Chapter Nine

Sara woke up with a shock. It was thundering and lightning outside, and for a second she thought that she was still in a horror movie. She snuggled deeper into her blankets and shivered. It had been a bad idea to stay up so late last night. Especially since today was her first day of work. She looked at her wristwatch and gasped. It was already 8:15 in the morning! Her company would be picking her up at 8:30! In the next 15 minutes she rushed around her apartment like a madwoman, nevertheless, she managed to get ready in time.

She took one last look in the mirror before she left. She had worn her favorite dress for luck. It fell just above her knees, and she had matched it with a well-used pair of boots. A casual sort of look, but she felt comfortable, and that was all that mattered. She grabbed her backpack and headed out.

“Omo, what’s this?” He had to restrain himself from laughing too loudly, and he had to force himself not to take too many photos.

Leeteuk and Heechul were fast asleep on the floor, their bodies entwined in a comfortable embrace. Leeteuk’s head was on Heechul’s shoulder, and Heechul’s leg was wrapped over Leeteuk’s body.

“Wah, they really look like a couple”, Shindong giggled. “I can’t wait to show this to the guys, but it may be abit too much to post online…” He decided to save it for potential blackmail instead.

If he remembered correctly, they both had schedules today, he should wake them up. He grabbed Leeteuk’s phone, and set the alarm to ring in 5 minutes time, with a few personalized touches. “Hehehe, hyung, I wish I could film this, but I need to go get dry”. Shindong left the phone in between the two of them and made his way to the bathroom.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, Super Junior’s “Marry U” began playing on Leeteuk’s cell phone. Heechul grumbled moodily and slowly opened his eyes. Leeteuk frowned and thought “Hyukjae?” Why is he rapping at this hour?” He turned around, eyes still closed, and snuggled up to the person next to him. He opened his eyes, and found Heechul’s face inches away from his. They both yelled out in shock and got to their feet.

Shindong came out of the bathroom holding his stomach and laughing his head off.

“Yah! Why is that song playing?”

“What did you do to me last night?!”

“I didn’t do anything! You were holding me remember?”

“Shindong! Get back here! You did this!”

“I didn’t do anything, you guys did it all by yourselves”

“Teuk, relax, its not like we haven’t fallen asleep together before”

“That’s not it, I’m still freaked out from last night”, Leeteuk said while running a hand through his hair.

“Why? What happened last night?” Shindong asked slyly.

The two older boys looked at each other for a few seconds with guilty looks on their faces, then they both looked away and headed to their rooms.

“Yah! I’m curious now! What really happened last night?!” Shindong yelled at their backs, but he received no answer. He knew that he wouldn’t be getting one, so he decided to look for evidence instead. From the state of the place, it looked like they had camped in the lounge. There was popcorn, sweets, wine, and an empty ice-cream tub on the floor. He bent down and found a set of binoculars on the bed sheets. He picked it up and tilted his head in thought.

“No way…” he thought. He brought them to his eyes and looked out the window. There wasn’t much to see, but there was an open window in the building below theirs. He focused the binoculars and then recoiled when he saw an Ahjumma walking about in her unmentionables.

He chuckled and put the instrument down. They wouldn’t be doing something like that, it’s just silly. His curiosity now abated, Shindong got back to his usual routine for his morning off. “My precious bed, I missed you”, he said longingly as he got to his room and fell spread eagle onto his bed. He giggled into his pillow for a few more minutes while thinking about what his hyungs might have been up to last night, and then he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

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Sara let out a huge yawn. She was exhausted. The agency had made her wait at least four hours before it was her turn, and then she had spent another 2 hours with the stylists getting her hair and makeup done. All that just for an hour of photo shoots with a really grumpy photographer. Still, she had fun, and the staff looked like they were pleased with her work.

It was now 3pm, and she was on her way home. She had decided to take the train home, just to get used to using the subway. She looked at her watch, and expected to be home in another half hour. She yawned again, and rested her head on the backrest. “Just another half hour…” she muttered.

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Sara felt the train come to a stop, and woke up staring around in wonder. She was in the countryside. The rain had stopped, and the sun was shining, but all she could see were lush fields and unscathed terrain. The train would be stopping for a few minutes, so she decided to go outside and look around.

“I must have been asleep for quite some time”, she thought. The scenery was just breathtaking. Sara spotted a shop nearby and decided to get something to drink. The train began to leave, but she wasn’t too worried. She would just wait for the next one.

She picked up a bottle of water and made her way to the till. Just then, she realized that she didn’t have her backpack with her. She looked about in panic, but all she had on her was a small shoulder bag with her phone in it. She must have left her backpack on the train. She had no money, what was she going to do? She didn’t even have her rail ticket with her. She took out her phone and sped through the numbers in desperation. She only had her drivers number, her agency, her home, and one more…”Ryeowook-shi’s friend”…She didn’t want to bother anyone, especially anyone from work, so she decided to rely on this stranger for help.

She dialed the number and waited. Nobody answered. She dialed two more times, but still no one answered. She walked outside and sat down on a bench. She felt so stupid for getting into this situation. For the first time in a long time, she felt really hopeless. “How could I do something like this? Am I not responsible enough to take care of myself?” She thought of what her father would say to her about being too young to live and work alone.

Unbidden, tears began falling down her cheeks. She hunched her shoulders and covered her face with her hands. “This is not the time to be crying, you have to do something about your situation, nobody else is here to sort it out for you”, she kept telling herself this, but she couldn’t help it, all the negative things she had heard over the past few months about her not being good enough to travel here had finally got to her.

She was crying so much, that she almost didn’t hear her phone ringing. When she realized that it was, she grabbed it and answered quickly, trying to stop herself from crying.

“Hello, who is this?” she heard a deep voice on the other side.

“I’m Kim Ryeowook’s friend, he said that I could call you if I needed help”, Sara responded in a rush.

“Oh, I remember, are you ok? What’s the matter?” he asked her.

Sara was so happy that he had called her, that she couldn’t respond properly without hiccupping. “I…I lost my bag, and I can’t get back home, and I don’t know where I am”, Sara replied while trying to wipe her tears.

“Its ok, don’t cry, I’ll come get you, but I need to know where you are.” he said calmly. “Find someone and ask them for me”, he instructed.

There was something in his voice which immediately calmed her down, so she got up, ran back to the shop, and gave the phone to the lady behind the counter.

“Ahjumma, please tell my friend the name of this town.” She asked.

After the lady had given him directions, she gave the phone back to Sara.

“Don’t worry, I know where it is, I’ll be there soon ok?” he said to her.

“Ok…Thank you…” Sara said, as she put the phone down.

She looked up at the Ahjumma, who was handing her some tissues.

“Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?” the lady asked.

Sara let out a laugh and wiped her tears with the tissues.

“No, I’m just waiting for a friend, I was lost”, Sara replied.

“You poor thing, don’t cry now, He’ll find you”, the lady assured her.

“I hope so, Sara replied with a small smile.