Chapter 8       

                Ding dong!

                The two still-drowsy teenagers both turned their heads towards the front door of the mansion. They were both still in their sleeping attires and they were eating their breakfast (courtesy of Taemin's five star chefs) on the unnecessarily large dining table.

                There was a soft beep heard inside the mansion, indicating that one of the maids had pressed the button of the device used to communicate with the speaker located outside the gates.

                "Good morning, how may I help y—"

                "CHOI JIN RI! ARE YOU IN THERE?!"

                "YAH, IF YOU PEOPLE ARE TAKING HER HOSTAGE, I WILL PERSONALLY COME IN THERE AND KICK YOUR ASSES!"

                "YEAH, GO DO THAT UNNI!"

                "HELL YEAH I WILL!"

                "Please madams, if you will kindly calm down and lower your voices... The young master is still very ill..."

                Sulli and Taemin now had looks of confusion written on their faces as they stared questioningly at the maid who was whispering into the receiver. They were hearing muffled shouts coming from the small device, but they couldn't quite make out what the shouts were saying. After a few seconds of silent observation over the maid, they both jumped in surprise when they saw the door suddenly slamming open.

                "How the heck did you two get in here? There're supposed to be security guards out there!” The maid got the answer to her own question when she looked outside to where the security guards were supposed to be. All she saw was five men lying face down on the ground, as if a bulldozer had run over them.  

                "I told you I was going to do it.” The boyish girl’s arms were crossed when she said this to the maid, and there was an air of smugness surrounding her as she did so.

                "UNNI! WHERE ARE YOU?! ANSWER ME!” The younger girl’s voice was frantic as she looked around the mansion in hopes of seeing a sign of their companion.

                "Yah, I'm right here.”

                Sulli’s bored voice instantly caught the two girls’ attention. They whipped their heads around at the same time towards the dining room where the voice came from. When their eyes landed on a very much okay Sulli, they planned on rejoicing. But then they spotted who she was with.

                They were simultaneous in squinting their eyes and saying, “YOU.”

                “What did you do to her?! Why didn’t she get home last night?!” Krystal was fuming as she questioned Taemin, and in turn, Taemin was incredulous. 

                “What?! I didn’t do anything!”

                “LIAR!” Amber was now pointing an accusing finger at the said boy. He looked terrified.

                Sulli sighed, “Please you two, calm down.”

                And they did.

                They were now sitting in Taemin’s grand living room, Amber and Krystal on one couch and Taemin and Sulli on the couch opposite theirs with a coffee table situated between them. The latter two had changed into more presentable clothes (Sulli was given clothes from Taemin’s mother’s new fashion line) and the two new visitors had calmed down and were now being served tea by the maid they had harassed earlier. They were suspicious of the maid putting something in their drinks to get back at them, but they decided to drink them anyway.

                “Ah, so that’s what happened.” Amber was the first to speak after Sulli had explained that she had to stay over at Taemin’s mansion to take care of him. She seemed to have understood the situation, but Taemin couldn’t help but clutch onto Sulli’s arm for protection. And this was also because he saw that Krystal wasn’t as understanding about the situation.

               “He probably planned for this to happen, unni.” She was once again squinting at the boy hanging onto Sulli and said venomously, “You can never be too careful with this man.”

                “What did I ever do to you two?” Since the day that they had met, the two had always been hostile towards him. So he just had to ask, because he honestly had no idea why they hated him so much.

                Neither of the girls cared for him enough to answer and just turned their heads away from him. Taemin had to stop himself from going away to sulk in a corner. Again, Amber ignored him and turned to Sulli instead, “You must be exhausted. Can’t you take a day off at work today?”

                “Nope. Manager already gave me a day off yesterday. Besides,” she smiled at her two concerned friends, “I’m perfectly fine. Work is a piece of cake compared to having to take care of him.” She nodded her head to the left, in Taemin’s direction. When he heard this, he went to the corner to sulk quietly. “Why is everyone against meeee....” Upon doing so, the house helpers went into a frenzy over him, “Young master! What is wrong?!” “Something is happening to the young master!” “Hurry! Call in the helicopter! We must get him to the hospital!”

                “THAT WON’T BE NECESSARY,” The maids formerly running around came to a halt and all stared at Sulli. She gave them a nod and said, “He’s going to be fine, so there’s no need to panic. I’ll be taking him to work now, okay?” After giving them all a warm grin, she dragged the sulking Taemin off by the arm to get him ready. She felt her two friend’s gazes at her, so she turned back around to set their minds at rest. “I’m fine, you two.” She kept her tone light as she said, “And I think you guys better get going. Aren’t Key and Kai waiting at the mall?”

                Krystal turned a bright shade of red while Amber just let out a surprised “Ah!” and an “I almost forgot about that!” They both waved their goodbyes to Sulli and Taemin and went on their way, leaving quite a mess behind.

                “Well that was tiring.” Taemin suddenly stood up straight from Sulli’s grasp, having seemingly recovered from his emo-state. ‘Still not as tiring as taking care of you.’ Was what she wanted to say, but she decided to save that for a later date. He’s had enough emotional abuse for the day. She instead went with, “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes, hurry up and get ready!”

                “Araso, arasooo~” and the boy flitted away to do as he was told. Once he was out of sight, she smiled and thought to herself, ‘Not that I’d mind taking care of you again.’