The Violin and the Flute

My walk through the cemetery was still themed by Blue Tomorrow. For some reason that song just sounds so nice right now. Occasionally, when it was appropriate with the music, I would do a little twirl like a ballerina. I paused when I reached the gate of the cemetery again. I turned and stared up at the sign. After a moment I smiled and bowed respectfully.
I then turned and continued on my way back to the mansion on a farm. (M.O.A.F.) I love nicknames. If you didn’t know, I nicknamed all of my group. I even gave nicknames to Super Junior. Well, before I learned what their real names were I had to try to identify who they were, and the names just stuck.
The walk from the cemetery gate to the driveway of the mansion only took 5 minutes. I saw the other bus was already there. Oh boy. I skipped the rest of the way up to the front door. I slid my headphones down without turning down the volume so I could still listen. I opened the door and was greeted by many, many eyes staring at me.
I stood there, in the door way, staring at the-let me count-7---14----20----24 eyes staring at me. I blinked at them. They blinked back. I scanned the eye balls until I found the ever so familiar ones that had been glaring at me only an hour before. I grinned and ran up to the body that was attached to the eyes.
“MOMMY! I’M BACK!” I exclaimed as I clutched her center. My sudden outburst woke her from her trance and caused her to hug me back but then, unfortunately for me, pull back stare warningly. I blinked and purposefully ignored the other people in the room.
“Rini.” She whispered in a warning voice.
“Yes?” I asked in my blissfully ignorant voice. She raised an eye brow at me, and then turned me around to face the 8 people I had yet to physically meet. I blinked at them. OH! HEY! I know them! Well, I know 7 of them. The other guy looks kind of like Jongmin. I let my grin take over my face as I waved at “leader.” (Yes I will explain all of my nicknames for them. Later.) He stared at my happy expression, then waved back half heartedly.
“Sorry guys. This is Reun Lee or Rini as she likes to be called. Sorry if her excited attitude scares you. I’m not sure why she’s so hyper all of a sudden.” Mommy’s voice made me stop waving, and then turn around to face her, while still grinning wildly.
“Two words. COSTA. COFFEE!” I exclaimed happily. Her eyes widened and I heard Suzie groan. “Can you believe they have Costa Coffee? That is so random! In the middle of nowhere!” Mommy slapped her forehead in embarrassment. Suzie came over to me and laughed, she was trying to cover up my randomness. It’s not my fault that I’m hyper. I blame my brother and the coffee.
“Ignore her. Next time we just need to remember not to let her wonder off by herself.” She turned and glanced pointedly at Mommy. I watched Mommy look up at her and frown.
“Why are you mad at me?” Suzie scoffed and crossed her arms.
“Because, you are the one who let her wonder around.” Mommy frowned even more and shook her head. I glanced at Mimi to see her with her face in her hand trying to hide from embarrassment. I also glanced at the guys who were staring at us, trying to figure out what was going on. I smiled at them.
“Sorry. Me being hyper is not normal-not really. Normally I’m quiet. My hyper is annoying them. Sorry.” I whispered bowing slightly. Mommy and Suzie stopped glaring at each other when I spoke. “And by the way, Hi.” I said waving a bit, but much less enthusiastic this time. Most of the guys kept on blinking at me, but one of them, bow tie, smiled at me.
“That’s alright; we have to deal with Donghae. Every day. We haven’t introduced ourselves to you yet. I’m Kyuhyun.” I smiled at him. By the time he introduced himself, the others had stopped their constant blinking and introduced themselves as well.
“Sorry. I’m Hangeng.” Leader spoke. Yes, you get to know what their names are.
“Siwon.” Slant-y brows said with a smile and a small bow.
“Hello! I’m Donghae.” Flirt grinned and waved much like I did.
“Zhou Mi.” Razor cut smiled. His nose makes me smile. Yes I am quite aware of my randomness. I’m hyper. It’s what happens when I think of sad things. The point!
“Ryeowook.” High-pitch/Spanish man spoke in a soft voice, but was still loud enough to hear. I turned to look at the last member because he hadn’t said anything yet. He didn’t say anything for a while. I smiled at him and waited patiently for him to speak. He seemed nervous for some reason. Poor li’l Violin.
“H-Henry.” He whispered. Boy he better be glad that I have good hearing or else I wouldn’t have heard that. Some of the guys glanced at their younger member in slight concern, but then faced forward again. I grinned at them.
“Thanks for introducing yourselves, but I already know who you guys are so…yah.” This time when I spoke I was much more calm and pretty mellow. I realized after I spoke that there was a long pause. I glanced around confused. Why was it so quiet? I turned around to look at Mommy, who turned to look at Dongmin, who I just noticed was still in the room. He cleared his throat and all attention was turned to him.
“Well, then, now that we are all acquainted, why don’t- hum? Yes Rini-ssi?” I had raised my hand and waited patiently.
“What about your other nephew?” I asked innocently. Realization struck his face and he smiled at me.
“Oh yes. Tongmin. Well, now that we are all familiar with each other, why don’t we have some supper yes?” I grinned and nodded and skipped merrily towards him. I stopped when I was at his side to wait for everyone else to shuffle towards us.
The dining room had an elegant feel without being too expensive looking. The table was huge, like most of the house I think, and luckily fit all 14 people that were currently in the room. The seating arrangement can only be described in a list, so…
At the head of the table was Dongmin, to his left was Tongmin, and to his right was Jongmin. After Jongmin, the order was as follows.
Suzie, Mimi, me, Mommy, Slant-y brows, and Leader at the other end of the table. On the other side of him were Razor Cut, Violin, Flirt, Bow Tie, High Pitch, and then Tongmin. You know, I’ll say that one more time, but this time using real names.
Staring from Jongmin, Chan-Souk, Eun-mi, “Reun,” Sang-hee, Siwon, Hangeng, Zhou Mi, Henry, Donghae, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and then Tongmin. Was that better? Don’t worry, you’ll learn their names. I noticed that I was sitting across from Donghae. He is the “hyper” one of the group.
Dinner was silent. There was an air of awkwardness that no one seemed to know what to do about. The food was simple fried rice with various meats. I only ate 4 bites of rice before the silence was too much. Even with my music softly playing from the headphones on my neck. I let out a silent sigh and turned my music down slightly more.
I glanced around to make sure no one was looking. The three owners looked as though they were enjoying the silence. However, everyone else was just too occupied with their food. Then I looked at Donghae across from me. He was jittery and seemed to like the silence as much as I did. I grinned as an idea formed in my head.
I extended my leg as far as it would go and managed to brush his knee. He froze, and then glanced around until he met my eyes. I smiled and pointed under the table. His face showed confusion as I disappeared under the table. A few seconds later, his legs were replaced with his face, still confused. I grinned. I held my index finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet. He blinked, and then nodded unsurely.
“This is boring.” I whispered while grinning. He shuffled around so now he was sitting cross legged in front of me with his arms crossed. He nodded in agreement. I continued grinning. “Let’s make it more interesting shall we?” he raised an eye brow. Yes it was dark under the table, but there was plenty of lights in the room give us enough light to see.
“How do you do that?” my grin flashed into something that could resemble an evil smirk, but then quickly returned to my happy grin. I held my finger to my lips again and shuffled behind him. I pointed to myself, then his chair, then him, then my chair. It took him a minute, but then he grinned wildly and nodded. I pulled myself up on his chair and saw him appear in my chair.
Part one of get rid of the awkward silence: complete. On to part two.
I made eye contact with Donghae and winked. He grinned and winked back then began eating his-previously my-food. I was still hungry, so I began eating as well. The anticipation of the groups’ reactions made the silence more bearable for me. I made sure to count, one minute, two minutes….8 full minutes 45 seconds later someone finally noticed.
“Wah!” Came a cry from my left followed by the sound of a chair falling backwards and a body flipping over. I only had time to see shoes fly past and tumble backwards. I hid my grin and plastered on a clueless expression as I turned around to see Henry laying in a heap beside his chair. I heard some of the other gasp, while others made a confused sound. I tilted my head to the side as Henry sat up and stared at me bewildered.
“What’s wrong Henry-oppa?” I asked using very formal Korean that made me seem even more innocent. Henry blinked at me as though he were trying to decipher what I had said. He furrowed his eye brows and let his jaw hang open slightly. I blinked innocently again. At that moment a loud hearty laugh erupted from across the table. I turned and saw that Donghae was clutching his sides.
Mommy and Mimi both stared at him in shock and confusion. Suzie was looking back and forth between Donghae and me suspiciously. Zhou Mi, Hangeng, and Siwon were staring at Henry worriedly, completely ignoring the fact that Donghae and I had switched places. Ryeowook looked around like a deer in the head lights, and then stared at Henry with concern. Kyuhyun glanced at everyone, stared at Donghae cackling away, and then chuckled.
Dongmin, Tongmin and Jongmin stopped eating as well to watch the scene before them. When I met Dongmin’s eye I grinned and he let out a laugh. Whoever wasn’t already laughing stared at those who were, trying to figure out what was happening. I grinned and turned back to Henry who had yet to get up from the floor.
“Are you alright?” I asked innocently. He stared at me again, then shook his head and sat the chair up. “Something surprise you Henry-oppa?” I asked while blinking. He sat back down in the chair and again tried to “decipher” my language. I tilted my head and smiled sweetly. He stared at me confused.
“Henli. You are alright?” that was mandarin, from Hangeng. Oh right, Korean isn’t Henry’s first language. He probably was trying to decipher what I was saying. Donghae, Dongmin and Kyuhyun had now stopped laughing, since it didn’t help, and were all staring at Henry, like everyone else. I noticed he was uncomfortable under all of the stares.
I glanced around the table. Zhou Mi, Hangeng and Siwon were trying to figure out what was wrong with Henry. Mommy and Mimi were eyeing me suspiciously. Suzie was watching me carefully. Donghae was still smiling, but seemed slightly concerned about Henry. The three owners where glancing around with a shared smile like they knew something no one else did. Ryeowook and Kyuhyun were glancing at each other, and then turned to stare at me and Henry. When I looked back at Henry I saw he was trying to hid. I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable; I just wanted to get rid of the awkward. I poked his shoulder and almost smiled when he jumped and blinked at me like a lost animal.
“Sorry. I do not like quiet. I like talk and funny.” I said in my weird little mandarin. Henry still stared at me, but this time seemed to understand more easily what I was saying. The side of his mouth twitched upward into a small smile. I turned to look and Mommy who was giving me the “explain what you’ve done now” look. I smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry. I couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore. I saw Donghae looking jumpy so I made him switch places with me to see what would happen. I didn’t mean to make Henry fall.” I paused and gave everyone a very guilty look. I looked down at my lap for a second. Then looked up at Donghae to see him grinning slightly. This caused me to grin as well. “But come on. It was funny wasn’t it?” I asked glancing around.
“It was indeed.” Dongmin commented, catching everyone’s attention. “It was very nice what you did to overcome the silence, but next time, why not just strike up a conversation?” my grin fell slightly, but then returned full force. I turned to Donghae.
“Hey, didn’t you fall out of your chair at one point or another?” Donghae began laughing at himself.
“Yeah, but it was funnier when Ryeowook fell walking up stairs.” This caused everyone on chuckle, or giggle. Ryeowook blushed and looked embarrassed. Suzie giggled extra loudly then added her own comment.
“Tripping while walking up stairs takes skill though.” Mommy scoffed jokingly.
“You only say that because you always fall going up stairs.” Another round of laughter. Suzie pouted, but laughed anyway.
Mission to get rid of awkward silence: SUCCESS!