The room was silent. Everyone was looking at each other. Donghae was trying to contain his excitement, hiding behind Siwon. Kangin was in the kitchen, pouring himself a drink. 

"He's going to open the door any time soon.", Ryeowook whispered, gesturing the others to keep their voices down as well.

All of the members have gathered at the dorm. Their plan was to surprise Kyuhyun on the day he got discharged from the military. No one picked him up but all of them were waiting for him at the dorm. They had been waiting for a long time actually.

"Is he even coming back here first? What if he goes straight to his sister's house instead?", Heechul asked as he looked around the room for someone to answer him.

"He texted me to ask if I was home so that means he's on the way back.", Ryeowook replied.

"That could mean anything. He's just asking.", Hyukjae looked at Ryeowook with distrust.

"I'm hungry.", Shindong suddenly said before getting up to go to the kitchen to find food.

"Keep your voices down! Damn it.". Ryeowook scolded. He peeped out the window. On the ground floor, he saw a black van driving off. 

"Okay, I think he's coming up now. Off the lights." Ryeowook gestured to Yesung who was near the light switch. 

...

Kyuhyun opened the door. The house was dark. He reached for the switch to on the lights. To his surprise, he saw s in the living room. 

"Welcome back!", all of them cheered. They all huddled around Kyuhyun. He couldn't help but smile widely. It had been a long time since all of them were here. Everyone was noisy celebrating his arrival. Siwon approached him to ruffle his hair.

"Kyuhyun must be hungry. Let's order some food", Leeteuk voiced out. He then called up the usual restaurant to order food.   

The house was crowded. Most of them were in the living room, watching television and talking among themselves. Donghae was in the kitchen with Sungmin. He was teaching Sungmin on how to make healthy smoothies. He planned to make his favourite strawberry smoothie for all of them.

"Count me out. I just want a beer.", Kangin told Donghae from the living room. The others' attention was now on Donghae too.

"Wow, strawberries!", Hyukjae exclaimed and went to the kitchen to join Donghae and Sungmin.

"Healthy smoothies are not my thing", Shindong said out loud.

"Just give it a taste. I'm sure it's nice". Siwon tried to convince everyone.

"If I don't like it, you're gonna have to drink mine", Heechul told Siwon as he laid on his lap. 

"Everyone shut up before Donghae cries.", Ryeowook scolded his friends.

"I'm not going to cry and you guys will love this smoothie!", Donghae raised his voice before turning the blender on. 

Siwon was seated cross-legged on the floor with Heechul's head on his lap. He was asking Kyuhyun about a lot of things, but most importantly about his upcoming plans and schedule. Seems like Kyuhyun had already made plans on having a solo album.

"My singing got better", Kyuhyun told him delightedly. 

Siwon was happy for him. Everyone was. They were happy that finally all of them had finished their enlistment. They can all be on stage again... until Kangin voiced out.

"Not sure if the management will allow me to join the activities... but I'm happy that our maknae is back. ELF missed you.", Kangin said and put his arm around Kyuhyun.

"Hyung, ELF misses you and Sungmin too. Let's talk to the manager and see what we can do about this.", Kyuhyun comforted him.  The room suddenly went silent. Leeteuk's eyes were watery. Ryeowook noticed it and rubbed his back. All of them seemed to be more emotional as they grew older. They knew these decisions are not theirs to make, but that is what breaks them the most. All Leeteuk wanted was to be on stage with all of them again. 

Donghae broke the silence by entering the living room with cups filled with strawberry smoothies; 1 cup for each member. He stood there ensuring that all of them had at least taken one sip of his proud creation.

"So how does it taste?", he asked in excitement.

"Delicious."

"Brilliant."

"The best smoothie ever."

"I feel so healthy."

"A masterpiece."

Donghae couldn't differentiate whether some were compliments or sarcasm but he was happy anyway. Satisfied and proud, he squeezed in between Kyuhyun and Leeteuk on the couch. 

"So who's going to pay when the food arrives?", Donghae asked out of the blue.

Everyone looked at each other. No one willingly volunteered to pay but their hands stretch out. 

"Gawi, Bawi, Bo!", all of them said out in sync.

A few rounds of rock paper scissors was played. It was a noisy mess. Kyuhyun and Donghae jumped on the couch as they won the round. Heechul cussed out more every time he needed to play another round. Hyukjae taunted Yesung for not winning any rounds yet. Sungmin and Shindong indirectly signalled each other to win the round together. Kangin and Ryeowook laid on the floor, just waiting for someone to be the final loser. Siwon enjoyed the commotion at the sideline since he already won. Leeteuk laughed at how silly his friends were. 

The last three left were Yesung, Heechul and Ryeowook. To which Heechul had slyly signalled Ryeowook to play paper, behind Yesung. Yesung lost and had to pay. 

" you guys", Yesung cussed and shook his head. Ryeowook gave him a side hug to comfort his angry hyung.

They continued talking. First about Kyuhyun's solo album, then about him going on to Knowing Brothers. Kyuhyun was the centre of attention for most of the conversations. His schedule was already packed for the next few months. Not too long afterwards, the food arrived. 

"Thank you, Yesung.", they thanked him before gobbling down the food. 

All of them gathered around the living room table. Heechul, Leeteuk and some members on the couch while the others were seated on the floor. It's been a very long time since Leeteuk saw this sight. He couldn't help but get emotional again. He missed this kind of bonding session. Heechul put his arm around Leeteuk to comfort him.

"I'm getting tired listening to what the fans want.", Hyukjae suddenly brought the topic out. "We should all start dating and get married soon."

"Yeah. I want Super Junior junior", Heechul spoke and leaned on Leeteuk's shoulder. 

"What if we lose fans because of this?", Sungmin asked. He was worried about his friends. He didn't want them to end up like him too; disregarded by fans.

" those that leave if we get married.", Heechul bellowed. "The true fans will stay and those are the ones that truly matter."

"I don't know...", Leeteuk murmured under his breath. 

All of them were worried about what will happen to Super Junior. They also felt anger but what can they do in this situation? But no matter what happens, they know that they will never give up this friendship they have.