I sat down near the front of the bus again with my eyes closed. It was going to be a long ride to one of our performances; we were going out of the province today for a promotional event. In an attempt to conserve energy, I was listening to music with my headphones in my ears with my eyes closed. I relaxed for a few minutes on the moving bus, but soon, I heard someone moving through the aisle of the bus. I opened my eyes to investigate and saw Siwon standing next to my seat.

"Hey," he said, taking the seat next to mine. Surprised, I pulled my headphones out of my ears.

"Hi," I replied with a small drop of my head, my eyes still fixed on his in surprise.

"I brought you something," said Siwon, handing me something wrapped up in a paper bag. Perplexed, I opened the bag to reveal a plastic container. I glanced at Siwon's expression once, then I took the lid off the plastic container. Once I saw the contents, a smile formed on my face, which turned into a laugh. To my pleasant surprise and amusement, it was a piece of cake from the party last night. I had been scared that he would scold me about last night, so I didn't know what else to do but laugh with relief and amusement at this unexpected gift.

"You didn't get to eat any last night," he said with a smile of his own. "There's a fork in the bag, too."

"Thank you," I said with another small laugh in appreciation for Siwon's attention to detail. I reached into the bag again, and I took the plastic fork out of the bag. I used it to scoop up some of the cake, then both of us laughed again.

Although saving me a piece of cake seemed a small gesture, it meant more to me than any outsider could imagine. I hadn't had any sort of dessert since I started training with Super Junior, and had been looking forward to the day that I could treat myself to sweets again. Also, I was sure that all of the other members have had unfulfilled cravings for cakes and sweets in the middle of the night, and between the 12 of them, the cake could have disappeared within a few minutes. That Siwon thought enough of me to save me some cake from the party last night meant a tremendous amount for not just me, but for him as well.

I put the forkful of cake in my mouth, felt it sweetly melt away in my mouth and closed my eyes in happiness. Siwon laughed and got up to leave.

"Thank you, hyung. Really," I said with a grin, looking up at him. He nodded and turned, but he turned back around to face me again almost as soon as he left the seat.

"By the way," he said, sitting back down in the seat, "aren't you sore from last night?"

My smile slid off my face, and my expression stiffened as I put the fork back down in the container. "I'm so sorry," I said quietly, taking my eyes off Siwon's and looking at the cake in my hands instead.

"What?" asked Siwon with raised eyebrows. "No, I just wondered. I mean, I have welts, and I only got hit once."

"I'm okay," I said carefully.

"You don't have welts?" asked Siwon, opening his eyes widely. I was surprised at his concerned response, but then I shook my head.

"I don't usually get welts. I just bruise," I said, then feeling embarrassed, I looked away. "Anyway, sunbaenim, I'm  so sorry. I really should have told him before he hit you. I was just - really scared."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong. You kept us from getting hit even more, so I should be thanking you. Also - " Siwon stopped and stared at me until I looked up at him again. "You just started calling me 'hyung' and then you stopped. You can't do that."

Taken aback at his stern tone, I stopped for a few seconds. Then realizing that he was reaching out to me, I smiled. "Okay, hyung."

"And Eunhyuk's been telling me that he's upset that you weren't calling him 'hyung' yet, too, after taking care of you that one night and coaching you through your dance for hours."

I thought for a second with a frown. That was during the time when I was contemplating leaving the team, so I was not only uninterested in making friends, but I was also actively trying to push the people around me away as well. That was, now that I thought of it, how I pushed Siwon away.

"I didn't realize I was allowed to," I said ruefully.

"You never tried," said Siwon. I nodded.

"You're right. I'll start calling him 'hyung' as well."

Siwon smiled back charismatically, then got up to leave. I paused for a second, then seized his wrist. "Hyung," I said, before he could leave.

"Yeah," said Siwon, looking back at me. I hesitated again.

"Can - can I still take you up on the offer of you sharing your closet with me?"

Siwon looked at me blankly for a few seconds, then understanding what I was referring to, gave a wide grin and nodded.

After the performances were finally over in the evening, we all filed into the bus again, exhausted. As I slumped into a seat, the manager hyung made his way toward me. I bowed from my seat, and he spoke.

"We're performing Miracle in concert next week. You still have to learn the choreography, so you're scheduled for dance practice with the instructors until 5 in the morning."

I was taken aback by this surprise announcement; I was already tired, and I wasn't sure if I could stand another nine hours of dance practice. I would normally have protested, but I didn't feel comfortable doing it anymore.

"Yes, sir," I said, looking away. The manager hyung turned away from me as well, and walked away as I closed my eyes again.

The dance practice was more difficult than I ever imagined dance practice could be. My normal pace of learning dance was already very slow, but my brain also wasn't processing the steps and my already-strained body wasn't cooperating. As a result, the learning process was extra slow. Four hours into practice, the dance instructor got so frustrated with me that he spent several minutes of our precious time scolding me.

"Practice what you've just learned. It had better be perfect by the time I'm back," he said with an annoyed frown after he finished with the scolding. I bowed in understanding and apology, then slamming the door behind him, the instructor left the practice room. I sighed in frustration at myself also, and started going through the choreography on my own.

By 5am, I had finished learning the general choreography to Miracle. The instructor was reasonably pleased, much to my relief. I dragged myself into the manager hyung's van after we finished, which was waiting outside for me, and got into the back seat. To my dismay, the sky already had a bluish tinge with the sun that was starting to rise.

"Thank you for coming, sir," I said to the manager hyung, still trying to catch my breath.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. "You're really tired, right?"

"No, sir. I'm fine," I said, leaning my head back on the headrest. However, as soon as I did so, I could feel myself dozing off.

We drove to the dorm in silence, then when we reached it, the manager hyung turned off the ignition.

"Thank you," I said, and I made to open the car door, but the manager hyung spoke.

"Kyuhyun," he said quietly. I stopped moving and looked at him.

"Yes, sir," I said, barely able to keep my eyes open.

"You do realize that there are two other managers for the team that you can confide in," he said in a strained voice.

"Yes, sir. But you're the one I was assigned to," I said cautiously.

There was a long silence.

"It's a safety issue when you aren't even willing to tell me that you're tired when you're obviously exhausted," he said. He cut himself off for a few seconds, then continued. "I think... in your best interests, I should step aside and allow one of the other managers to take care of you."