"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." Ava waved at her parents. She had finally set up her

laptop and since it was now 7:30 A.M. Georgia time, she had decided

that now was a good time to Skype them.

"Baby!" Her mother cried. "Why didn't you contact us yesterday after

your flight arrived? We've been worried sick." Her mother's face was

pinched from the worried frown she sported. "The boys kept calling

and texting, asking if we'd heard from you yet."

Ava hung her head down and sighed. "I'm sorry, Mom. The flight got

in around 10 A.M. Korea time, but then getting through the airport

took time and then Mr. Jung picked me up and took me to the

apartment I'll be staying in and..." She let her sentence trail off.

When she finally looked back up, her mom's face had relaxed.

"It's all right, baby. We were just worried about you."

"I know. I don't know why I didn't think to use a payphone at the

airport." She ran her hands through her hair.

"Too much to see, I guess." She let out a short laugh. "The airport is

huge. But, " she held up her pointer finger, "I have a phone now, so let

me give you the number."

After her mother wrote down the number, her father moved the

computer towards himself and gave her a stern look. "Is there

something more bothering you? Besides moving halfway across

the world. You seem really tired and worried. It's not like you."

Hearing the worry and love in his voice gave her a warm feeling

inside. No matter what, her dad could always tell when she felt down

or unhappy.

"It's been a little stressful but I'll be fine. I just need a few days to

totally get acclimated." She didn't mention the return of her nightmares

or the creep who had beatenher up. No need to upset them when they

were thousands of miles away.

And most likely if her mom knew, she would insist on her boarding

a flight back to the United States as soon as possible.

She didn't want that. She had wanted to visit Korea for so long and

now that she had the chance, she didn't want anything to mess it up.

Not a stupid nightmare or even an obsessed fan.

Nothing.

~~~~~~~~

 

After she closed the Skype call, she decided to tackle the rest of her

unpacking. All she had unpacked were clothes, so she still had books,

CD's and various other mementos she had brought with her.

She took her cameras and all her equipment to one of the spare

bedrooms and set it all up. The bedroom was plenty big enough

that she had room to spread everything out.

She got to the last bag and paused as she came across several photo

albums. Inside, were lots of pictures of her brothers and herself. 

She laughed as she spotted one that her mom had taken at an

amusement park. All five of them were in line for a roller coaster

and as usual the boys were teasing her about being scared to ride.

She might have been terrified of coasters as a small child, but after

years of her brothers forcing her to ride with them, she had grown to

tolerate and eventually, to love them. She enjoyed the thrill and yes,

even the fear, that being up high and speeding along a wooden or

metal track gave her. It felt exhilarating and if she closed her eyes,

it sometimes felt like she was flying.

She shook herself from the memories and put the albums away on

one of the bookshelves in the living room.

She stood and surveyed the room. The walls were bare and needed

some color.

She pulled out a few rolled posters. Who cared if she was 25 and

should be past the idol craze age? She liked who she liked and this

was her space.

She taped the posters to the walls and made a mental note to

purchase some frames. They would look better in a frame.

Her stomach growling made her stop and look at her phone.10:23 P.M.

Wow. She had totally skipped supper.

She headed to the kitchen and scavenged for something quick and

simple. Some of the food was western so she settled for making a

chicken sandwich.

She sat at the table and slowly ate.

After finishing, she cleaned the kitchen and went to make sure the

door was locked.

After what had happened to her at seventeen, she went through

periods where she never felt safe. She became very paranoid about

keeping windows and doors locked. She wore a whistle around her

neck and carried a can of mace in her purse. She had often heard it

said 'you never knew what could happen', and now she definitely knew

what could.

She felt sweaty after all the unpacking so she headed to the shower.

She turned the water to hot and after washing her hair and body, she

leaned her head against the wall, and let the water pound against her

skin.

Unbidden, the events from the ghost house returned.

She clenched her fists as she felt again that strangling arm across

. Closed her eyes and again relived receiving that bruising

slap.

Her breath grew shallow and she fought to escape the nightmare.

Instead, eight-year-old memories again fought their way to the front.

NO!! She screamed silently. STOP!! She held her head and felt tears

start to fill her eyes.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not REAL!!!

The memories didn't listen and continued to pound at her. Sobbing,

she fell to the shower floor. She stayed there, her body now curled

in a protective ball.

She was now only half-conscious. The events of her past were so

fierce and destructive, they took her somewhere far away, keeping

her in a bubble reliving that long ago evening over and over.

Finally, the water turned cold, and with it the bubble popped, releasing

her mind from the prison it had been in. The feeling returned to her

limbs and she realized she was freezing.

She raised her head and shifted so she was sitting up, then hugged

her arms around herself, her teeth beginning to chatter. She forced

one hand to move and reached down and turned the water off.

She stood on shaky legs and reached for her towel. She dressed in

her pajamas and moved to the sink to brush her teeth. She caught

her reflection in the mirror and focused on it.

Her face was white, making her green eyes stand out starkly. She

couldn't make herself care. She felt out of it, like she was watching

a movie of someone else's life.

She brushed her hair, all the while staring at her face.

She blinked and seemed to come out of her coma.

It's over. You're home. You're safe.

Maybe if she told herself that enough times, she could make her

mind believe it.

~~~~~~~~

"Noona!" The happy cry came from Jooheon, who practically

pounced on her as soon as she entered the dorm. Kihyun,

who had opened the door, had to duck his head and back up,

to escape his outstretched arms.

Ava smiled weakly. She felt like she had pulled an all-nighter,

when in reality she had slept for over 9 hours; however, her

sleep had been filled with nightmares and dreams of ghosts

attacking her.

She shook her head a bit and tried to smile wider. "Good

morning."

Shownu had called her and invited her to go out for brunch

with all ofthem and in her haste to say she would be happy to

join them, she had stumbled over her words, making her have

to stop, take a breath, and repeat herself.

Any more time alone with her thoughts and she might be

tempted to pull out her hair. Every time she even started

to let herself relax, her mind would soon take her back to

where she didn't want it to go.

Kihyun walked down the hallway, hollering out, "Is everyone

ready to go? Noona is here!"

"Nae!" "Almost." "Of course."

As they spoke, Wonho, Hyungwon and Shownu appeared,

Wonho still tying his bandana through a belt loop as he walked.

That left Minhyuk and Changkyun still somewhere in the dorm.

Kihyun sighed as he knocked on the room that Jooheon,

Minhyuk and Changkyun shared.

"Guys! Are you ready to leave? The rest are waiting on you two."

Kihyun put his hands on his hips after no reply was heard.

He knocked again.

Still no answer, so he cautiously opened the door and peeked

his head around it.

"Minhyuk hyung! Maknae!" His voice came out scolding when he

discovered the reason why they hadn't responded to his calls.

They both were wearing earbuds and listening to something on

their phones.

At his mild yell, they both jerked their heads up and pulled the ear

buds out.

"Why are you yelling?" Minhyuk asked him mildly.

Kihyun's anger melted at Minhyuk's almost timid confused tone.

You couldn't stay angry at Minhyuk. His personality was just so

soft, cuddly and cute.

"Ava noona is here and everyone is ready to leave," he said in

a much  softer tone.

"Ah. Sorry, Kihyun."

Changkyun voiced an apology to him as well.

Kihyun nodded. "It's all right, but let's just go and not keep

them waiting any longer."

The two quickly stood and exited the room, with Kihyun

following.

"Noona! " Minhyuk greeted Ava as he entered the living

room, beaming a smile at her. She smiled a little in

response.

Changkyun was the last to enter the room and he stood

by the doorway for a minute and scrutinized her face.

She looked pale. Her eyes had large dark circles under

them that her makeup hadn't totally concealed. She was

still kind of pretty but she looked really tired.

He would only let himself admit that she was kind of pretty.

Anything more than that he wouldn't even let his mind

ponder over. After all, she was still a stranger, he told

himself. He had only- shoot. All of them had only met her a

day and a half ago. That was no time to fully lnow someone

at all.

He wiped any thoughts he might be showing off his face and

entered the room.

Ava glanced up at his entrance and shrank back a little as she

saw his blank look.

Seeing his reaction to her, made her realize that what had

happened yesterday at the park must not have had the effect

on him as it had on her.

She felt her face redden in extreme embarrassment and quickly

tore her eyes away and focused on Jooheon who was sitting

next to her on the couch and talking a mile a minute.

She tried to smile as he got to the punchline of his joke and felt

relieved when Shownu stood up and announced that they should

leave now.

All the members donned masks or sunglasses before leaving

the dorm.

After they were all in the hallway, they walked as a group to the

elevators.

Minhyuk pressed the button and after a minute the doors opened.

They all piled in and looked expectantly at her, still standing in the

hall.

"I'll just wait for the next one."

They all stared at her in confusion. The day before when they had

gone to the amusement park and then when they had returned, the

elevators had been half full so they had split up. Four of them rode

in one elevator and the other four in the next one. Today, the

elevator was empty.

Suddenly, she saw the faces of Wonho and Hyungwon relax, and they

both quickly stepped out of the elevator and stood beside her.

"It's kind of crowded with all of us. We'll wait with Noona for the

next one," Wonho said looking at Shownu.

He just shrugged and nodded. "Arraso."

The doors closed and Hyungwon pressed the button to call the elevator

again. She looked at the two members out of the corners of her eyes.

Neither were looking at her, so she looked at the elevator doors again.

She sighed before speaking. "You two didn't have to wait. I could've

gone by myself."

Wonho straightened and shook his head. "You should never leave a

lady by herself. It's not safe." Hyungwon nodded.

She smiled and felt more tears enter her eyes. They had remembered

she got claustrophobic in crowded, small spaces. "Thank you."

The elevator arrived and they all hurried in. It lowered quickly and soon

they were stepping out at the ground floor. The other five members

were waiting over by the glass doors.

She had a sudden thought. "How are we getting there?" They hadn't

gone to the parking garage.

"I called two taxis. We can get to the cafe that way," Shownu replied.

"Oh."

He swept his hands towards the doors and they all exited the building.

Outside, two taxis stood waiting.

Hyungwon, Wonho, Minhyuk and Kihyun got in one car while Jooheon,

Shownu, Changkyun and Ava got in the other.

The ride took twenty minutes. They pulled up to a tiny, almost hidden,

cafe which said, Cafe Sunshine, in English in large yellow letters.

After paying the cab drivers, they went inside.

Though it looked rather small from the outside, inside, it opened up and

went back a long ways, with lots of windows looking out onto the street.

They walked to a large round booth in the back corner and sat down.

Ava ended up in the middle between Jooheon and Shownu, with Minhyuk

and Wonho on Shownu's other side, and Kihyun, Hyungwon and

Changkyun on Jooheon's other side. Wonho and Changkyun were on

either end of the booth.

A friendly waitress walked up to their table and placed menus before

them. "Good morning. Can I get you anything to drink?"

After placing their drink orders, the waitress left to get them and everyone

opened their menus.

Ava's stomach growled quietly at her, reminding her she hadn't eaten in

12 hours.

She felt a nudge from her left and saw Jooheon grinning at her. "I heard

that, Noona," he whispered.

She glanced down at her stomach before she burst out laughing. She

suddenly felt a lot better. She grinned back at Jooheon and nudged

him back.

He pursed his lips and smirked at her before grabbing her menu and

pointing out what he thought were the best things they had to eat there.

At the sound of her laughter, the other six boys had turned to look at her.

They watched her interaction with Jooheon. They felt relieved to see her

smiling for real this time. They had all been able to tell her earlier smiles

were forced.

Changkyun felt happy she was laughing but he felt unsettled too because

Jooheon was sitting closer to her now, and he had seen him whisper in

her ear as well. He wondered what he had said to her and then told himself

it didn't matter because he didn't care.

He turned his attention back to his menu and tried to decide what to order.

Ava took Jooheon's advice and ordered a breakfast sampler that had

eggs, chicken, rice and kimchi.

The waitress returned with their drinks and then wrote down all their

orders. Changkyun handed her all the menus and she walked away.

"So do you feel ready for the press release tomorrow? " Wonho

asked her.

She rubbed her hands together nervously. "I still don't know exactly

what's going to happen. Do I have to talk?"

"Minjun hyung said you don't have to speak but we all need to be there.

Manager hyung and Minjun hyung will just explain about why you're

here and who you are." Shownu's features tightened a little and his

hand on the table clenched into a fist. "That person who grabbed you

better get the message.We won't stand for anyone getting hurt again, "

he finished fiercely.

The others made sounds of agreement.

She just sat there silently, biting the inside of her lip. They hadn't

heard the voice. Just thinking about it was creeping her out. They

had not been joking.

The voice had been dead serious.

~~~~~~~~

Hello, everyone!! Sorry it took a little longer for this update.

I've been busy with work and other things.

My baby brother is going off to college tomorrow and I

most likely will not see him for a month :( I'm

going to miss him.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Leave a

comment and let me

know what you

thought!

Bye ~