The Announcement

            Sungmin glanced at the clock.  It was quarter to six at night and he was starting to sweat, but it wasn’t from the heat in the kitchen, although it was hot in there.  He and Ryeowook had been cooking all afternoon for the large group of people they’d be hosting dinner for.  It was just the other members and their manager, Jonghoon, but it had been a long time since they’d all gotten together for something other than a work event.  It may not have been since Jonghoon’s wedding, in fact. 

            “Quit acting so nervous.  They’ll all be here on time.  When it comes down to it, none of them will pass up free food.  Especially if you and I are making it,” Ryeowook said, patting his back. 

            Sungmin nodded.  Ryeowook knew.  He was the only other person there that knew what this dinner was really about.  No one else seemed to suspect anything but Hyukjae.  Damn him, he’d known Sungmin too long at this point and he could tell when something was bothering him, but he hadn’t pushed the matter.  If Sungmin didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t force it.  But he confided in Ryeowook all along and Ryeowook was his shoulder to cry on—which he thankfully didn’t need at the moment—and person to lean on when he needed strength.  At the moment, he also made for a handy cooking assistant and moral support. 

            “I’m not nervous about them not showing up,” Sungmin said, taking a tray out of the oven.  “I’m worried about what’s going to happen when they’re all here and I have to tell them why.”

            “I think you’re imaging it to be much worse than it will be,” Ryeowook reassured him, stirring a pot on the stovetop. 

            “Well, since no one else has really gone through this before, we don’t really know how they’ll react, do we?” Sungmin responded, walking out to the table to make sure everything was set properly.  They’d borrowed a table from upstairs as well—Donghae and Kangin carried it down along with all the chairs—and they’d covered them both with matching table clothes, something that no one will really care about but them and maybe Leeteuk or Heechul.  But he’d purposely taken the time to decorate the table to give a kind of message about what the occasion was about.  The clothes were bright white, the candles burning in the center were vanilla, and the flowers in vases in either side were white roses. 

            “Shindong’s been engaged before,” Ryeowook pointed out.

            “Shhh!  Kyu’s going to hear you!” Sungmin said, returning to the kitchen.

            “No, he’s not.  I bought him a new computer game and told him to wear his earbuds so I wouldn’t have to listen to it.  I told him if he stayed the hell out of our way, I’d save the extra dessert for him for later,” Ryeowook explained.

            “He’ll be damn lucky if there’s leftovers,” Sungmin only said.

            “Anyway, back to what I said, Shindong was engaged once and they didn’t crucify him for it.”

            “But Shindong didn’t say, ‘Hey, guess what, I’ve decided I want to get married in a couple months’, did he?” Sungmin pointed out.  “He was engaged for forever and then it never panned out.  And the reason why was probably partly because the damn company told him to hold off on getting married right away because he was too young and they didn’t want to upset the fans.  Well, I’m not going to risk my own happiness by waiting for years on end and having her leave me because I never follow through with it.  Screw that.  I want to get married and live together and have kids and I’m not waiting for someone else to give me permission to do it.”

            “Right!” cheered Ryeowook.  “So why are you so terrified about telling the other members when you’re set on doing it anyway?”

            Sungmin sunk into the kitchen chair, covered his head with his hands, and moaned, “Because they’re going to kill me!”

            “Who’s going to kill you?” Kyuhyun asked, walking into the kitchen.

            Sungmin’s head popped up like a jack-in-the-box, “I thought you were playing a game.”

            “I was, but then I could smell the food from in here and I started to get hungry,” he admitted, wandering around the kitchen and investigating what was being served.

            “You have to wait fifteen more minutes,” Ryeowook told him.

            “But Ryeonggu,” Kyuhyun said, wrapping his arms around his petite boyfriend from behind, “isn’t there just something little I can nibble on in the meantime?”

            Ryeowook shook his head.

            Kyuhyun began to kiss and lightly bite Ryeowook’s neck, causing Ryeowook to squirm, and Kyuhyun’s hand wandered to the counter beside him, trying to reach one of the warm rolls.  Ryeowook swat at his hand. 

            “Stop that!”

            “Do you really want me to stop?” Kyuhyun questioned.

            Sungmin watched them.  They’d been together for years and were still crazy for one another.  Deep down, he’d always been a little envious that they had something that he’d always longed for.  It was hard, being an idol and trying to find love.  Thousands of women, perhaps even millions, wanted to be with him, but they smothered him.  They stalked him, they followed his every move, they filmed him and took pictures of him wherever he went.  Having a normal life was difficult under constant surveillance.  Meeting ordinary women was difficult, but he didn’t necessarily want another singing idol in his life.  Then again, he needed to be with someone who understood the pressures of fame or they wouldn’t last long. 

            When he met Saeun, he was immediately smitten with her, but wasn’t thinking that this was his future wife or any of those grandiose ideas right off the bat.  He’s a little shy, after all, it took a little time to work up the nerve to ask her out to begin with.  And then it moved slowly at first.  Casual dates.  Just getting to know each other.  But he was more and more taken with her after each one and found himself texting and calling often, asking her out as much as he could with his crazy schedule, and still managing to keep it a secret from the public.  Of course, that wouldn’t last forever.

            In September, their secret was found out.  They’d been spotted out together and instead of covering it up, he told the company he wanted to admit to it.  He had no intention of breaking things off with her, so they might as well come clean.  Given enough time, they’d be spotted out again anyway.  He shouldn’t have been surprised by the venomous reaction of some of his fans.  Nasty comments and threats.  He knew it was coming, but he wished he could shield her from it better.  She never brought it up herself, of course, but her family commented on it a good deal and they knew it upset her.  She wondered if she should break off the relationship for his sake and if he was only staying with her because he felt sorry for her, since the backlash from the public finding out was so harsh.

            The idea that she would leave him for his sake kept him up at night because the thought of her leaving him was worse than anything else he could imagine.  She knew he loved her.  He’d told her this many times already and he thought he’d made it perfectly clear that he wanted to be with her and that nothing the fans could say would change how he felt about her.  Since the news had become public and he felt their relationship was threatened for the first time in the year they’d been together, he suddenly realized that he never wanted to part with her.  Ever.  That’s how he came to be in this awkward position.

            There was a loud knock on the door and Sungmin jumped to his feet.  Kyuhyun and Ryeowook were still somewhat making out and fighting over whether or not Kyuhyun was going to get any food.  Kyuhyun appeared to be losing and didn’t seem particularly upset about it.  Sungmin opened the door and Heechul, Kangin, and Leeteuk walked in along with Zhou Mi and Jonghoon, who must have gone upstairs to visit with them for a while first.

            “Where’s Hae?” Sungmin asked.

            “He and Hyuk are just coming back from SM,” Jonghoon informed him.

            Sungmin nodded and closed the door as they came in, but just as he was walking back into the dorm, there was another loud knock and he headed back and opened it up again.  This time it was Shindong.  Sungmin smiled wide and threw his arms open. 

            “Minnie!” Shindong exclaimed.  “Thanks for the invite.”

            “I’m so glad you could make it,” Sungmin said, hugging him tight.  He never got to see Shindong quite as much, since he didn’t live at the dorms, so it was always special when he could join them. 

            “Is Siwon coming too?” he asked.

            Sungmin nodded.  “He’ll be here in a little while.  He text me a while ago and said traffic was bad, but he’ll be here right around dinner time.”

            Shindong slipped off his shoes and nearly tackled Kangin and Heechul—and Heechul protested at having is hairstyle compromised—but they still wrestled around in the living room like five year olds as Sungmin headed back to the kitchen where Ryeowook was now directing Kyuhyun on where he wanted him to set pots and pans of finished dishes.  Sungmin also began to help out.  It was going to be easier to keep the food in the kitchen and let everyone serve themselves buffet style and then walk their plates out to the dining room.  If you brought the food to the table and then just let them have at it, chaos ensued.  Thirteen hungry men at one table together.  Sungmin always felt sorry for restaurant owners whenever they visited together as a group.  In all these years they’d been together, growing up and maturing, their table manners hadn’t improved much. 

            Sungmin heard the door open and close again and then heard the distinct voices of Donghae and Hyukjae joining the group—the general volume going up several decibels the more members showed up—and he smiled, thinking back to the days when they all lived together in one single dorm.  How the hell did the neighbors withstand that?  It must have sounded like they were living next to a rail station.  Then again, there were also times that the members would sing in the dorm together, particularly Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung.  They sounded heavenly.  Sometimes even Sungmin would fall asleep listening to the sound of it.  Perhaps one could forgive hearing them all shouting over each other at the top of their lungs periodically if they also got to listen to them sing live on a regular basis.  Sungmin heard a horrible crashing noise in the other room and knew it was just the members horsing around, but he winced at the thought of the neighbors below hearing the noise.

            “That’s enough!” Leeteuk gently warned.

            The funny thing was, even though Sungmin wasn’t in the room to see it, he knew Leeteuk was smiling as he said it.  But that was a façade.  If they didn’t knock it off, there would be hell to pay.  Thankfully, Leeteuk never had to go beyond warnings anymore.  Immediately, the roughhousing came to an abrupt halt.

            Sungmin popped his head out of the kitchen.  “The food will be ready in a couple minutes.”

            “Wonderful,” Leeteuk said, giving him a genuine smile.  “Do you need help with anything?”

            Sungmin shook his head.  “No, we’re good.  Kyu’s helping us out.”

            “He’s probably eating half the food.  I should help out too,” Shindong teased.

            There was a knock at the door again.  “Could someone grab that though?”

            “I got it!” Hyukjae said, jogging to the door and opening it.  “Henry!”

            “Hey!  Am I late?” 

            “We wouldn’t start without you,” Donghae claimed, pulling the boy into the apartment. 

            Sungmin continued to set out condiments on the table and by the time everything was set, Siwon had indeed arrived and everyone was together that could actually be there.  Jongwoon was impossible to borrow from the military just for dinner.  Bummer.  He missed his more level-headed hyung.  He might not have a reputation for being as spontaneous or fun as some of the other members, but when you needed someone reasonable and emotionally stable in your corner, that’s who you wanted around.  At least Leeteuk was back.  Having them both gone just wouldn’t do.  And that wasn’t to say there was anything wrong with the rest of his hyungs.  They each brought something different to the table. 

            Heechul was funny, outgoing, outspoken, but you would never think to question his authority if he actually gave a command.  He rarely ever did—he considered that Leeteuk’s job—so that made it stand out all the more.  You never mess with him.  But he’s also the biggest backer of being yourself.  No one is as proud of being who they are, as strange as that might be, as Heechul.  He won’t let anyone give you any for it either.  Sungmin was banking on him to back him up once he made his announcement, even if no one else did, aside from Ryeowook.

            Kangin.  No one messes with Kangin either.  He doesn’t care what anyone does otherwise, as long as they don’t mess with him.  Pretty easy rule to follow.  Unless Leeteuk and Heechul are fed up with the younger members and sic him on them, then that’s a different story.  But he’s also going to defend his own.  He won’t let anyone mess with members of the group. 

            And Shindong.  Sungin wasn’t sure how everything was going to go over with him once he found out why they were all there.  He’d been in this position before and it didn’t work out for him.  Has that left a bad taste in his mouth?  Will he be supportive of Sungmin’s request or against it?  Either way, he’d still be going through with it, but he’d like to know that he would have everyone’s blessing.  Sungmin would understand if that was harder for Shindong to give though.  He was engaged, he dealt with public objections to his fiancée and to getting married so young, and then the company also tried to postpone him getting married to offset any public disaster.  And they succeeded.  Permanently.  But in most things, Sungmin had always found him to be a strong backer of anything he’d ever done, from deejaying with Ryeowook, to acting in the theater, to just standing up on the stage to him. 

            “Alright,” Sungmin said, clasping his hands together as he walked out of the kitchen and into the living and dining area, “dinner is served.  Please help yourselves.”

            Well, thankfully Sungmin dove out of the way after he said those words, because they caused a stampede.  Ryeowook and Kyuhyun were already dishing up their plates, leading the pack.  Leeteuk and Jonghoon waited out the chaos in the dining room, sitting at the table sipping glasses of wine.  Ryeowook had the foresight to suggest some liquor with dinner to make the news more palatable to the group and offered up some of Kyuhyun’s bottles, since they were taking over every available free spot in the bedroom, and the group had already emptied four of them.  That was a good sign.  But that was still probably only one glass a piece, considering how many of them were there. 

            Once everyone had their food and were seated at the table, Sungmin sat down with his and downed half a glass of wine, clearly nervous.  Ryeowook pat his hand and gave him an encouraging smile. 

            “Should we say grace?” Siwon suggested.

            “Grace!” Heechul shouted out.

            Siwon sighed loudly, giving his hyung a patient look.

            “Go ahead, Siwon.  Unless you want the honors, Sungmin, since you invited us over,” Leeteuk suggested.

            Sungmin waved his hand to Siwon.

            Siwon bowed his head.  “Lord God, thank you for allowing us all to be together once again, for being together all these years now, doing what we love.  Thank you for this delicious food and for the hard work that Sungmin and Ryeowook have put into making it.  Amen.”

            There were several repeated amens and then the room grew quiet as everyone began eating in earnest.  It would not last long.  Conversation would begin again in a moment.  During the short silence, Leeteuk glanced across the table at Sungmin. 

            “Thank you again, Sungmin, for inviting us all over today.  This is such a wonderful treat, to have us all together and for you to take the time to cook for us all,” Leeteuk said.

            There was another round of thank you’s from the group as well, in between bites, and Sungmin nodded.  He wasn’t used to getting praise on a regular basis and it kind of embarrassed him when he did get it. 

            “Is there any reason in particular you wanted us all together today?” Leeteuk asked, gently smiling at him.

            Sungmin looked up from his plate and could feel his cheeks begin to burn.  Was he so transparent to his hyung?  He should have known, of all people, that Leeteuk could see through him.  “Actually, there is.”

            Everyone turned to look in his direction now and he couldn’t meet their eyes.  He stared down at his food and bit his lip.  Ryeowook reached over and grasped is hand, squeezing.  “Just tell them, Min.  It’s okay.”

            “I…I’ve asked Saeun to marry me,” Sungmin began, his voice shaky.  “And she’s said yes.  We’re engaged and I…I don’t want to wait until after I get done with my military service to get married.  I want to get married before the end of the year.  We’re…we’re getting married in December.”

            There was utter silence for several seconds.  Sungmin could feel his heart beating in his chest and was terrified that they were going to reject his idea.  His curiosity got the better of him and he looked up.  They were all staring at him still.  Ryeowook, however, was smiling wide with tears in his eyes.  Leeteuk’s solemn look slowly changed, the corners of his mouth turning upwards as he leaned back in his chair.  But Shindong was the first to fully recover from the shock.  He jumped to his feet. 

            “Congratulations!” he said, rounding the table and hugging his dongsaeng fiercely.  Sungmin somehow managed to gain his feet and stood up, hugging him back, and the fears he’d bottled up for the last few weeks finally gave way to tears. 

            “You approve?” Sungmin questioned, barely able to speak in the bearlike-hug that Shindong had him grasped in. 

            “Approve?” Hyukjae questioned, quickly joining them.  “We’ve never seen you so happy since you’ve been with her.  Of course, we approve.”

            “I told you it’d be fine,” Ryeowook said, sipping his wine.

            “You knew about this?” Kyuhyun asked from beside his boyfriend.

            “Best friend privileges,” Ryeowook pointed out.

            “What about boyfriend privileges?” Kyuhyun asked. 

            “That’s what we did this morning,” Ryeowook said, winking.

            Kyuhyun smacked his arm lightly.  “I meant, don’t I get to know info like that to since we’re together?” he asked.

            Ryeowook shook his head. 

            “Fine,” he said, sulking.  “I’m not going to tell you any of the dirt Changmin tells me anymore.”

            “Changmin never tells you anything interesting anyway.  And he probably doesn’t want you telling me his secrets,” Ryeowook pointed out.  “But won’t it bother you to keep that bottled up inside without telling anyone?”

            “I’ll call Minho.”

            Ryeowook smiled, knowing that Kyuhyun wouldn’t be able to keep a secret from him if his life depended on it and leaned over to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek. 

            “To be honest, we have been wondering for a while now when you two were going to take things to the next level,” Heechul informed him.

            “I thought you’d just move in together,” Donghae said, joining the group of huggers and jumping up and down in his excitement.

            Siwon shook his head.  “I told you he was more respectful than that.”

            “These are modern times,” Heechul argued.  “It isn’t meant to be disrespectful to try out living together first.  It’s actually rather smart to make sure you can handle living together before you tie yourselves to each other legally.”

            “We’re not arguing about this right now,” Leeteuk warned.  “And I think we should all sit down and continue eating.  Sungmin, we’re all very excited to hear your news.”

            “Thank you, hyung,” Sungmin said, wiping his eyes as he sat back down.

            “Yes, congratulations,” Jonghoon said, leaning forward in his seat.  “But can I be the one to point out that although everyone at this table is excited, this is probably not going to go over well with all your fans.”

            “If our fans really loved us like they claimed, wouldn’t they want to see us happy?” Heechul angrily complained.  “Why is it they only want to see us happy on their own terms?”

            “I will not postpone my wedding just to appease my fans,” Sungmin insisted.

            Jonghoon nodded in understanding.  “I wasn’t suggesting that,” he began.  “But in order for you to get any public backing on this at all, you might have to make it into a bigger event than you planned.  Promote it.  Advertise the upcoming nuptials with wedding photo shoots.  Video record the event and let the fans see it.  Send out invites to some of the biggest stars in the country and have a giant guest list.  Impress everyone so that no one will think that you don’t mean it.  Everyone will know that you take getting married seriously and that you intend to stay together.  And if you create a media frenzy around the wedding, your fans may be too excited by it to completely snub you for it.”

            He knew it made sense.  If he just snuck off and got hitched, the fans would feel betrayed.  By doing everything out in the open, they’d feel included in the moment and perhaps would forgive him for getting married.  (Although he shouldn’t have to apologize for getting married in the first place.  Everyone had the right to it and he never told anyone else they couldn’t marry someone, but this was life in the spotlight and he was sadly accustomed to it.)

            Sungmin let out a long breath.  “I don’t think we can afford something like that, hyung.  Neither of us are opposed to a big wedding, I think it’s every woman’s dream, but I simply can’t afford it.  Not on the scale you’re talking about.”

            “Perhaps we could get some financial backing from product vendors,” he suggested.

            “Absolutely not,” Sungmin said.  “The moment you start letting companies contribute to something like this, they start dictating what happens and what doesn’t.  This is our wedding.  I only want us deciding how we run things.”

            Leeteuk nodded to Jonghoon.  “We will figure something out.”

            “You’re right, Min,” Ryeowook said, whispering to him.

            “We can find a way of doing this without getting outside help,” Siwon assured him, patting Sungmin’s back from beside him. 

            “Why didn’t you invite the lovely bride to have dinner with us?” Hyukjae asked.

            “Yeah!” Henry agreed.

            “Are you nuts?” Sungmin asked.

            “We’re all brothers,” Donghae said.  “She’s going to be our sister now.”

            “I think we should go get her after dinner so we can get to know her better,” Heechul suggested.

            “That’s a terrible idea,” Sungmin said.

            “What’s she doing tonight?” Leeteuk asked.

            “I think she was just going to stay home or maybe get some errands done,” Sungmin said, a little nervous now that Heechul and Leeteuk seemed interested in having her there as well.

            “Call her up and see if she wants to join us for dessert,” Leeteuk said.

            “I’ll go get her!” Hyukjae said, practically jumping out of his chair.

            “I’ll go with,” Donghae claimed.

            “The hell you will.  She’s not going to marry me at all if I send scary people like you to go get her.  I’ll get her myself,” Sungmin said, pulling out his phone.

            “Who hasn’t been drinking tonight?” Leeteuk asked.

            Zhou Mi raised his hand. 

            “Perfect.  You can go with Sungmin to pick her up. Can I have you drive?”

            “Of course,” he offered.

            “Good.”

            “Who will clean up after dinner than?” Sungmin asked, about to call Saeun.

            “Since Hyuk and Hae have so much energy, they’ll help in the kitchen.  I think Henry will as well, since he’s young.  Ryeowook and Kyuhyun can relax, since they worked to get things ready,” Leeteuk said.

            “One of us worked harder than the other,” Ryeowook said, poking Kyuhyun in the side. 

            “You still made me clean the house yesterday,” he pointed out.

            “The rest of us are going to have a chat in the living room,” Leeteuk informed them.  “And we promise to be on our best behavior for our new sister.”

            They all turned and smiled at Sungmin, who didn’t feel the least bit relieved by the sinister smirks aimed his direction.  Well, this would be the first real test of their relationship aside from the public finding out they were dating.  She would be meeting all this members aside from Jongwoon.  God help him.  He dialed her number and prayed she’d forgive him for this.