“Hyung…what is going on?”  Woohyun bugged Jungryul as they unloaded their stuff from the back of the van.  Woohyun had refused to pick up anything or help anyone until their manager answered his question.  The rest of Infinite already understood they weren’t getting an answer and had picked up as many backs as they could carry before heading up the stairs to their dorm.  Jungryul closed the hatch of the van and turned around to see Woohyun standing on the sidewalk, his hands on his hips trying to act as stubborn as possible.  Usually Jungryul would see this, laugh and then finally give an explanation but there was really no way to explain Helen.  Woohyun would just have to see for himself.

“Get inside.”  Jungryul ordered; with that, he picked up the remaining bags and headed for the dorm himself. 

Woohyun stood on the sidewalk, hesitating and confused.  Usually that works… he thought to himself.  He shrugged off the weird occurrence and raced up the steps to the dorm.  He ran right into a wall of shoulders and tripped over the bags that had been dropped carelessly at the front door.  Woohyun caught himself from falling face first on Sunggyu’s shoulder.  “Bwo!?”  Woohyun exclaimed.  No one answered him but they were all staring straight ahead.  He tilted his head up and his jaw dropped open.

No one said anything; they all just stared with blank, tired eyes.  “Boys?”  Jungryul questioned.  Usually he didn’t have to tell them to introduce themselves anymore; they usually did it automatically.  It wasn’t like this was their first time of having a girl…a woman in their dorm what was the issue?

Sungyeol was the first of the seven to make any movement at all; his contribution was a little disappointing-he nudged Sunggyu.  Startled, Sunggyu stepped forward, away from the group and bowed to the girl.  “Ah, ye, hello.”  He rubbed his palms together.  “I am Infinite’s leader, Sunggyu.”  Sungyeol stepped forward to introduce himself.  Slowly the other boys took their turn; Helen couldn’t help but turn to Jungryul and show him that she was holding back a huge laugh as they continued with their introductions. 

Oh my…they’re really embarrassing.  Jungryul shook his head in sadness as he looked at the ground.  He was red with embarrassment as one of the boys stuttered.  When they had finished Helen spoke; her voice calm and smooth, “Hello, I’m Helen.”  She waved with both hands and smiled sweetly.  “I hope I won’t be too much of a bother!”

Hoya watched her, his mouth closed, as thoughts soared through his head.  However Sungjong didn’t need time to think; he jumped forward with young energy.  “Omo!  How old are you?”  He approached Helen boldly, taking her hand in his.  It was not unexpected as Sungjong was known to be the most outgoing of the seven boys; he easily joined in with other people including strangers. 

“Nineteen.”  Helen slightly bowed her head.  She’d been in Seoul a few years back and she knew the music scene was a big deal but her “job” required more detailed observations of a different lifestyle in Korea.  Jungryul had not had the time to mention the little details of each man standing before her but she was good at adapting. 

“Aish!”  Sungjong dropped Helen’s hand showing his sign of frustration.  “Why is everyone woman we meet my noona?!”  He stomped his foot in a mini-tantrum. 

Helen covered quickly and laughed.  Sungjong heard her and his head whipped up in her direction; Helen tried to compose herself quickly but upon seeing Sungjong’s sassy eyes she started laughing even harder.  She turned her face towards Jungryul who also started to smile, showing his teeth.  Sungjong realized how silly he must’ve looked and started to laugh too.  He picked up Helen’s hand once again and spoke with a smile on his face, “Ani, I’m just kidding.  It’s great to meet you.  You’re very pretty but you’re not Korean, are you?”

With this innocent question even Jungryul broke out in hysterics.  He held his stomach as the rest of Infinite was still trying to wrap their heads around the situation.  Sungyeol was the first to break the formation of dumbfounded faces as he approached the manager.  “Ya, hyung…really…what’s going on here?”  He patted him on the back, trying to get Jungryul to calm down. 

Helen nodded at Sungjong as they had a small side conversation in whispers, “Thank you and no, I’m not Korean, unfortunately.”  She smiled as he leaned away and blushed slightly.  The other boys had never seen Sungjong blush and wondered what she had said.  Hoya was still watching, a little skeptical of the whole scenario.  Dongwoo looked completely lost; Sunggyu was worried; Woohyun was busy trying to get his composure back making sure his “cute” image was still in check.  Myungsoo was a little indifferent about everything as his eyes began to droop. 

Jungryul had calmed down and was playfully pushing Sungyeol back into line with the others.  “Ya, listen up.”  The boys stopped watching Helen and Sungjong and turned to face Jungryul.  “She needs to spend the night here so Dongwoo and Myungsoo-“

Myungsoo rolled his eyes, “Knew it, called it…” he spoke under his breath.

“One night; don’t complain.”  Jungryul finished briefly.  “Get ready for bed; you all have a schedule tomorrow afternoon.”  He clapped his hands and the boys moved quickly.  Some fled for the bathroom; others grabbed a snack and then fell asleep on their beds immediately.  Myungsoo and Dongwoo began moving the coffee table and laid down blankets and pillows in the living room for them to sleep on.  In these moments of chaos most of the boys forgot about Helen; she was never once in their way and it seemed as if she disappeared while they fussed about. 

Hoya was leaving the bathroom wearing Dongwoo’s dinosaur pajama outfit when he bumped into Jungryul.  Hoya quickly bowed and apologized.  Jungryul didn’t respond; Hoya looked up and saw that his manager was astonished and his eyes were wide in disbelief.  “Whats wrong, hyung?”  Hoya asked, standing up straight. 

Jungryul blinked a few times still unsure of what he was seeing.  “You can’t be serious, Hoya…”  When Hoya continued to give him the blank look Jungryul continued, “Of all the times you have a very cute girl in the dorm you decide to wear…that?”  Jungryul motioned to the outfit and Hoya looked down.  Jungryul laughed playfully and put his arm on Hoya’s shoulder before he could turn to move away.  “Wait a second, Hoya.”  Hoya tilted his head, confused.  Then, all of a sudden Jungryul yelled, “Helen-si!  Come here!  Quickly!!” 

“Ne!”  Helen responsed.  Hoya’s eyes got wide and he started to struggle against Jungryul’s grip.   Just to be mean, Jungryul grapped the wadded clothes out of Hoya’s hands and shoved Hoya back into the bathroom closing it behind him; then he ran out the front door.  Hoya had tried to turn around but the tail of the dinosaur was caught in the door.  Helen could see the green poking out between the frame and the door as she walked closer to the bathroom.  She barely turned the knob when it sprang open and Hoya fell forward on his face.  He landed hard and had the wind knocked out of him. 

Helen was a little shocked at the green dinosaur coughing on the bathroom floor but she tried to hold back a smile as she rolled him over onto his back.  “Omo…Barney are you ok?”  She joked as she saw Hoya’s face.  He sat up quickly, still coughing and apologized.  He started to stand up, bracing his weight on the toilet seat and Helen stood up trying to help.  She reached out to give him a hand up and when he went to take it he noticed the bruised trailing up her arm and under the sleeve of her t-shirt.  Hoya froze in his position as his eyes darted back and forth from her face to her arm.  Helen was confused and followed his gaze to her arm; she pulled back quickly, her fingers twitching slightly.  She dropped her head a little, embarrassed; then she turned to leave the bathroom before Hoya could say anything. 

Jungryul came back into the house and saw Helen biting her bottom lip, upset.  She heard the noise of the door closing and she looked up at him, worried.  He tilted her head as they had a silent conversation with their eyes only.  Helen held up her bruised arms and Jungryul’s eyes saw Hoya coming out of the bathroom behind her.  Jungryul nodded as the two exchanged places in the house; she opened the door and left while Jungryul decided to “explain” the situation to a confused Hoya.