Ryeowook woke when his alarm began to beep and he quickly reached for it and turned it off, slowly rising from the bed while the details of the night before began to return to him.  He looked over at the other side of the bed but it was empty.  Kyuhyun must have woken up in the middle of the night and returned to his room. 

            He opened the door and walked across the hall to Kyuhyun’s room, not bothering to knock before he walked in and found Kyuhyun’s bed empty.  In fact, it hadn’t even been slept in.  He walked down to the bathroom and, finding it deserted as well, used it himself before heading to the kitchen.  From the smell of pancakes permeating the apartment, he already knew that Sungmin was up and cooking Jongwoon breakfast.  He found Jongwoon sitting at the table looking over the newspaper while Sungmin flipped away at the stove.

            “Morning,” Ryeowook said with a yawn.

            “Good morning,” Sungmin said, smiling brightly as he turned around.  Jongwoon and Sungmin were the only two morning people amongst the singers that he knew.  And he knew quite a few and everyone else liked to get up around noon, if they got the chance to sleep in.  “Would you like some breakfast?  I made extra.”

            “Sure.  Do you want help?”                                                           

            Sungmin shook his head and returned to cooking.  Ryeowook made his way to cupboard and pulled out a coffee mug.  “Did either of you see Kyu?”

            “Yeah, he left about twenty minutes ago,” Sungmin said.

            “Really?  He must be feeling a lot better.”

            “He looked like the living dead,” Jongwoon muttered.

            “Yeah, he looked a bit rough,” Sungmin admitted.  “He refused to eat anything.  Said he didn’t feel well enough yet.”

            Ryeowook filled his cup and sat down across from Jongwoon at the table.  “I didn’t think he even had a schedule today.  Did he say where he was going?”

            “No,” Jongwoon answered.  “Why should he?”

            Ryeowook frowned into his coffee as he took a sip before laying into him.  “Why did you take him out drinking yesterday and why did you let him have so much?”

            “We can’t have drinks together without you?”

            “It is a little strange.”

            “Maybe I just needed his advice on something.”

            Perhaps he did ask Kyuhyun what to get Sungmin for their anniversary, Ryeowook thought.  But if he did, Jongwoon would have been better off asking him.  He wasn’t going to dig into it too much with Sungmin standing right there though.

            “And as far as him drinking too much, he’s an adult.  He knows his own limit.  I didn’t abandon him at the bar or anything but he certainly is old enough to cut himself off.  I’m not telling a grown man when to quit drinking.  It isn’t my damn business.  But I didn’t let him drive home either.”

            “Kyuhyun almost never drinks too much anymore,” Sungmin added, bringing two plates of pancakes over to the table and setting one in front of each of them.  “After last night, he probably won’t do it again for a long time.  I’m sure you have nothing to worry about, Wookie.”

            Ryeowook held his tongue.  He would have liked to lecture Jongwoon a bit more but that would put Sungmin in a bad mood and there was no point in arguing with Jongwoon when he’d never admit to being wrong anyway.  Instead, he began to spread butter on his pancakes and then submerged them in syrup.  He’d grown addicted to eating sweet foods for breakfast after travelling so much and ate until he was ready to burst. 

            After showering and getting dressed, Ryeowook tried to call Kyuhyun but he never picked up, so he left a text message instead and headed to the radio station with Sungmin.  They were meeting with the staff there to discuss their upcoming shows and schedules for the next couple months and he didn’t get back until late afternoon.  Again, he tried texting Kyuhyun and got no reply.  Maybe he forgot to charge it, since he was drunk, and it died on him already.  Otherwise, Kyuhyun was addicted to his phone and had it pulled out anytime he was bored, either texting his friends or playing games. 

            Kyuhyun wasn’t filming his show today and he didn’t have anything to record, so it was a mystery to him where Kyuhyun was.  He actually wondered if he’d find out an answer quicker by looking online at twitter or some other social networking site and sure enough, there were pictures of him, Ahra, and his mom at a café together.  Ryeowook felt better knowing where he was and went about collecting his laundry to do a load when Kyuhyun finally walked in around dinnertime. 

            “Hey,” Ryeowook smiled, excited to see him for the first time all day.  “Do you need some laundry done?  I’m doing a load right now.”

            “Hey,” he said, looking up from staring down at his phone.  “No thanks.”

            “Did your phone die today?”

            “No.”

            “Oh, I tried texting you.”

            “I saw that and then forgot about it,” he only said, heading for his room.

            “Oh, okay,” Ryeowook said, beginning to wonder what had Kyuhyun so distracted.  “You want some dinner?”

            “No, I ate already.  Thanks,” Kyuhyun said, walking into his room and closing the door.

            Poor Kyuhyun, Ryeowook thought.  He probably didn’t feel the best still.  It had been a while since he’d had that much to drink.  He probably just needed to get some more rest.  Ryeowook continued to clean and made dinner, packing up a couple containers full of food for the fridge in case any of the others wanted to eat later. 

            After all his work was done, he knocked on Kyuhyun’s door and then turned the knob only to find it locked.  A few seconds later, he heard the lock click and Kyuhyun opened the door a crack.  “What’s up?”

            Ryeowook stood there dumbfounded.  Usually Kyuhyun invited Ryeowook into his room whenever he wanted to talk.  He must be in a bad mood.  He could see that Kyuhyun had his laptop open on his bed and was clearly playing games, if the music was any indication.  “I was wondering if you’re feeling better from yesterday.”

            “For the most part,” Kyuhyun said, staring at Ryeowook.

            “That’s good,” he said, not sure what to say next. 

            “Is there something you wanted?”

            “No, I was just worried about you.”

            “Thanks for taking care of me last night.”

            “You know you’re always welcome,” he said.

            “Well,” Kyuhyun said with a yawn, “I’m going to unwind a bit and go to bed.  Goodnight, Wook.”

            “Goodnight, Kyu.”

            Kyuhyun shut the door and Ryeowook went to his own room and went to bed early.  It had been a strange day and he didn’t mind cutting it short.  Tomorrow was a new day.  The trouble was, the next day ended up being just as strange.

            Ryeowook was cooking breakfast and unlike yesterday’s sweet pancakes, he decided to make a more traditional Korean meal with rice and vegetables and various sides.  Jongwoon and Sungmin were excited by the thoughtful gesture.  Kyuhyun woke up early as well, as he needed to be at the studio to record his show.  He still had plenty of time before he typically left but when he entered the kitchen, he seemed in a scramble to collect some coffee, an apple, and a roll. 

            “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”

            “No, I have a couple errands to run before I get to the studio,” he said without looking at Ryeowook.

            “Anything I can help with?” Ryeowook asked, watching Kyuhyun with concern.

            “No.”

            “Okay.  Well, you have a nice day.  I’ll be making a big dinner, so don’t come home too late,” he informed the maknae.

            “I won’t be home, I’m having dinner with Victoria tonight,” he said, gathering everything into his arms and heading for the door.

            “Have fun on your date!” Jongwoon called out.

            Kyuhyun glared at Jongwoon before he grabbed his coat and walked out the door.

            Ryeowook was standing still, staring at the doorway, when Sungmin stood up and walked over to him.  “You know what,” he said, “I think Kyu’s been acting kind of weird the last couple days.”

            “You too?”

            “Weird?” questioned Jongwoon.  “He’s busier than normal and it’s odd that he’s up early but maybe he’s planning on sending Victoria some flowers today or something.”

            “I thought she was dating Nichkhun,” Sungmin said, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought.

            “Maybe they had a falling out.  You can’t deny that Kyuhyun and Victoria have always been close, he probably saw his chance and took it,” Jongwoon suggested, still digging into his food.

            “Or she’s shamelessly throwing herself at him,” Ryeowook countered.

            “Yeah, he looked real upset about it,” Jongwoon pointed out.

            Ryeowook grabbed onto Sungmin’s sleeve and bit his lip.  Sungmin frowned at Jongwoon and narrowed his eyes.  Jongwoon ignored him.

            “He’s acting different around me too.  I think he’s avoiding me.”

            “You know, just because he doesn’t spend every waking hour of the day with you doesn’t mean he’s avoiding you.  I know you’re kind of stuck on him still but he does have a life outside of you,” Jongwoon said, picking up his dish and bringing it to the sink before walking out the door.

            Sungmin leaned against the counter thinking.  “I don’t know what planet he lives on sometimes.  You’re not the clingy one to begin with,” Sungmin said, turning to Ryeowook.  “I’m sure he’s right about Kyuhyun being busy though.  I can’t see Kyuhyun ignoring you on purpose.”

            “You didn’t see him yesterday.”

            “Three days ago he was carrying you around and waited on you hand and foot.  I think he’s just having an off day.”

            Ryeowook decided not to debate the matter further with his friend.  If Kyuhyun continued to act the way he did yesterday in the coming days, he’d know if there was something wrong.  But he hoped Sungmin was right.

            “And what about his date tonight?”

            “I still think she’s with Nichkhun.  If she isn’t, Kyuhyun’s going to want to watch his back,” Sungmin said, dragging Ryeowook over to the table to eat with him.

            There was no way he could eat now, though.  Kyuhyun was having dinner with Victoria.  Even if it wasn’t an actual date, didn’t that still mean something?  He didn’t say that he was meeting with f(x), just her.  Why?  They sometimes called and text each other but they’d never eaten out before.  What was different now?