ch. 36

"lost in the maze, in the darkness."

-love maze

"noona, why are hyung's and your clothes dirty?"

kyong has recently woke up from his mid-afternoon nap after eunbi has finished preparing dinner and placed the batch of snickerdoodle cookies into the oven. wooyoung stands beside her just in case she burns herself from the touch of the metal.

the female approaches the sleepy boy and crouches to his height, a sweet smile pulling on her lips. "noona and hyung were cooking dinner for you. are you hungry? you must be hungry after that long nap."

he responds with a small nod, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a pout. everyone melts at his cuteness and mingi walks over to him to pinch his little red cheeks.

"oh my god, he doesn't hate me anymore!" the older male beams as he jumps with joy.

jongho rolls his eyes at his hyung's immature behavior. "it's probably because eunbi-noona is here; he's always quiet and polite like this whenever she's around."

"now then, noona will prepare dinner for you. go wash your face and hands, okay?" she ruffles the little boy's hair before the both of them depart to do their given tasks.

the girl grabs a pile of plates from the cabinet and settles them on the kitchen island. taking the tongs out of the noodle bowl, she proceeds to plate the food with the help of her friends since they too want to dine with the child tonight.

after setting out each plate, the boy comes out with a bright expression plastered on his face. he does a little dance when he smells the scent of japchae, one of his favorite foods. with the help of seonghwa, he manages to seat himself in his chair booster.

all the boys settle themselves into their chosen seats after setting the table and obtaining all the plates full of food. clapping their hands together, they thank eunbi for the food and begin enjoying her creation, a chorus of hums resonating in the dining room.

dinner starts off being noisy and loud as kyong's laughter can be heard throughout the house, brightening up the atmosphere. the older males do their best to make the little one smile through their stupid actions, and surprisingly are succeeding in this mission. san and mingi wrap noodles around their faces as hongjoong and wooyoung make funny faces. yeosang and seonghwa continue eating without disturbing the fun.

the child's loud voice then dies out after noticing a missing person. "where's eunbi-noona?"

before anyone could stand up and retrieve her, the female enters the room with a tray of snickerdoodle cookies in her hands.

the chaos comes to a stop and everyone looks at her seat, empty with an untouched dish in front of it. looking at their plates, they notice how they already finished their food before enjoying it with her.

"i got a fresh batch of these sweet delights!" she exclaims while laying the tray in the middle of the dining table. "kyong, go put your dirty dishes into the sink and wash your hands."

the little boy obediently gets off his seat and grabs his dirty plate, so he could put them into the sink as his babysitter has told him too. once he leaves the room, the group nervously glances at their female friend, feeling guilty for leaving her to eat dinner alone. eunbi sighs since she already expected this outcome and flashes them a smile.

"it's okay guys," she says, breaking the silence. "i didn't say anything about watching the cookies, so it's partially my fault for this."

"we should have waited for you though," seonghwa speaks up with a small frown. "we feel bad that you will be eating dinner while we eat dessert."

she sighs. "it's fine. what's done is done."

someone re-enters the area, walking as loudly as possible to get everyone's attention. "noona! i washed my hands!"

"ah. good job kyong!"

she looks over to her side to see the little boy jumping with excitement at the thought of devouring some of her delicious baked goodies. picking him up, she settles him into his seat and hands him a cookie.

by nudging her chin toward the sink, she manages to get the rest of the boys to put their dishes into the sink and wash their hands. she plops her bottom into her chair and grabs her chopsticks so she can enjoy her cooking.

but before she does, she takes a glimpse of the person before.

it seems like san has not finished his dish yet since his plate was still half-filled.

"san-ah, how are you not finished yet?" she asks.

he looks up from his food and makes eye contact with her, a forced smile making its way to his lips. "uh, i'm just a slow eater that's all."

he shoves a handful of noodles into his mouth, his jaw moving up and down. his eyes drift from hers and lands on one of the paintings mrs. choi has hung up in the room.

eunbi knows he is lying about being a slow eater because he always finishes his food before her during lunch. he is usually one of the first ones out of their friend group to have an empty plate and makes fun of everyone for being slow.

she smiles.

he must have waited for her without anyone knowing.

"thank you," she whispers under her breath, making sure it was audible for only the red-black haired male before taking in a few strands of noodles.

eventually, everyone has their stomachs filled with the girl's amazing cooking and cleans up the dining table. excluding eunbi and kyong, the rest of the boys play a rock-paper-scissors to decide on the person who would wash the dishes, resulting in yeosang.

the whole group meets up in the living and plays multiple games, filling the night with their chaos and loudness, until the child starts getting tired. shouting rings in their ears, cards fly in the air, and lips curve into grins.

a yawn escapes from the boy's mouth, meaning that it is time to get ready to leave the household. the female carries kyong to his bedroom, where she would be tucking him for the night, as the remaining males clean up the games that were lingering on the floor.

after tidying up the place, the time to bid goodbye has come. jongho, being the first, embraces eunbi, which surprises her since he is not a fan of showing affection.

"thank you for today," he says. "you saved my life."

she pats his back, signaling to let her go. "you're welcome, little apple. if he ever starts stirring up trouble again, just give me a call."

leaning in closer, her mouth hovers a few inches away from his ear so only he can hear her. "and about earlier, i'll tell you the next time i come over."

with a nod, they both back away from each other and begin to say goodbye to everyone else before exiting jongho's house. the guys head to yunho's car while eunbi walks to the black van, where her brother waits for her.

once she enters the vehicle, she is welcomed with a peck on her forehead by jimin and responds with pinching his squishy cheeks. the siblings then recline into their seats after greeting each other and begin their way home, turning up some of their relatives' music to entertain them.

bopping her head to "on," the girl rests her arm on the side of the door and looks out the window. the lights brighten the darkness of the city as the cars liven the boring streets, people's chattering filling up the silence.

her phone's screen lights up suddenly, so she picks it up to see the notification.

10:45pm

woo-hoo:goodnight princess, i hopeyou sleep well tonight :)

not wanting to be rude, she replies to wooyoung with a simple text before she settles her phone back into the cup holder. the bothersome feeling from this morning returns to her once again and a frown makes its way to the surface. she tries to divert her attention by singing to the music and talking to her brother, but it never leaves her alone.

guilt.

that is what she is feeling.