho glaring at him from across the table. It made you feel really guilty for getting him in trouble, and glanced at him to see him looking at the table. “S-sorry, O-Oppa,” you whispered to him. He looked up at you and nodded, gently smiling.

The table then became an uproar, people grabbing food from every bowl and platter. You looked at your plate, seeing it empty with a glass of milk next to it. You grabbed the milk, suddenly feeling very thirsty, and gulped it down as if it was the last liquid on the Earth. After the others were done, and only scraps were left, you grabbed the food. The boys stopped eating, seeing a little hand grab things out of the corner of their eyes.

“Uh…sweetie, what are you doing?” Chanyeol asked you, watching you get the smallest portion of potato salad – mainly what was left over in the bowl that no one grabbed – and putting it on your plate. You did it with everything else, as well: grabbing the smallest and last piece of bread, the last scraps of the turkey and steak, and with every canned vegetable, you took every vegetable that was left in the lukewarm bowls.

“G-getting d-dinner-r f-for m-myself-f,” You answered, not even looking at him. You grabbed everything you wanted until your plate was half filled. You then bowed your head, prayed, and began to eat, gulfing down everything you had on your plate. When you were almost finished, you heard everyone else go back to eating, but still feeling their eyes on you.

“So, why did you take the scraps then? I am sure the others would have not minded if you took some of it in the beginning,” one of the others with big eyes asked.

“I-I d-don’t l-live h-here,” you answered, looking at him shyly. “W-why sh-should I t-take s-someone e-else’s f-food th-they w-worked s-so h-hard t-to ma-make i-it and p-pay f-for it-t? B-besides, y-you a-all a-are o-older th-than m-me…I sh-should b-be l-last, s-sir. I-it’s al-also a p-plus, t-too, b-because I n-never r-really c-could e-eat a-at h-home. J-Just dri-drink w-water.” You continued eating, hearing the others hum around you as if thinking about it, before one sitting on the other side of Chanyeol said started to laugh.

“Y-You should learn from her, maknae!” He howled in laughter, making the others start to smile as well, except the one next to you.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever hyung,” the scowling man next to you answered. You turned to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked at you, and then your hand. You removed your hand after patting his shoulder, listening to the others ‘aw’ at your small action of trying to comfort the maknae. The man from before squealed suddenly, getting up, and practically ran to you. He pinched your cheeks, smiling like a lunatic.

“Aww! She’s so adorable!” He squealed out, pinching your cheeks gently. You giggled cutely at him, making him almost faint from the adorableness. A darker man stood up, pulling the man away from you.

“Okay, okay, Beakhyun-hyung. Calm down,” he said calming the “Beakhyun” boy down. You smiled at him before turning back around to finish your dinner.

“Wait a minute. How can you still be alive if you only drank water for most of your life?” Suho asked, looking appalled, along with the others. They never really had a way with young kids, especially girls, but seeing what you did, they knew you were unique.

“I-in a-all r-reality, a h-human c-can l-live o-off of w-water f-for a w-week t-to a m-month, d-depending o-on y-your b-body f-fat. But, y-your b-body w-would t-turn on i-itself, e-eating a-away a-at y-your b-bones a-and m-muscles. I th-think i-if y-you were r-really b-big, y-your b-body w-would t-target th-the f-fat c-cells f-first. I w-would e-eat s-some f-fruits or v-vegetables d-during th-the week wh-whenever u-umma and a-appa and o-oppa w-were g-gone.” You stated, making them all look at you. They didn’t know that themselves, and seeing they were in college at SM still and you are an eight year old, they couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid. Yet, when you looked up at them, smiling, their insecurity faded, returning their frowns into bigger smiles than before.

  Once your plate was cleaned with no food on it, waited patiently for the others since they weren’t all done. Some even got up, leaving their empty or scrap filled plates on the table. You just sat there, watching everyone leave or finish eating, until everyone was done. You then grabbed Chanyeol’s plate, as well as the plate of the boy who sat next to you, and put them on top of yours, the silverware on the top plate. Chanyeol and the owl boy were the only ones with you, and watched you clean up the area around you, even wiping the three areas down with a napkin, putting the crumbs on the top plate. You then put the napkins in the empty glasses before putting the glasses neatly next to the plates.

You looked up at Chanyeol and opened your arms, allowing him to pick you up. He took you out of the kitchen and to the living room where all the rest seemed to be. He sat down in a one person chair with you on his lap. You laid down on his chest, the others huddled together, whispering. All of them were besides Suho. He was sitting in another one-seated chair next to a wall of text books and stories that you have either read or planned on reading one day when you had enough money to buy them. Suho looked up at saw you looking at the books and smiled. It looked like he was about to say something to you, but he was cut off by the others who gathered around you on a long couch, a love seat, and on the floor, all looking at you.

“So.” The dark skinned one said, watching you. You squirmed a bit, looking down to your lap. “What’s your name?” He said it gentler than before, making you look up.

“S-Samantha A-Akimoto-o. You c-can c-call m-me S-Sami, S-Sam, or Salvia,” you told him. They nodded.

“Well,” Suho said, putting his book down. “I am Suho, that’s Chanyeol you’re sitting on, the dark one is Kai, the one who pinched you earlier is Beakhyun, the one with you and Chanyeol in the dining room when everyone was gone, is D.O., this is Xiumin, Kris is next to him, next to him is Tao, then Luhan, Sehun, the one with the keyboard piano is Lay, and then Chen.” They nodded when their name came and you slowly started to open up, beginning to feel more comfortable than you ever had been with your parents. It was silent for a bit when they decided to talk to you again.

“What’s your favorite color?” Xiumin asked you, a big smile on your face.

“B-Blue.” You smiled small.

“Ah!” He nodded enthusiastically. “That’s mine, too!” He poked your stomach, making you giggle.

“Don’t forget Chen, Kai, and me, hyung!” Tao cried out, pouting. Xiumin nodded at him, turning to you as he rolled his eyes, smirking. You giggled at him.

“And them, too.”

“Okayyyy!” Chen said, moving in front of Xiumin. “Stop flirting with an eight-year-old, hyung. She’s too young.” He winked at you and looked at Xiumin who was beat red and scowling at Chen.

“Yah! Shut up!” Xiumin said and they got into a play fight, making the others laugh while you just smiled, watching.

“Okay, while they’re doing that,” Chanyeol tried to whisper in your ear. “Will you tell me why you couldn’t eat at your old house and how you met Suho?”

“Yah!” Suho said loudly, gaining everyone’s attention. “Park Chanyeol, you’re not good at whispering, your voice is too low; Xiumin, please stop wrestling Chen, you’re humiliating him in front of a lady; and Chen, stop being so mean!” The two got off the floor and sat in their rightful places from before while Chanyeol and the others laughed, even you. Suddenly, it got quiet once again, making you shift uncomfortably since everyone was staring at you.

“W-what, o-oppa-as?” You stuttered out, feeling your face heat up as you looked down at your lap. You heard the ones on the couches and love seat get up, including Suho, and sit down on the floor. Chanyeol even moved you somewhat under a half of him to sit on the ground also. They all looked up at you. “W-what is th-this, O-oppas? S-Story T-Time?” You playfully asked them, amused with their actions. Some chuckled while others looked at you seriously, mostly Suho, Kris, and Luhan.

“Sami, what is with the nickname, Salvia?” Luhan asked you.

“I-It’s a sp-special f-flower,” you answered. “I-It m-means: W-Wisdom; A-Always th-thinking of s-someone. M-my g-grandm-mother c-called m-me Salvia b-before sh-she d-died. V-Very s-sentimental t-to m-me.” He nodded and was about to ask you something again when he was cut off.

“Sami-ah,” Chanyeol began. “How did you meet Suho-hyung?” He asked it so innocently…it made you want to cry thinking about it, but you were strong, so you pushed the tears away, looking at Suho.

“F-Form?” Chanyeol nodded and you looked back at Suho, looking pointedly at the pillow one of them had brought out for you. He saw what you meant and nodded. You got up, and sat on the floor, Suho tossing you the pillow case. You then laid down carefully, putting your ankles together, as well as your hands before you put on the pillow case. The others looked really confused until you put the pillow case on and laid your head down. After that, you could hear each one gasp when they realized what you meant. You pulled the pillow case off, getting back up in your chair. “I-it w-was a p-pain t-trying t-to g-get th-the d-duct-t-tape o-off o-of me.”

They all looked at you with pity on their faces, but continued to ask you questions, even Suho started to ask questions.

“Sami, how did you end up in that alley?” Suho asked her.