“AAAAAAH!” 

“Aish— YAH!!”

“Hot!!”  I splutter, choking a little as the whole thing I just put into my mouth falls out again.  What the hell is that, even?!  “Hot, hot!!”

“Of course it is!  This is a xiao long bao!”  Kris chides, handing me a tissue.  “The broth inside the dumpling is bound to be hot!  That’s why when you put the whole thing into your mouth and chewed on it like it was a goddamn Mentos, I knew this was going to happen.”

“Aaaah!  Haaaah!”  I groan, sticking my tongue out a like dog. 

Yes, you are now witnessing episode 8791 of Seo Iseul being an idiot.  This time it’s an international edition—because currently she’s sitting in what Kris had claimed to be the most delicious dumpling place in Hong Kong, where she has just painfully burned her tongue while gobbling up a whole boiling-hot soup dumpling with her moron mouth… forgetting that it’s filled with sizzling broth inside. 

So now I’m staring at the product of my carelessness in the form of a soggy, half chewed-up dumpling lying sadly in the little bamboo basket it came in.  Alright.  It’s final.  I’m sticking to hakau for the rest of my life!

“Hakau.”  I mumble sadly.

“Are you always like this?”  Kris asks, resting his chin on his palm as he looks at me.  “Are you sure you’re not the one who needs babysitting instead?”

I narrow my eyes at him.  Look at that talk!  “You’re sassy just like Kai, aren’t you?” 

“Didn’t he ever take you to any dumpling place or something in Korea?”

“Nah, she always asks for Italian or Japanese.”  Kai says from across me.  “Iseul, Lay and I saw the whole disgusting process of the poor dumpling falling out of your mouth.  Spare us and don’t ever do that again, okay?”

My jaw drops open again.  , they actually saw that?!

“Oh thank God your mouth’s empty.  I thought I had to witness another process of you giving birth to a half-digested dumpling from your mouth again.”  Lay shakes his head with his eyes closed.

ARE EVERYONE IN THE HOC MEAN OR WHAT???

“I… I don’t always ask for Italian or Japanese though!”  I say defensively, wiping my mouth.  “Maybe once in a while… but I would’ve been totally fine with K-mart seaweed soup.”

“You also ask for steak.”  Kai deadpans.

“Steak?!”  I shriek.  But then it hits me.  “Well… okay so sometimes I ask for expensive food… I guess…” I trail off, smiling sheepishly. 

“You always ask for expensive food.  You know what you’re getting when we go back to Korea?  Your beloved K-mart seaweed soup!”  Kai declares, waving his chopsticks in the air.

“Ha!  I can cook!”

“Ha!  I’m putting you on a kitchen ban!”

“Ha!  You can’t!  Because if I don’t cook, you and your son aren’t even going to have any dinner!”

“Excuse me, I have a car and a credit card.  You know what that’s going to get us?  Steak!”

“YAH!  Are we seriously having this conversation right now?”

“I don’t know, I was just following your lead.”

“You’re the one who put seaweed soup on me first!”

“You’re the one who brought it up???”

“HEOL!”  I exclaim, crossing my arms.  “This is so ridiculous!”

Lay looks at us interchangeably.  “Are you guys done?” 

“Are you sure Kai’s into her?”  I hear Luhan ask Sehun.

Sehun nods.  “Yeah, hyung.  You should’ve see them on the jet, smooching each other and all.”

“Yah!”  Kai glares. 

“But they…”

“Did they really get into a spitting fire contest just because Iseul couldn’t properly eat a type of dim sum?”  Kris asks aloud in wonder. 

“Exactly!  We haven’t even brought out the alcohol yet!” Chen says from Kris’s other side. 

“Alcohol?  I want alcohol!”  I say brightly. 

“Absolutely not!”  Kai immediately rejects.  “You are not even going to have a single drop of it in your system.”

I immediately feel an arsenal of protests and arguments rising up my throat.  “What?  Why?!  What do you mean I can’t have any?!”

“Do you even know what you do when you get drunk?” Kai asks, glaring at me.

“Umm… talktative?”

“Wrong.  Extremely talkative!”  Kai waves the idea off.  “Forget it.  You’re having lychee ice tea like Jongguk.”

My jaw drops open in horror.  “What?!” 

“Yay!  Noona!” Jongguk, sitting beside me, claps enthusiastically.  “Don’t worry!  Lychee ice tea is my favorite drink. It’s so yummy and healthy, noona!  Because there’s lychee!”

“But… noona wants something else!”  I say as I shove one of the hakau dumplings that Kris ordered for me into my mouth.  Mmmh, hakau is definitely my favourite dumpling.  I love shrimp!

“Alcohol is not healthy noona!  Jae noona also told me to stop you from drinking alcohol all the time!”  Jongguk says sternly, slamming his puny little fist on the table.

“Jae noona?”  I ask.  “When?”

“When I stayed at her place!  She told me to stop you from drinking soju all the time!” 

Just then, a waitress places several bottles of beers on the table, which Baekhyun immediately makes a dive for.  “San Miguel?  Is that what they drink here in Hong Kong?”

“Most popular in the country.”  Kris nods.  I swear, this guy could pass as a local!

“But this is not soju, Gukkie!”  I say, gesturing at the bottles of beer. 

“But does it have alcohol?”

“Well…”

“That means no to beer too!  Noona can’t drink too much alcohol!”  Jongguk declares like judge on his final verdict. 

“Yah, why are you bossing me around?”  I say.  “I’m your babysitter, not the other way around!”

“Jongguk should also take care of noona!”  Jongguk replies, sticking his tongue out.  “Especially when noona doesn’t want to listen to Jongguk and Appa!  And Jae noona!”

I groan and pull my hair in frustration.  Am I really being told off by a 6-year-old here?  A choding??   Did I just hit a new low in life?  Huh??  HUH????

Kai suddenly claps his way into our stupid little debate.  “Very good, Jongguk!  Tell noona that every time she’s about to do something stupid, okay?”

“Kai!” I wail.  “I wanna drink!”

“I’ve ordered you something to drink already, don’t worry.”  Kai says, winking at me.  Just then, another waitress approaches our table and sets down two glasses of something—one in front of me, and one in front of Jongguk. 

Aiiiiishhhh!!

I groan miserably at the sight of the drink before me. 

Okay, it’s pretty.  It’s the most gorgeous golden-brown shade of tea, and there are several lychees floating inside the drink along with a tiny little mint leaf, and the droplets of condensation on the outside of the glass is making it look like the whole beverage is sparkling.

But it is not.  What.  I.  Want!

I want some of what they’re pouring out of that dark San Miguel Pale Pilsen bottle right now!! 

Gaaaaah!!

I mean, come on!  It’s just beer!  No one ever gets seriously drunk from beer.  And my limit is pretty good.  I’m a decent drinker.  One glass wouldn’t do any harm… right?

Channeling all my aegyo forces, I lean forward on the table with my elbows resting on the table, and rest my face between my palms.  “Kai…”

Kai briefly darts his eyes towards me before chugging down his drink again.  “Nope.”

“Aaaah, Kaiiii~” I whine childishly, pouting.  “Please?  Just one glass.”

“This is a big glass.”

“I’ll just have a bit of yours.”  I bargain, smiling what I hope is a cute smile.  The thing is, I don’t know if I actually look adorable like Jun Jihyun whenever she does aegyo, or like a rabid bunny with two big front teeth.  That’s the problem here.

“No.”

“A bit, Kai!  A bit!”  I try again.

“Seul.”  Lay calls, pushing his glass over.  “Here.” 

My eyes brighten and I’m just about to take it when—

“Yah, no!”  Kai quickly pushes Lay’s glass back to him.  Looking at me for a couple of seconds, he finally says, “Just a bit, okay?”

“Okay!”  I nod obediently, grinning.  To his left, Lay winks at me with a small smile, making his adorable lone dimple show again.  So cute!!  Omo, is he flirting with me?!

Shut up, Iseul.  Shut up. 

“Yah!”  Kai clears his throat and slides his glass over to me.  “Just a little.”

I nod happily and take my first sip.  Hmmm, yummy!

KAI’S POV

1 hour later, Iseul is no longer complaining.

Because she is now ready to begin a long, never-ending, blood type trivia giveaway!  I can feel it.  I can feel it coming, just by looking at the look on her face!!

“Lay, Lay, are you a blood type A?” Iseul asks excitedly, her eyelids drooping.  See??  SEE???

“Oh my God, it's here.”  I get up from my seat.  “Kris, switch places with me.  You don't want to be anywhere near this woman when this starts.”

Kris looks at Iseul.  “Why?  Is she going to puke on me or something?”

“Lay, do you want to know what you do in a crisis???”  Iseul asks, gesturing wildly.  “Hey, crisis!  Kris!  Krisis!  Kris, Kris, do you get it?” 

“Goddammit.”  Kris groans, banging his forehead on the table.  I reach over and pat his head sympathetically, ignoring the drunk woman beside me. 

“In a crisis?”  Lay repeats.

“Kris!  Switch!”  I urge, and Kris obeys this time.  I sit in my new spot beside Iseul and gesture to the waitress for some water.  Gah!  I regret this decision already!!

“Appa, is noona drunk?”  Jongguk asks from beside Iseul. 

 “Uh-huh.  VERY!”  I nod.  “Jongguk, watch and learn, okay?  This is why Appa doesn’t want you to drink when you grow up.  Watch idiot-Seul take over!” Jongguk nods with wide eyes.

“Lay, are you an A or not?!”  Iseul demands, her pitch getting higher.

“Umm...”  Lay looks at her unsurely.  “How about, Iseul, are you drunk?”

“Good, don't answer that.”  I say, quickly pulling his glass further away from the prying hands of Iseul.  “Yah Iseul, stop drinking!  You first said 1 sip, and by now you already have about 5 glasses!  That's enough!”

“B-but,” Iseul hiccups, “Lay, what blood type are youuuh?”

“Uh.. I'm a B actually.”  Lay scratches his head.  “Why?”

“Noooooo!!”  I groan, clutching my hair.  “Wrong answer, wrong answer!”

“Yah, what's happening?”  Xiumin asks, pointing at Iseul.  I shake my head and mouth 'chaos!'

“Oh, same same!!”  She claps her hands excitedly.  “You know, when we B's are faced with a crisis, we are very calm!  Very very calm!  Maybe we'll only scratch our butts because it's itchy!”

I shut my eyes in exasperation.  The damage begins... NOW!

Lay's jaw drops all the way to Australia with a clank.  “What?!”

“Interesting.”  Chanyeol comments with a smirk.

“You know Lay, because of that, we're verrrryyy mature.”  Suddenly Iseul turns to me.  “Unlike Mr O here, when he is faced with a crisis, he only starts panicking when it's too late already!”

“Mwo?!”  How come everything that she says about O-type people is bad?!   Is she doing this on purpose?!  Does her sub-consciousness hate me or what?!

“Yes!  The graph is too far already!!”

“What graph?!”  I shoot back.  Is it a Math student thing?  Why are graphs flying out of nowhere?!

“Too far to the right!”

“WHAT RIGHT?!”  I yell in frustration.  Jongguk, who’s trying hard to pull the last lychee fruit out of his now-empty glass with his straw, looks at me curiously. 

“The crisis graph Kai, pay attention!”  Iseul snaps, thwacking my shoulder.  “What graph do you expect huh?  Sin cos tan?!  Babo.”

She then turns to Jongguk, her newest pray.  Oh no.  Oh noooo!!!  I don’t want to have two blood-type-obsessed maniacs in my household!  I mean, under my roof!  We’re not exactly a household! 

“Jongguk, what’s your blood type?” 

Jongguk blinks at his babysitter innocently.  “Appa says it’s A.”

“What!!”  Iseul sits up straight all of a sudden.  “Oh no Jongguk!  In a crisis, you’ll anxious worry worry sorrow!”

WHAT.

THE.  

FRESH.

HELL?

“What?!”  Jongguk’s eyes fly wide open just as all 11 guys, excluding myself, erupt into a round of laughter. 

“…PUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“This is a lot better than I thought!  Kai, why did you say this is chaos?” Xiumin says, wiping his eyes.

“It is!  Soon she’ll expand her audience and go bouncing off with random facts to that table over there!”  I explain.  How are these people finding it fun?!

“Iseul, Iseul, I’m an AB!”  Luhan says, enthusiastically waving his hand to get her attention.  Is he stupid?!  “What about me?”

“Mmm, you won’t even know you’re in a crisis Luhan.  You’ll just go chasing a butterfly!”  Iseul sings.

“The first half is true, I guess.”  Luhan says.  “Iseul, that’s great!   What else do you know?”

“Are you kidding me?!”  I hiss at Luhan.  Why is he opening the gates to hell?! 

But Luhan just sends an unapologetic wink flying at me.  Oh.  OH.  I see what this is.  Is he flirting with her?  Huh??   I quickly flick Iseul’s forehead again, just to get her attention for a while.  Teehee!

“YAH!”  Iseul yelps, rubbing her forehead.  “Okay, now, everybody!  Do you know your purpose in life????”

“Oh my God.”  I groan, wincing.  “Okay, brace yourself guys, this is going to be some extremely ridiculous —“

“No, we don’t!”  Suho interrupts, leaning forward in interest.  “I’m an AB Seul, what about me?”

“Well, Suho, your life’s purpose can be figured out with a… carrot.” Iseul pronounces. 

Silence.

“A carrot?”  My son, who, at this moment has more maturity than his babysitter, questions.

Oh my.  Wanna know what my life purpose is?  It’s to stick the biggest freaking carrot ever possibly grown into the mouth of this woman, because this.  Is.  A.  Disaster!!  I badly want to stuff her into a bag and just hurl her over the Indian Ocean all the way to Indonesia or something so she can go chill in a temple in Bali until she sobers up completely!  Gah!!

“Um, like… the vegetable?” Suho asks.

“Yuusss!”  Iseul nods happily.  “When there’s a carrot hanging above you guys, you, an AB, will—wait, wait, I remember!  An AB will be the one hanging the carrot for the others!  Be-caaaauuuse, you live from the feeling of superiority over others.  You’ll be like, ‘hmph!  Filthy fellas!’”

“Me?”  Suho laughs, baffled.

“Yup.  You’re like that.  Why?  Don’t believe me?” The drunk moron challenges.  Holy crap.  Why do I even have feelings for this calamity again?! 

“What about type B Seul?” 

“Ah!  We, type B, we will be interested by the carrot.  So, we’ll be enthusiastic and de… de..”

“Delighted?”  Kris suggests.

“Yup!  Kaiiii,” she slurs, suddenly turning over to me, “you know, you have the weakest control to lust or desire in life?”

“W-what?”  I ask, shaking her a bit.  “Yah, Seul.  Come on.  Let’s go back to the hotel, okay?”

“Why?  What does that mean?  What will he do to the carrot, Seul?”  Luhan asks, grinning.  I shoo him away… because I have a fair idea of what this might mean already.

“Is that why you have so many... that?”  Iseul continues, her voice sounding sad now.         

 “Are we still on the carrot here?”  Chen asks, whispering to Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun shakes his head.  “Nah.  This is entering personal territory already.  On our way here, Iseul found out something from Changmin about Kai’s… you know, that thing… And she didn’t take it too well, I guess.”

“Are they an item?”  Tao asks.

“No, but they’re clearly getting there.”  Baekhyun says matter-of-factly. 

“Seul,” I can only say, gently patting her cheek, “just talk about the carrot, baby.”

“Prfffghhtt!!”  Luhan chokes, spluttering his beer all over the place.  “Did he just call her baby?!”

“They’re already there, I say.”  Sehun smirks.  I shoot him a will-you-stop look before turning back to Iseul.

“Kaiiii.”  She whines softly, pouting.  “Kaaaaiiiii.”

“What?”  I answer, tapping her nose softly.  Dammit.  Why am I not immune to this?!  This girl can pout at me and the next thing I know I’ve already bought the Eiffel Tower for her!

“Poor carrot.  Your carrot will—“

Then all of a sudden, she blacks out.

Just like that.

Plop.

She collapses on the table only micrometers away from a plate of spicy chicken feet.  I sigh. 

“O-kay…”  I stand up and dust my pants.  “Jongguk, it’s time to babysit your noona and take her to the hotel, I guess.”

“Wait, does this mean you’re leaving already?”  Chanyeol calls.

“Yeah.”  I shrug.  “She’s dead drunk and my son should be asleep by now.  You’re getting sleepy, aren’t you Guk?”  I ruffle his hair affectionately. 

Jongguk nods, yawning.  “Kris hyung!  Tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, tomorrow.  I’ll drop him at your place at 8 or something.”  Kris nods.  “Yah, Kai, after you tuck them in, wanna…”

Kris wiggles his eyebrows, and I know perfectly well what he means by that.  He means wanna go out for another round of drinks at a club or something?

I sigh and shrug.  “Don’t know man.  I’m feeling pretty spent myself.  I’ll call you later.” 

I pull Iseul up and sling her arm over my shoulders and hold her around the waist with one arm, while holding Jongguk’s arm with my other hand.  “The van’s still outside right?”

“Yeah.”  Kris says quickly, getting up.  “I’ll take you.”

I end up piggy-backing Iseul while Kris walks hand-in-hand with Jongguk who’s making him for promise for the tenth time that he’ll be dropping Yi Han at our room tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp, nothing more, nothing less.

“Promise???”

“Promise!!  Come on Jongguk, we pinky swore 5 times already.” 

“I’m just making sure!” 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”  Kris slides the door to the vehicle open.  “In you go, big guy.”

Jongguk climbs into the van and I quickly set Iseul down with a heavy plonk.  Seeing how she’s not even complaining, this girl must be wiped out cold already!  Did she really only have 5 glasses of beer?  Granted, they were pretty tall but… it’s just beer!

“I’m really surprised you didn’t just leave those two at home.”  Kris comments, watching as I push Iseul’s legs inside. 

“Without me and the guys around?”  I huff.  “You know I couldn’t.”

“You really like her that much?”

“How much is that much?”  I counter, grinning.

Kris scoffs.  “Does she know about us?”

I slowly nod.  “She found out a while ago, and…”

“And she’s staying?”  Kris asks, visibly astonished.  “Wait, what Baek told me back there, she just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree like, earlier today?  Which means that she can go get a real job on her own, but instead she decided to stay… with you?  I mean, wait, she does realize that right?”

“I suggested that to her already, yeah.  I even told her to go.”  I say.  “But she insists on staying, so…”

“Whoa.  So keep her.”  Kris grins, whistling.  “Am I right?”

I look at the woman in question and shrug, trying to play it cool.  “More or less.”

“You look so cute trying to downplay everything.”  Kris laughs and shakes his head, before saying something to the driver in Chinese.  “He’ll take you to the HOC in Central.  Rooms and everything’s been sort there already so don’t worry.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Don’t mention it.”  Kris smiles lazily.  I hop in the van myself and Kris slides the door shut.  Without wasting another second, the driver steps on the gas and whizzes away.

ISEUL’S POV

“JONGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!!”

Oh…

“YI HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANN!!”

My…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

GOD!!

What the is happening?!!  My head is pounding, my skull feels like it’s going to explode, my mouth is drier than ing dry, and my eardrums are shattering from that soul-piercing scream that will make a car’s alarm go off any time soon.  WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

“Jongguk!  Yah!  Be quiet!  Noona is still sleeping.  Hello Yi Han.”

Yeah, you heard him.  Noona is still— whoa, who’s that talking about me?  Kai??  Aaaw.  How considerate of him!   And is that the Yi Han dude?  Can he go away?!  He’s so loud!!

“Hello, Kai hyung.  Who’s that?”

No, who are you, small unknown voice?  Aaah, go away!  Back to sleep, back to sleep…

“Appa, wake noona up!  We have to go!!”

Kai, if you touch me, I swear I’m going to kick your .  Leave me alone and let me sleep, please.

“Go where, Guk?” The iest, raspiest, most delicious sounding bedroom voice I’ve ever heard says.  Oh my God, is that Kai?  I want that sound on a 1-hour loop!

“Disneyland!  Look, Yi Han brought us tickets already!  We have to go now and be there as soon as it opens so we don’t have to queue Appa, come on!”

“Yi Han, is your baba coming?”  y bedroom voice asks again.  Am I still drunk?  Or is that how Kai sounds every morning?  Hmm, did he just wake up as well?  Wait… speaking of which—

“HUH!”  I sit up with a start, hair all over my face.  Where am I?!   What happened last night?!  I remember the beer, then more beer, then— aish, I must’ve passed out, didn’t I?!   I don’t remember anything, and suddenly I’m in…

“HOC hotel in Central, room 2312.  Yes, you passed out yesterday after blessing us all with your encyclopedic knowledge on blood types, and yes I took you back here.  No, I didn’t undress you or anything, so relax.  No, we didn’t sleep on the same bed because as you can see, I’m right here.  Good morning.  Do you regret not listening to me when I told you not to drink now?” 

I brush the hair out of my eyes and look up to see Kai laying on his side in a queen-sized bed a few feet away from the one I’m currently sitting atop on.  His dark brown hair that lies in an unruly mess contrasts sharply against the fluffy white pillows, and his fairly tan complexion glows beautifully against the pale backdrop as well.  My mouth falls open, but no words come out. 

Why does he look so good just lying on his side like that?

“Uh,” I manage, ignoring the stinging of my throat, “is this going to be our room while we’re here?”

“Yep.”  Kai nods.  “Pretty cool huh?”

But I could care less about the interior design of this place.  The issue here is…

“Are we… are we going to stay in the same room?”  I ask.  Omo, omo, sleep in the same room with Kai????  Me likey!!  Hoe-Seul would be running around wildly right now if it weren’t for the monstrous headache crushing my head.

Kai looks at me like I’m stupid.  “Of course.  What do you mean?”

I blink slowly, the words slowly making sense in my head.  “So… you mean… we’re going to share a room, and a bathroom, and…”

“We can share a bed too, actually.”  Kai smirks.  “If that’s what you’re thinking of.”

“Yah, no!!”  I quickly deny.  “Uh…”

“Hmm?”  Kai hums, grinning expectantly.

“Wa…“  I croak. “Water…”

Kai sighs.  “Jongguk, get noona a glass of water please.”

I shift my eyes towards the two little boys standing at the foot of Kai’s bed.  One of them I recognize, but the other one?  No???  Who is this little dude with Mohawk hair and is that—is that a Batman shape at the back of his head???   Who is this badass little dude?!

“Noona, do you like my hair?”  The little guy in question asks, turning around to give me a full view of the Batman shape shaved into his hair at the back of his head, just above his nape.  “Baba says it’s weird, but I think it’s cool.  Next time, I’m going to get Zhou Mi hyung to shave a Hot Wheels logo on the side of my head—right here!” 

The guy points along an area above his right ear, and all I can think is: who is this little gangster?  I look at Kai in confusion, who then pokes the little gangster’s with his toe.

“Why don’t you properly introduce yourself to Iseul first?”

“Oh, right!”  The little gangster immediately comes rushing over to stand at my bedside.  “Hello!  I’m Wu Yi Han, son of Wu Yi Fan, or Kris!   He’s my super cool father.  I’m 7 years old, and today I’m going to go to Disneyland with you and Jongguk.  So please take good care of me!  I speak Korean well, don’t worry!”

Oh!  He does.  His Korean is really good.  Well, at least we won’t have to worry about getting lost in translation here.  Jongguk comes back with a glass of water which I quickly gulp down before answering this kid.

“Hello Yi Han.  I’m Iseul and I’m Jongguk’s babysitter.  Now what’s all this about Disneyland?” I finally say, smiling tiredly.

“We’re going to Disneyland noona!  Come on!  Shower shower!!”  Jongguk yells, bouncing around excitedly. 

“Um… today?”

Yi Han nods energetically, pounding his fists on my bed as if to strengthen his point.  “Yes, today!  Now, in fact!  Come on!  We have to leave as early as possible so that we can ride… BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!  ASTRO BLASTERS BANG BANG BANG!”

“AND SPACE MOUNTAIN!”

“INDIANA JOOOOONES!”

 “ORBITRON!”

“MEGATROOOOOON!”  Yi Han yells as he climbs up my bed all of a sudden and does a staggering impersonation of the Hulk.  “ROOAAAAAARRR!”

“Yes, yes, that!  Come on noona!  We have to GO!!”  Jongguk says, quickly following Yi Han up my bed.  Suddenly, the two brats begin jumping, making everything around me seem trippier than it already is.  OMFG, WHAT ARE THEY?!  The world around me is shaking, everything is weird, and…

“Kai…”  I say, looking at him pitifully.  I give him a look which basically translates to help me and get these two guys out of here!!

“Hey, don’t look at me.”  Kai says, raising his hands defensively.  “You’re the babysitter, those two are all yours, baby.”

“ARRRGGHHHH!” I scream in anguish, burying my face in the pillows again.

“Hey!  NOONA!!”

Half an hour later, I’m grumpy, sulky, feeling like , but anyway all dressed up and Disneyland ready.  The weird thing is, Kai’s not.

“Uh, Kai?  Why aren’t you getting ready yet?”  I ask as I brush my hair.

“Because I’m not going.  Duh.”  He replies, lazily flicking through a travel magazine on the sofa.

Immediately, all the alarm bells in my system start ringing.  “WHAT?!”

“I’m not going.  It’s your babysitting day today.”  Kai says matter-of-factly.  “Enjoy Disneyland.  Don’t puke on any of the rides, okay?”

“But… Kai!  I can’t take care of two kids alone!”  I whisper, looking at the Yi Han dude in panic.  “I barely know one of them, and I have a feeling that when they’re put together they will go berserk!  Especially in a place like Disneyland Kai!!  And I don’t even speak Chinese!”

“Yi Han does.  Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”  Kai says calmly, in contrast to my distress.

“Kaaaiii!!”  I cry, immediately rushing over to sit next to him.  “Kai, don’t do this to me.  So many things can go wrong!  I’ve never been to Disneyland Kai, come on, are you really making me do this on my own the first time??” 

“Disneyland is a perfectly safe place, Seul.  There are lost children facilities, and all the staff speak English—“

“But I don’t!!”

“Oh, right.  Well, Yi Han speaks Chinese, I told you.  Jongguk can speak a little of that too.  There’s a Park map and there are signs that’ll point your way throughout the park.   Disneyland Hong Kong is not that big.  I think the one in Orlando is bigger.”  Kai gives me an annoying smile.  “You’ll be fine.”

“Kai, why won’t you go with me?”  I pout, making a begging motion. 

“Why, you want me to come with you?”  He tilts his head, probably pretending that he doesn’t already know.

“Of course!”

“Then bye bye~” he sings, fluttering his fingers with a mischievous grin.

“Kaaiiii!”  I whine a little.  Why does he hate me now?!  Just yesterday he was being so sweet and romantic and all and now suddenly—

In the middle of my rant, Kai suddenly lands a brief kiss on my lips, catching me off guard.  He smiles before kissing me once again, equally slow and sweet.  “I have work today babe.”

Work.  Right.  Work.  His work…

“What work?”  I ask curiously.

“Something.”  Kai says, his expression not revealing anything.

“Is it dangerous?”  I press on, peering at him closer. 

“Maybe.”  He replies equally shortly, and I get the sense that when it comes to his work, he still doesn’t want to divulge.  Okay.  That’s okay, I guess.  It might be a sensitive topic and for him, it’s probably bad that I know this much already.  Him not answering is fine. 

I shift closer to him and rest my chin on his shoulder, looking at him closer than ever.  “Be careful.”

“Mmm.”  Kai smiles, humming noncommittally.   Then he leans down and pecks my lips softly again.  “Don’t miss me too much, okay?”

“You really can’t go?”  I try again.  “I’m going to suffer alone, you know.”

He looks at me apologetically and opens his mouth to respond, when suddenly, his phone starts ringing.  “Hello?”  He says, picking up.

I watch him furrow his br