The next day, everyone woke up to what they thought would be a great day. It was just like any other normal day, with the sun up brightly in the clear, blue sky. But somehow, something about the sun lets everybody think it’ll be a wonderful day.

Minzy and Taemin woke up with the sun shining brightly in their eyes. They looked at each other from their beds and grinned, sitting upright.

“It’s going to be a great day!” Taemin proclaimed, waking Bom and So-hyun up.

“It’s so sunny!” Minzy agreed. “I love the sun! Yay!”

“Maybe we can go out and play out in the meadow,” So-hyun said wistfully.

“Not a chance, So-hyun.” Bom got out of her bed, but she was smiling. She knew So-hyun was just kidding. “Breakfast making time,” she sang in a cheerful, singsong voice and walked out of the bedroom to the café.

“Let’s play a game of Monopoly before Bom unnie calls us for breakfast,” So-hyun suggested, recovered from Bom’s rejection to her plan of going out to play.

The twins were pleased with the idea.

“All right, I wanna be the horse!” Taemin said, grabbing the horse.

“As long as I’m the cash bag,” So-hyun replied, gathering on the floor.

“Just let me be the wheelbarrow,” Minzy said and they all began dealing the cards to start the game.

“I’m starting first.”

“No fair! I wanna start first.”

“That’s too bad, I’ve got the dice!”

“Taemin! Give it!”

“No way! I grabbed it first so I get to move my piece first.”

“We have to play ‘scissors, paper, rocks’ to see who goes first, second and third, not who grabs the dice first!”

“You kids play nicely or I’m asking you three to come out and help me with breakfast,” Bom called from the café.

Taemin grudgingly gave the dice back so they could actually start the game. Minzy and So-hyun just gave each other smug looks as if they have just won.

In Chaerin and Seunghyun’s bedroom, Chaerin woke up to find Seunghyun already awake, getting out of the bed.

“Well, isn’t someone’s an early bird today,” she teased, sitting up. She smiled at her boyfriend.

He went back in to kiss her lightly on the cheeks, wrapping his arms around her. “Honestly, I woke up two minutes ago,” he replied.

“Oh, you’re so modest,” she laughed. She squealed as he made a move to tickle her. “Stop it! I have to help Bom make breakfast right now!”

“Never.”

“No breakfast for you, then.”

“I don’t need breakfast when all I have is you,” he sang in a deep voice and Chaerin giggled.

“Then you shall not have me,” she joked in a stern voice.

“Okay, okay.” He let her go after a deep, long kiss. “Love you,” he said.

She smiled before she left. “I love you, too.”

Dae Sung, Onew and Kibum woke up to the sound of Onew’s alarm going off. They all sat up from their beds rather groggily. Onew turned the alarm off with much difficulty.

“What time is it?” Dae Sung mumbled in his sleep.

“Seven-thirty,” Onew replied, forgetting the reason why he set the alarm was because he had a project to do.

“It’s too early,” Kibum complained, his hair all tousled in every direction. “CL hasn’t called for breakfast yet.”

“More sleeping, less talking,” Dae Sung said.

“For once, I agree,” Onew grumbled sleepily.

Groaning, they all went back to sleep, pulling their blankets over their heads.

In the next room to theirs, Jonghyun was awoken by the alarm.

“Stupid Onew,” he muttered. Next to him, Hyuna was sleeping peacefully. He her cheeks. “Hyuna, wake up. Time to rise and shine. . . . Hyuna?”

“Mmm . . .” she said sleepily. She rolled to the other side.

A brilliant idea came to Jonghyun’s mind. He leaned over to his wife. “You’re pregnant,” he whispered in her ears.

Hyuna bolt upright. “I’m what?” she screeched, her heart thumping with fear. She can’t be!

He laughed. “Relax; I was just pulling your legs,” he explained. “But at least it made you wake up. You’re not pregnant.”

Hyuna punched him on the shoulder. “Jonghyun, that was not funny! You really had me scared!” she scolded.

Jonghyun couldn’t stop laughing. He laughed and laughed until somebody from the next room thumped the wall and yelled, “Shut up, Jonghyun! I’m trying to sleep!”

Hyuna giggled. “I think you woke Onew up,” she said.

Jonghyun just scowled.

In G-Dragon’s room, Ji Yong woke his parents by crying.

Mi Hwa got up and scooped him into her lap. “Good morning, my darling dear.”

G-Dragon sat up from his side of the bed and kissed his son on the head.

“Mama,” Ji Yong uttered.

Mi Hwa hugged him. “Mama’s here, darling. I’m here. Appa is here, too.”

“Hey, boy,” G-Dragon said, smiling.

“He’s so adorable,” Mi Hwa remarked as Ji Yong got up and began walking to the portable potty.

“Just like his mother,” G-Dragon said, nuzzling her softly.

She kissed him. “Oppa, you do know that I’m serious about leaving?”

He sighed. He had a feeling she wasn’t about to just let this go. He was sort of hoping that she wouldn’t mention it so early in the morning. “Yes, I do know,” he replied slowly. “But at least give it a month or so before we actually leave. Like I said last night, we just got here.”

She frowned, obviously disagreeing with him. “A month? But that’s too long!” she protested. “What if the Zaifhers find us by then? We’ll all be slaves to them! Then, it’ll be too late to leave. No, we have to leave now.”

“We’ll talk about this later, Mi Hwa,” he replied dismissively, getting out of bed. “Right now I’m smelling breakfast.” He pulled his pants and shirt on. “Come on, Yongie, it’s time for breakfast.”

Yongie followed his dad out of the door.

“Boys and being scared of confrontations,” Mi Hwa muttered darkly as she got up to clean the room and wash the potty. When she was done, she headed for the Café for the delicious prepared breakfast. Everybody was already digging in. She was the last to arrive.

Well, second last.

“Where’s Dara?” Hyuna asked, looking up, as Mi Hwa sat down in between Seunghyun and G-Dragon.

Mi Hwa kissed G-Dragon lightly on the lips. “We’re not done talking about it yet,” she said to him.

“Talking about what?” Seunghyun wanted to know, looking up from his toast curiously.

“Something,” G-Dragon replied, sighing. “Yes, Mi Hwa, we’ll talk about this later.”

She scowled. Seunghyun just shot looks back and forth between them, wondering what they could possibly be talking about. But then realizing it was none of his business, he shrugged and got back to his breakfast. Whatever they’re arguing about, it’s not of his concern. He was sure whatever it was, they’ll handle it.

“She’s probably still sleeping,” Chaerin replied Hyuna. “Best if we leave her alone. But save some food for her and Rae Ah. We don’t want to take more than our own share.”

“Speaking of which, I’m surprise Rae Ah hasn’t wake up yet,” Kibum spoke up, stuffing sausages into his mouth to fill his empty stomach. “Normally she wakes up earlier.”

“I’ll go check,” Bom offered, standing up. She headed for Dara’s room as everyone continued to eat.

“I’m starving,” Taemin piped up, helping himself to a slice of toast.

“You’re always hungry,” Minzy replied, giving her brother a withering look.

“Shut up!”

“Shut up yourself, jerk!”

“I’m not a jerk!”

“You just keep telling yourself that.”

“I’ll hit you on the head if you don’t shut up!”

“I’ll hit you on the head if you don’t shut up!”

“I’ll hit both your heads if you two fatheads don’t shut up this instance!” Jonghyun said.

Taemin and Minzy fell silent. They knew Jonghyun was joking, but it wasn’t worth it to continue, because even if he won’t do it, he’ll do something else just as drastic.

A few seconds later, they heard a high-pitch scream coming from Dara’s room.

“Chaerin unnie! Seunghyun-sshi! Come quick!”

Everyone ran to Dara’s room, expecting the worst — like Dara have died or something. But when they got there, Bom was alone.

That was normal. So why did Bom scream so loudly?

“She’s gone!” she wailed. “Everything is empty. She’s taken Rae Ah with her as well!”

“But wouldn’t the alarm have set off if she went out?” Taemin asked.

Onew groaned, smacking his face. “I forgot to turn it on last night because I was working on another project,” he moaned.

“I forgot to remind him,” Kibum added tearfully.

“Well, this is just great,” Jonghyun grumbled, folding his arms. “What do you think about it, Chaerin? . . . Chaerin?” He turned around, expecting to see Chaerin deep in thought or something.

Everyone looked at one another, but they did not see Chaerin.

“She was right behind me!” So-hyun said in disbelief.

“Hang on — Seunghyun, G-Dragon and Mi Hwa isn’t here, either,” Hyuna piped up.

“And they left poor Ji Yong behind!” Dae Sung pointed to the child.

“Mama? Appa?” he said at the sound of his parents’ names. He looked around. He was too little to understand what was going around, but he was smart enough to know that his parents weren’t here. He then began to cry.

Bom scooped him up. “Shhh, it’s okay, darling. It’s okay, it’s okay. Mama and Appa will be back soon.” She sighed. “Where could they have gone, Jonghyun?” she asked, looking at the Head of Security.

“There’s only one reason why the four of them would go,” he replied grimly. “Dara had gone to fetch the Zaifhers.”

They all gasped and the younger ones began to cry. “No! Not the Zaifhers! Anything but them!” they shouted.

“Jonghyun!” Hyuna exclaimed. “The kids!”

“Well, why else would the four of them — three who have connections with the Zaifhers — go, Hyuna?” he asked. “We all know that Dara is jealous of Mi Hwa and would do anything to get her ways, even if it means getting us all in trouble.” He turned to face all of them. “And that means war. We are going to have to get ready for a fight. And it’s not going to be easy.”

“Do we set up defenses?” Onew asked.

He nodded. “Go set the alarm quickly and then we will gather for a game plan.” As Onew ran, Kibum and Dae Sung left to get the weapons. Jonghyun turned to the girls. “Get to your hiding place ready.”

They scattered.

Jonghyun didn’t like this. As much as he loved to fight, he didn’t want to fight with the Zaifhers. He knew that if they come, everything will end up being a total tragic loss.