Days do pass quickly, I mused as I went down the stairs. It had been a month since Baro, Gongchan, Jinyoung, Sandeul and Shinwoo came to my life, and I hardly even noticed it. We’ve all gotten to know each other now. I learned that Shinwoo cleans better than any vacuum cleaner I’ve ever owned. I learned to separate whites from colored clothes before giving them to Baro, who was in charge of laundry duties, since if I don’t he’d just probably dump everything together. I learned that the hard way, after discovering that all of my white uniforms have turned pink, all because Baro had washed them with two of my red shirts. I had to wear my slightly pink uniform to school, and got scolded by my homeroom teacher. I learned that Jinyoung was really bad at directions, after spending a day scouring the entire market just to find him. I had asked him to go back to the grocery which was only two stores away from the bookshop we went into. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to end up at the fish market, which was at the other end of the area.

“Kong Kim? Oh…Jong Min. Lee Jong Min?” I heard Sandeul say from the living room. Lee Jong Min…my Dad! I ran down the stairs, only to find him shirtless, talking to my dad on the phone. “Oh, you’re Mi Ra’s dad! Ah~ I think she’s still sleeping. I can’t wake her up ‘coz she said she’ll tear me to pieces if I walk into her room without her permission. Who am I? I’m Sandeul. I—“

I grabbed the phone, shutting my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see any more of his body. I tried to push him out of the way but I must have slipped, because the next thing I knew I was lying on Sandeul’s chest. I tried to push myself off him but failed. I could still hear Dad on the phone.

“Dad!” I exclaimed. “How are you?”

“Mi Ra? Is that you? Who was that guy on the phone?”

I cupped a hand over the speaker. “What’d you tell my Dad?”I hissed at Sandeul. “And why are you ?”

“Oh, hi, Mi Ra. Good morning.”

I moved my hand from the speaker and placed it over Sandeul’s mouth. Don’t say a word, I mouthed at him., then went back to talking to my dad.

“Who was that boy on the phone earlier?”

“Oh, that? He’s…uh….a helper. A…A g-gardener. I hired someone to help tend the garden.”

“And he’s in the house while you’re upstairs sleeping?”

“Sleeping? I wasn’t asleep! He must be imagining things, being out in the sun for so long.” I tried to change the topic. “How are you, Dad? I miss you so much!”

“Really? I miss you too! And I’m fine. This particular project is going longer than we expected. I just sent your allowance, by the way. How are you doing?”

“Breakfast is ready!” Jinyoung called from the kitchen. “Someone call Mi Ra!”

“Who was that?” my dad asked, suspicious again.

Just then I heard Baro’s voice. “They’ll be dry in a few hours. Maybe we should wash our jeans too?”

“That’s just the TV. I’m watching TV now. Hey Dad, listen.  I really have to go now, but I’ll talk to you soon, all right? I love you! Bye!” I sighed when I finally put the phone back to its cradle. This was way too much to handle in the morning. Only then did I remember that I was still lying on top of Sandeul. My eyes met his and he gave me a gummy smile.

“Having fun?” he asked, smiling.

I glared at Sandeul, pushing myself off him. I shut my eyes again. “Go grab some clothes!”

“What were you doing on top of Sandeul?” I heard Shinwoo ask. “And why are your eyes closed like that?”

“Because he’s !” I said through gritted teeth.

“Well, we are too,” Baro remarked.

WHAT? “Why are you all ?”

“We washed our clothes because they were too dirty,” Gongchan explained. “We’re washing our pants too.”

“Give me your jeans, Sandeul.” Baro’s voice.

I yelped when I heard the sound of an opening zipper. I didn’t know which one to cover, my eyes or my ears. “Stop!” I yelled. “No one’s taking their pants off! And cover your chests!”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

I heard rustling sounds, then Baro spoke again. “All right, we’re covered.”

I opened one eye, and then the other. They had covered their chests with throw pillows. Well, except for Sandeul, who had run out of pillows ad opted to hide behind the sofa instead. I guess it was partly my fault. I had meant to take them out shopping, since I had noticed how dirty their clothes had become, but I never really got around to doing it.

“I need to buy you guys some clothes,” I muttered.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that for us,” Jinyoung said, emerging from the kitchen. He was, thankfully, covered with an apron, although his arms were bare. I was surprised at how muscular they looked, since he seemed the skinniest out of the bunch.

“I’m not doing it for you,” I said as I peeled my eyes off his arms. “I’m doing it for myself, my sanity and my innocence.”

Seeing them shirtless was already scandalous. I guess I was still lucky they didn’t wash their jeans first, or worse, their shirts and their jeans. Imagine what could have happened if I walked in on them entirely . I shook my head vigorously, trying to dispel the image.

“We definitely have to go shopping. My Dad has just sent my allowance, and I still have some money left from last month, so it should be enough. We’ll just let your shirts dry then—“

“Mi Ra! Lee Mi Ra!”

My eyes snapped to the door just as the door bell began ringing.

“Oh, there’s someone outside!”

“Stay down!” I yelled at Sandeul, who was still crouching behind the sofa. I dashed upstairs and peeked through one of the windows. I could see Nam Gyu and Seul Mi. Dang! I thought as I bashed my head on the wall, then yelped in pain. How could I have forgotten? I had made plans with both of them. But weren’t they supposed to come after lunch? It was only eight. I ran back down, already on the way to a full-scale panic attack.  I couldn’t not let them in, but I can’t afford to let them see any of the robots either. What should I do? This was way too much stress for me to handle. And in the morning too. The door bell rang again, and I wanted to scream.

“All right, every one. Go upstairs. To the attic. Stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come back down.”

“Why?” Baro asked.

“My friends are coming, and they can’t see you.”

“Why not?” This time it was Shinwoo who asked.

“Because you’re ! And they don’t know about you guys, so just do what I say, all right?”

“They’re your visitors; shouldn’t we take care of them too?” Jinyoung asked.

“Just go upstairs!” I yelled. “Now!”

They all looked at each other, then shrugged and headed up. I didn’t mean to raise my voice, and I rarely go yelling at people, but I was panicking. After they were gone I took a deep breath, then tried to arrange my features into something more akin to pleasant surprise rather than panic and terror.

“Hey girls!” I said cheerfully as I opened the gate. “Aren’t you a little early?”

“Are you kidding?” Seul Mi yawned and poked Nam Gyu’s cheek. “We’re way too early, and it’s her fault. She came bounding to my house an hour ago. She even woke me up!”

Nam Gyu pretended to bit Seul Mi’s finger. “Hey, when it comes to shopping, you can count on me to take it seriously. Besides, won’t we get more things done if we start the day early? I want to watch a movie too!” She gripped my hand and dragged me and Seul Mi to the house. “Come on, Mi Ra. Dress up and we’ll go.”

“Actually, I—“

“Whoa.” They both stopped at the door.”Is your house entirely new, or did you just become a clean freak?”

They were, of course, looking at Shinwoo’s handiwork. The house was clean and sparkling, literally. Shinwoo’s always cleaning, and he nags at the others to do the same. I haven’t seen a speck of dust ever since Shinwoo took over cleaning duties.

Except for Min Jun who found out by accident, none of my friends new about my new housemates. recently I’ve given up thinking of them as robots, seeing as they looked and acted so much like humans anyway. Jinyoung and the others have cared for me well, and as their owner, I felt responsible for them, maybe even protective. I didn’t want anyone to find out about them. At least, not yet.  And I loved my friends, I really did, but I wanted them out of the house before the guys upstairs did something that could complicate things.

CRASH!

Speaking of complications…

“What was that?” Seul Mi asked.

“I better go check what it is,” I said. “Make yourselves comfortable.” I ran up, only to find the boys huddled outside my bedroom.

“What did you do?” I whispered as I came closer.

All of them pointed at Baro, and I rolled my eyes. “Couldn’t you guys just sit still for a minute? And why aren’t you in the attic?”

“It’s locked,” Baro said, pulling at the pillow he and Sandeul shared. “Why are you whispering?”

“My friends are down there, and I can’t have them suspect something’s up. Move,” I instructed as I made my way to my door. I opened it at shoved them inside. “Stay there and be quiet, okay? And don’t touch my stuff!” I hissed as Gonchan poked through my drawers.

“Is everything okay? What was that crash?” Seul Mi asked as soon as I came back.

“Uh..yeah. One of my plants fell over. Listen…I know I made plans with you, but I can’t go. I…I need to do something really important. I’ll go next time, okay? I’m really sorry.”

I expected them to be annoyed. I would be too, if someone I made plans with bailed out at the last minute. But they just look at each other and smiled. “It’s okay,” Nam Gyu said. “We hadn’t really counted on you making it today, but you could’ve told us earlier.”

 “You knew I can’t come?”

“Of course. We already know what’s going on.”

Oh no. My gaze instinctively went to the stairs. They knew? “H-How?”

“Min Jun, of course. We overheard him talking to some of his friends about it.”

Min Jun told his friends?  Why on earth did he do that? How awkward could it get if the whole school found out I’m living with five guys?

“So…yeah,” Seul Mi began. “We better go. Have fun with Min Jun, but go easy on alcoholic drinks, okay?”

Wait…what? “Alcoholic drinks? Why would I—“

“Oh, you know how parties can get. Anyway, have fun. Bye.”

I stared, dumbfounded, and watched them leave. Apparently, what they knew and what I thought they knew were two different things. Alcoholic drinks? Parties? My boyfriend was going to a party? No….it couldn’t be. Min Jun told me he’d be in Busan today, visiting his grandmother. Maybe Seul Mi heard it wrong.

I went back up to get the boys, still thinking it over. I had this weird unpleasant feeling at the pit of my stomach.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I wonder who they are.”

“They all look cute!”

“I like the one with glasses, he looks so dreamy~”

I looked out the window, trying to keep a straight face as the girls in front whispered among themselves and giggles, sneaking glances towards the back of the bus, where we were seated.  The “cute” ones they were referring, however, just sat and stared ahead, not even caring the least bit. This I understood.

“Look at that handsome guy. He’s sitting beside some girl, could they be together?”

I kept my gaze straight, even though I knew they were talking about us. I was sitting beside Jinyoung, Baro was with Sandeul, and Gongchan sat beside Shinwoo.

“No, I don’t think so,” another girl answered. “She looks like a kid. I figure he’d go for more sophisticated types…”

I turned to the gossiping girls and glared. I didn’t mind that they were practically drooling over my companions, but how dare they call me a kid? That was over the line! Jinyoung patted my shoulder and smiled, then took my hand in his. I blushed, but it was worth seeing the shocked looks from those girls. A little while later I heard Baro whisper from behind.

“That’s enough, they’ve stopped looking already. You can let go of her hand now.”

Jinyoung kept a firm hold on my hand, and I blushed an even deeper red.

“It’s okay,” I told him, pulling my hand away. I cleared my throat, suddenly embarrassed, as Jinyoung kept smiling. I heard Baro mutter something I couldn’t understand.

We were on the bus on the way to Myeongdong for some much needed shopping. A few sets of clothes for each of them would do. I looked down at Jinyoung’s scruffy sneakers. Hmm…it seems we need to buy new shoes too. I brought my credit card with me, just in case. Dad gives me way too much anyway, his way of compensating for me having to live alone. I had money to spare.

At last we arrived at Myeongdong. I told them to stay close to me, especially Jinyoung, whose ability to get himself lost was unbelievably astounding. People stared wherever we went. They whispered and pointed and giggled. None of the guys seemed to be bothered by the attention. I don’t think they even noticed it. We went to a department store, heading straight to the men’s section. As expected, a lot of salesladies rushed to assist us—I mean, them.

“Please follow me, Sir,” one saleslady told Shinwoo, batting her eyelashes.  “I’ll show you the latest styles.”

Shinwoo stared at her and blinked, then walked over to me. I almost laughed. “That’s all right, Miss,” I told the saleslady. “We’ll just look around and ask you if we need any help.”

Another saleslady started to approach Baro, but he immediately wrapped his hands around my arm, looking straight at me. The other salesladies looked confused. I could tell they were wondering how all five guys seemed umbilically attached to me. If they only knew…

I spent the next few hours playing dress-up with the boys, asking them to try stuff on. I had tried asking them what they think of the clothes, but all I got was the same answer: “I’m okay with whatever you dress me in, Mi Ra (insert blinding smile)”

It was actually easy to dress them. They looked great in anything, so it wasn’t hard for me to choose items from them. In no time at well, we were sauntering out of the store, with shopping bags in hand. If I were with Nam Gyu and Seul Mi, we’d have spent an entire day flitting from one store to the next, and show up with far less shopping bags than the boys and I had now.

It was still early, so we decided to walk around the area first. We visited some shops, looking at accessories, more clothes and other random things.

Then I noticed something.

“Where’s Jinyoung?”

They looked at each other, then at me.

I ran past them, back into each and every shop we went into. He was supposed to be standing beside me the whole time, but I was having so much fun I didn’t even notice he was gone. Panic drummed in my heart as I kept running, barely slowing for the others to catch up.

Gongchan grabbed my arm as he caught up with me. “Mi Ra, calm down.”

I tried to pull away. “I have to find Jinyoung. You know how easy he gets lost.” I bit my lip, blaming myself.  I should have been more responsible.

“We’ll all look for him,” Shinwoo said as he and the other came near.

“I don’t want you guys to get yourselves lost too.”

“We won’t,” Sandeul assured me with a smile. “Actually, Jinyoung’s the only one who’s bad at directions. We can split up into groups, and meet somewhere after an hour or two.”

I nodded. “All right then. I pointed to the coffee shop across the street. We’ll meet there after an hour. Hopefully we’ve found Jinyoung by then.”

Sandeul moved to stand beside me, but Baro deftly pulled me to his side. “I’ll go with Mi Ra,” he announced. “You three go that way.”

“Why do you get to go with Mi Ra?” Gongchan complained.

“Stop it, you guys. I’ll go with Baro. Shinwoo, watch these two, okay? Meet us after an hour.” I turned to Baro, grabbing his hand and walking off in the direction we came from. “Come on, we need to find Jinyoung.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It's a boring chapter. Sorry. >.<

But Baro's with Mi Ra.

And Jinyoung's lost.