Author's Note: Have you ever gotten bored of Korean Dramas because you really know the plotline already? I have just little so I went back to my roots. Anime! Fairy Tail is one of the best and funniest I have found.
Also since I can't write stories on real people, I'm using their names as characters. So don't be surprised if your favorite KPop idols pop up. In fact a couple have already, such as Hoon and Min Ho. More will follow in this story.
Birthdays are mentioned in this story. Since the characters were in high school I had to do the calculations. The actors were actually older than the characters they portrayed like usual. So the characters are in their thirties, which puts their birthdays between 1984 and 1990. If it seems wrong, let me know.
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"Shouldn't we head home?" Min Ho muttered as he followed Eri down the street.
They were across town away from the hustle and bustle of the studio. Jae Kyung had once again invaded the studio, causing a ruckus as they were trying to work. Eri still hadn't been able to get fully involved in the artwork so she and Yi Jeong had been working on a new piece for his gallery.
The woman had flounced in and tossed her stuff across a paint filled table, nearly knocking a can of black paint to the floor. Instead of black paint, the orb of constellations Eri had been working on hit the floor and shattered. Yi Jeong had been just about to say something, but Eri pulled the towel from around her neck and slammed it down on the table. She hadn't said anything but then again she hadn't needed to. She'd worked for days on it, finally asking Yi Jeong for help.
Jae Kyung hadn't known anything about any of that but she didn't seem to care. She was too busy trying to get Yi Jeong to talk to her about the old days that she didn't realize her paid worker was getting angrier and angrier by the moment. Yi Jeong didn't say much, almost like he was waiting for that other shoe to drop.
But Eri never said a word as she picked up the pieces of her shattered work. She tossed it in the huge bin and went back into the store closet for the rest of the day. No one heard anything from her for six hours.
When Yi Jeong decided to go home, he poked his head into the closet to see what she was doing. Nothing much as it seemed so he said his goodbyes and went to meet Ga Eul. Min Ho walked in and looked. Eri was sitting in the middle of the store room with paint and clay all around her. She was dirty and nasty but she was also angry. It made it interesting to watch.
He sat down and waited, watching to see what was so special about the silent woman who had captured three men's hearts and forced them to protect her even amongst their wives. At first he didn't see much, just her working agitatedly on something random. But as he watched, he figured out what had been hiding underneath that cold exterior.
Woo Bin had told him when he had gone over for dinner that Eri didn't express her emotions verbally or physically. She couldn't, so she used art to do it for her. There were certain things to watch out for when she was upset. She made weird creations using certain colors. But the colors didn't mean the same things to her as they did to them. That was the hardest part was figuring out which emotions were being expressed.
Min Ho watched the swirl of blues, greens, and yellows go into the clay. She was an expert at art since she had been groomed by her grandfather since she was born. But it wasn't art she had mastered; it was explaining she was feeling in her art.
Not caring that his jeans were going to be caked in clay and paint, he scooted around until his was sitting behind her. He didn't touch her, keeping his knees upraised and arms draped across them. She didn't say anything as he sat too close to her, but in a strange way it was a comfort.
When Eri leaned back in to him, Min Ho didn't say anything. He kept very still so he didn't scare her. He remembered what Woo Bin had said only two days ago, allowing her to come to him. But he didn't understand why she was just now feeling comfortable with him.
She had stood up and started to clean up. He watched as she put everything back in its place then scrubbed at the floor. She put the colored clay in the wet barrel then got ready to go.
That's how they ended up on the other side of town, heading down the sidewalk to some unknown location. He couldn't deny her because no matter what he did, he always ended up following her.
She took a left into a coffee shop and went to the very back. Suddenly the barista came up to their table, extremely happy and hopping from foot to foot. So he knew her.
"Baby girl, you're finally back. I haven't seen you in a good while," he said.
Eri nodded. "Min Ho, this is Hoon. Hoon, Min Ho; he's been given the position as my personal babysitter. Hoon owns this coffee shop and he's a friend."
Hoon looked shocked. "You don't use that word lightly. I can count on two hands how many people you call that."
"More like one hand considering everyone else is family. He drinks Americano black." She pointed at Min Ho as she said that.
"Do you want your usual?" She nodded, and Hoon smiled. "All right. I'll be right back."
Min Ho watched Hoon walk away. So this was her old hangout before she fully committed to working at the shop. But he didn't understand one thing.
He tapped the table to get her attention. "Why does he speak informally?" he asked.
"Hoon is the same age I am, only he's a couple months older. Whereas I'm older than every member of F4 by a few months, Hoon is the only friend I have that is older than me. Even Kyu Lee is younger than me. None of us speak formally to each other. You're the youngest out of all of us," she explained. "But I was Hoon's daughter's doctor when she had heart issues a few years ago."
"And now she's good as new thanks to this woman here," Hoon replied as he brought a tray of food over as well as their coffee. "It's a new pie I tried. Key lime cheesecake. And as usual, it's on the house."
Min Ho was shocked as he sat down with them like it was his spot. "How have you been? Ji Hoo told me you had your cochlear implants removed but that you retained your hearing."
Eri nodded. "Yeah, I didn't feel right after having them implanted."
Hoon smiled. "I have never seen you look like that. You seem to be at peace." Eri shrugged but kept her eyes averted. He had to tap the table to get her attention. "You know you can say whatever you want here. No one's going to belittle you for it."
"She's been commissioned for a specific piece of art but the client is kind of insane," Min Ho said.
The barista laughed. "Eri, don't you deal with insane people all the time? Look who you live with. Only someone sane could live with all the members of F4 and not worry." Eri just looked at him. "Just do what you want. Don't worry about what the client says. You've always done what your heart says even if you didn't understand it. Just follow those emotions."
"Boss! We have a problem! We have an irate customer!" a guy not much older than Min Ho claimed.
"Junsu, he's not an irate customer. He's got a temper but he's one of the calmest ones I have ever met. Ji Hoo, get over here and stop causing trouble for my employees."
"Since when do you let riff raff work at your establishment?" Ji Hoo asked, ruffling Junsu's red hair as he walked by.
"Junsu isn't riff raff. He's studying to become a shop owner. As he finishes his MBA, I'm letting him work here. Now his brother Junho is riff raff. He wants to become a pastier and he needed a place to train. The twins are so similar yet so different, but they don't fight. And the only way to tell the two apart is the hair color. Junsu's is red, and Junho's is blue. Cliché, I know. Junho made the bear claws in the case." Eri's eyes lit up slightly. "Do you want one? Junho! Three cream cheese bear claws!"
The blue haired version of Junsu walked over with a plate of bear claws. As soon as the plate hit the table, Eri snatched a pastry off of it and dug in. Ji Hoo and Hoon didn't bother to hide their amusement as they laughed. Junho looked at her then his face softened. Hoon promptly smacked him in the face with a notepad.
"Stop it. She's your noona and a married woman. Put that face away and go back to work," he scolded.
Min Ho understood the poor guy's plight. He had done the same thing when he met Eri the first time. But Woo Bin and Yi Jeong were scary when they were united so he assumed Ji Hoo and Hoon were the same way.
"Have you eaten today?" Ji Hoo asked as he ruffled Eri's short wavy hair.
"No, she hasn't. That woman has done a number on her nerves." He watched as Ji Hoo pulled Eri into his side. She didn't object. "Is it true Eri is older than F4?"
Ji Hoo nodded. "Yep. She was born the December before Woo Bin whose birthday is in February. December 29, I think. Then the order is Woo Bin, me, Jun Pyo and Yi Jeong. As for the girls, the ranking is Eri, Kyu Lee, Ga Eul and Jan Di. So Eri is everyone's noona and unni."
"Except mine. My birthday is October of the same year, but we don't use honorifics," Hoon added. He looked at Min Ho. "When's your birthday?"
"July of 1991. I'm six years younger than everyone, almost seven when it comes to you and Eri." He was talking about Hoon. "But how do we deal with Jae Kyung?"
"Date her," Ji Hoo quipped. Min Ho stared at him. "She's very peppy and very wild. She's completely different from Eri. They are going to clash. But the key is let Eri unleash her temper. She's very good at keeping things to herself, but when someone tries to tell her what to do, she's going to lash out. Jae Kyung doesn't get yelled at often so having a bout of temper is good for her."
"But Eri's temper scorches. I still have the scars from it."
Hoon and Ji Hoo laughed, but he was serious. She yelled at him on a daily basis. Some of the things she said to him ripped new wounds. He knew she didn't mean half the things she said, but it was the fact that they were so scathing that he wondered if she ever felt anything other than contempt with him. There were moments like this afternoon that told him she really cared for him, but that temper of hers got to him every time.
"Let her do what she wants. If Jae Kyung has something to say about it, let her. She'll really see why Eri is the best at what she does. She thought we were protective of Jan Di. She has no idea that we'll move heaven and hell to keep this woman safe," Ji Hoo added. There was something in his dark eyes that dared anyone to contradict his words.
He looked up when Eri suddenly stood. He tugged on her arm. "Where are you going?"
"For a walk. Thanks for the food and coffee, Hoon. I'll swing by later," she said. No one was able to say anything as she walked away from their table immediately.
"Seriously?" Min Ho fought against Hoon to get out of the booth and ran after the one person he had no choice but to follow.
Hoon leaned against the table and watched the two disappear. "That boy is probably the best fit for her. He takes her verbal assaults with ease."
"Woo Bin is her physical, Yi Jeong her emotional, and Min Ho her verbal/mental. Combining those three means we can understand everything she is going through and feeling. Min Ho is young so he doesn't care what his words say, but he's very careful around her. I feel much more comfortable having him with her when we can't be," Ji Hoo said.
"What are you going to do if Min Ho actually starts dating Jae Kyung?"
"She'll have to understand that we're not a normal family, and if she wants to join she's going to have to do a better job at keeping herself under control." He smiled at his friend then stood. "I have my own family to take care of. I'll see you tomorrow."
Hoon smiled as he was left alone in the booth. "Those guys are really something else. I wonder how the press handles them." Then there was a clatter in the kitchen. "Junho, you better not have broken another bowl!"