*DONGHAE’S POV*

Hmmmm, this is seriously a dilemma that I didn’t wanna come in contact with first thing in the morning. Eggs and bacon or salad? Gosh, eggs and bacon would definitely be a heaven on earth to have for breakfast but sadly I can’t have them. Our nutritionist would skin me alive if we have that much fat in the morning. Yes, we do have our own nutritionist, someone who’s paid to watch what we eat and tell us what to eat. Sounds sad? Yes, it does. But that’s actually what it takes for us to keep our bodies as fit as possible to project the right kind of image to the public with us being one of the top idols in our country. That probably sounded gay and a little bit conceited but, again, that’s the complete and total truth. And with that, I took the salad. I left the buffet area and went back to the table where I was sitting at with the guys, the SNSD girls and our crews when I spotted Hyukjae and Alice coming towards the coffee shop. My arm was halfway up to wave at them but I was brought to a sudden halt. There was something different with them but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. I mean, even though it’s no longer a surprise that they came together and they were talking and laughing like they used to, it’s like something changed between them. They walked over to our table and Alice quickly took the empty seat beside me with Hyukjae taking the other seat beside her, both of them had matching big smiles on their faces.

“Looks like someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning.”

I said teasingly at Alice and she just laughed lightly at that as she ordered coffee to the waiter.

“I just feel really good today.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at her answer, immediately feeling like something was definitely up. I know for sure that that quirky girl is not much of a morning person so to see her being this cheery at as early as 7 AM was usually damn near impossible. But even after I decided to give it a rest and thought that maybe she just had a really good night’s sleep, I just couldn’t shake off that nagging feeling when I started observing Alice and Hyukjae. The air around them seemed to have changed but I couldn’t really tell what the difference was.  And the way that they looked at each other…

“Did you guys just got laid, or something?”

I nearly choked on the cup of tea that I was sipping on when Yesung hyung innocently (and loudly) blurted out that question at Alice and Hyukjae. And by the way Alice was coughing like crazy, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one with that reaction.

“Yah! Hyung, do we really need to hear that on breakfast?”

Sungmin hyung complained at that, scrunching his nose and pouting slightly, pulling out his best aegyo card. Aish, does he really have to do that? He’s freakin 24 years old for Christ’s sakes!

“Seriously, can you blame me? These two are waltzing in with grins as wide as the equator, or something. They must be getting la-…”

And everybody just burst out laughing when Yesung hyung’s words were cut off by Heechul hyung slapping him on the back of his head with a violent look on his face, eyes bulging out like they were gonna fell off the socket, or something.

“Yah! Jong-woon, don’t talk about my baby girl like that. No one is gonna get remotely close to getting my baby girl laid when I’m around, mark my words. And that includes you, monkey boy, even if I give you my blessing to make a move on her!”

“Aish, hyung, I didn’t say anything about that, Yesung hyung did!”

“Well, with all your obsession with , I’m pretty sure you’re at least thinking about it and…”

“Hyung! Alice SURELY doesn’t need to know that!”

The situation just went from being funny into flat out totally hilarious. A few people at the table had even started snickering at that. It literally took everything in me not to burst out laughing and started beating my fists on the table. I mean, Heechul hyung’s expression was still of that furious big brother type thing (which he sort of is for Alice) when he started arguing with Hyukjae, while the latter just looked at him with a clueless and even almost helpless look on his face. I mean, Heechul hyung can be quite scary at times. And in between all this mess was Alice, who never got the chance to speak even though she was pretty much the object of this conversation, and I could tell that she was starting to get agitated, pissed off, even. She looked from me, to Heechul hyung, to Hyukjae then to Yesung hyung, looking like she was picking who’s going to be the target of her wrath first. Uh oh, those veins on the side of her head looked like they’re gonna pop anytime soon. I can practically count it down in my head now. Three… Two… I didn’t even manage to get to one when…   

“Oh my god, shut the up all of you! What the hell are you guys going on and on about at freakin 7 in the morning?! Nobody’s getting laid here, not me, not my boyfriend, and now most definitely not you, Hee, I’ll chase that girl around to make sure you won’t get any!”

And the whole table just went completely silent after that. Mostly because Alice was starting to get pissed off, and when Alice is pissed you can’t really do anything about… wait, what did she just say? What boyfriend, exactly? Wait, could this be… I looked at Hyukjae and even though he was trying so hard to contain his laugh, I could tell what that glint in his eyes meant. Oh my, they really are dating now. This is such great news. Alice, however, was still fuming slightly from her little outburst and looked like she didn’t even realize what she just said. Her face then turned into a frown when she noticed that all the guys are now grinning and looking at each other and at Alice and Hyukjae as they too had noticed that Alice had addressed Hyukjae as her boyfriend.

“What is wrong with you guys today?”

Heechul hyung, whose violent expression was completely gone, grinned at Alice’s irritated question and playfully threw his napkin towards Alice.

“Baby girl, you just admitted to the whole table that this monkey is your boyfriend.”

And everybody started laughing again when Alice gasped and covered with her hand and looked in horror at Hyukjae, as if she was trying to make sure that she indeed had said what she had said. Hyukjae didn’t say anything, he just kept grinning as he put an arm around Alice and she quickly buried her face on his neck, right after we all noticed that her face had burned bright red from everything that happened. Well, I gotta hand it to Hyukjae, his efforts have finally paid off and they really look like they should be together now. This is totally daebak.

“Oh, I just realized something. Now I can do this…”

Hyukjae stopped mid sentence and went to kiss Alice on the lips. Much to the displease of Heechul hyung, that is.

“And none of you can say anything about it.”

Heechul hyung was just about to open his mouth to say something when Hyukjae did that but Alice had beaten him to it.

“What the hell was that for?!!”

I laughed so hard as I saw the furious look on her face as she yelled that to Hyukjae in protest, smacking her boyfriend in the arm while the latter was just grinning from ear to ear at her protests, looking pretty much amused by how she’s reacting. That triggered the whole table to also laugh at that. But I swear it got even funnier when Teukie hyung said through his laugh,

“Yah! This early in their relationship and we can already tell who’s gonna be wearing the pants in the family!”

“What family??!!”

Alice’s voice came out at least a few decibels higher than normal when she said that, and coupled with her eyes that went from normal size to the size of a saucer in record-quick time, this girl was a circus clown for everybody’s entertainment at that moment. I mean, she was yelling at pretty much everybody that about her and Hyukjae finally dating, and that meant EVERYBODY there! Well, I guess except for Tiffany and the girls who just sneered at each other when the others were busy teasing Alice. Ever since that eventful day at the photo studio, I think Alice just pretty much gave up in trying to patch things up with the girls, well especially Tiffany , seeing as she was even more bent on hating Alice when she actually fought her back. I really have nothing to say to this now, it’s honestly getting to be a little out of hand. But at that time, when I looked over to my side and observed Alice and Hyukjae again, I didn’t think she was even paying any attention on Tiffany or the girls, or even anyone, for that matter. Her eyes seemed like they only wandered away for a couple seconds at a time before they focused back on Hyukjae, and the same could be said to him too. It was like they just couldn’t take their eyes off each other. I guess I got it pretty much in the bull’s eye when I said that they’d make a sickeningly cute couple cause man, they REALLY are. I looked at Heechul hyung and he quickly looked at me too. He pointed at Alice and Hyukjae and mouthed ‘daebak’ and I could just laugh at that, I couldn’t agree more. But then I caught something from the corner of my eyes. Amidst all this hype of finally finding out that Hyukjae and Alice are officially an item, and unnoticed by anybody, Siwon just abruptly stood up from his seat and left the coffee shop with an blank look on his face. And just before he left I could’ve sworn I saw a hint of sadness in his eyes, but then again, I wasn’t really sure. And I also noticed that he hasn’t said a word about the big news we just got. I glanced at Alice and saw that she too had realized what Siwon did, her blue eyes were locked on Siwon’s back as he walked away from the coffee shop. What was that all about?

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*HEECHUL’S POV*

“Hey hey hey, none of that while you’re under my roof!”

Both Hyukjae and Alice hastily pulled away from each other on the couch where they were sitting at and cuddling with each other as I got out of the bathroom and said that. I was only gone for 3 freakin minutes and they were already heavily making out and playing tonsil tennis, or something, and I could’ve sworn I saw some tongue action there. Man, when I found out that they were dating I didn’t think that I signed up for this, always walking in on them making out, that is. And truth be told, that happened more often than I think I was comfortable with. And the weird thing is that it only happened to me! I even went as far as asking the other guys whether they’ve walked in on Alice and Hyukjae each other’s face off and none of them ever had this happen to them! Aish, this is seriously ruining my mental health. Plus, I’m still surprised how these two can transition from being friends into being a couple that easily in just a few days.

“Hee, how is this YOUR roof? It’s my room! And what are you, my dad?”

“Yah! I’m not your dad, I’m just your gorgeous big brother! And you’re really close to making your gorgeous big brother mentally-scarred cause you just can’t be a good girl and stop ing up your monkey boy!”

“Uh… hyung, I’m right here you know.”

“Shut up, this is between me and your girlfriend, or maybe in this case my naughty baby sister.”

“Hee, seriously, you’re 27 years old and your extent of vocabulary is NAUGHTY?”

This girl is pushing it.

“I’m 28, young lady!”

“Psh, in Korea you are. In case you forgot, we’re in Taipei now and I’m practically American so I won’t acknowledge any of this one year older weird thing you Koreans do.”

“Jagiya, hate to break it down to you, but you’re half-Korean. So this weird thing that ‘us’ Koreans do kinda apply to you too.”

“Oh my god, Silver, what does that word mean? You’ve been calling me that for the past couple days and I still can’t figure out what it means, it’s seriously driving me crazy!”

“Have you even tried Googling it?”

“I don’t even know how to spell it, and each time I asked any one of the guys how they’d end up laughing at me muttering something that sounds an awful lot like ‘shame to Koreans everywhere’, or something!”

As I watched these two bickering with each other like an old married couple, a somewhat evil idea went through my head. Ha, I now somehow saw a way to get back at her. Serves her right for being a bad girl.

“Baby girl, that word means stuck-up . So each time he said that he’s actually calling you a stuck-up .”

“Yah! Hyung, do you want me to die by her hands?”

As soon as I saw that violent look appeared on Alice’s face, I knew my plan worked. And as Alice practically assaulted Hyukjae, pinching him anywhere where she can see and he was screaming in protest from the fact that Alice has the odd ability to really hurt someone with just a pinch, I just grinned. I lay on the bed and started flicking through the TV channels, basking in victory. I freakin won. I managed to get them well on to the way of their first fight. I love them both, I really do, but if I have to walk in on them making out once again, I’m sure I would have to seriously hurt one of them. Making out like that when none of us, including me, are even allowed to bring a girl to this tour. Psh, where’s the fairness in that?

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

I turned my head towards the door and saw that Siwon was there, leaning sideways onto the door frame with a weirded out look on his face as he saw Hyukjae laying flat on his stomach on the couch and Alice was straddling him, sitting on his back and pinning him down, still trying to keep pinching him on his back and they were both still bickering at each other. What the hell? When did they get into that kinda position? And as soon as she saw who was at the door, she immediately grinned sheepishly and sat back down on the couch, and Hyukjae breathed a huge sigh of relief as he composed himself before sitting down on the couch beside Alice, looking every bit like he was genuinely relieved to have Siwon stopping his girlfriend from torturing him even further. I really need to start taking tips from Siwon about how to keep Alice in check. Seriously, he’s the only one who can do that. I mean, after all, he’s the only one that Alice really listens too.

“Are you guys all packed? We’re leaving in like, 15 minutes, or something. The bus is waiting downstairs.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right, I still haven’t cleared the closet, I think. Hyukjae, help me out will you?”

At first Hyukjae looked at me curiously but after I stared at him for a good three seconds, he finally got what I meant and quickly stood up from the couch. I really wanted to let Alice and Siwon have their own moment to sort out whatever it is between them. Why do I have to do this, you ask? Well, it’s cause I noticed that they haven’t spoken to each other for the past couple days. I maybe went way out on a limb here but ever since that day where Alice practically -slapped Tiffany in front of everybody, Alice and Siwon just weren’t the same. And to add to it, Alice began dating Hyukjae not long after that and practically spent every waking minute together with him. Although I highly doubt that it was limited only to the time when they’re awake. I mean, I’m rooming with Hyukjae and he’s been noticeably absent from our room for the past couple nights. Disappearing at night and just magically reappeared the next morning. I’d bet you both my ears that he’s spending the night in Alice’s room. But anyway, the fact that the little monkey is dating my baby girl isn’t really what I wanted to talk about right now.

“I’ll see you down at the lobby, okay?”

“Okay. And don’t forget to put your baseball caps in your backpack, you’re always freaking out when you can’t find them in your suitcase.”

“Okay, okay.”

It really was not fair. I was already satisfied enough for tricking Alice and Hyukjae into bickering with each other but seeing them acting all couple-y like that, Hyukjae kissing Alice on the cheek before he left and her being all girlfriend-ish about the way he’s packing his stuff, I was suddenly reminded why they’re a couple at the first place. They just kinda, work well together. Aish, I love them both too much, I guess. So then Hyukjae and I left Siwon and Alice there in her room and we made our way back to our room.

“Hyung, do you really think they could patch things up?”

“You mean Alice and Siwon? They should be able to. I’d probably lose faith in any form of friendship if they can’t make it work. Why are you interested in it anyway?”

At this point, we already gathered all of our belongings and were prepared to go downstairs. I glanced at Hyukjae, and when I noticed that he actually put his baseball caps in his backpack, I laughed inwardly at that. He actually did what she told him to do. The monkey’s completely smitten over my baby girl, I can give him that. Hyukjae then looked up at me when I asked him that question.

“Hyung, we’re talking about my girlfriend here. And I dunno, Alice just looked a little miserable lately. I know it must have something to do with Siwon cause they’ve been kinda distant lately and… agh, I just hate seeing her miserable like that.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. The fact that he earnestly said that already had me surprised. He really cared that much about my baby girl, huh?

*SIWON’S POV*

“I’ll see you down at the lobby, okay?”

“Okay. And don’t forget to put your baseball caps in your backpack, you’re always freaking out when you can’t find them in your suitcase.”

“Okay, okay.”

I could only stood still as I witnessed that conversation between Maddie and Eunhyuk, and felt that familiar awkwardness started creeping back as Eunhyuk planted a kiss on her cheek before he and Heechul hyung left. And somehow I was still taken aback after their little announcement that they’re now dating a few days back. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that Maddie’s boyfriend is one of my best friends too. In the past, Maddie’s boyfriends are usually just a faceless name in what little stories that she told me about them. She never carry around pictures of her together with her boyfriend or something like that, she always left the room whenever she got a call from them, which wasn’t that often cause she once told me that she’s the one who forbid them to do that too much, that’s how Maddie is. And truth be told, I was far more comfortable with that. Now, I have to put up with seeing her and Eunhyuk acting like the couple that they are and I’m just… totally not comfortable with that.

“Nate, can you help me with this?”

I snapped out of my thoughts when Maddie said that, then I noticed that she was struggling a little with her camera case. Which I might add, is almost the same size as her suitcase. Photographers and their over-the-top equipments, I still can’t understand it.

“Yeah, sure.”

I quickly walked towards Maddie and picked up the case for her, putting it beside her suitcase and all her belongings for the hotel’s concierge to pick up later. I had my back facing her and I was still bending down to arrange her things when I suddenly felt a pair of arms wrapped around my torso.

“You’re mad at me, huh?”

I smiled to myself at Maddie’s innocent question. Seriously, no matter how uneasy she makes me feel when it comes to her and Eunhyuk, how can I be mad at her? I turned around, still with Maddie’s arms around me and also wrap my arms around her. She looked up at me and I could see worry etched all over her face. She really thought I was mad her, huh? But then she just looked relieved as I smiled at her, already getting my silent statement that I’m in no way mad at her.

“I’m not and I’ll never be. Why do you think I am?”

“It’s just… you’ve been really distant since… well, since I started dating Silver. And I saw how you practically just up and left that day when everybody found out about it. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away about it but it just happened so fast and I wasn’t even planning on letting everybody knows about it. My stupid mind and mouth just didn’t work well enough that day.”

“Maddie, that’s okay. I understand. I mean, you guys just started dating and you probably wanna spend more time together and I just didn’t wanna bother you. And the fact that I left didn’t have anything to do with that, really.”

Why did it feel like I was telling her a lie when I said that? Why is it that a part of me wanted to let her know that I left that day at the coffee shop cause I couldn’t overcome the shock that took over me? I only heard about them going on a date the night before and the next morning they’re already a couple? Shouldn’t they take longer than that? Shouldn’t she take more deliberations or maybe even confide in me before she made a decision? Never-ending questions, that’s all I seemed to manage when it comes to Maddie these days, I don’t understand why. But as I looked at her, I knew she believed what I said whole-heartedly. She already started to smile that pretty smile that always appeared on her face whenever she’s happy as she let go of me.

“Well, that’s good, then. My good Lord Jesus Christ knows I couldn’t sleep at night, thinking you’re mad at me.”

She said with a wide grin on her face as she picked up her postman bag and slung the strap on one shoulder, and I just laughed at that. I pinched her cheek playfully as we both made our way out of the room.

“How can I be mad at you, silly, where would I find another one like you who could put up with me?”

“Put up with you? Nate, everybody in their right mind could ‘put up with you’ if that’s what you wanna call it. You’re a in… walking, talking perfection!”

“Oh yeah, so I’m perfect cause I started bawling when we watch The Lion King? Or that time when a girl kicked the outta me on my Taekwondo practice?”

Her full lips suddenly curled up into a sly smile after I said that.

“I only said you’re a walking talking perfection cause I wanna hear those things coming straight from your mouth. Ha!”

The girl had done it. She freakin managed to get me to say that without me even realizing it! Then we looked at each other and just blew up laughing as we continued our way towards the lobby. Ah, I missed this kinda moment. I missed the little talks we used to have. I missed her.

“Does Eunhyuk make you happy, though?”

Maddie looked at me, looking a little shocked as I asked her that.

“Do you think he’s not making me happy?”

She asked me back as we walked into the elevator.

“I think he does but I just… wanna hear it from you. Then I could really believe that you are happy.”

She smiled again and subconsciously held on to my arm before saying,

“You know that I never believed in happiness that’s caused by other factors than ourselves, right? But the way he makes me happy made me willing to reconsider that.”

It took me a couple seconds to come up with anything to reply her. She already thinks that highly of Eunhyuk? After only a few days of dating?

“Well, that’s good then. I’m just a little worried that he’s not making you as happy as you deserved to be.”

“Give the guy a little more time, I’m pretty sure he’ll prove that you shouldn’t even be worried. And you can think of it this way, you don’t have to be so worried about me all the time now, you got Silver to share that with.”

She laughed lightly as she said that and the elevator door opened with a ‘ding’ as we finally reached the lobby. I was sure that Maddie said that with the best intention, but I somehow didn’t see it that way. Her saying that is like telling me indirectly that I’m no longer the main guy in her life, which never happened before, even when she was with her ex boyfriends. And it surprised me how much I wanted to disagree to that, how much I wanted her not to say that, how much I wanted her to say that even though she’s dating Eunhyuk I’m still her everything and the only thing she could count on, just like she repeatedly said to me in the past. As soon as we got out of the elevator, I noticed that Maddie’s eyes immediately started to wander around, no doubt in search of Eunhyuk. But Eunhyuk found us first. He was in the middle of the lobby, with his phone stuck to his ear while he was talking to someone on the line, yet he managed to spot us and waved at Maddie, who started to walk happily towards her boyfriend. Eunhyuk quickly took her hand in his as she got to him, smiling at her as he did so, even though he was still talking on the phone. I felt something spread throughout my insides as I witnessed all of that happening. I really didn’t know what it was, all I know was that I suddenly had the urge to look away from Maddie and Eunhyuk. I didn’t like what I was seeing.

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This is probably the longest chapter I've ever posted. Well, I'm happy to do that though, since it's been kind of a long time since I've updated this story. Anyways, I really hope you guys still enjoy this. As always, please make me happy. Kekekeke :P Love ya! :)