The next few days passed slowly; with Jongin busy with his schedule, Lia had nothing to do. The school let her move into her apartment as soon as she graduated in order to give her time to get accustomed to the new customs, but because she'd lived here for over half her life she had another three months of free time on her hands. Sometimes she regretted having an idol for a best friend, but you can't be choosy.

What made the days go by even slower was that she couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, memories of her father flashed across her mind. It was like ever since she’d heard that he’d been sighted, he was haunting her every second. She kept the lights on at night, fearing that he might come out when she wasn’t watching. At this point she was barely able to function.

Her phone rang from her bedside table, and she stretched her arm lazily. Bringing it to her ear, she groaned a low 'hello'.

"Lia?" Jongin called from the other end.

"Hey!" Lia perked up, squirming to sit straight. "What do you need?"

"Well . . ."

"What?" she pressed further, knowing by his tone that there was something he wanted.

"Do you think you can come to the dorm?" he asked, and her brow furrowed.

"Why?"

He cleared his throat. "Chanyeol-hyung is gone, and D.O is in a really bad mood. We're hungry."

"Just as D.O," she suggested. "I'm sure he won't mind as long as you ask him."

"No, you don't understand," he protested. "When Kyungsoo is in a bad mood, it's best to leave him alone. He won't even talk to me!"

Lia frowned contemplatively. "How did you all manage to get him in such a bad mood?"

Jongin laughed awkwardly on the other line. "Haha . . . well . . . you see . . . we were playing around with this stress ball one of the fans gave us. It's this squishy thing that has this liquid - which we thought was water - in it. We were throwing it around, and it ended up busting on one of D.O's favorite jackets. Turns out that the thing was filled with oil, and now we ruined his favorite jacket. He hasn't spoken to us for a day, Chanyeol went to his parents' house, and we have nothing to eat."

"Go out to eat!"

"We can't just go out to eat, Lia!" he shouted. "We don't get much time to be home anymore, and they've just given us the week off. We want to stay home as much as we can until our break is over."

Lia sighed, looking at the clock that read 3pm. If she got there in within half an hour, she reasoned she could make something for dinner. "Do you all have food to use if I come?"

"Hold on," he said, and she heard his hurried footsteps as he ran to the kitchen. "We've got a full pantry and fridge. We just don't know what to do with any of it."

She rolled her eyes, pulling herself out of the bed with a soft grunt. "I don't know how to get there."

"Don't worry. I'll get the guards to bring me there, then we'll take you back."

Nodding, she cleared . "Fine. Give me ten minutes," she commanded, hanging up and darting to her dresser.

 

---

 

No more than ten minutes later, a knock sounded at her apartment door. She skidded across the wooden tiling, prying the door open and flashing a small smile at Jongin.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," she breathed, nodding quickly.

He grinned widely, taking her hand and dragging her out of her apartment. As he pulled her, she tugged back gently. "I've got to lock to door, idiot."

"Oh," he mumbled, moving back to where she stood and letting his hand fall free. She fiddled with the lock for a moment, cursing under her breath. "Here, let me get it," he commanded, trying to reach around her for the keys.

"No!" she protested, arching her back as she leaned over the lock. "I can do it! I have to tame this thing if I'm gonna live here!"

He sighed behind her, easily reaching underneath her and snatching the keys from her hands. "Yeah," he mumbled wedging himself between her and the door to begin working on the handle, "Well, if you're going to be living here, you're going to learn how to ask for help. That's the most important thing for you to learn," he jested, locking the door easily and giving her a big smile. "Here," he said, placing the keys in her hand. "We would've already been in the car if you had asked me for help."

She huffed angrily, starting down the stairs. "Hey!" he shouted after her. "You can't leave without me! They'd never led you in the van!"

A short bark of laughter escaped her, and she turned around. "Guess I didn't think that far on my escape," she retorted, and he shrugged, taking her by the hand.

"You never do," he teased, grinning slyly. "Now, let's get going."

 

---

 

The dorm was a lot different than she thought it would be.

In her mind, she'd always imagined it to be a big house, with rooms for each member. However, is was, in fact, a dorm. Each member shared a room, and there were two shared living spaces. The two living rooms had average furniture - nothing exquisite. The kitchen was normal as well, with newer kitchen supplies. As she moved through the house, Jongin gave her a quiet tour, leading her to each room.

Once he was finished, he brought her into the living room that laid right beside the kitchen. On the two couches, Xiumin sat curled up on one end, his eyes glued to his phone. Tao and Sehun sat on the other couch, sitting side by side as they talked loudly. As Jongin brought her into the room, the two waved, Tao giving her a warm smile. Lia nodded back, not knowing how to respond.

"There's quite a bit of stuff in the fridge," Jongin said, prying it open and letting her see the contents inside. "There's also quite a bit in the pantry. I should warn you beforehand that we eat a lot. I hope it's not too much trouble."

She shook her head slowly. "It shouldn't be, but can I have some people help me?"

Jongin's cast his gave around blankly, emitting a low hum as he thought of who would help the best. "I suppose . . ." he trailed off, his eyes lighting up. "Chen! Baekhyun!" he called, and the two came stumbling in.

"What?" Chen asked, then when he noticed Lia he smiled. "Oh, hey. What are you doing here?"

"I asked her to make dinner for us, since we've got no one else to turn to."

"Oh, thank god," Baekhyun breathed, holding his stomach melodramatically. "I was starting to think my stomach would revert to eating itself if I didn’t get some food in me."

"But can you two help her?" asked Jongin. They nodded eagerly, moving to stand beside Lia with wide smiles on their faces. Jongin eyed them suspiciously, eventually pointing a finger at Lia. "If you need more help, ask, okay? No more of this on-your-own business."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm serious!" he told her.

"Fine, fine. I'll ask."              

"Good," he finished, moving out of the kitchen slowly. She watched him through the kitchen bar as he sat down on the couch in closest view of the kitchen.

He narrowed her eyes at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him, turning away to face Chen and Baekhyun. She couldn't help but giggle as they stared at her with anticipation, looking like little kids.

"Lia?" Jongin called from the other room.

"Shut up!" she shouted back, sighing quietly. "Okay," she said to Baekhyun and Chen, "I need you two to wash your hands, first off. I'm going to look and see what you all have."

They bobbed their heads and darted to the sink as she opened the fridge. Taking stock of the ingredients, she pulled out almost half of what was in the refrigerator. Chen and Baekhyun moved beside her, and she pointed to the rice. "Do you two have a rice cooker?"

"I think so," Baekhyun muttered. "But we usually use the kind that's already made."

Lia frowned, opening the fridge again. "You don't have any."

"I think we broke the rice cooker a while ago," Chen remembered. "I think Tao knocked it off the counter."

"I did not!" Tao put in from the other room.

"No matter how it happened, it's still broken," she said, casting her eyes around the room. She opened a few cabinets, eventually finding one filled with pots and pans. Pulling out a large pot, she set it down in front of Chen and Baekhyun. "We'll just have to boil it ourselves."

"But . . ." Chen trailed off, "We've never used one of these before."

"It's not that hard," she explained. "Just wash the rice, but in some water, and boil it on the stove."

"But how much rice and water do we need?"

Lia lifted up the bag of rice, tossing it around to get a feel for how much there was. "I'd say this whole thing would barely be enough for the lot of you," she reasoned. "So fill the pot about halfway with water."

They nodded, still not getting the concept fully.

"For now, just worry about washing it," she told them softly. "I'll tell you what to do as we go."

Chen cleared his throat, looking up at Baekhyun. "C'mon, let's wash this."

Rolling up their sleeves, they got started as washing it, working quickly. "Make sure not to crush the rice," she called, half sure they weren't listening. With a sigh, she got started on making the rest.

About an hour later, after they'd washed the rice and put it to boil, Lia told them they could take a break. They smiled giddily, happy with their freedom, and darted into the living room. She gave a small grin as they skidded out, and decided she'd check the rice.

As she lifted up the lid to the pot of rice, she was met with a burning smell. With a gasp, she realized that they hadn't put enough water in. "Oh no!" she shouted tossing the lid onto the counted and pulling the pot from the stove.

Jongin darted in, his eyes filled with confusion and fear. "What happened?"

"They burnt the rice."

It was at that moment that Baekhyun and Chen ran in, and as their eyes met the smoke billowing from the pot their expressions sunk. "Oh no," the echoed together, and Jongin whirled on them.

"How did you burn the rice?!" he shouted.

Lia put a hand on his arm. "Calm down," she soothed. "It's a common mistake. I should've done the rice myself."

He shook his head, and she pointed to the pot. "It's not all burnt. I just have to get what's still good out from the top and put it in a new pot. Can you grab me one?" she asked, pointing to the cabinet. Jongin sighed, trudging over to the cabinet while simultaneously sending Chen and Baekhyun a piercing glare. "It's okay," Lia reassured them, giving them a soft smile. "I used to do that a lot too. It took me a while to figure out how much water to put in."

They nodded slowly, ducking their heads and stumbling their way out of the kitchen. She heard the sound of them slump onto the couch beside Xiumin, followed by muffled coos and Chen's whining.

After Jongin handed her the pot, she shooed him away with her hands. "No," he protested. "What did I tell you about needing help?"

"I've cooked bigger by myself," she told him, and his brows furrowed.

"At what time would you have needed to cook bigger?"

She curled her lip. "Just . . . I have. Don't doubt me and my ability," she said, trying her hardest to avoid the subject. She pushed him out of the kitchen, laughing mockingly at his objections. Turning back to the counter, she let out a long breath; she had a lot to get done on her own.