Junjin Oppa insisted for me to just call him Jinnie Oppa. I don’t know what made it different from Junjin but he is saying that it sounds more comfortable in a way. Right after his check-up, he asked me to have ice cream with him on a Café several blocks away from the hospital.

It just finished raining and it is still cold. In an odd contrary I am fan of consuming ice cream in this type of weather. I am happy to find someone who has the same habit.

We took a comfortable seat near an oversized window and decided to just share with a group serving. Cookies and cream, it was the only flavour that matter on the menu presented to us.

“Jinnie Oppa, where did you get the hair clip?” I asked him out of curiosity. It was a perfect fit as a side holder for my untamed bangs.

“Oh that? It was a hand-me-down accessory from Hyesung Hyung. He used to have the same length of hair just like mine and Andy. He cut it when Ace Hyung passed away.” He said while synchronizing his hand taps on the current music which is being played in the cafe.

“Really? I can’t believe it! How does he look like?” hearing that from Junjin Oppa made me want to see his pretty face with an unimaginable past.

“Wait, I know I still have some of his pictures on my phone. I’ll show it to you but promise me that you will never tell anybody.” He darted me a very serious look and extended his knuckles with his pinkie finger swaying in the air.

“I promise.” And we locked our treaty like those children on a playground.

He handed me his phone after seeing the album where it was saved. My jaw dropped upon having the chance to appreciate his unexplainably perfect angle of beauty.  I don’t feel bad to admit that he looks prettier than me. He might have been an empress in his past life. I tried to swipe back and forth on Jinnie Oppa’s album and I can’t believe his ponytail era perished just before I arrived in our dorm.

A picture of him in a costume party was very astounding. He looked like a very delicate sparkling prince with all the raffles on his neckline. His lean type structure made me think that he can be a very flawless mannequin. If I can just make a wax figure of him with a ponytail – I will strive to do my hardest.

“Why did he?” I managed to come back to the real world after that cosmic abduction from viewing an ethereal being’s image garden.

“When Ace Hyung died, he asked us to be his permanent substitute for you. My mother bird who is Hyesung Hyung took that to a whole new level. I am his baby bird by the way; he takes care of me like his kid. Going back to our topic – Eric Hyung provoked him to cut his hair. He constantly teased Hyesung Hyung that there is a high probability that you will not call him Oppa since you’ll get intimidated that he is more beautiful than you. HAHAHAHA!” Junjin did not miss the details of what I wanted to know.

Our order came just in time. Junjin Oppa made it so comfortable for me to express myself. We exchanged jokes to each other and he also told me some ridiculous facts about our dorm mates. However one topic came in that was totally unexpected.

“We’ve been receiving a letter from the relative of our school’s president recently. I don’t know much information about it but it seems very serious. I heard Eric Hyung and Minwoo Hyung talking about it last time while we are in the shower. They’ve mentioned that ‘she’ is demanding something from us.” Junjin had a very grave impulse about it but he did not discuss further.

I was trained not to ask the wrong questions so that I can avoid getting the wrong answers. I tried to control myself from inquiring about the topic and moved on with our usual talk. We decided to take the bus on our way home. It was such a pleasant day because the weather seems to be cooperating.

Nobody was home when we arrived. It seems as if I’ll have a solo day with my playmate. We went to our separate rooms upon arrival and decided to rest first. I decided to browse on Project Vanilla right after I entered my room. I wondered if there are any updates about it. I can’t possibly slack just because I don’t have enough internet connection.

My room’s signal is jammed. Maybe that is the reason why my professor’s call can’t get through. I was surprised to see that the usual rain shower routine started again. I went out with Andy Oppa’s umbrella as a portable roof and hunt for a reliable signal. I even went all over our front yard and kept on raising my phone like I was trying to connect to a different galaxy.

The final steps that I took led me to the backyard and THERE IT IS!!!  I was able to get through.

The healthy sound of rings made me hopeful – and my professor’s voice is now evident on the other line.

Since I don’t have any source for internet connection and my laptop will be totally inadequate right now, we decided to work on it manually. I almost shed blood and tears while trying to figure out how to dictate him one by one the codes in my mind. I tried my best to be critical with all the strings and arrays. It was a great thing that we started with my phone’s full battery and I was grateful that I brought my power bank with me.

I can feel my phone’s heat on my ears already and I am currently a main recipe for a mosquito feast right now. It was almost dusk when my phone gave up on me. The lights on our mini garden are already glittering from the bokeh caused by the remaining remnants of the rain.

I was surprised to see all of them having coffee at the gazebo. The aroma of caffeine is evident in the air combined with the scent of the freshly wet grass. I run to them and to my surprise – their faces aren’t pleased to see me.

I stopped in the middle of my attempt. I tried to figure out what’s wrong. I can’t understand a bit of what made the mood strongly tensed like this.

“Kahel, where have you been?” Oppayam’s voice was calm and uneasy.

I was here all the time, at the back of our house. My heart started to beat like crazy inside my chest.

“We’ve been trying to call you again and again but our calls won’t get through – all of our efforts are going to your voice mailbox.” Minwoo Oppa added while pointing at my phone.

I desperately looked on my screen and found a bunch of blinking items on my home screen; the digits exceeded my allowable limit already. I can’t say anything; I am trembling because of guilt. I am still at loss of words on how to make sense of this misunderstanding.

“Eric and Junjin just got back from the town proper searching for you while Andy and Hyesung almost assumed to find you in our school’s lost-and-found corner. It will be great if you’ll let us know where you went off.” Dongwan Oppa continued.

Nervousness made me feel defenceless. I can only tell them the truth and skip all the excuses. I should have told Jinnie Oppa at least or left a note on the table.

I pointed at the back of the house; at the same direction where I came from a while ago. It was the same place where I sprinted with all my heart to greet all of them after a struggle with my classified task.

“Is this a prank Kahel?! You’ve been there all the time?!” Hyesung’s voice erupted. His temples are still oozing with sweat. He looked so exhausted.

“I – I’m sorry. I was careless. I needed to call my university professor about a confidential task and I ended up finding signal at the backyard. M – My phone automatically redirects calls to my voice mailbox while I am in the middle of a conversation. I finished talking to him just now since I manually needed to dictate him the codes since we don’t have internet connection.” I gave up my fear; I chose to be brave in facing the consequence of my mistake.

“WHAT?!!! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?!!!” Oppayam’s voice sounded like almost a shout.

“Four hours.” I whispered while controlling my tears not to escape from the shallow edge of my eyes.

“Brothers, take her inside now. She must have lost so much blood from those evil mosquitos at the back. Andy and Jinnie go get my bag from my room.” The healer of the house spoke in an instant and Hyesung was the one who first get nearest to me.

“I’m sorry.” The furious prince withdrew his words earlier.

“I’m sorry too.” I replied sincerely.

“Cut off the drama before you get dengue.” Eric broke our dialog and I saw Minwoo Oppa beam at me before he opened the door.

It was the first time that we sat at the sala together. The brightness of the room exposed the uneven red polka dots on my skin. Dongwan Oppa diligently rubbed the ointment from his bag brought by Andy Oppa and Junjin Oppa.

I saw Hyesung staring at the clip on my hair but he quickly looked away when he saw my attention drawn to him. He immediately stood up and head to the dining area and Eric followed him in an instant.

“Princess Kahel, you could have asked us about your need. We could have saved you from those mean rashes that you have right now.” Minwoo Oppa sat next to me while poking my swollen itchy skin.

“Is there any other place here where I can get a signal?” I mused like an ignorant kid.

The four of them looked at each other and laughed loudly. I can’t believe what they are trying to put off.

“Yes of course. You’re welcome to stay in our room all the time.” Andy Oppa said happily.

“But when I came here you said –” and I remembered. Minwoo Oppa never claimed that there is no signal upstairs. He only highlighted the ground area.  I’ve never been upstairs.

“We have an unspoken curfew in this dorm. If you haven’t noticed we always have dinner before 8 in the evening. It is regardless of our number in presence; everyone who is in the house should not be a loner and eat alone. The family that eats together stays together.” Oppayam said after squeezing a generous amount of cream on his finger and rubbed it on my elbow.

“Hyesung Hyung is a bit sensitive with pranks, maybe he got too much trauma from Eric Hyung before but nonetheless, be assured that he is very kind.” Jinnie Oppa explained his Mommy Bird’s actions.

“By the way, here’s your extra item from a while ago. I was planning to give it you before you left.” Junjin Oppa reached for my hand and dropped five pieces of grape sized pebbles with different colours on my open palm.

“What’s this?” I asked him while trying to play with it one by one.