“Kyu!” the newcomer hollered out as he walked through the back door, his arms wide open as Kyuhyun headed to the door to greet him.

            “Game over!” Kyuhyun hollered back and hugged his friend. 

            “Hey!  Quit calling me that!  The guys at the company started to refer to me that way too, it just isn’t right.  I’m ranked first!”

            “Only because I don’t compete.”

            “Whatever,” he said, pretending to smack him and then took off his jacket, looking around the kitchen.  “Heechul!  What are you doing here?”

            “Hey Max!” Heechul said, standing up from his stool where he’d been reading through lines for his upcoming movie and giving Changmin a hug.  “I’m visiting.  How have you been?”

            “Very well,” Changmin said as he pulled away.  “You look a little tan.”

            “I was filming in the Sahara Desert until a few days ago.”

            “Ah,” he said, nodding.  He looked over at Ryeowook curiously.

            There was a slight lull in the conversation and just as Kyuhyun looked over in Ryeowook’s direction and opened his mouth to speak, Heechul quickly began talking again.

            “This here is our new cook, Kim Ryeowook.  We all call him Wookie,” Heechul said, walking over to Ryeowook and wrapping his arms around him.  “Wookie, this is Kyu’s one and only friend and gaming partner in crime, Max Changmin.”

            Because Ryeowook couldn’t exactly move with Heechul holding onto him, he simply rose his hand up and gave a slight bow of his head which was immediately returned by Changmin.  “Nice to meet you.”

            “Our cook?” Kyuhyun mumbled to himself, narrowing his eyes at his cousin. 

            “Have a fun time playing your games,” Ryeowook said.

            Changmin looked over at him, completely serious.  “Oh, well, we’re actually working today.”

            Heechul turned his face to Ryeowook’s, his brows raised as high as they could go.  “Wookie, they’re working today!  Get it straight.  Video games aren’t for fun!” Heechul explained in a mock lecturing voice.

            Ryeowook tried as hard as he could not to laugh but it was impossible when the actor was playing the part of an old school teacher, instructing his student.  But when he had the chance to look back over at Kyuhyun, Ryeowook noticed him give his cousin a cold stare, one that he’d never seen before.  Heechul seemed impervious to its affect and squeezed Ryeowook tighter, leaning his head against his.

            Was Kyuhyun that upset that they considered his work more fun and games than hard labor?  No matter how he looked at it, although playing well might require some skill and certainly good hand-eye coordination, it hardly seemed like real work to most people.  Ryeowook couldn’t help but side with the vast majority, as he viewed playing games as a pastime. 

            “Quit strangling my cook,” Kyuhyun told his cousin, his voice eerily calm.

            Heechul chuckled but released Ryeowook and walked back over to his script.

            Kyuhyun watched Heechul as he sat down and then turned his attention back to Ryeowook.  “Can you bring up some coffee?”

            Ryeowook nodded but kept silent.

            “And ice water,” Changmin added before the two of them headed back upstairs.

            Ryeowook began to make coffee and waited until he couldn’t hear them walking upstairs anymore before he commented on the tense moment in the kitchen.  “They’re very serious about their work, aren’t they?”

            Heechul laughed to himself without looking up from the script.  “No, I think Kyuhyun just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  He’s probably ually frustrated—he hasn’t gotten laid in years.”

            Ryeowook stared at Heechul, his mouth wide open.  “I’m not sure if this is an appropriate conversation to be having about my employer,” Ryeowook finally managed to say.

            “Then don’t consider it a conversation—it’s just something I’m telling you and you’ve been subjected to hearing without any say—Kyuhyun hasn’t had any since he broke it off with Minnie, shortly after the accident.  He has scars on his chest from the crash and where they had to operate.”

            Ryeowook forgot about the coffee altogether and moved closer to island.  “I heard you mention this the other night but I didn’t know what you were talking about.  I heard about an accident but I don’t know any details.”

            Heechul finally sat up straight and stretched his arms.  “Where do I begin?  Well, six years ago, Kyuhyun was headed back to the house from the airport in rather rotten weather.  Eunhyuk wasn’t driving back then, he was one of Kyuhyun’s personal assistants and was in the van as well.  The driver lost control of the car and crashed into a guard rail.  They found Kyuhyun on the side of the road with his lungs punctured by his ribs.  Eunhyuk was a little scratched up and when he found Kyuhyun, they began praying together.  Everyone thought he was going to die, Eunhyuk, the doctors, and Kyuhyun himself.  But, miraculously, they managed to operate on him and not only save his life but keep his voice intact as well. 

            “But although he survived, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t traumatized by the whole event.  For one, he was left with a few scars, all on his abdomen and lower chest, so it’s easily concealed with clothing, but he’s extremely paranoid about people seeing them.  I saw them dozens of times when he was first in recovery and had the wrappings off and he won’t even let me see them anymore.  He’s very weird about it.  Secondly, when he was injured and out of commission for several months, he realized just how few real friends he had.  All the people he socialized with—singers, dancers, musicians, managers, you name it—none of them were there for him when he wasn’t in the spotlight anymore.  In one respect, I think that he’s tied all these feelings of rejection to his physical injuries as well.  Therefore, he worries about rejection in general, not just about someone seeing him and freaking out.

            “And then, after so much time away, I think he realized just how chaotic his life was and decided he didn’t want to be part of that world anymore.  And it’s a shame.  He has a wonderful voice and the part of me that wants to believe there’s some order in the universe hopes that people are given such gifts so they can use them in some way and not hide them from the rest of the world.  But at the same time, I can’t blame him for not wanting to be part of a world that didn’t seem to care if he was there or not.  So, there you have it.  Your lonely boss, conflicted because he both loves and hates the same thing, and in the process of escaping that world, has turned into a hermit when in reality, he needs to have at least one person close to him.  But he’s afraid of getting close to anyone.”

            Perhaps it wasn’t such a horrible conversation to be having about his boss after all.  Ryeowook nodded, silently acknowledging what he’d heard, and headed back to the coffee machine.  He was deep in thought when he heard Heechul get up from the counter.

            “I’m going to go supervise Eunhyuk for a little while and make sure that he cleans up my room the way I like it,” he explained.  “But just between you and me, about what I just told you, I really would like to see Kyuhyun get over his issues and find someone again.  No matter how hard of a time I give him, I would feel better if I knew he was happy.”

            “Ah