I awoke the next morning to birds chirping and sunlight falling across my bed in a dainty pattern. I stretched slowly, and smiled as last night replayed into my memories. I had a lot of fun last night….Maybe I should do something to repay them for karaoke. I padded over to the bathroom and had a long shower, washing my hair and braiding it down my back to dry. Looking into the closet, I saw capri pants and a formfitting marina that I could wear until my luggage came in.

I entered the hallway to find that I was the only one awake. I grinned to myself, entering the kitchen. “Hmm, it’s 10 am. I’ve got nothing planned for today..” I murmured to myself as I opened the fridge door. “I know!!I’ll make them chocolate chip waffles!! That’ll wake them up!!” I sang a little diddy to myself, pulling out flour, eggs, the works to get my culinary masterpiece to life.

I was putting the second batch on the large stove griddle when Chan walked in, followed closely by Woo and the Jun brothers. “Waaah~it sure smells nice in here!!” I laughed at Chan, it looked like his nose had lead him to me like a bloodhound.  Junho came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. “My new love keeps getting better and better- she cooks too!!” Woo gasped and pried him away from me. “No~I don’t want Ho as my brother-in-law!!”

Junsu laughed as he helped me take the waffles off the grill. “Thank you for making breakfast, yoona- but you didn’t have to do all this,” he said, gesturing to the platter of bacon on one side of the griddle and the mountain of scrambled eggs I was slowly dishing out into a large ceramic bowl. I smiled as he pecked my cheek, taking stuff and putting them on the table as Woo and Ho tried to stop Chan from ‘sampling’ anymore pieces of bacon. “It’s nothing; I wanted to do something nice for you guys for last night.”

Taec, Nick and Jay walked in together; all of them in a black marina, their muscles covered in a light sheen of sweat. “Hey guys, what’s that amazing smell we felt from the gym?” Junho looked at me with something akin to reverence for a god. “Our resident beauty has whipped us up a glorious breakfast!!!” He moves his hand in a grand gesture over the spread before clasping his hands to his chest.

Nick rolled his eyes as he kissed my forehead, opening a drawer and pulling out cutlery for the table. “Thank you, Taren-ni, it looks great.” He gave me a warm look, then looked over my shoulder in alarm. “Oy~Chan, we need to eat too!!” He strode over to physically pull Chan back from his plate of food. Taec tweaked my cheek as his eyes lit up, tearing into a warm waffle with enthusiasm close to Chan. “This is really good!!” Jay came and stood beside me. “Good morning, Taren-ni. Did you sleep well?” I folded my arms and laid my head on his shoulder, smiling as he blushes a little. “I did, thanks for asking,” his smile grew as we surveyed the scene (Woo balancing glasses for everyone to drink from  the cabinet to the table, Junsu and Junho arguing on the better syrup to eat for the waffles, Chan trying to sneak food into his pocket and Nick blocking him like a brick wall) and he turned to pull out a chair for me. “Please sit down, yoona-before he eats it all.” I slid gracefully into the chair as Taec, with a piece of bacon in his mouth like a cigarette, clapped his hands to get attention from everyone else. “The chef has sat down-time for grace!!” Everyone surprisingly followed his baritone and bowed their head in prayer, and then Chan lifted first. “Time to eat!!2PM gooo~” and he began demolishing his already attacked plate. The others followed, with more dignity but no less enthusiasm.

“This is really good!!” “Can I get the recipe?” “Can I get your hand in marriage?” This last comment was followed by a smack on the neck from a certain Thai rapper sitting two seats down from me. “Junho, it’s only been 19 hours,” Nick said as he graciously poured us all another round of orange juice that Junsu brought back to the table. Junho sighed while batting his eyelashes at me. “I can’t help it-I’m totally in love with our dear yoona!!” I laughed, then turned to Taec, who was stealing bacon off of Junho’s plate. “Taec? Can you point me in the direction of the main office? I’d like to get started on the official paperwork today.” He nodded and winked at me. “Sure, no problem-it’s actually not that far from here, I can walk you over while I visit the dojo next to it.” Jay piped up then. “That’s cool-we all should go and detoxify ourselves. We partied decently last night, but we should get back on track-the concert’s in 2 weeks.”

Everyone but Nick and Taec groaned at the leader’s statement. Junho blew a raspberry while he and Taec began washing dishes. “But I don’t wanna do any stupid detox-I didn’t even drink that much last night, oppa!!” Woo rolled his eyes, helping Junsu and Chan clear off the table. “Oh please Ho-hyung- you couldn’t even walk to your own room last night.”Junho put his arm around me as Woo brushed him out of his path to cleanliness. “Last night doesn’t count though- it was a special occasion..” Chan came up behind me and folded me into his arms, placing his head on mine. “Ahhhh unni~~That was delicious!!Ho has some competition if he wants to win your hand in love…”The maknae kissed my crown and squeezed me gently before releasing me to Taec’s care. “Come on, let’s get out of here before Ho starts declaring his love for you on the roof.”

I went back to my room and grabbed my messenger bag. Pulling on some flats, I opened my door to find Taec in an open plaid hoodie, arms folded, and casually leaning on the opposite wall to my doorway. He smirked. “Wow-so it is true then-there’s a woman out there that actually doesn’t take forever and a day to get ready.” I slapped him on the upper arm playfully as he laughed. Stopping by the hallway, I called upstairs. “I’ll be back guys-enjoy your workout!!!” There were various goodbyes from the stairs, with one yell from Nick that sounded along the lines of “Be back by 6 unni!!”, and Taec smiled kindly as he pull a muscled arm around my shoulder and steered me through the door. “Let me show you your new headquarters…..”