“What sort of ramen is this? It has too much water!" Leeteuk slapped down his chopsticks, and they clattered across the table, stopping at the edge. Not for the first time that day, Kyuhyun froze in his seat. 

"Are you trying to make 'Han river' ramen?" he demanded, glaring at the youngest of them. Kyuhyun squirmed in his seat. 

"I'm sorry, I didn’t taste-" 

"God, who puts this much water?" muttered Shindong, when he slurped down some of the noodles. He made a face. 

"Try this, Jong-woon." 

Yesung stepped forward and tried some. To Kyuhyun's dismay, he frowned. 

"Yeah...it's too much water. You haven't cooked before?" 

Kyuhyun shook his head. The leader looked about to unleash some choice words again, when Siwon voiced, "It's fine. I didn't cook before debuting either."

"You can excuse this?" Leeteuk rounded on Siwon, gesturing with an open palm towards Kyuhyun. The boy had a horrible feeling that the hand might have liked to twist itself around his neck. 

"Seriously, someone must teach you how to cook," Hangeng boomed, laughing and shaking his shaggy head. Heechul and Sungmin both stared sullenly at the table. Both of them have the most girly features.

"I'm really sorry, everyone," Kyuhyun defended again, growing weary of the attention on whatever he did wrong. Back in his own family, criticism was hardly aimed his way, what with having excelled in school. He was not normally associated with failure. 

"Oh, let him off," someone was saying, patting Leeteuk on the back, "He's new."

Kyuhyun peered awkwardly at Leeteuk's face again. It was a stolid mask of anger; the man looked almost ready to cry in frustration. Why is this Leeteuk so dramatic? Kyuhyun thought. 

"I'll whip up omelette," Ryeowook started suddenly, "Something salty to go with the Han River." 

There was a ripple of laughter. Kibum, a tall and lanky fellow, went into the kitchen to help. The stove clicked, and the sound of a pan being slapped onto it echoed into the living room. Kyuhyun followed Kibum into the kitchen as well, wishing to avoid Leeteuk. 

He watched Ryeowook crack open the eggs without dropping pieces of shell, and beat the eggs with practised vigour. Ryeowook sprinkled oil onto the saucepan and threw chopped onions into it. The thin slices sputtered and hissed, and Kyuhyun wondered whether the hot droplets of oil bothered the boy. Silently, Ryeowook poured the beaten emulsion into the pan.

When the eggs were done, Ryeowook sprayed pepper onto the yellow, glistening bodies, eliciting sneezes from the two watching. Between the three of them, Ryeowook had done all the cooking. 

"Ready!" he trumpeted, and marched out with the pan. 

They were immediately surrounded by several hungry, aching bodies, all clamouring to be fed and pressing against him. Yesung, however, hung back, watching tiredly. 

The thirteen members soon demolished the eggs and the 'Han river' ramen, and decided that Ryeowook would be the one to cook ramen next time. Otherwise, Yesung had to teach Kyuhyun, by hook or by crook. 

"Yeah, I will," Yesung, with a twinkle in his eye, promised. 

~~~~~

It was ten o'clock when both Kyuhyun and Yesung had bathed themselves. Cleaning was a messy, arduous task, especially when one of them was living without his parents for the first time. 

"Are you all right so far?" Yesung spoke across the room, drying his hair before the mirror. 

Kyuhyun looked up from his phone, and shouted back, "Yeah, hyung!" 

"Leeteuk-hyung can be fussy," Yesung admitted in a softer voice.

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