***Lin’s POV***

I ended the phone call and sighed.

Whatever Sungmin needed me to do this for, he better explained it later on.

He really behaved weirdly and I got worried that maybe I didn’t pay him enough attention.

I promised myself to change that.

I would definitely ask him about it later this night.

“Jie? Where are you? You wanted to help me with my outfit!”

I returned to my living room where Amber was throwing around various outfits.

“What the hell are you doing? It looks like a total mess in here!” I said amused when I saw Amber standing in the middle of a pile of clothes.

“What the hell am I doing? What the hell were you doing on the phone so long? You can’t leave me alone in this critical time!”

I chuckled.

“Sorry, I just had some business to take care of!”

I tried to push the weird favor Sungmin had asked of me out of my mind for the time being.

I definitely would ask him about it later.

“JIE! DON’T SPACE OUT ON ME! I SERIOUSLY NEED YOUR HELP!”

I laughed and walked over to Amber to look around the clothes she had thrown all over the floor and the couch.

I picked up some tight jeans, a beautiful light blue loose-fitting spaghetti strap tank top and some white boots.

“Just go with something more casual. You don’t know if this is a real date date or just a friendly date. You don’t know where he will take you. He said something about “hanging out”! We don’t want to try too hard, do we?”

Amber grinned.

“Why didn’t you just tell me to wear this half an hour ago?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Because I was busy on the phone? You just couldn’t wait for me!”

“Aish, jie, how could I? I’m going on a date with Henry?” Amber said excitedly.

She undressed herself to change her clothes.

“What about Kibum by the way?” I asked casually while handing her some bangles to go with her outfit.

Amber stopped in her tracks.

“What about him?”

I shrugged.

“Don’t know! I was just wondering! Didn’t you tell me that the two of you were kinda involved, making out and stuff?”

Amber groaned.

“Yes, well, jie, do you want me to sit here and wait for him to drop by to treat me kinda like a ?”

I winced.

“Of course not, but maybe, if you really like Kibum, you should fight for him! Aren’t you giving up too early?”

I really didn’t get Kibum’s behavior at all.

He was kinda distant at times but a nice enough guy.

He never treated me badly or anything.

He treated me nice enough.

So what was wrong with him now?

“First of all, I’m not sure that Kibum will ever like me, so far we are either bickering or kissing each other senseless, which isn’t a very good foundation for a relationship and second of all, I’m just going out with Henry. It doesn’t mean that I will marry him and it doesn’t mean I give up on Kibum. I just want to have some fun!”

I shook my head.

“Why don’t you hang out with me then or Yesung? He told me you are very good friends!”

Amber looked at me for a bit and then blinked a few times.

“Do you really not want me to go out with Henry? You are aware that I have been crushing over him for years, aren’t you?”

I sighed.

“I know, that’s why I think it’s a bad idea. You shouldn’t head from Kibum to Henry directly. This could go so wrong! You like both of them and have some kind of something going on with Kibum! Plus Kibum and Henry are kinda in the same team, working together! I just don’t want any of you to get hurt!”

Amber suddenly smiled and hugged me.

“You are a good jie, but Henry and I are just going out. It doesn’t mean that much!”

I frowned.

“We both know it means something!”

Amber pouted.

I tried to stay hard but in the end her puppy eyes won.

“Okay, fine, go out with him, but don’t come running to me crying if anything goes wrong!”

Amber smiled.

“Fine, I will go and find Yesung then! Like he said, we are kinda like besties now!”

I nudged her shoulder.

“You are impossible!”

“I know, but you still love me!”

I rolled my eyes.

Of course I did.

We both jumped when my mobile started ringing.

“Damn, that thing! Why is it that your mobile is constantly ringing? You used to hate that,” Amber mumbled.

“I’m a busy and important person now!” I said teasingly.

“I bet you Hyukie isn’t very fond of your mobile if it keeps ringing while you are busy with happier stuff!” Amber teased in return.

I shrugged.

“His phone is ringing more often than mine!”

Amber rolled her eyes and I laughed before picking up.

“Donghae-ya, already miss me?” I said after checking the caller ID.

“What did you mean by “maybe you should ask her what she did the night she talked to you over the phone”?” he asked bluntly.

I snorted.

“Really Hae? You needed like two days to ask me about that? I thought you would last longer!” I teased.

“Aish, Lin-ah, tell me, what happened?”

“I told you to ask Melanie about that!”

“She probably wouldn’t tell me!” he said sheepishly

I laughed.

“You are probably right!”

“So, tell me!”

“Waeyo?”

“Because you love me?” he tried.

“Wrong, I love Hyukjae!” I shot back.

“But I’m your bestest hottest friend!” Donghae tried once more.

“Really? Kyuhyun claims the same title!” I said amused.

“Aish, forget about that evil maknae! We both know you like me better!”

“Well, but he sings better!” I joked.

“Well, but I dance better!” Donghae joined the competition.

“True, but then again Hyukjae dances better than you!”

It was just too much fun to mess with him.

“True, but then again I sing better than Hyukjae!”

“Oh right, but then again Kyuhyun sings better than you!”

“But then again I danc…argh, woman just tell me!”

I laughed before getting serious.

“I will tell you, but only if you promise me to talk to Kibum about Amber!”

“What about them?” Donghae asked suddenly matching my serious tone.

“Don’t know. Just talk to him and ask him if he is okay!”

“I will try!” Donghae said, but I already could hear that there was something off.

Just like the last time Donghae talked about Kibum to me.

What was wrong with the two of them?

I promised myself to find about that later on.

“LIN-AH!”

I chuckled hearing Donghae’s desperate voice.

“Okay, I’ll tell you about what happened after you fell asleep that night…”

***Kibum’s POV***

“You are an idiot, you know that right?” Yesung said in a composed way when he sat down next to me on the couch.

I didn’t look up from my book.

“Should I know what you are talking about, hyung?”

I more felt than saw Yesung shrug.

“Don’t know if you should. An intelligent person would know, but since you are an idiot I guess you don’t know!”

I slowly closed my book and looked at Yesung.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?” I asked calmly.

Yesung didn’t look at me, he was busy petting Heebum.

“I’m not sure if I want to tell you anything!” he said casually.

I sighed.

“Then don’t!”

I wasn’t really an idiot.

I knew Yesung was trying to tell me something and I was quite sure what this was all about.

I shrugged and opened my book again.

“You will lose her, you know that right?”

My hands tightened the grip on my book.

“What are you talking about?” I asked trying to sound bored.

I was kinda shocked when Yesung suddenly whipped the book out of my hand.

“You know sometimes you act like a real and I usually don’t care about it since you are my dongsaeng and I love you, but with that attitude you are having right now you will lose Amber!”

I actually was taken aback by the anger I saw flaring in Yesung’s eyes.

“What is it to you? Why do you care? That’s just our business!” I felt really pissed off.

I really hated it when other people were trying to in with my personal life.

They didn’t really care about it before, so why now?

I wanted to stand up and walk away, but Yesung gripped my arm and held me back.

“Amber is my friend and I do care! She has that weird idea of really liking you even though I really can’t see why. You are treating her like and we both know it! I usually don’t get involved in your business as I know you hate that, but in this case it’s your bad you are messing around with the wrong people!”

I widened my eyes.

It’s really the first time I heard Yesung talk like that.

Usually Yesung was the most caring, most understanding and nicest of all the hyungs.

“It isn’t my fault that she likes me!” I mumbled.

Yesung stood up to be on my eye level.

“No, that isn’t your fault! But it’s your decision how to treat her! Either you start to treat her like a real person and respect her feelings for you or you stay the hell away from her!”

“I can’t!” I said without thinking about it.

Damn, just the thought of staying away kinda killed me.

I couldn’t, not right now!

The anger in Yesung’s eyes seemed to slowly vanish.

“Then start to treat her better or I swear to god you will regret it!”

“What?”

Was Yesung really trying to threaten me?

I would never have admitted it to anyone else, but it really worked.

Since I never saw Yesung like that it was really hard to figure him out right now.

“She has a date tonight!”

I was brought back from my thoughts.

“What?”

“I thought you should know she has date with Henry tonight!”

With that Yesung let go of my arm and walked away.

“Hyung?” I called out to him.

He stopped but didn’t turn around.

“Why are you doing this?”

He didn’t reply.

I didn’t really realize it until now, but everything in Yesung’s odd behavior told me the truth.

“You love her, don’t you?”

I could see him clench his fists.

“Why are you trying to make me and Amber work if you love her?”

Yesung turned around and smiled at me.

“Boy, you have a lot to learn about love!”

With that he left me alone.

Damn, that hyung turned weirder and weirder with each passing day.

“Ah, Kibum-ah, my favorite fishy dongsaeng is on the phone, he wants to talk to you!”

My head snapped up to see Heechul walking out of his room.

A weird Yesung hyung was one thing.

I could handle that!

But I really couldn’t handle Donghae.

“Don’t have time, I have to go somewhere!”

I knew it was rude and it probably would hurt Donghae, but I really couldn’t talk to him.

Not right now!

I hurriedly left the apartment and leaned against the door.

Now, where to go?

I decided to just drop by at the other guys’ apartment.

Maybe Hyukie or Ryeowook would be around to have a decent talk.

When I reached the other floor Lin was just closing the door to her apartment.

“Oh, Kibum-ah, annyeong! Haven’t seen you since I came back! How have you been?” Lin greeted me with a warm smile.

I shrugged.

“Fine and you?”

“I have been fine, but I missed all of you guys! The two of us should have a talk sometime soon…”

I got annoyed.

Why was everyone so interested in my stuff recently?

It’s not like I really mistreated Amber or anything.

“I don’t think that the thing between Amber and me is your business! Besides I guess she already told you her version of the story!” I snapped.

I raised a brow when Lin burst into a fit of laughter.

“I didn’t say anything about Amber! I just wanted to talk to you about you. How have you been and what is your drama doing? Just a basic check up! Nothing serious! But if you want to we can talk about Amber!”

I groaned and Lin just laughed again.

“Well, Amber is waiting for her date at my apartment right now. She is all excited to go out with Henry!”

To hell with it!

Yes, it kinda annoyed me that Amber will be going on a date, so stop rubbing it to my face!

It bucked me more than I thought.

“Good for her!” I snapped.

Lin chuckled.

“You are an idiot, Kibum-ah!”

“Don’t you have somewhere better to be? Snogging Hyukjae-hyung for example?”

“Oh, Donghae was right. You really tend to snap at people you like!”

“Dae?”

“Donghae said, that…”

“Enough!”

I opened the door to the other apartment and pushed Lin inside.

“Hyukjae-hyung better make your girlfriend shut up or I swear I will do it!” I shouted.

Lin’s laughter was the last I heard before shutting the door again.

Silence!

Finally!

I wondered if anyone ever notice how peaceful the hallway was.

That hallway had nice lighting, a pretty floor, cute fan messages all over the walls and I kissed Amber for the first time in that hallway.

Aish, to hell with it!

She will go on a date!

I kicked the wall.

What was wrong with me?

Recently I seemed to have some anger issues.

Saranghae Donghae Oppa!

I groaned at the message I read on the wall.

I had to get out of here, but not without Amber!

I’m not an idiot!

I walked to the other door and rang the bell.

The door was pulled open.

“Oh, Henry you are earl…”

Her eyes widened once she recognized it wasn’t Henry standing in front of her.

Anger appeared on her beautiful face and she was about to throw the door into my face.

I stopped her with my hand and pushed the door open again.

I grabbed her wrist.

“You are not going on a date with Henry tonight!” I ordered.

Maybe I should have asked instead of ordering her around, but who cares?

“What? That’s none of your business!”

I chuckled.

“Funny, everyone else seems to think it’s my business!”

“Well, I don’t care! Leave me alone! I will go on that date with Henry tonight and there is nothing you can say or do…”

I rolled my eyes.

Here we go once again.

I pulled her against me and shut her up with a kiss.

It was just a quick kiss and when I let go of her lips she blinked irritated.

“If you think that will work then…”

I kissed her once again.

This time I tried to make it a sweet kiss unlike our usual passionate kisses.

I touched her lips with mine softly and caressed her cheek with one of my hands.

I could feel her being kinda confused because of the lack of participation in this kiss, but eventually her hands found her way to my neck and she was trying to deepen the kiss.

I broke the kiss before that could happen.

I smiled seeing her irritated look.

I quickly pecked her lips once again.

“Now, would you shut up so I don’t need to kiss you all the time? You and I will go on a date tonight! And we will try to have a decent talk so I will be able to tell you if I like you or not, arasseo?”

She blinked a few times, not answering.

I rolled my eyes and took her hand to intertwine our fingers.

“Now let’s go, shall we?”

Eventually she nodded and I pulled her with me out of the door.

Maybe this could work out.

***Melanie’s POV***

It was a perfectly normal day.

So actually it was damn frustrating.

I was back at my old working place right now and there was nothing more I hated than that.

Ever since I came back from Taiwan to check up on my family and help them moving and renovating their new house, I wasn’t really working, but I decided to help out at my old workplace, a kindergarten nearby.

Actually I didn’t like working there that much, seeing all the stress that is caused by my colleagues, the kids and especially their parents, but working only a few hours a week makes me take it less serious and therefore I enjoyed the time playing with the kids – at least that was what I told myself!

I was proud that after long years of being unhappy in that job - not that I didn’t love kids, I really did, but I always longed to be more creative - I finally achieved my goal in becoming a stylist.

Fashion and style was my love.

Currently I took a break from my job, to be with my family for a while and to relax.

One day my former coworker and friend gave me a call and asked me to help them out at the kindergarten as one of their workers had some serious health issues.

Well, it was okay to earn a little money, but honestly it was still a little bit annoying to be back here at this place.

Did I mention that I’m a weird person?

I actually love the kids, but I am totally annoyed being with them right now, although I’m here on my own free will?

Crazy!

But it’s like taking a step back in life.

I sighed when I watched two kids fighting over some toy in one corner of the room I was currently in.

I couldn’t wait to leave Germany to go to Korea with my best friend Anja.

Not that I had any serious plans in Korea, other than to visit my other best friend Sabrina, but I just couldn’t wait to go.

Okay, screw that, I had another reason to go to Korea.

I groaned thinking about that other reason.

A handsome face showed up in my head…damn!

I wasn’t even sure if he would be happy to see me or if we actually had anything between us other than weird calls from time to time, but he was still one of the reasons I wanted to go to Korea.

Even if it was just to confirm, that he actually didn’t feel the same as me.

“Melli, Melli!”

I jumped in shock, when some kids came running into the room excitedly shouting my name.

I shook my head.

“What is wrong with you? Anything happened?”

The kids just giggled and then one of the girls walked up to me and brought out something hidden behind her back.

I blinked when I saw the kid was handing me a flower.

It was a beautiful pink rose.

“Is that for me?”

The kid nodded and then another kid stepped to me and gave me another rose.

I shook my head.

“Where did you get those?”

The children giggled once again.

“It’s a secret!” one of the boys said happily.

In the end I held a whole bouquet of pink roses in my hand in irritation.

“This one is the last, Melli, it has a message with it” one of the kids said and gave the last rose to me.

There was a small piece of paper that read “Just to make you smile”.

I instantly did exactly that.

I smiled.

“Who are they from?” I asked with a fast beating heart.

“We don’t know, Melli, they were delivered with a message to let the kids give them to you and to save the message for the end”

I looked up at my friend and coworker in irritation.

I smelled the flowers and smiled.

“Looks like I have a secret admirer!”

“Maybe it’s your Korean guy!”

I rolled my eyes.

“For sure! He will send flowers all the way from Korea! Besides our relationship isn’t like that!”

My friend rolled her eyes.

“Ever heard about something like online flower shops?”

I shook my head in annoyance.

“Just stop it! Those flowers aren’t from him, I just know it!”

I didn’t want to hope.

“I shall find something to put the flowers in” I said and hurriedly fled the room.

I avoided my friend for the rest of the day, because I knew she would pester me and I wasn’t up for it.

I glanced at the roses every once in a while and was really wondering who send them, especially with a note in English.

By the time I got off from work I still wasn’t any smarter.

I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out who send those roses.

I took the flowers with me and headed home.

Upon arriving at home, I opened the door to the house of my parents.

“Mum, Dad, I’m h….!”

I stopped midsentence and looked around the hallway and living room in surprise.

What the hell?!?!?!?

“Oh Melli, you are back!” my mom greeted me with a broad smile.

“Mum, what happened here?”

My mum chuckled.

“I have no idea! Someone delivered this whole bunch of balloons for you. I gave up counting when I counted more than one hundred!”

I looked around the house only to see balloons all over the house, some of them were flying at the ceiling and some lying on the ground.

“There was a message with the balloons” my mother said with a cheeky grin.

I shook my head.

What was all this about?

First the flowers and now the balloons?

The door bell suddenly ringing made me jump.

I opened the door in a daze only to see my best friend Anja standing in front of me.

She looked at my face and started to laugh then she looked behind me.

“Oh great, I didn’t miss it yet!”

“Miss what?” I asked irritated.

“Didn’t you read the note?” Anja asked amused.

“What note?”

I felt totally confused.

“Oh, Melli dear, you airhead, I told you there is a note!” my mom said and handed me the note.

Anja peaked over my shoulder to read with me.

“A balloon to keep you smiling every day we have to wait…”

I furrowed my brows.

What is that all about?

“Where is the rest of the sentence?” I mumbled irritated turning over the piece of paper.

There was a drawing of a pink balloon being burst.

“Anja, what is that about?” I asked my friend next to me.

She just smiled.

“Follow the instructions!”

I groaned.

“There are millions of balloons here and at least half of them are pink!”

“Then you better get started!”

“Oh come on just tell me the rest of the sentence! And who did send those balloons? You seem to know something!”

Anja shook her head.

“No can do, just go and find the rest of the sentence! By the way, I don’t even know the rest of the sentence. I just heard about something happening here today so I decided to drop by!”

I rolled my eyes and went in search for a needle.

“Let’s start the show!” I said determined when I finally found one.

Half an hour later and at least forty balloons later I was about to give up.

“Seriously, this is stupid. I can’t even see any pink balloons anymore! The rest is all white and blue!”

My mother and Anja watched me from the dining table with amused smiles.

Just as I was about to let out a frustrated yell the door opened and my dad stepped in with an irritated face.

He was holding a pink balloon.

“Melli, there was a balloon tide to the doorknob saying it is for you, what is…”

“Thank goodness, that’s mine…that must be the right one!” I said excited and grabbed the balloon from my dad’s hands.

My heart beat like crazy when I made the balloon burst.

There was confetti flying through the air and I saw a small piece of paper flowing somewhere in between the still big amount of balloons.

I groaned and ran after the piece of paper.

I didn’t care that my parents and Anja laughed watching me battling the balloons for my note, I just looked around and when I finally found it I let out a shriek of happiness.

“FOUND IT!”

My fingers trembled when I unfold the piece of paper.

I stared dumbfounded at the words written there.

In whole the sentence read:

A balloon to keep you smiling every day we have to wait…to finally smile at each other in person! I can’t wait till you will come to Korea!

Lee Donghae

PS: You can keep on listening to me sleeping whenever you want :P

I felt myself blushing and tears welling up in my eyes.

This was the most romantic thing anyone ever did for me.

“So, who send you those balloons, Melli?” my mom asked.

I kept on reading the lines over and over again.

My heart felt like bursting from happiness.

Is he really trying to tell me what I think he is trying to tell me?

That can’t be.

I looked at Anja and she smiled at me.

“How…uh…what…uhm…”

My phone started ringing and I didn’t know what to do.

I looked at the ID.

Lee Donghae!

“Oh god, Anja, just, get that call for me, please…I can’t…or we will just let it ring. I’m not at home! No, I forgot my mobile…”

Anja shut me up by taking the phone from my hand and accepting the call.

“Ah, Donghae-ah, neh, it’s Anja!”

Anja looked at me and chuckled.

“She is here, but still kinda shocked. Yes, she seems to be happy! Neh, I will hand the phone to her now!”

Anja handed me the phone and I shook my head in panic.

What was I supposed to say?

“Talk to him” Anja mouthed to me and nudged me.

I took in a deep breath and then raised the phone to my ear.

“Uhm, Hae?”

I heard him chuckle cutely.

“Did you like it?”

I bit my lips and blushed even more.

“What do you mean?” I tried my best to regain my humor and teasing personality.

“Uhm, don’t know, you tell me!” he said softly.

I smiled.

“You know, today something really awesome happened to me! I got flowers! The prettiest pink roses I have ever seen!”

“Oh really? Who were they from?”

I chuckled at his cute act.

“I have no idea! But it wasn’t all. I received a million of balloons with a very sweet message!”

“I wonder who send those” Donghae said innocently.

“Yes, I really wondered about that too!”

We were silent for a moment until Donghae broke the silence.

“Did it work?”

I smiled.

“What do you mean?”

“Did it make you smile?”

“Yes, it did! Thank you a lot, Donghae!” I said a little shyly.

“You know I just wanted to cheer you up while working! You sounded kinda down to be stuck at your old working place the last time we talked to each other over the phone. Besides take it as a small thank you for you talking me into sleep and keeping me company that one night a while ago”

I blushed like crazy.

“Who told you about me listening to you…you know…oh god, so embarrassing! Where is a hole that I can disappear in?”

Donghae laughed.

“Oh, I really can’t tell you my sources!”

“It’s okay, I just will make sure Anja and Sabrina will suffer. It just could have been one of those two!”

“Aniyo, don’t do that! I think it’s actually cute!”

“Oh god, I’m so embarrassed!”

“Next time I will listen to you!”

“What?”

“Then we are even!”

“Oh god, just stop mentioning it! It’s so embarrassing!”

Donghae laughed.

“Just…urgh…forget about that night and let me thank you for the flowers and the balloons! That was really sweet!”

“I’m glad you liked it!”

I bit my lip.

“Did you mean it?” I asked carefully.

“What?”

“That you can’t wait till I will be coming to Korea?” I felt so stupid asking it, but I really had to know.

“Neh, I really can’t wait!” he said sincerely.

There was another silence.

“I have to tell you something when you will be here” he said shyly.

My heart beat sped up.

“Tell me now!”

“Aniyo…no…that’s…I have to tell you in person!”

He was so damn cute.

“You know, he seems to like you!”

I furrowed my brows in confusion.

“Who?”

“That guy who did send the flowers!”

“What?”

Did I hear right?

“I have to end the call now, Melanie, I have to get back to filming!”

“What? Wait! Dongh…”

He already ended the call.

“Someone is really happy now!” Anja said amused.

I only could blush and hugged the note closer to my body.

Now I really couldn’t wait to go to Korea.

***Donghae POV***

I chuckled while closing my phone.

I was really happy that Melanie seemed to be happy about my surprise.

I really didn’t know why I organized all that stuff, I just felt like it.

It made me happy to make her happy.

Besides she really sounded upset when we talked the last time.

And ever since I made Lin tell me that Melanie actually kept on listening to me sleeping I had a good idea of her feelings for me, so I was just itching to make her happy.

I really couldn’t wait for her to come to Korea even though it made me a little nervous at the same time.

It would still take some time until she would actually come to Korea, but it couldn’t hurt to already woo her a little bit, could it?

It could only help me for my plans once she arrived in Korea.

“What got you so happy? Maybe it’s because we will soon be home again?” Siwon asked me friendly.

I looked up from my phone to look at my friend, who just walked into the apartment.

He sat down on the chair facing mine.

“Ani, I just had a nice phone conversation!”

“Ah, it must be Melanie again, isn’t it?”

I smiled and nodded.

“You are so in love with her!” Siwon said teasingly.

“I know!” I agreed with a grin.

Siwon leaned over to nudge my shoulder.

“You are a hopeless romantic! Does she know about your feelings?”

I chuckled.

“Not yet! I want to tell her in person! But she might have an idea!”

Siwon smiled, but then his smile suddenly disappeared.

“Do you know if she keeps on checking the news about you?”

I shook my head frowning.

“I’m not sure! Wae?”

Siwon sighed and pulled out a newspaper from his bag to hand it to me.

I read the headlines, trying to find what Siwon wanted me to see.

My eyes widened when I finally found it.

Lee Donghae hiding a wife and child?

“What the hell?”

Siwon just patted my shoulder.

I opened the newspaper at the suggested page.

There was a picture of me holding open the door of a shop for a woman pushing a buggy.

I remembered that incident.

I just wanted to help that woman to leave the store as we were using the door the same time.

“How the hell can anybody make an article out of this? I was just being friendly!” I shouted annoyed.

Siwon sighed.

“I know you don’t have to tell me! You know how the media goes crazy whenever you are involved! You are just way too popular. They are able to make an article out of everything as long as your name is involved!”

I threw the newspaper away in disgust.

“That just ! I’m just a normal person too! I really hate how they make up lies all the time! Am I not allowed to have a private life?”

Siwon pulled me into a quick hug.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and blinked them away furiously.

No, I wouldn’t let them make me cry!

Damn me and my sensitivity to things like that.

I was such a damn crybaby sometimes!

My mobile started ringing.

Hyukjae!

I instantly picked up in hope for some cheering up.

“Yah, Lee Donghae, what did you do this time?”

“Hyukie?” I said trying my best to hold back my tears.

I heard Hyukjae sigh.

“Yah, Donghae-ya, don’t cry over this! I knew you would be like this as soon as I checked on my cyworld!”

I took in a deep breath.

“I just, how can they do that to me?”

Hyukjae chuckled.

“Come on, Donghae, just take it as it is and see the funny side in this. Laugh about it! Those are just rumors anyways and they will disappear as soon as everyone gets tired of it, seeing as there is no truth in them!”

“Neh, I know!” I tried my best to remember those words as they were the same Hyukjae would usually say to me when something like this happens.

“And don’t worry your fans love you even with a wife!” Hyukjae said with a chuckle.

I calmed down.

My fans were adorable.

“They are just cute,” I mumbled.

“Well, some would call them cute, some would call them crazy! They might love you but seriously, I wouldn’t want to be your wife!” he said teasingly.

I furrowed my brows.

“Wae?”

“I hate her so much! She is way too ugly for our Oppa! If I get her in my fingers she will suffer, I swear! How dare she trapping our Oppa into a marriage by pretending to have his baby? And so on and so on! Damn, they are really scary!”

I paled.

“You are joking, right Hyuk?”

Hyukjae laughed.

He seemed to take this light heartedly.

“Absolutely not! They are really threatening this poor woman! Our company already is trying to get in contact with her in order to keep her safe! I mean, she is just an innocent woman, probably with a husband. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time!”

I suddenly felt sick.

I heard Hyukjae doing something in the background, probably clicking around on his laptop to read some more comments from fans.

Suddenly he laughed even harder.

“Damn, if you thought your fans are scary then you should check out mine! I will kill her for stealing Donghae Oppa from Hyukjae Oppa! How dare she breaking apart Eunhae? Wow, I mean, this is seriously hilarious but really scary! Good for that woman that she is living in Taiwan. Korean fans probably would have her head in no time. Maybe you really should do a press conference to clear this one up as soon as you are back in Korea!”

I didn’t want to hear any of this anymore.

“Uhm, neh, Hyuk, I have to hang up now!”

“What? Wait! I know that tone, Donghae! Something is wrong! Tell me!” Hyukjae demanded suddenly all serious again.

I sighed, trying to get rid of that sick feeling.

“This is…Hyuk seriously…how am I ever supposed to have a girlfriend if the fans are reacting that way?”

***Hyukjae’s POV***

I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling.

These days everyone seemed to struggle through their own stuff and forgot about working together as a team.

Well, the older half of the super junior team seemed as usual, obviously only the younger half seemed to have problems.

Was this some kind of second puberty everyone went through, some kind of illness?

Henry seemed really depressed at the dance training for our upcoming Super Show 3 the last few days, but didn’t really want to talk about what happened.

In fact he just snapped at everyone that tried to ask him about it.

Kibum seemed really absentminded, dreaming away through half of the practice, which was really weird.

I don’t think I ever saw him like that.

I really wondered what exactly was going on between him and Amber, but everyone kept their information to themselves.

Ryeowook hasn’t been his usual calm self these days either.

He seemed nervous but tried to laugh it off when I asked him about it.

I felt like a bad hyung to him.

Something obviously was up with him and no one seemed to have noticed anything.

I asked Leeteuk, Heechul and Kangin about it but they didn’t know anything.

Yesung just shrugged when I asked about it and asked me in a nice way to leave him alone these days.

He wasn’t up for company either, which was really odd for our kindhearted Yesungie-hyung.

Maybe I was wrong before, maybe even the older ones weren’t safe from this weird puberty illness.

Sungmin didn’t show up at today’s practice at all, which got me really worried since he acted weird for the last weeks, but Lin told me he had some other business to attend.

He had a lot of “other businesses” to attend these last days.

In fact Lin and Sungmin both had to do more than usual and somehow they always were stuck together.

 I wasn’t jealous or anything, I actually hoped that at least Lin would be able to help Sungmin.

I knew Lin at least knew what was up with Sungmin but she refused to tell me about it whenever I asked her about it.

Today Lin disappeared halfway through our training and never showed up again.

It was almost midnight by now.

Neither Lin nor Sungmin have shown up so far!

And this was normal these last few days.

Heechul and Leeteuk seemed their usual self, while Shindong seemed a little nervous too.

Okay, maybe Shindong’s nervousness was understandable.

He really shocked us recently by asking his girlfriend, that we weren’t really aware about so far, to marry him through a secret message in our album’s “thanks to” section.

He hadn’t heard from her ever since.

So maybe Shindong was excused from my list.

He had a reason to be nervous and at least everyone was aware of his reason.

But what was up with everyone else?

I knew for a fact why Donghae was feeling so depressed these days, seeing as he was still upset about the fans reaction to his “marriage”.

I really could feel for him as he was the romantic guy and always wanted to have a wife and children.

Him being in love right now and probably being loved back made him aware of the problems that came with him dating once more.

At least if he was planning on making his relationship public.

And knowing Donghae, he would insist on it at one point seeing as he was the romantic guy and wanted to share his happiness with everyone else.

He would want to go on dates, hold hands in public, cuddle and just be able to say “I love you” whenever he wanted.

This was a point we thought differently about.

I preferred to keep it a secret, having my private life all to myself, without everyone prying on it.

I was a secretive person concerning stuff like that.

I was just happy Lin was okay with that.

Still, Donghae was suffering a lot ever since that newspaper article was printed.

At least I was aware of his problems, but what was about the others?

Did they know what Donghae was struggling through these days?

Were they even aware that Donghae was in love?

I’m sure at least Siwon, Lin, Hankyung and Kyuhyun were.

Maybe we should work out a plan together to at least help Donghae.

I will talk to them tomorrow.

There has to be something that we could do to help Donghae.

I smiled satisfied.

It was time to become a team again.

Everyone struggled through their problems alone long enough.

It was time to get our act together again.

Maybe me being in a happy relationship had made me think everyone else had to be as happy as me.

I didn’t realize before that actually not everyone was as happy as me.

I groaned.

I couldn’t even say what Kyuhyun was up to these days.

Maybe not knowing anything was a good sign.

Maybe at least Kyuhyun was happy and his usual self.

Or not?

“Aish, you have been a bad hyung and a bad member to the group!” I mumbled frustrated.

“No, you haven’t!”

I looked up to see Lin leaning in the doorway tiredly smiling at me.

“Hey, how long have you been standing there?”

She smiled and walked over to me to lie down next to me.

“A while! You know you are pretty handsome to look at!” she said, snuggling into my arms.

I pulled her closer to my body smelling her scent.

“Where have you been so long?” I asked and she shrugged.

“Just some business! You know - managers, schedule, promotion stuff, just the usual stuff!”

I sighed.

“Are you okay these days?” I asked, sliding a little down my pillow to be able to look at Lin’s eyes.

She chuckled and poked my cheek.

“Of course, just some things keeping me busy, nothing bad! But I should be the one asking you about your problems not the other way around. I’m your PA after all!”

I rolled my eyes.

“Sure, but I’m your boyfriend so it’s my duty to take care of you!”

She smiled and caressed my cheeks.

“Very cute, but what is really up with you? You seem to be deep in thoughts tonight!”

I sighed.

“I just have the feeling that everyone is hiding things these days and no one wants to talk about it. And obviously everyone is so busy with their own stuff that they aren’t even realizing that the others are having problems too!”

Lin pecked my lips.

“You know, you are an amazing guy!”

I grinned.

“Are you falling for me right now?”

She shook her head.

I pouted and she laughed.

“Pabo, I fell for you a long time ago!”

I grinned and pulled her in for a kiss.

“Tell me what’s up with Sungmin?” I asked in between our kiss and she immediately punched my shoulder.

“Ani, stop pestering me! Either you ask him yourself or you have to wait until he wants to talk about it!”

I groaned.

“Why can’t you tell me?”

Again she refused to tell me.

“Because I promised!”

The same answer over and over again.

 “At least tell me that he isn’t in some serious trouble!”

I watched Lin as she bit her lips and thought about it for a while.

“Lin-ah, if he is in real trouble you have to tell me, promise?” I asked urgently.

Her thinking about it so long made me nervous and worried for my friend.

“Hyuk, I just think it isn’t something you would think about and I wouldn’t consider it serious trouble. Just stop worrying! He will tell you when he is ready!”

I frowned.

Lin sighed before kissing the frown away.

I relaxed as I felt her lips travel down my face and finding mine.

“You know that I missed you today?” she whispered.

I smiled against her lips.

“Chincha? How much?”

“Oh, a lot!” she said softly before kissing down my jaw and throat to shower my neck in kisses.

I groaned as I felt her hand slipping beneath my shirt to caress my stomach.

“If you don’t want to go all the way, you should stop that,” I whispered.

I heard her chuckle against my neck.

“Your self-restraint is becoming worse and worse!”

I captured her lips with mine once again.

“Who can blame me? My girlfriend is making it really hard for me to resist!”

She pecked my lips one last time before snuggling into my arms.

“Such a shame, you are just too cute when you are trying to resist! You have that really sweet gentleman image whenever you do!”

I rolled my eyes and dropped a kiss on the top of her head and pulled her closer to me, making her lie on my body.

“You know, my boyfriend is making me want for him to be unable to resist!” she whispered.

I groaned.

“Just sleep, Lin-ah!”

She chuckled.

“Who would have thought that the watching Lee Hyukjae is so virtuous when it comes to stuff like this?”

I poked her sides.

“Just shut up, will you!”

Lin laughed.

I shut her up with a last kiss.

She smiled softly at me afterwards.

“I love you!”

“Love you, too!”

I closed my eyes to finally fall asleep with Lin in my arms.

Tomorrow, I promised myself, I would become a better hyung and dongsaeng again.

It was time to be a team again, taking care of one problem after another together.

I would start by talking to Kyuhyun about a plan to help Donghae.

I fell asleep with a pleased smile on my lips.

_________________________________________

Hm...finally updated again!

So, still the same questions:

Who should Amber end up with?

What happened to Sungmin? Any guesses?

What's wrong with everyone else???

Can Hyukie and Kyu help Donghae?

Just tell me what you think about this chapter!!! It was a hard one for me to write...and I'm still unsure about it ^^

Keep voting guys! ^^

http://www.asianfanfics.com/poll/aff_view/1207