KAI

That Saturday, Sehun started working at the ice cream shop. Namjoon was able to endorse him to the store manager and had made sure that papa wouldn’t know the real reason why he’s working there.

I had dance practice that Saturday and Sehun was part of the performance. But because he was supposed to be working, he couldn’t attend. In fact, he wouldn’t be able to join the performance at all, because every Saturday, he would be working. I called Jungkook to replace Sehun, and he agreed.

Xiao Yi decided to spend her weekend with her friends at the mall.

I was the da ge of the family now. Well, it wasn’t much because there were only the three of us left at home. Papa was mainly based in Thailand managing the resort.

Over the years, I think I can say that I have matured well. I turned eighteen a few months before Sehun, so that made me his hyung. And since I was older by a few months, papa automatically appointed me da ge. And as I said, it’s not much. Sehun is eighteen now. I technically don’t have power over him. But since Xiao Yi is back in Beijing, I was responsible for her. Sehun was responsible for her, too.

Anyway, after dance practice, Jungkook and I decided to go to the ice cream shop to see how Sehun was doing. We parked outside the shop and got inside. Instead of looking for a place to sit, we directly went to the counter and greeted Sehun who was behind the cash register. He said he was cashier for the day and the next day, he’d try out to be a food attendant. The store manager had said that he was to try the different service crew positions before he decided to choose which one suited him. Sehun was all up for it. He kinda liked the idea of trying out different jobs.

Namjoon and J hyung dropped by as well. I think Namjoon wanted to see how their staff was treating Sehun. The staff knew that Sehun was the son of Mr. Min’s businessman friend, and he should be treated with respect.

There was a girl assigned to show Sehun around the shop. She was a scholar at FIS, a sophomore, we found out. Her name was Lee Halla. She worked at the ice cream shop so she could pay her board and lodging. Namjoon treated us to ice cream and he said that his appa knew Halla’s dad back in Korea. She was in Beijing as an exchange student and was under a scholarship grant. Their family was middle class, so she had to apply for the scholarship. Mr. Min had offered her a part time job at the ice cream shop, so she can earn to pay for her lodging and food.

Lee Halla turned out to be a nice girl. She was fun to be with. Sehun said that she was a good teacher. We were seated near the counter, so we could chat with them as we ate our ice c ream. She could take lame jokes well that J and Jungkook threw at her. I tried pretending to be annoyed at her, but she smoothly handled it.

Because she was a scholar, she usually brought some books and her homework to the shop. Namjoon said that his appa had informed the manager that Halla be allowed at least an hour break when it was her shift, so she could study. She goes to work on Friday after classes, and the rest of the weekend. She reminded me a bit about Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi got a little feisty when she wanted to. And Halla seemed to be the same type. I automatically thought that the two would be really good friends once they met. I mentally took note to bring Xiao Yi to meet her, soon.

J and Jungkook went home together. Namjoon stayed for a bit, helping out at the cashier and entertaining customers with his smooth operator spiels, as each customer comes up the counter to either place an order for takeout, or to ask something. I stayed around to wait for Sehun.

Sehun got off work at around 7 in the evening. He still had a sort of briefing for the next day of work, so he had to stay for another hour. He’d be full daytime shift on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays. Saturday shift starts at 9AM and ends 6PM. Sunday shift was flexible. He can come in anytime, but it would be four hours.

Sehun parked his car behind the shop, a private area where the Mins would normally park their cars when they came to check the shop. Before we went home, we had to drop by the grocery to buy some stuff for dinner and the rest of the following week. I had forgotten to do grocery on Friday after class, so I would be doing that now. I had wanted to ask Xiao Yi to do grocery shopping since she was at the mall, but since she didn’t drive her own car yet, and she’d be bringing paper bags of stuff, I decided against it.

Xiao Yi had called telling me that she was already home. Her friend Yue dropped her off. I had asked her what she needed, so we could buy it for her.

After grocery, Sehun and I went home.

Luhan was coming home.

On Monday.

His one month vacation over, he sent me a message on Facebook that he already booked a ticket scheduled Monday. That meant by Tuesday, he’d be back home.

Crap.

My da ge duties were short-lived. Luhan would take his rightful position again as da ge as soon as he sets foot in Beijing soil. Anyway, the good thing about it was, I would be responsible for myself mostly, since he would assume responsibility over Xiao Yi again.

Haha.

I was happy.

Yeah.

Papa called to inform me of the same thing. Kris and Xiumin hyung were going directly to Thailand, instead of coming home first. Papa said that it’s best that the two would start as soon as possible, so they’d be able to adjust with Thailand’s weather, demographics and such. It would definitely a big change, since London and France were cold countries. They’d need the time to acclimate themselves with Thailand.

When I told Sehun and Xiao Yi that Luhan was due back home on Tuesday, they exchanged looks of horror. Especially Sehun. No. Actually, both of them had the exact look of horror in their faces. I asked them what the matter was and they said in unison, “He cannot know about the drag race!”

Well, god knows what Luhan would do if he knew Sehun was into drag racing and used his class’ money to bet on it.

LOL.

Seriously though, Luhan was scary. Especially now that he’s all grown up and have a college degree. He’d be scarier now than he was before. I’d probably be more careful with my night out gimmicks and dealings with the outside world.

He wasn’t perfect, but he sure follows papa’s rules by heart. I can only count the times he broke some of papa’s rules with my fingers. If papa had twenty commandments, he’d have broken only one law.

I miss Lu ge, though. He might be scary, but I missed him.

D-Day.

Lu ge was expected to arrive today.

I didn’t know what time he’d arrive, but based on the schedule of his flight from London, he probably would be home around 2 in the afternoon. I checked my time. It was twenty minutes after eleven in the morning. Almost lunch break. I had wanted to cancel skateboard practice that afternoon, but decided against it. Lu ge didn’t need me to make himself comfortable at home. LOL. He’s old enough to do those things for himself. It turned out that Sehun and Xiao Yi made plans after class too. Well, Sehun was part of the skateboard team, so he’d still be in school after class. After skateboard practice, he planned on going with Jungkook to the ice cream shop. Xiao Yi didn’t join any school clubs this year, so instead of doing school extracurricular activities, she decided to help her friends with their group project.

Lu ge would be home alone until dinner….or even after dinner.

LOL.

Lu ge would probably kick my for doing this to him, but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt ME. LOL.

I was restless as 2PM drew nearer.

Lu ge would call. I just knew it. And he did. I was on free period when he called. It was ten minutes to 2PM.

The da ge has returned. Touchdown Beijing.

I sent Sehun and Xiao Yi each a text message. They both replied with, “Okay, thanks.”  I wanted to smack their heads for the kind of reply I got. But then I remembered that they, too, were nervous that our oldest brother has returned to Beijing. Papa’s counterpart AND mama Wu’s male version was home.

I suddenly wished Kris hyung was with him. He was more lenient than Lu ge. But he was with Xiumin hyung, en route Thailand.

After skateboard practice, I called Xiao Yi to ask if she’d hitch a ride home with me. She told me to wait for her. I bet she didn’t want to go home by herself, afraid what Lu ge will say. Sehun was with Jungkook on the way to the ice cream shop. I hoped they’d stay there for real and not go drag racing again. But I doubt he’d try the latter, knowing he’d be in more trouble than he already was in.

We already rehearsed our lines when Lu ge asked us why Sehun worked at the ice cream shop on weekends. We were sure that he won’t put the matter to rest until we’d give him a satisfactory answer. We decided to stick with the original plan, the same reason we would give papa, that Sehun wanted to try working for experience.

So yeah, I waited for Xiao Yi at the parking lot. I leaned on the hood of the car. I plugged in my headphones and turned the volume up. I saw some sophomores pass by and they giggled as they greeted me. I forgot that I was at the main campus, so there should be lower year students here.

I raised a hand to acknowledge them. Some of them squealed. It hurt my ears, but I just crinkled my face and smiled.

“Kai, who are you waiting for?”

“I’m waiting for Xiao Yi.”

“Oh. Your sister?”

“Yup.”

“Take care on the way home, okay?”

“Thank you, yes I will.”

“Bye, Kai….Wu Zhongren.”

I raised my hand again. They giggled and waved at me as they continued walking. I shook my head in disbelief. They were too young for me. I was of age to date, but I decided not to date until I was emotionally stable. I still get goosebumps when I’m left alone with a girl and I still didn’t know how to handle the pressure of keeping a relationship. Among us, Wu boys, Xiumin hyung was the only one who had a girlfriend. I guess the other oldies weren’t in a hurry to be in a relationship. And I guess it was due to the fact that papa started a family when he was young. Learning from that experience, we kinda wanted to delay that kind of situation.

It wasn’t easy being in a large family. We had different mothers. And I, personally, was worried that papa’s cassanova genes would be handed down to any one of us. And that would most probably be me. There was a belief that the ones who usually would get the traits of the father are the youngest children. I didn’t want to have 13 children from different mothers.

No way.

Xiao Yi showed up at the parking lot twenty minutes later. She gave me a grin that looked like she was faking it. I snorted and messed her hair. She tried to kick me, but I smoothly walked away. She pouted and opened the passenger door and threw her backpack in. She blurted out.

“Are you excited to see Lu ge?”

“What?”

“Are you excited to see Lu ge?”

“Excited? No. But I miss him.”

“So, you’re not excited, but you miss him.”

“Yeah. Why did you ask?”

“Because that’s kinda how I feel too, at the moment.”

“At the moment? Will it change later?”

“Maybe. Hopefully it will change into something…better.”

“Like?”

“Like…uhm…not being scared of him?”

“Hahaha. Okay. He’s gonna be busy with work now, so I doubt he’d have all eyes on you.”

“You never know.”

“Let’s just put it this way, you are our only sister. Youngest at that.”

“You’re not scary like him. I behaved in London because he was there.”

“Was it bad? Behaving?”

“Aniyo.”

“So, he’s not really scary.”

“Hmm. Yeah. Now that I think about it, he’s just a cranky guy. He’s not really scary.”

“Yeah. Kidding aside, I really do miss Lu ge.”

“I miss him too, you know. It’s nice to have him back home. In fact, I wish all the other boys were home, too.”

She had settled herself in the passenger seat and buckled up. I did the same and started the ignition.

“Kai oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Can we…drop by…the ice cream shop?”

“Hmm? Waeyo?”

“Uhm. Naw, let’s just go home.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

“Alright.”

Little sister and her change of mind. LOL.

So, anyway, we went directly home. I had a feeling that Xiao Yi just wanted to see Jungkook before she sees Lu ge. Who knows? Now that Lu ge was home, he might not allow them to see each other…alone.

I stopped in front of the gate and Xiao Yi got out to punch in the number coordinates to open the gate, then she got back in the car and I drove through. The gate automatically closed as the car was already through. Xiao Yi got out of the car and took her backpack from the backseat, and slowly walked towards the front door. I decided to park my car in the basement instead of leaving it out for the night.

After parking my car, I bounded up the stairs from the basement to the main floor. I passed through the mud room going to the main hall. Xiao Yi had just stepped inside the front door. LOL.

The air felt like “Luhan is here. Do you get it? Luhan is here.”

Xiao Yi walked towards the stairs with her head down. I could hear faint voices coming from the kitchen. I thought I heard Lu ge’s voice, but instead of going to see if it was indeed him, I followed Xiao Yi upstairs. I went straight to my room and dumped my stuff. I kicked off my shoes and changed into more comfortable clothes and slippers. I had my room carpeted, to soundproof my footsteps.

I went out of the room and decided to go to the kitchen and greet Lu ge. Sooner or later, we’d see him in the house, anyway. I walked towards the media room on the other wing; there was another staircase that led to the family room, which was adjacent to the kitchen.

As I went down the stairs, I could clearly hear Lu ge’s voice from the kitchen. He wasn’t talking to the househelp, but it sounded like he was talking to someone on the phone.

Papa?

 “Uh-hmm…well, tomorrow I guess? Yes, pa. Still kinda dizzy…hmm? 3 hours…Yes…I need 10 more hours of sleep, pa…okay. I will have it scheduled ASAP…no…not tomorrow…no, pa…by Friday or…Monday next week…okay…Friday…”

Yup.

I reached the main floor and saw him sitting on a stool in front of the counter, facing a rather tall glass of…what was he drinking? Before I could speak to announce my presence, he turned his head around and nodded to me. He didn’t bother taking the phone off from his ear when he spoke to me.

“Kai. I need you to cancel all your appointments on Friday and Saturday. I’m calling out a meeting for the opening of Fusion. I need you and Sehun to join the meeting.”  Then he paused abruptly and asked,“ Where is Sehun? Where is Xiao Yi?”

“Uh…yes?”

Wow.

My mind went blank.