I didn't sleep that night. I didn't want to return to Donghae and Sungmin's room after all of the members were already sleeping. What if I woke Sungmin up and got into more trouble? I stayed at the kitchen table getting caught up in my schoolwork all night and before I knew it, it was 6:30am. I regretted not sleeping at this stage; I had a full day of school in front of me, then practice with the team until late into the night. Strangely, this lack of sleep seemed to have induced a temporary high; I didn't feel tired at all. I was reading my textbook, still at the table when I heard a door open. I turned around to see Ryeowook walking out of his room. He was still groggy and when I saw that he saw me, I turned around and dropped my head a little, my gaze fixed on him. For the first time since two days ago, he accepted my greeting and nodded. He walked into the kitchen.

"I'm taking care of breakfast," he said to me.

"Okay," I said informally without thinking. Too late did I realize my mistake.

Ryeowook was so much smaller than me, not to mention still tired from getting up early in the morning, but this seemed to have woken him completely. He rounded on me, gave me an angry look and said, "I'm not your friend."

I was slightly taken aback.

"S- sorry, sunbaenim," I said in honorifics, stuttering and my face flushing.

I couldn't understand why Ryeowook was being like this. Even two weeks ago, he had gone out of his way to look after me at SM, and on occasion, I had used informal speech with him and he seemed not to have minded since we were really the same age. Why did he suddenly resent me so much? I considered asking him these questions directly, but I couldn't bring myself to. I sat there silently, then I asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

I stood halfway in my chair.

"No," said Ryeowook. He didn't speak to me further, but turned his back on me to focus on breakfast. I wasn't sure what to do - I was still the youngest of the group, and I felt a certain amount of responsibility to do as much work as possible around the dorm. Ryeowook didn't make it easy for me to simply help him. I decided to simply pace around in the kitchen so that I wasn't in Ryeowook's way, but I would be easily available if he needed anything. However, Ryeowook seemed to be skilled at this; within half an hour, he had finished and set out a breakfast table for twelve... but just twelve. Realizing that he didn't make breakfast for me,  I had an uneasy feeling in my chest. This was too much.

After setting out the food, Ryeowook went to each of the members' rooms and woke everyone up. Soon, one by one, the members came out of their rooms into the kitchen. There were too many of them to actually sit at the table, so they all took their bowls and moved to the living room to eat. I stayed standing in one of the corners, watching. There would have been no extra effort on Ryeowook's part to have prepared a bit extra so that I could eat as well... I had a resentment towards him just then stronger than I had felt for anyone else, even Minhyun. I wasn't just going to stand there and watch - I may as well go to school early then, and buy breakfast on the way there. I brought the books that I had used throughout the night back into Donghae and Sungmin's room, and put them in my backpack. I had changed into my uniform and come out with my backpack, ready to leave. However, Ryeowook got there first.

"So I have to leave," he announced. "I have that radio thing this morning." The members nodded and wished him luck. I sighed and looked around before leaving, and noticed a bowl, uneaten on the table. This was when I realized that Ryeowook had made 12 bowls of food not to exclude me, but to exclude himself. I almost had tears come to my eyes, but then I picked up the bowl. I half made a motion to move to the living room with my bowl too, but they had formed a circle in the living room and were already talking among themselves. There was no way that I could sit between any of them right now. Feeling more excluded than ever, I ate standing in the kitchen.

At 7:30, the members had finished their food and had piled the bowls in the sink and around the kitchen. "We all have schedules this morning," said Leeteuk, dropping his bowl into the sink. "You, take care of the dishes."

He was talking to me. I glanced at the clock. I only had an hour to get to school. "I... " I started. But Leeteuk had left already. I had to accept my position as the youngest and newest here as well. Every member had finished their food, and all of them left the suite together. Soon, I was left alone in the kitchen, with 45 minutes to get to class with a huge pile of dishes to do.

"URGH!" I finally said out loud, venting the frustration that had built up over the night and morning. But there was nothing I could do. However, having no choice, I did the dishes before finally leaving the apartment at 8:10am. All I could do was pray that I could make it to school on time.