After settling in Helen like he used to, many years ago, Jungryul finally left the dorm and headed for his own apartment.  It was already two in the morning before he arrived home; almost telepathically Helen sent him a “Thank you” text showing him just how grateful she really was.  He smiled and quickly feel into a deep sleep remembering all the memories he’d had with Helen as a little girl.

Helen awoke, startled.  She was used to these dreams invading her mind every time she closed her eyes but her body wasn’t; it always had the same reaction – sweating.  It seemed as though no matter how quickly she could get over something in her past, her brain was not about to let it slip by so easily and caused her body to remember every pain she felt at those terrible moments; every broken bone, tear in her skin, every bullet.  She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and threw the blanket off of her.  Helen searched under her pillow for her cell phone to check the time.  Seven in the morning?  Really?  Helen sighed and fell back into the mattress.  Everything grew silent and she could hear a bird singing outside…more like squawking horribly.    Helen remembered the first time she squawked like that.  She’d been given a real beating for crying out in pain; her current employer saw it as a human weakness and demanded she and everyone else in her team learn to deal with pain silently.

Obviously the bird had never been taught in such a manner as it continued to make noise.  Helen sighed and got out of bed, grabbed the dress sitting near the window:  http://i.ysi.bz/Assets/GalleryImage/23/962/L_g0015896223.jpg (without the hat) and headed towards the shower.  She finished quickly and realized all the boys were still asleep.  Hoping she could show her appreciation she decided to make them a morning breakfast.  She stood in the kitchen, feet together, tapping an index finger to her lips.  I’ll manage something… she thought to herself as she stared ahead of her.  Helen’s first thoughts told her to at least find out what they had in the kitchen; as it turned out they didn’t have much: a few eggs, rice, ramyun, juice and many other small snacks.  “Humph…”  She closed the last cupboard and retreated back into her room to grab her wallet; then she headed out the front door to find the nearest market.  She tried to hurry; afraid someone might wake up and cook for themselves.

When Helen returned home, no one seemed to be awake; she passed Myungsoo and Dongwoo and stepped into the kitchen.  She quietly set down the grocery bags and began to fumble through the stuff she bought.  Helen organized the things between what she would need for breakfast right now and the things she bought purely as treats for the boys like candies and many healthy but tasty snacks.  She worked quietly and quickly but just as she was about to finish sorting through the items someone put their hands on her hips.  Because of her intense training, her first reaction would have been to punch and fight, her second thought told her that she was in the boys’ dorm and to not act strangely.  Her last thought told her to act surprised; she did that well.  Helen whipped around, pretending to hit her attacker with the packaged flour. 

Sungjong laughed at Helen, shaking his head.  He put his finger to his mouth indicating they should still be quiet as he moved Helen to the side to see what she was cooking.  Sungjong looked at the ingredients she had kept out and raised an eyebrow.  “What are you making, Helen?”  He asked innocently.

“Well…what would you like?  I was going to make it a surprise breakfast/thank you for all of you guys but I’m not sure what you all like.  The original intent was American pancakes.”  She smiled waiting for his approval. 

“American pancakes?”  He tilted his head and pouted his lips.

“They’re just like your pancakes except instead of fishcakes and other ingredients in them you just put butter and syrup on top of it.”  Sungjong nodded his head but didn’t say anything.  “Was that a bad idea?” 

“No.  I want to try one, please?”  He turned back to Helen, his lips and smiling. 

Helen happily agreed and the two made American pancakes for Infinite at eight in the morning.  An hour later Sungjong and Helen had made multiple stacks of pancakes; set out syrup and butter, and poured beverages for everyone according to what Sungjong said were their personal preferences.   Helen removed her apron and Sungjong pulled her in for a hug while squealing.  “Aigoo!!  They’re going to love this!”  He jumped slightly, proving how excited he was.

“Will they wake up though?”  Helen pulled away from Sungjong’s hug but kept him at arm’s length.  Almost instantly the door to SungJong’s room creaked open and Hoya stepped out, sniffing the air with barely open eyes.

“Yum…” he groaned and sat down at the closest chair.  He looked up at Sungjong who was smiling brightly and then at Helen who looked like she was anticipating something.  Then his eyes fell on the stacks of plain pancakes.  He tilted his head and stared at them for a long time. 

Eventually Sungjong interrupted, “They’re American pancakes, Hyung.”  His voice was rather loud. 

Hoya shook his tiredness away and looked back at Sungjong.  “They’re what?”

Sungjong grabbed Helen by her shoulders, she winced in pain but didn’t pull away – Hoya saw this but didn’t know what to say.  “Helen made these for us!  They’re sooooo good.”  Sungjong moaned.  Helen smiled and nodded politely at Sungjong, accepting the kind compliment.  She looked back at Hoya, still anticipating. 

Hoya smirked and then grabbed a chopstick from the center of the table; he stabbed a few pancakes and then dropped them on his plate.  But once he did that he looked a little confused.  “Now what?” 

Sungjong laughed and pushed Helen towards the table. “Helpless!”  Sungjong acted as if in despair as he headed towards the room Hoya just came from.  “I’ll wake up hyung!”

Hoya was still watching Helen with raised eyebrows.  She laughed at his expression and took another step toward the table, picking up the saucer of syrup she sat down across from him.  Using his chopstick she cut a thin slice of butter from the stick and dropped it onto his stack of warm pancakes; she covered the butter lightly in syrup and set down the saucer.  Hoya watched in interest until she was finished.  “Please eat it well.”  Helen whispered. 

Hoya smirked and ripped off a piece of the pancake as Helen rose from her seat.  “Ani!  Where are you going!?”  He reached across the table and lightly grabbed her wrist.  She furrowed her brows.  “You have to eat this with us.”  Hoya explained. 

Helen bit her lip, “Eat it first; if you hate it I can still run from here.”  She teased.

“Nonsense.”  Hoya popped the bread into his mouth and chewed quietly.  Helen looked away nervously; it was her first time making these in years and with “foreign” ingredients.   She looked at the table and realized Hoya hadn’t let her wrist go as the two hands rested together on the top of the table.  Hoya squeezed gently but Helen still snapped her hand back quickly; it wasn’t out of pain but shock.  Hoya stared up at her in confusion but then started to bow his head for an apology. 

Helen caught Hoya off-guard by speaking first, “M-Mianhaeyo.”  Helen stuttered. 

“Na du.”  He replied.  “I didn’t mean t-“

“You didn’t; it didn’t…”  Helen stuttered again while she looked down at her plate. 

Hoya watched her for a little bit before speaking again, “They’re really good.”  He ripped off another piece of the pancake and put it in his mouth.  Helen looked up, watching him eat before realizing his words were genuine. 

“Thank you.”  She smiled wide. 

Hoya leaned over the table and set a pair of chopsticks on her plate.  “Eat.”  He ordered through a mouthful of food.  Helen smiled and he returned the favour. 

“What is that smell!?”  Sungyeol burst through the door and immediately his eyes fell upon the table.  He grabbed a chair noisily and reached with his hand for the pancake.  Before he could touch one, Hoya smacked his hand away from the food.  “Bwo?”  Sungyeol kept his hand hovering above the food as he looked at Hoya.  Hoya looked up from his plate at Sungyeol and motioned his head towards Helen who was covering and holding back many laughs.  “Omo…mian…”

“Aniyo!  Eat it, please!  Enjoy!”  Helen rose from her seat and smiled at Hoya who was about to protest again.  However Sungjong interrupted him by skipping out into the living room, jumping onto Myungsoo and Dongwoo.  He yelled in their ears and flailed about crazily.  Helen had been distracted by all the commotion and when Myungsoo sat straight up, his hair was a mess and his eyes were not open, she had to turn back and face the table covering a huge laugh from escaping.  Her eyes met Hoya’s and he began to laugh as well. 

“Did someone order food?”  Dongwoo wiped the drool from his mouth while sitting up.  Helen laughed and walked into the kitchen.  The boys began to file out of their rooms and take seats at the table.  Sungjong, having eaten many beforehand helped Helen clean and reorganize while the rest ate. 

Hoya couldn’t help but glance at the kitchen every once in a while.  He kept watching Helen and Sungjong interact with one another, feeling jealous every time they laughed with one another and touched each other even if she only patted Sungjong on the head, or he playfully tugged on her long hair because she wasn’t paying attention to him.  Eventually she caught him staring when she would turn around to scold Sungjong for treating his noona in such a disrespectful way; instead of blushing or looking away quickly she would smile at him until he couldn't help but do the same.  It happened repeatedly throughout breakfast and she would just nod and turn back around. 

Myungsoo was the first to actually finish his meal; he rose from the table and took his plate towards the kitchen.  Helen was standing just to the side of the sink, peeling and preparing other foods for later for the boys as Myungsoo began to rinse his plate of the sticky, sugary substance.  He glanced out of the corner of his eye and watched her work.  She looked peaceful even though she wasn’t focused on what was happening in the room.  He turned his head a little more as he admired her; it was in this moment that the plate slipped from his grasp.  Myungsoo clenched his eyes tight, expecting the loud sound of breaking dishes but when nothing happened he opened his eyes again; looking down he saw Helen’s fingers holding the plate.  He looked over at her, astonished; she looked up at him and nodded while setting the plate down at the same time.  Myungsoo didn’t know what to say; it had happened so quickly; his eyes fell back into the sink and realized the plate was already piling up with water from the faucet.  Everything had happened so fast; he wondered if he’d just imagined it as his eyes traced back up to Helen’s arm and then to her face.  She glanced back over at him and smiled; it warmed him to his core and he smiled back. 

Helen was the first to look away as multiple alarms started echoing throughout the entire dorm.  The boys of Infinite had set their alarms for when they had to get ready for the afternoon schedule.  They all began to rise from their seats and hurry into their rooms.  Sunggyu  picked up the dishes and brought them over to Helen.  He gave her his signature eye smile and bowed 90˚.  “Those were really good.”  He complimented before adding, “once I figured out how to eat them.”  Sunggyu laughed warmly and Helen smiled in return, grateful for his funny humor.  “I wish you would stick around; we need you to make us wake up so happy like that every morning.”

Helen bowed and spoke up, “Ahh…thank you.  I don’t want to get in your way though; my work calls me elsewhere anyways.  But really, thank you.”  She returned his bow and began to clean up the rest of the dishes as Sunggyu left to get ready as well.