Chanyeol

            As I stirred and stretched I heard his voice greet me.  “Good morning, Susanna!   I hope you slept well, because you didn’t do anything amusing in your sleep.”

            I blinked and smiled.  “You could have at least sleep talked something random, I was hoping you’d get up to sleep walk and I’d have to pin you to the bed.”

            “At least she didn’t snore,” came a new voice.  My eyes flashed open and I tried to sit up.

            Thankfully, Baekhyun moved in quickly to cover for my ungraceful floundering and propped me against some pillows.

            “Hello, I am Chanyeol, the smart one.”  He had short black hair and cute expressive eyebrows.

            “Nice to meet you,” I responded shyly.

            “Hey, what?  The smart one?”  Baekhyun joked, punching Chanyeol in the arm.

            “Well there are twelve of us, she’s gonna need to tell us apart some how!”

            “Twelve of you?  Do you all share a house?”  I ask, looking at the light blue walls as if I could some how understand by looking around.

            “Yeah, we uh, are a group of, uh, and we all live together.”  Baekhyun kinda explained.  He seemed at a loss for what to say, but tried to smile and keep it light.

            “We’re all friends and so we rent a house together so we can hang out all the time.” Chanyeol smoothly explains.

            “So there are twelve of you.”  I say, trying to confirm.

            “Yes,” Baekhyun smiles.  He’s cute and his blonde hair really gave him a boyish look.  “Xiumin, Luhan, Kris, Suho, Lay, Me, Chen, Chanyeollie here, D.O, Tao, Kai, and Sehun.”

            “That’s a lot.” I comment.  Wow, a lot of guys.  I wonder if they’re as cute as these two.

            “Yes, we initially lived in two houses but we figured that living as a big ole pack would be double the fun.”  Chanyeol said, watching me to see how I would respond.

            “That’s cool.  Sorry I kinda, rained on the parade.”  I felt very exposed and vulnerable.  I mean, my father had always cautioned me against men and traveling alone.  I didn’t really pay him much mind and I never had had any trouble.  But I was in a house with twelve young men and physically unable to run away or defend myself.  Not to mention that apparently some of them were angry at my continued existence.

            Chanyeol smiled.  He was lanky and almost awkward.  But he had an air of confidence that must come from being the smart one.  “It’s alright, honestly.  The excitement will end up being good for all of us, I’m sure.  Baekhyun, you should go fetch Lay, I think he’s down in the basement playing pool with Luhan.  He’ll want to check on her now that she’s awake again.”

            “Oh yeah, good thinking,”  Baekhyun hopped up and with a wink, left us.

            I twiddled my thumbs nervously.  “So, what do you all do?  I mean other than hang out- I don’t mean to pry.”

            “Oh, it’s alright, we all do different things.  Suho hyung is rich so he doesn’t need to work.  What do you do?  All we know about you is that you were in a bus that crashed.  How old are you?”

            “I’m eighteen.  I was on my way to the city to find a job that pays well enough to help with my school debts.  I was going to attend university and work as much as I could.  How old are you?  Did you go to college?  I mean, you’re the smart one, but I don’t want to assume.”

            “Yes, I am actually attending college. I’m twenty.  We all are a bit older than you.  Sehun and Kai are eighteen like you, and Xiumin hyung, the eldest among us, just turned twenty five.  Baekhyun is the same age as me, and Lay is a year older.”

            I nodded, trying to absorb all the information.  “You must have a very big house.”

            Chanyeol smiled at me, “Yes, Suho hyung found it and it is perfect for us.  Everyone has their own room.  It’s really like a small apartment building.”

            A knock came from the door and both of us turned as Baekhyun returned followed by an intense looking strawberry blonde who I assumed was Lay.  He regarded me with a serious expression.

            Then another young man walked in, he looked a lot more friendly.  He had a cute baby-ish face with dark red hair.  He smiled at me brightly.

            “This is Lay,”  Baekhyun introduced the blonde.  “And Luhan.  Hyungs, this is Susanna.”  The new men nodded a greeting which I returned.  Lay walked up to the bed.

            “Nice to finally meet you, Susanna.  I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better.”

            I searched his gaze for sympathy, but his dark eyes gave no insight to his feelings toward me.  “Thank you very much, Lay-shi.  I understand that you saved me.  I am very grateful.”

            He was looking me over, and I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.  The others seemed to be waiting for his appraisal.  “Have you tried standing?  You may feel dizzy and unsteady, but that is normal.”

            “I haven’t,” I slowly scooted to the edge of the bed.  Luhan quickly stepped forward to help me.  “Thank you.”

            “No problem,” He smiled back.

            Standing was hard, it didn’t hurt, but my balance was way off.  I was practically being held up by Luhan.  How embarrassing.   The room was spinning and I closed my eyes tightly trying to breath through my mouth.

            “Are you in any pain?”  Lay asked, his voice coming from right behind me.  This was great.  I didn’t think I could stay upright if their hands stopped supporting me.

            I tried to open my eyes and turn my head to reply, “No, whoa!”  I began to fall to the right.  Luhan, tried to stop my fall by grabbing my hands and pull me up looked very concerned.  Somebody else scooped me up, bridal style and gently sat me back on the bed.  I forced my eyes open.  It was Lay, and he was studying me, his face only inches from mine.

            His eyes searched mine anxiously.  His hands came up and held my head on either side.  I felt a wave of numbness course through my body and the room around us gradually stopped spinning.

            “Better?”  He asked, his voice less calculated and cold.

            “Yes, sorry, I just lost my balance,”  I blinked, looking away, embarrassed.

            He stood up across from me.  “That’s okay.  Would you like to try again.  It will get easier.”

            I nodded, determined to prove that I was not a helpless weakling.  Luhan looked concerned.  “Will she be okay?  Is there anything wrong with her?”

            Lay turned and smiled at him.  “You doubt me?”  Luhan shook his head and smiled.  Lay turned back to me, still smiling.  “And we can always catch you if you begin to fall.”

            After a couple stumbles and close calls, I was able to stand by myself and walk with one of them on each side.  They were all encouraging and patient even though it seemed to take ages.

            “Well, would you like to meet the others?”  Lay asked, very proud of the progress I had made.

            I wasn’t sure about it, but not wanting to disappoint him, I nodded.  “Sure.”

            “Luhan hyung, go gathers the others in on the couches.  Baekhyun, you’ll have to run out and get Kai, I think he went grocery shopping,”  Lay instructed.  The others nodded and after waving goodbye to me, left quickly.

            “I’ll stand on her left and you can be on her other side,”  Chanyeol offered.

            Lay agreed and we walked slowly out of the bedroom.  “Whose room did I steal?”  I asked them both.

            Lay’s mouth twitched.  “Mine, that fool Chen brought you there instead of his own room.  I’ve had to sleep on the couch.”  He looked down at me, “You owe me.”

            “I’m very grateful,”  Lay struck me as a more serious sort, and I wasn’t sure if he was joking.  Honestly, I really owed him my life.  Both him and Chen.