“Easy does it… YES!”

Donghae chuckled happily when the final batch of candies turned out perfectly that day. It was already the fifth day in a row that he didn’t cause any mishaps or mayhem at the factory and he was extremely proud of himself. He cleaned up with a happy ring to his steps, humming softly in his head the newest track from D&E – his favourite dancing duo – and imitating a few hip s and a Michael Jackson spin in the end when he dumped the trash into the bin.

“Feeling mighty happy today, Donghae?” a colleague asked, bringing his trash to the bin. “I haven’t seen you this happy in ages. Did you win the lottery?”

Donghae grinned. “Hey, Ryeowookie! You could say I did. I didn’t mess up at all this week. Boss is gonna be so happy!”

Ryeowook laughed and congratulated him by petting him on his back. “Keep up the good work! At this rate, you’re gonna be the next employee of the month instead of me.”

“Yep, watch out!” Donghae joked, holding up his broom and pretending to shoot at his colleague, who played along being shot. “Don’t cry when I knock you off your pedestal, but I’ll be handing out tissues just in case.”

Ryeowook laughed and put away his broom. “Wanna get a couple of drinks later? Since you’re not staying back to fix up your mess, you could come join us at the bar. We go there every Friday after work.”

Donghae checked his watch and nodded. “I’ll be happy to go. My housemates won’t be expecting me home anyway.”

“Good. Come on then, we’ll be leaving soon.”

* * *

Donghae went home after a couple of drinks and telling Ryeowook about the many weird antics of his housemates – how Yesung was found feeding his tortoise with holy water one day, how much money Kyuhyun managed to generate just by playing online computer games and how clingy Sungmin was to Kyuhyun feeding him pink strawberry ice cream in his pink girly nighties. Ryeowook had been more than fascinated, to say the least, but Donghae was pretty sure that his petite little colleague seemed to be more interested in hearing about Yesung did than about the others.

The apartment was dark and quiet, even if it was only a couple of minutes before midnight. Donghae crept into the place quietly and stole into his room, where he let out the most excited happy shriek of his life into his fluffy white pillows. He hugged the monkey plushie in his arms and danced around with it, finally placing a kiss on the monkey’s forehead before setting it down.

“Hyukkie, did you know, I didn’t mess up for the fifth day in a row and I’m just so freaking happy right now! You had something to do with it, didn’t you? I knew you were my lucky monkey. I’m so sorry for leaving you behind for the last few years… I love you!!”

Day after day, Donghae would come home and happily announce to his monkey that he had just performed well at work, or got praised by his manager, or got promised a raise the next month if he continued to do well. He never felt happier in his life. When he called home to tell his mother the good news, she chuckled and said that it was because Donghae was just improving himself, and that he shouldn’t attribute all his success to the lucky monkey. However, Donghae strongly believed that the monkey had everything to do with his recent good luck.

“Daddy is watching over me. I just know it. Lucky Monkey Hyukkie is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Sweetie, daddy has always been watching over you, even before lucky monkey,” his mother answered with a chuckle. “Take care! I love you, son.”

“Love you too, mom. Bye!”

* * *

“Who are you talking to?”

Donghae jumped in surprise when he suddenly heard Yesung’s voice in his bedroom. He quickly tucked the monkey under his blankets and turned around with a red face. “Nobody.”

Yesung eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t lie. Who?”

“N-Nobody!”

“So you’re telling me that basically every time I hear you mumbling and squealing and talking to yourself… you were talking to nobody?” the elder asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uhm… yes?”

“You’ve been acting weird and talking to yourself since you came back from that visit home.”

“C-can’t I talk to myself? You do it all the time too!” Donghae accused, pointing at his housemate. “You keep talking to Ddangkoma all the time too like he’s a real person too and we never judged you for it.”

Yesung hissed and squinted his eyes at Donghae. “You’d best not be talking bad about Ddangkoma behind my back or I’ll ma