Characters: Kibum, OC, SJ
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 13/36
Summary: Soojin meets a guy who turns her world upside down but then there's a few dozen others as well.
A/N: This is one of my most beloved novels (not that I wrote THAT many, but still) and I think I will forever cherish the characters in this. This story also helped me shape my view on the different members and is the first of few stories in which I used first person.
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So there I was, reeking of sweat and probably looking more like a dirty, lost cave woman than a normal human being, when the woman looked up and stared at me. I say woman, but she couldn’t have been that old, really. Maybe five years older than me, somewhere around 27 years old. She looked like a princess of some sorts. Not that she was incredibly gorgeous and beautiful.. She actually just looked like any other normal girl. Well, of course she was pretty, but that was to be expected having Heechul’s genes, it was just that she had this aura around her that made me think of her as someone with a certain amount of power.
“Uh.. Hello?” I stuttered, clumsily bowing when I remembered my formalities. As I looked up again, she smiled. “My name is Kang Soojin.” I started to introduce myself. “I’m..”
“Noona!” someone exclaimed from behind me and an overly excited Hangeng rushed past me and nearly pounced on his older sister. I eyed this show of love and ..childishness..in surprise, not knowing that the seemingly always calm and adult Hangeng could be so..uncontrolled. There was a happy smile on his face as his big sister hugged him and his eyes sparkled in a way that made me smile fondly.
“Dongsaeng-ah.” the woman said, and I searched every corner of my mind to remember her name. “You interrupted your friend, I believe.” She sent me a happy smile that made me want to blush in pride because someone like her would smile at someone like me. Thinking about that, I felt even more like the lost cave woman I had compared myself with only moments earlier. Before I could continue my introduction, another person rushed past me and I was able to watch how the woman got up from the couch to pull her blood-related younger brother into a hug as well.
When I saw the way he wrapped his arms around her and the way he rested his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes, I realised that I was witnessing a side of Heechul that I knew he had, yet that I had never seen so clearly before. The side of him that loved and missed without all the witty remarks and mocking smirks. The Heechul who knew exactly how valuable friends and family really are. And I suddenly realised that he had, after all, lost both his parents.
After a moment of hugging each other like that, the loving image was broken by his sister, who pulled away a little and frowned when she looked at him. She let her eyes run over his body and then checked Hangeng, as well, before putting her hands in her side.
“Yah, you two!” she scolded. “What kind of manners are these? Coming to hug your sister in such wet and dirty clothes, stinking like sweat? Aish! Go shower you two! Quickly!” The two guys pouted and sent their sister the best puppy eyes they could muster.
“But noona..” Hangeng started.
“No buts, Geng-ah, or do you want me to kick yours?”she retorted unmoved. “Go shower, shoo, shoo! Put on some decent, non-sweaty clothes and don’t even think about coming back before you did so!”
“But noona, we were going to make lunch for Soojin because she hasn’t eaten yet and she’s feeling a little weak.” Heechul still protested.
“Ah.. Well.. Mhm..” their sister seemed to think it over as I just stood there watching everything happen, trying my best to keep my legs from buckling. “Okay, then you got shower, come back when you’re clean and I’ll meanwhile make us all lunch, how’s that?” Her suggestion seemed to be a great thing as the two boys’ eyes widened in surprise and they gave their noona hopeful looks.
“Really?” Heechul beamed.
“You’ll cook for us?” Hangeng sparkled.
All it took was a laugh and a nod from their sister to make the two guys run off happily. I followed them with my eyes until they disappeared behind the door frame. A little disoriented and still very tired, I turned back towards their sister, only to get caught in an awkward silence where I tried to look at everything but her. In the end, she was the first to speak.
“Aish, these boys. Didn’t even introduce us to each other properly. One day I’m going to..” The rest of her words became some kind of mumble that I didn’t understand. She then looked up at me and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry about that. My name is Kim Heeyoung. I’m their older sister. Don’t know if you’ve heard about me before. I suppose you’re one of their friends?” she said, offering me her hand. I politely shook it, bowing my head a little out of formality. “Soojin, huh? I haven’t seen you before.. You must be new. How did you meet my brothers?”
“Err.. Heechul-ssi and I played a game together and..”
“Ahh! You must be Snipe! Then I did hear of you before!”
“Y-yes..” I stuttered, showing a shy smile. I kept my arms close to my body as to not make her notice my own not-so-clean-smelling odour. I felt quite embarrassed to be in front of this so important-looking person about whom lots of flattering things had been told to me. Heeyoung didn’t seem to notice my awkwardness yet, as she motioned me to follow her.
“Come, let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll start on lunch.” she said, as she started to walk out. I quickly followed her, feeling a little like some lapdog. All the way to the kitchen I kept my arms pressed close to my sides, walking in a little bit of a forced way because of that, but it was only when we arrived there and she turned to me that she seemed to notice this. “Are you alright? You seem nervous.. Is it because of me?” she wondered aloud.
“N-no, Heeyoung-ssi.”
“Oh, unni will do.”
“It’s not because of you. Don’t worry.”
“But you look so tense. Is something wrong?” she insisted. I blushed and debated with myself for a moment, before deciding to just go ahead and tell her.
“Ah, well, unni, it’s just that.. I played basketball too and I’m afraid I smell a little like sweat myself.” I then mumbled, averting my eyes to the ground. There was a moment of silence in which she seemed to put all the pieces together and then she started laughing.
“I’m sorry, Soojin, of course you’re feeling uncomfortable then.” she said, waving my worries away. “Did you bring other clothes? I guess not.. You can borrow some of mine. I have more than enough anyway. I’m sure some of them will fit. Come, I’ll give you a jeans and a T-shirt. You can shower in my bathroom then.” And with those words, she gently pushed me ahead of her, towards the stairs that lead to her room and bathroom on the first floor.
After she gave me some random jeans and T-shirt and showed me the way to her bathroom - I decided not to tell her that I had been there before - I needed about twenty more minutes to get clean, un-sweaty and dressed. I then nicely hung the used towels to dry, cleaned the shower so that there wouldn’t be any of my hair left and put my sweaty clothes away in my bag, before finally going back down again. When I descended the stairs, Hangeng just passed by in the hallway.
“Done showering too?” he asked, waiting for me to walk down to him. “Great! Lunch is almost ready! Heeyoung noona gave it her best. She’s such an amazing cook. I should learn from her!” The moment I reached him, he swung an arm around my shoulder and I could enjoy the smell of peach-scented shower gel and some men’s shampoo. If anything, I had to admit that it was lots and lots better than male sweat. I felt a strange sensation in the pit of my stomach that only worsened when he stroked my hair behind my ear, but I didn’t get the time to think it through. “Let’s go.” he said happily as he tugged me along to the kitchen.
“Soojin, you look good in those clothes!” Heeyoung said with a smile as she looked up from the food she was preparing. “Better than me even. You should keep them!” I flushed and wanted to decline the
“Snipe! You look wonderful!” he exclaimed in surprise. I nearly choked on my own saliva in shock that he did not insult me, but then he went on talking and ruined it all. “It’s obvious that these aren’t your clothes. You only get stuff that looks like it’s from a second-hand store.” I growled at him. The only thing keeping me from hitting his head was the fact that his older sister was in the room too. So I huffed and walked out of the kitchen, into the dining room.
“Well it’s obvious that your sister is home, Chullie, you’ve never been this clean since I met you.” I meanwhile snapped back. He had me in a head lock before I could reach a chair to sit down on.
“Yah! Yah! Are you forgetting who’s the oldest here?” he demanded as he playfully ruffled my still slightly wet hair. I laughed and struggled to get free, poking him in the side so he would let go. When he finally did, I hit his arm and then quickly dashed away to hide behind Hangeng.
“I didn’t forget. Heeyoung unni is the best!” I then said, smiling happily. There was a simultaneous intake of breaths and the two brothers stared at me in shock. I gave them a surprised look.
“You..” Hangeng started.
“..actually used the word unni?” Heechul completed. I frowned.
“Well yes. But Heeyoung unni gave me permission to. It’s not tha-”
“I want to be Hangeng oppa too!” Mister arrogant suddenly looked very young and childish as he whined those words. Mister even more arrogant pouted like a little kid as well.
“And why am I just Chullie? I’ve always wanted to be Heechul oppa to someone!” he objected. I chuckled.
“Well, maybe if you would stop acting like a baby I might consider calling you oppa.” I retorted. My words were followed by laughter coming from an unexpected corner. Heeyoung walked up to us with some plates and cutlery in hand.
“Well, that’s a bummer, Chul-ah. You’ll never be an oppa then.” she said, ruffling her younger brother’s hair.
“Noona!” he protested, shocked. I tried my best to not burst out in serious laughter.
“Need some help with bringing lunch in, unni?” I then asked politely.
“Oh, that would be much appreciated! I’m glad at least someone knows the value of a helping hand. Compared to a certain few others here..” She cast a glance at the two younger guys when she said that, after which they immediately rushed to the kitchen to get our lunch. Their sister then smiled at me triumphantly. “It works all the time. Have a seat.” she said, winking shortly as she put the plates on the table. I allowed myself to giggle rather girly as I sat down on the chair she had pointed out. “So tell me.” Heeyoung continued when she sat down as well. “You play basketball, huh?”
“Yes. I used to be in a team when I was younger, but then I quit because it became too boring to do all the competitions. I didn’t play for quite a while, getting other hobbies and such, but then I picked up basket again one day. It’s only recently that I really started playing more often. Ever since I’m going along with your brothers, actually.”
“Yeah, and she’s still only average.” Heechul joked as he walked in with a plate of Kimchi. I looked up at him, acting offended because of that insult.
“Well I’m sorry, but I remember beating you lots of times before, so that would make you below average, Chullie.” I replied. That shut him up nicely. Although the disapproving glare his sister sent him might have helped a bit as well. I grinned anyway.
Hangeng entered moments later with a bowl of rice. He put it on the table and immediately started giving everyone a portion, starting with me. I thanked him with a smile and took some Kimchi as well.
We spent the rest of lunch talking about things that had nothing to do with basketball. At first Heeyoung politely asked a few things about school, what I was majoring in and stuff like that, but with Heechul’s eccentricity it didn’t take long for the ice to be broken between us and we treated each other like we had been friends for years already. Soon after the conversations focused on more personal things and I found myself talking about my parents, my family and even Kibum. All of them being subjects that I had never talked about with Heechul or Hangeng before.
We talked like that for a few hours, long after we had finished eating. I even got to know a little about the past of the brothers. Mostly Heechul’s, as his sister spilled all the beans, but even Hangeng talked a little about his parents and how he had moved to Korea with them, two years before the plane crash in which both his mother and father died. Because the topic still seemed very painful for him, I ended the conversation with a small pat on his shoulder, hoping he would somehow feel and understand my sympathy towards him.
At about five in the afternoon, Heechul offered me a lift home, after I had spent nearly twenty minutes convincing the both of them that I really wasn’t going to go out with the group that night, because I felt too tired to even sip coke through a straw. I said goodbye to Heeyoung with a bow, but she gave me an unexpected hug. Although I felt quite awkward and uncomfortable, I tried to smile as brightly as before when she let go. I then hugged Hangeng myself, because he still looked a little down, before finally following Heechul to his car. Once we had settled on our seats, he told me that his sister obviously liked me and then spent the rest of the ride convincing me how that was something to be proud of. When we arrived at my house, I
“Chullie, you are the most annoying person I have ever met. I’ll see you on Monday when you come nagging at me in school again.” I then said, closing the car door and walking off towards my house door before he could respond to that. I never saw the look on his face after my words, but the feeling of having had the last word made up for that by tenfold.
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