gratification [gra-tə-fə-ˈkā-shən] n. - a source of satisfaction or pleasure.

“Are you sure this is my good side? Are you absolutely positive?” Baekhyun persisted as he continued to examine himself in the hand held mirror Mihyun had gifted him with.

“For god’s sake, Baekhyun, every side is your good side, so will you please just stay still so we can take the damn picture?” Chanyeol scolded as he smacked the boy on the back of his head.

He immediately regretted his decision when Baekhyun slowly lowered the mirror to glower angrily at the taller male. “What did you just do?”

“I-I, I w-was petting your hair b-because it’s so beautiful and I couldn’t resist myself,” Chanyeol fibbed on the spot, hoping to soothe the boy over with his words of praise.

Mihyun giggled at the exchange between the two, snapping a cameo shot of the couple without them noticing. She then continued to snap another one of Kyungsoo who had dozed off against the wall while waiting for the others to get ready for the group photo.

Luhan tugged on her sleeve and pointed a finger at himself and Mihyun before gesturing to the camera that she held in her hands.

“You want a picture of the two of us?” Mihyun asked as she held up the said camera.

Luhan nodded his head in confirmation, his eyes crinkling into crescents as he smiled. He took a step closer to the girl and held a peace sign up to his face as Mihyun stretched out her arm to snap the photo. Luhan grinned in satisfaction once he heard the click of the camera, and quickly snatched the device from Mihyun’s hands. He then shoved the girl over to Sehun, gesturing that he would take a photo of the two of them.

“Come on Luhan, let’s just get this group photo over with,” Sehun protested as he reached forward to grab the camera from his Hyung.

Luhan dodged the arm and wagged his finger before bringing the camera up to his eyes.

“Come on, Sehun,” Mihyun smiled as she tugged the boy to her side, oblivious to the bright red blush that quickly captured Sehun’s cheeks.

Luhan snapped a photo, but frowned at the lack of skin ship between the two. He quickly stepped forward and wrapped Sehun’s arm around Mihyun’s shoulders. Sehun’s face now turned three shades brighter, and even Baekhyun and Chanyeol had stopped their squabbling to stare at the boy in amusement.

A wide grin spread across Luhan’s face and he held a thumb up before pressing his finger against the shutter button several times.

Sehun retracted his arm from Mihyun’s shoulders almost immediately after Luhan pulled the camera away from his face. “Doing such pointless things,” Sehun muttered under his breath as he quickly turned his head away from Mihyun to hide his burning cheeks. He smacked both Baekhyun and Chanyeol on the backs of their heads when they doubled over in laughter, completely amused by the younger’s display.

“Yah, we’re your hyungs, Oh Sehun!” Baekhyun exclaimed as he pulled Sehun in for a head lock. “Treat us with respect!”

Kyungsoo jolted awake at the loud sounds, and his head darted left to right in confusion. “A-are w-we tak-taking the ph-photo now? D-did I m-mi-miss it?”

“You’re just in time, Soo,” Jongin chuckled as he patted the elder on the head.

A relieved smile spread across Kyungsoo’s face as he wiped the imaginary sweat off of his forehead, “G-Good.”

“Alright, come on, I’ve set up the timer,” Mihyun called out as she set up the camera on the tripod she had brought. She pulled Sehun and Luhan to her sides and gestured for the rest to quickly join in. “It’ll flash green for a second before it snaps the photo, so smile!”

“YAH! PARK CHANYEOL!” Baekhyun screeched a split second after the photo was taken. “You , how dare you mess up my hair!”

“Oh god, now Baekhyun Hyung’s going to spend another 10 minutes fixing it,” Jongin groaned as he smacked his hand over his forehead.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened in realization, and he quickly attempted to pat down Baekhyun’s hair. “There, there, good as new.”

“You’re an idiot,” Baekhyun scoffed as he flicked off the other’s hand. He picked up the mirror he had previously discarded and proceeded to examine and fix every strand that lied on his scalp.

“Why did you bring a camera today anyways, Mihyun?” Jongin asked as he leaned against the wall. “Is there a special occasion coming up, or something?”

Mihyun tensed at the boy’s question and gave him a small smile, “I wanted all of your photos to decorate my room.”

“D-Deco-corate?” Kyungsoo asked with a cocked head.

Mihyun nodded absent mindedly as she ran her hand through her hair, “Yeah, decorate.”

Sehun frowned as he noticed the girl’s obvious attempt to hide something, but spoke nothing of it. If Mihyun wanted them all to know what was bothering her, then she would have said something herself. He watched as she bit down on her bottom lip, obviously disturbed by something, and quickly tried to come up with an idea to distract her from her problems.

“Mihyun,” Sehun called out quietly when the others were distracted by making fun of Baekhyun.

“Hm?”

Sehun shyly scooted over to her and pointed at the camera that was in her hands. “Can we take another photo together?”

Mihyun’s eyes widen slightly in brief surprise before her lips stretch into a genuine smile. “You want to take a picture with me?” Mihyun repeated teasingly with a playful expression.

“Yeah,” Sehun responded almost immediately. He averted his eyes from hers and tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “S-so, can we?”

Mihyun wrapped her small hand around Sehun’s wrist and pulled him forward to decrease the space between the two of them. Sehun’s head darted up in surprise, and a shy smile formed on his face when he met eyes with Mihyun.

The moment was quickly ruined when Baekhyun let out a loud chortle of, “Sehun’s acting like a high school boy with a crush again!”

Sehun’s eyes immediately narrowed at his hyung’s eyes, frustrated to have been embarrassed in front of Mihyun. He let out a smile growl and took a step forward in Baekhyun’s direction, but was held back by the small hand on his wrist. He glanced back at Mihyun who had her head tilted innocently to the side, “Didn’t you want a picture”?”

Sehun’s anger immediately vanished at her words, and he shot Baekhyun a quick dirty look before stepping closer to Mihyun. He took a deep gulp and summed up the confidence to wrap his arm around the girl’s shoulders, hoping she wouldn’t reject his action. He ignored the obnoxious sniggers of the other occupants of the room and smiled shyly down at her, “Yeah.”

She handed the camera off to Sehun and he stared down at it with confusion. “You should hold up the camera to take the picture since you’re taller,” Mihyun explained as she placed the device into his hand.

Sehun nodded and held the camera up in the air, angling the screen at the pair. He pulled his lips up into a forced smile, and glanced nervously at the girl at his side. His gaze remained transfixed on her face for a few seconds as he absorbed the girl’s facial features, trying to imprint them into his memory forever. A genuine smile almost immediately formed on his face as he examined the girl’s pale complexion, bright smile, and crescent eyes.

“I’m taking it now,” he stated as he trained his eyes back onto the camera once more, this time having no problem to plaster a smile across his face.

“Okay, I’m ready for another group photo!” Baekhyun announced, snatching the camera from Sehun’s hand once the photo was taken.

Sehun opened his mouth to protest, hoping that he could have taken another shot with the girl, but stopped as he eyed the new figure that stepped uncertainly into the room.

“M-Mihyun?” the meek voice called out as he cowered under the sudden stares of the other Noyes.

“Oh Jongdae, you’ve arrived!” Mihyun called out happily as she jogged to the intruding figure.

Sehun’s eyes narrowed when she grabbed onto the boy’s wrist, but widened in brief surprise when she proceeded to drag the male over to him.

“Sehun, this is my friend that I was talking to you about,” Mihyun smiled as she gestured to Jongdae.

Jongdae’s ears perked at the title he had been given, and he glanced at her with pleasant surprise. He then shifted his gaze to Sehun, and the smile instantly slipped off of his face.

“Jongdae, this is Sehun. He is the one I wanted you to meet,” Mihyun continued as she gestured to Sehun. She wrapped her free hand around Sehun’s wrist and pulled them over to the front entrance of the cage. After releasing her grips, she then pushed them both gently forward. “Have a nice conversation!”

Both men spun around simultaneously with similar expressions of surprise plastered across their faces. “What?”

“I want you guys to talk to each other, to help each other, to become friends,” Mihyun explained as she urged them forward once again.

“Mihyun, I appreciate what you’re doing for me, but I don’t think…” Jondgae trailed off as he glanced at Sehun uneasily.

“You guys are more similar then you think,” Mihyun simply responded. “Just talk, please?”

“About what?” Sehun asked with narrowed eyes.

“About yourselves and your worries,” Mihyun answered as if they were the most simplistic things in the world. “Please? Just talk, please?”

Both men parted their lips to protest, but couldn’t find the will to after taking in Mihyun’s pleading expression.

“Fine,” Sehun spat bitterly.

“Okay,” Jongdae agreed reluctantly.

Mihyun smiled brightly and waved them goodbye as they left the cages with a good foot of space in between the two of them.”

“Man, Mihyun sure knows how to make people submit to her,” Chanyeol snickered as he watched the pair disappear around the corner.

Baekhyun nodded in agreement with an amused expression decorated across his face before his jaw dropped in realization. “Does this mean we can’t take another group picture?!”

Mihyun watched as Kyungsoo paced back and forth murmuring the same sentence over and over again in an attempt to recite it without stammering. Shortly after Sehun had left with Jongdae, the  were called to proceed with their labor work for the day, and it only she and Kyungsoo remained. She was curious as to why the boy worked so hard nearly every hour of the day to perfect his speech when she honestly found no problem with his stammers.

“Kyungsoo?” Mihyun asked quietly, interrupting the other’s practice. “Kyungsoo, why do you practice so hard to improve your speech?”

Kyungsoo fell silent at her words, and she was about to take them back until he softly responded with, “D-Do yo-you kn-kno-know h-how l-long I’ve b-been he-here?”

Mihyun shook her head, and Kyungsoo’s large eyes saddened as he sat down next to her. “I-I-I wa-was s-s-sold a f-few-few weeks af-after m-my se-sev-seven-seventh b-birthday,” he explained quietly, gazing at the ground as he spoke. “I-I’m tw-twenty n-now.”

Mihyun was quite surprised with his words, but she didn’t allow any expression on her face to show it. 13 years? Kyungsoo had been here for thirteen long, tiring years? The longest Mihyun had ever heard a Noye remain unclaimed was at the very most, 7 years.

“N-Nob-body w-wants me,” Kyungsoo continued quietly, tracing his pointer finger around the dusty floor. “I-I’m wor-worthle-less. M-My sm-sma-small body m-makes me un-unable t-to do la-labor work, and the g-guards th-think I’m st-stu-stupid be-because I st-st-stut-stutter so-so often. N-Nobody w-wants to w-waste their mon-money on a stu-stup-stupid, st-stut-stutter-stuttering Noye.”

“I-I ov-overhe-heard t-the g-gua-guards t-talking a wh-while ago. Th-They s-s-sa-said that I ha-have no use f-for them, and th-that I j-just take up f-fo-food and sp-spa-space. T-They s-sa-said they’d g-give me t-t-te-ten m-more tries in th-the hallways. T-t-ten m-more, and th-then I’d b-be… th-then I’d b-be-be s-so-sold overse-seas as a …pro-pros-e.” He buried his face into the palms of his hands at the latter part of his sentence, and a loud muffled sob escaped his lips.

“How many times do you have left?” Mihyun asked quietly, not really wanting to hear an answer.

“Y-Your ha-hall-hallway sh-sh-show-showing w-was the s-sev-seven-seventh,” Kyungsoo admitted, his sobs coming even louder.

“Kyungsoo, don’t cry,” Mihyun whispered as scooted herself closer to the sobbing boy to pry his hands away from his face. “Come, Kyungsoo, look at me.”

Mihyun cupped her gentle hands around Kyungsoo’s face, and he unwillingly let her tilt his face upwards, revealing his tearstained cheeks and red rimmed eyes.

“Kyungsoo, listen to me well,” Mihyun stated in a quiet, yet demanding voice. “You will not be sold, Kyungsoo. I won’t let them lay a single hand on you. Do you hear me? You have nothing to fear.”

“Y-Y-You can’t d-do an-anything, Mi-Mi-Mihy-Mihyun,” Kyungsoo hiccupped as he wiped the backs of his dirty sleeves against his eyes.

“Yes I can,” Mihyun stated firmly as she wiped the boy’s tears away with her thumbs rather than let him smudge dirt all over his face from his clothes. “I am powerful, Kyungsoo, my family name is powerful. I could murder somebody and get away with it just with my name alone, Kyungsoo. Do you understand?”

Kyungsoo nodded his head with a small whimper.

“That is why I will not let them take you away from me,” Mihyun said as she placed a gentle kiss on the boy’s forehead. “I won’t let them take any of you away from me.”

Kyungsoo let out his last few sniffles before giving you a small smile. “P-Pr-Promise?”

A small smile spread across Mihyun’s lips as she placed another kiss on the tip of the boy’s nose. “Promise.”

Kyungsoo giggled at the touch of her lips, and he swatter her away, “That’s tickles.”

Mihyun chuckled as she flicked her fingers against the boy’s forehead. “Get to sleep, Kyungsoo. You have been practicing and walking around for the past three hours, and I know you are tired. I’ll watch over you, okay? You’ll be safe.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to protest, but decided that he did need a bit of sleep. He let out a yawn and stretched his arms above his head before plopping down with his head laid across Mihyun’s lap. “I-I wa-want to sl-sle-sleep l-like this, okay?”

Mihyun smiled and gently pressed her fingers against Kyungsoo’s eyes to close them. “Okay.”

Kyungsoo’s lips stretched into a wide smile as he drifted off to sleep on the girl’s lap. He hadn’t been able to get a completely peaceful sleep in 13 years, since the night they had taken him in. He had always been somewhere half way between being awake and being asleep, making sure that he would always be on alert. Now for the first time in over a decade, he was able to completely lose himself in a night’s worth of sleep, basking in the complete security the small girl was able of offering him.

After teasing Jongdae and Sehun for becoming rather good friends after returning from their talk, and exchanging goodbyes with them all, Mihyun climbed into the car to depart for her home.

“Did you tell them yet, Agassi?” Jaesuk asked as he glanced at the girl through his review mirror. Mihyun’s silence was enough to provide him his answer, and he frowned as he glanced at her once more. Mihyun had never been one to beat around the bush, and the fact that she hadn’t spoken a single word to the others surprised him. He glanced at his Agassi once again, and a small smile slipped onto his lips. Then again, Mihyun had never cared for anything as much as she did for those six Noyes.

Mihyun released yet another sigh as she gazed at the passing scenery outside the window, recalling the conversation she had with her father earlier that morning.

“I was talking to Lawyer Shin yesterday evening, and he informed me that the Noye requests are going along quite nicely, and that you might actually be able to take your two Noyes home with you as soon as next week,” Chando stated calmly as he took a bite of his buttered bread.

Mihyun’s hand stopped moving mid motion at her father’s words, and she slowly lowered her spoon back to her bowl.

“That’s great news, isn’t it? Now you won’t have to waste your time at the dirty place any longer, with your Noyes in your possession,” Chando beamed happily, oblivious to his daughter’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Yeah,” Mihyun responded dryly as she stared down at her breakfast. “Great.”

Mihyun bit down hard on her bottom lip as she thought about what would soon happen after the papers were submitted. Sehun and Luhan would be transferred under her care and see a dramatic shift for the better, but what about the others? What would happen to Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Jongin, and Kyungsoo? She knew her father wouldn’t allow her frequent visits any longer and only reluctantly allowed her to do so now because of her Sehun and Luhan.

She the camera that rested on her lap, resisting the urge to look at all the photos they had taken. The good days would soon come to an end, and she had wanted physical copies to remind her of the fond memories. Once she had left the breakfast table, she immediately demanded for one of the top quality cameras to be delivered to her, which led to the series of photos that had been taken earlier that day.

She wondered what the Noyes would say to the news she had to bring them. How would they react? Jongin would probably fall silent and remain so for the rest of the day. He would only speak quiet words of assurance to Kyungsoo, who would definitely burst into tears on the spot. Chanyeol and Baekhyun would almost immediately respond with whines, but would then sulk in silence once they realized that they couldn’t change anything.

Mihyun quickly shook her head to get rid of the depressing thoughts. In order to escape the sadness, she decided to turn on her camera and sneak a peek at least one of the photos that had been taken. The chime of the camera sounded through the air, and the screen flashed alive with the last photo that had been taken

Mihyun attempted to hold in her laughter, but she couldn’t withhold the few giggles that slipped from her lips as she examined the photo Sehun had taken. The boy’s angle had been almost completely off, and all that had been captured were the two mouths and chins of the pair. She could also spot Chanyeol and Baekhyun in the background behind Sehun’s shoulder, mocking the pair as they pretended to take a photo of their own. Baekhyun, with one hand on the back of his head and the other bent at his hip, his cheeks inhaled and lips pursed. Chanyeol, with his shoulders slumped forward and his hand dramatically clutching his chest as he stared at Baekhyun with complete adoration.

She shut the camera off, and leaned her head against the leather seat with a blissful expression on her face. Her small time left with the group shouldn’t be one made up of worries and concerns, but instead of ones like that picture. For those boys were her very own and personal source of gratification.