Tambourine was back in Korea and now fully preparing for the release of their third single, Captivating Flower. The release date had been set for mid November, and while the recordings had all been finished, the only thing left was to film for the MV.

After nearly seven weeks of walking on her crutches and occasionally visiting the hospital for a check-up, Jeri was fully ready and willing to either kill herself or someone else. She was forced to simply watch and comment on the choreography that the boys were taught, having to resort to visual memory to try and prepare herself for when she too could dance for their MV, and this not only irritated her greatly, but it made her uneasy; she was the Lead Dancer of Tambourine, a title she prided herself in, she couldn’t screw up the choreography.

Not only was the girl fretting about making the MV deadline, but the fact that the SuJu men and her own members continued to baby her left a sour taste in . It was cute at first, seeing just how much they all seemed to worry and care, but after seven weeks of constantly having one if not more of them hovering around her almost 24/7, it started to grate on her nerves.

She and Jun were supposed to head back to the hospital today after practice and Jeri, for the first time in her life, was looking forward to it. She wouldn’t dare tell Jun, but for the past week she’d not only been exceedingly bored, but stubborn as well and tried to rehabilitate herself on her own, though her small walks usually consisted of taking a maximum of ten steps before the throbbing in her knee forced her to pick her crutched back up. Over the past few days however, the pain seemed to lessen with each short walk, and Jeri could only hope that it was finally a sign that she was on the mend.

“Check, one, two, three. Houston do you copy?”

Jeri jumped in her chair when someone snapped their fingers in front of her nose, her eyes shooting up to give her brother a questioning look.

“There she is, I’ve apparently been talking to myself for the past five minutes but that’s ok; I’m used to it by now…” Jun huffed, raising his eyebrow at her and crossing his arms over his torso.

“Are you alright Jeri; you seemed really out of it,” Harii added from beside him, a look of mild concern etched onto his face.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine. Just brooding and having wishful thoughts,” Jeri laughed, patting her knee with a corny smile stretched across her lips.

“Well hopefully when you two go to the hospital tonight you’ll get some good news,” Setiawan claimed, walking over while patting his neck with a towel. “You’ve been recovering and taking it easy for nearly two months…”

Jeri simple nodded, releasing a sigh through her nose.

“So when are we supposed to start filming for the MV anyways?” Harii suddenly asked, turning his gaze towards their manager, Nyua having been sitting on the floor next to Jeri’s chair while furiously typing on her phone.

“Filming starts in four days and you guys will be filming at Gimhae Foreign Language High School,” Nyua replied, not taking her eyes away from her screen, her brows creased slightly in the center. “Provided I can convince the Headmaster to keep his work and allow us entry…”

“Wait, if we’re going to a school does that mean we’re wearing uniforms??” Jun asked, seeming to have become a mix of excitement and confusion.

“Yes, the concept for the MV is a deceiving life after all,” Nyua hinted, the corner of her lips twitching upwards for a moment before returning to their place.

“Oooohhhh, Manager-nim is hiding something from us; should we be worried?” Jeri teased, having noticed the fraction of a smirk on the woman’s face.

“I know I’m worried; Jeri’ll have to wear a skirt~” Jun snickered.

“Over my dead body!!”

The other four burst out into laughter as Jeri’s face twisted into one of disgust.

The three men returned to their dance practise and soon it was later into the day, Nyua reminding the siblings to head to the hospital for Jeri’s appointment.

Driving to the hospital in Jun’s car was filled with a comfortable silence, the radio playing quietly for simple background noise. After a short drive, the siblings were entering the hospital and sitting in one of the many offices to wait for Jeri’s doctor. When the older man walked into the room the two greeted him.

“I’m glad to see you doing well Jeri-ssi,” the man hummed, shaking hers and Jun’s hands. “Before we get to current matters, I’d like to have a CT scan done of your knee, just so that we can see what exactly is going on in there.”

Jeri nodded in understanding and followed the older man out of the office as Jun made himself comfortable in the chair. Twenty minutes later Jeri and the doctor returned, both sitting in their respective seats around the wooden desk with a computer.

“You’ve rested it well for the past many weeks, I think it would be safe to start walking on it again,” the doctor claimed, clicking on the mouse and turning the screen so the siblings could see. “There’s still a little bit of inflammation in this area here, which tell me that Jeri-ssi has been walking around on her own already-”

“YA! You Brat!” Jun barked giving his sister a glare.

“A small amount of swelling is normal, I would just suggest not to overdo it and if it begins to bring you discomfort to quickly rest and put some ice on your knee,” the doctor finished with a chuckle.

“So I can stop using my crutches~?” Jeri grinned, clapping her hands together in front of her and giving the doctor a hopeful look.

“I would like you to keep them as a last resort, but yes, so long as you take care to not over-exert it, you should be fine to walk on your own two feet again,”

Jeri clapped her hands and bounced in her seat with glee, a beaming smile stretched across her lips as Jun rolled his eyes but released a small chuckle.

“Well, I’m sure a certain group of guys will be all but elated to hear this,” he snickered.

Jeri simply stuck her tongue out at him, the smile still stretched across her lips.
 

-=-=-

Jeri slipped on her shirt and pulled down the sleeves just as someone knocked on her bedroom door.

"No soliciting," she called, pulling on her sweater.

"Awwww, but these toilet seats are top notch!"

"Eunhyuk-ah!"

Jeri burst out laughing as she opened the door giving the two men a look. "Toilet seats?"

"What? It's the first thing that popped into my head!" Eunhyuk laughed.

"Something like a hot water heater or something would have been better!" Donghae laughed, giving his friend a baffled look.

Eunhyuk grinned and shrugged as Jeri closed the door behind her. The trio walked out into the living room and Jeri poked her head into the kitchen.

"I'm off Harii, good luck on the show today," she said.

Harii tilted his head back and grinned giving her a nod in thanks. "Don't have too much fun~"

Jeri snorted and rolled her eyes. Giving the Korean a lazy wave, she followed Donghae and Eunhyuk out of the apartment, heading towards Super Junior’s in Eunhyuk’s car.

When Jeri and Jun had gotten back from the hospital the night before, Jeri had texted the men saying that she was free of her crutches. Zhou Mi had, surprisingly, been the first to text her back, claiming that she was just in time to join them for a outing he had planned.

After a couple minutes, the trio was walking into Super Junior's building. Donghae and Eunhyuk headed for the elevator, but Jeri turned off towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Donghae called, giving the girl a baffled look.

She pointed to the sign above the door. "Stairs."

Eunhyuk mimicked her, pointing to the brass doors. "Elevator."

"I don't like elevators remember?" she stated. "I'll walk, you guys can go in."

"We almost live on the top floor," Donghae claimed.

"So? I’ve walked up to your guys’ dorm all this time so far," Jeri claimed, raising an eyebrow.

Eunhyuk and Donghae exchanged looks, but when they looked back to the girl, she was already walking through the door. They sighed and ran after her.

"Ya, Jeri! Wait!" Donghae called up the stairs.

She poked her head over the railing, showing she was up around the third floor already.

"Are you running?" Eunhyuk questioned, seeing her.

"No, I climb fast. And I thought you guys were taking the elevator…" she called back.

"We're not letting you walk up so many flights of stairs alone! What if you get jumped?!" Donghae barked, making his way up the stairs.

Jeri simply rolled her eyes and waited for them to catch up. When they stood beside her, she lead the way up the stairs. By the time the large nine was seen, Jeri looked back to see the guys huffing and puffing behind her.

"Jeez, you'd think you'd never exercised before," she laughed watching them.

"How can she not be tired?" Eunhyuk whined.

Donghae grumbled in reply but continued up the stairs.

After a couple more minutes, the two men made it to the top floor, Jeri sitting on the last step waiting for them, not the least bit out of breath.

"What… is your secret?" Donghae panted, planting his hands on his knees.

"Stay active," she replied with a grin.

She stood up from the stairs and opened the door, holding it open so that the boys could walk through. They got to and opened their door and piled in.

"We're back~" Eunhyuk sang, sounding exhausted.

"You sound tired hyung, are you alright?" Ryeowook asked, walking over.

"She made us walk," Donghae groaned, thumbing towards Jeri.

"I told you, you could've taken the elevator like last time," Jeri shot back, toeing out of her shoes.

"Wait, you guys walked up twelve flights of stairs?" Leeteuk questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I walked up twelve flights of stairs. These two crawled up five of them," she corrected, motioning to the two.

Donghae and Eunhyuk simply groaned and flopped down on the floor, exhausted, making the others laugh.

"So, we have you for the rest of the day apparently," Shindong claimed. "Anything you want to do?"

"Zhou Mi told me he'd thought of something…" Jeri claimed, looking around the dorm for the man.

"And think of something I did!" The man proclaimed, sliding into the foyer with a large grin spread across his lips.

"Alright I’ll bite, what's the agenda?" she laughed.

"I figured that since Christmas is coming up, that we could go Christmas shopping," Zhou Mi claimed.

"Christmas?" Jeri placed her index finger on her chin in thought. "Wow, I never realized how close it was until now…"

"Yep! Only about a month away!" Ryeowook cheered with a smile.

"I usually leave my shopping 'till last minute…"

"Well you're not going to this year!" Zhou Mi claimed, giving her a stern look. "You have to go out and buy stuff before they're all gone!"

Jeri simply sighed knowing that she'd get dragged out whether she wanted to go or not. They all stood and prepared for the cold, Jeri dressing lighter than the boys.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Shindong asked.

"You guys think that negative 1 is freezing; never go to Ireland, the temperature on a warm winter day is negative 16," she laughed. “Besides, the cold feels good on my knee.”

The boys all shivered at the thought, making Jeri laugh again and walk out of the door.

After the drive to the nearby mall, they group decided to split up.

"Ryeowookie and I'll go with Jeri," Zhou Mi grinned, pulling the two after him.

"Ya! Why does Jeri have to go with you guys?" Eunhyuk shouted after his bandmates.

Zhou Mi simply ignored the lead dancers shouts and continued to pull the two along. "First thing's first, we have to find some things for Donghae-ssi, Eunhyuk-ssi and Shindong-hyung," he claimed.

"Sound like a plan, but can you stop dislocating ours wrists first?" Jeri spoke.

Zhou Mi quickly released the youngers, Jeri and Ryeowook rubbing at their wrists.

"C'mon you two! Let's go!" Zhou Mi claimed marching off.

Ryeowook went to follow after his hyung, but Jeri grabbed his hand and pulled him into a nearby store.

"J-Jeri wha-"

"SShhhh!" she hissed, placing her hand over his mouth.

A couple seconds later, Zhou Mi stormed by, growling about being ditched, making the two snicker.

"So… why did we abandon Zhou Mi-hyung?" Ryeowook asked, as they walked out of the store.

"Let's be honest, would you have been able to think of ideas for the others with him breathing down your neck?" Jeri retorted, giving him a look.

Ryeowook shook his head with a laugh making Jeri laugh and begin walking, Ryeowook close behind her.

"So, where are we going?" the older idol asked.

"Hmmmm…. I guess to figure out what we can get the guys. Have you heard anything along the grapevine?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Grape… vine?"

"Has anyone said they'd like something or you think they might need?" she clarified.

Ryeowook thought for a couple seconds and simply shrugged, making Jeri sigh.

"Well, do you mind if we shop for my guys first then? Maybe we'll think of something," she offered.

Ryeowook nodded and the two continued through the mall, naturally getting many looks.

"Your fangirls are glaring at me," Jeri snickered.

Ryeowook's eyes widened and he looked around, seeing that indeed, many girls were glaring in their direction.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, giving her an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it," she waved off. "I'm used to it by now."

Ryeowook nodded and followed her into a clothing store.

"Jun loves his leather, so I was thinking of a leather jacket or something… preferably one that doesn't cost me my soul…" she muttered, looking at the price tags.

Ryeowook simply laughed and watched her rifle around in the clothing racks trying to find something. After several minutes, she huffed and crossed her arms with a pout.

"Stupid brother, I'll just get him socks," she growled.

"Why don't you see if you can get the price dropped?" Ryeowook offered, picking up the jacket she had been eyeing.

"Yeah, let’s not and say we did,” Jeri groaned. "I’d like to keep what’s left of my pride intact thank you..."

Ryeowook gave her a sad smile. His eyes brightened and he swiftly took the jacket and brought it over to the cash register.

"Wookie, what are you doing!" she called out, dashing after him.

"Could I possibly have the price lowered on this jacket?" he asked the girl at the counter.

When she realized who he was, she squealed and fanned her face, trying to tone down the red.

"I will if you sing for me~" she cooed in embarrassment.

Ryeowook grinned and began singing Bonamana, even doing the dance for her as Jeri watched with a small smile. When he was finished his short session, the girl clapped and took a fair chunk off of the jacket price. Jeri walked forward and paid, the girl wrapping it and placing it in a bag and wishing them a good day.

"Thanks a lot Wookie, that was really nice of you," Jeri claimed, smiling up at him.

"Just tell me if you want to lower any more prices," the boy joked with a smile of his own.

Jeri laughed and patted him on the arm, walking out of the store together.

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I'm starting to think that having the chapters out by wednesday may be pushing it nowadays, but I'll do my best to have them out every friday at the latest~!

Thank you for subscribing and following along with me as I attempt to bring you an even greater experience with Jeri and the gang~!

Thank you to all subscribers as well as silent readers, and a special thanks to arandomperson, iheartbts, FixRate, DolphinWorld and Arashi93 for upvoting~!