Oh, if Wooyoung could see me now, his jaw would drop to the floor and he would compliment me on such a fool-proof disguise. I checked myself in my long mirror again. Perfection. He’d never recognize me in this.

As soon as he had closed the bathroom door, I raced down the hall and across the grand staircase’s landing to the east wing, where my parents’ room lay. I silently thanked the powers that be for possessing my dad with this “Our closets must be separate from our bedroom” syndrome; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to pull off what I wanted to. I threw open the closet door (actually, to be more accurate, I struggled to push it open; that damn door weighs a ton) and immediately fell upon his side of the closet.

“Come on...I know he has that old fishing shirt somewhere...” I sniffed the air. “Salty. It’s gotta be around here somewhere...” JACKPOT! I cackled quietly as I yanked the shirt off the hanger. Muahahahaha, now I can initiate Mission: FTW! I win. Now to find those frayed shorts-

“Honey, have you seen that blue plaid tie?”

Oh. Hell. Squealing, I tried to duck out of the closet, but instead I just had to run smack into my dad’s chest. “Ah...Min Young.”

I shined my most beautiful smile up at him. “Hi...Daddy.”

His eyes studied my face very carefully. “Care to explain why you are clutching my old fishing shirt?”

My hand immediately soared up to my forehead and smacked it. Hard. Ow. Why did I do that so hard? “OH! RIGHT! UH...” Lately it seems like the control on my voice’s volume has disappeared. “I totally decided to take up ironing and tried to iron my own blouse, and it burned, so I ran over here and borrowed yours since it’s the closest thing I have to the shirt I ruined! YEAH!” Yep. Common sense and my mind altogether have just committed suicide, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Or my mind. Well, the hollow hole where my mind once lay. Uh. Yeah.

“...so you believe my fishing shirt resembles your ruined shirt?” He cocked his head to the side, pondering my story. Please, for once, just believe it... “Why not give it to Jang to iron? I’m sure the kung fu master...” He chuckled at his own joke. “Well, I’m sure he can handle an iron.” He shrugged. “Go ahead and take my shirt, Min Young. Just remember to wash it and hang it back up in here.” Before leaving the room, he paused and scrutinized me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, Daddy.” The corners of my mouth started to hurt from smiling so brilliantly. “Dandy as pie!”

He walked away from me, still wearing a peculiar expression on his face. What was I looking for again? SHORTS. Which Daddy won’t have. Because a) they are shorts, and my father does not believe in them, b) they somewhat hug my , but I blame the intake of sweets Taecyeon shoves down my throat every night after dinner, and c) Daddy so would never purposely cut his own pants so that they would be shorter and frayed, which is coming back in style, apparently. Huzzah! See, I set trends. I’m just cool like that. Junsu disagrees (very much so, actually), but he’s just jealous because I’m just that much awesomer than he is.

“O shorts, wherefore art thou?” That sentence doesn’t make any sense, really. If anyone knows Shakespeare, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t know Shakespeare...then...go...fly a kite or something. “AHA! Hiding behind the cargo skirts, are we? You can’t escape me~”

---

“The subject is in position, I repeat, the bread is in the pantry.” Okay...so not exactly repeating, but you get the idea.

“Tell me again why you called me, please.”

“The eagle...has...landed, I repeat, the Mario is on the kart.”

“Park Min Young, I’m a bit concerned about the state of your mentality. This is worse than the time when you argued with a crow.”

“YAH!” I said a little bit too loudly, but Wooyoung didn’t seem to notice and continued to walk down the sidewalk casually. Why didn’t he just take his car? Ah, the unanswered questions of life. “Some best friend you are!”

“Yah, you should be thanking me for putting up with you every day!”

“I did not force that upon you.”

“Are you ting me?!” he said in utter delight. Some best friend he was...hmph.

“I you not.”

“Sweet~ Well I’ll see you in the next life or so-”

“YAH, KIM JUNSU!”

Oh great, now people were looking at me weird...not that they didn’t already used to do that, but the magnitude of their worrisome stares were at a much higher scale than before. Maybe I overdid it with this disguise...naaaah... You know, I started looking around me. The trees were green, the sky was blue...and there was no Woo. WHAT THE FUHHHH...LIPPIN’ BURGERS?!

“!”

“Min Young, the worry has not gone away. Are you alright?”

“NO! I LOST TRACK OF-”

“Young miss, why are you following me?”

...shizzlekittens.

“Hey, Min Young. Who was that, and why did they just call you ‘young miss’? His voice sounds really familiar...”

Oh crap. I forgot to tell Junsu exactly who I was following, and of course, Wooyoung doesn’t know who I was talking on the phone with, so technically, if I didn’t do anything quick, this whole thing would be revealed to Junsu, who had no idea that Wooyoung was actually my bodyguard!!! Noooo....AHA, I GOT IT!

“I’ll talk to you later Junsu.”

“Yah, wai-”

-insert the obviously harmonious sound of the dial tone here-

Well that was easy...now to deal with Wooyoung, who was staring at me with this rather amused look on his face, the eyebrow raised, and the small yet still noticeable grin on his lips.

“Uh...I can explain?” I can? Since when? How come I didn’t know about this?

And then...Wooyoung...started laughing...as in laughing. Wow...since when could he do that?

“It’s okay, young miss,” he managed to say after his laughter had subsided for the time being... (I think a couple of my neural pathways were finally being reconnected, because I could feel my vocabulary bank finally coming back)

“Ehehehe...” Or not.

“Anyway, let’s go somewhere a little more cozy, yeah?” He guided me to one of the random cafes on the side of the streets, getting us seated by the window. “Here.” He handed me a fresh set of clothes...my clothes...when we were seated at a booth right beside the window. I looked at him in confusion. “I’m sure you don’t want to be wearing...that...while eating.” Oh...this was true.

“Why do you have my clothes?”

It was an honest question...

“Young miss, I think you’ve failed to notice that I always have a pair of your clothes packed, just in case certain circumstances occur and you’ll have to change.”

Eh...

“Go change in the restroom, and I shall order for the both of us. I’m quite familiar with this cafe, and I’ll be sure to order you something delicious.” When he noticed I had pretty much froze onto my seat, he sighed. “Min Young, please do as I say...just this once.” Wow. Just...wow. He...wow. I just...wow. He really...just ordered me to do something. That’s...kinda...hot. GETTING FLUSTERED! Oh, boy. And he called me...by my name...which he does, but only around Junsu or the others...le sigh~ frizzlesnaps, I need to just stop right now before I embarrass myself. “Why couldn’t I have just changed somewhere else?”

He eyed me curiously. “Did you want to change out on the street?” He glanced out the window. “Be my guest, but the consequences on your head lie.”

AND NOW HE’S TALKING LIKE FREAKING HOT- HAMLET OR SOMETHING. Oh, my word.

“FinethatsokayIwilljustchangeinthebathroom!” Or something of that caliber escaped my mouth as I scurried off to the back of the cafe. Something...is terribly wrong with me. With the way I’m acting around him now. Oh, God. What if he notices?! WHAT IF HE LIKE FREAKS THE FRACK OUT AND TAKES OFF INTO THE NIGHT LIKE SOME KIND OF ASIAN BATMAN BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW BATMAN NEVER GETS LAID BECAUSE HE’S LIKE TOO RICH OR PROPER OR SOMETHING and my brain is spinning out of control. Dehydration. Severe dehydration. Doctor always told me about it.

But wasn’t I supposed to, like, hallucinate or something? OH! Maybe I was hallucinating this whole thing and Wooyoung is really a sick ert who is like leering over me with the troll face and like cackling and shi-

---

I love Wooyoung. Oh. My. God. I could tell he was looking at me with an amused expression, for every time I looked up for a sip of coke, there he would be, shaking his head in slight disappointment, yet still smiling very widely.

WHO CARES?!

This ultimate bacon cheeseburger was the best cheeseburger of all cheeseburger-dom, and these curly fries (that I placed in my burger as well) were da BOMB... Wooyoung must have been a better observer than I thought, for apparently, he knows that I love practically all foods of the fried variety, though I don’t recall ever telling him that directly.

“Young miss?”

“Yes?”

“You have something...on your cheek.”

“Huh?”

“Here.”

And without any warning, he just leaned forward and wiped the small portion of barbecue sauce on my cheek...oh, why was his touch so soft...? And as soon as his thumb left, he leaned back again and smiled.

“There, all clean.”

Ugh, how could someone be so damn cute and hot at the same time?

“...me?”

Huh? What’d he just say? I was too busy staring at his delicious face...mmm... “Mind repeating that?”

He smiled sweetly (can you say what the popsicle?), tilted his head to the side (looking absolutely adorable and manly at the same time, of course) and chuckled. HE CAN LAUGH! Wait, he’s laughed before. Ahem. “I said, Min Young, would you like to accompany me? Since it seems you were determined to spy on me, you may as well join me for today.”

“Heh...heh heh...” , that was coming from my mouth. I stopped giggling like a crazy woman and nodded. “Uh, yes. That would be splend...errific.” Making up words now. I should get an award for Most Retardedly Sounding Girl in the Universe. Ooh, and if it’s all gold and shiny, I know the perfect shelf to place it upon! “So yeah. I’ll go...with you...wherever.”

His brow furrowed, and he automatically slipped back into his formal tone. “Young miss, are you feeling well? You seem to be trembling and stuttering?” He clicked his tongue (whoa. Who knew he could do that? I wonder if I can do it...). “I would feel such remorse if, while on this outing with me, you were to come down with a chill.” He studied me with mild interest. “But you look fine, other than the shivering.”

HE CALLED ME FINE! Well, okay, so he really didn’t, but WHO CARES?! Wooyoung was concerned about my health~ awww~

...well, he probably should be, since he would probably get fired if I got sick under his watch...since, you know, my parents didn’t exactly know where I was right now...oops. Oh, well. “No, no! I’m fine! I swear! Healthy as a horse! Err...” I just compared myself...to a horse. “You get what I mean.”

---

As we continued to walk for another eternity (because apparently, eternities in my perspective were roughly 20 minutes each), I finally looked up when silence picked up again, since Wooyoung and I had been having small conversations throughout the entire time period. We were in the middle of a cul-de-sac, that much I could conclude. I was sort of uncomfortable, or I felt out of place would be a better way to put it. I was used to having distinct mansions surrounding my own, and now, with all these other houses of practically the same structure, it was rather unnerving.

I looked at Wooyoung who seemed more relaxed than ever, simply bobbing his head up and down with his eyes closed slightly as he hummed some tune under his breath that I could barely make out, but it sounded familiar.

“We’re almost there,” he stated, and I merely nodded in response.

As we walked for another five minutes or so (which was ¼ of an eternity), I started hearing some music playing, as well as a lot of people chatting.

-ding dong-

Whoa, since when did we stop in front of a door?

A woman in her late 40s had opened the door for us, and once she saw the man beside me, she immediately smiled as she stepped forward and enveloped him in a very warm and inviting embrace.

“Wooyoung-ah~”

Wooyoung did the same as he smiled. “I missed you, umma.” (Mom)

She pinched his arm. “Yah, you just saw us last night! Don’t sound like such a little boy!” But the sparkle in her eye clearly told us bother that she didn’t mind him missing her one bit. Her eyes slid over to me, and her smile widened. “And this must be the young lady we hear so much about!”

...eh?

Before I could make heads of what that had meant, she stepped forward and pulled me into one of the sweetest hugs I had ever been given. Oh, no. Don’t cry, Min Young... “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Jang?”

“Ah. Allow me to introduce Park Min Young, umma.” He gently clapped a hand onto my shoulder, and I felt my skin grow warm from the contact. Ah~ “She’s the daughter of the businessman I work for.” He gestured to his mother. “Min, this is my umma, Jang Sun Mi. The greatest umma in all the land.”

“Oh, hush, Wooyoung.” She slapped at his arm. “Come in! Everyone’s out back, waiting for you.” She smiled at me. “You are most welcome to join us, Miss Park. I don’t know how you feel about barbeque, but I do hope you enjoy my husband’s cooking.” She kissed Wooyoung’s cheek and flitted off to the kitchen. I felt a bit nervous; I had eaten barbeque before, but it had been cooked and prepared with a rare marinade sauce flown in from...some unknown country of origin. How did his family make barbeque?

A little boy whizzed out from the hallway to the right, yelling and squealing. Another boy and a girl followed him, laughing and giggling respectively. When they had cleared our paths, all three of them came to a sudden halt, the little girl nearly crashing into the other two. “Wooyoung-oppa?” she said in shock, staring up at my bodyguard’s face. When he smiled, she gasped. “OPPA!!! YOU’RE HERE!” She launched herself at his leg, squeezing the life out of it. The other two boys attacked his arms and sides.

“Hyung’s here!” “Yay, we have an even team for football now!” “Wooyoung-oppa, teach me how to chop people in half!”

Uh, come again? My Woo knows how to chop people in half?

He laughed and bent forward to pick up the little girl. “You are so silly. Who’s been telling you that I can chop people in half?”

She beamed. “Young Bae oppa!”

His face after she said that was quite possibly the most priceless thing I had ever seen. Who was this Young Bae person? And how could he make Wooyoung look like a pissed-off anime character? I must meet this man. “You really should not listen to that...imbecile.”

The little girl appeared to be worried. “So does that mean you can’t punch a hole through someone’s face?”

“...it seems I will have to have a chat with Young Bae,” Wooyoung growled under his breath.

Oh. Dear. God. I could not help myself. I really couldn’t. As soon as that had come from his mouth, I fell forward onto the couch, holding my stomach as I doubled over in laughter. “Woo!” I choked out. “You...actually...look...worried...BWAHAHAHAHA!”

Wooyoung sighed and ignored me as he followed the little boys out to the backyard, still looking a bit annoyed at what the little girl had said. Oh, word. I have to start coming to these family things with Wooyoung. I gained control of my laughter and rushed after him, still giggling a little bit. Hey, I can’t help it. I’ve never seen that face on him before. Wish I had a camera...

“Dong. Young. Bae.”

Oh dear, Wooyoung sounded like he was about to kill someone, and if looks could kill alone, then that person would have been dead a looong time ago...

“H-Hi, h-hyung...” a boy in his mid teens had stuttered. He had a small baseball cap on, which was what had made him far more distinguishable from everyone else.

“How many times have I told you not to go around saying these things about me?”

“A lot...”

“And how many times have I told you to stop?”

“A lot more...”

“And when are you going to stop?”

Just then, an evil glint appeared in the younger man’s eyes.

“NEVER!” and he ran off.

“YAH!” Wooyoung shouted, but did nothing afterwards. He sighed while turning back to me. “I apologize if you’re uncomfortable...young miss.” It seemed as though he had to debate a little, whether to call me by my name or ‘young miss’ in front of his family. “Anyway, let me introduce you to my family.” As I stared at his face, wondering why he didn’t just call me by my name, I felt something warm clutch at my hand.

“Are you Min Young noona?” It was one of the little boys from earlier. He stared at me like I was a giant blue and purple polka-dotted monster or something. He held his arms up and out, now staring at me expectantly. I glanced at Wooyoung, but his back was to me as he spoke to an older man sitting in a lawn chair. “Up,” the little boy commanded when I still continued to look confused.

“Ohhh.” I bent down to lift him. Oh. He heavy. Well, not like hippo heavy. But still, for a little thing, he was pretty sturdy. “What’s your name?”

He poked my cheek. “Justin. My mama named me after some singer.”

Okay. Let’s see. Justin...I know a few singers named Justin...it better not be who I think it is, because I will seriously take a shovel and just-

“Hey.” Wooyoung had set the little girl down (she was now playing with a cute Scottish Terrier in the grass) and faced me. His eyes looked me up and down, going over the little boy in my arms, and a very...very...very...faint blush lit up his cheeks before it vanished when I blinked. Whoa. What? “Ah...” He seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say, and I just threw all caution to the winds completely.

“When it’s just us or when we’re around friends, call me Min Young. ‘Young miss’ makes you sound so damn stuffy.” Not catching the surprised look on his face, I walked over to join the little girl playing with the dog. Oh, well. He can introduce me to his family later-

“Yah, Min Young.” Wooyoung grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him.

Ohshet.

“There. I called you by your name.” He grinned at me. “Now may I please introduce you to my family?”

“...okay,” I managed to squeak out.

We made the rounds; Wooyoung had me shaking every single family member’s hand. Some of the older women hugged me as his mother had, whereas some of the older men pretty much killed my poor fingers. I counted ten children, all ranging in age. The older ones sat away from the main group, listening to music or writing something in pretty leather journals. The younger ones constantly demanded Woo’s attention, tugging on his jeans and yanking him down to their level, but he did not mind in the least.

“Looking back on the things I’ve done...”

They even had music playing...how sweet...

“I was trying to be someone...”

Why does this song sound so familiar...? Aww, Wooyoung tackled two of his littler cousins! Who then gathered the cavalry (the other munchkins) and had them attack him. D’aww~

“I played my part, and kept you in the dark...”

He did keep me in the dark about where he came from and his family in general...

“Now let me show you the shape of my heart...”

In what I considered to be the cutest and easily one of the best moments of my life, I lifted my eyes from the conveniently-placed stereo near my feet to look at Wooyoung playing hide and seek with his younger cousins. He kept laughing loudly and yelling whenever they decided that he was it and should therefore fall to the ground while they piled onto him.

Once, he looked up at me, and I felt something settle deep inside me. Something very profound and alien and....a bit terrifying. I know I’ve never felt like this before. What have you done to me, Jang Wooyoung?

Just as I was in the middle of a very earth-moving moment...

...a flipping soccer ball smacked me in the stomach.

I should make sure that what I feel for Wooyoung is not hate before jumping to any conclusions.