Uki’s POV~

I went to the kitchen sink and stood there for a moment, my hands placed at equal width of the square sink. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy. One day, one day back, and he’s already trying to convince me to forgive him—AGAIN!

I stared at my bowl and chopsticks in the sink, my head hanging low. I didn’t know what to do. Whenever I come back, I always meet Donghae. And whenever I meet Donghae, he always apologizes. And every time he apologizes—

“I’m sorry,” a voice whispered in my ear as muscular arms wrapped around my waist from behind. “Please, forgive me. It’s different this time.”

I closed my eyes, forcing away the tears that threatened to break free of my mental dam. Stay strong, Uki. Stay strong, Uki. Stay strong, U—

“Please?”

Donghae turned me to face him and I was forced to look up into his adorable eyes. My eyes began to tear up and I closed them, looking away.

“You always say that. ‘It’s different, Uki. It’s different this time, I promise. It’ll be different, Uki.’ Well, it’s been three years. And it’s yet to be any different,” I managed to say without choking, still forcing myself to look away from his face.

He had shifted his hold to my arms, which were crossed as my last resort of keeping him away from me.

“But, Uki—“

“I don’t wanna hear it, Donghae,” I interrupted, “or Aiden, or East Sea, or whatever in the hell you’re calling yourself nowadays.”

“They’re the same thing,” Donghae said gently, smiling at me.

Crap. Not his smile.

“Stop that!” I ordered, shaking his hands away from me. I quickly moved to the kitchen doorway, looking at him.

“Stop what?” he asked. Thankfully, he didn’t step toward me.

“You know what you’re doing. And I say stop it.”

He sighed. “Just one day. One day is all I’m asking for. If…If you don’t change your mind about me by then, then I’ll leave you alone—for good.”

“Donghae, you don’t understand,” I told him.

“Then explain to me what I don’t understand!”

“I have a boyfriend!” I blurted.

I wanted to slap myself.

“You—you what?” he asked, sounding utterly confused.

I looked up at him timidly after dropping my gaze to the floor in embarrassment. “Donghae, it has been three years. You didn’t expect me to die alone, did you?”

He didn’t respond. He just…Stood there.

“Hello, world!” a really loud voice called out.

It could only be—

“Hey, Sungmin,” I said, forcing a smile as Sungmin came up behind me.

“Uki!” he yelled, throwing his arms around me and burying me in a random hug.

I laughed, hugging him back. “Is there something I can help you with?”

He pulled me to arms’ length. “Can’t your favorite oppa just say hi to you?”

“Uh, sorry, but I think Siwon is my favorite oppa by default,” I said, winking at him.

Sungmin laughed and looked above my head. “Hey, Donghae. Why the long face?”

Donghae looked at me for a fraction of a second. “I…I just had my heart broken, hyung.” And with that, he walked out of the kitchen, heading to his room. After hearing a door shut, Sungmin looked at me suspiciously.

“What just happened?” Sungmin asked me.

“I—I don’t even know to tell you the truth,” I said, shaking my head, because honestly? I had no clue about what just happened.

Sungmin kept studying me. Now it was my turn to look at him suspiciously. “What are you looking at, Sungmin oppa?”

“You,” he said bluntly.

“Me?” I asked.

“You look…Never mind.” He grabbed a banana and walked away as well.

Wteff…?

~~~~

Day after day, it felt as if I were in constant motion thanks to Super Junior. I mean, man! Those guys never stayed still! They were always at a photo shoot, or a commercial shoot, or an ad shoot, or a promotional event, and unfortunately, both Alex and I had to be dragged along to all of them. However, close to the end of my two-month mark, Siwon and I began getting fed up with each other.

“Uki, what is this?” he asked with an angry tone, walking into my—Henry’s—room and pointing at some long piece of paper.

I looked up from the college admissions essay I was typing. You’re never done with school, I swear. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”

“Uki, this isn’t funny,” he said, walking over and slamming the paper down on the computer desk. I looked down. Ahh, it was the phone bill for the month. “$3,000? That’s utterly ridiculous, Uki! I’m sick and tired of paying for all of your things.”

I shoved the paper out of my face with one irritated gesture and looked back down to my rough draft of the essay I was typing. “No one told you to pay for anything, Siwon. You took it upon yourself, like you always do, to take care of me. Well, newsflash. I’m not a little kid anymore. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Oh, taking care of yourself? Really? Because people who could take care of themselves wouldn’t be living with their older brother’s band mates!”

I slammed by pencil down on the computer desk and stood up. Despite the fact that Siwon was a foot taller than I was—6 feet and one inch compared to my measly 5 feet and one inch,—I was not in the least bit intimidated. He’s only my older brother after all.

“Well, if a certain older brother wasn’t in Korea in the first place, they wouldn’t have to be staying with his band mates!” I refuted.

“Oh, so now this is my fault? It’s not my fault that I had enough talent to be chosen as a member of Super Junior!”

“Really? So then it’s not my fault either that I was chosen to study in America!”

“Uki, you’re being an annoying little brat! Why can’t you see that sometimes, things can’t always be the way you want them to be?!”

“I NEVER SAID ANYTHING!” I hadn’t even realized it, but I was on the level of shrieking now. “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO CAME IN HERE RAISING HELL! I WAS SIMPLY MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, WORKING ON A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY, AND YOU COME BARGING IN HERE, RANTING ABOUT A PHONE BILL THAT’S NOT EVEN MINE!”

“NOT YOURS?! THEN WHOSE IS IT, HUH?! ‘CAUSE I’M PRETTY SURE I CAN READ PURE KOREAN!”

I picked up the paper off the ground with more ferocity than necessary and shoved it in his face. “LAST TIME I CHECKED, MY NAME’S NOT LEE SUNGMIN!”

I walked out on him, slamming the door so hard that the whole wall shook. Lo and behold, the entirety of Super Junior—minus this Henry fellow that I keep hearing about and that one other guy who went off to the army—was congregated in the living room.

Eff.

Siwon came storming out next. “UKI SEOHAE CHOI!”

“WHAT?!” I shrieked at him, turning around to face him. I hated it when he used my full name as if he were my dad. Because, you know, he’s obviously not. “What do you want?! If I’m being as much of a nuisance as you say I am, then why don’t I just go back to America right now, huh?! Get out of your hair finally!”

“This wouldn’t even be a problem if you had just moved to Korea like I told you to in the first place!”

I jabbed my finger at his chest and yelled, “YOU’RE THE REASON WHY I DIDN’T MOVE BACK HERE! I’M JUST SO SICK AND TIRED OF YOU HOUNDING ME ALL THE TIME! YOU ARE NOT DAD NOR WILL YOU EVER BE!”

“I never said I was!”

“You sure have a weird way of showing it then!”

“Hey, I think we all just needa calm down,” Leeteuk said, coming over and separating me and Siwon. He sat me down on the couch by the shoulders and held a firm grasp just in case I decided to leap up and kill Siwon.

And trust me.

I was on the verge of doing so.

“I think she needs to calm down,” Siwon said.

“Me?!” I yelled, jumping to my feet, just to have Leeteuk pull me back down again. “I didn’t do anything. I was simply working on my college admissions essay and he comes barging in ranting about a phone bill that wasn’t even mine!”

“Uki, look. Your brother’s stressed out right now. Super Junior’s been working nonstop and it’s making all of us just want to rip each others’ throats,” Leeteuk said calmly, “but think of it this way. You’ll be leaving in a week, so you guys can just have another break from each other.”

Not two seconds after he says this, my phone rings.