“Wookie, did you see Ddangkoma?” asked Yesung, waking up Ryeowook.
“Huh? Who?” answered Ryeowook drowsily.
“Ddangkoma! My turtle!” Yesung pointed out desperately.
“Oh… That turtle. No, hyung, haven’t seen him anywhere…” And Ryeowook fell back to sleep.
Feeling upset, Yesung left their room and went to the living room. Some of the members were there watching TV.
“Ya, have anyone of you seen Ddangkoma?” asked Yesung. No one answered, they kept watching the TV.
“Ya!” Yesung exclaimed.
“Oh, sorry, hyung, didn’t see you there. Want some popcorn?” Sungmin said without taking his eyes off the TV.
“I don’t want your stupid popcorn! Do you know where Ddangkoma is?”
“Now where have I heard that name before…?” Donghae wondered aloud.
“It’s my turtle, stupid!”
“You mean that pet of yours that never does anything except blinking his two stupid eyes?” asked Eunhyuk absent-mindedly.
“Some people say pets are so much like their owner,” Siwon added to Eunhyuk.
“Ya! Who are you calling stupid!” Yesung broke out angrily. Right that second, Shindong went in with a bowl of soup. He was startled and almost dropped his bowl when Yesung suddenly stormed at him.
“Whoa, my soup! My soup!”
“Forget your stupid soup! Did you take Ddangkoma again?”
“What the hell is a Ddangkoma?”
“My turtle, you fathead! Did you use him to hold your broken door again?” Yesung almost burst into tears.
“You mean that shell-like thingy? I thought it’s a paperweight,” said Shindong innocently.
“No! It’s my beloved turtle! Where is it? Where is it??”
That was when Kangin broke into the commotion.
“Shut up, Yesung! Why are you making such a fuss! You never take good care of your pet anyway! You probably just keep him because you paid a lot of money for him.”
“What are you saying! I love Ddangkoma! Unlike all of you, he’s the only one who never complains at everything I’m doing!”
To his horror, Yesung realized that his words were so true. He couldn’t stand being in the living room anymore. He went to his room and shed his held tears. He knew he wasn’t such a good owner. Sometimes he forgot to feed Ddangkoma, but he loved Ddangkoma. Ddangkoma never complained when he sang at the top of his lungs. Ddangkoma always listened to his random blabber. Ddangkoma accompanied him sleeping. Ddangkoma was always there. And now he wasn’t.
“Hyung, why are you crying?” Ryeowook woke up to the sound of Yesung crying.
“I lost Ddangkoma…” Yesung sobbed. That was when a big fluffy cat went into the room, followed by Heechul yelling.
“Heebum, get back here! You need to take a bath! You stink!”
Suddenly a horrible idea jumped on Yesung’s mind. He grabbed Heebum and shook him left and right.
“Nooo! You ate my turtle! Spit him out! Spit, stupid cat! Give him back to me!”
“Ya! Who are you calling stupid!” yelled Heechul angrily.
“Your cat! He ate Ddangkoma!”
“Never! Heebum never eats trash!”
“Ya! Who are you calling trash!”
Meanwhile Ryeowook was crying staring at his hyungs fighting.
“Hyung, don’t fight…” Ryeowook asked helplessly.
“Stop screaming!” Hankyung interrupted. By the ladle he was holding, it was clear to see that Hankyung was in the middle of cooking. Another terrible idea came to Yesung’s mind.
“Nooo! You cooked him! How could you!” Yesung dropped to his knees and cried some more.
“Cook what? I’m making Beijing fried rice for Heechul,” said Hankyung and then went back to the kitchen.
“Ddangkoma…”
Yesung was still on the floor, all air seemed to have gone from his lungs.
“Hyung, don’t cry.. I’ll help you look for him,” Ryeowook told Yesung soothingly.
In Kyuhyun’s room.
Kyuhyun put down his brush and stared at his closed door. He wondered why there was so much noise outside. By the hysterical yelling, he thought it must have been Yesung yelling here and there. He almost went out of his room to see what the problem was when the noise cleared down. He waited for a moment and then shrugged.
Kyuhyun went back to his table and took his paint brush. On his table were various colors of oil paint. He dipped his brush in one of the color and then painted it on a thing on his table. He added a few brush in invisible spots and then smiled, satisfied at his done work.
“Ddangkoma, you look so much better in pink.”
The Not-So Silent Readers