“Yobseyo?” a female voice answered.  

Yoona pulled her phone away instantly from her ear and glanced back at the screen to make sure she had dialed the right number.  It was definitely Taecyeon’s phone number.

Yoona unconsciously found herself bowing as she responded, “Yobseyo.”  She paused briefly and then asked, “Excuse me, is this Ok Taecyeon’s phone?”

The older female voice answered curtly, “Who is this?”

Yoona felt very nervous now.  She had never called him before!  Wouldn’t you know, that the first attempt she would end up speaking to someone in his company, or worse, maybe it was his mother?!

She paused briefly as she considered how to answer, “I’m a friend that is calling to see how he is feeling…”

“He isn’t taking any calls,” the older female voice informed her, “He needs his rest.  Please don’t call back.”  And with that, the phone went dead.

Yoona was horrified.  She had not meant to disturb him, and if that was his mother, she must have given off a very bad impression by calling on a boy!  She wished there was a way to have taken back the phone call!

The aunty that took care of the boys’ meals and helped with their laundry turned off the phone and placed it in her apron pocket.  It was a good thing she had decided to pick it up off of the blanket when she came in to find Taecyeon sleeping so soundly.  Poor exhausted boy needed his rest, and knowing the way those kids always played on their phones, he would need her intervention to help him remain rested.

She went back about her business of making him rice porridge as she shook her head at the thought of the phone call.  Girls nowadays have no shame calling boys.  How forward!  The thought riled her and she quickly turned back on the phone and went to the ‘recent calls’ history.  She glanced down at the name, and all it said was “My Deer.”  

“Hrumph” she snorted.  He doesn’t need these distractions.  She swiftly swiped her finger across the name and clicked on the delete button.  After turning the phone off, she smiled to herself.  Her boys would need her protection from these crazy girls.  They were much too busy to be bothered by the likes of such whims.

Yoona was now pacing the studio hallway.  She had only wanted to check to see if her friend was ok.  “That’s not a crime, is it?” She tried to console herself but the more she thought about that rough, authoritative female voice on the other end of the phone, the more she cringed.

She shook her head and then quickly walked to the elevator.  Her manager would be waiting downstairs for her, and it was rude of her to keep him waiting.  Just as the elevator door opened she looked up to face three very familiar faces.

Siwon, Teukkie and DongHae each grinned at her as dropped open in surprise.  “Oppas, what are you doing here?”

The elevator door began to close before she had even moved, and Siwon grabbed the moving door to hold it open.  Teukkie reached in and grabbed Yoona’s wrist and gently pulled her out, “You going to stay in there all day, or come out and face the music?”

Her face paled as she considered what he had just said.  “Oh no,” her thoughts raced, “They know!  They’ve come to give me a beating!”

“Wh..wh.. what?” she stammered.

DongHae looked down at her pale face, and recognized the panic in her eyes.

“Im Yoona,” he said as he walked up to her and looked directly into her eyes, inches away from her face, “Why are you stuttering?  What have you done?”

Yoona quickly looked away from the piercing eyes that questioned her and looked at Siwon.  His head was cocked to one side, a big grin on his face, as he rubbed his chin, “Yoona, little sister, I think you’re feeling guilty about something aren’t you?  DongHae is right, you seem to be hiding something from us.”

She was dead.  She closed her eyes and tried to think of how to explain this to her brothers.  She knew that they were very protective of her, and her member sisters.  But of all of the girls in SNSD, she seemed to be the closest to the Super Junior members because she had always joked around with them, played with them, and teased them.  She had a ‘choding’ way about her when she was with them, she could act like an elementary school girl, and have them rolling with laughter.

They weren’t laughing now.

She swallowed deeply and then turned to face her eldest brother, Lee Teuk.  Teukkie smiled warmly at her and pulled on her wrist swiftly pulling her into his chest.  He released her wrist and put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.  

“Don’t let those mean monsters scare you, little one.  Your Teukkie will always be here to protect you.”

He let out a soft laugh, and then rubbed the top of her head, “They are only kidding you, silly girl.”

DongHae and Siwon joined in the head rubbing, completely making a mess of her hair.

Siwon tugged on a few strands of hair and after she yelped, he said, “And that’s what you get for not calling us back.”

Yoona pulled herself away from Teukkie’s chest and turned to face Siwon, “Call you back?”

“Don’t tell me that your phone is still messed up?” Teukkie laughed when he thought of his prank on her.

DongHae explained, “Each of us called you to ask you to come with us for dinner so we can plan for your birthday next week.”  He continued to watch Yoona closely, recognizing that she was nervous and almost upset or something.  He couldn’t place his finger on it, but something was off.

“You are still going to let us celebrate with you and the members, aren’t you?” he questioned.

Yoona had forgotten that her birthday was coming up so quickly.  Her father and sister had sent her a care package that she already received, and she had planned on having dinner with her member sisters, like she did the year before.  Their schedules were always so busy that she had not expected her Oppas to be able to join them.

“But your schedules…”

“Hang the schedules!” Siwon bellowed.  And they all laughed at how the volume of his voice echoed in the lobby.

“We got permission from your manager to take you dinner and then straight back to the dorm tonight,” DongHae smiled mischievously, “although we didn’t tell him what time!”

Teukkie grabbed Yoona’s right hand and began to pull her quickly toward another elevator, one that led down to an underground parking lot.  Siwon swiftly followed behind them and DongHae was still standing watching the back of the young girl he had known so well, yet could not understand what was different about her tonight. 

As he shook his head, Teukkie turned to and winked, “Last one in pays for dinner tonight.”  After he stuck out his tongue, he turned to pull Yoona into the elevator mashing down on the ‘close’ button.  Siwon had barely made it in before the doors closed, and they could hear DongHae yelling, “WAIT JUST A MINUTE!”

“Maybe they don’t know,” Yoona tried to calm herself, “They must not know, because they aren’t beating me!”  She swallowed hard as she watched the lights on the elevator descend to the “P” button.  “Maybe they are taking me someplace private to beat me,” she considered.

The doors opened and before Teukkie could lead her out, Siwon grabbed onto Yoona’s left hand and said, “You think DongHae is going to wait for the next elevator?”  And he began sprinting toward their van.

Yoona let out a scream as the two men ran at full speed, dragging her along with them.  The door to the stairs behind them flew open as DongHae bounded after them.  “I SAID WAIT FOR ME!”

The lot of them laughed and screamed as they ran creating quite a commotion.

Nichkhun had just opened his own van door as he heard the ruckus in front of him.  He stopped and watched as the two men ran, each of them holding on to Yoona’s hands, with DongHae not far behind them.

“Omo,” Khun said aloud, “What do we have here?”

“Aren’t you getting in?” his manager, Min Jae asked.

Khun zeroed his focus in on Yoona who was laughing and screaming, her face red with excitement.

“You never cease to amaze me, Yooona.” Khun whispered to himself and then smiled at Min Jae as he boarded the van.

“Sorry for being late,” Min Jae said as he put the van into drive and began to exit the parking lot.

Khunnie turned to watch the first two Super Juniors push Yoona into their van, and attempt to close the door behind them as DongHae reached it in time to wrestle it open.

“It’s ok Hyung,” Khun chuckled, “Some things are well worth the wait.”