“Okay, so Kayla wants an apartment and we have to find one for her! It shouldn’t be that hard given the circumstances that I’m famous and many women like me and there are lots of brokers that are women!” Heechul dictated, already getting on the other members’ nerves. Sungmin, Ryeowook, Leeteuk and Yesung had all felt that taken Heechul would both be necessary and depressing as hell. He would be so annoying, they thought.

“Heechul, please, don’t be such a know-it-all,” Leeteuk begged. “It’s not going to be fun then.”

“Who said anything about fun? This is purely for the sake of helping our sister! This is a mission! God, I should’ve needed Kyuhyun here; he’d understood me!” Heechul complained. Leeteuk shook his head, turning to the younger members.

“You can go home if you want,” he told them.

“Or we’ll split up in two teams and see who finds the best apartment!” Sungmin exclaimed. Heechul smirked at this.

“Great idea. I’m forcing KyuHyuk into this and we’ll form the perfect team! What do we win?” he asked, sounding as though he’d already won his trophy. When none of the members looked as though they had planned on having a particular prize, Heechul sighed. “The losers pay for food the upcoming week? And alcohol!” Leeteuk slammed his hand onto his own forehead.

“How does that work when you and Kyuhyun are the only ones who drink super much and will drink it all before any of us can even take a sip?” Yesung questioned, dissatisfied with the outcome of Heechul’s reasoning.

“Well, either you’ll just have to start drinking or-”

“I could use some wine to my cooking but that sort of wine you can’t drink...” Ryeowook interrupted the talking Heechul. Heechul glared at him; he hated when people did that, even little Wookie wouldn’t get away with it. “Sorry, hyung,” Ryeowook mumbled, standing slightly behind Yesung in case Heechul would lash out with a strict lecture of how he could not accept his behaviour. However, instead of lashing out, Heechul calmed himself.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I suggest that you get a move on because there is going to be a prize! And no matter what it is, I’ll win it!” Having spoken his mind, Heechul barged into Kyuhyun’s room where two lazily lying boys played some video games whilst eating someone else’s snacks; Heechul could just beg for their sake that those snacks weren’t his... He cleared his throat demonstratively for the two others to acknowledge his presence. However, nothing happened. “Ahem!” he resentfully barked, “I demand your attention!” Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk both looked up at their hyung with such uninterested glares that Heechul could’ve raged on them for it. Yet he knew that wasn’t the way to deal with the two ignorant kids. Instead, Heechul smiled. “I have a suggestion for the two of you. It awaits a prize for whoever can find the most suitable apartment for Kayla before everyone else. I don’t know what the prize will be but I do believe we can negotiate with the losers into forming something magnificent! Like free alcohol for a week!”

“Nope, not interested!” Kyuhyun replied simply, lowering his head to the screen again. Eunhyuk shrugged his shoulders at Heechul who narrowed his eyes.

“Ungrateful bastard kids,” the elder muttered under his breath. “Then what?” he asked himself as he stood outside their door again, pushing his weight back at it so it would close. He thought if there was another member he could cooperate with but came to the conclusion that, no, they weren’t good enough. Thinking twice about it, there was only one person Heechul knew had the same taste as him – almost – and was funny enough to hang out with today; Hongki! His source of energy and bromans! He pressed the speed-dial on his phone and pressed the phone to his ear. Yes, Hongki will be the perfect help! Heechul thought as he walked out of the door, arranging a meeting with his friend.

-

About 4 kilometres from the dorms, four very indecisive members walked out of their second apartment they’d looked on. They couldn’t decide what was wrong with it, but there was this feeling that felt completely off about it, and therefore, they simply couldn’t take it. Leeteuk sighed as they began looking on their map over Seoul. Thank God it was such a big city with apartments being put on the market every other minute. “All right, we’ll go to this one,” Leeteuk informed the other members before setting off towards their car. Once in the car, the three younger members wrinkled their noses in reluctance. “What?” Leeteuk asked.

“We have no idea what we’re doing, do we?” Sungmin breathed out. “We’re just searching for a needle in a haystack! Which isn’t, for the record, very progressive!”

“Exactly. Hyung, can’t we let Heechul deal with this? He’s the one who wants to find an apartment the most,” Ryeowook agreed. He, too, felt tired after their two hours search around the whole city. Leeteuk perched his lips together.

“No. I will not let him win this! Imagine all the things he can crave from us!” Leeteuk objected.

“He already does that,” Yesung mumbled tiredly. He had leant his head against the window and now felt like he was on the verge of falling asleep. Leeteuk stomped down the gas and drove off whilst he tried to convince the members.

“Okay, think this way. If we find the apartment then Heechul will be indebt to us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to boss him around for a week without any consequences?” Leeteuk said, putting a bright smile on his face. Yesung, probably asleep by now, didn’t react and in the meantime the other two had begun playing a game on their phones. Leeteuk sighed at all three of them. “Fine. I’ll drop you off at home and then go check out the apartment myself.” A gasp and quiet ‘yay’ was heard from the back, making Leeteuk return to his responsible leader role again.

“Oh my god! Stop!” The breaks were pushed down as soon as Leeteuk heard the yell from behind him. Yesung was forced out of his slumber with a jerk of his head while Sungmin moaned for losing the game.

“Oh, come on! I only had one-”

“Why did I stop?” Leeteuk questioned, interrupting Sungmin mid-whining. Ryeowook pointed out through the window.

“There! There’s an apartment for sale here!” Not explaining much more than that, Ryeowook hoped out of the car and ran up the stairs to the elevator. He rode up to the highest floor and with a newly lit candle of hope in his chest, went straight inside the open door. A squeal of joy leapt out through his lips as Ryeowook wailed his delight for the beautiful apartment. The light shone from all sides into the hallway and continued to the living room which was painted in white for the lightness it would give the room. Soon, Ryeowook was joined by the three other members who all got wide eyes. The apartment was simply perfect!

“Have you seen the prize on the apartment?” Yesung interrupted the choir singing ‘Hallelujah’ in everybody’s heads. Three pairs of eyes turned to the sign next to the door which Yesung now pointed at to make them notice. Within a single millisecond, all their hope faded away and was replaced with grave disappointment.

“It’s way too expensive for just one person...” Sungmin commentated sadly. The nods of agreement weren’t happy. “What then? It’s so perfect for her that it cannot be described in words!”

“I agree. We could always try to negotiate the prize? Perhaps lower it a little bit? I doubt Kayla would like to take that big of a loan even for a place like this,” Leeteuk reasoned.

“Maybe we can ask and then if it doesn’t work bring our enemy here? He’s the best one we have at dealing with things like these,” Yesung cut in. “He’s always been able to get a discount one way or the other.”

“That is true. Leeteuk hyung! You go ask the broker if there’s anything they can do! We will wait right here!” Ryeowook said, pushing the oldest member forward.

“Why me?” Leeteuk asked, sounding more terrified than confident about his cause.

“You’re the oldest one!” Ryeowook stated matter-of-factly. “It’s obvious that you must be the one to do it!” he added upon seeing the bewildered look on Leeteuk’s face.

“But I don’t want to,” the elder stuttered. “Can’t we call Heechul right away and get on with it? I’m sure he’ll be very pleased to see me crumble like this that he’ll come as if shot from a canon!” The attempt of a joke failed miserably as the three others just watched him with their judgemental thoughts. “Fine, I’ll call him myself!” Leeteuk said, tired of always being bullied and ignored by his fellow members.

“Ye-hellow?” Heechul’s happy yet overpowering tone answered the phone after two signals.

“Heechul, we need you. We’ve found the best apartment but it’s too expensive. Could we please-”

“I’m sorry to tell you my friend, but I have found the perfect apartment for her already. I’ll text you the address and you’ll have to come here and see it. It’s simply amazing and she will adore both it and, of course, me since I found it for her! See you in half an hour!” He hung up. Leeteuk stared at the phone puzzled. Heechul had found a better apartment? Impossible.

“What did he say?” Yesung wondered curiously.

“He said he’d found her a better apartment... He told us to come check it out. But...I don’t trust him completely so I’ll tell the broker we’re interested in this apartment anyway, in case Kayla would rather have this one,” Leeteuk explained. He walked off to consult with the broker and then they headed back to the car, driving all the way back into town to see the apartment Heechul said was the better one.

“Ah, welcome to Ms Kayla’s home!” Hongki exclaimed as Leeteuk, Yesung, Sungmin and Ryeowook came in through the door. “I’m your guide for today and I’ll be showing you around!” Hongki led the way around the apartment, which, to the members’ surprise, actually seemed to be an exact replica of the one they’d found. It was only much smaller, fitted for only one person to live in. The hallway led to a tiny, but cosy, living room with big windows and from here you could both walk into the bedroom, kitchen and the bathroom was just around the corner. It was rather great, Leeteuk had to admit.

“Wow, Heechul you did really well. We had an apartment looking like this one but the prize was twice the amount and so was the size. But this...it’ll suit Kayla like a glove!” Leeteuk complimented.

“Hehe, I know!” Heechul smugly smiled. “So, this is it? Should we show it to her?”

“Absolutely!” they all cheered.

“Awesome. I’ll find the broker and tell him we’ll just bring Kayla here,” Heechul said. The other members continued to look around the beautiful apartment.

“Isn’t Kayla working though?” Sungmin then asked. Leeteuk nodded.

“She probably is. But we can go surprise visit her! Then we can bring her here afterwards. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that a lot. Don’t you agree?” The members nodded their heads. “Good!” They waited for Heechul to come before they all headed out. It didn’t take long before they found the site where they were filming. Heechul jumped out of the car first, putting on his sunglasses and waved at the fans that began to scream his name. As he strolled along the cameras and everything – the members quietly following behind – Heechul looked for the girl they sought.

“Ah, there she is! On the bench.” He pointed. Kayla was seated on one of the park benches with her head hanging low. “It must be the scene when Lee Joon forgets he’s promised to meet her. She decides to head back to her own country...” Heechul explained to the others.

“Aw, poor Kayla’s character!” Ryeowook cooed.

“We got here in great time because it’s soon finished. She’s just going to sit there and then they’ll add her thoughts later when they record. Ah, she’s standing up.” Heechul turned around and saw tears in both Leeteuk’s and Hongki’s eyes. He rolled his eyes. “Really? We’ve been here like two minutes!” he complained. Hongki brushed away his tears.

“I can’t help it,” he sniffled. “It was just so...”

“Touching...” Leeteuk filled in. “She looks miserable. It’s heart breaking!” Sungmin side-hugged his hyung, patting him on his back comfortingly.

“Cut! Perfect, Kayla!” the director shouted. “We’ll soon be done!” Kayla smiled and nodded her head. Heechul waved his hand in her direction.

“Kayla!” he called. She looked up and saw the members. Immediately she ran towards them.

“Hey! What are you guys doing here?” she asked, hugging them all.

“We’re done searching for an apartment to you! We have one that will fit you perfectly,” Sungmin told her proudly. Kayla’s face lit up and she clapped her hands excitedly.

“Really? Aw, thanks guys!”

“We actually have two... But we’ll start by showing you the one Hongki and Heechul found. It’s a little smaller than the one we found. Are you done soon so that we can show it to you?” Leeteuk inquired while hugging her. Kayla nodded again.

“Yup, I’m done now. They’re going to do the last scenes with Lee Joon now, so yes, I’m done for the day. I’ll just go change and then we’ll be able to go and see if I like what you’ve found.” She giggled and ran off towards the tent.

“Ah, I hope she likes it!” Yesung hoped up and down.

“I’m sure she will,” Heechul assured. “After all, I’ve never chosen anything like this wrongly. Except that one time when I chose to buy the couch without measuring first...” The other members chuckled. “Other than that, I’m simply perfect!”

“Hm, maybe we should send the photos to Donghae hyung? Or at least tell him we’ve found Kayla an apartment,” Ryeowook suggested. Leeteuk naturally agreed.

“Yes,” he said, “can you do it?” Ryeowook smiled and brought up his phone. He searched for the best pictures and then picked Donghae in his contacts. One by one the pictures were sent. Hm, I wonder what he’ll think of it... Ryeowook thought as he saw that Donghae had opened the messages but hadn’t replied, yet.

Finally, another chapter is out. But it's short and I'm really sorry for that. As I've told you before my back hasn't been doing well lately. I recently found out I have a severe illness in the bone and I will need to operate... Yeah, so I just want to tell you, my dear readers, that it might take a while until I find the happy spirit again and will be able to write happy chapters. I'm hoping to finish this story on the 24th because then it'll be a year since I started writing it. Thank you all for sticking with me all this time! It'll soon be over. Only a few chapters left... Stick till the end okay? Love you all so much! Thank you again. <3