9: A New Home and Family

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I woke up at 7:30, not to go to work, but to clean up the place. I already called Emmi to tell her I’ll have a day-off, and she said it was totally okay. Fortunately, there were stored cleaning materials in the attic so I was able to start early. At lunch, I already finished half of the house meaning the living room, dining room, and the kitchen. Though exhausted, I had to go to the store to buy some food for myself, since there was no food stored in the house yet. I just went for some ramen and soon, I was cleaning again.

I cleaned the attic first, organizing the old stuffed toys and figurines. I brought down the magazines that I thought would be useful and placed them at the cabinet in the living room. Then I proceeded to the bathroom which didn’t really need thorough cleaning, and then finally, the bedroom. I patiently cleaned the cabinets before putting my things in them, and dusted the windows and the AC (yep, there’s one). I flopped down on the heavenly bed, finally done with the task. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

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I woke up with someone breathing on my neck. I groggily opened my eyes and searched for who could be that someone, and was met by Sungjong. I literally jumped off the bed with eyes wide.

“How did you get in here?!!”

“You forgot to lock the door pabo,” another voice spoke, and it was Sunggyu leaning on the doorframe. “Just be thankful that we aren’t burglars, so remember to lock the front door next time, okay?”

I awkwardly nodded and looked down on my toes.

“The place looks a lot cleaner compared to yesterday. Did you clean all day?” he asked and I sheepishly scratched my head. Weirdly, I suddenly became conscious of my appearance.

“Well, yeah…”

“Oh, so that’s why you were hard to wake up! I shook you many times but you kept on snoring. If only I knew blowing on your neck is more effective…” Sungjong mumbled.

“Yah, I don’t snore!” I glared at him and stomped to the bathroom to wash my face. After I looked more humanly, I got out and went straight to the living room. I was horrified to see the rest of the boys in there.

“Yo Yuan!” Dongwoo grinned and I forced a smile. I forced my feet to walk and joined them.

“What brought you here?” I tried to make my tone nice.

“We found out that your house is near the dorm so we decided to visit you!” Sungyeol answered. My eyes landed on Myungsoo who was sitting casually on the couch.

“Oh, look who’s here,” I used the same words that he said yesterday. “Are you stalking me?”

“This was against my will too,” he grumbled and I wanted to laugh at the irony. I suddenly heard rumbling plastics in the kitchen so I went there and saw Sunggyu and Sungjong placing things in the fridge and in the cupboards.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“We brought food for you,” Sunggyu spoke while organizing the stack of canned goods. “We supposed you won’t have time to buy things so we did it for you.”

I was surprised to see many kinds of food in the kitchen. There were ramen, meat, sardines, junk foods, sodas, and even bread. Basically everything.

“Why… Why are you helping me?” I whispered, and they froze. They looked at each other, and then back to me.

“I… It's that…” Sunggyu mumbled, obviously not knowing what to say. Even Sungjong couldn’t answer.

“You know, if you’re doing this because you’re still sorry about my hand, you can stop right now. I’m already fine with it, so it’s okay.” I gave a small smile. They glanced at each other once again as if to have a mental conversation about what they should do, and after a few moments, Sungjong stepped forward to hug me.

“Yuan, I think we’re doing this because you’re special. You need a family, so we’re here for you.”

Time seemed to stop. Did he mean that? Did I hear that right?

They, the supposedly famous boy group Infinite offering to be my family? I wasn't able to speak as a heavy feeling formed in my chest. I have been longing for a family for such a long time now, not only after Granna died, but after my parents disappeared 15 years ago. Since then, I always envied those people that have complete families. They were so lucky to have someone beside them everytime they feel weak and down, while I was on the other side of the road, huddled in a small ball, having only my sanity to keep me going.

I only realized that I was crying when I felt Sungjong rubbing my back, and Sunggyu petting my head. After I finished crying, I immediately apologized for ruining Sungjong’s shirt. He just waved it off and helped me wipe away my tears. We turned to go back to the living room after I looked decent again. But we froze in place when we saw the others in the kitchen, who looked like they were watching us all the time.

“H-how long have you been here?” I nervously asked. They averted their eyes to somewhere else, and I immediately knew that they were guilty.

“Um, just now, actually. Why, did we miss something?” Dongwoo tried to lie. I rolled my swollen eyes.

“You suck at lying.”

Sungyeol elbowed him and gave him a look. I was suddenly concerned if Myungsoo saw me crying too, since he’ll probably use it to annoy me later. He caught me looking at him and surprisingly, he just looked at me. No smirks or glares, whatsoever.

“Come here my princess,” Howon said and went to hug me. I just let him, since it’s a benefit for me because they all smell good. They had this smell that could comfort anyone, including me. The pressure around me increased and I knew that I was in the middle of a group hug. I checked if Myungsoo was being a jerk again, but I saw him in the group hug too though he didn’t look as enthusiastic as the others. Okay, I don’t think he’s that bad after all.

“Thanks to all of you,” I said when I could finally breathe again. “Especially Sunggyu-sshi…”

“Sunggyu-oppa to you,” he corrected.

“Me too, you could call me oppa!” Howon grinned. Dongwoo, Woohyun, and Sungyeol said the same thing. Sungjong suddenly squealed.

“Call me Sungjong-oppa!!”

“You look more like a dongsaeng to me,” I joked, and he sulked. “Arasso, Sungjong-oppa.”

He beamed and we all just laughed, and my eyes accidentally met Myungsoo’s. His mouth slightly lifted at the corners, but it quickly disappeared.

Wait.

Did he just…

Did he just smile at me??

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