“Noona~~~!! I'm lonely and bored! Yifan Gege is gone. Sehunnie is hanging out with Luhan again. And everyone else is busy...” the voice whined through the phone.
 

“Really, Tao? You called me at...what time is it?...Eleven thirty at night, to complain about being bored? Go to sleep.” Snow grumbled, half asleep, into her cell phone. The blasting of her dongsaeng's ringtone, EXO's 'Wolf' chorus had woken her up. She had started going to college in the area, so she spent a lot of time around the twelve members...well, eleven, since Kris had left. It was a sad day for everyone, her included, as she had a quiet crush on the male, but it faded with time.
 

“But Noona...the dorm is so empty! The only one here is Minseok Gege, but he won't play with me...” Tao continued to whine, and with her eyes still glued shut with sleep, she could picture the boy's face pouting on the other end of the line.
 

Half groaning, half growling, she flung the blankets off her body and gripped her phone with both hands, shaking it violently as if trying to wring her brother's neck through the hand-held device. When it returned to her ear, she grumbled, “Ask Minseok to get the coffee ready...you better have cheesecake in the fridge. I'll be there in twenty...” Snow glared at her phone's bright screen through squinting eyes, wishing he could see her, because if he could, maybe he'd burst into flames for disrupting her sleep. “...I hate you.”
 

“Love you too, Noona!” Tao replied, a huge smile replacing his pout before he hung up the phone.
 

Snow pulled on her black shiny jeans that she had been wearing earlier in the day, a red tank top, and a black and gray plaid button down shirt. She rolled the sleeves to her elbows and walked through her small apartment, brushing her ebony hair to the top of her head, before twisting the long locks into a messy bun. A pair of red hair sticks held the bun in place, but only just. Grabbing her keys and stuffing her feet into her red Nike hightops, she made her way to her car, griping the whole way about how she was going to 'knock the stupid out of him'.
 

Arriving at the dorm, she pressed the intercom system and waited. Tao answered, “Come on up, Noona!” He pressed a button to unlock the door and she entered, taking the elevator up to their floor. She didn't bother knocking on their door and just let herself in quietly. It was almost midnight when she arrived to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
 

Tao hurried over to greet her as she toed off her sneakers and proceeded to clap him over the head once, “Do you have a death wish? I was stuck in classes all morning and got called into work! You are so lucky I love you, Huang Zitao.” After berating him, she smiled cheekily and drew the tall boy into a tight hug and she kissed his cheek. “Is everyone sleeping? It's so quiet.”
 

“No, they went out. Just me and Xiumin Gege.” he noted, leading her into the kitchen where Xiumin was pouring a cup of coffee for himself.
 

“Annyeong, Minseok-ssi!” Snow greeted, bowing her head with a soft smile.
 

The young man turned and smiled at her in return, “Annyeong, Snow-ssi. Cup of coffee? Just made it.”
 

“You know me so well,” she purred, reaching out for the steaming mug he held out to her. After the first sip, she sighed in appreciation, humming contently, “Oh gods....you are my hero!”
 

Xiumin laughed and leaned against the counter, “You're here late. Wait, let me guess...Tao-yah begged you, didn't he?”
 

Snow tapped her nose and lifted her brows in an expression that spoke louder than words could hope to express. She took another long sip from her cup before looking at her brother, “Where's my cheesecake?”
 

Tao's eyes widened momentarily and he hurried to the fridge, pulling the slice of cherry cheesecake single-serve container out and held it out to her. When she took it to the counter, she rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a spoon. She took the first bite and finally, a full, genuine smile danced across her lips at the tangy, sweet, fruity and creamy flavors combined to put her in a good mood again.
 

Seeing her smile, Tao relaxed, and Xiumin couldn't help but smile, too. It was the same routine whenever Snow was asked to come over. During her day visits, she liked to have fresh sweet iced tea, but at night or first thing in the morning meant coffee, and lots of it. But not just any coffee would do. Heavens no! Only Xiumin's coffee would suffice, and it was nice to know she liked it so much. But the one thing that was also necessary, no matter what time of day it was....was cheesecake. The woman was addicted to it! She claimed that it was the only food that could sooth her restless soul...As funny as it sounded whenever she said it out loud, it seemed to be true just the same. The first bite she took would never fail to make her smile, even if she were in a rotten mood upon arriving.
 

“Thank you so much for indulging my caffeine addiction so late at night. I hope you don't have early morning schedules.” she directed the comment at Xiumin as Tao pouted, being ignored.
 

“It's no trouble at all, but seeing as it is late, I'll be going to bed now. It was nice seeing you again, Snow-ssi. Goodnight.” the eldest member bowed and turned to leave. When she heard his door shut down the hall, she finally turned to Tao.
 

“Did you want to play video games?”
 

“Yeah! I just got a new one.” he smiled and grabbed her hand, dragging her to the living room where their big screen tv and gaming systems were set up. EXO-M's maknae got the game set up while his sister took a seat on the couch with her coffee and cheesecake.
 

“Which one?” she asked after taking another bite.
 

“Destiny.” he said without looking at her, instead fiddling with the cables of the console.
 

“That's that one from the guys that made Halo, right?” She asked, setting the now empty container on the coffee table with her spoon. She washed down the dessert with her coffee.
 

Tao finally joined her on the sofa and handed her a controller. “Yeah. Baekhyun gege and Chanyeol gege were playing it earlier and said it was pretty cool. Great graphics.”
 

“Yeah? What's the story?” Snow asked, already setting up a new game and selecting details of her character.
 

“The usual...save the planet. Kill the bad guys.” he chuckled, watching her customize her character. It was great to have a sister that was into video games, had tattoos that she didn't try to hide, though she didn't go overboard with them either, and got along with everyone in his group, including their managers.
 

Instead of cashing in on her good looks, though, Snow was in school to be a Writer, majoring in Foreign Languages and Literature, and working in a travel agency, while running a Korean food and Music blog on the weekends. Yet, no matter how busy she was, or how tired...if he called her to come over, she would be there...at the price of food and coffee.
 

After she had died in the game a couple times, she handed the controller off to Tao and let him play for a while. “You know that Minseok Gege likes you.” It was not a question.
 

Snow's face scrunched up as she made a face of disbelief at the boy, then scoffed, not believing a word of it. “You're so full of it.”
 

“No, really!” Tao defended honestly, pausing the game so he could look at her. “He likes you.”
 

Still not taking his word for it, Snow rolled her eyes and set her coffee mug down. With a bored expression, she propped her chin into her palm and looked at her brother with one brow raised. If he was going to insist, she would play along just to humor him, but she couldn't take his word for it because Xiumin had never shown anything but friendly feelings toward her. “Okay, I'll bite. How do you know he likes me?”
 

“Luhan gege read his diary.” Tao leaned over and whispered to her with a smile.
 

“Wait wait....You're telling me Minseok-ssi keeps a diary...and he confessed his crush on me in it?” she asked, taken aback, though she didn't trust Tao to be completely honest with her. He had lied to her before about Kris liking her back, then he left the company, the team, and the country. Sure, it was what was best for him, and she understood, but it meant she had no chance with him. It was hard to take anything Tao said now without a grain of salt.
 

“That's exactly what I'm saying!” Tao whisper-shouted excitedly.
 

“Did you see it for yourself?”
 

“Well...no...but...” he stuttered, his brows pinching in the center as he thought about it.
 

“Tao-yah, I need proof, or it didn't happen. You know that.” Snow sighed, settling back onto the sofa.
 

“But...But Noona!” Tao floundered, trying to make her believe him, but she cut him off.
 

“I think that's enough, Tao. Really.” She stated in a soft voice, but her tone was firm, and told him she was done discussing the topic. She'd put her foot down and he wasn't about to fight her on it...one because he had too much respect for her, but also because he knew she could get pretty scary when provoked.
 

They played video games for another hour in relative silence before Snow spoke again, breaking the tension, “When was the last time you pulled a prank on your members?”
 

Taken aback by the question, he cocked a brow curiously and turned the game off. “It's been a few months, though others have played around some...”
 

“Do you want to?” she asked, grinning mischievously.
 

“You have an idea?”
 

“Don't I always?”
 

“Tell me!” Tao leaned in so she didn't have to speak very loudly.
 

“You say Minseok likes me, and I don't believe you as far as I can throw you, right?” she said and he nodded with a frown marring his handsome face. “You can either find this mysterious diary of his, or you can have fun with it.”
 

“I'm listening...What did you have in mind?”
 

The pair talked a while longer with the male getting more and more excited about her plan by the minute. They eventually went to bed with her passing out on the couch. The other members had returned some time in the night but didn't wake Snow, as they were exhausted and just went straight to bed.
 

She showered and changed into one of Tao's tshirts before rushing off to her apartment to grab her backpack for classes the next morning and didn't swing by again for nearly two weeks. Putting the plan into action, Tao met her between school and work to discuss the details. When the day came to go through with it, the boy was a nervous wreck.
 

“Relax!” Snow scolded, setting up the folding chair on the rooftop of the tallest building they had access to...their dorm building. She positioned it close to the edge with her back facing the scenery. If she had dared to look over the edge in any direction, she'd be terrified and call off the whole thing, so she couldn't really blame him for being nervous about his part. If the wrong people got wind of their stunt...well...it wouldn't bode well. “Now, did you bring the rope and 'bomb'?”
 

Snow sat in the chair, the wind whipping her hair around her head. It was anything but like you see in action movies where the wind is blowing and the 'victim' still looks perfect...no, it was just annoying. Growling as she spit her hair out of for the fifth time in under a minute, she ended up just pulling it up into a simple ponytail just to keep it out of her face. Tao, having watched her struggle with the wind and her hair, he couldn't help but laugh under his breath. He picked up the long white rope and the fake bomb...which was just an old RC race car with its wheels removed, a few thin pvc pipes painted black, and a digital egg timer haphazardly glued to the front. It was no more harmful than a cosplay prop, but for their purposes, would work well.
 

“Are you sure we won't get in trouble for this? I'll lose my place in EXO and we might get arrested for this if we get caught.” Tao complained, needing to be reassured it was nothing but a completely harmless prank with the added benefit of getting Xiumin to confess his love for Snow.
 

Snow smiled sweetly at her little brother and reached out her hand to hold his. She squeezed his fingers gently and nuzzled her cheek against his knuckles. “You worry too much. Maybe it is a little extreme, but it won't take very long. But if you let me fall to my death...” Her hazel eyes lifted to look straight into his nearly black ones fiercely and she squeezed his hand tightly, making him wince, “I swear on your Wushu Stick that I will come back and haunt the out of you forever. Understand?”
 

Tao looked at her with wide eyes and nodded quickly. He knew she meant it. Somehow, some way, he knew she would do exactly as she claimed if anything happened to her. He leaned in and hugged her tightly. “As ironic as it is right now, I will protect you, Noona.”
 

“Good...now tie me up and clip that dohickey to my belt.” Snow instructed him with a smile, sitting with her hands together at the wrist. Tao laughed, blushing softly as he took the rope and began to wind it around her wrists, then around her arms, but as discussed earlier in the week, he didn't tie her directly to the chair, just in case. Her hands were drawn up against her chest and secured with some of the best rope tying she'd seen since coming to Korea. “Tao, if I didn't know better, I'd say you had a bit of a rope . These knots are beautiful and I really can't move my arms at all.” Snow took a moment to admire his work when he stepped back, blushing deeply.
 

“Do not! I'm not a freak!” he exclaimed defensively.
 

“Chill, Tao-yah...having a doesn't make you a freak. I was complimenting you, idiot.” Snow rolled her eyes and tried to slouch as much as possible, but the ropes made it difficult.
 

“Wait...do you...like that sort of stuff?” he asked hesitantly, both curious and disturbed at the same time, not by the act itself, but that he was asking his step-sister about her es.
 

“What I do with my lovers is my business.” Snow shot him a glare that told him to stop asking and he was all too happy to end that conversation.
 

“Alright, all done. Now, we just have to wait.” he informed, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed.
 

“Before I forget, your costume is in the duffel bag over there.” She jerked her head in the direction of a long purple bag with black straps.
 

Her brother wandered over and dragged out a black cape and matching eye mask and what looked like a black, men's speedo swimsuit. The cape and mask were fine, but the speedo was too much. He held it up with a look of disgust and disbelief, “REALLY, Noona? What's this?”
 

“To wear over your pants like all those dorky, spandex-wearing villains! Duh!” Snow stated matter-of-factly, as if it should have been obvious.
 

Tao wrinkled his nose and stuffed the ridiculous item back into the bag. “Hell no! I'm not wearing it.”
 

“Watch your mouth, Mister.” Snow reprimanded but smiled as he donned the mask and cape. He was already wearing all black clothes. But then again, so was she. “Alright, much better.”
 

The pair waited for what felt like hours and were bored. The biggest source of amusement had been when Tao started freaking out over a bug crawling on his pant leg, but even that memory had passed.
 

“Tao-yah.....why isn't he coming? Did you remember to send him our video message?” she asked irritably. She was hot despite the constant breeze and as much as she liked the feel of the ropes, her limbs had gone stiff and uncomfortable.
 

Tao checked his phone and winced when he saw that the message had never gone through. “Sorry, Noona....message failed. Guess I didn't have enough signal in the elevator...hold on.”
 

Snow growled in frustration. “UGH! You are so lucky I'm tied up right now or I'd knock the stupid right out of you!”
 

Tao did as he was told and this time, watched the screen until it confirmed the sent message. He then sat back down to wait again. He had been rummaging around the duffel bag before Snow had asked him about the message, and he'd found a magnifying glass. When the insect from before returned, he followed it around until he managed to catch and concentrate the beam of sunlight just right. The bug stopped moving and steam slowly rose from it's back until he spied the tiny flames. All at once, the 'panda' began laughing maniacally, flailing in amusement.
 

Snow looked over at the sound, wondering what could have sparked him to laugh so suddenly, then she saw the magnifying glass and she put two and two together. Pursing her lips, she cocked her head to the side, “You just killed that bug, huh?”
 

“You're damn right I did!” he shouted, then used the end of the handle to squish the crispy critter with a crunch.
 

The door to the roof finally opened and a familiar face appeared. “Tao-yah? Snow-ssi?” he called out, looking around for them until he rounded the corner and found Snow tied up and Tao still laughing like a madman. “What in the world...? YAH!!! Tao-yah! What the Hell, man?!”
 

Tao stopped laughing and looked at with a lingering smile, “Hyung! Good of you you join us. You're just in time to watch me make Noona blow up!”
 

Xiumin hurried across the hot rooftop toward them, looking more annoyed than anything else. “Shut up! What the Hell were you thinking, tying your sister up like this?!”
 

Tao, still in character grabbed the RC remote control from under her chair and turned it on so its little red light glowed. “Don't come any closer, Hyung, or I'll send her over the edge. She'll be blown to smithereens before she hits the ground with just one touch of this button.” His finger hovered over the tiny joystick that only moved up and down.
 

Xiumin stopped in his tracks, looking from Snow as she sat, in the chair, precariously close to the edge and begging him to save her with just her eyes. “What do you want, Tao-yah? I thought you loved your Noona? Why would you want to hurt her?”
 

Tao's lips curled up into a smile. The other man had just asked the one question he was hoping for. “I want only one thing...”
 

“What's that?” Xiumin snapped, worried only for the woman's safety.
 

“For you to admit to Snow Noona that you're in love her!” Tao shouted.
 

“W-...what?” the elder boy stuttered, bewildered by the sudden comment. “What are you talking about?”
 

Snow gazed up at Xiumin, looking like she may cry, her voice soft and vulnerable, “Is it true, Minseok-ssi?”
 

“What are you...Snow-ssi...I....” he stumbled over his words, not sure whether to tell the truth and be rejected, or lie and just kick Tao's . The first one won out in the end. His cheeks burned bright red as he turned to her, “It's true. I do love you. I have for a long time now.”
 

Tao ripped off his mask and laughed happily, “See, Noona?! I TOLD you he liked you! Now do you believe me?!”
 

Snow smiled sweetly, her own cheeks flushing pink, “I'm so glad we feel the same...I didn't believe my brother when he told me Luhan had read your confession in your diary.” At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to stand up and hurry into Xiumin's arms, but she was still tied up. “Yah! You can untie me now, Tao-yah.”
 

“Oh! Sorry, Noona.” Tao nodded and hurried over to her and began to untie the intricate knots and bindings.
 

Xiumin stared at them in confusion, “So wait....What just happened here?”
 

Once Snow was free, she hurried away from the edge of the roof and walked toward him quickly while rubbing her wrists and arms to return the circulation to them before throwing her arms around his neck. “Long story, short...Luhan-ssi read your diary, told Tao-yah that you liked me, he told me that night I came over, but I didn't believe him. I said to get me proof. It was either steal your diary, or go a bit...uh....” she paused to glance at her brother, who was holding his cape out like his was flying and acting like a five year old. “...theatrical. I'm sorry we tricked you...”
 

Xiumin wrapped his arms around her tightly and smiled warmly. “It was a little extreme, just to get me to confess to you, but it was less risky than stealing my diary.”
 

Tao had packed up the bag, his mask dangling around his neck as he smiled nervously. “I'd never have really hurt my Noona, Hyung. I love her.” He reached down and unclipped the 'bomb' from her belt and turned it off, putting it back in their bag with the controller.
 

Xiumin leaned back to gaze into Snow's face as he sighed in relief, “Yeah...me too.”
 

The trio made their way back down to the dorm, with Tao in the lead as Xiumin walked with his arm around Snow's shoulders, keeping her close. When the youth was out of earshot, Minseok leaned into her ear and whispered, “I'm really glad you're safe...but would it be weird if I said you looked really hot tied up like that?”
 

Snow's head snapped toward him in surprise, having not expected such a thought from the male. Her cheeks flamed but a smile formed just the same and she leaned up to kiss his cheek, whispering back, “Easy there, cowboy. Be good and maybe I'll let you tie me up someday.” The couple shared a chuckle and disappeared into the dorm together.

 

~The End