WITH GRACE.

11장

time must really be just a concept of the mind, materialized by humans as means of standardization.

as for me, time progressed very swiftly. perhaps it was due to my busy schedule ㅡ jumbling school, work and volunteering. at the very least, my busy schedule was breathable.

around a couple of weeks have passed since my dramatic moment witnessed by sunghoon. i can say we became significantly closer as individuals after that incident. it also became his habit to join me in my orphanage visits which i was able to do twice during the past weeks. i eat lunch with the crew more frequently now, albeit lately i noticed the three (heeseung, jake and jay) cautiously gazing at each other as if sending secret signals during lunchtime and leaving early. they've given a bunch of various excuses already, but only one thing is certain ㅡ they're suspiciously leaving sunghoon and i alone. it was fine for us, i guess. we get more time to know each other and talk about things.

aside from the three musketeers, jungwon and dongkyu is also acting suspicious lately. one second, they talk a lot about how great sunghoon is and when sunghoon is present, they barely let me go ㅡ guarding me like they fear of anyone taking me away. i was completely confused.

it didn't help that i start hearing rumors mentioning my name and some dance crew member. people barely know me before, but becoming close and having lunch with the crew just made me become the topic of rumors. honestly, i could only hope it's not anything bad. until now, i still don't know the rumor's content; only the vague mention of my name.

worries aside, today is a lovely day. a lovely weekend to rest and unwind.

the two boys became extra kind lately as well. they offered taking over simple tasks i used to do by myself. dongkyu even cooks the meals now when he can, with jungwon assisting him. the only thing that didn't change wss their habit of sleeping in and jungwon's knack for slippers and walking barefoot. i'd like to think they were doing this for a self-upgrade, but something tells me that these two are doing this out of fearing they'll lose me.

i honestly don't know what goes on in those adolescent minds.

i just let them be. anyway, i appreciate more time for myself, more time to rest. i had a banana and milk earlier as i lounged in my bedroom. breakfast weren't a thing for the three of us anymore ever since the whole sleeping in started and i had to adjust to their schedules.

when i came to check their room an hour after, the two had just woke up. noticing my presence by the door, they got up from bed and trailed like baby chicks towards me.

"good morning, noona,"

"i love you, noona,"

i told them to wash up before going out. it didn't take that long before the came out of their room looking fresh in a new set of clothes. they proceeded to the kitchen to make brunch which we soon enjoyed as i was obviously famished while waiting for them to wake up.

"movie marathon?" i asked.

dongkyu and jungwon both enthusiastically nodded their head.

there was nothing to do either, so i think a little movie marathon wouldn't hurt. just as i was about to discuss what movies to watch with them, the doorbell rang.

dongkyu went to see who's ringing the door while jungwon stayed with me on the living room as i scanned through the movie choices on the screen. it was quite surprising that we can still afford such commodities when we're basically orphans, but our parents were able to set aside emergency funds for us and it's able to last us until we finish our studies. besides, the three of us are under scholarships: i got an academic scholarship while the two got performance scholarships.

i looked up to see dongkyu with a bunch of silhouettes behind him.

"hi, eunhye! mind if we crash?" it was jake who stood just behind dongkyu.

honestly, i wouldn't have seen him because my brother seriously towered over them.

"again?"

"why? are we not welcome here?" jake continued, pouting like a duck.

"no, not at all. i'm just wondering how you collectively decided to crash our place for the afternoon. don't you have other things to do?"

"not anymore. i especially cleared this afternoon for a surprise crash! wait, that's kind of redundant. anyway," jake rambled.

"alright, alright. we were just planning to have a movie marathon. oh, you brought taki and ni-ki with you?"

"hi, noona!"

"hello, noona! jake hyung pulled us out next door, actually. he said it's more fun to crash someone else's house with more people," taki explained.

"jake, you should really stop feeding these babies lies and unnecessary information,"

"and eunhye, you should really stop baby-ing these kids. they're literally just three or so years younger than you," jake stuck a tongue out at me, feeling victorious over his retaliation.

"you just said kids, dummy! besides, let me be. they're just babies in my eyes. you guys don't mind, right?" i asked, looking at the four younger boys.

"nope."

"no."

"absolutely okay."

"definitely not."

"just say you're biased with eunhye and go, children." jake huffed at the younger ones.

"well, at least we get eunhye noona's affections, jake hyung," dongkyu proudly stated.

"anyways, before the debate lengthens any further, sit wherever you like and pick movies to watch. i'll make some popcorns in the kitchen for a while," i say as i started walking away.

sunghoon, who was as silent as he can be, turned out to be following me.

"oh, you scared me a little. why don't you ever speak up when there's more people?"

"i love giving you the liberty to monopolize the exclusivity of my talking," he said as he flashed me a smile.

"gee, much appreciated. thanks," i sarcastically responded, "so are you going to help me or are you here to annoy me?"

"i want to help but i'm not good with cooking unless it's ramyeon or it involves microwaves,"

in the end, sunghoon just sat by the table as he watched me prepare the popcorns. it was weird, feeling eyes watching you while you do things.

we brought out three bowls of popcorn to the living room where the rest were waiting for us.

the space left on the long couch was fit for three. i took the vacant seat beside dongkyu who was to my left. jungwon settled on the carpeted floor, snuggling close to my legs. sunghoon followed me and sat to my right.

"what movies did you guys pick?"

"you're not gonna like it, noona," daniel shook his head.

"it's sucks that it's still afternoon but horrors are the best for marathons," jake explained.

no way. not horrors!