A freaking pop star. That's who she stayed up all night stuffing these yummy little bastards for. A freaking pop star. And she thought she was helping her cousin get her happily ever after. The hand cramp and ginormous eye bags better be worth it.

"Lil I'm back! Found some paper and mar---"

Thwack. 

Paper and markers littered the floor by Clare's feet. She stood frozen, mouth slightly agape, by the door at the sight of her cousin surrounded by half of SJ-M. Her cousin, who was standing right beside Henry.

"Are you alright?" the tall guy asked, abandoning the posters right away to help Clare pick up her stuff.

Clare took a couple of seconds to come back to earth and realize that Siwon was crouched in front of her cleaning up the mess she made. SJ-M's Choi Siwon was right at her feet helping her clean up. She was nowhere near able to digest this just yet.

"Clare, are you okay?" Lily asked, approaching her cousin and picking up a few stray papers along the way. She handed them to Siwon, who has now stood up and was fixing the the mess into a neat stack.

Clare could just look at her cousin in confusion. How could Lily be so calm? She just handed those papers to Siwon like he's her assistant or something!

"Clare?" Lily asked again, concern forming on her face.

"Lily. Hi. I'm fine, yes," Clare managed to say. She had a hard time breathing. Maybe because she's breathing in the same air as SJ-M.

"Here you go," Siwon said, handing a neat pile of paper and markers to Clare with a smile. "So, you're part of Mochi Co. too?"

Clare stared at him, dumbfounded. Then she remembered the hastily made-up name they came up with for the mochis.

"Yes! Yes, I am. Hi, I'm Clare," she said, extending her hand. Siwon shook it with a slight bow. "And thank you for this. Sorry about the mess."

"Always happy to help," he replied, showing his lovely dimples once again. "Henry loves them, by the way. Your mochis, I mean."

"Clare's actually the one who came up with the recipe. She's a chef," Lily interjected proudly.

Upon hearing this, Henry rushed over, a box of mochi ice cream in one hand. Since his mouth is still full, he wordlessly took Clare's hand and shook it appreciatively. Clare couldn't believe that she was currently touching Henry. Her hand was in direct contact with Henry Lau's. Those must've been magical mochis they made last night.

Finally able to swallow everything down, Henry said, "Clare, right?"

Clare nodded. 

"YOU are amazing. THESE are amazing. Thank you so much for making these," Henry said.

"It's nothing…" Clare replied, blushing. "I knew you loved lychees so…"

"You have no idea how much that kid is addicted to lychees," Donghae quipped from one of the tables.

"I really am," Henry admitted, a little shy.

He was too ADORABLE she could barely contain herself. She felt like a pre-teen girl who was face-to-face with her first crush. Henry was her ultimate celebrity crush. Never has she fangirled over anybody like she does for Henry. She just admired the heck out of him. He's cute, he's extremely talented, and he's a little weird. That was the perfect combination in her book. She would make him all kinds of lychee-infused food he wanted.

"Well, if that's the case, then I'd be happy to give you a lifetime supply of lychee mochis!" Clare said, half-jokingly. 

Henry looked like he was actually considering it.

"I would love that, really," he said. "But I think I should give you something in return. I don't want you going through all this trouble for nothing."

"Huh? No, no no no it's perfectly alright. I'd love to make these for you everyday. It's no trouble. Lily would help--"

"What my dear business partner meant to say was," Lily cut in. "that we'd be glad to give you regular supply of lychee mochis as a sort of… sponsorship. And a simple thank you would suffice, say, in the form of that special shout out you mentioned earlier?"

There was no way in hell she's gonna be dragged into making mochis for the rest of her life for FREE, even if it's for a cute pop star. Her parents told her to come here to figure out what to do with her life, which was parent-speak for "go figure out how to earn your own damn money". And right now, a wonderful opportunity to do just that has presented itself. She may not be a business whiz but she knew enough to know that this could lead somewhere. She had to act now. She'll explain it to Clare later and hoped her cousin would understand.

Clare gave her a "Wtf are you talking about?" look. Lily replied with a "Just go along with it" one.

"That's it? Then no problem! Wow, this must be my lucky day. I get to have a lifetime supply of lychee mochis AND meet two pretty girls," Henry said. "Thank you again, ladies."

"Hey if he's getting lychee ones then can I have strawberry ones?" Donghae asked. "I promise to give you a shout out, too."

Lily looked questioningly at Clare. Clare nodded.

"Sure! We can do that," Lily said. "In fact, why don't we make some for each member of the group? With your favorite flavors, of course. So what flavor mochi would you like… uh…"

"Siwon," Clare whispered to her cousin.

"Siwon," Lily finished, looking at the tall guy. So that's his name. The gorgeous thing's name is Siwon. She could endure a couple more hand cramps for him.

"Hmm. I don't really have a favorite fruit…" he replied thoughtfully. "I do like coffee though. So… coffee flavored mochis?"

"Coffee flavored mochi for Siwon it is!" Clare said happily. 

---

Henry looked at the table filled with mouthwatering Taiwanese treats. The task for this segment was to play ring toss to determine which dish they were going to get to eat. Since they've been filming since 8AM and it's now 3 in the afternoon, everybody was eager to get to this part. It's a known fact that Super Junior and food make one of the best love stories ever, but Henry couldn't understand why at this moment, in front of all those delicious food, he wasn't hungry.

I want more lychee mochi ice cream, the voice in his head nagged for the nth time.

Lily. Lily had mochi. He had to find Lily.

There were approximately a hundred lychee mochi ice cream and a hundred lychee mochi balls made by Mochi Co. and he brought home about 90% of that (after successfully hiding them all from the eternally hungry Eunhyuk). Now, only three days later, it's all gone and he's got no way of getting more. Idiot that he is, he totally forgot to ask for any sort of contact information from the two girls. The only hope he has is their next fanmeet in Kaosiung next week. That's if they actually show up. He didn't know if he could hold out for that long. He felt like he's going through mochi withdrawal already.

Wait a minute, he thought. Aren't they supposed to be a start-up business? They should at least have some sort of online presence. An email address, at least. And they didn't even put that on their box labels. How stupid was that? What if customers need to contact them for some mochi emergency?! Really, people who do not know the basics of marketing shouldn't even bother starting a business. But it was a brilliant move to get him to do "shout outs" to them in exchange for a lifetime supply of their mochi. It was an unofficial endorsement deal. He'd have to go over the legalities later. Right now, all he wants is lychee mochi ice cream!

"Henry!"

Henry snapped his head around and found everyone looking expectantly at him. They were handing him a set of rings. It was his turn to play the ring toss. Ryeowook smiled at him happily on his way to the food table. He got bubble milk tea and Taiwanese noodles.

"It looks like our Henry's really concentrating on the food!" the host said. "Which one do you wanna get, Henry?"

Lychee mochi ice cream! screamed the voice in his head. He silently agreed.

"I want all of them," he replied, smiling his celebrity-Henry smile.

"You seem really out of it today," Siwon said.

Henry closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the car window in response. They were finally on their way back to the dormitory after filming for 12 hours straight and doing a couple hours of interviews after. They've had worse days before but today was just hell for him. He was completely drained.

"Are you alright? Are you feeling sick?" Siwon asked, concern filling his voice.

Henry only sighed.

"It's the mochi, isn't it?" Siwon said after a short silence.

Henry turned and looked at him, eyes big, a completely hopeless expression on his face.

"Hyung," he said. "I need more lychee mochi ice cream."

"You'll get some more in the next fanmeeting. They promised, didn't they?" Siwon reassured.

"But I NEED some now! I'm going into withdrawal! I can't concentrate, nothing else looks appetizing, I'm feeling weak... I wish I could call her but AAAAARRRGHHHHHiforgottogethernumberi'msostuuuupiiiiiiddd!!!!" Henry complained.

"I have it," Siwon said.

"Lily's number? Really?" Henry asked excitedly.

"Oh, I meant Clare's. But I have Lily's, too," Siwon replied simply.

"Whoa, did I hear it right? Siwon got the numbers of two girls?" Donghae joined in. "When did you become such a stud?"

"Siwon hyung? How is that possible?" Kyuhyun said.

"Come on, guys. I'm not the face of Suju for nothing. I may be a goodie-two-shoes but hey, I got game too you know!" Siwon defended, trying his best to sound smug and cool. It was a bit painful.

"So you actually asked for it?" Sungmin asked. "Whoa. That's so not you."

"That's not important!" Henry snapped. "Hyung! How could you not tell me?! OK, gimme her number."

"Well, I'd have to ask her if it's alright to give it to you..." Siwon said hesitantly.

"Are you freakin' kidding me?! I'm dying here! " Henry cried.

"It's not mine to just give away," Siwon held fast.

"Well, can you just please call Lily and ask her to maybe... Drop off some at the dorm tonight?" Henry pleaded.

"I'm curious. Why Lily specifically and not Clare?" Siwon asked with a sly smile.

Henry paused. He wasn't sure either. It just... popped out of his mouth. Mochi was equated to Lily in his head.

"I... because I saw her first?" Henry replied lamely.

"Looks like our baby has a little crush on a noona!" Zhou Mi teased.

"Henry and a noona. That sounds exciting," Eunhyuk chimed in.

The van was filled with teasing chatter. Eunhyuk and Donghae were whispering and sniggering at the back. Siwon was beaming an "I knew it" smile beside him. Zhou Mi was looking at him with a proud momma expression. Everyone else kept on poking his arm and telling him to "go for it".

"Will you guys quit it!!!" Henry exclaimed, slapping away the poking fingers. "I don't have a crush on Lily. And are we pre-teen girls? Crush? Seriously? I just want the mochi."

"Oh look it's Lily!" Siwon suddenly exclaimed, pointing out the window.

"STOP THE CAR!!!" screamed Henry.

"No, no wait--" Siwon started.

The driver didn't hear Siwon and swerved to the right, sailing through vehicles amidst blaring car horns. A moment later, they were safely parked by the sidewalk. A stunned silence followed.

"W-w-we've been given a Nascar driver as our chauffer," Kyuhyun stuttered, clutching his seatbelt tight. Sungmin rubbed his friend's arm comfortingly.

Henry stumbled out of the car and looked frantically around.

"Where is she? Hyung! Where'd you see Lily?" he called out to Siwon.

Siwon got out of the car, a little dizzy from the maneuver. Apologetically, he put an arm around Henry's shoulder.

"I was just kidding, Henry." he confessed. "I'm sorry."

"B-but... Mochi..." Henry said weakly. "You never joke about mochi, hyung. Never."

"I'm really sorry, Henry. Here, I'll call her for you," Siwon said, dialing.

"Siwon?"

"Lily? Hi! Wow, reception's really clear here," Siwon said into the phone.

"Hyung," Henry said, tugging at the taller guy's sleeve.

"Could you just wait a sec? I'll ask her for the mochi, I promise!" Siwon hissed, covering the phone. He cleared his throat, removed his hand from the mic, and went on, "So um, I'm sorry to bother you this late, but you see, Henry--"

"HYUNG!" Henry called his attention again, this time slapping his arm.

"FINE! Here, you talk to her!" Siwom gave up, shoving his phone in front of Henry's face.

"We don't need the phone," Henry said, a silly smile on his lips, eyes trained somewhere behind Siwon.

"What do you-?"

"He means I'm right here! Hi." Lily called out, struggling with three large bags of something.

Henry rushed over and took one of the bags slung over Lily's shoulder. He was surprised by the weight and accidentally dropped it on the ground.

"Hey, careful! You don't wanna bruise them," Lily warned.

"What--did you go shopping for rocks?! How the heck are you carrying those by yourself?" Henry asked, heaving the bag onto his shoulder.

"Thanks, Henry. They're lychees, actually. We ran out of them for the ice cream. For your mochi. For the fanmeet next week," Lily explained with a little difficulty. The bags of lychees were obviously taking much of her effort to carry. "And I had to go alone because we need to make it tonight and Clare's doing a double shift and I don't know anybody else here."

Siwon quietly took one of the bags from Lily. And then the other, completely freeing her of the burden. Lily smiled at him gratefully.

"Hyung, can we drop her off at her place?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, I was about to suggest that. The car's a little cramped, but if you don't mind..." Siwon said, gesturing towards the waiting van.

"Oh, no, really, there's no need. The apartment is right around the corner. I can manage by myself. You guys gimme the bags and go home and rest," Lily declined, gently pushing the guys back to the van.

"Lily, these bags are heavy. I can't let a lady lug these around alone in the middle of the night. Let me walk you to the apartment at least," Henry insisted.

Siwon looked at him with a knowing smile. Henry rolled his eyes at him.

"Are you sure? But... You guys look really tired..." Lily said hesitantly. She was actually really relieved to bump into them. She's been carrying the bags of lychees - all 12kgs of them - for 3 blocks and she was ready to collapse at any time. It would be nice to have some help. Siwon's carrying those bags like they're filled with cotton candy...

"No, really, it's no problem. Henry's right. Besides, it's just around the corner, right?" Siwon confirmed.

"Just show us the way!" Henry said, beaming and gesturing for her to walk first. He shifted the bag straps on his shoulder and almost toppled over. He looked a little pale and a lot tired.

"Alright, thanks!" Lily said happily. "Here, Henry, let me help you with that."

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine," Henry said, moving away from Lily's outstretched hands.

"Come on, I can't let you carry that alone. Half of the lychees are in there. Just give me a strap and we'll share the weight, okay?" Lily insisted, taking one of handles.

Together, they walked with the bag in between them, one handle each, much like parents' holding their child's hands while out on a stroll. Lily heard soft sniggering from behind and turned to find Siwon accompanied by Donghae, who has taken one of the bags from his friend. They were muttering things to each other and chuckling. Then, they saw her looking at them and promptly turned their laughter into coughs.

Lily shrugged it off. They must be sharing an inside joke or something. She looked over at the guy Clare's been talking nonstop about since three days ago. Truth be told, she was sick of hearing the name Henry already. It's been Henry this and Henry that and "Isn't Henry just... Amazing?" for 72 hours. What is it with this boy, really?

He was nice-looking in a kid sort of way. Lily had to admit that she was really impressed when he performed that violin solo. He's genuinely talented, she had to give him that. He's a pretty nice guy, too, offering to help her when he looked like he's about to collapse.

Henry suddenly turned and looked at her. He just smiled, his eyes disappearing when his lips curled up.

Alright, he is really cute, too, Lily thought. Like a lovable little puppy you just wanna squish! She couldn't help but smile back at him.

"We're here," she announced, stopping in front of a narrow, old building. She took out her keys from her bag and jiggled them around in the lock until the rusty gray gate opened. She made sure Donghae closed it behind them before continuing on to the elevator. It was a rickety little box that stood adjacent the stairs.

"Um, the elevator can only take two or three at a time. Since we're carrying all these... I think we better stick to two," Lily informed her companions. "You guys can follow after us. We're on the 3rd floor, apartment B."

Siwon and Donghae nodded, pursing their lips to keep from smiling. Lily shot a puzzled look at them as she entered the elevator with Henry. What was up with those two?

The elevator suddenly lurched upward. Lily knew to brace herself but the poor guy with her was caught unaware and was thrown sideways, sending a few lychees rolling to the ground. Lily caught him before he could slam into the wall.

The doors dinged open and revealed Siwon and Donghae walking past. They turned to see the two squished into the corner, Henry in Lily's arms. Domghae laughed out loud. Siwon raised an eyebrow.

"Henry! That is so inappropriate," he reprimanded.

Lily realized how it looked and blushed. Gingerly, she pushed Henry upright. He looked even paler than awhile ago. He stumbled a little when she let him go.

"Siwon, could you take this?" Lily requested, handing him the bag. "Henry doesn't look so good. We better get him inside."

Siwon took the bag as Lily placed Henry's arm around her shoulder. He resisted a bit, insisting that he's fine but she yanked him along anyway. At the door, she handed Donghae her keys. He looked at her blankly for a second before understanding her request.

Finally inside the apartment, Lily set Henry carefully down on the couch. He took one of the pillows and hugged it, resting his chin on top, pouting. He looked like a sick little boy. On impulse, Lily reached over and felt his forehead. He felt cool.

"That's not good. He feels cold," Lily announced to the room in general.

"How's that possible? Just awhile ago in the car he was loud and perky," Donghae said.

"He did look a little sick, though," Siwon said. "It's been a long day."

"Henry? What hurts?" Lily asked, as if she's talking to a child. She didn't have siblings but she had several little cousins that stayed over their house on some holidays. When they got sick, usually with the flu, she would snuggle up to them and cuddle them and kiss them and feed them hot chicken soup until they got better.

Well, Henry's not five, said the sensible part of her brain. Nor is he your cousin.

Yeah, but he looks like it just now, contradicted the other part. But Clare would wanna do the kissing and cuddling.

As an answer to her question, Henry's stomach gave a big, loud, growl. He blushed while the three held back laughter.

"So that's why," Lily said. "Sit tight, I'll try to fix something up."

She left the guys alone and went into the kitchen. It's good that Clare knew that she was totally lost when it comes to cooking so their fridge was now stocked with various pre-cooked dishes in microwavable containers. Lily rummaged through them and found some wonton soup for Henry and pork buns for Siwon and Donghae. Five minutes later, she reemerged in the living room holding a tray filled with steamy food, two cold bottles of milk tea and one hot mug for the sick kid.

"Tuck in guys," Lily said as she placed the tray on the coffee table.

The three eyed the food hungrily but was a bit shy to take 'em. Siwon and Donghae kept nudging each other to be the first one to help himself. So Lily grabbed a hand from each, placed a napkin and then a pork bun in them. Then, she carefully handed the bowl of soup to Henry along with a spoon and a pair of chopsticks.

"Careful, it's hot," Lily reminded softly.

"Mmmmm! This is really good!" Donghae exclaimed, looking at the pork bun in his hand as if it's made of gold. "Where did you buy these?"

"Clare made them," Lily said proudly. "She makes everything from scratch so we always have fresh and healthy food here."

"I could marry her for that alone," Donghae said, taking another bite and clearly enjoying it.

"Not if I beat you to it," Siwon said.

Just then, the locks clicked open and Clare stepped inside carrying a bazillion different bags.

"Sorry I'm late, Lil. My boss begged me to take the shift of the absentee today and I couldn't say no because he said he'd double the pay---"

Thud.

Thud thud thud thud thud.

"Hey, cuz! Look who's here!" Lily greeted, walking over to pick up the bags that her cousin dropped. Really, was she going to drop whatever's in her hands everytime she sees these guys?

"H-hi... Henry. Siwon. Donghae. I didn't expect to find you in my living room tonight..." Clare managed to say.

The three rose from their seats and bowed their hellos. They moved to help Lily with the bags but she told them to stay put. She went to the dining area/kitchen and brought the stuff out, setting up the mochi-making station and leaving her cousin to entertain the guests. She heard Siwon ask Clare about her day. Clare stuttered a bit but then proceeded to tell him about a funny incident at work. As she listened to them laugh about it, Lily began peeling lychees to make the ice cream, unconsciously humming Tai Wan Mei (Clare has been playing the album nonstop since the fanmeet so it's been stuck in her head ever since). A moment later, another pair of hands grabbed a handful of lychees from the bag. Henry settled on the chair next to her and started peeling.

"Mmmmm... lychees..." he said with an innocent smile. He popped one into his mouth.

"Hey, that's for the ice cream," Lily reprimanded halfheartedly. She had a strong urge to ruffle his hair while he chewed happily. What a cute kid!

"Oh, sorry. Couldn't help it," Henry apologized. He peeled and pitted the next one and placed it in the "done" bowl like a good little boy. "Thanks for the soup, by the way. My mom makes me the same thing back home when I get sick. Now I kinda miss her..."

He reminded her so much of her little cousins that she had to put in effort not to give him a big bear hug that instant.

"I'm glad you're feeling good enough to peel lychees," Lily said. "If you ever feel sick again, just give me a call and I'll bring you wonton soup right away, okay? Don't pretend to be fine like you did awhile ago. Or else I'll hold the lychee mochi production."

Henry gave her a horrified look. She burst out laughing at his expression. He did promise to do what she says, though. The two of them got to talking about their families and how they missed them already. Lily ended up feeding Henry every other lychee that she peeled and pitted that whole time. She just loved the look of joy on his face as he chewed his favorite fruit. Just as she was shoving another into Henry's mouth, Clare and Siwon walked into the kitchen.

"Henry, really, peel your own lychees," Siwon reprimanded.

"Oh, no no, he's actually helping me prepare for the ice cream making," Lily clarified. "See? He filled that bowl all by himself." She pointed at one of the three lychee-filled bowls on the table.

Henry smiled confidently at Siwon, looking all proud of himself. 

"If you say so…" Siwon said, looking doubtful. "Anyway, we better be going. It's already late. I'm really sorry for bothering you until this hour, and for leaving our eating machine with you."

Henry glared at Siwon. "I'm not an eating machine."

"Oh yeah? Well, who finished all the rice crackers I brought home the other day?" Donghae chipped in, joining them in the kitchen.

"Kyuhyun, Hyukjae, and Sungmin hyung were playing Starcraft all day and night yesterday. They probably snacked on those," Henry replied.

"There were 100 packets. All of them are gone. Are you saying that you didn't touch them at all?" Donghae challenged.

"I… might've taken a packet or two…" Henry admitted hesitantly.

"Most probably a packet or twenty," Donghae joked, punching his dongsaeng playfully on the arm. Henry made a face at him. Donghae mirrored the expression.

"Oooookay. We really should be going," Siwon said as he took hold an arm each of Donghae and Henry and started dragging them towards the door. "Ladies, thank you so much for your hospitality. Excuse these silly kids - they're just tired."

"Good night!" Donghae called out, waving.

"Thanks for the lychees, Lily!" Henry said as Siwon pushed him out the door. With a smile and a last glance at Clare, Siwon disappeared, closing the door behind him.

--------------

I actually tried making mochi ice cream because of this story. LOL! It was… half a success, half a fail. :)) The important thing was that they were EDIBLE hahaha! And tasted pretty good. If only the ice cream remained inside the mochi… I'll try again next time. :D

Sorry for taking MONTHS to get this chapter up. I'll do my best for Chapter 3! Thanks to everyone who read and subscribed! :D