Insouciant | Mark Lee

17~ Oddly Comfortable

The next morning Aera woke up to a loud banging on her door. Startled by it, she quickly got up and opened the door.  She was greeted with a wide smile by Chenle and Jisung. "Oh sorry, we didn't mean to scare you like that, but the breakfast is ready," jisung informed Aera and flashed her a smile. "Oh okay, thankyou. I'll be down in a minute," she replied and closed the door.

Aera quickly ran to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, fixed her bed hair and made her way downstairs for the breakfast. She was walking through the corridors while rubbing her eyes when she unknowingly bumped into someone. Rubbing her head, she looked up and saw Jaehyun staring down at her.

Damn is he like for real? Look at 'em visuals thou, she thought to herself. Snapping herself out of it Aera immediately bowed and apologized to him, "Omg, I'm so sorry. I'm still kinda sleepy. Sorry" Jaehyun chuckled at her flustered state and ruffled her hair, "It's okay, I've had such mornings too," he replied and gave her his iconic dimple smile.

Aera was dumbfounded, "You're not angry?" She asked him in confusion. "Umm, no, why would I be?" he questioned her back. "Because in movies I've seen that someone bumps into a mafia and he is ready to throw hands at the person ya know," she replied back in a duh tone. Jaehyun literally cackled at her reply and retorted, "No silly, this is real life. There might be some people who do that but we don't. Who has got the time for that. Anyway let's head down." Aera nodded and started walking.

Jaehyun and Aera reached the dinning table. She was about to sit when a shirtless  sleepy Lucas walked unaware of the girl's presence. Aera widened her eyes at the view and literally screamed, "OH MY JESUS, WHY IS THIS GIANT BABY HALF NAKED, THE HELL?!?!! AHHHH" she covered her eyes with her hands. The high pitched scream snapped Lucas out of his drowsy self and back to reality. Even he started panicking and screaming, " AAHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed and tried covering himself with his hands. Without wasting a minute he ran back to his room.

Aera stood there still, mortified by what she had seen. The room erupted in a fit of laughter which caused her to snap out of it. She continued walking and sat between Jaehyun  and Winwin. After a few minutes Lucas arrived too and glared at Aera. In return Aera took the fork in her hand and did a hitting action towards him and continued eating the food.

"So Aera can you tell us about yourself?" Taeyong asked breaking the silence. "Its not that interesting but, my name is Min Aera. I'm 20 and a uni student majoring in business management. I live with my mom and I lost my dad in an accident. Umm, I have just two friends Jihoon and Soa, they are an adorable couple. And that's it." she introduced herself.

"Noooo~ it's not fair Aera. You did not tell us about your boyfriend!" Haechan whined. Mark's ears unintentionally perked up at the mention of boyfriend. He sat straight, attentively listening to the conversation. "Boyfriend? hehh?" Aera gave a puzzled look to Haechan. "Oh c'mon, don't be shy. Everyone's a hoe here." Ten said while rolling his eyes.

Aera still had a big question mark on her face. "Don't tell me you never had a boyfriend!"Jaemin exclaimed in a surprised tone. She awkwardly shifted in her seat and gave a small smile, "Actually yes, I never had one, I don't even know why?" she replied in a questioning tone.

Everyone was attentively listening to the younger members having a conversation. The two flirtiest members from the younger group thought about playing around a bit and they were none other than Jaemin and Haechan.

"I mean we won't mind to apply for being your boyfriend, I mean we are single and available," they said in unison and winked. The older members cringed at the sight. Aera scrunched up her nose in disgust at their attempt to flirt, "yeah no thanks, no wonder why y'all are single," she said but mumbled the last part. "Yah yah, stop making her feel uncomfortable, let the breakfast pass in peace." Taeyong interrupted in between.

She mouthed a thankyou to Taeyong and he returned her a sweet smile.

Breakfast passed with laughters and bickering. She got to know a little more about each members. She was happy that the members were welcoming and not scaring the shit out of her. Somewhat she felt like she could trust them. Being the observant person she was, she saw how their actions and smiles were genuine and not forced.

A natural bond, Aera envied them a bit. She saw how close they were with each other, the brotherly bonding was very much visible.  Being a single child she never had anyone close to her except for Jihoon, she missed having a sibling at times like these.

Even though she met these 23 people like a day ago, they still were better than half of the people she met in her life. These boys right here made her feel oddly comfortable and protected.