If it weren't for her distinctive ring tone resounding in the darkness, he would not have answered his cell at 2:15 am. When the small display screen illuminated, identifying her before he had a chance to answer, he realized that just viewing a simple thing as her name made him smile even at this ungodly hour.

"I thought you had forgotten all about your Oppa," he joked, "because it's been ages since you've called me this late. Can't you sleep?"

The question was not answered. All he could hear was a soft sniffle.

Even though he had been sound asleep before the call, he was alert enough to realize something was wrong. His smile immediately dissipated.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

After a round of more sniffles, he combed his fingers through his hair and swung his legs over the side the bed and fumbled for the lamp switch.

"Are you crying?" he asked helplessly, already knowing the answer to the question.

"Jungsu Oppa…" her voice cracked as she called him by his real name. Something was definitely wrong. She reserved using this name only when she was extremely serious.

"Yoon," he replied, "Tell me, please … what's the matter?"

When she hesitated he stood and began to pace the room. He quietly opened the door, and softly padded toward the kitchen. No use waking up DongHae, his room-mate.

The bright fluorescent light flickered a few times before stabilizing its glare across the kitchen counters.

Lee Teuk blinked a few times at the brightness of the light, trying to adjust to it, and growing more concerned as he heard the sniffles grow into sobs.

"Yoon," he repeated a bit louder. "It's ok, whatever it is, it will all be ok."

"I can't…" she cried, trying to breath in deeply to gain control. "I can't… do this anymore."

Teukkie walked aimlessly in the kitchen, looking down at his feet and then came to a halt. She needed him. He knew this 'voice'; he felt her tears. These tears were from pain that he also shared with her. So many years had passed between them. What was it now, seven or eight years since their very first phone call?

Back then, when she called him, she was still in middle school, a perky adolescent that he loved to tease and joke with, but who also had a very serious side to her. They would talk about how hard practices were, how frustrated she was that she couldn't sing as well as she wanted to, no matter how hard she tried. They would talk about how much she missed being home with her dad and unnie.

And she would cry.

Sometimes he would cry along with her, because it hurt him to see her hurting. Each time he would feel a pang deep within, and his heart felt like it was ripping apart when he heard her cry.

"Yoon," he repeated, "Are you alone?"

"Mmm" she nodded into the phone, attempting to stifle her sobs.

"So am I," he looked around at the empty kitchen. "Where are you?"

She hiccupped her sobs into the phone before stuttering, "Ki..ki…ktch."

"You're in the kitchen?" he smiled gently at her weak attempt. "So am I!"

He walked to one of the cupboards, and opened it and perused the contents.

"Not much here to choose from Yoon," he continued in his gentle tone, trying to comfort her with his voice. "The boys ate all the ramen for dinner. How about cereal? We can share a bowl of cereal ok?"

He heard her sniffling continue but could also hear cupboard doors opening and closing and dishes clanging on the counter.

"They don't leave us with much choice here," he continued, "I have Bran or Cherrios… how about you?"

"Fla…fla…flakes," she managed to mutter.

"Ah then you'll need some sugar, won't you?" he smiled and imagined her nodding.

"You know you're not supposed to drink cold milk at night," he told her, "but I guess there is always an exception, so let's be brave, ok?"

He thought he heard a soft half chuckle and then he knew he could do this. This was part of their relationship, what defined them. This is what made him different from all of her other Oppas.

He carried the breakfast ingredients over to the table while holding the phone with his shoulder and leaning his ear onto it.

He began to pour the cereal into the bowl and instructed her, "Ok Yoon, make yourself comfy at the table, we are going to share breakfast together. "

He poured the cold milk over the cereal and watched it slosh around the rings of oats in the bowl.

"Oppa isn't there to feed you, so you'll need to open your mouth wide… say ahhhhh!"

He heard her smile. "That's a good girl!" he praised.

As he chomped down into the first large spoonful of cereal he spoke without swallowing, "And just what was Miss Yoona Im doing with her life, this time last year?"

She took another deep breath, and he no longer heard any sobbing. It had subsided and had been replaced with short breaths into the phone.

When she didn't answer, he responded for her.

"Oh yes, Miss Yoona Im was working in one of the country's most famous dramas of all time!" He nodded at another spoonful of cereal. "And how did that go for her?"

"Oppa…" she said softly.

"Wrong answer!" he teased. "She ended up winning the BEST ACTRESS Award!"

He filled his mouth with yet another spoonful and asked her, "Are you eating?"

When he heard her chewing sounds he continued on.

"And can you believe she was one of the country's youngest actresses to have received that award? And what else? Oh yes! This year she tops it off by receiving TWO netizen popularity awards! She's getting a bit greedy, don't you think?"

Her giggle inspired and spurred him on.

"And as if the KBS Awards weren't enough, she also wins the 45th Baeksang Arts Awards: Best New Actress and Netizen Award as well! Yahhhh this girl is just too perfect!"

"Oppa!" she now said clearly, and he knew he had re-ignited her spunk.

"Is it because this girl is so beautiful and perfect that she's already starred in five of Korea's biggest boy band music videos?" He tapped his spoon thoughtfully against the rim of the bowl, "Well I guess six if you count the one with the five Bozo Risings Clowns of the East."

She laughed at his reference to DBSK and he dropped his spoon at the sound of it.

"Yoon," he ventured, "You can do this. You can do anything you put that fabulous mind to… because you're my Yoona. You're the same girl that used to call Oppa and cry because she had a crush on Choikang Changmin and he left for Japan, leaving you devastated at the tender age of 15. But you always kept that secret from him. You got through that didn't you?"

"Yes," she responded softly.

"And what about when Heechul teased you relentlessly until you cried a few months ago, who was the one that whacked him on the head with a rolled up magazine?"

"Me," she smiled again.

"And who is the SNSD girl that half of Super Junior as well as other idols want to marry?" he softened his voice a bit and reflected about how he himself would love to have her by his side for the rest of his life, not as his wife but as something much more than a friend, and yet different from a sister.

"Yuri Unnie," Yoona quipped.

"YAH!" Teukkie scolded her so loudly that he didn't realize that his room mate had drowsily walked down the hall and stopped just short of the kitchen.

"Don't make Oppa come over there now!" he .

"Thank you, Jungsu Oppa."

"No Yoon," he corrected her, "Thank you. Thank you for being in my life."

DongHae knew he would be intruding in a private moment, and whatever it was that had them talking about at 2:30 in the morning, was between them. He padded softly back to his room and was once again grateful that his best friend loved Yoona just as much as he did.

"Yoona," Teukkie continued to scoop the cereal as he spoke, "You'll only rise higher from here. You're almost getting beyond Oppa's reach, you know?"

"Never," she promised.

"Ahhh I'll remember that when you're sneaking out of the dorm, going on some midnight rendezvous with some undeserving but extremely lucky man!"

"Like that will ever happen."

"Oh it will. And my heart will break just a little bit more than it did tonight when that happens. But Yoong…" he felt his own eyes watering as he contemplated how quickly she had grown into a beautiful young woman. "You must always remember how precious you are to Oppa, promise?"

"You're my Jungsu," she closed her eyes and secretly gave thanks that she had him. She could always depend on him when she was at her worst. He was like a guiding light for her during her roughest moments.

"And you're my Yoon," he almost whispered.

After several seconds of silence he stood quickly and carried the bowl to the sink and the tap to rinse it out.

"So tell me what is on your busy schedule?"

"Well we have the usual music shows each weekend," she tried to calculate her calendar mentally when she added, "And I have that mini drama on Star King."

"And you're coming to watch our Super Show!" he reminded her.

"Yes Oppa," she giggled again, "I'm coming backstage to watch you all."

"Well you don't have to watch us all," he stated frankly, "Just me."

"OPPA!" she said a little too loudly and then realized she had raised her voice and she shushed him.

"Why are you shushing me? You're the one that yelled!"

He picked up the carton of milk and carried it to the refrigerator. He opened the door and placed it on the shelf, and stared at it momentarily.

"Yoong," he said in a more serious tone, "Let's make another promise. You will always call me whenever you are hurting. And I will do the same, ok?"

"Are you sure?" she asked him hesitantly. "Aren't you getting tired of me?"

"Does sun ever get tired of rising?" he asked her.

"Well I don't know… probably."

"No it doesn't. It rises automatically, without fail, because that's the way it is. Just like how the earth spins on it's axis without needing instruction or direction… it's the law of nature. And you, Yoona, are part of me. Like it or not. You can't stop the sun from rising, and you can't stop me from caring about you."

He realized he was still standing in the kitchen, holding the refrigerator door open and watching the milk carton as if it were going to move. He shook his head and closed the door.

"We will form a club. I'm the president and you're my vice-president."

"A club?" she inquired.

"Yes, a Milk* Club."

"A milk club? What's a milk club?"

"A club for us. You and me. Whenever you are feeling down, or lonely or depressed, you call me, right? And I do the same. So we will make it official."

He recognized the perkiness return to her voice, "And there are probably lots more out there like us right? Other idols, like our members even, that can join because they need help too."

"Hey now, I didn't say anything about others!"

"Oppa this is a great idea!"

"Yoona, hang on, I was talking about us. Not about anyone else."

"Oppa, if you can turn a blubbering fool like me into a happy girl, imagine what you can do for others? And hopefully what they can do for you too!"

"Alright, alright. But I get to screen whoever applies. And no one is allowed in until we both agree, ok?"

Teukkie walked over to the sofa and laid down, placing his arm under his head while holding the phone with the other hand.

"Yoona, go lay down in your bed now."

"Are we hanging up?" she asked him concerned.

"No, but I want you to lay down, and get under the covers, Oppa is going to talk to you until you fall asleep, ok?"

She nodded and headed to her room. "But Yuri unnie is sleeping."

"That's why I'm going to do the talking, and you'll listen. I have a lot to talk to you about."

"Like what?" she whispered as she entered the room quietly and headed to her bed.

"You may not ever tell me exactly what was bothering you so much tonight, but that's ok. You don't need to. You are doing what you're supposed to do with me. "

He smiled as he remembered something from earlier in week.

"If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell him."

Yoona loved when Lee Teuk shared inside secrets about his fellow members. It was something they often did, covertly sharing tidbits and relishing them.

"Yoong, I think DongHae is getting serious. Don't tell him I told you this, but last week when we were in China he couldn't stop talking about you."

When she didn't respond he took it to mean that she was trying not to wake up Yuri.

He continued, "In two separate interviews he inadvertently selected you as his ideal woman. And the funny thing is, he doesn't even realize he's doing it!"

She whispered a reply, "He just sees me as a little sister, Oppa."

Teukkie shook his head and explained further, "You can't really think that right? I mean, hasn't it been obvious to you that he treats you completely differently than he treats the other members of SNSD?"

"How so?"

Teukkie explained about the myriad of moments that his best friend had exposed himself, without ever realizing he was doing so. Always staying next to her when they shared stages, being the first one to rush up to her to congratulate her on their awards, almost climbing over the other members just to give her a high five and grasp her hand. The momentous moment where he begged Heechul to let him have Yoona's part in Gee, and making the effort to create his own special T-shirt that read "YoonHae" on the front! What about the time they were all on Sakira and EunHyuk asked Yoona who her favorite SuJu member was, with DongHae sitting next to her, he tapped her shoulder and said repeatedly into the microphone, "DongHae, DongHae, DongHae, DongHae!"

"I think the feeling might be mutual, if I'm not mistaken." He guessed aloud.

"Oppa," she whispered, "I hold ALL of you in high regard."

"Pfffft, don't try the paparazzi answer with ME little one, I know you best of all! I probably know you better than you know yourself."

When she didn't respond he knew it was probably time to move to a different topic. She wasn't going to take the bait tonight.

"Want to hear about what Siwon did while we were in China? You'll never guess what happened in the hot springs at the hotel!"

Her best friend kept her smiling and chuckling for several more minutes before finally telling her to sleep tight, and have sweet dreams.

As he crept back into his own bed he rubbed his feet together before turning off the lamp.

"Is she ok?" DongHae asked him softly across the room.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No," he lied. "Is Yoong ok?"

"She'll be fine. After all, she has her invincible President Lee Teuk now. It feels so great being her favorite Oppa! And don't even think about pumping me for details… because I'm a gentleman, I never kiss and tell."

"You're delusional," DongHae asserted as he fluffed his pillow with his fist.

It didn't bother him that Yoona didn't call him for a shoulder to cry on. It didn't bother him that it was Lee Teuk that she had always called for these moments.

Who was he kidding! Of course it bothered him! But he accepted it because he knew that she was always in better shape after hanging up the phone with Lee Teuk than before she called.

"All I need to know is if we need to go kick someone's or not."

Teukkie smiled into the darkness at his brooding, protective roommate, who still had not realized his own feelings for Yoona. Didn't he know why he was always the first one to rush to her side?

"If there's anyone delusional in this room," Teukkie clarified, "It would be the man that refuses to recognize what's in his own heart."

When no response came from the darkness, he continued.

"Hae, I know why you refuse to act on it, and I respect that. But how long do you think you can keep this up? You're beyond smitten. You've committed yourself to her, without even telling her."

Still nothing.

"I just don't know how you can stand it. It must take some super human will power to not tell her, or at least show her. I mean, now a days, you can barely restrain yourself from touching her …"

His observation was rudely interrupted by a flying pillow to the face, which he did not see coming, because of the dark.

"Yah!" Teuk tossed the pillow back across the room. "I'm just saying that she's getting older now. If you don't act, someone else will!"

The returned pillow missed its mark and hit the wall instead. DongHae reached down and retrieved it before answering.

"She's still not ready," he finally admitted. "If she were ready, it would be me that she called tonight, instead of you."

"Pabo," was all that Teukkie said in reply.

The room grew silent and DongHae strained to see the ceiling as he reflected on her. He recalled how she would wrap her arms around his waist when she rode on his bike, and lay her head on his back. He recalled several weeks prior when she called him, and asked him to take her out for the day… when he picked her up she ran into his arms.

He recalled what it felt like to hold her close. The silkiness of her hair, the slender, small back, and how her arms wrapped around his own back.

The longing was almost unbearable for him.

"Soon, Yoong," he whispered to himself. "Soon."

He never saw the crooked smile across the room.

*A/N: A/N: Milk Club (우유클럽) is a kind of play in words. 우유 means milk and 클럽 means club. 우유 is made up of the characters from two words: 우울한 (which means depressed, melancholic) and 유령 (which means spirit, ghost etc). So added together Milk Club means the 'Depressed Spirits Club'