"All right. That’s good, guys. We’ll just record a small section of the rap parts before a dinner break, okay?” the producer says, cutting into the sound room as the last notes fade.

“Got it,” Soohyun smiles, giving him a thumbs up as he takes off the headphones, Kevin, Kiseop, and Hoon following suite.

“Food,” Kiseop groans as they walk out the door to collapse on the couch the other three had just abandoned. “Are you ordering now?”

“Huh?” Soohyun looks up from his phone. “Oh, no. Just checking.”

“Is Marina here?” Hoon asks with a small smirk.

He smiles. “Not yet, but she should be soon. She said she was going to be on her way about ten minutes ago.”

“Don’t worry,” Kiseop grins. “We won’t try to scare her off once she gets here.”

“After all, it was us that set you two up,” Hoon teases, poking Soohyun’s side.

“You didn’t ask her out for me though,” Soohyun replies, scooting away with a smile. “I had to do that all on my own.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have if we hadn’t seen her when we did,” Kevin points out. “And you’re really glad we did, aren’t you, hyung? Aren’t you?”

    Soohyun bites his lip as he ignores the question, but the others burst out into quiet, triumphant laughter since the answer is clear on his face. He tries to concentrate on the music and in failing to do that, nap, but neither truly works as the knowledge that Marina’s on her way refuses to be quiet. When his phone finally beeps with a text, he jumps off the couch.

“Be right back,” Soohyun grins, hurrying out of the room.

    He flies down the maze of hallways, slowing as he gets closer to the lobby. Reaching up, he smoothes hair and straightens his shirt before he rounds the last corner. Soohyun’s nerves ease as he looks around and he finds an already familiar figure with her back to him.

Walking up to her as she admires some of the photographs on the wall, he stays quiet and simply stands beside her.

She gives him a second’s glance and turns back to picture before looking again. Jumping a little as her hand jumps up to cover , Marina squeaks, “Oppa!”

“Mianhae,” he chuckles. “I couldn’t resist.”

“I’ll accept your apology when my heart starts beating again,” she replies, massaging her chest. With her own chuckle, she adds, “Annyeong.”

“Annyeong.”

They smile at each other shyly, suddenly awkward upon meeting again.

“So,...” Soohyun begins. “Did you want to come back to the studio? We’re recording Eli, AJ, and Dongho’s parts, but after that we’re taking a dinner break. I think we were just going to order chicken or something, but we can get something different if you want.”

“I’d love to,” Marina replies, her smile widening. “In regards to dinner though...”

He watches curiously as she goes over to one of the couches and lifts a large basket to rest it on her hip.

Patting the top of the basket, she says, “I’ve got that taken care of.”

“Chincha?” Soohyun’s eyes widen.

Marina nods, ducking her head a little. “You brought me a present last time, so I thought I’d return the favor.”

“You seriously couldn’t have filled that entire thing.”

“I did,” she laughs. “I wasn’t sure what you all would like so I made a bit of everything ... and by a bit of everything I mean a lot. I know how guys can eat.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t bring you to the studio.”

“Wae?” Marina asks, looking confused as she shifts the basket’s weight.

“Because they might fall in love with you too,” Soohyun laughs. “Just kidding. They’d kill me if I kept you and the food to myself.”

She blushes a little. “Oh.”

“It’s just this way,” he gestures, stepping closer. “Here, I’ll take that.”

“I’m fine. Thanks though.”

“But I bet it’s heavy. Let me carry it,” Soohyun insists, lengthening his stride to catch up as she begins walking away.

“It’s really okay, oppa. I’m use to hauling around bags of plant fertilizer at the green house,” she says, smiling up at him and flexing her free arm.

    Unfortunately, the action causes her grip on the basket to slip. Both she and Soohyun catch it, their hands landing on each others. Their eyes meet in surprise, quickly darting away as their cheeks gain a pink tint.

“How about I carry it half way and you carry it the other half?” Marina suggests, repositioning her hands.

“All right. I’d never hear the end of it if the others thought I let you carry it all the way.”

“I’d set them straight for you.”

He smiles, his curiosity returning as they walk side by side back the way he’d come. He tries to open the basket’s lid, but Marina swats his hand away.

“We have to wait for everyone,” she tells him, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

“But Marina...” Soohyun pouts.

She raises an eyebrow. “What was that earlier about sharing the food?”

With a sigh, he admits.“You’re right.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll see what’s in here soon enough.” Marina looks up at him questioningly when he stops her by gently touching her arm.

“My turn.” Carefully, Soohyun takes the basket from her, his eyes widening at the weight. “Ok, I’m impressed.”

“Told you,” she giggles, flexing her arms again.

“I mean, it’s not that heavy,” he quickly says, wanting to maintain some of his dignity. “But, for a girl...”

“Yah! What’s that supposedly to mean?” Marina laughs, pretending to punch his arm.

Soohyun laughs too. “Just kidding, just kidding.”

“Good.” When they get to the recording room’s door, she hesitates. Turning back to Soohyun, she asks, “We won’t be disturbing them?”

“Not as long as we’re quiet. Hyung tends to get too wrapped up to notice anything except the music,” he assures her, encouraging her to open the door with a nod.

    Marina slowly pushes it open, letting him go in first. She looks around at the equipment curiously and smiles when she sees three of the members behind the glass singing their hearts out. She jumps a little when Soohyun touches her arm again, but her smile returns as he leads her over to the remaining three resting on the couch.

“Annyeong,” she waves, unconsciously hanging back again.

They wave back and repeat her greeting with excited faces.

Kiseop realizes there isn’t enough room for them all and slides off the couch.

“You didn’t have to,” Marina tells him. “I’d be fine sitting on the floor.”

“I insist,” Kiseop smiles, lightly shoving Hoon’s knee so he gets the hint to move over.

He and Kevin quickly do so so Marina and Soohyun can sit down as well.

“What’s that for?” Hoon asks, leaning around Kevin to get a better look at the basket as Soohyun settles it between his knees.

“Marina made us dinner,” he answers, a slightly smug look on his face.

Kiseop, Hoon, and Kevin instantly sit a little straighter, their attention fully focused.

“That’s so nice of you, Marina,” Kevin smiles happily, examining the basket with eager eyes.

“You didn’t have to,” Kiseop adds, looking with equal interest.

“What’d you make?” Hoon asks.

“She won’t let me look, but whatever it is smells awesome,” Soohyun says with a wink.

“Did you open it?” Marina asks, eyeing him suspiciously. 
He shakes his head. “No. I couldn’t help smelling it.”

Satisfied, Marina nods. “Good. Otherwise you wouldn’t get your surprise later.”

“Surprise? You mean this isn’t it?” Soohyun asks, his mind scrambling for what else she could’ve done.

“You’ll see, oppa.”

“We’re all your oppas except Dongho, right?” Kevin asks, smiling when Marina nods. “You can go ahead and call us that then.”

“Since we’ll probably being seeing a lot of you,” Hoon winks.

“And that’s a wrap,” the producer says, stopping either of the two from replying. “Good job, guys. Take a break and I’ll see you in an hour, arasso?”

“Got it,” the three in the sound booth reply.

When the producer turns around in his chair to say something to the others, he freezes when he sees Marina.

“Hyung, this is Marina Sacchieri. Marina, this is our producer, Yang Hasoom. She came to see me while we had our break,” Soohyun hurriedly explains.

“Oh, good,” Hasoom chuckles, rubbing his eyes. “Thought I was seeing things for a second. It’s nice to meet you, Marina-ssi.”

“Nice to meet you,” Marina says, quickly standing up to properly greet him. “I hope it’s all right that I’m here.”

“It’s fine,” he replies with a smile. Glancing at his watch, he says, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a dinner date. Don’t want to keep a beautiful lady waiting. Enjoy your break.”

“Thanks, hyung,” the guys reply as Hasoom leaves the room with a wave.

“No wonder he gave us so much time,” Soohyun laughs.

Eli, Dongho, and AJ push the door back open seconds later, smiling when they see Marina.

“Annyeong, noona,” Dongho greets her cheerfully.

“How’s it goin’, Marina?” Eli asks with a friendly high five.

“Pretty good,” she smiles. “You three sounded good. Is it a new song?”

“We’re working on a special album for Kiss-Me,” AJ says, smiling at her.

“Oh, that’s awesome.”

“It’s definitely going to be,” Kevin declares, getting up to throw an arm around AJ’s shoulders. “AJ wrote one of the songs himself.”

“Yah, don’t brag,” AJ chuckles, pushing him away.

“I’d love to hear it,” Marina offers, winning her another smile.

“What’s that?” Dongho asks, breaking through the light chuckles.

“It’s dinner. Marina made it for us,” Kiseop replies.

Dongho’s face breaks into a childish grin. “Food? You’re the best, noona! Hyung, what’re you doing? Why are we still standing here? I’m starving!”

“I second that!” Hoon says, raising a hand as he leans down to pick up the basket. “Omo! How much did you make?”

“A lot,” Marina giggles, moving to help him.

Soohyun beats her to it, giving her a small wink as he picks it up himself.

    Dongho scurries ahead to open a door Marina hadn’t noticed on the opposite wall. Eli bows and gestures for her to go ahead. Giggling, she follows Soohyun into a back room with a small kitchen that’s dominated by a table and a wall of cabinets.

Dongho, quickly followed by the others, begins rummaging through them for plates, cups, and utensils with an energy that makes Marina’s smile widen.
When Soohyun sets the basket down at the head of the table and moves to open the lid, she puts her hand over it.

“I’ll take everything out. You sit down with the others,” she tells him.

“But-”

“Go on,” she laughs.

    Marina and Soohyun watch with laughing eyes as the other six quickly finish setting everything out and sit down, careful to leave the sit next to their leader free. Once they’ve sat down, Marina opens the basket and slowly reaches her hand in to bring out the first container. The guys’ eyes widen as she continues pulling them out until half the table is covered.

“Everything should still be warm. The small blue ones have kimchi and the green ones have rice,” she tells them, starting to take the lids off the containers nearest to her to reveal some side and main dishes. “I hope you like it.”

“Marina, can you come live with us forever?” Eli asks, looking up and down the table.

“You haven’t even tried anything yet,” Marina laughs, sitting down since the others have already taken of the rest.

“I don’t have to,” he chuckles, gesturing across the table to Hoon, who’s already eating.

The others start laughing as well, leaving Hoon and Marina to look around in confusion.

“If Hoon eats food he really likes, he starts wriggles his fingers,” Soohyun explains with a chuckle, wiggling his own.

“I don’t even know I do it,” Hoon admits with a sheepish grin. “It is true though. It’s very good, especially the Chinese noodles.”

“And the kimchi,” Kiseop adds.

AJ his lips before saying, “And the mandu.”

“So’s the gamja jorim,” Kevin smiles.

“And the japchae,” Dongho says, barely swallowing his food.

Marina smiles, a little embarrassed by their praise. Looking to Soohyun, she asks, “What’d you think, Soohyun oppa?”

“It’s all prefect. Thank you, Marina,” he assures her, returning her smile. “Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

“I’m going to. I just wanted to make sure everyone was eating all right.”

“Don’t worry about us. You have to take care of yourself. Here.” Reaching over, Soohyun begins piling Marina’s plate with food.

The other six share an amused look before going back to their plates.

Soohyun looks around, suspicious of the sudden quiet, but they avoid his eyes and Marina soon claims his attention.

    
“You guys would get along so well with Jimin,” Marina laughs, leaning into Soohyun as she tries to breathe. “I’ve got to stop laughing; my ribs hurt.”

“Maybe you can bring her along next time. Is she single?” Eli asks.

The guys rolls their eyes as Kevin gives Eli a good smack on the arm.

“What?” Eli whines, making everyone laugh more.

“She’s very taken,” Marina tells him, still giggling. “For awhile now.”

“Still in here?” Hasoom pokes his head in the door. “Almost done?”

“Pretty much,” Soohyun replies, stretching and trying to stave off the lovely sleepy feeling that comes with having eating a good meal. “We’ll be in in a few minutes after we help Marina clean up.”

“No, it’s all right,” Marina immediately says, beginning to gather the dishes. “You go ahead. I’ll just take care of all this and go so you can get back to work.”

“It won’t take that long.” He and the others start helping her. “Besides, you cooked everything. It’d be rude not to help.”

“Didn’t you want to hear some of our new songs?” AJ asks as he puts some of the dishes in the sink for later.

Soohyun reaches out and squeezes her hand when he sees her frowning as she debates with herself. “You won’t be in the way. Please stay a little while.”

“Yang-ssi won’t mind?” Marina asks, unsure of what to do.

“He won’t. All you’ll be doing is listening since we’ll all be in the sound booth.” To prove his point, Soohyun sticks his head outside. “Hyung, can Marina stay around to listen to us record for a while?”

“Sure. We’ll only be working a few more hours anyway,” comes the reply.

Soohyun grins at her and rests his hand against the small of her back. “C’mon.”

    Marina lets him lead her back into the recording room and sits on the couch as all the guys file back into the sound booth. When he flashes her a grin as he puts on the headphones, she grins back and mouths, ‘Hwaiting!’

    As the music starts flowing, Soohyun loses himself in it, harmonizing with the others and waiting for his lines. As his part comes, he opens his eyes and meets Marina’s through the glass. His heart skips a beat as he sings, the words carrying a new, strange, and slightly frightening resonance of truth:

Reminiscing the day when we first met,
you can’t be explained.
You can’t have a word put on you,
cause you are my destiny of the world.
 

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Annyeong lovelies! Hope everyone's ready for the new year since the next time I update it'll be 2013! ^^ Anyway, I hope you all have fun, both bringing in the new year and reading this update of course. Saranghae and thank you!

moonlover23: Yes, they are. But c'mon, half of them do wear the animal onsie pajamas. It's adorable and hilarious watching them interact as cute, young brothers! ^^

Moony_Kat: Yes, Jimin and Eli are both hoots in their own rights. XD Oh yeah, everyone but them realize they're dating basically. Ke ke. Merry belated Christmas, dongsaeng-ah! *hugs back*

Coralie_x_SHINee: Yup yup! ^^