//SAEJI//

For a moment, we all sat in KiNeul's living room without anything to say. I sat beside Mina who seemed quite preoccupied by some staring contest with Minho from across the room. Next to her, EunSun and HyunMi were practically falling asleep not paying any mind to KiNeul who was complaining about how much her foot hurt.

Opposite us, Onew looked somewhat awkward, occasionally glancing over at his dongsaengs for a response. Of course, he got no reaction from Minho who was so keen on beating Mina. Key was playing his jacket without any mind to his surroundings. Taemin fixed his hair, focusing on the bangs that seem to have a mind of their own for they insisted on falling in front of his eyes at the worst times. Jonghyun, on the other hand, sat there on the end quietly as he twirled his thumbs around each other.

I cleared my throat, finally breaking the silence. Everyone in the room looked up. "Well," I started with much difficulty. "Clearly we're all in a bit of a problem--"

"This is more than a problem." HyunMi stared straight ahead at a blank spot with wide eyes. "This is like the next episode of Deadly Women..."

"Or A SHINee hidden camera." KiNeul perked up.

"Get on with it." Onew suddenly spoke. He really didn't look happy. However, he didn't seem all that upset either. He had a, somewhat, interested look on his face.

"Whether you like it or not," I stated firmly. "There is no way you can just waltz back into the public eye without garnering suspicion from the press or any of the netizens."

"In other words," Mina began to put in her state of mind still without breaking her gaze with Minho. "You're stuck with us while all of us figure out what to do."

"You have got to be kidding me." Key leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his temples. "This is a nightmare."

"But they're right." Minho talked for the first time since we got to KiNeul's house.

"Bwoh?!" The entire room, even the girls and I, exclaimed.

Minho sighed. "Regardless of what we do, there is no way to avoid the press. The best thing for us right now is to stay here and wait it out. Soo Man sunbae isn't expecting us to be back until the end of the week, so when the week ends, we'll just make it seem like we came back from a vacation."

"Some vacation." Taemin grumbled.

Jonghyun smiled, leaning over to his dongsaeng. "Yah, Minho-ah, you're kidding, right?"

Onew sighed and turned to me. "We're willing to cooperate if you are."

"Wait," Taemin sat up. "Where will we stay? Are we going to stick with where we are now? In separate houses?"

"We don't have a grand amount of space." EunSun said quietly. "So that's our only option."

"We can manage." I scratched my head. "For now, we really should make breakfast. If we're going to be watching over a few idols, we might as well treat them as idols."

Key smiled at my statement.

"Yah!" KiNeul stood up. "They're living with us not the other way around! They're living under our roofs, our rules! We shouldn't be treating them like royalty when they're as far away from the throne as they can possibly be!"

"She has a point." Mina shrugged.

Key frowned once more.

I rolled my eyes, "Regardless, let's just try to get along. We have a long week ahead of us, and I'd like to reach the end of it in one peace." I got to my feet and walked to the kitchen, ready to make breakfast by myself.

"Do you need help?" A voice said behind me just as I opened the fridge door. Onew stood just past my shoulder with a gentle smile playing on his lips. Before I even responded, he nudged me aside and pulled out the eggs, the milk, and a container of kimchi.

"Oh," I felt my cheeks get red. "Thanks." I gathered more breakfast ingredients while Onew the stove and place a few of the pans there.

I kind of just stood there while Onew started cooking. He looked so content with being here, like it really was a vacation and not like we just kidnapped him. Maybe he actually saw the innocence behind our little prank? Maybe he saw how scared we were because of our mistake?

Onew turned around and grinned. "You okay?"

"Ah," I let out a nervous laugh. "Neh." I started cutting up some vegetables for a stir-fry.

The idol began cooking the kimchi fried rice with much concentration. I tried my hardest not to shake from how close he was. Unfortunately, I wasn't very good at steadying my hand. A few times, the scallions would come out crooked. Hopefully, no one would really care...

"Looks like you're a little sore." Onew suddenly said just as he finished washing his hands.

"Hm?" I looked over to him with the knife still in my hand.

"Whoa," he laughed and pulled the potential weapon away from my hand. "Let's get this out of the way..."

I laughed once then turned back to the peppers I was cutting, "Why'd you say I was sore?" I grabbed the knife again.

"Your neck." He moved behind me. "You keep flinching whenever you move your head."

"Oh," I attempted to compose myself. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"You're in pain though," Onew chuckled. I felt his hand on my neck. I shuttered as Onew started to massage my neck slowly. My eyes fluttered to a close. The knife fell to the counter.

I grabbed his hand and stopped him. "I'm fine."

This man is just out to make my feelings for him arise. Sad part is, he's really good at it.