-CRASH!-

 

 

“Whoops…”

 

“Hey – easy on those! We just bought new ones four days ago!”

 

“Yeah, and now Gyu-hyung is pissed off ‘cause he’s broke thanks to you guys.”

 

-Whack-

 

“Shut up…And I’m not pissed off!”

 

“YAH!  My head!! What was that for? It was Myungsoo who said that, not me! Why the hell did you hit me and not him?”

 

“You were the one standing closest to me, and I have no intention on bruising the ‘face’ of our group. Would be bad for  the upcoming photo shoot. And besides…”

 

-Whack-

 

“OUCH! What the- Again?”

 

“That’s for calling me ‘yah’. Use some respect. Now, who made breakfast today?”

 

-

 

The sound of breaking glass and bickering reached your  ears and snapped you out of a pretty dream. You frowned your brows together, praying for whomever who made that  noise, to quiet down and just let you drift off to sleep again. After trying to ignore the seemingly getting louder bantering, you gave up.

With a groan, you turned around, trashing away the cozy sheets while trying to find the light switch. When you finally found your target, you switched it on, immediately greeted by a bright light right above your head. In a reflex, you shut your eyes once again and covered them with the back of your left hand. You exhaled a few times, trying to organize your hazy thoughts.

 

One.

 You currently lived with seven boys, known as the idol group ‘Infinite’, all together in your apartment.

 

Two.

They had promised to move out when their new dorm was totally remodeled to fit their taste.

 

Three.

It would only last a week, and you had absolutely nothing to worry about, they exclaimed. They’d mostly be away, performing on shows, or doing interviews.

You would barely notice them, they assured. And when they would be home, they’d behave, of course (they even gently scolded you for voicing ‘that absurd thought’ –  “Who are you taking us for? Don’t you know we’re ‘Infinite’, raising stars on their way to the top? Of course we’ll behave!” Woohyun even stated).

 

Four

The first three days went pretty well.

 

Five.

The next four days, things went from bad to worse.  They had obviously made themselves at home in your house. There was the occasional bickering between the members that disrupted your sleep on the most unwanted times. Oh, and they broke a lot of things, too. Dinner plates and glasses seemed to be their favorites. The first three times, you bought new ones yourself. When the fourth time occurred, Sunggyu felt guilty as he failed to make his dongsaengs behave and bought you new ones (yes, neatly wrapped AND with a frilly, pink ribbon around it– courtesy of Woohyun – “Girls like pink, don’t they?”).

 

You were very glad this stay was coming to an end, because living around a grumpy Sunggyu (due to being broke) was not something you wanted to experience (Dongwoo had told enough horrifying stories about his moody hyung to give you nightmares for three nights).

And you really needed the rest of your furniture to stay intact, too. Your monthly wage as an aspiring English teacher in a middle school, though quite decent for someone who recently graduated college, really wasn’t enough to cover the expenses of buying new things every week. So you really hoped with all your heart (even though you loved them to death) the boys would soon move out.

 

And six

You cursed your luck. It seems like the One above just had a case of selective hearing and decided to ignore your request.

That would explain why, on the last day of their one-week stay, their manager came over to your apartment, bringing the news with him that “Something went wrong when remodeling the dorm. There is a leakage on the upper floor, spreading downwards to the lower floors. It’ll take at least four weeks to redo the whole second floor, so can they pretty please stay another few weeks here? We’d be forever grateful if you said yes. And of course we’ll pay for it!”

 

Heads were immediately  turned towards your direction, which startled you. Being eyed by a bunch of handsome young men was definitely different than being eyed by a bunch of prepuberal middle scholars.

 

Sungjong’s eyes had shone brightly and his smile seemed to almost reach both of his ears.  He pranced his way towards you, taking your hands in his.

 

“Noona, isn’t this great?! If you say yes, we could do so much fun things together when we’re home! We could occasionally help in chores when needed. And Hoya-hyung could cook for all of us every day!”

 

Hoya immediately pried the maknae away from you. “Don’t try to bribe her, it’s hard enough for her to have the seven of us around her all day. And I bet the last week wasn’t easy on her. ” He switched his gaze towards you, and your eyes met. You gave him a light smile. From all the members, he was the one who acknowledged they were not an easy bunch and helped you out on several occasions, such as doing laundry, making breakfast and washing the dishes.

 

He gave you a smile back, then it suddenly enlarged.

 

“Though I would cook every day…”

 

Needless to say, no luggage was packed that evening.

 

-

 

 

With a huff, you sat upright on your bed, eyes still squinted from the bright light and the lack of sleep.

From the sounds coming from outside your room, you deducted that another plate must have tragically come to its end, and the ones who were awake, were either laughing at the scene or frantically trying to cover up the crime.

 

Swinging your legs to the side, you decided it was time to get up and see the damage with your own eyes. You carefully opened the door that connected your bedroom with the living room.

With a quick glance, you noticed socks, shoes, trousers – was that yellow polka-dotted underwear?  - and some shirts had been casually thrown across the whole room instead of on the empty chairs.

It was obvious the Infinite idols had put off another late night schedule and were too tired to actually care where their dropped their stuff before hitting the hay last night.

 

Ignoring the mess, you averted your attention towards one of your shelves, decorated with little figurines.   A small smile found its way to your lips while you eyed them. The shelf was the host of a small cat, a loving couple, a deer, two porcelain flowers, a wolf  and much more.

You started to collect all those figurines when you were a mere six-year old. Your parents travelled a lot during that time, and one specific day, they had brought you one from their trip to a far away country.  When you first laid eyes on the small, porcelain cat, you instantly fell in love with it.

From then on, every time your parents went away on a business trip, you begged them to bring a figurine back for you, to which they obliged.  And thus your collection grew every year.

You simply adored your shelf with figurines. Your first figurine, the porcelain cat, proudly stood in the middle of them all. It held so much precious memories, that every time you walked past the shelf,  you cast a small glance towards it. It always brightened your day, almost as if it was a lucky charm.

 

“Noona?”

 

A sleepy voice tugged you out of your memories and you swiftly turned your head.

Sungjong, Infinite’s cute maknae, was eyeing you from his bedroom door, hair going all directions except for flat on his head. You meekly smiled at him.

 

“Good morning, Sungjong-ah. Did you sleep well?”

 

Sungjong yawned, then threw you a lazy smile. “Yeah, I actually did, thanks. That was until the hyungs started to get noisy.  Where do they always get that energy from? We came home at 3 o’clock this morning and they only had about  five hours of sleep…How’s it even possible to be awake right now?”

 

You shrugged. “You tell me. You’ve known them for a much longer time than me.”

 

Sungjong laughed. ‘I’m not too sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, though.” He winked and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to flatten it a bit,  and huffed when it just decided to get stuck up even more instead of going down. You smiled and walked over to him, reaching out for his hair yourself and trying to help fix it too. It didn’t help a lot, to be honest, because your fingers either got stuck in some locks of his hair – how much hair spray did this boy  use? -  or Sungjong’s nimble fingers were too frantically moving around and almost always ended up entangling them with yours.

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

 

An ear-piercing, high pitched scream made its way towards both your ears, and on reflex you both covered your ears, with you in the process knocking your head against Sungjong’s  when you both flinched forward due to being startled.  You let out a small yelp, immediately massaging the sore spot. 

 

Cool hands joined yours on your forehead, softly pressing against it to numb down the throbbing spot. You felt your chin being lifted.

“I’m sorry, noona. I should have been more careful.” Sungjong apologetically said, looking in your eyes. He still pressed down gently, it eased the ache a bit.

 

You weakly smiled. “That’s okay. Within a few minutes, it’ll only be a red spot and nothing more, so don’t worry. I’ll survive. Sungyeol on the other hand…” You glared daggers at the kitchen door, where the scream had come from, and you knew well enough who had made that sound.  

 

Sungjong smiled. If you could joke around, then there was no way for him to worry about you. He retracted his hands.

 

“Remember what I said before, about knowing them for quite some time could be either good or bad?”

You nodded, curiously staring at the boy next to you. He flashed you a toothy grin.

 

“Now I’m pretty sure it’s a bad thing, actually.”

 

You gave him a playful slap on the arm, returning the grin before turning on your heels and making your way towards the kitchen, a snickering Sungjong closely following behind.

 

-

 

“Ouch. It hurts!”

 

“Shut up, Sungyeol. It doesn’t hurt that much. You’re being childish.”

 

You frowned, turning your head towards the tall boy sulking on the kitchen chair. Every now and then, he winced a bit when you put some antiseptic on the large cut on the palm of his right hand.

 

“And besides, it really is your fault for having that cut. Who in their right mind would pick up those shattered pieces by bare hand?”

 

Sungyeol only shrugged.

 

“I thought it would be the fastest way to clean the floor by picking it up by hand. I didn’t know these things were that damn sharp!”

 

“It’s called common sense, Yeol. Everyone knows you should just get a broom and dustpan when collecting shattered glass.” Woohyun, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, casually leaned back on the hind legs of his chair. “Or gloves. Gloves might work too…”

 

Sungyeol shot him a glare. “Shut up. You were the one who opted to juggle with the broken pieces!”

 

Your eyebrows shot up and you lost your focus on Sungyeol’s hand. Instead, you turned your head to look at Woohyun, giving him an incredulously look.

 

“You opted to what?”

 

Woohyun grinned, giving a lazy wave with his hand. “Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t actually do it, you know. I actually use my brains, something you can’t say about Sungyeol. I merely suggested juggling with it, I didn’t say he had to try it out.” Woohyun peacefully folded his arms behind his head, closing his eyes and enjoying the rays of light on his face, soaking in its warmth. You kept on staring at his face, not believing your ears. You perked up when you saw him making an attempt at talking again.

 

“Oh, and besides, I think you better stop staring at me. Not that I don’t like a pretty lady ogling at me…” he cracked one eye open and chuckled at your baffled face, “But I have the feeling Sungyeol over there has something to say to you.”

 

You scowled at Woohyun, but he had already closed his eye again, so in dismay you finally turned your attention back towards your patient.

 

“What is it now, Sung - Oh, sorry!”

 

Sungyeol, who had been trying to get your attention throughout your conversation with Woohyun by softly tugging your sleeve and letting out a squeak every now and then, was visibly relieved when you quickly removed the stinging antiseptic from his cut. He let out a silent breath.

 

“It’s okay. Just…. Please don’t stay close to Woohyun when nursing someone with antiseptic. You have quite a strong force when he gets on your nerves.” He wriggled his fingers, trying to get the feel back into it and to relieve the stinging feeling on his palm. You felt a bit guilty about that, so you quickly finished wrapping up his hand, securing it tightly. Sungyeol flashed you his gummy smile.

 

“Thanks a lot! I owe you one.” He lightly patted your shoulder with his good hand.

 

Before you could open your mouth to retort something, you heard the front door open and three pair of shoes sauntering towards the kitchen.

 

“Ah, they’re back.”

 

The kitchen door swung open and in came Sunggyu, Myungsoo and Sungjong, each packed with a heavy bag filled with all sorts of food and supplies.  An hour ago, when you and Sungjong entered the kitchen, you found four boys (Sunggyu, Sungyeol, Woohyun and Myungsoo) bickering around a broken plate.  The kitchen was too cramped to fit the six of you, anyway, so  you suggested some of them to go to the nearby market to buy some food to make breakfast.  And besides, you noticed Sunggyu ready to blow up on Sungyeol, which you wanted to avoid at all costs. It would only be a disadvantage to the still remaining dinner plates.

And you didn’t want to wake up Hoya and Dongwoo either, who miraculously managed to sleep through all the ruckus. Although for the latter, you weren’t that surprised, actually. You had witnessed first-handed how it took thirty-two minutes, six yelling members, two buckets of water and an endlessly poking stick – guess who came up with that childish idea? – to get the first eye to open up slowly.

 

You snapped out of your thoughts and curiously went through the bags. “You’re back quite early. Did you find everything we need for breakfast?”

 

Sunggyu handed a package of cookies to Myungsoo, who diligently put it on a shelf, before addressing you.

 

“I hope we did. There weren’t a lot of people on the streets, so we managed to advance pretty fast. We even had time to look out for some new plates. I hope they are to your liking, although I’m not sure if they will be solid enough. Not with us around, anyway.” He frowned and casted a glance towards Sungyeol, who suddenly was very eager to shuffle out of the kitchen, mumbling something along the lines of ‘waking those sleepyheads up’.

 

Sunggyu sighed and shook his head, before turning towards you again and smiling, his eyes resembling the shape of little crescent moons. You loved his eye smile, you always thought it was kind of cute.

 

“Well, it looks like Yeol’s all fixed up. Thanks for that! Seven males together could be slightly chaotic at times. Throw in some cuts and bruises and all hell is loose, I assure you that.”

 

You snickered. “Tell me about it. He was whining all the way when I applied antiseptic. And Woohyun didn’t help much either, except for bothering us.” You trailed off.

 

“Admit it, you like it when I bother you.”

 

Two  strong arms wrapped itself around the front of your shoulders from behind, efficiently pulling you in a warm embrace from behind. You scowled.

 

“You think very highly of yourself, Woohyun. That’s not an attractive trait. And please let go off me. Go bother someone else. ” This only earned a chuckle from the latter, but he did let you go after giving you a last squeeze.

 

“Aww, you’re no fun. Anyways, is breakfast ready?” He turned towards the younger ones in the kitchen and obediently went to bother them instead. Sunggyu groaned, burying his face in his hands.

 

“Oh God. Sometimes, he really, really is annoying. Please remind me to never give him coffee with lots of sugar when he just woke up. EVER. Whatever circumstances. Not even when we have to do a sudden interview or a performance. Just let him snore the whole show through. I’ll gladly take his singing parts. ”

 

You let out a laugh, sympathetically patting his back before gathering everyone to finally start breakfast.

 

-

 

“Aah, I’m full. That was simply delicious. Myungsoo, Sungjong, you guys really did a number on it! Now, who’s helping me out with the dishes?”

 

As soon as you had said those dreaded words, everyone suddenly was very busy with fumbling around and frantically tried to avoid your eyes. You groaned. Every time when they were at home, it was the same. The food on your table was gone within a few minutes when you called them for either breakfast, lunch or dinner, but when it came to cleaning up, they suddenly had a lot of nothing in particular to do. Sometimes, it really frustrated you.

 

You didn’t want to appoint anyone to help you, either. Starting from today, you knew they had two days off from their busy schedule, and you felt it wouldn’t be right to nag at them right now when they finally had some time to relax. So it was obvious: you were stuck with the chores for the moment.

 

You sighed, starting to gather the plates while some of them scurried away. You saw Sunggyu and Woohyun going upstairs, they probably went to train a little on their vocal techniques. Sungyeol couldn’t help due to his injured hand, so he and Sungjong attempted to a game of tennis on the Wii, while Dongwoo, seated on your fluffy couch and squeezing a life-size stuffed dinosaur – a fan gift he got during promotions-  mercilessly laughed at the futile attempts of Sungyeol struggling to score some points with his left hand.

 

You looked in dismay at the table. You couldn’t afford to buy a dishwasher yet, so everything went by hand, which took some time even if you were alone. But now, breakfast for eight equals a lot of dishwashing. You would be busy for quite a while. You piled all the plates and wobbled towards the kitchen, slightly surprised by the heavy weight of the it all.

 

“Here, noona, let me help you.” A hand shot forwards and took some plates off of the pile you were trying to get safely into the kitchen.

 

“Ah, Myungsoo, you’re a lifesaver, you know that? If it wasn’t for the fact you guys bought new plates just a while ago, I would drop these to the floor and hug you to death this instant moment.” You looked up at the handsome boy  with pure adoration in your eyes. Myungsoo started laughing.

 

“Noona, you sound so desperate. Let’s just get these safely into the kitchen, Hoya-hyung’s already waiting for us there. When you dropped these off, then you’re free to hug me whenever you want.”

 

You laughed along with him, instantly feeling better. You and Myungsoo often acted that affectionate with each other. It was strange, really. When you first met Infinite, you thought he was on the quiet and mysterious side, but how wrong you were! When he opened up, you found that underneath that thin layer of coldness, there was an incredible source of warmth for everyone who needed it.  You sometimes wondered how it was possible for some people to only see that coldness when it was quite obvious he was very affectionate towards not only s, but also his fans and the people around him in general. 

 

You and Myungsoo got close in no time, and would often squabble with each other as if you were real siblings. Those moments always put you in a brighter mood. Today was no different. Chit-chatting away, the two of you entered the kitchen and put the plates on the table. Hoya was already busy washing some glasses and the cutlery. When you entered, he handed the two of you each a towel. You took it and started to help out, but not before squealing and trashing around when you found yourself in an unexpected head-lock from Myungsoo, who gave you a gentle noogie before you managed to break free and give him a playful push.

 

“Thanks guys, for helping me out!” You voiced your appreciation towards them while working on some forks.

 

“It’s the least we could do. Honestly, don’t the others have a sense of responsibility?” Hoya shook his head. “I can understand Sungyeol would do more bad than good with his injured hand. Gyu-hyung and Sungjong already went to the market with Myungsoo, so that leaves me, Woohyun and Dongwoo-hyung to finally do some chores.” He paused for a moment, then continued.

 

“Well, Woohyun being Woohyun, of course he’d manage to develop some kind of allergy towards doing chores and getting pro at sneaking away.  And Dongwoo-hyung, well, let’s just say he’s about as good at doing chores as in waking up.”

 

You cracked up, which made the two males laugh too.  And as if on cue, the kitchen door swung open and Dongwoo sauntered in, giving you all a suspicious glare when he saw the three of you laughing at nothing in particular.

 

“Woah, what’s with the good mood? Did something happen?”

 

Myungsoo didn’t miss a beat. “Nope, not at all. We love you, hyung!”

 

Now Dongwoo definitely knew something was up, but he shrugged it off and continued.

 

“Well, if you guys are finished throwing laughing fits, care to join us in the living room? Sunggyu-hyung and Woohyun are done with their singing as well and they want to play a game with all eight of us, four against four. It’s gonna be epic! But don’t team up with the maknae. That guy is too fired up right now after his victory  against Yeol.”

 

You eyed Hoya, and you were slightly surprised to find no more dishes by his side.  You just needed to put away the items and you were all done. You smiled.

 

“Myungsoo, Hoya, go on. I fire you from your duties. Now go serve your queen and save me a spot out there. I’ll join you guys within a minute!”

 

Hoya grinned and saluted. “As you command, my lady!”

 

Myungsoo only rolled his eyes at the two of you and dragged Hoya towards the living room.

 

“Let’s go before all the good seats are taken. Or we might end up crawling on Dongwoo-hyung’s  huge dino-thingie.”

 

“Hey, not the dino! It’s mine!” Dongwoo yelled after them, but you were pretty sure he was ignored, because they loudly argued about who would take the head and who would take the tail to snuggle into, while entering the living room. You could hear a lot of noise already emerging from that particular place.

 

“Ah, you were ignored.” You stated the obvious.

 

A sigh. “I know. Aish, those little brats. They have no respect at all…” he dramatically grabbed his chest, feigning fake tears.

 

You snickered and starting to put away the last items, with Dongwoo joining you to help.

 

“So, who do you wanna team up with?” he sincerely asked.

 

“It’s all the same to me, as long as I win.” You shrugged. “Really, I have no-“

 

You were interrupted by a sudden crash noise, which emerged from the living room. You closed your eyes and groaned.

 

“Not again! They just broke something this morning, too! Honestly, it’s getting a bit out of hand.”

 

Dongwoo threw you an apologetic look.” Ah, I’m sorry!”

 

You frowned. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Somehow, I've got the hunch you're not the culprit today... But whoever it is, I’ll kick his .”

 

You firmly put down the dishes and roughly opened the door to the living room, Dongwoo right behind you.

 

You entered the room, only to be met by utter silence – ‘That’s weird… where did all the apologies and the it-was-not-me-but-him-who-did-it-so-don’t-look-at-me’s go?’

 

“I have no idea who broke something this time, but you will sure as hell pay for whatev-“

 

It was as if the air was knocked out of your lungs that instant moment, as soon as you laid eyes on the broken item. You heard Dongwoo slightly curse under his breath when he, too, noticed it.

 

The room was still utterly silent. Seven pairs of eyes cautiously looked at you, no one daring to move or say something before  you made the first move. You were pretty sure they were even holding their breath, although you could care less this moment. The tension was almost visible.

 

You slowly sank onto your knees, eyes still fixed on the item. With shaky hands, you reached out for the head of your precious cat, which made the illusion to cry due to the crack that run over its right eye. The other pieces were scattered around at various places, most of them centered around a Wii-remote that also showed signs of being broken.

 

You felt something break deep inside of you.

 

You didn’t know how long you sat there, eyes in a daze, your body frozen in that one position.

 

Finally, someone stepped forward. He hesitantly  called out your name, but he got no response.

 

Someone else grew bolder.

 

“I’m sorry!! I didn’t mean to…”

 

“Get out.”

 

Your voice was low, dangerous, cold and so not you. You felt, rather than see, a shiver going through the room. The voice which previously apologized, grew a bit panicked.

 

“But I-“

 

“Get out. Out of my house. Out of my life. Get. OUT!!”

 

-

 

_{Aaaah, part one is up! I know I'm not one of the greatest writers, so I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and telling how you like the story thus far.}

 

_{And a big thanks to the four subscibers! Honestly, four subscribers by only the foreword? You're awesome! :D}

 

_{You don't even know if I at writing or not :)}

 

_{See you  next chapter!}

 

_{EDIT: A very good friend of mine created this poster! I really, really love it, so of course I put it up here. Dear Nathalie, you're simply splendid! I love you so much right now *sniffles*}