July 27, 1999

"I'm hom--"

Yoonmi froze at the sight of her living room in front of her: Messily spread and scattered all around the ground were blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags.

Twelve. She counted.

Yoonmi groaned as she threw her backpack down. "Again?!"

"Now, now, sweetie. Be polite." Yoonmi's mother came out from the kitchen with a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies. "Go upstairs and give this to the boys. Oh, and I set up your blankets already with your favorite pillow. Straighten them out later if you want."

Recently, the guys had come to sleep over much more than usual because of the hot weather. Yoonmi's house was at the very edge of the street, closest to the beach. Her house no doubt was much cooler than any other's, especially with her living room's air conditioner and portable fans.

And as fun as it seemed to have sleepovers, twelve guys were a bit too much. All Yoonmi gained was crowded space and a lack of sleep from the loud snoring all night.

She made a face. Why couldn't she just sleep in her own bed? It wouldn't be fair to the boys, her mother had said. But really, she wouldn't have cared any less if things were fair for them or not.

With a low mutter of obedience to her mother, Yoonmi quickly turned to look at the living room-turned-bedroom again. In the very middle of the messy black and blue blankets lay her own, a fluffly light pink one with an equally as neat and soft pillow. Her stuffed bunny was sitting next to it.

Yoonmi tilted her head. Something about the image didn't seem quite right.

"Uhmma! Can't I just sleep on the couch--"

"Shhh!" Her mother quickly shushed her from the kitchen. "Don't be so loud, you'll disturb Sehun!"

"... Sehun?"

Yoonmi looked behind her and jumped back in surprise. Sure enough, a noticable lump was under a pile of blankets with a part of Sehun's brown hair visible in the top. Yoonmi gasped and jumped back, wondering how she hadn't seen him before.

... And how was he still sleeping after all that ruckus she just made?

But then again, Sehun was a quiet guy. One of those few people who always seemed half-asleep 24/7 and had less of a noticable presence.

"Sorry!" Yoonmi whispered, doubting he would even hear her. With an overly exaggerated tip-toeing that any other six-year-old would do, Yoonmi quickly bent her knees and leaped as far as she could over Sehun.

Of course she landed on top of his foot.

"Ow." A muffled mutter came from under the blankets.

"S-S-Sorry!!"

Yoonmi quickly left the living room and headed upstairs with the plate of cookies in her hands, her heart pounding from excitement and nervousness. She could hear her mom's amused laughter from downstairs, which only made her turn red in embarrasment.

"I-I didn't mean to land on him!"

"Of course, Yoonmi.... And about the couch, the answers's no. Kai already claimed the couch."

Yoonmi formed a grimace. "Stupid Kai."

... But then again....

She quickly slammed the guest room's door open.

"KIM JONGIN. YOU BETTER GIVE ME THE COUCH OR ELSE I'LL TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT HOW YOU---"

"Woahwoahwoahwoah WOAH." Kai scrambled up from the ground in great alarm and threw his arms up. "CLOSE. YOUR MOUTH FIRST."

Xiumin shoved the basketball he was holding into Lay's hands. "Oh, this gotta be good."

Kai cautiously narrowed his eyes at Yoonmi, in a battle-ready stance.

"What is it that you want?!"

"The couch."

"For tonight?"

"And tomorrow."

"That's all?"

"And the day after that."

He made a face.

"No way! Only two days."

"Do you want me to tell EVERYBODY how you--"

Chanyeol jumped up and started nodding in excitement, urging her to go on.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. THREE days. Period." Kai compromised before sitting back down with a sulky groan.

"Really? Do you promise?!" The girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. I do."

Yoonmi instantly gave a victory fist pump into the air. "YES."

"And just like that, Lee Yoonmi was able to recieve the couch." Xiumin narrated jokingly with his hand as a mic.

"But seriously," Luhan looked up at Kai in disbelief. "In my ten years of knowing you, I've never seen you get up that fast, Kai.... Makes me wonder just what that secret Yoonmi was about to tell us is."

Kai immediately turned red.

"I-It's nothing special--"

"Shut up. It's GOT to be something really special if you gave up the couch for it." Chen leaned in.

The younger one shrugged, avoiding his hyung's curious gaze to instead turn and give Yoonmi a deadly look.

'You are so dead,' he mouthed very clearly.

"I heard that," Suho said immediately.

Kai scoffed. "I didn't even say anything!"

"Hey, Kim Jongin! Are you gonna play or not?" Kris interrupted them.

"I am!" Kai gave Yoonmi one last look of suspicion before jumping back on the bed in front of the TV.

Yoonmi looked up at the TV screen that everyone was staring at.

"What are you guys even.... Oh."

Again with the video games. Just when she had thought basketball was their new 'thing' now.

"Hey, when are the basketball courts open again?" Chen asked, as if on cue.

"Tomorrow. They said the construction takes only a day."

Oh. That's why. Yoonmi thought to herself as she looked at the TV screen silently. Little deformed creatures with different colored swords and sticks seemed to be running around some sort of vast, gray terrain. Every time the red lines over one's head shortened, one of the guys would holler.

Yoonmi stepped closer.

Yes, she knew it was no use, and she knew what they would say, but, how about just this once--

"Can I play?"

"No girls allowed~" Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Kai sing-songed.

Yoonmi made a face. That trio.

"Whatever."

She placed the plate of cookies on a table and turned to leave the room.

"I hope you all get fat eating these cookies and roll off the beach!"

--------------------------------

"Wow..."

Yoonmi carefully reached her hand out to touch the bright pink summer flowers poking out the window. They looked like colorful butterflies layered on top of each other.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, smiling at the beautiful scent of the summer flowers. It felt as if she was in a tropical island with mermaids and princesses, where everywhere on the white sandy ground there were rainbow flowers that smelled of apples and--

"PASS ME THE STINKIN' BALL, TAO!"

Her smile disappeared. And with it went all the happy images of graceful flowers and mermaids, down the drain.

With a groan, she turned around and shot the guys behind her a perturbed glare.

"Can't you guys go somewhere else and play?!"

"Nahhh. We like the living room just fine!" Chen called back before throwing the ball back up in the air.

Yoonmi made a face as they continued running around and jumping over pillows and blankets in snickers.

"... What are you guys even playing anyways?"

She watched them jump and kick for the ball while at the same time block others by shoving them around the place... all the while dodging any throws.

Yoonmi frowned.

To her, it looked something like monkey in the middle mixed with dodgeball with a hint of basketball and soccer.

"This is such a stupid game." D.O muttered, but not before rigorously jumping up and down yelling for Kai to pass him the ball.

"He's right." Yoonmi grumbled.

But of course she had to admit that it really did look like a lot of fun. All games they played did.

And all of them were pretty stupid if one thought about it.

"Hey, guys. How about we actually listen to Yoonmi over here and go to the beach instead?" Luhan suddenly suggested as he threw the ball to Baekhyun.

"The beach?" Baekhyun caught the ball. "But isn't it too hot?"

"We could bring our swimsuits!"

"But my Uhmma said I shouldn't go outside too much. I might get tanned." Jongin pointed out.

"We can always wear loads of sunblock. Maybe Auntie has some."

Yoonmi jumped up. "I can go too, right? It's MY mom who has the sunblock, after all."

Baekhyun turned to look at her.

"No girls allow--"

"But you promised that we're going to go to the beach! All together! With me!"

"What?" He frowned. "When did I ever?"

Yoonmi frowned back. "Don't you remember?! A few months ago, you were talking about camping and tents and marshmallows at the beach--"

"MARSHMALLOWS!" Chanyeol suddenly shouted in excitement. Before Yoonmi could even give him a look of annoyance for interrupting her, Xiumin threw the basketball towards her.

"Yoonmi, does Auntie have marshmallows?"

She gaped at all twelve boys getting ready to go outside.

"Yeah, but--"

"Then go get'em! I'll ask Auntie for the sunblock." Xiumin ran after the rest of the group before Yoonmi could even register what he had just implied.

"Wait, then does that mean--" She jumped up in excitement.

"OKAY, OPPA!"

--------------------------

"Woah..."

Chanyeol gaped at the group of teenage girls walking across the boardwalk in the distance.

"Dear Lord, thank you so very much for creating the female species--"

"God will be annoyed if you keep on sending him the same stupid prayers, Park Chanyeol." Suho insisted.

Baekhyun chewed on a raw marshmallow that he had stolen from Yoonmi's hand. He stared at the same group of girls in their bikinis. "Dang... I love the summer."

"Oppa, that was my marshmallow--"

Kai scoffed at him. "Says the Hyung who could probably get loads of better girls the second school starts again."

"Are you seriously not gonna give it back, Oppa?!"

"There Kim Jongin goes again, getting bitter over how Byun Baek got more chocolates than him last White Day."

"B-But Luhan hyung! That was because there were more girls in his grade--"

"BYUN BAEKHYUN!"

Yoonmi jumped up in utter shock as the older guy ran off with the bag of marshmallows in his hands, snickering at the sight of Yoonmi's dumbfounded face.

"Y-You... You stop RIGHT THERE BEFORE I--AISH--"

She ran after him in a series of frustrated shouts and groans, attempting to grab his arm but somehow grasping a lock of his hair instead during the process.

The rest of the guys stared at the two shouting and running after each other into the beach waves.

"Sometimes, I think Baekhyun secretly likes bringing Yoonmi along for the sake of messing with her." D.O. remarked.

"That's what I call a little devil, my dongsaengs." Xiumin said with a marshmallow in his mouth.

"Poor Yoonmi, she has to deal with that guy every day, and she'll probably have to continue to do so."