All
We've Come A Long Way“Wha- why are all of you here?”
Siwon stopped in his tracks. He found himself pulling up in front of this small family restaurant, a place he hasn’t been to in ages. He followed his hunger here. He wasn’t expecting to find the eating portion of Super Show.
“Same reason you came here.”
“But I came here on a whim!” Siwon exclaimed, still astounded upon finding 80% of the group inside the humble restaurant. “Did you guys tell me that the after party was cancelled so that you can all eat without me?”
“Come on, we’d never do that!” Youngwoon said. Others groaned their agreements between mouthfuls of jjajangmyun.
Siwon smiled, relieved that he wasn’t being pranked.
“I mean, who’d foot the bill if we leave you out, right?” Youngwoon continued.
Laughter rang around the table. Jongwoon choked on his food and ended up spluttering instead. Siwon rolled his eyes at s, tired of the same old joke, yet glad to see them all happy, all together.
He went over to the empty chair beside Kyu and thanked the ahjumma who placed a bowl in front of him, even taking out a spoon and chopsticks for him from the self-service utensils box, right after he sat down.
“Wah, really, Siwon, even ahjummas go out of their way to serve you,” Youngwoon said in a low voice after making sure the lady was out of earshot. “I had to ask her several times for a glass before she brought me one.”
“Psssh, hyung, it’s not like that,” Siwon replied, filling his bowl with budae jjigae. “It’s just that I haven’t been here for so long.”
Before Youngwoon could answer, the ahjumma came back and placed not less than five different saucers filled to the brim with side dishes, in front of Siwon.
They waited for the lady to go back in the kitchen before bursting out in giggles.
“Come on, that’s not special service?” Youngwoon teased. “I had to ask for more side dishes when I came! Even had to fight these idiots for them. You, on the other hand, didn’t even have to lift a finger and poof! Banchan buffet!”
Everyone around the table nodded and grunted their agreement.
“They could’ve run out and were just busy making more in the back,” Siwon postulated.
“Nah, she just doesn’t like me,” Youngwoon sighed with resignation.
“That’s because you singlehandedly ate all of their pickled radish that one time. They had to buy extra for the other customers,” Jongwoon reminded him.
“Goodness, that was what, 10 years ago? Holding a grudge for that long isn’t healthy for you, ahjumma,” Youngwoon grumbled. People around the table snorted with laughter.
“So, you guys really didn’t plan this?” Siwon asked as he picked up a chunk of seasoned potato.
“Yeah… We all somehow ended up coming here,” Ryeowook replied.
“We bumped into Ryeong and Donghae at the dorm parking lot and found out they were also going here,” Hyukjae recounted. “So Kyu and I decided to hitch a ride. We got here and found Heechul hyung already eating fried rice!”
“Hey - I was famished!” Heechul defended, mouth still full with rice. Ryeowook scrunched up his nose and docked away to avoid the flying grains.
“Then a few minutes later, Jungsoo hyung turned up, followed by Yongwoon hyung, said they saw each other’s cars at a stoplight and decided to come together.” Hyukjae continued.
“I won 10,000 won when Jongwoon hyung walked in,” Kyu said with a pleased smile. “We were betting who’d come next.”
“And you can use that to pay for my bill because if I hadn’t walked in, you wouldn’t have that money,” Jongwoon pointed out.
Kyuhyun stuck out his tongue at him. Jongwoon crumpled up some tissue and threw it at the younger guy.
“At that point, we figured, since most of us are here, why don’t we just call everyone else and tell them to come?” Hyukjae narrated. “So we did. Donghae’s actually out to pick up Zhou Mi and drag Henry out of wherever he’s at - we’re not really sure, it was noisy at his end when we called.”
Siwon nodded, mouth filled with the lettuce wrap that Kyu fed him. Then it hit.
“Wait a minute. I didn’t get a call!” He exclaimed, eyes growing to big round balls of hurt. “You guys invited everyone and didn’t call me?!”
“Hey, chill,” Kyu said. “We tried your phone several times but it kept going to voicemail. We thought that maybe you fell asleep or caught a late flight to a schedule in China or France or wherever.”
“Oh…” Siwon calmed down, eyes now back to normal size. “I… was somewhere not really within network coverage area.”
“Grandma?” Kyu asked gently.
Siwon nodded, glad that someone knew him well enough to know that. “Felt like telling her about my day.”
The group fell into a gradual quiet as each of them remembered the people whom they wanted to talk about this day with. For a while, only the sounds of utensils hitting china and glass bottoms setting on the table can be heard.
“WE’RE BACK!” Donghae announced in a sing-song voice as he came in the front door, a smiling Zhou Mi and a sleepy-looking Henry in tow.
Jungsoo suddenly stood up. “Great! Let’s get going then.”
Donghae planted Henry on a vacant seat before turning to their leader and pouting. “But hyung! I haven’t even had dinner yet!”
“Yeah. Donghae hyung promised me food when he dragged me out of bed.” Henry said after a big yawn.
“You were sleeping? With all that noise? How?!” Hyukjae inquired incredulously.
“Fell asleep while watching a show on my laptop.”
“It’s true. Found him still with drool on his chin. A wonder how his laptop didn’t short out - OW! But it’s true!” Zhou Mi rubbed his arm where their youngest playfully pinched him.
“Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry. Go, go ahead and order,” Jungsoo said. “But... is everyone wearing trainers though?”
Shuffling and squeaking sounds accompanied everyone’s checking of their footwear, which was followed by a hodge-podge of “yes” around the table. “Slippers, actually, but I have a spare pair of sneakers in my car,” Siwon replied.
“Awesome. Go put it on later.” Jungsoo instructed.
“Uh-oh. I know that look,” Heechul said. “I may or may not like the reason behind it. I’ve got a feeling it’s the latter.”
Jungsoo merely smiled and said, “I’ve got an epic idea.”
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Hi guys!
I'm sorry once again for the 2-week wait for the update. Had a LOT on my plate, but finally - HERE!^^ It's the second to the last chapter. I hope you like it. :) Stay tuned for the next one. It's going to be up before you know it. Lol!
Thank you so much to all my dear subscribers, readers, and commenters. I had a lot of fun writing this because of you guys!
Also. SUPER JUNIOR COMEBACK!!! And SS6 Encore! And it was Leeteuk's birthday a week or so ago! :D Who wants to spazz with me?
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