chapter twenty three: growing pains

"i hope you're not hurting as much as me, that's what i hope for everyday."   

Just like the old days.

Containing fifteen people in their residence was quite a job last night. As far as she could recall last night, Hyerin shared her room with her youngest sibling, Huiying, who gave up her room for two of the EXO members to use for now. Jonathan shared his room with another member and finally, the spare room they simply placed their clothes in was cleaned and had three members fit in it. The remaining members who decided to not share a room at all decided to camp out in the living room, waking up to them cuddling another fellow member, a blanket thrown and forgotten on one side, and a leg over one's face. Definitely not a pretty scene.

Upon waking up, Hyerin's sense of smell instantly picks up a fragrant smell from the kitchen. Kyungsoo could be found there, wearing a blue checkered apron as he continues cooking meals for the fifteen of them to share. Chanyeol was helping too, despite looking like a complete mess with his red hair in bed-hair style. 

"Ah, you're awake." Chanyeol greets as he notices Hyerin behind them. "Breakfast's nearly done."

"Where's Jonathan and Huiying?" she quickly asks as she notices the absence of her siblings at home.

"They went to the nearby grocery shop to purchase a few things." Kyungsoo replied, not even bothering to look behind Hyerin as he was busy chopping up the celery. "I'm sure they'd be back in no time, no worries."

Hyerin simply nods and smiles to herself, recalling how this scene took place sixteen years ago: Kyungsoo and Chanyeol in the kitchen, her siblings still sleeping along with the remaining members of the group— it was exactly the same. It brought her joy to finally see the same things happening before her very eyes; the fact that their family was complete once again. 

"Mind waking the rest up? They've been sleeping for hours now." Kyungsoo smiles as he finally eyes Hyerin, who smiles back at her before nodding. Carefully, she heads towards Jonathan's room where Suho was sleeping. With a grin on her face, she begins to walk towards the curtains, opening and closing them repeatedly until she saw movements from Suho. 

"Ah~ turn off the lights!" Suho whined as he tried to grab for something to cover his eyes.

"Wake up or the breakfast'll be gone!" Hyerin chirpped as she plopped beside Suho, patting his shoulder before she grins. "D.O-appa and Chanyeol-appa spent some time to make breakfast for the rest of us! Hurry up or I'm asking the other dads to finish it!" With that, Hyerin hurries out of the room and heads to Huiying's room where Luhan and Sehun were sleeping. 

This time, she decided to flicker the lights until the two woke up. Ah, they did look cute when they were cuddling together, how bad did she felt to wake the two up!

Waking Baekhyun and Chen were pretty much easy too. All it took was two frying pans, clash it together and BAM.

"Ah, the rest are still not awake?" Hyerin pouted as she saw the five remaining ones in the living room. Kris' foot was over Tao's thigh. Kai had occupied half of Lay's place. Xiumin was peacefully sleeping on one side, not bothered a bit and comfortably tucked in a blanket. With a smile of mischief, Hyerin heads to the bathroom. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were a wondering a bit on what the eldest sibling would do. Even Suho and the rest that had just woken up was filled with question.

"What's she up to?" Sehun yawned as he wobbled out with Luhan.

"Who knows." Baekhyun blinked before he yawned and rubbed his eyes gently. "Something Hyerin can only think 'bout."

"Well then, does she think about carrying a bucket filled with water towards the five?" Chen questioned as he sees Hyerin on her tippy-toes, wobbling towards the sleeping men. Realizing what she would do, Suho's eyes widened and Luhan cried out in a booming voice.

"Oh, no, no, Hyerin don't do it—!"

SPLASH!

"It's time to wake up and greet the morning with a smile!" Hyerin cried happily as she eyed the five, who were rather startled and drenched with water. "Let's start it off by washing up, which I've kindly done myself!" 

"Kim Hyerin!" Kai roared as he jumped up, face wrinkling at the feeling of water in his clothes. "Geez, this is not a way to start a morning! Respect for the fathers, dammit!"

"And I thought you talk fancy now, Mr. CEO." Chanyeol chuckled from the kitchen, only to be glared at by Kai. 

"Let's eat breakfast now!" Hyerin grinned as she skipped towards the kitchen, taking cover behind Chanyeol and Kyungsoo as she senses Kai stand up with rage. Meanwhile, the rest were scowling at how drenched they were early in the morning, but could only laugh at it afterwards. They haven't been waken up in such an exotic way for years. It's always the same waking up through the alarm or so. Waking up by curtains, flickering of the lights, pans and water were the least thing they'd expect.

It's just a start.

"Eh? So Jonathan's taking the acting field too. Sheesh, you three're grown up now, huh?"

For the day, since it's the first actual day the family would actually get to spend together, the three had decided to make it special by staying home and simply talk about things they've missed throughout the years. It's pretty much plenty and not even a day can cover up for all the information and things they've got to know that happened to each and every one of them. 

"You should see his acting! He's a natural!" Huiying boasted as she hurried to grab her phone, click on a video and scoot over EXO, making them hoard over to see the video. Jonathan was held back by Kris as he watched from behind, trying to shut him up as they watched the taken footage of Jonathan's "natural" acting skills. After the video, there were echoes of "oh"s and congratulatory messages while Jonathan simply bathes in his own shame. Well, it was his first drama to act so seriously in— being a main character, that was— and he found himself awkward.

"I never knew you can act!" Lay cried in excitement (in broken Korean) as he hugged Jonathan, whose face was bright scarlet. "I'm so proud you're our child!"

"He did took after the greatest actor amongst us." Kris boasted as he swings an around the latter. 

"Who, me?" Tao grinned cheekily.

"Idiot. Me." Kris glared, making Kyungsoo pout, Luhan scowl and Tao, grumble. "Okay, okay, fine. The four of us."

"Glad you got it right." Kyungsoo nodded. "I'm in freaking Hollywood, excuse me!"

"I'm soon getting there, so watch out, Kyungsoo~" Luhan cooed as he ruffled D.O's hair, only to make the latter glare up to him and finally, make Luhan grin awkwardly before retreating his hand. 

"All of us had actually gotten acting experiences." Hyerin explained as she eyed the twelve. "But among the three of us, Jonathan really fits in that field well. Me and  Huiying here started acting around a year and five months after we debuted."

"You were in the same drama?" Xiumin blinked.

"Mhm!" Huiying nods. "What was it called again... ah! The Ways of Living was it? Yeah, that was it! Hyerin-eonni here acted as the female lead... what was her name again? Elion? Aion? Erm—"

"Min Eon." Hyerin corrects. "Jonathan even made a special cameo there as one of the bullied students. But for a back-up actor, he surely shone brighter than me and Huiying did."

"What was your role?" a curious Sehun asks as he eyes Huiying.

"I acted as the female lead's youngest sibling, Min Junhee." she grinned. "I know, it was awkward. I barely had any scenes so.. yeah."

"Don't act all humble, you soon acted as the female lead in The Pendant." Jonathan smiled.

"Ah! I know that!" Baekhyun cried in excitement. "That's one of my favorite dramas! Ah, highschool romance and the typical love triangle, I just can't with my feels—"

"I never knew you were a drama-holic, Baekhyun." Suho grinned.

"Don't judge, singers have a life outside too, okay?" 

"Enough of us, how about you guys? What's new aside from the new hair color and tattoos?" Jonathan grinned excitedly as he eyes the twelve. "I bet you guys have girlfriends or somethings already, right? You should have! Sehun-appa and Kai-app here both have their own ladies now!" 

"Xiumin-appa, do you have one?" Hyerin grins.

"Eh, who knows." Xiumin sleakily grinned as he leaned back, only to intruige the rest.

"Eh?! What's with that way of talking? You told us you'd tell me if you'd be dating someone already, Kim Minseok!" Luhan whined as he hits Xiumin playfully.

"Well, two here are married." Tao grinned.

"Speaking of, tell us more about the married life!" Suho excitedly cries out as he taps Luhan and Kris. "How many kids're you planning? Tell me when so I can be ready for the uncle life!"

"Sheesh, stop talking that way, you're creepy." Kris laughed. "I've got a son. Wu Yimin."

"Who does he take after?" Kai questioned.

"Me of course!" Kris cried in pride as he looks around. "Well... he got his mom's eyes and lips so... yeah. B-but he got the rest from me!"

"How bout you, Princess Lu?" Chen grinned playfully as he swung an arm around Luhan. "I heard you recently just got married! So, how many are you having? A girl? Boy? Twins—"

"Hey!" Luhan pouts.

"He's having a girl and boy, if I'd guess it correctly." Sehun smiled. "I didn't get close to Luhan to not know any of those things, right, Luhan?" he grinned proudly.

"Hey, step away, I'm the best friend here." Xiumin pouted as he eyed the youngest.

"You two are my bestfriends!" Luhan whined.

"What are we then?" Huiying complained. "Back-ups?"

"Nah! You guys are my family!" Luhan cutely whined as he threw himself to the three, causing them to laugh and giggle. "You three should be lucky since you're gonna get twelve moms in no time! Normal people get only one mom and dad and you get twelve pairs!"

"Definitely lucky." Hyerin nodded. "And indeed, very lucky. Imagine, we started having no mom and dad and now, we're hoarding the most handsome men to be our dads and their loveliest women to be our moms."

"Now you're just sounding cheesy." Baekhyun grinned as he hugs Hyerin tightly. "Wish for me to find the prettiest woman among us twelve, okay, kids?"

"There's no 'prettiest' among the twelve of you since we're sure your wives are gonna be the prettiest among them all."  Jonathan pouted.

"Quit being cheesy, you three." Lay snickered. "Who do you three take after?"

"Her!" and with that, two fingers pointed at the eldest sibling. 

"Why me?!" Hyerin whined.

"You're the eldest." Jonathan shrugged.

"Speaking of Hyerin," Kai began as he eyed the eldest sibling. "How are you? You're still okay as of now, right? Still doing well? No sudden pains or anything?"

"I'm fine." Hyerin smiled faintly as she eyed Kai, hoping that her smile can assure him. "It's just... well, I'll get better soon."

"You should be." Kai frowned. "And you will be."

"Best be taking lots of rest, to start that off." D.O stated out as he eyed Hyerin. "Or else it'll get worse."

"What did the doctors say?" Chanyeol questioned. "Is it really bad."

Hyerin paused for a while before she nods hesitantly. "I'm not going to lie.... it is bad. Very, very, very bad that I need to do an action for it. The doctors say that... one day, rest and medicines won't do anything anymore. And I'm afraid that day's coming closer and closer."

"How long?" Sehun cautiously asks. "How long do you have left?"

There was another pause as Hyerin avoided everyone's eyes, even her sibling's. They've been quite away and so far, she's the only one to know about her real situation. "Months." she smiles as she gives her answer generally. "I... I still have months to live."

"How many months?" Lay followed.

Silence.

"Look, it's not that we're saying that you're running out of days, Hyerin." Xiumin frowned as he ruffled Hyerin's hair, trying to smile to the best of his limits. "We just, well, want to know how much time you're left with so that we can do all the fun things you've always told us about. Remember? You used to tell us that one day, when you're a bit older, we'd go to Disneyland!"

"I recall now, you also wanted to learn how to surf." Chen added.

"And mountain climb." Kris smiles.

"Knowing how much time you're left with..." Kai began, holding back his tears as he eyes Hyerin. "Will help us know how much time we're left to spend and fulfill the most of your wishes, Hyerin."

Hyerin smiled sorrowfully as hot tears rolled down her cheeks, contrasting to her smile. "Five." Hyerin softly answers as she eyes everyone with her teary eyes. "I've got five months to live."

"... Five?" Lay choked.

"Is there really no way to prevent it?" Baekhyun questioned, stuttering.

"A brain operation can be the last thing to save me." Hyerin frowned. "The doctors said that an operation must be done immediately if I want my life to at least get longer."

"Then get operated!" Chanyeol complained.

"It's not that easy." Hyerin shakes her head. "If I want to be operated, then I'll have to hold back Pandora Street's activites. Huiying and Jonathan can't promote as a duo. It'll seem wrong for the public. The public don't know anything yet. If I suddenly go on hiatus, then it'll be suspicious and my siblings will—"

"Then what?" Suho asks. "You'll endure it?"

"... J-Just a bit more." Hyerin faltered. "Just a bit more after our comeback stage finishes. Just after we finish promoting and all, then I'll have my operation—"

"And when'll that be?" Kai frowned. "Three months more? Four? Five? What if you die during promotion—"

"Kai." Tao scolded. "Hyerin won't die."

"Tao-appa's right." Hyerin grinned. "I won't die... or at least I won't try to."

"You better." Kai pouted as he hugged Hyerin tight.

For the first time, Jonathan and Huiying actually got in the entertainment building on their own but this time, it wasn't just willy-nilly. They felt themselves morph into adults the moment they stepped inside on their own. Besides, they were doing this for a serious reason, and they have no plans on backing out.

"It's suprising for you two to suddenly hold a meeting." Youngmin laughed as he saw the two members of Pandora Street seated in front of them. "What seems to be the topic today, huh?"

"We're going to ask nicely." Jonathan began as calm as he can as he eyed Youngmin, hoping that he could hide the fear expertly. "Our sister is sick with tumor and we want to go on hiatus until she gets her operation  and fully recovers."

"No."

"What no?" Huiying growled. "Look, if our sister doesn't get well, another member of Pandora Street will be gone. Do you want that?"

"Just the two of you and you've got half of Japan cheering, so it'll be fine." 

"You heartless jerk!" Huiying hissed. "Put us on hiatus right now!"

"No."

"Put us in hiatus!"

"I am the boss around here and I say no!" Youngmin hissed as he shot up, stomping out of the office just to leave the two flabbergasted and desperate.