Seventy-Six

"Here. Here." I pointed towards the easily missable right turn on the main road. "I remember it now." I put down my phone on which I was using maps to navigate.

"You're sure? It'll be hard to back out of there later." Changmin slowly turned the car into that road.

"Hyung, trust me. There's plenty of space inside the compound. Only the approach road is narrow." I informed him, confident about my recollection.

"Okay. Okay." He chuckled. "How many times have you been here?"

"Just once. That was nearly four years ago." I replied, then motioned towards the open black gates and unbuckled my seat belt. "This is it."

"Alright." He turned into the house's compound and looked around. "Wow. This is big."

"Told you. They own a shop which is on the other side of the house, facing the main road. The supplies get loaded here. Jaehyeon Hyung had told us that it's ancestral property."

"I see." He pulled up under a tree and killed the ignition, undoing his seat belt as well. "Let's go. I won't stay for too long."

I pursed my lips and gave him a sad look. "Do you really want to go?"

He stared at me and then pinched my nose. "No, but I have to go."

"Fine…" I drawled, reached to the backseat and picked up my jacket. Opening the door, I stepped out into the afternoon warmth. We had driven slow but three hours and forty minutes had gone by so fast with all the singing and talking that my body did not even need the stretching. I was dancing along in the passenger seat anyway. Changmin probably needed it more than I did.

"Jeongwoo-ya!" The cry from across the yard surprised me. Both Changmin and I looked up to find Jaehyeon standing on the balcony overlooking the compound with Seulbi sitting on his left arm, clinging to his neck, and Hanseol standing next to him.

"Hyung! Hanseol-ah!" I waved back as Changmin clicked his tongue and opened the boot of the Tucson.

"Sunbae too." Jaehyeon motioned down to the entrance of the house. "Come in. I'm coming down."

"Okay." I called back in response and then turned to Changmin as he got my luggage out. "Hanseol's already here."

"What about the other two?" He asked, shut the boot and locked the car.

"Should be here soon." I answered. "Mingyu flew down and should be in the cab by now."

"I'll stay to meet them if they won't get too late." Changmin said and slung my backpack over his shoulder while I picked up my suitcases. Placing a hand on my lower back, he walked beside me towards the open front door. I remembered it being like this the previous time that I had visited too- the open front door. They were a very warm and welcoming family.

By the time that we had gotten to the door, Jaehyeon, carrying Seulbi, and Hanseol had already reached there. I dropped my luggage just in time to be enveloped in a tight half-hug. "It's been so long!"

"Ah." I laughed, especially on seeing Hanseol roll his eyes. "It's been a while." A week.

"You both look refreshed. Thanks for bringing him here in one piece, Changmin Sunbae." Jaehyeon smiled.

"Of course." Changmin gave him a strained smile. Knowing Jaehyeon, though, it was probably because Changmin reacted like that that he had taken to teasing us.

"Come in." Jaehyeon let go of me with a smile of content and showed us in. "Do you want to take your luggage up now? You could leave it by the stairs otherwise. We'll take it when we go upstairs."

"I'll take it up now." I said. "I don't want to just leave it lying around." Before all that, however, now that I could finally divert my attention to her, I turned to Han Seulbi. "Hey there, little one! Do you remember me?" Well, of course not but I wasn't trying to make conversation with her. "Seulbi-ya~"

She moved away from me and leaned against Jaehyeon's shoulder, her big brown eyes still watching me. I was careful not to get too close to her. I didn't want to scare her. So, I settled for smiling at her after that.

"She's usually not too shy but I guess three new faces all together was too much for her to handle." Jaehyeon said. "Give her some time. She'll warm up to you soon."

"I'm looking forward to that."

"Cute." Changmin commented.

"Right?" I looked at him. She was absolutely adorable with those big brown eyes and full cheeks!

Changmin did not say anything more, just smirked, keeping his eyes on me. I paused for a moment.

… Had he meant me?

"We'll take this upstairs then." Jaehyeon picked up my suitcase before I could stop him and began making his way up the stairs. "You're sharing a room with Seulbi and I."

"Okay." I quickly followed after him, empty-handed. Changmin came up behind me with my backpack and Hanseol was close behind him.

Jaehyeon led us straight to the room on the left side, down the corridor at the top of the stairs. Setting my suitcase down, he looked at Changmin. "You can leave that anywhere, Sunbae."

"Alright." Changmin set it down on the table near him.

I smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. Both of you." I felt useless and a little bad for having made them carry my stuff.

"Don't mention it." Jaehyeon smiled. "Now, would you both like anything to drink? There's juice in the fridge." He made his way out of the room.

"Juice would be nice." I replied as the rest of us trailed after him, then I addressed Hanseol. "When did you reach?"

"Just about half an hour before you." He replied. "I would have come in earlier but I took a wrong turn."

"Oh. Coming to think about it, this is your first time here, right?" I recalled that he had not been able to join us the previous time because of an individual schedule.

"Yes."

"I had offered to pick him up from the station but he insisted on coming on his own." Jaehyeon said. "Had his fair share of adventure already too."

That sounded like a very Hanseol-like thing to happen too.

"Oh. Is that Choi Jeongwoo?" A female voice said as we descended the stairs. "Oh, you've grown!"

"Noona, it's been so long!" I grinned at Jaehyeon's elder sister. I was bound to have physically grown considering that the last time she had met me in person, we had just debuted. "You look healthy too. And Seulbi… Jaehyeon Hyung had been going on about her since she was born and now, I finally got to meet her."

She rolled her eyes at that. She resembled Jaehyeon in a lot of ways. They even had the same eyes. Her long black hair had been done up in a bun atop her head. "Don't be surprised if he brings her back with him to your dorm. He's charmed her so much that she doesn't even want me anymore."

"'Charmed'?" Jaehyeon chuckled bitterly. "Noona, Seulbi's my precious little niece. Don't talk like she's one of those fans."

"Hyeon-ah, please." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You are responsible for her now."

"Wha-"

"Jeongwoo, mother's in the kitchen. She couldn't come to see you because she's elbow-deep in Kimchi right now. Father's in the shop." She told me. "And… you must be Lee Changmin-ssi, right?"

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you." Changmin bowed, his professional smile on his face.

"Han Juyoung." She smiled pleasantly and introduced herself. "I'm sorry but I lost track of all the bands after a point. 04:00 am, correct? Hyeon-ah has told me about you too. You're sure you aren't staying? You don't have to worry about being a burden on us or anything. We're only happy to have more people around."

"Thank you but I have a little sister waiting at home too. I will have to leave soon." Changmin answered.

"I see." She smiled and turned to Jaehyeon. "Learn from him."

Jaehyeon just frowned at her as she told us to make ourselves comfortable and went off into the room nearby.

"It's nice to see you getting bossed around like this." Hanseol finally let out the laugh that he had been politely holding back.

"Quiet." Jaehyeon hissed at him, then caught my arm. "You can go show your face to Mother too. She had asked about you."

He was merely running away.

Yeojun and Mingyu arrived within the next hour. We were planning on having lunch after everyone arrived. Even though Jaehyeon's mother also insisted on Changmin's staying and even though I was secretly hoping in some corner of my heart for him to stay, he declined again, agreeing to stay just five minutes longer after which he announced that he was leaving.

The five of us stepped out of the house with Seulbi to see him off. She was the first person he gave his attention to. She had warmed up to us over lunch and so, she allowed him to hold her hand as he sweetly said goodbye to her. He then stood up straight and addressed Jaehyeon "Thank you for the hospitality."

"Hah… No thank you for winning my sister over too." He chuckled.

'Too'?

Changmin just laughed it off. "The rest of you too, enjoy your break. I'll see you in three weeks' time." He had even gotten friendly enough with our Maknae to ruffle up his hair.

"Thank you, Sunbae. You too. Get good rest. It was nice to see you here." Mingyu said.

"Travel safe." Hanseol added.

"Thank you." Changmin nodded and then turned to me. "I'll text you once I'm home. I'll see you."

"Okay." I would have probably felt a little better if I could have at least kissed him goodbye. I had to settle for a hug that he returned whole-heartedly. "Go safely. Convey my regards to everyone at home too."

"Mm. You too. Take care, Jeongwoo-ya."

I did not want to let go.

"Yup." I let go.

He gave all of us a smile again before going to the Tucson, getting in and driving out the gates.

Now I felt sad.

"Okay. Let's go in!" Jaehyeon threw an arm around my neck from behind and turned us towards the house. Since we were walking ahead of the other three, he took the chance to tell me, "You'll see him soon enough. Don't worry."

I returned a smile. "Ah."