It was 9 pm, and I hadn’t seen the boys for a while. Are they alright? I hope nothing happened while they were at their photo shoot... All of a sudden, two arms reached around me and I was twirled around in someone’s arms, “Whoa~ slow down cowboy!!” I laughed as I came face-to-face with none other than Junho, who looked more than relieved that I was alright. “Where have you guys been? I didn’t know that shooting a couple of pictures with soda could take so long…” I fake- pouted and put my hands on my hips in a scolding older-sister fashion, even as Chan, Junsu, and Woo leaned in to kiss me on my cheeks.

Taec grinned as he hugged me close, whispering, “Well, let’s just say that the shoot was- full of surprises for all of us…” There was something in his voice that didn’t sound like, well, Taecyeon, and as we pulled away I thought I saw something flash behind his eyes, even as he smiled- what the?- and then Nick kissed the back of my hand and held it gently, swinging it between us as he said, “Sorry for making you wait, sister-we can go now, if you’d like.” I smiled, then looked around. “Hey~ where’s our fearless leader?” Nick passed a very quick, unreadable look to Taec before answering me, “He had to run back to the office for something-don’t worry, he’ll meet up with us soon,” he said, brightening at my own happy expression. “Well ,come on~ let’s go!!” Pulling Nick and Woo by the hands, I ran outside the building, the others smiling and following behind me.

…..We walked back to the mansion, laughing and talking; however, there was something……different, in the way we went our way. We laughed and joked around, but there was something……underneath the surface that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

We got back to the Mansion, and immediately I remembered what I had to say to the members of 2PM. “We should start scheduling our one-on-one meetings together,” I said as we sat around the table, looking at our schedules for the week. “We can have hour-long sessions that can be knocked out in the course of one day.”  Junho’s hand shot up. “Me first me first please!!” Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Is anyone here surprised?” We laughed as Junho punched his hyung in the shoulder.

Junsu chuckled as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll go right after him-that’ll get the Jun brothers out of the way,” he said, nodded congenially at the others. “I’ll call it next, and knowing how Woo likes his afternoon naps I’m sure he’ll follow me,” Chansung said, as Wooyoung nodded. “I have to do my ambassador work for Chiang Mai in the morning, so I’ll go after that-“ Nick said, and Taec grinned. “That leaves me and our Yankee leader afterwards,” he said, looking at Junho with a knowing smirk. “Seeing as he isn’t here, he can go last.”

I slapped him lightly on the arm as Junho laughed. “Hey~I’m a Yankee too; watch your words young man.” Junsu shrugged as the rapper merely brushed me off and instead began to tickle me instead. “Hey!!I’m warning you~” I squealed in laughter, and Junho immediately jumped to save me from Taecyeon.

“Sorry, but Jaebeom has his ways-every once in a while he separates himself from us and goes off somewhere. There’s nothing wrong with alone time, but he shies away from learning more about his culture.” Nick, who had come to my rescue by pulling a flailing Junho from Taec’s back(who had pushed me into Chan and created a warm, jiggling  jumble pile of arms, legs, and limbs in weird places ) sat back on his haunches with a knowing look at the others. “But can we say that we have made it easy for Jay? He’s been under a lot of pressure lately-“ Junho scoffed while separating himself from the Thai rapper and coming to sit next to me on the plush terry carpet. “He was chosen to be the leader of a Korean International Sensational Group-shouldn’t he know it by now?”

I sat down with my legs straight out, running my fingers through Chan and Taec’s hair while he spoke, and they readjusted themselves in my lap as Woo said softly, “I guess it really hasn’t been easy for him….” I was looking at Nick as the Thai prince gazed out the window, looking so….alone. I can’t have that happening on my watch. “Well, since I’m your guest, you guys have to do what I want- at least for the first week or so,” I said coyly, catching everyone off guard. Taec snorted and moved his head on my leg so that I could see the skepticism on his face. “Oh yeah? Why should we listen to you?” he teased. I pounced on him, catching everyone but Chan off guard, rolling until I ended up on top of him, wrestling his arms to his side as he laughed through and through. “Now, that’s impressive…” Woo applauded.

Junho cried out, “Hey!!!You never do that with meeez!!” Chan rolled his eyes and flipped onto his hyung, catching him in an arm bar and laughing. “That’s because we know you’re no match for me, what says Taren-unnie!!” I sat on Taec and pondered for a moment while the 6 footer squirmed beneath me, much to the laughter of Junsu, Woo, and Nick. “I know~ let’s go clubbing tonight!!!I feel like letting loose before the real work begins,” I said, reaching over and tugging a few loose strands of Nick’s hair, causing him to smile. Junsu nodded, even over the strained yelps of Ho underneath the maknae.

Wooyoung padded across to the computer, pulling up a list of clubs and activities that we could do without drawing too much attention to us. “Hey Junsu-oppa- toss me your phone please,” and as soon as I caught it I texted Jay. Oppa, are you alright? I miss your face!!:P Taren. Within a minute, his response came back through: Lol, my bad- I just had to walk and clear my head, you know? I’ll be back shortly, dear yoona. JWalker J

Junsu was leaning over Woo’s shouler, and he tapped the computer screen. “Hey~ I heard that one, Upbeatz, is a pretty cool place-Big Bang recommended it to me.” I nodded, and finally got up off Taecyeon’s chuckling torso. “Then it’s decided- we are partying it up tonight!!” Nick folded his arms, “Are we even concerned about safety?” I highfived Chan as he finally let go of a groaning Junho, and faced my adopted older brother. “Nick, if we’re all going together, we should be fine-besides, with friends like you, there’s no way we could lose!!” I pouted my best, and finally Nichkhun caved in. “Fine- a couple of clubs and that’s it!!!”