Sleepover

            I had only gotten home about an hour before and had just gotten off the phone with Ryeowook, although we hadn’t spoken long because he kept sneezing and coughing.  We didn’t get much talking in, but I figured out enough to know that he wasn’t feeling much better and that didn’t make me feel any less concerned about him.  I’d been panicking since I’d first gotten the call about him and the managers and Leeteuk had to practically tie to me to a chair to keep me from flying to go collect him myself.  (And by that, I mean, Heechul tackled me and he’s the only one I’m a little afraid of, so I stayed home and let the manager go instead.)

            I was even more upset when I discovered that it was too serious for Ryeowook to come home, but I didn’t want him home if there were any concerns that he would feel worse without medical care.  But staying at the dorm alone and not knowing what was happening at all times was driving me crazy, so I called the hospital constantly.  And when the managers started complaining that I was calling too often, I would just call his mother and have her call to check on him and then call me back.  She told me that I had to quit calling her after 9 o’clock in the evening or before 8 o’clock in the morning though, which I think is very restrictive.  I know she doesn’t sleep eleven hours a night!

            After getting off the phone, I went into the bathroom to relieve myself before heading to the kitchen to look through the refrigerator, hoping that there was still something already cooked to eat, so I wouldn’t have to try making ramen again.  Just as I was washing my hands, I heard someone start knocking on the door.  I finished washing my hands.  I wasn’t about to skip washing them just because someone was at the door, but the knocking continued.  Then I dried them off.  My cellphone also started going off and I pulled it out of my pocket and glance down at it.

            Donghae.

            The knocking got louder and more incessant and I had a sneaky suspicion that I knew who was at the door already.  I shoved the phone into my back pocket and headed for the door.  I quickly unlocked it and whipped it open, startling both of them. 

            Donghae looked up from his phone.  “You’re home!  Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

            “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to listen to me pissing.  Why are you pounding on the door?” I asked, glaring at Eunhyuk.

            “I thought you were napping or playing games with your earbuds in and couldn’t hear us,” he explained.

            “Why didn’t you use your key?”

            “I don’t keep it on my keyring,” Eunhyuk said.  “I haven’t lived here in years!”

            Donghae pulled his keys out of his pocket and looked at them.  “Oh, I forgot about that.”

            I was thankful that Eunhyuk smacked him in the back of the head so I didn’t have to be the mean one for a change.  Then I watched as they both bent down to pick up their bags.  Not grocery bags, which would have excited me, but luggage.  “What’s that?” I asked, starting to feel a little concerned.

            They walked past me and into the dorm with their bags.  “Shindong called me and said he was worried about you.  The managers told him that Ryeowook might be in the hospital for several days.”

            “Maybe even weeks!” Donghae said.

            “Not weeks!” I insisted.  If Ryeowook ended up in the hospital for weeks, I was going to move in there. 

            “Anyway, the last time you lived alone without Ryeowook it didn’t go well.  You got really depressed.”

            “You weren’t sleeping,” Donghae added.

            “You lost weight because you weren’t eating…which you never do!”

            I elbowed him.  He totally deserved it for that.

            Eunhyuk was barely phased by me trying to roughhouse him.  He’s in far better shape than I am and can take a lot more than I have the energy to dish out.  He set his bags down in the living room and sat down on the couch.  “Shindong has a lot going on at the moment, so he wasn’t sure if he would be free to come move in with you, like he did the last time.  But when Donghae and I started talking it over, we realized we had nothing better to do and decided to move in with you, so you wouldn’t be alone again.”

            I opened my mouth, but I was honestly speechless, for all the wrong reasons.  It was entirely possible that having Eunhyuk and Donghae in the house with me would make me more stressed out.  They were loud, messy, and had the mentality and energy levels of five-year-olds. 

            At the same time, they weren’t wrong about be becoming depressed after Ryeowook enlisted.  But he was gone for months!  At worst, he might be gone a week or two because he was sick.  More than likely, it would only be a few days!  I wasn’t about to have a meltdown over him being gone a few days.  As is, he leaves with the rest of the group for performances for days at a time.  If I feel lonely, I either hang out with my friends, plan a vacation, or visit my parents.

            Donghae wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.  “This is so exciting!  Isn’t it exciting?”

            “Wow!” I simply said, patting his back.  “I’m…just speechless.”

            Everything good about my husband: how he organizes my life, cleans the dorm, cooks healthy and delicious meals, keeps the atmosphere zen-like when he knows I’m stressed, engages in witty and intelligent conversations with me, smells amazing, never sweats, loses every video game I play against him, has the most amazing voice next to mine, brings a smile to my face upon seeing him, remembers the birthdays of all my relatives and reminds me, keeps the dorm stocked with my favorite wine and snacks…EunHae have none of these qualities.  It’s not to say that they don’t have any redeeming qualities of their own, but they are no substitute for my husband!  They do not even come close.  Aside from being a couple warm bodies in the house, they might even make me miss him more, once they start waking me up in the middle of the night, eating what’s left of the food, and leaving their clothes lying all over the dorm.

            Just then, I heard the door open again and looked over.  Yesung was walking through the door, a bag slung over his shoulder.  My eyes lit up and I pushed Donghae off me, rushing to the door.  “Hyung, what are you doing here?”  I rarely use the word hyung for any of them (aside Leeteuk) unless I’m trying to butter them up.

            Yesung glanced over at Eunhyuk and Donghae, who were already making a mess of the living room, digging out videos to watch later.  “I was on the phone earlier with Siwon who told me that he had spoken with Eunhyuk who told him that he and Donghae were moving in tonight to stay with you until Ryeowook returned home, so you wouldn’t be alone.  He’d tried to talk them out of it, but Shindong had talked them into it, because he was so worried about you being alone.  I was worried about them driving you crazy and thought I ought to come over to help babysit.”

            I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.  “I love you!”

            “Don’t get too excited.  I still won’t clean up after them or any of that nonsense, but I won’t let them stay up until four in the morning making noise or let them try cooking you dinner when we both know they’ll just burn the kitchen down.”

            “I’ll still be able to sleep at night though, knowing that the kitchen isn’t on fire,” I said, pulling away and watching as they ran to the kitchen to raid the cupboards.  “They aren’t going to find any food.”

            “And I’m not going to cook for them.  Their grown men.  They can fend for themselves.”

            I sighed heavily because I really wasn’t much better in the food department.  I really ought to be.  I couldn’t count how many times Ryeowook had tried to show me how to make some of his simplest dishes.  I just never quite managed to make them the way that he did.  Even my ramen tasted a little off and ramen was one of the easiest things to make.  It was still edible, but you could only eat so much of it before you needed to eat something new. 

            Just then, the door opened yet again.  Both Yesung and I turned our curious eyes to the door and in walked Leeteuk, smile plastered on his face, as always.  He had a duffle bag slung over one shoulder and a grocery bag in his other arm.  I hurried to the door to help him.

            “Hyung!  What are you doing here?”

            He smiled even wider.  “I thought I’d come back to the dorm for a little while.  I kind of missed it here.  Everyone else is here and I thought it would be fun to all be together again.”

            That was the biggest lie if I’d ever heard one, but I loved how he didn’t make it sound like he was doing me some favor, like everyone else had, when he was probably the best person to have come over.  He handed the bag of groceries over to me while he took off his coat and shoes. 

            “What’s all this?”

            “I brought over some food.  I was feeling a little hungry on the way over and thought I’d pick up some supplies to make dinner.  I wasn’t sure how much food you had left at the house and if you’d have enough to feed everyone with,” he said. 

            I looked into the bag.  It was full of rice, vegetables, and meat. 

            “Hae!  Hyuk!” he called out. 

            They emerged from the kitchen. 

            “I have a few more groceries in the trunk of the car.  Would you mind grabbing them while I start making dinner?”

            They were so excited to hear that there was going to be food, they quickly dressed and ran out the door with his car keys. 

            “This is really nice of you, hyung, but I know you’re very busy.  You don’t have to stay here just to look after me.  I promise.  I’ll be fine,” I told him, walking into the kitchen with him.

            The smile never left his face as Yesung followed us into the kitchen and dug out the good coffee that Ryeowook kept in the cupb