chapter nine     

[INDENT] Yoseob stared at his computer screen as he scrolled down the list of job opportunities online. "Aish, this is so difficult... Maybe I should join hyung's housebuilding business." He puffed his cheeks out cutely. "Anniyo! That's so much work! Hyung might yell at me if I break something..."

[INDENT] After an hour of searching, Yoseob flopped onto his bed. "This is so boring! Being an adult is hard work! Why did I graduate from university so early..."

[INDENT] Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "I know what to do! This ought to be more fun than looking up part-time jobs."

[INDENT] He got back onto his desk's chair and looked up "Lee Eun Mi" on the Internet. He then got hundreds of online news articles about "Lee Eun Mi." Yoseob was immediately surprised at the great turn out of the search results. "What...? Is this the same Eunmi that's living with us right now...?"

[INDENT] Yoseob clicked on one of the links, and swiftly read the article. "Lee Eun Mi... graduates as a valedictorian at a mere twenty years old..." He read as he quickly read another article. "Lee Eun Mi... wins first place award in national pianist competition..."

[INDENT] Yoseob sighed happily. "She's pretty and she has brains... wah... I should look up her biography, if she does have one here." He typed up "Lee Eun Mi" and "family" at the same time. Yoseob's stomach churned at the word "family," but he clicked the "Search" button anyway.

[INDENT] Again, there were numerous articles, and Yoseob clicked on the first link. "Lee Eun Mi... born on May 16th, 1990 in Seoul... lives with her two parents, who are famous and very successful real estate agents, and her brother Eunhyuk." There was a picture of Eunmi's family on the website. Despite his yearning for a real family, Yoseob had a strange feeling in his gut looking at the family portrait; he didn't have to have Hyunseung's powers to see that there was a strange vibe coming from the picture, especially from the mother and brother. He looked at Eunmi, and he saw that although she was smiling brightly, she had an uncomfortable expression on her face.

[INDENT] Yoseob quickly closed the Internet browser and thought deeply. Well, this does confirm that her parents are indeed real estate agents, but is there more to the reason why Eunmi came here unannounced?

[INDENT] Suddenly, his tummy grumbled, and Yoseob blushed. "Aigoo, my tummy... Time to find something to eat!" He turned off his computer and went out of his room. He sped down the stairs, and he could hear the sink running. "I wonder who's in the kitchen..."

[INDENT] "This is how you wash dishes... right?" Eunmi asked herself as she grabbed the sponge on top of the sink. She had just finished eating the breakfast that the men left for her in her room. Now, she struggled with the simple task of washing the dishes. The maids in the house always made sure that Eunmi didn't have to clean up after herself, so she has absolutely no knowledge of doing household chores.

[INDENT] Her eyebrows knitted together in frustration when she put some dishwashing soap onto the sponge and picked up one of the dishes. "Wait a minute... I think it'll be more logical if I rinsed the dishes first..." Eunmi mumbled.

[INDENT] After rinsing the dishes, she proceeded to wet the sponge and started soaping up the dishes. "Okay, time to rinse them again!"

[INDENT] Eunmi continued to rinse the dishes, and she thought to herself, Wow! This is easier than I thought it would be! I could've done this instead of-- OMO! Suddenly, one of the glass plates slipped out of her hand. Eunmi cringed and anticipated the sound of glass shattering in the sink, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw a smiling boy looking at her with the plate in his hand.

[INDENT] "Yoseob-ssi? How did you--"

[INDENT] Yoseob poked Eunmi's nose with a grin on his face. "Ey, I told you to call me Yoseob-oppa, remember? Call me oppa."

[INDENT] Uneasy by the sudden use of informalities, Eunmi cautiously said, "Yoseob-oppa..."

[INDENT] Yoseob's grin got even wider. "Good! Now, let me help you wash the dishes."

[INDENT] "No way! I should wash them. After all, I just ate out of them."

[INDENT] "Okay, then how about I'll wash them, and you can dry them? I see that you're inexperienced with washing dishes." Yoseob suggested.

[INDENT] Eunmi blushed at Yoseob's discovery. "Araso..."

[INDENT] As they washed the dishes, Yoseob couldn't help but think about how he was standing next to a famous person. He was so caught up in his thoughts that Eunmi had to nudge him after calling his name three times. "Yoseob-oppa!"

[INDENT] Yoseob finally woke up from his thoughts. "Oh, mianhae! Yes, Eunmi-ssi?"

[INDENT] "I'm finished! All the dishes are now on the drying rack." Eunmi said with a smile.

[INDENT] Yoseob smiled back at Eunmi. His mind drifted off to Eunmi's awkward smile in the family portrait that he looked up on the Internet. Now, her smile is real.

[INDENT] Eunmi asked Yoseob, "Do you have anything planned for today, Yoseob-oppa?"

[INDENT] "I... oh! Leader-nim wants me to get groceries. Want to come along? I can show you around part of town!" Yoseob said with a cheeky grin.

[INDENT] "Sure! Kamsahamnida!" Eunmi replied. "Are we going now?"

[INDENT] Yoseob shrugged. "I guess so; I have nothing better to do."

[INDENT] "Okay, please wait for me as I change!" Eunmi said as she quickly ran up to her room. She kneeled at her suitcase and opened it, revealing all the clothes she could manage to bring with her. "What should I wear...?" She thought aloud as she tapped her lips with her finger.

[INDENT] Finally, she decided on her outfit and quickly changed. She chose to wear a distressed white shirt and light blue skinny jeans with a light grey cardigan. She grabbed a pair of black ankle boots and her purse before leaving the room. "Yoseob-oppa, I'm done!" She yelled as she ran down the stairs.

[INDENT] Yoseob was leaning next to the door leading into the garage and saw Eunmi appear before him. "Oh... wow!" He said as he gazed at her pretty outfit. "Kaja! Let's go!" Eunmi followed him into the garage.

[INDENT] "Do you have a car, Yoseob-oppa?" Eunmi asked.

[INDENT] Yoseob flipped a light switch, and all Eunmi could see in the garage were miscellaneous things and Doojoon's old green truck. "Nope! We're a one car family; actually, Doojoon doesn't really trust me with a car, so he's not letting me get a car. But I do have a bicycle with a basket, so we should be okay." He grabbed his bicycle by the handles, and Eunmi saw that it was completely white.

[INDENT] "Yoseob-oppa, do you really like the color white?" Eunmi asked. "Bicycles get scratched a lot, but your bicycle is painted white!" She couldn't help but giggle.

[INDENT] Yoseob blushed, "Ah, ne. White is my favorite color, so I wanted to paint my bicycle white. Of course, Doojoon-hyung thought I was a pabo."

[INDENT] Eunmi couldn't help but laugh. "Well, it looks like you've been taking care of your bicycle really well, since there's no scratch marks on it, right?"

[INDENT] The blond man blushed even more. "To be honest, I haven't rode my bicycle for the longest time... I haven't used it much."

[INDENT] "Ah, really? Then from now on, you can start riding your bicycle!" Eunmi cheered. She has never been this energetic in anything besides academic work and piano (amazingly), but it was strangely exhilarating doing something that she wasn't used to.

[INDENT] Yoseob couldn't help but grin back at the naïve girl. "Araso, but you must come along for a bike ride with me when you have the time, okay?"

[INDENT] "But... I don't know how to ride a bike. I... never had the opportunity to when I was younger." Eunmi said as she bit her lip.

[INDENT] "Gwenchana! I'll teach you!"

[INDENT] Eunmi looked at Yoseob with hopeful eyes. "Really? Thank you so much!"

[INDENT] Yoseob smiled back. Hopefully, giving Eunmi bicycle rides and lessons will make the two closer to one another. "Should we head to the supermarket now?"

[INDENT] Eunmi nodded. "Yes! Let's go!" Eunmi followed Yoseob while he carried his bicycle out of the garage and back in the the first floor of the house. He then opened the front door of the house, and he beckoned Eunmi to follow him. After the both of them got out of the house and went down the steps from the front door, Yoseob got on his seat.

[INDENT] "Hop on, Eunmi-ssi!" Yoseob said. "Don't straddle the seat like you would on a motorcycle; sit on your side with your legs dangling off the side of the bicycle."

[INDENT] Eunmi couldn't help but think about Eunhyuk and his motorcycle: the thought of Eunhyuk sent chills down her spine. She immediately shook off her thoughts and sat on the seat next to Yoseob. "Are you sure this is safe...? Don't you have a helmet?"

[INDENT] "Oh... helmets..." Yoseob said awkwardly. "I think I threw them out on accident because I thought I wasn't going to bike ever again, so... just hold on tight! I'll protect you!"

[INDENT] Eunmi gulped. "A-araso..."

[INDENT] "And off we GO!!!" Yoseob yelled as he started to pedal down the windy driveway.

[INDENT] From a mile away, you could hear the terrified screams coming from Eunmi and the excited yells from Yoseob. "OPPA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Eunmi shrieked, throwing away her quiet and reserved image out the window. She didn't want to die in a bicycle crash. "ISN'T THERE A GATE?!"

[INDENT] "WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Yoseob yelled back as he continued screaming with glee.

[INDENT] "THERE'S A GATE IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, OPPA! AREN'T WE GOING TO CRASH INTO IT?!"

[INDENT] Finally, Yoseob heard what Eunmi said and pushed on the brakes. Luckily, he applied the brakes gradually, so that Yoseob and Eunmi wouldn't fly off the bicycle and into the gate. The two stopped right at the large, looming gates that Eunmi saw before entering the residence for the first time.

[INDENT] "Oops... mianhae, Eunmi-ssi. I got a little bit too excited." Yoseob said sheepishly. "I'll be careful next time."

[INDENT] Meanwhile, Eunmi fixed her hair to look more presentable after the wind made her hair messy. "Okay! That was a bit fun despite the danger of how fast we were going."

[INDENT] Yoseob blabbered as they both hopped off the bicycle, "Alright! In the near future, we should get couple bicycle helmets! Maybe even a tandem bicycle so we can bike together!"

[INDENT] "Couple helmets? Tandem? What are those things?" Eunmi asked curiously.

[INDENT] "Ah... I'll show you those things later." Yoseob said as he unlocked the gate with one of his keys. He then opened the gate wider so he could walk his bicycle out with Eunmi behind him.

[INDENT] "Okay, we're officially out of the residence," Yoseob said as he locked the gates. "Let's go!"

[INDENT] Yoseob put his legs over the seat, and Eunmi sat sideways while holding on to Yoseob. Yoseob began to pedal away from the gates of the mansion and into town.

[INDENT] "Don't you feel lonely being separated from the rest of the town?" Eunmi asked as she looked at her surroundings.

[INDENT] Yoseob's breath hitched. "A little bit, but it's okay! We have a certain... presence on the town." Yoseob replied. Eunmi didn't know about his and the rest of his brothers' secret, so he had to keep mum about it.

[INDENT] "I remember when I first met Doojoon, it was at a gas station, and the elderly couple who ran the gas station really adored Doojoon. Is he popular amongst the people here?"

[INDENT] If this was an anime, Yoseob would've had a sweatdrop coming from behind his head. "Ah, you ask a lot of questions, don't you? Well, he is our leader, so he should be the most approachable amongst us. Plus, he owns a construction company, so he must be likeable."

[INDENT] Eunmi replied, "Ah, I see... Is the town usually this quiet?"

[INDENT] "Pretty much. Usually, you can see people walking around during the daytime doing their business. Everyone here knows each other, like in those old neighborhood mov