Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Hi Diary,

Today I've just come home after spending the weekend at Kris hyung’s new second house with Luhan hyung, Minseok hyung, Jongin, Kyungsoo hyung, Chanyeol hyung, Baekhyun hyung, Chen hyung, Tao hyung and Kris hyung himself. I can say I had fun with them all, I really missed gathering with my hyungs. Kris hyung is now a rich young boss like Luhan hyung. The first night, these two hyungs bought us some meat and we had a barbecue party together. Kyungsoo hyung and Chen hyung were in charge of cooking, but they ended up burning our precious meats, so Chanyeol hyung helped them two. I didn’t know this cousin of mine was that good at cooking, the food tasted so heavenly. Or maybe it was because I was really hungry? That night I was so happy because Luhan hyung fed me instead of Minseok hyung. It was like winning so many times.


It was cold, but we all played outside. Minseok hyung brought a soccer ball, we all played soccer and snow fight too. Some of us even got into the freezing water in the pool. It had been a long time I hadn’t been that happy. Luhan hyung was around me all the time, but so was Minseok hyung. I was okay with that because Luhan hyung didn’t ignore me, he talked a lot to me instead. He also seemed so free and happy, he laughed and showed his dork face a lot. I was glad he could be freed from all the pressure at his workplace. At night some of us slept together, we played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get the three bedrooms. I wasn't sure if I was lucky or unlucky; I got to sleep on the floor in the living room with Luhan hyung, Chen hyung and Minseok hyung. Luhan hyung slept between me and Minseok hyung and I think you can guess what happened that night.


I was happy, but not after we returned home.

On the first night of the year 2009, my old friend Kris called me and invited me and Sehun to come and stay at his new house far away outside Seoul for the weekend. Our other friends would be there too, so I gladly accepted his invitation. Sehun was so excited about it that he literally bounced around like a bunny while we were packing our stuff.


“Sehun-ah, please calm down for a bit and help me out,” I chuckled as I struggled to zip up our suitcase. We stuffed everything in one bag to make it simple because we were only going to stay for two nights, but apparently we brought too many unnecessary stuff.


“Hyung, you bring too many boxers.”


“What do you mean too many? I’ve counted them, I can’t possibly wear only one for three days. This bag is too full because you put Pinku Pinku in it. Can’t you just hold it?”


“No, I can’t carry Pinku Pinku around. Chen hyung and Baek hyung will laugh at me. Your shoes take more space in the bag, you see? Take them out, one pair is enough.”


“No way, they’re my favorite shoes!”


“Just wear them then.”


“I want to wear the other pair too.”


Sehun snorted and rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath, “Such a kid. And people say he’s a charming boss.”


“Ya, I heard that! Take it back!”


Sehun laughed as I got on my knees and aimed my balled hand at him. He pinched my nose and stuck his tongue out at me before getting up quickly and running away to his bed. I chased him and we ended up rolling on the bed, laughing and tickling each other.


I was so glad I had my brother back, he was no longer a brat anymore. Finally he had grown up not only physically but mentally as well. What had changed him? Well, some time before I had almost gotten in danger because of him and it was a complicated story, but thankfully he had been quick enough to fix the situation. Since then he had stopped messing around with me and started to protect me instead, like the manly brother he was. He was so precious to me and everyday I found myself excited to see him whenever I went home from my office. I had started to spend my time in his room again, talking about stuff and laughing together with him until late night. Somehow Sehun became a very loveable person to me; back then I had loved him as my boyfriend, but then I simply loved him as himself, an Oh Sehun, I couldn’t even describe it. We became like best friends. I hadn’t seen him cry anymore; maybe we had become used to our lives as brothers. Maybe, I thought.


But I wasn't the only one who found Sehun cute and loveable; the others who were going to stay with us also saw him as a maknae that needed to be showered with lots of love. Only they hadn't gotten the chance to baby him because we hadn't had a gathering like this for quite some time. Sehun was close to all of his hyungs, but I'd make it clear that I was his real hyung here.


On January 2nd, ten of us went to Kris' house together, separated in two cars; mine and Kris'. I of course was in the same car with Minseok and Sehun, with the addition of the two noisy puppies Chen and Baekhyun. I was the one who drove the car, with Sehun sitting next to me and Minseok behind me. Chanyeol insisted to drive Kris' car; he was with Jongin, Kyungsoo, Tao and the owner of the car himself. Chen and Baekhyun wouldn't stop singing and laughing all the way; they were so loud, but at least they kept me awake. When they began to throw some lame jokes, Sehun joined them as well, and strange enough we all laughed like crazy I almost bumped Kris' car in front of us.


"Look at your face, hyung," Sehun wheezed between his laugh and pointed at my face.


"No, look at your face," I laughed as well at his dork face. Chen and Baekhyun didn't even stop talking until at one point we had to stop at a rest area because we all had to pee due to too much laughing.


"Luhan-ah~ I'm hungry," Minseok whined and patted his tummy. Once he said that, the others began to whine too, begging me and Kris to buy them food. So we all had lunch at the rest area.


"Luhan hyung~ Please buy me this!"


"Luhan hyung, Luhan hyung! Please lend me your credit card, I forgot to bring money!"


"Lu ge~ Lu ge~"


"My wallet is gone! Who took my wallet??"


"Hyung, please hurry up. I'm so hungry I'm dying here! Ohhh."


"Can you guys please shut up? Here here take my money and buy your own food. Kris, don't just sit there please help me out, give me your wallet."


"You’re the mommy here, Lulu. Ya Baozi, hand my wallet to your hubby.”


“Okay. He’s not my hubby yet though.”


“Hey guys did you hear that? He said yet! That means he will be!” Baekhyun roared and the others cheered because of him. Face flushed, Minseok waved his hands and tried to fix his words, but the boys ignored his attempt.


Everyone was talking at the same time and while I was walking back and forth, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Sehun was watching me quietly, looking highly amused. Next to him was Tao, talking about his new expensive-looking coat and bag like there was no tomorrow. I was secretly glad that this wushu panda wasn’t in the same car as Sehun; he would have tortured my brother’s poor ears.


“Sehun-ah, let’s take a picture together!” My ears caught Tao’s voice. They took a picture together using Tao’s phone; Sehun with his usual V sign, Tao with his sassy girl style. Seeing that, the others flocked up around them and made silly poses.


“Luhan hyung, come here,” Sehun called me and pushed Tao away, letting me take the spot next to him. Tao gaped at Sehun in disbelief, but then took our picture together anyway. Sehun encircled his arm around my waist, put his head on my shoulder and smiled cutely at the camera. He looked so adorable in the picture, with his light brown hair he looked like a little boy.


“I look ugly here, I pressed the button while I wasn’t ready,” Tao pouted at the picture on his phone.


“You’re just ugly in the first place,” Sehun said nonchalantly, making the others laugh and Tao pout harder.


“Don’t worry baby, you’re beautiful to me,” I caught Kris whisper to Tao, but the latter pushed his face away and sulked childishly. I gave Kris a curious smile; apparently there was something between them. Tao should just stop bothering Sehunnie then, I thought. I myself was surprised that I could have such thought.


During lunch, suddenly everyone wanted to be around Sehun, I found it pretty strange. They took turn feeding him with their different kinds of food.


“Eat well, maknae~” Chanyeol cooed as he put his food into Sehun’s opened mouth. Sehun gladly took it in, his cheeks puffing out and his eyes curving up into crescents. After he was done eating, he walked around to approach the others one by one, peeking at their food through their shoulders. He also came to Kris, wrapped his arms around his neck from behind and poked his cheek, surprising him a little bit.


“Kris hyung~ Thank you for buying me my food,” he said sweetly and giggled, causing Kris to grin bashfully. I glanced at them and furrowed my eyebrows as I absentmindedly let Minseok feed me. Why did he thank Kris only? I bought the food too!


After lunch, we continued our way to Kris’ house. Minseok and Sehun exchanged position; Minseok sat next to me, and Sehun behind me, so he could join Chen and Baekhyun joking and singing together. The three of them roared in laughter, especially when they started to talk about dirty jokes.


"What do a Rubik's cube and a peepee have in common?"


"What?"


"What?"


"The longer you play them, the harder they get!"


They roared again, Minseok covered his mouth and giggled shyly, while I rolled my eyes and mumbled to myself, "Please, playing Rubik's cube is not hard. What a lame joke."


Their jokes eventually got dirtier and my ears were burning red because of them. Minseok too had his face red like a crab, he stole shy glances at me just to look away outside the window and giggle shyly to himself.


"Can you guys please be quiet? I'm trying to focus on driving here."


"Don't worry, hyung, we're almost there! You can have the bathroom all for yourself later. Maybe Minnie hyung can give a hand too?" Baekhyun cackled and the three at the back high-fived each other.


Not able to fight back, I silently inhaled a deep breath and exhaled in defeat.


"Sehunnie should join us beagle line from now on! This kid is crazy!" Chen suggested, "How about that? So we're four now; Chanyeollie, you Baek, me, and our new member Sehunnie!"


"Awesome, new member! We should burn some meat tonight to celebrate it," Baekhyun and Chen hit their fists together and encircled their arms around Sehun, who was sitting between them.


"What's with all this 'line' thing?" Minseok asked, "What line am I?"


"Hmm, what do you think, Baekhyun-ah?" Chen asked, "Luhan hyung and Minseok hyung should be in the same line."


"They're 'half-fifty hyungs' line," Baekhyun snickered, "together with Kris hyung."


"Ya, don't make us sound old! We're still twenty four now," I objected.


"Not in a few months," Sehun giggled, "they're probably ready to have some grandchildren."


"Oh, come to think of it, they're old enough to get married!" Chen said.


"Nah," Baekhyun waved his hand, "Luhan hyung is already bound to the cushion in his office. Remember when we visited him? He was sleeping on the couch with the pillow trapped between his legs, sticking to his crotch. He was that desperate to mate that he gave his ity to a cushion. What a poor hyung."


"Yeah, he was in heat, he ended up humping a pillow like a lonely doggy," Chen shook his head and held his chest sympathetically.


"I was not in heat! I didn't realize it was there," I furrowed my eyebrows and puffed out my flushed cheeks.


"You should have called Minseok hyung to come and help you out," Sehun said, making the other two puppies giggle, but I could catch a tiny bit of sarcastic tone in his voice. I ignored it, glanced at Minseok and winked at him, causing his cheeks to turn a somewhat more apparent shade of pink.


As soon as we arrived at our destination, the boys ran all over the place like hyper kids to see every parts of it. It was a quite big place, there were even a swimming pool and a smaller round spa pool at the back, but there were only three bedrooms with twin-sized beds, so not all of us could get the beds.


“I want to sleep here!”


“No, I’ll sleep here with Kyungie, you sleep outside.”


“Ya, this is my room, I own this place.”


“Respect your guests, hyung. Of all people you should be the one who sleep outside, be a good host.”


While everyone was bickering about who got the bedrooms, Sehun nonchalantly remarked, “Let’s just do rock-paper-scissors.”


“Oh! Maknae’s right," Chanyeol said, "The ones who lose should sleep in the living room, we can move the table and the couches aside to put some mats there, it’s big enough. Tomorrow we can do rock-paper-scissors again so it’ll be fair.”


“What if I lose both? This place is mine, I should get the bed,” Kris protested, but everyone ignored his complaint and started to do the rock-paper-scissors. Maybe it wasn’t my lucky day; I lost and that meant I had to sleep on the floor that night. But then I changed my mind when both Sehun and Minseok also lost the game; it was probably my lucky day. Sleeping with them, with the addition of the troll Chen, would be quite a lot of fun. So for the first night, the ones who got to sleep in the bedrooms were Baekhyun and Chanyeol together, Kris with Tao, and Jongin obviously with his boyfriend Kyungsoo.


As the one who was usually in charge of cooking, Kyungsoo went straight to the kitchen and checked the fridge and everything he could open there. “There’s nothing here. We’re going to starve tonight if we don’t go buy some food.”


“Ya hyung, how could you treat your guests like this?” Jongin whined at Kris, “You don’t even have any ramyun here!”


“I forgot to bring some food from my other house,” Kris scratched the back of his head clumsily, “I guess Lulu can go buy some?”


“And why does it have to be me? It’s always me,” I complained, lazily curling on the sofa like a cat with my head in Minseok’s lap.


“I can’t go, jetlag,” Kris mumbled as he made his way into his room. “Taozi, give them my car key and wallet, I really need some sleep.”


“Jetlag?” Minseok furrowed his eyebrows, “but we’re still in Korea and we only travelled on land for some hours."


“Don’t listen to him, hyung. He speaks nonsense,” Sehun mumbled sleepily, leaning on Baekhyun’s body, who had already passed out on the couch.


“Who will go buy the food?” Kyungsoo asked, looking at us one by one with his normally wide eyes. No one answered because we were all too sleepy. “I’ll go with Jongin. But if none of you want to help, don’t expect some dinner tonight.”


“Ohh goodness alright alright, I’ll go with you guys,” I decided to slide off the couch and shuffled towards the couple, dragging Minseok along with me.


"I'll go too, then." Sehun got off of Baekhyun and went to us. His previous spot was immediately taken by Chen.


"Nice!" Kyungsoo beamed and clasped his hands, "Now we can go."


And so, we went off to the nearest market by Kris’ car. While driving along the way, Kyungsoo sang some ballad songs, while Jongin nodded his head slowly to the song and the rest of us slept at the back; I leaned my head on Minseok’s shoulder and hugged his body, and Sehun leaned on me with his arm around my waist. It felt warm and comfortable like that, snuggling with my two precious babies.


Soon we arrived at the market and five of us went around to buy some meat. I rarely went to such place, so it was still pretty amusing to me. We found some snack shops along the way; both Sehun and Minseok kept dragging me from one shop to another to try everything, while Kyungsoo remained on his track, focusing on buying food for dinner with Jongin trailing behind him like an obedient puppy. There was this one stall that sold some kind of pancakes, Minseok asked me to buy him that but I ended up buying them for all five of us. After wasting some more time looking around, we finally went out of the market carrying some plastic bags full of beef, pork, chickens, and some vegetables that we had bought using Kris's money and mine. Sehun was being a good boy, he took all the stuff I was holding and walked next to me while happily talking about some kind of food that his biological mother had used to buy him when he had been younger. I liked it when he told me things about himself, it strangely made me feel closer to him.


"Thanks for buying our food, hyung. You've spent a lot today," Sehun said, showing off his cute eye smile. "I thanked Kris hyung earlier, but I forgot to thank you."


I dropped my gaze down to my shoes and smiled shyly at them. "It's okay. I'm one of the oldest here, so I should take care of you all."


"That's my hyung," Sehun chuckled, "I'm so proud of my hyung."


I looked up at my taller brother and cracked a happy grin, making him laugh a little. He pinched my cheek with his free hand and hugged my arm as we walked back to Kris' car together. I had my other hand in Minseok's grip all the time, but mostly I focused on what Sehun was talking about; I didn't even realize that Minseok was holding his phone, replying a text message from one of our friends, asking him when he was coming back to the house with an unneccessary addition of a winking emoticon.


As soon as we arrived home, we were immediately attacked by five hungry boys and one drunk-looking guy, who was none other than Kris, probably had just woken up after his "jetlag" recovery. I noticed that Chen went straight to Minseok and took the plastic bag in his hand, flashing a wink before taking the food to the kitchen. Minseok seemed flustered and I got somewhat unhappy, finding someone else probably trying to "flirt" subtly with my boyfriend. Minseok was about to go to the kitchen, but I pulled him away to the opposite direction.


"Eh? Lulu?" Minseok turned his head back and forth between me and Chen, who was peeking from the kitchen. I dragged him to the back of the house and sat him on a chair at the porch. He looked up at me in bewilderment and asked, "What's wrong?"


"Nothing!" I smiled a little bit too big, "I just want to spend time alone with you here. Is that okay, baby?"


"Ah~ Why didn't you say so?" he brightened up and patted the seat next to him, "Come, sit here."


Right after I had sat down, Sehun poked his head out of the back door behind us and called out, "Luhan hyung! Wanna take a shower together?"


I rounded my eyes and swiftly turned facing him, yet my face dropped immediately when I found Baekhyun and Jongin behind him, waving at me with goofy grins on their faces. I had thought Sehun had intended to ask me to shower together with him only.


"Minnie hyung should join too! Come hyung, Sehunnie brought some rubber ducks and water guns!" Baekhyun exclaimed to the world as he ran back inside to the bathroom like an overly excited puppy, with Jongin trailing behind him.


"Ya Baekhyun hyung, I told you they're not mine! Chen hyung put them in my bag!" Sehun shouted back and stomped his foot, and then turned his head back towards me and Minseok and smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry, did I just disturb you guys?"


"No, it's okay!" Minseok beamed, "You can sit here together with us if you want."


"Oh, I'd like to, but Jongin and Baekhyun hyung are waiting in the bathroom. I guess you two need some private time, no? I'll leave now, see you later!"


He turned his back to us and before I could realize it, I called out to him, "Sehun-ah!"


He froze visibly for a split second before sparing a glance at me past his shoulder. "Yes? What is it, hyung?"


"Umm," I bowed my head and tried to find some words to say, "Uh, d-don't spend too long in the bathroom. Y-You'll catch a cold."


This time Sehun turned half his body facing me and raised his eyebrows, only making me bow my head deeper sheepishly. His eyes then curved up into crescents as he cutely tilted his head to the side and said, "Of course, hyung. Come inside soon, it's cold out here. Minseok hyung, please take good care of my hyung."


"Okay, I sure will!" Minseok gave Sehun a thumb up. With that, my brother went inside without turning back again.


I pouted and sank in my seat. Giggling, Minseok tilted his head to see my face and pinched my cheek. "Are you doing okay with him?"


"Sehunnie? Sure. We're okay."


"Then why are you pouting?"


I fixed my face and gave him a goofy grin. "Is this okay?"


Minseok laughed and tapped me on the nose. "Oh come on." And then his smile faltered as he leaned back into his seat. "Am I still causing trouble between you two?"


"Ya ya, don't do this again, baby." I gently pulled him and enveloped him with my arms, ruffled his hair and kissed his temple. "You've never caused any troubles between me and Sehunnie, I've told you that many times. Stop thinking that way, alright?"


Minseok nodded and slightly jutted out his bottom lip. "But, have you told him about it?"


"Ah... About that. No I haven't, but Mom and Dad said we should tell him soon."


A doubtful smile found its way to Minseok's lips as we stared at each other in silence. I knew what was troubling him, it had always been the same. "Come here, baby." I held his chin and tilted my head, pressed my lips on his ever so softly. "Don't worry about it," I whispered, "We'll be happy together."


Minseok held my cheek and captured my lips back in his. We stayed like that for awhile until a certain noisy boy came and shocked us with his loud voice, causing us to jump in our seats and pull away from each other immediately.


"WAAHHH KISSING SCENE!"


"Dammit, Chenchen!" Minseok cursed out of shock and we both held our pounding chests, looking at the guffawing troll with wide eyes. Following him was Kyungsoo, peeking out the door and asking with his usual startled face, "Who? Who kissed who? Huh? Oh, it's just Luhan hyung and Minseok hyung. I thought it was Jongin."


He went inside and came out again carrying an outdoor grill like the one in Chen's hands, walking past us towards the backyard. He and Chen set the grills there, acting completely normal as if they hadn't just disturbed my private time with my boyfriend. But maybe such thing called privacy didn't exist at a place full of kids like them. I didn't really mind it though, I was just surprised. I was glad to have them all around.


I hopped back onto my feet and dragged Minseok towards the other two to watch them prepare the grill. They were in charge of cooking for that night's dinner.


"Are you guys going to cook now?" I asked.


"Nope, we're just putting them here. It's still too early," Kyungsoo said.


"Will you need some help? I guess two isn't enough to cook for ten," Minseok said.


"Don't underestimate us, hyung!" Chen giggled, "Besides, Chanyeollie will be preparing some side dishes too. Don't worry, your dinner will be ready on time."


And so, Minseok and I went back inside because it was getting a bit colder. When we walked in, Chanyeol, Kris and Tao were watching something funny on the TV together in the living room.


"Lulu, let's join them," Minseok pulled my hand and pointed at the three, who were laughing endlessly.


"You go there first, baby. I need to go to the toilet."


"Toilet?" Minseok twisted his arms together and leaned closer, cracking a naughty grin and wiggling his eyebrows mischievously, "You're not going to do what Baekhyunnie said in the car, are you?"


"What? No," I laughed and pushed him away, "I'm just going to pee. You don't have to give me a hand for that. Now shoo."


I went away to the only toilet I knew, since I hadn't explored all parts of the house. There was also a bathroom close to the toilet, and it turned out that Sehun, Jongin and Baekhyun were showering there. I could hear their noisy laugh and squeals. After doing my business in the toilet, I went to eavesdrop what the three were doing in the bathroom.


"Ya hyung! Stop spraying me, the water is washing off my shampoo!"


"Keep firing, fire! Fire! Move to the , officer Byun! I'm dealing with the peepee!"


I could hear Sehun laugh and squeal at the same time, along with a loud squirting sound of a water gun. "Stop it, Kkamjong, it tickles!"


Inappropriate kids play, I thought to myself.


Squeak! "Ow! Baekhyun down, Baekhyun down! Target Oh hit me on the head with duckie bomb!"


"Hold on, hold on! Officer Kim gives shampoo bottle to officer Byun!"


"Officer Byun catches shampoo bottle! Officer Byun uses shampoo!" Squirt!


"YAA! Baekhyun hyung!"


There was a stomping sound, probably Sehun's foot, followed by Baekhyun and Jongin's laughter. Soon I heard some more squirting sounds, also Baekhyun and Jongin's shouts, but in the end the three dorks laughed together.


"Sehun-ah, you're wasting our shampoo!"


"You two started it first!"


I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Kids/. I was glad that my brother seemed so happy though. 'Maybe I should have joined them,' I thought. But then I froze at the mention of my name.


"Sehun-ah, do you still shower together with Luhan hyung?" Jongin asked.


"Nope, not anymore. He only showers with Minseok hyung."


"That's not surprising," Baekhyun said, "They're like a married couple. Aww look Sehunnie is pouting! Ya, Sehun-ah, don't make that face. How about you just shower with me from now on? I'm no less beautiful than Luhan hyung, you see?"


"Ow no my eyes!" Jongin exclaimed and Sehun laughed a little.


"I like Luhan hyung's body better."


"Ouch, you're pretty honest for a naughty maknae."


I went back to the living room with a tinge of pink on my cheeks.


Later some of us cooked the rice for dinner and some other prepared the food for side dishes in the kitchen. At night, we all gathered around the swimming pool at the backyard. Kyungsoo and Chen were burning the meats on the grill, while the others were joking and laughing with each other. I was kind of getting bullied by these heartless kids. I gave Minseok some codes for help from afar, yet he seemed to be very hungry, so he waited next to the grill and remained oblivious while eyeing all the meat intently with his mouth slightly opened.


"Don't drool on our dinner, hyung," Chen said to him, cackling while continuously moving his torch back and forth above the meats. The fire was getting a little bit too big for my liking, but the two mamas didn't see any problems with that, neither did the other oblivious boys.


"Oh? Chen-ah, Kyungsoo-ya, I think it's done already," Minseok said, anxiously staring at our dinner.


As soon as the two moved all the meats to some plates on a table there, the other boys surrounded them like hungry baby wolves. They picked their chopsticks and the dishes were empty in no time.


"Wahh~ Finally- Oh wait."


Suddenly everyone stopped munching, some of them spat the meats back into their bowls. "Goodness what have I just eaten??" They commented about the food. The meat was so bitter, it was like eating a medicine. I halfheartedly chewed it and pushed it down my throat with all my might. When we took a closer look at the remaining pieces in our bowls, we had just realized that they were burnt.


"Ohh I can't believe my babe cooked this," Jongin said in disbelief.


Kyungsoo took a piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth. "Mmm... I think it's still okay though."


"Yeah, it's still edible," Chen said with full mouth. "Kyungsoo-ya, let's make some more."


"Ya ya, make it right, we're starving," Baekhyun said. Taking the initiative, Chanyeol got up from where he was sitting and went to the two cooks.


"Let me get some meats, I'll fry them and finish the soup inside," he offered. With that, he saved our dinner that night.


We brought all the food to the living room and ate together. The air was cold outside,