After brunch, the eight of them returned to the dorm
and played board games.
All seven of them had an event to go to in the evening
so they wanted to spend more time with Ava before
they had to leave. Since she hadn't been officially introduced
as their photographer yet, she wouldn't be attending with them.
"Let's play Monopoly, Noona!" Jooheon said excitedly.
"No," Minhyuk objected. "We played that last time. Let's
play Life instead."
Jooheon's face fell in disappointment before scrunching up in
disgust. "I hate playing that. You have kids in the game. What kind
of game makes you have kids?"
Minhyuk his nose in the air slightly as he replied, "Life."
He gave a sniff and turned away from Jooheon.
"Noona?" He said. "Do you want to play Life?"
She hesitated a little, glancing at Jooheon uncertainty. She didn't
want him to feel left out and he had seemed so happy at the
prospect of playing Monopoly.
"How about we play both?" She suggested, turning back to Minhyuk.
"But since you apparently played Monopoly not too long ago, why don't
we play Life first, and then Monopoly?" She looked around the room at
everyone and saw six heads nod.
Jooheon had walked over to the corner, upset with how Minhyuk had
spoken to him. His arms were crossed, but at her words, he turned around
and let his arms fall to his sides.
Ava sought out his face and raised her eyebrows in question.
"Sure, Noona," he smiled at her, his excitement returning.
She smiled back at him, glad that he seemed to be back to his happy self.
Changkyun, who had been mostly keeping to himself since he had seen
her laughing happily with Jooheon at the cafe, raised his own eyebrows.
He didn't know why, but it seemed like she kept smiling at Jooheon all
the time lately, and giving him her attention everywhere they went.
His eyebrows furrowed now and his eyes narrowed as his thoughts
continued. Was it just his imagination? Maybe it wasn't as he thought.
He glanced around and saw her in conversation with Minhyuk as they
set up the gameboard. She chuckled suddenly and Minhyuk grinned in
response.
He relaxed and straightened up. His shoulders had been hunched.
He had no idea when he had done that.
He shook his head to shake away any more stray thoughts and walked
over to where the others were and sat down on the floor, between Shownu
and Kihyun.
"Ready to get beaten by the best?" Shownu rubbed his hands together
gleefully while smirking at the maknae.
Changkyun rolled his eyes and lifted his hand and made a motion like he
was shooing away a pesky fly. "I got this, Hyung. Just watch," he said
confidently.
One hour later he was hoping no one besides Shownu and Kihyun had heard
what he said, because he was swimming in debt, going to college, married
AND had twin girls.
"Thank God this isn't real," he muttered under his breath.
He looked up from staring at his equally depressing fake money and
career cards.
He reached out and flicked his little car with his finger and it skittered off
the
square he was currently at on the board. He put the car back and steepled
his hands together under his chin.
"Sorry, Abby and Annie," he muttered again. "Daddy isn't providing for
you very well."
When he had landed on the square where you acquired twins, he had thought
of twin identical sisters he had known when he lived in Boston. Their names
were Abigail and Annabel, Abby and Annie for short. Hence , he had chosen
two girls as his children and named them after his childhood friends.
A nudge on his arm caused his hands to jerk and he looked up startled, to
see Kihyun pointing at the board.
"It's your turn. We've been sitting here waiting on you to go. " He sounded
faintly annoyed, which Changkyun didn't see a reason for, since he had
escaped marriage and kids and was relatively debt-free.
"Sorry, Hyung," he murmured anyway, and took his turn.
Ava had heard the exchange between the maknae and Kihyun and
momentarily drowned out Jooheon's incessant chatter and focused her
attention across the table.
She hadn't heard Changkyun say very much during the game. All day, in fact.
She wondered if something was wrong with him.
At the cafe, he had been sitting several seats away, but she had still noticed
his quietness. He seemed to stay quiet a lot though. His phone seemed to
get most of his attention. She couldn't fathom how his phone was better
company than actual people, but his seemed to be.
I wonder if it has a name? The thought made her laugh out loud and
everyone's head was turned in her direction.
She felt herself blush and ducked her head in embarrassment. "Whose turn
is it?" She said gruffly, hoping to turn the attention elsewhere.
"Minhyuk's," Shownu said immediately, seeming to understand what she was
trying to do and helping her out.
Minhyuk took his turn and she was relieved to feel her face cooling down.
"Did you hear what I said, Noona?" Jooheon asked.
Crap. She hadn't heard a word of what he'd said for like three minutes!
"Umm...." Her mind went blank and she struggled to find a polite way to
let him know." I missed the last little bit. I'm sorry. Can you repeat it?
I'm sorry," she said again.
He looked disappointed but he quickly smiled again. "That's okay. I just
said that it must be a lot different here with seven of us, than the four
brothers you grew up with."
She chuckled and smiled. "There are certainly more of you," she agreed.
"So many boys! I always wanted a sister but I guess I wasn't lucky enough."
Her face darkened in fake disgust. "I got a baby brother instead. And he was
an absolute terror growing up with." She shook her head. "Always coming in
my room, jumping on my bed, getting in my camera equipment, taking my
shoes, messing up my closet..."
She trailed off and just sat there, staring off into space.
When she finally checked back in, it was to see all seven members staring
at her in amusement.
She laughed, trying to cover her embarrassment, and ended up coughing
instead.
Wonho, on her other side, reached behind her and pounded her on the back,
and she nearly squealed in pain but caught herself, not wanting to hurt his
feelings.
"I'm all right. Thanks, Wonho. " She sent him a smile.
"Good."
~~~~~~~~
After another thirty minutes, their game finally came to an end.
Shownu won, with Kihyun a close second.
Changkyun came in last.
Shownu looked at him and playfully pushed his shoulder. "Told you I'd win."
Changkyun pressed his lips together in a grimace and stared straight
ahead at the coffee table.
"Aww. Don't be like that. It's just a game. No need to get so upset." Shownu
threw his arm around the maknae's shoulders and rocked him back and
forth a little.
Kihyun on the other side, got in on it as well. He ruffled Changkyun's hair
and patted his cheek.
"Is my baby unhappy?" He leaned closer and blew air into Changkyun's
ear and he whipped his head around to face him, glaring.
Kihyun removed his hands and raised them in an 'I surrender' pose.
"All right. I'll leave you alone." He stood up and muttered, "My baby is angry
at his mama."
Shownu still had his arm around Changkyun's shoulders and he moved
them, dislodging the leader's arm.
He stood also and quickly left the room.
The other conversations around the room all ceased abruptly when they
saw the maknae leave.
"Is he all right?" Ava asked Shownu, frowning slightly.
Shownu rubbed a hand down his face. " I don't know. He doesn't usually get
so upset over losing. He's acting really strange."
Kihyun nodded from the couch where he was now sitting. "Yeah. He even
got mad at me. We usually get along great."
The other members looked at each other worriedly.
Jooheon stood up. "I'll go and see if he's okay." He left the room.
When he got to their shared room, he saw that the door was shut. He tried
to open the door but found it locked. He knocked. "Changkyun? It's me.
Can you open the door?" No sounds were heard from the room. He knocked
louder. "Yah! Are you in there? Are you all right?"
This time something smacked the door from the other side.
Jooheon, who had his face pressed against the door, jerked back, startled.
"That little brat...." Jooheon pounded his hand on the door. "Yah!! Changkyun,
open the door right now!"
He listened again, but heard only silence.
Leaving the door, he walked back to the living room.
"Hyung," he said addressing Shownu. "Do we have a key to our room?
Changkyun locked the door and he won't open it."
Shownu raised his eyebrows. "He locked the door?" He repeated in surprise.
Jooheon just nodded his head.
" Yes....we have a key. I just need to remember where I put it. "
The leader stood and walked towards the doorway. "I think it's in the
kitchen, maybe."
The rest followed him.
Shownu scrounged around in several bottom cupboards before finally
coming across the keys to all three rooms.
He raised them above his head and shook the key ring. "Here they are."
He left the kitchen and walked to the bedroom where the maknae had
barricaded himself.
He inserted the key and turned the knob.
Inside, the room was in darkness, the curtains pulled tightly shut across
the window.
Shownu walked over to the bed in the corner. The others were peeking
around the door frame but none of them entered the room.
It was so dark, Shownu couldn't see if Changkyun was on his bed or not.
He leaned down and made out a lump lying under the blanket. He reached
out and tapped the lump gently.
"Changkyun?" His voice held his worry. "Are you okay? Are you feeling sick?"
When Shownu got no answer, he walked back to the door and flipped the
light switch.
The room was bathed in light and he could now see the large lump covered
entirely with the blanket.
Walking over to the bed again, he grabbed ahold of the blanket and pulled it
down.
Or he tried to.
Changkyun held onto it but Shownu was stronger and eventually he
succeeded in pulling the blanket down so it no longer covered his head.
The maknae was lying there curled up with his legs pulled up to his chest.
Shownu squatted down beside the bed and gently brushed his hand over his
head.
At that, Changkyun groaned and ducked his head down further. His eyes
were tightly shut and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. His face
was very flushed as well.
Seeing his face looking like that really alarmed Shownu.
He used his sleeve to wipe away the sweat and then placed his hand on
Changkyun's forehead. It felt slightly warm but not hot like a fever.
Looking down, he noticed that the maknae had opened one eye and was
looking from him to the door where everyone was gathered.
Ahh.
He was no longer worried that the youngest member might be sick.
He turned and walked to the door. Without saying anything, he waved the
rest away and closed the door, before going back to the bed.
He took a seat on the bed beside Changkyun. He cleared his throat. "Do you
want to tell me what's wrong? And don't pretend to be asleep or sick because
I'm pretty sure that your health is fine." After a moment he added, "I saw you
peeking at us a couple minutes ago."
At that, the maknae sighed and opened his eyes. He pushed the blanket back
some more and sat up.
When he still stayed silent, Shownu decided to question him further. He
actually hadn't gotten any answers since he hadn't spoken at all.
"Are you angry with me? Did I hurt your feelings?" He moved his head so he
could look him in the eyes, but Changkyun looked towards the wall. "I did,
didn't I? I'm so sorry. I was just teasing you." He felt terrible. He had just been
playing with him, he hadn't meant for the maknae to get hurt.
He patted his head in apology, only for Changkyun to snap his head around
and glare at him. " Stop it, " he hissed.
He turned his head back to facing the wall and hung his head.
Shownu stopped touching his hair and retracted his hand while his heart felt
heavy in his chest.
The maknae had tears in his eyes.
He had never seen him cry. Well, except for a few happy tears at their debut
and a few concerts and the like. And they had always been happy tears.
Not unhappy ones.
He sat there for a few minutes, before he finally decided to leave Changkyun
alone. Maybe he was bothering him more by being here.
He used his arms to push himself off the bed. Before he could take a step
however, a hand grabbed his arm.
He looked back.
A few tears had fallen onto his cheeks but the maknae was no longer glaring
at him.
"What is it?" He asked softly.
"It's not all your fault, Hyung. Yes, you hurt my feelings a little and Kihyun hyung
did too, but mostly I just....." He stopped and his lips before continuing. "
I was embarrassed." His last sentence was so quiet, if Shownu hadn't had his
attention on him 100%, he wouldn't have heard it.
"Embarrassed?" He asked him after a few moments of surprise
"Why?"
"Because we had a visitor."
"Okaay."
Changkyun continued. "I don't know why I felt so embarrassed. I mean, manager
hyung has been here and played games with us. I've never felt like this when I
lost before....."His face darkened a little. "Jooheon hyung... He was annoying
me too."
"He barely spoke to you," Shownu felt the need to point out.
"I know! He just bothered me." He put his head in his hands. " What is wrong
with me? Jooheon is one of my best friends."
Shownu was feeling puzzled too. "Maybe you are getting sick and it's making
you irritable."
"Yeah. Maybe that's it."
"Why don't you just stay in here and rest for now? We still have that dinner to
go to tonight."
He nodded. "All right. I do feel tired." He reached up and felt his own forehead.
"That must be why. Hopefully I'll feel fine later."
Shownu nodded. "I'll tell the others that you're resting. Don't worry about
setting an alarm. I'll make sure one of us comes in later to wake you up."
Changkyun nodded again and settled down on his bed and closed his eyes.
"Thanks, Hyung."
Shownu patted his hand and walked to the door. After turning out the light, he
left the room and walked back to the living room.
As soon as they saw him, everyone grew quiet.
Ava was the first to speak up. "Is everything okay?"
Shownu smiled. "Yes, he's just tired and got a little irritable. He feels bad
about it." He wasn't totally sure about that last one but he thought he didn't
feel good about acting like a little kid. " He'll be fine after he gets some sleep."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good," Ava said relaxing some. "I should go. You guys have a busy evening
ahead and I don't want to take up any more of your free time."
"What about Monopoly?" Jooheon spoke up. "We didn't play yet."
"That's right. We didn't, " Kihyun said.
Shownu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. " Let's play that the next
time we have Ava over on a free day." He looked at his phone. " It's already 2:00
and we have to leave by 6:30. That only leaves a few hours to rest before we need
to get ready."
The other members nodded.
Jooheon felt disappointed but he knew the leader was right. If they didn't rest
now, they would be falling over with exhaustion by the end of the long evening.
None of them wanted to have their fans find out that they were acting silly and
stupid over staying up too late. It would also worry their fans that they weren't
taking proper care of themselves.
"Nae, Hyung," they chorused.
Ava smiled a little as she heard them all speak at once. It was pretty funny.
She moved toward the door. "I'll head back to my room now." She bowed.
"Thank you so much for inviting me. I had a lovely time."
They bowed back and wished her a good day.
She smiled and then slipped out the door.
As she walked, the maknae's face suddenly popped into her head and she
frowned.
Had he really just been tired, or was there something else bothering him?
~~~~~~~~
Hi :) I'm back with another chapter finally!! I'm sorry it has taken me so long.
I hope you all enjoy this and thank you to my new subscribers!!
Have a great day!!
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