Derick W J Tan

They found a deer in the house the next morning.

“I was so tired last night that I didn’t even know oppa was sleeping in my bed!” said the doe-eyes Yoona as Soo Young helped Tae Yeon to serve breakfast. “Sorry I scared you, oppa.”

Everyone was seated around the glass dining table having breakfast.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack and you can still giggle,” he said, tickling the girl sitting on his right. “Anyway, it was my fault– OW!”

“AH!” Soo Young screamed when she saw what happened. “OPPA!”

“That’s for calling me a naggy old woman last night.” Tae Yeon had used his bowl to knock him hard on the head before she set it down in front of him.

He nearly got hit another time when he thought of calling her something else. Soo Young on the other hand was worried sick, frantically rubbing his head to make sure her precious oppa wasn’t hurt.

“As I was saying,” he thanked Soo Young for being a sweet girl and told her to go back to helping Tae Yeon. “It’s your oppa’s own fault for sleeping in your bed, so don’t worry about it.”

“Probably slept there on purpose to take advantage of our Yoona…” Yuri whispered to Jessica, both of them seated opposite of Ixion.

It was usual for them to come over and have breakfast together.

“Talk less and help arrange the plates,” Tae Yeon knocked Yuri gently on the head before placing her bowl down.

“Unnie, why did you come over so late at night and how did you get into the house in the first place?” Seo Hyun asked.

She was seated beside Yoona, thanking Soo Young when the girl scooped rice into her bowl.

“Oppa gave me an entry card for the gate and the key to the front door when I came over for the party the other day,” she explained. “He said I should treat his house like my second home. So since my filming ended really late last night and I was nearer to oppa’s house, I thought I’d stay over for the night.”

“Oh…”

Once everyone had their rice bowls filled and all of the dishes were lay out, Soo Young and Tae Yeon sat down. And this was when it got a little bit interesting for Seo Hyun who never had breakfast with them before. The moment Tae Yeon and Soo Young sat down, everyone stopped talking all of a sudden.

First, Ixy oppa, Stephanie unnie and Jessica unnie said grace but when they were done, everyone was still silent, though their expressions weren’t stern or serious – just normal.

“Jalmuke-“ Tae Yeon unnie placed her hand over hers and gestured for her to stay quiet for a little while longer.

It was good manners to say “Jalmukesumneda” (I will eat well) before you started eating. And Seo Hyun thought it was the time for that since there weren’t any elder to wait for – if there was one, you’d have to wait for him or her to eat first. And apparently that particular rule still applied, but she was surprised when she saw that it wasn’t Tae Yeon unnie who lifted her chopstick to eat first. Instead, she saw Stephanie unnie helping Ixy oppa to get a slice of grilled fish. Then, while he was chewing, everyone else waited for Tae Yeon unnie to help herself, but still no one started eating after she placed the food into her mouth.

“Eat,” Ixy oppa then said.

And finally everyone else – including Tae Yeon unnie – went, “Jalmukesumneda. (I will eat well.)”

“Family tradition,” Yoona unnie whispered to her with a grin.

Then it got noisy again.

“We’ll find a day to go shop for more furniture,” Yoona heard her oppa said as she helped guide his hand to the vegetables. It was much easier for her to just bring the food to him but all of them knew that he didn’t enjoyed being served all the time. “All of you.”

Seo Hyun looked down at her bowl and ate quietly.

“Including you, maknae, (youngest)” he then added. “I left your set of entry card and key on your bed. Feel free to decorate the room however you want with Yoona. If you want your walls to be repainted, let me know. Same goes for the two of you.”

He was referring to Tiffany and Tae Yeon, though he was quite sure they were satisfied with their wall colour.

Seo Hyun started beaming but was surprised to see everyone else just smiling silently like they didn’t want him to know that they cared or appreciated it at all. It was just another ‘family tradition’. As much as everyone – well, maybe except Tiffany, Yoona and Seo Hyun – enjoyed teasing and bullying Ixion, all of them appreciated him very much and respected him very much too. But it just wasn’t their nature to express it out loud directly to him.

“Then what about us?” Jessica said, though she knew without a doubt that he already had plans for her and Yuri. “Why do Tae Yeon and Tiffany get their own room? And why does yours have a toilet?”

“I’m not running a shelter here. Tae Yeon is the oldest so it’s only natural she gets her own room, plus she’s sharing it with Soo Young right now. Tiffany, unlike all of you, actually lives here and for the last time, I OWN THE HOUSE!” The last part no one seemed to register in their heads. “If the both of you ever come to stay over, you can share rooms with Tiffany or Tae Yeon–”

A chair skidded and utensils were dropped.

“–I corr Jeheekah!” Tiffany spewed minced meat from her mouth – a few bits got into Ixion’s bowl but no one said anything – when she burst out all of a sudden, arm raised and on her feet. She quickly chewed, swallowed and said again, “I call Jessica!”

“What the hell?” Yuri exclaimed. “You can’t ‘call’ Jeshika!”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s already mine,” Yuri said, intentionally taunting Tiffany by hugging Jessica who just wanted to have her breakfast in peace.

The two girls started quarrelling over who got to share room with Jessica – who happened to be sitting between the two of them – when she stayed over. It didn’t help when Tae Yeon started pretending to be sad and all jealous that Tiffany didn’t want her anymore. They were so engrossed that Tiffany only glanced at Ixion when Yoona tried to feed him with her super-large spoon. The poor guy nearly choked to an early grave.

“Seriously, why do you eat with a serving spoon?”

“It’s not a serving spoon!” Yoona said. It wasn’t, but the amount of rice she scoop with it was equivalent to that of a serving spoon. “It’s just a little bigger than most spoons.”

“I can only imagine how you fit that thing into your mouth.” He scooped a spoonful of rice and kimchi. “Open.”

Tiffany turned to him for a second to let him feed her before she went back to arguing with Yuri while trying to console Tae Yeon at the same time.

“They’re not lesbians,” Yoona told Seo Hyun when the maknae was watching them fight. “Just crazy about each other.”

Seo Hyun looked at her unnie and asked, “What’s a lesbian?”

Yoona looked at her best friend, thinking that she was joking before she realized that the girl was for real. She hugged her friend and starting saying how innocent she was.

Seo Hyun was just plain lost.

“So, what are you girls doing today?” Ixion asked.

“Tae Yeon and I are taking Seo Hyun to the studio because she wanted to see what it’s like to be a SM artist,” Tiffany explained. “Who knows, maybe we might even get to collaborate with her!”

“We’re gonna catch a movie later,” said Jessica referring to her and Yuri.

Yuri nodded along, guessing from the word ‘movie’ that Jessica had told him where they were going.

Yoona paused to think for a moment before she start counting off.

“I have a radio interview later, then three news interviews and four magazine interviews in the afternoon, and after that one more radio interview and two more radio recordings and the rest of the day is for filming… … Why is everyone staring at me?”

They all shook their heads and went back to eating their food while Ixion simply patted her on the head, amazed at how strong the girl was to have such a crazy schedule, before he too went back to his food without saying a word.

“Which means I’ll be spending the day alone with–“

“AISH, SOO YOUNG, AH!” Tae Yeon suddenly shouted. “STOP TAKING FOOD FROM MY BOWL!”

Soo Young began to whimper, frightened by her sudden outburst.

Everyone started going, “Oh… you made her–“

“–OH SHUT UP!” Tae Yeon punched down on the table.

Everyone became dead silent and dropped their gaze down to their bowls

Everyone, except Soo Young who started to cry.

- Chapter 20 (Memories)