Is She Yours?
one
Lee Donghae got up from his bed at approximately 8:30 am one morning, hair messy and eyelids heavy. He couldn't remember if he had a dream or not, but, thankfully, he had a good sleep. He needed just as much to get him through a whole day full of exhausting dance and singing practice, and acting lessons. He looked over at his still sleeping roommate, Kim Ryeowook and sighed, wondering what the youngest member in their dorm at the moment could be dreaming of.
At that moment, his handphone started vibrating violently beside his pillow. He picked it up and answered the early-morning call.
"Hello?" His voice was deep and raspy, as it always is so early in the morning.
"Yah, Donghae-yah! Come outside, I need a favor to ask from you."
Donghae frowned in confusion and checked the caller ID. Unknown number.
"Sorry, but... who's this?"
"You brat, what do you mean who's this? It's noona! Come down."
As soon as the call was ended, he already knew who was on the other line. That crazy noona cousin of his who, apparently, had no sense of morning etiquette. Honestly, how could someone's voice be so loud and reprimanding so early in the morning?
He made his way out of the dorm, still in his pajamas and wife-beater top. And as he made his way down using the elevator, he ran his schedule in his head again, making sure that he hadn't forgotten any. It would just ruin his day if their casting noona got mad at him today too.
He left the elevator and made his way out of the building, spotting the silver van his cousin noona, apparently, could not let go of.
"Noona, annyeonghaseyo," he greeted, bowing his head and covering his eyes from the sunlight.
"Wah, look at you, Hae-Hae! You've grown up so much since the last time I saw you! Come here, let noona give you a hug!"
And just when she was about to pull him in, he backed away with a frown. "Ei, noona, don't. Why did you call me down, anyway?"
"Okay, okay, I get it. You're too old now. Anyway, the favor I wanted to ask is...," she paused for a while to open the car door. "I have to be away for a couple of weeks abroad, and it's work related so I can't bring Eunhee along." As she spoke, she carried out a little girl from the car and put her down.
"I was hoping you could look after her for now."
Donghae looked down at the little girl who stared back at him. She looked back up at her mother with an unsure look.
"Ah, noona, you know I'm busy. I can't look after her while I have practice."
"Come on, Donghae-yah. Didn't you always say that you wanted to be an appa? Besides, you know that you're the only cousin I have that isn't mad at me for having Eunhee. I can't trust her with anyone else. Please, Donghae?"
He sighed and squat down in front of the little girl. He waited until she looked back at him, and when she did, he gave her a soft smile.
"Agashi*, how old are you?"
The little child looked hesitant at first but then held up her hand, five tiny fingers spread out.
"You want to stay with Donghae and the other oppa*'s while your mom makes some money?"
The little girl looked up at her mom who only smiled at her. She then looked back at the future idol in front of her and nodded lightly.
x
"That's Leeteuk oppa, Yesung oppa, Sungmin oppa, Eunhyuk oppa, and Ryeowook oppa. Let's greet them, Eunhee-yah."
The little girl looked up at the smiling faces of the boys and bowed her head.
"Aigo, that's a good girl," Donghae praised her, stroking her hair gently.
"Yah, Lee Donghae, how do you expect to take care of a little girl if you can't even take care of yourself? We have practice in an hour, your bed is messy and you haven't even bathed yet," the oldest hyung* in the dorm, Leeteuk, although with a very light tone of voice, reprimanded him.
"I was hoping hyungs would help me take care of her. No one else could look after her in my family. I can... I can bring her to practice. I'll ask manager hyung. She doesn't look like she'd cause much chaos. She hasn't even said anything since I first met her. Please, hyung?" he pleaded.
"It'll be okay Teukie hyung, there're a lot of us anyway. We can handle her." Yesung bent down and picked up the little girl.
"Eunhee-yah, annyeong. You're hungry, aren't you? You want to eat breakfast with Yesung oppa?"
The little girl smiled and nodded her head happily.
"How about the rest of you, are you okay with the little girl staying here?" Leeteuk asked the remaining housemates. They all nodded and smiled.
"Don't worry hyung. It's not like it's our beds that she's going to end up peeing in in the middle of the night. It's Donghae's."
"Eunhyukkie!"
x
Needless to say, the six aspiring-to-be fathers were more than excited, albeit a little nervous, to take care of a little girl, even at their young age - the oldest only 22 years old (in Korean years). Although their casting director was less than happy about a little girl living with a bunch of inexperienced young boys, she allowed it.
They arrived at SM Entertainment's dance studio for their practice and as soon as they went in, all eyes were on the little girl that held Donghae's hand tightly. She wasn't used to seeing so many boys in one room, and to have all of them staring at her was a little unsettling. She moved closer to Donghae and clutched at his leg.
Donghae smiled and greeted the dance teacher and the rest of the trainees in the room as well. The newly formed group Dong Bang Shin Ki, who debuted last year, was joining them for practice that day, which was a shock seeing that they had been so busy promoting themselves.
"Aigooooo, who's this cute little girl?" Yunho, the leader of the aforementioned group came closer to the little girl and squat down in front of her. "Annyeong~!" he greeted with a bright smile.
"My niece. I'm taking care of her for the next couple of weeks," Donghae answered, putting his bag down in the corner of the studio while Yunho played with Eunhee.
"Ggoma-yah*, come here, we'll watch the oppas practice okay?" Yunho took the tiny hand in his and led her over to the front of the dance studio where the mirror was so that she could get front row view of their performance. She followed quietly and sat beside Yunho, who just couldn't seem to stop touching her hair.
Ryeowook pressed play on their music player and the beginning of their H.O.T. sunbaenim's hit song Candy began to blast through the speakers. Sungmin, Leeteuk, Donghae, and Eunhyuk took their places in the middle of the studio floor and watched themselves on the mirror as they danced to the popular choreography of the song.
Eunhee's eyes lit up as they followed the 4 boys move to the song. And when she saw Eunhyuk sit down on the floor and bounce on his butt, she couldn't help but follow along.
Yunho laughed aloud as the little girl beside him bounced up and down. "Eunhee-yah, you wanna go join the oppas?"
She nodded happily in return and got up at once, running over to the still dancing Donghae. She tugged on the leg of his pants and pointed at herself. He laughed and held her wrists gently and made her arms move to the choreography as well. She laughed aloud as did everyone else who was watching her.
For the first time in a while, Donghae was having fun during practice. The long 4 hours of repeating the same routine again and again made him wonder if he actually would be able to debut alive - if he would even debut at all. They had been making the practices much harder and much more demanding than when he first entered as a trainee, fooling around like this with his friends and his niece refreshed him.
At that time, a familiar voice was heard over the loud music. The music was stopped and at the same time everyone turned to look at the door.
"I asked what was going on in here. Who's that kid? Lee Donghae, is she yours?"
The famous Lee Sooman stood before them, eyes focused on the child in front of Donghae. It was a rare occasion for the owner of the company to visit them like this. In fact, Donghae had never really seen the man before except for when he was accepted as a trainee. He had no idea how to react and what he should say.
"President, I- I- uhm, that is-"
He had always been so shy especially when put in situations like these. He could feel his palms start to sweat and his heart started to pound faster against his chest.
"Annyeohatheyo."
Everything seemed to stop for Donghae at that moment when Eunhee spoke and bowed to the President. And when he saw the slightest bit of a smile on the older man's face, it gave him a little bit of courage to finally speak again. But then again, he always did find the President quite scary.
"S-She's... my n-niece sir. M-m-my cousin asked me t-to take care o-of her while s-she's abroad." His words were soft and mumbled, each letter tripping over one another to try and get out of his mouth as fast as they can.
"Ggoma-yah, come here," Lee Sooman called the little girl with a small wave of his hand.
Eunhee hesitated for a bit before slowly walking over towards him, taking tiny steps as her tiny feet would only allow as much. As soon as she reached him, he squat down in front her so that they would be eye to eye.
At that moment, Donghae felt his whole body freeze up. If the President tells him to take her back, he would have no idea what to do, and if she cries, he still wouldn't know what to do. He then felt a warm hand on his back and when he turned his head - with much difficulty - to see who it was, Eunhyuk's small but reassuring smile calmed him down significantly.
"Are you really Donghae's niece?" the president asked the little girl.
She looked back at Donghae and then again at the president and nodded. She wasn't really sure what a niece was, but she knew that's what she was to her Donghae-oppa.
"You like your Donghae oppa taking care of you?"
She nodded again and smiled. "Donghae oppa ith like my appa! But- but Donghae oppa, oo-hyuk oppa, yethungie oppa, mingie oppa, teukie teukie eeteukie oppa, an-and ookie oppa a-are nicer than my appa. I like them."
"Arasseo*, ggoma-yah." The President stood up as he patted the little girls head and stared at the idols in the room and the hoping-to-be idols in the room. His eyes then landed on Donghae, who looked a little more calm, but still so on the edge.
"Donghae-yah, if you miss any of the practices or trainings, you can forget about debuting next year as we planned."
"Y-yes sir."
"We will make sure it won't happen, sir. We will help Donghae, and...," Leeteuk paused in the middle of his sentence and looked at Donghae, who looked back at him with such an unsure look in his eyes, and continued "if something bad happens, I will take responsibility, sir."
"Hyung!" Donghae let out, not believing what he was hearing from him. He absolutely could not let any of his mistakes jeopardize anyone's future, especially Leeteuk's, who had been caring for him ever since he had become a trainee in SM.
"I'll take your word for it, Jungsu." And with that, the President left them still bowing and bidding him goodbye.
At that moment, his handphone started vibrating violently beside his pillow. He picked it up and answered the early-morning call.
"Hello?" His voice was deep and raspy, as it always is so early in the morning.
"Yah, Donghae-yah! Come outside, I need a favor to ask from you."
Donghae frowned in confusion and checked the caller ID. Unknown number.
"Sorry, but... who's this?"
"You brat, what do you mean who's this? It's noona! Come down."
As soon as the call was ended, he already knew who was on the other line. That crazy noona cousin of his who, apparently, had no sense of morning etiquette. Honestly, how could someone's voice be so loud and reprimanding so early in the morning?
He made his way out of the dorm, still in his pajamas and wife-beater top. And as he made his way down using the elevator, he ran his schedule in his head again, making sure that he hadn't forgotten any. It would just ruin his day if their casting noona got mad at him today too.
He left the elevator and made his way out of the building, spotting the silver van his cousin noona, apparently, could not let go of.
"Noona, annyeonghaseyo," he greeted, bowing his head and covering his eyes from the sunlight.
"Wah, look at you, Hae-Hae! You've grown up so much since the last time I saw you! Come here, let noona give you a hug!"
And just when she was about to pull him in, he backed away with a frown. "Ei, noona, don't. Why did you call me down, anyway?"
"Okay, okay, I get it. You're too old now. Anyway, the favor I wanted to ask is...," she paused for a while to open the car door. "I have to be away for a couple of weeks abroad, and it's work related so I can't bring Eunhee along." As she spoke, she carried out a little girl from the car and put her down.
"I was hoping you could look after her for now."
Donghae looked down at the little girl who stared back at him. She looked back up at her mother with an unsure look.
"Ah, noona, you know I'm busy. I can't look after her while I have practice."
"Come on, Donghae-yah. Didn't you always say that you wanted to be an appa? Besides, you know that you're the only cousin I have that isn't mad at me for having Eunhee. I can't trust her with anyone else. Please, Donghae?"
He sighed and squat down in front of the little girl. He waited until she looked back at him, and when she did, he gave her a soft smile.
"Agashi*, how old are you?"
The little child looked hesitant at first but then held up her hand, five tiny fingers spread out.
"You want to stay with Donghae and the other oppa*'s while your mom makes some money?"
The little girl looked up at her mom who only smiled at her. She then looked back at the future idol in front of her and nodded lightly.
x
"That's Leeteuk oppa, Yesung oppa, Sungmin oppa, Eunhyuk oppa, and Ryeowook oppa. Let's greet them, Eunhee-yah."
The little girl looked up at the smiling faces of the boys and bowed her head.
"Aigo, that's a good girl," Donghae praised her, stroking her hair gently.
"Yah, Lee Donghae, how do you expect to take care of a little girl if you can't even take care of yourself? We have practice in an hour, your bed is messy and you haven't even bathed yet," the oldest hyung* in the dorm, Leeteuk, although with a very light tone of voice, reprimanded him.
"I was hoping hyungs would help me take care of her. No one else could look after her in my family. I can... I can bring her to practice. I'll ask manager hyung. She doesn't look like she'd cause much chaos. She hasn't even said anything since I first met her. Please, hyung?" he pleaded.
"It'll be okay Teukie hyung, there're a lot of us anyway. We can handle her." Yesung bent down and picked up the little girl.
"Eunhee-yah, annyeong. You're hungry, aren't you? You want to eat breakfast with Yesung oppa?"
The little girl smiled and nodded her head happily.
"How about the rest of you, are you okay with the little girl staying here?" Leeteuk asked the remaining housemates. They all nodded and smiled.
"Don't worry hyung. It's not like it's our beds that she's going to end up peeing in in the middle of the night. It's Donghae's."
"Eunhyukkie!"
x
Needless to say, the six aspiring-to-be fathers were more than excited, albeit a little nervous, to take care of a little girl, even at their young age - the oldest only 22 years old (in Korean years). Although their casting director was less than happy about a little girl living with a bunch of inexperienced young boys, she allowed it.
They arrived at SM Entertainment's dance studio for their practice and as soon as they went in, all eyes were on the little girl that held Donghae's hand tightly. She wasn't used to seeing so many boys in one room, and to have all of them staring at her was a little unsettling. She moved closer to Donghae and clutched at his leg.
Donghae smiled and greeted the dance teacher and the rest of the trainees in the room as well. The newly formed group Dong Bang Shin Ki, who debuted last year, was joining them for practice that day, which was a shock seeing that they had been so busy promoting themselves.
"Aigooooo, who's this cute little girl?" Yunho, the leader of the aforementioned group came closer to the little girl and squat down in front of her. "Annyeong~!" he greeted with a bright smile.
"My niece. I'm taking care of her for the next couple of weeks," Donghae answered, putting his bag down in the corner of the studio while Yunho played with Eunhee.
"Ggoma-yah*, come here, we'll watch the oppas practice okay?" Yunho took the tiny hand in his and led her over to the front of the dance studio where the mirror was so that she could get front row view of their performance. She followed quietly and sat beside Yunho, who just couldn't seem to stop touching her hair.
Ryeowook pressed play on their music player and the beginning of their H.O.T. sunbaenim's hit song Candy began to blast through the speakers. Sungmin, Leeteuk, Donghae, and Eunhyuk took their places in the middle of the studio floor and watched themselves on the mirror as they danced to the popular choreography of the song.
Eunhee's eyes lit up as they followed the 4 boys move to the song. And when she saw Eunhyuk sit down on the floor and bounce on his butt, she couldn't help but follow along.
Yunho laughed aloud as the little girl beside him bounced up and down. "Eunhee-yah, you wanna go join the oppas?"
She nodded happily in return and got up at once, running over to the still dancing Donghae. She tugged on the leg of his pants and pointed at herself. He laughed and held her wrists gently and made her arms move to the choreography as well. She laughed aloud as did everyone else who was watching her.
For the first time in a while, Donghae was having fun during practice. The long 4 hours of repeating the same routine again and again made him wonder if he actually would be able to debut alive - if he would even debut at all. They had been making the practices much harder and much more demanding than when he first entered as a trainee, fooling around like this with his friends and his niece refreshed him.
At that time, a familiar voice was heard over the loud music. The music was stopped and at the same time everyone turned to look at the door.
"I asked what was going on in here. Who's that kid? Lee Donghae, is she yours?"
The famous Lee Sooman stood before them, eyes focused on the child in front of Donghae. It was a rare occasion for the owner of the company to visit them like this. In fact, Donghae had never really seen the man before except for when he was accepted as a trainee. He had no idea how to react and what he should say.
"President, I- I- uhm, that is-"
He had always been so shy especially when put in situations like these. He could feel his palms start to sweat and his heart started to pound faster against his chest.
"Annyeohatheyo."
Everything seemed to stop for Donghae at that moment when Eunhee spoke and bowed to the President. And when he saw the slightest bit of a smile on the older man's face, it gave him a little bit of courage to finally speak again. But then again, he always did find the President quite scary.
"S-She's... my n-niece sir. M-m-my cousin asked me t-to take care o-of her while s-she's abroad." His words were soft and mumbled, each letter tripping over one another to try and get out of his mouth as fast as they can.
"Ggoma-yah, come here," Lee Sooman called the little girl with a small wave of his hand.
Eunhee hesitated for a bit before slowly walking over towards him, taking tiny steps as her tiny feet would only allow as much. As soon as she reached him, he squat down in front her so that they would be eye to eye.
At that moment, Donghae felt his whole body freeze up. If the President tells him to take her back, he would have no idea what to do, and if she cries, he still wouldn't know what to do. He then felt a warm hand on his back and when he turned his head - with much difficulty - to see who it was, Eunhyuk's small but reassuring smile calmed him down significantly.
"Are you really Donghae's niece?" the president asked the little girl.
She looked back at Donghae and then again at the president and nodded. She wasn't really sure what a niece was, but she knew that's what she was to her Donghae-oppa.
"You like your Donghae oppa taking care of you?"
She nodded again and smiled. "Donghae oppa ith like my appa! But- but Donghae oppa, oo-hyuk oppa, yethungie oppa, mingie oppa, teukie teukie eeteukie oppa, an-and ookie oppa a-are nicer than my appa. I like them."
"Arasseo*, ggoma-yah." The President stood up as he patted the little girls head and stared at the idols in the room and the hoping-to-be idols in the room. His eyes then landed on Donghae, who looked a little more calm, but still so on the edge.
"Donghae-yah, if you miss any of the practices or trainings, you can forget about debuting next year as we planned."
"Y-yes sir."
"We will make sure it won't happen, sir. We will help Donghae, and...," Leeteuk paused in the middle of his sentence and looked at Donghae, who looked back at him with such an unsure look in his eyes, and continued "if something bad happens, I will take responsibility, sir."
"Hyung!" Donghae let out, not believing what he was hearing from him. He absolutely could not let any of his mistakes jeopardize anyone's future, especially Leeteuk's, who had been caring for him ever since he had become a trainee in SM.
"I'll take your word for it, Jungsu." And with that, the President left them still bowing and bidding him goodbye.
♠ ♠ ♠
Long first chapter XDSuper Junior fighting!