It had already been a whole week since Super Junior had begun working with us. Somehow, I was still in shock. Waking up every morning, knowing that my idols would soon be here was just as much as a earth shaking surprise as it had been the first day. This was all so surreal. Everything about it. The singing, the dancing, the goofing off...everything was so new to me. I'd never had many friends before joining INFECTION, and now suddenly I had 14 of them. It was so hard to believe that I was here right now. I'd lived a perfectly normal child hood for the most part, never thinking I'd be anyone important. Maybe a veternarian, maybe a doctor, I'd even had been okay with being a waitress the rest of my life. I was just letting life take me to where I was meant to be. All I could do was pray that this really was the right path, I didn't want to lose all that I had gained.

I looked down at the sleeves of the gray sweater that I was wearing. Kyuhyun's sweater. I had attempted to return it to him, but that didn't work out too well. He insisted that I keep it; he had plenty more sweaters to wear. He claimed that although it was his favorite sweater, he didn't care. He'd find a new favorite soon enough. After arguing with him timidly for a few more minutes, trying to return the article of clothing, he said something that stopped me from continuing the argument.

"It looks better on you anyways. It's cute. Keep it okay?"


I was never sure how to react to compliments, but for some reason...Kyuhyun's compliment made me feel even more uncomfortable than normal. It had silenced every word that I had in my mind, ceased them from passing out of my mouth. Instead I simply nodded in defeat. Ever since that event 6 days ago, I'd been trying to wrap my mind around my sudden silence. Usually I could mumble out some sort of 'thank you' to a compliment. But it just didn't happen this time.

"How strange..." I said softly to myself, playing with the hem of the sweater sleeve.

"What's strange?" Sungmin asked me as he sat down next to me on the couch.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking." I said. Instantly a smile over took my face. Sungmin and I were already becoming good friends. I could talk to him better than most other people, aside from Ae-Cha and Yeon-Seo that was. I rarely discussed my problems with Eun Rae because, since she was younger, I felt it was my job to help her. She needn't help me. And Hei-Ryung...well, she was just not the most sympathetic person ever. All this made me more thankful for my friendship with Sungmin.

"About what? Come on, don't make me play 20 questions with you." Sungmin said with a laugh. "Or worse yet, tickle torture. I know you don't want that." He said, slidding closer to me on the couch, tickling my sides gently, becoming more agressive as the moments passed.

"Fine! Fine! I give!" I said between laughs. Amazingly I had lasted a whole 30 seconds under Sungmin's tickle torture. That was a new record for sure. Sungmin pulled his hands away from me and looked intently as he waited for my answer. "I was thinking about Kyuhyun."

"Oh~ Do you like him?" Sungmin asked, bouncing up and down slightly as he did so.

"I-I didn't mean thinking about him like that Minnie. I meant...like how it was weird that he let me keep his sweater for good." I said, back tracking as much as I could. I knew I should have been more specific.
 

"Kyuhyun is a nice guy Sang-Hee. Of course he would do something like that. You're just not very used to people doing nice things for you." Sungmin said reassuringly. He held out his arms wide and smiled that adorable smile. "Hug?"

"Yes please." I said as I scooted closer to him, wrapping my arms around his torso. He hugged me back tightly. Sungmin really did give great hugs, and they always made me feel better regardless of what was bothering me. Honestly, he was the first 'best friend' I had ever had. There was no attraction between us, no feelings other than friendship. Yes, he was cute but I just didn't think of him that way; I knew he felt the same.

"Sungmin, Sang-Hee. It's time to go now." Donghae said. His voice tore my face away from Sungmin's chest where it had previously been buried. Still in our embrace, Sungmin and I looked over towards Donghae who was in the door way wearing his winter jacket. He didn't look too pleased, but I had no idea why.

"Okay Donghae!" I said with a smile. For a brief second, the small scowl on Donghae's face turned up into the tiniest of smiles. Then, he left the room, heading for the door way.

"Hey that rhymed!" Sungmin said. We stood up from the couch and bolted over to the door where everyone was waiting. I slipped on my boots and my winter coat, followed closely by Sungmin. Once we were all ready, the group went out the door and piled into the vans. Tonight, we were going bowling.

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"I wanna go first! Can I?! Can I please?!" Eun Rae asked, practically vibrating with excitement. This girl certainly was an exciteable person. Just a simple thing like bowling could send her through the roof with happiness. And for some reason her excitement always rubbed off on everyone, it was contagious.

"Yes, yes. For the love of God just go!" Yeon-Seo said. Though she was pretending to be annoyed, the smile on her voice betrayed her. She was already enjoying herself just as much as everyone else. Why she insisted on acting like the mature leader all the time was beyond me.

"Yay! Let's go Yesung!" Eun Rae said, running over to one of the many lanes they had reserved for us. In actuality, our managers had reserved one whole side of the alley for us. That way, if there were any fans here, they had to stay fairly far away. They didn't do that to be mean, they did it to protect us. Which was weird in a way.

There were three teams; five people per team. Team one consisted of Yesung, Heechul, Eun Rae, Yeon-Seo and Eunhyuk. Team two was Shindong, Hei-Ryung, Leeteuk, Ryeowook and Siwon. Finally, team three was Kyuhyun, Ae-Cha, Donghae, Sungmin and myself. I was pretty excited, although I was pretty bad at bowling since I had only ever gone twice before this. Once when I was six, and once again when I was ten. Being now 21, with minimal bowling skills, a vistory did not seem to be in my future. It was just for fun though, I didn't care if I won or lost.

Ae-Cha entered our names onto the screen and with that, the game had begun. To my surprise, the others on my team were all pretty good. Well, except myself. Even Ae-Cha was a tad better than me, and she was far too mature for such childish things. Though she was a kid once too. I always forgot that when it came to Ae-Cha. She was just one of those people that you imagined had been an adult her whole life. Clearly that was not the case since it wasn't possible but...still. Finally, it had come around to my turn for the first time. Ae-Cha had been smart and put me last on the list. I walked up to the lane nervously and picked up a bowling ball, which was a whole lot heavier than I originally thought. After nearly fallin over for a second I regained my balance and walked to the lane, looking back at the others. Oh man, there was no way I could do this.

I would at least give it a try though. I watched Siwon down at the next lane briefly, seeing his form on how he did it. I  couldn't mimick that, now way. So, I just put the ball on the lane and pushed it as hard as I could to get it rolling; I could only bowl granny style. Unfortunately, I got a gutter ball. I turned back to the others and shrugged my shoulders. And to think, I still had two more tries this turn alone.

"I'm really bad at this." I said nervously, adding in a quiet laugh.

"Do you want me to help you Sang-Hee?" Kyuhyun asked as he stood from his seat.

"Oh yes please!" I said. Kyuhyun then walked over to where I was, picking up a bowling ball on his way over. He then took one of my hands and placed it on the ball properly. The two of us walked closer to the lane and he began to instructed me on the ways of bowling.

"Okay, now when you are going to release the ball, make sure you lean into it a little. It'll make it a bit stronger." Kyuhyun said, finishing up the last of his lesson. "You want me to stay here while you try it?"

I simply nodded and looked down the lane with determination. I could do it. Kyuhyun stood on my side opposite from the hand with the ball. As if it were nothing, He placed one hand on my shoulder and talked me through it all once again. I finally rolled the ball down the alley like how Kyu had shown me. It had a lot more power than the last time I had went.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" I shouted as it rolled down the lane. Slowly but surely it made it's way down the lane and knocked over one pin. I jumped up and down happily, smiling and laughing as I did so. "Kyuhyun! You're the best teacher ever!" I said as I hugged him quickly. From there, I skipped over to attain another ball. I finished up my turn, knocking down another two pins with my last try.

Now that I was satisfied with myself, I took a seat with the others to wait for my turn. Kyuhyun was up next. I sat between Donghae and Sungmin, the latter of the two instantly gave me a high five when I sat down. Something seemed off though, something in the air was not happy. That was odd, everyone was having a great time. I looked over at the man on my left side, seeing a considerable amount of anger and pain in Donghae's eyes. Concerned, I placed a hand on his and leaned towards him.

"Donghae? What's wrong?" I asked softly, not wanting to embarss him in front of the rest of our friends.

"Don't worry about it Sang-Hee. I'm fine." Donghae said. That wasn't a good enough answer for me, he wouldn't even make eye contact. That was not a good sign as far as I knew.

"Oppa you shouldn't be sad, we're here to have fun." I said, squeezing his hand lightly. Donghae seemed slightly taken aback for some reason, as he looked down at me. Suddenly, Donghae's entire mood seemed to change with one swift motion. His frown turned into a smile, and the anger in his eyes completely disappeared only to be replaced with what could only be described as joy. He squeezed my hand back, returning the reassuring grip.

"You're right. I shouldn't mope around, I'll have fun from now on I promise." Donghae replied. There, now we all could enjoy ourselves. I hated to see anyone sad, especially a friend.

"Donghae, it's your turn!" Sungmin said, pointing to the score screen excitedly. Donghae nodded and took his hand from mine reluctantly.

"Knock those pins over Donghae Oppa! You can do it!" I shouted, ing a fist in the air. Dongahe simply turned back and smirked.

"Anything for you." Donghae said with a wink. He then turned his attention to the lane and bowled. Then...crash. He got a strike. Anything for me? What was that even supposed to mean?