“You need to knead it in a slow rhythmic manner. That way, you can make sure that the flour mixes well with the salt and water, okay?” said Mi Rae as she demonstrated how to knead the dough for making Indian flat bread. Tao watched in admiration as he followed her directions. He slowly rolled the dough and showed it to her. She smiled and said “Wow! For a first timer, you’ve done it really well! Perhaps it’s because of your Wushu*skills and developed strength that the dough is soft and perfect! Now we keep it aside….”

The boys were extremely bored at home. Chen, D.O, Luhan and Baekhyun had gone to the studio for vocal training. Chanyeol was nowhere to be found and Kris was trying to call him. Lay was giving Xiumin Chinese language classes but later gave up and started playing video games. Tao was upset that Suho had taken only the Exo-k maknaes*, Sehun and Kai out for shopping. The truth was that Suho wouldn’t be able to control them if Tao joined the already dangerously euphoric maknaes. He requested Mi Rae for her help and she immediately got to entertaining Tao. Since D.O wasn’t there, the hungry boys had pleaded her to cook something for them. She decided to experiment and feed them an Indian dish. Why not kill two birds with one stone? She asked the still sulking Tao to help her. After taking a couple of selcas* of their flour covered faces, Tao quickly cheered up. Who wanted to go shopping when he could spend precious alone time with their only girl without any unwanted interruptions (read Kai and Sehun)?! These moments of goofing around and having fun with Tao reminded her of Junsu. She missed him so much that she could start crying any moment.

After spending an hour cooking, Mi Rae and Tao called the others for lunch. Despite the lack of help ( D.O was dearly missed and Mi Rae didn’t have the heart to wake up the then sleeping Lay to ask for help) they managed to put together something delicious.

“So how exactly do we eat this? The bread isn’t really hard, you know?” said Lay. Mi Rae spent the next 10 minutes breaking the bread into edible pieces and feeding the boys their first mouthfuls.

“Wah, it's yummy!! Everyone, thank Mi Rae.” Said the eldest, Xiumin.

 “Thank you Mi Rae! We’ll eat well.”

“You are welcome.” she replied with a smile.

“Guys keep some for Chanyeol and the others, okay? Don’t finish it- Tao! At least keep aside some side dish if you want to finish the bread” shouted Kris. It was a fun filled lunch and soon the boys retired to their rooms to catch up on their sleep. They rarely got such rest days and they were intent on using it to the fullest. “Aish where is this Chanyeol?” muttered Kris before turning to Mi Rae and saying “You sure we can go to sleep? You don’t need to get anything done, right?” Mi Rae nodded and pushed the leader into his room after which she settled on the sofa to watch some drama episodes on T.V. An episode of Man from Stars was airing and she had missed around 45 minutes. She groaned upon realizing that she had missed the episode but decided that she did not regret spending her time with the boys instead.

The teaser for the drama Three days was suddenly shown, just as she was about to change the channel. With her eyes wide and slightly open, she got up from the sofa and walked towards the T.V. Yoochun’s face was shown and she slowly touched the screen, struggling to stay calm and not burst into tears.

 “What are you doing?” asked a deep voice from behind her. She blinked and realized that she was touching an image of a pink bunny’s rear end. Flustered she got up quickly, turned and said “Yah Chanyeol! Y-You scared me! I wasn’t doing anything …. Where were you anyways? Kris tried to call you so many times. Anyways are you hungry or did you eat already? If you haven’t then sit down, I’ll get you some of the dish that Tao and I made.”

Chanyeol just blinked at her, then walked towards the sofa. He sat down on the ground, leaning against the sofa as Mi Rae made her way towards him. He had a very serious expression on his face and was breathing heavily. He removed his cap and straightened his hair, blinking a couple of times. Worried about the lack of response, she poked his shoulder and asked “What’s wrong?”

He looked at her with an expression filled with pain and helplessness. Mi Rae was momentarily startled. What could have possibly made the happy virus so sad? “Yah… What happened? Tell me, I’ll listen, auw*?” said Mi Rae. He leaned his head towards a side such that it touched her knee. Then, in a heartbreaking tone, he said “Mi Rae, is this how you felt that day when you realized that Changmin hyung* was gone? Did it hurt so much that you wanted to physically punish yourself? What did I do wrong? I can’t help the fact that I’m an idol. I thought that she understood my circumstances and was ready to accept me. How can people be so two faced?” his voice cracked slightly at the end and helped me snap out of the shock his first line had caused.

“Is this about that girl you are dating? What happened?”

“I saw her with someone else. Someone she shouldn’t be with especially since she is supposed to be beside me. I wonder how long this has been going on. These past 3 months, has she been dating that person too? Did she accept my affections only because I am famous? How can there be such people around here?” by now his eyes were b with tears while hers flowed freely.

“Chanyeol-ah. Don’t think like that. If there is one advice I can give you, then it is this- don’t assume things. Don’t believe anything unless you have proper proof. Don’t jump to conclusions, instead talk to her and clear all misunderstandings. He might have been her brother or best friend. How would you know her relationship with that guy by just looking at them? I mean look at me, I hang out with twelve guys so what does that make me? Calm down, I know you might be angry, but trust her a bit, auw? You shouldn’t regret anything later.” Like I do right now. If only I had waited to hear his explanation instead of running away. Now I regret that moment everyday for I haven’t seen him again after that. I need to be patient….

Chanyeol sniffed and let out a small chuckle. “Thanks Mi Rae-ah. Since when have I been such a fool? I didn’t even think things through. Honestly I was going to surprise Luhan hyung, D.O , Baekhyun and Chen but got sidetracked when one of the Super junior sunbaenim* texted me saying that he saw my girlfriend at the same shop he was in. I just blindly ran there and ran back after that…” he moved closer to hug her waist and she ran her fingers through his hair. This guy was such a kid sometimes. Make that all the time. Who knew that this tall, kid-faced, deep voiced happy virus had a sensitive side? “Channie, you talk to her, okay? Now eat something- wow you fall asleep really fast.” She smiled as she observed the guy who insisted that she calls him ‘Oppa’. She sat down on the ground next to him and laid his head on her lap. He automatically curled to make himself comfortable. “Did he just come in?” as voiced whispered into her right ear. She jumped slightly, momentarily disturbing Chanyeol. After making sure that he was asleep, she turned to hit Xiumin on his shoulder. “Can you just stop scaring me like this? He came a little while ago…. Ah Xiumin, you are the strongest aren’t you? Can you please…” she looked at Chanyeol and then at Xiumin. “Anything for you little sis but that guy can sleep on the floor once in a while right?” laughing he walked towards the kitchen, leaving a pouting Mi Rae and a drooling Chanyeol behind.

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