Leeteuk’s POV

“Are you sure you can move all this by yourselves while I’m at work?” Kayla inquired seriously for the tenth time. I nodded my head.

“Yes, Kayla. Don’t worry; we’ll fix it for you. I have the instructions on where everything is going to be and all that. We’ll take care of it.” Kayla took a deep breath. “Are you nervous?”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “It’s my first press conference... And I’m sad because the movie shoot is over. Although...it is a relief too. Now I can focus on my acting classes and possibly hang out with you some more, which would be nice. So I’m happy about that.” I gave her a comforting hug.

“We’ll have it all set up for you when you come home, all right?” I kissed her forehead and sent her off. After that I mentally prepared myself for the hardest task of my day; waking up ALL the members and getting motivated enough to help out down at Kayla’s apartment. Even though he’d helped find a place for her to stay, Heechul turned out to have had enough of helping others. It wasn’t the easiest things to get Hyuk and Kyu up either, then again, it never was... Kyuhyun! For the last time! Get the hell up! I’m done being nice and the next time I have to come in here and I’ll bring a bucket of ice cold water!” I yelled at him.

“Okay, okay! I’m up! Jesus Christ!” the grumpy boy muttered as he threw off the sheets. I continued to the other rooms and found, to my delight, that most of them had dressed. Even Eunhyuk, who normally shared his room with Donghae and therefore seldom got up, had put on his clothes and headed to eat breakfast. The second youngest, who always offered to cook breakfast sat joined by Yesung, Shindong and Kangin when I arrived.

“Did you get Kyuhyun up?” Kangin asked, munching on a sandwich. I shrugged.

“Sort of I think,” I replied. “Where are Sungmin and Eunhyuk? At least they were up...”

“I’m up too!” Heechul complained, strolling into the kitchen slowly. “What did you say we were going to do today?” he wondered.

“We’re going to move all the things to Kayla’s new apartment. It’s going to take most of the day, and I’ve managed to excuse us from the first training. Instead of being from about now to four, we’ll have it after we are done.” Heechul glared at me. “Sorry, Heechul, but that’s the way it’s going to be!” I said strictly. He didn’t complain anymore, but sat down to eat breakfast. After another ten minutes, Sungmin came dragging on Kyuhyun under his arm and sat him down on his chair. Eunhyuk soon joined as well.

“Why do we have to move her things? Why can’t we pay someone to do it?” Kyuhyun whined.

“Because it costs a lot! And I’m not willing to pay it if I can help her out myself. That is, by the way, much more honourable since she is like our sister,” Sungmin lectured.

“Fine...” Kyuhyun muttered.

Once we all had eaten breakfast, we got ready to go. The moving truck had just arrived and we started loading everything onto the truck. I trusted the best driver, Kyuhyun – yes, chocking right? The youngest one is the best driver...– to get it safe to the apartment. The rest of us got into the cars and drove behind him. “Whoa, it’s really pretty,” Shindong commentated when we stepped inside the currently empty apartment.

“It’s very...Kayla,” Eunhyuk agreed. “And it’s big! So we should be able to have parties here, right?” he added excitedly. I threw a pillow on him, hoping that he’d get the point. He pouted. “All right, all right. I’ll stay away unless she invites me, got it.”

“Good. Let’s go!” Through grunts and complaints, we began to move all the furniture inside the apartment, placing them on where Kayla had told us they’d be. It took all day to get done and a lot of bickering got in the way. Sungmin insisted that the couch should stand on the left side while Heechul retorted that it would look better on the right side. Ryeowook had remarks of how Eunhyuk and Kangin had placed the dinner table and Yesung and Shindong couldn’t get the curtains to hang correctly. Three hours into the moving process, we decided to take a break.

“Ah, I’m so exhausted!” Yesung breathed, lying down on the floor in the middle of the living room. We lay in a pile, looking up at the ceiling.

“How are we going to do this all alone?” Kyuhyun asked.

“It’s okay, we can do it,” Shindong answered. His breathing was heavy but he remained positive like always.

“We can rest for a little while, but then we have to get moving because I promised Kayla we would be done by the time she got here. That’ll be after the press conference and the meeting and it have already passed three hours, so she might be done in maybe two more hours.”

“Hyung, why do you promise things you cannot keep?” Kangin questioned. I opened one eye to glare at him. I kept my promises!

“Name one example when-”

“That time when you said you’d buy me painkillers because I had hurt my knee!” Kyuhyun shouted from the other side of the room. I sighed.

“Well that-”

“That time when you said you’d strip on our concert if we won another award after we’d won Inkigayo!” Eunhyuk interrupted. “And one time you said that you would-”

“Fine, I get it! But this promise I will keep! And you’re going to help me, so get up and come on!” They knew they had pissed me off now, which meant that no one more said another word. The apartment was really starting to look lived-in and cosy. Everything is finally coming together, I thought. I hope Kayla likes it as much as I do. I’ve followed all her instructions and-

“Hyung! We need help with the bed!” Ryeowook screamed from the bedroom. I ran over and helped them. “Thanks...” Ryeowook breathed.

“No problem,” I responded.

“Why does she want a double bed when she’s so tiny and skinny!?” Heechul wondered. “Even I don’t have a double bed! Even if I want one...”

“I think I know the reason. Though I’m not going to tell you!” Sungmin teased. I glanced at him. Did he know also?

“What? Do you know something I don’t know? Tell me!” Heechul demanded at once. Sungmin shook his head, only making Heechul upset. “YAH! I’m your hyung! Tell me!”

“It’s a secret!” Sungmin defended. That didn’t stop Heechul. Clearly, since he gave Sungmin his meanest look ever. Too bad for him, Sungmin rarely got scared of Heechul. Probably because he had practised martial arts for years and could take skinny Heechul down any time.

“I’m Kim Heechul,” Heechul started, earning a lot of sighs around the room, “And I demand to know all secrets kept between the members because I frequently find them out anyways. Hence I would recommend that you save all of us the trouble and tell me what this secret is.”

“Let me think about it... No.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the defeated and offended expression on Heechul’s face. Sungmin flashed him a killer smile. Heechul furiously raised the night table and his intention must’ve been to slam it down into the floor to express his fury. Though, that didn’t quite work out the way it was supposed to.

“I will not have- AH!” Heechul screamed. We all stumbled back in chock, observing as Heechul sank down to the bed and lay down on it, holding a firm grip around his toe. One after the other, we couldn’t restrain ourselves from bursting out in laughter. It was just too sad to exist. Heechul continued to whine, and as the kind leader I was, I began to feel concern.

“Are you seriously injured?” I questioned. Heechul sat up. I could tell by the look in his eye that he still felt aggravated.

“What do you mean by that?” he snapped. “Do you mean ‘Are you seriously injured’ or do you mean ‘Are you injured seriously’? Because if you’re pulling sarcasm on me I’m going to punch you in the face so hard that your kids will feel it!”

“Wow, classic Heechul, very classic. Couldn’t you think of something new?” Kangin challenged the sufficiently upset man on the bed. He, like Sungmin, didn’t fear Heechul in the least. But I had to admit that I was a bit scared of him sometimes, especially when he was this angry.

“Shut the hell up!”

“I meant the latter,” I interjected. “Have you gravely injured yourself or are you somewhat all right?” This time, Heechul’s expression softened slightly as he nodded his head.

“I’m okay... But I’m still mad about the secret deal!” he said. Sungmin rolled his eyes.

“Well too bad for you, I’m not telling. It’s between me and Kayla. The rest of you will find out sooner or later,” Sungmin concluded, ending the discussion by stepping outside the room.

“Anyway, let’s continue. We’re soon done,” I encouraged. What we had left was basically putting all the tiny things, like flowers, portraits and things like that, on their assigned places. Once that was done, and I put down the last photo of Kayla and us members on the night table, the job was complete. I closed the door to the bedroom behind me, joining the members in the living room. They looked at me hopefully. “Yes, we are done!” I confirmed. They began to jump up and down, cheering loudly at the success.

“! We still have practise, don’t we?” Kyuhyun suddenly realised, totally ruining the mood. “Ow!” he yelled out when Kangin hit his head.

“You’re such a party pooper,” Yesung said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“A real buzz-kill!” Shindong agreed. Kyuhyun just pouted, and since no one had the heart to tell him that his aegyo was about as affective as train without railway, his pout stayed the next 15 minutes. We decided to head towards SM early to catch up with some of the lost practise – or well, I decided. Packing up the things we’d brought with us, we went out of the apartment. I turned off the lights and locked the door. I really hoped the next time this door opened someone would be really pleased about the way it all looked. Who it’d be, I had no exact idea of. It could be either Kayla or someone else. I hoped it would be the two of them, together.

“Hyung, you’re phone is ringing,” Ryeowook pointed out to me when we had gotten into the car. I brought up my phone and answered.

“Hi, Kayla. Are you done with the press conference now?” I heard a small sniffle and instantly my senses were a bit more activated. “Kayla? Honey? Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine... Can you come pick me up at the dorms? There’s something I need to do and I don’t have a car...” she said. She definitely wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t sure if she had been crying either. Either way, I felt the urge to hurry.

“I’m coming. Yah, Kangin-ah, drop me off at the dorms.” He turned to corner, not asking why to my relief, and drove straight to the dorms. I jumped out of the car. “I’ll meet you all at SM later! Yesung, you’re in charge of the singing practise like always. And Eunhyuk, I trust you not to fool around when you practise the dances. Start without me and I’ll see when I’ll join you, okay? I’ll be there as fast as I can,” I quickly informed then ran inside. The road up in the elevator took so long whenever you felt stressed. I tried to take a few deep breaths, calming myself down a bit. I opened the door to our dorm and rushed in. “Kayla?” I called.

“I’m here...” I walked to Donghae’s room and saw her sitting on the floor with a suitcase by her feet. She closed it shut and stood up. “Thank you for coming so quick... Do you have the keys to my apartment?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do. What are you doing? Where are you going? And what exactly do you have in that bag? I thought we took it all to the new apartment?”

“I prepared it a few days ago. It’s just the most necessary things... Just a few shirts and another pair of jeans basically. Did it go well?” I noticed that she really wanted to change the subject. I wondered why, and therefore didn’t let her get away.

“Kayla, where are you going?” I asked again. She looked up at me, biting her lip. “If you’re hiding something it’s better if you tell me what it is right away. I won’t judge you or anything.”

“I’m going to a locksmith first of all. Let’s go. I’ll tell you more on the way there.” Kayla grabbed her small blue suitcase and walked out. I followed her down to my car and we drove to the nearest locksmith. We stepped inside the tiny shop and went up to a man who supposedly worked there.

“Can I help you, my dear?” he asked Kayla kindly. She turned to me and I gave her the key to her apartment.

“Yes. I wondered if you could duplicate these keys. I know you must have a lot on your hands right now but it’s really urgent. Please, can you make an exception and do it for me now?” Kayla’s sweet voice and her smile made anyone’s heart melt, so naturally the man complied without hesitation. He hobbled to his little workplace and got to work. Kayla turned to me. “I have to go somewhere. I’m sure you already know where,” she said.

“I think I do,” I replied with a smile. “Are you sure about this? One hundred percent?”

She nodded. “Yes, I am. I’ve thought about it a lot today. They asked so much about the rumours that I couldn’t stop thinking of anything else than what I truly want to do. Buying the apartment was one of my dreams, I have fulfilled it now.”

“You have. It turned out amazing by the way. I hope you love it as much as the rest of us.”

“I’m sure I will,” Kayla assured. “Did the other ones suspect anything? Sungmin oppa knows, but I haven’t told anyone else.”

“No, only you, me and him knows. I think I figured it out when you wanted to buy the larger apartment instead of the smaller. But no one else has given signs of understanding. It’s going to be a huge surprise for them. They’ll be extremely happy though,” I told her when I saw how she lowered her head. Kayla had, for as long as I had known her, wanted to share things, big or small. So I guessed that keeping this a secret to herself had been quite hard for her.

“The keys are done now, my dear,” the man announced. Kayla stared at the silver keys quietly for a moment before looking up at the man with a huge smile.

“Thank you so much! What’s the price?”

“5000 won, my dear.” Kayla’s chin dropped to the floor.

“What? But that’s nothing!” The man gave her a friendly smile. It was first now I saw how seriously ill the man appeared. His clothes weren’t of the best quality, and his hair was grey and shabby. He couldn’t possibly make a lot of money each day. Kayla brought up her wallet and took out 20’000 won and put it on the table in front of the man. He stared at her with big fascinated eyes. “Here, for the trouble. You made them at once, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.” The locksmith took her hand, shaking it and smiled wider than before.

“Thank you, thank you. You’re such a sweet, kind-hearted girl,” he said. Kayla bowed and we bid our goodbyes then left the shop. “You know where to go next, right oppa?” Kayla asked as we sat down in the car. I sped off towards the airport. Upon arriving, Kayla and I had to run to the check-in. There was a flight that was about to take off in half an hour. Luckily, there were seats left and Kayla could book one of them. She handed in her suitcase and received her ticket. I followed her to the pass control quietly. I didn’t even know what went through my head at that moment. Maybe I was just proud of her? That she’d realised her faults and was willing to resolve everything by herself. I pulled her hand to stop her from going further.

“Kayla, have a safe flight.” She hugged me tightly.

“I will oppa. I’ll send a text message when I’ve landed there. I’ve texted Siwon also that I’m coming and he’ll be able to pick me up at the airport. Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”

“You definitely are. He’s going to be so incredibly happy to see you again. And he’ll be so happy about the gift you brought him,” I told her sincerely. She giggled a bit.

“If he says yes, then I’ll tell you-”

“You mean when he says yes. There’s no way he’s going to deny you this,” I cut in. “Trust me, Kayla. He’ll go into a euphoric state! And I’ll make sure to tell the other members once it’s official.” I winked at her and kissed her forehead. “Hurry now, you don’t want to miss that airplane.” She gave me a quick hug and then scurried towards the controller. I waited until I couldn’t see her anymore, and then headed out to my car again. Donghae, you’re a very lucky guy...

All right guys! Second to last chapter is out! And the final chapter will come later this evening! I cannot believe it has gone a year today since I first published this story. Thank you all so much for reading and upvoting and commentating on this story that is so precious to me! I'm eternally grateful. Anyways, look forward to the final chapter and if you have time, give suggestions on what's to happen next. Maybe you've figured it out already?

See you later! Love you! <3