Chapter Fourteen

Yesung sat down with a knowing smile on his face. He really wanted to laugh at the two boys, but he kept his composure in front of Sara.

Ryeowook and Kyuhyun gave him murderous looks as Sara lovingly placed each and every dish she had made in front of him. Yesung pretended like he didn’t know what they were so upset about, and instead openly praised Sara for her cooking by briefly hugging her and then feeding her a bite from his bowl first.

Both Kyuhyun and Ryeowook didn’t fail to notice how animated Sara had become in Yesung’s presence. There was already a familiarity between the two which didn’t exist in their relationships with her yet. Ryeowook was still on the ‘friendly guy next door’ basis, and Kyuhyun was still stuck in a nurse/patient situation. However, it was glaringly apparent to both of them that Yesung had advanced to the coveted “Oppa” role. He chatted with Sara over little things with such ease. Where she had been to that day, how she had slept last night, whether she needed anything at home.

 All the boys could do was watch on in jealousy.

Kyuhyun sighed and then reached over for a bowl of noodles. Ryeowook saw him doing so, but grabbed the bowl first. “I saw the noodles first Kyu, I should be the one to enjoy them.”

Kyuhyun smirked when he realized what Ryeowook was hinting at. He glanced at Sara , and then replied “Noodles don’t go well with you Wook-ah, your not suited to them. Maybe you should try dumplings instead”, he said with a sarcastic grin.

 Yesung watched the show between the two with amusement, then he joined in. “I think you both forgot that my family owns a restaurant. You can have whatever dish you want, but since I’m the Hyung, I think the noodles are mine”, he said this while taking the bowl from a shocked Ryeowook and then feeding Sara with it instead.

Sara watched this all in confusion, completely oblivious to the fact that they were talking about her, and said: “I didn’t know you guys liked noodles so much, I can make more if you want”. Yesung laughed and said “There’s no need Sara, if my dongsaengs know what’s good for them, they’ll stay away from the noodles. It’s really not healthy for them.”

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook looked on in defeat. It was true that Yesung was their Hyung, but they couldn’t help their blood from boiling when he had openly called Sara ‘his’. It meant that they had to stay away, at least for now.

Kyuhyun sighed again and got up slowly to get back to bed. Sara saw him getting up and immediately went to his side. Kyuhyun smiled down at her as she took his arm to help him stand. He placed his hand around her waist for support, and they both began walking towards his room. But before they could make another move, both Yesung and Ryeowook had gotten on either side of Kyuhyun, and began half carrying and half dragging him to the room instead. Ryeowook saw the shocked expression on Sara’s face, and shouted to her over Kyuhyun’s very loud curses. “You’ve already done so much for our maknae Sara, we’ll take it from here”.

When all three of them were in the room, Ryeowook quietly closed the door, and then went over to sit next to Kyuhyun. Despite their earlier differences, they were in the same boat now. Two lowly soldiers under the authority of Captain Jongwoon.

“Hyung, do you like her?” Ryeowook asked.

Yesung sighed, and leaned against the wall. “I really don’t know. After I met her yesterday, I decided that I wouldn’t make anything of it, but when I saw her with you guys just now, I don’t know…I just wanted her to myself.”

Yesung was surprised at his own confession. He hadn’t realized how he felt about Sara until now. Was he just being an over-protective brother? Or was it something else? He still wasn’t sure.

“Has she confessed anything to you yet?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Ofcourse not! I only met her yesterday!” Yesung replied.

“Well then, I don’t see why you should be the only one to be her friend.” Kyuhyun said stubbornly.

“I can handle being her friend, but its obvious that you two want more than just that” Yesung replied menacingly.

“Hold on hyung”, Ryeowook quickly stepped in before they could argue any further. “We’re not saying that we are going to try anything, it’s just that you're still unsure about your feelings about her, so until you decide what you want, it’s only fair that we all get a chance to get to know Sara better, that’s all”.

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The boys continued with their conversation, unaware of the time passing by. In the meantime, Sara cleared the table, washed the dishes, and began putting everything back in its place. She didn’t hear the front door open, and continued with her work. A young man entered the dorm, tired from his schedule, but glad to be home. He took off his shirt, wearing only a vest inside, and made his way to the kitchen. He paused and quickly snuck behind a wall when he saw a girl busy putting dishes away. She wasn’t one of the usual Ahjummas they get to do the work. She was young, and she looked like she was at home, humming to herself while she busily cleaned up the place.

He watched as she skipped about the kitchen, and he found himself smiling. It had been a long time since he had seen someone so at peace with a simple chore.  She made it look so fun.

Sara’s hands were still soapy, but she placed a few dishes on a shelf high above her head by climbing onto a counter. Just as she was about to get off, she heard someone yell “Watch out!” In the next moment she felt her body being held tightly against someone as the plates she had just put away fell crashing onto the floor next to her. Sara shook at the sound of all the dishware crashing about them, and held on tightly to the person in front of her.

“Are you ok?” she heard a soft voice ask her.

She looked up and found herself lost for words. She still shook from the near impact with all that glass, and her body felt like jelly in his arms. She couldn’t move, and she couldn’t shift her gaze from his.

“Sara!” she heard shouts coming from the room the boys were in. All three of them stopped in their tracks when they saw Sungmin holding onto Sara. Sara looked at the boys, and then looked back at the person holding her. His eyes were full of concern, but she smiled at him to let him know that she was ok. He let go of her, but then held on to her arm again when he noticed that she was barefoot. There were glass pieces everywhere. The only words he said was “I’m sorry”, and then he lifted her up in his arms and carefully carried her out of harms way.

After he put her down, Ryeowook noticed something. “Sungmin hyung! You’re bleeding!” he pointed to Sungmin’s right arm.

Sungmin looked down and noticed the gash on his arm. Sara gasped in alarm when she saw the blood. She felt responsible for what had happened, so she quickly went to Kyuhyun’s room and came back with antiseptic and bandages which she had found from the first aid box.

A few moments later, they were all sitting on the floor while Sara carefully bandaged Sungmin’s arm for him. They were all quiet, but the looks the boys were all exchanging spoke a thousand words. While Sara was busy, Sungmin looked questioningly at Ryeowook and nodded towards Sara in an attempt to find out who she was. Ryeowook shook his head, and pointed towards Yesung. Sungmin looked at Yesung and found him sitting gloomily, watching Sara with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked at Kyuhyun, and found the maknae lying on a couch, energy drained in more than one way as he watched Sara’s movements.

Sungmin realized that he was an unwelcome distraction right now. They all wanted Sara’s attention, but he was the one who had to go and get hurt.

“There, its all done Sungmin-shi”, Sara said while smiling up at him. Sungmin looked at her and immediately understood what all the fuss was about. He had felt it too the moment he had seen her, and he was sure of it in the instant that he had held her against him. There was something different about her, a kind of untainted quality which set her apart from everyone else. He returned her smile and gave her his thanks, then he told everyone that he would be in his room if they needed him. Sara watched him go, and then got up to go clean the mess she had made. Yesung and Ryeowook however, refused to let her touch any of the broken glass pieces, and made her stay in the lounge instead.

Sara sighed and went over to sit near Kyuhyun. She felt his temperature again, and nodded in approval when she found that it was finally going down. Kyuhyun smiled at her, and took her hand in his. “I’m all better thanks to you”, he said.

Sara nodded again and looked down. “It was nothing”, she replied solemnly. Kyuhyun noticed her gloomy expression and asked “What’s wrong?”

Sara looked at him and said “I feel bad about what happened. I even hurt your friend. I tried to help, but I ruined everything.”

Kyuhyun could see that she was really upset about it. He got off the couch, and then sat down on the floor next to her.

“I’m glad that you came today. We all had a good time, and I’m almost better. Don’t worry about what happened; it’s nothing unusual. We live in a dorm full of boys. It’s usually a lot worse than this”, he said with a chuckle.

Sara felt a little better after listening to Kyuhyun. She thanked him, and then got up to leave. The boys were sad to see her go, and after she left, they had nothing to talk about anymore. They went about their own business, and avoided each other.

Sungmin walked out of his room and made his way to the refrigerator. He opened a tupperware, and then called out “Can I eat these noodles?”

Three different voices rang out sternly :”DON’T TOUCH MY NOODLES”

Sungmin jumped at the unexpected hostility, and then carefully put the noodles back into the fridge. He took out other leftovers, and sat down by himself to eat.

“I didn’t know they liked noodles that much…”