CTFI 10

Chapter 10

In a corner of the shop, a man was sitting at a piano where the lighting softly filtered down, his fingers dancing across the keys.

A gentle yet sweet melody enveloped the room, occasionally interrupted by an unexpected melody that popped out here and there.

Although he had pulled his hat low over his face and covered it with a mask, his fair, clean skin visible through the gaps, along with his distinctive aura, made it immediately obvious that he was “one of those people.”

“Who? Do you know him?”

Yoon Taejin asked with a puzzled expression.

“Oh, come on.”

Ruha looked up at Yoon Taejin and clicked his tongue as though he found him pathetic.

“You can’t even recognize your own kid?”

“?”

Taejin frowned and took another careful look at the man.

“…Oh!?”

Only then did he recognize the man’s identity and let out a short exclamation.

It was the youngest member, Ha Jinwoo.

Tap-

Ruha’s little elbow lightly bumped against Yoon Taejin’s leg.

“Why?”

Yoon Taejin glanced down at Ruha.

Ask him what he’s doing.

Ruha answered in his place with a chilly look.

“Ahem.”

Yoon Taejin cleared his throat and approached, causing Ha Jinwoo, who had been playing the piano, to startle and quickly turn around.

“Uh, uh…”

The eyes visible above his mask widened.

But perhaps realizing that he could no longer hide himself, he hurried over, bent deeply at the waist, and greeted him.

“P-President… H-Hello, sir!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, well…”

Ha Jinwoo scratched his head and looked around the shop.

He seemed to be searching for a suitable excuse.

“You’re pretty good.”

Ruha crossed his arms and casually interrupted.

“R-Ruha, you came too?”

Ha Jinwoo gave an awkward smile while glancing nervously at Yoon Taejin.

At the same time, he lightly waved at Ruha.

“Did you practice? Are you finished?”

Yoon Taejin, who was very good at following instructions, simply carried out Ruha’s command exactly as given.

“Huh? Ah, yes!”

“Did you get permission from Team Leader Lee?”

He was referring to Lee Jungmin, the manager of the management team.

“Yes! I told him everything.”

“Okay, then.”

Yoon Taejin nodded as if he understood.

“Good grief.”

Ruha shook his head, apparently dissatisfied with the way things were going.

“So, why did you come hereee~?”

“Ah, I just wanted to look around…”

Ha Jinwoo answered quietly, his face turning red.

“That thing you played earlier. Did you play it?”

“Huh? Ah, y-yeah.”

Ha Jinwoo carefully nodded again, once more watching Yoon Taejin’s reaction.

Yoon Taejin’s eyes lit up with interest.

“Oh, did our Jinwoo have a talent like this? When did you start playing piano?”

“Uh… I played a little when I was young.”

“Really? What was that piece you played earlier? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Huh? That…”

Ha Jinwoo lowered his head and fidgeted awkwardly.

“What is it?”

Ruha pressed him.

“I-I made it…”

Ha Jinwoo’s ears turned bright red.

Oh-ho.

Ruha’s face immediately brightened.

“Seriously? You made it yourself?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Oh-ho~ That’s unexpected.”

The left corner of Ruha’s mouth curled upward.

Yoon Taejin’s car arrived in front of the dorm.

Clack-

“Thank you, President!”

Ha Jinwoo quickly got out of the car and bowed deeply.

“You’ve probably been having a tough time lately, so order something delicious for dinner tonight.”

Yoon Taejin held out his card through the open car window.

“Ah, no. It’s okay, sir. I can at least handle that much…”

Ha Jinwoo hurriedly searched through his pockets.

But all he found was a transportation card and a few crumpled bills.

“Hey.”

Ruha lightly tapped Ha Jinwoo’s arm with the back scratcher he had been carrying on his back.

“Just take it.”

Ruha spoke as though it were a bother. At the same time, Yoon Taejin smiled and casually waved the card.

“Th… thank you.”

Ha Jinwoo smiled awkwardly, put his hand back into his pocket, then bowed deeply once more as he accepted Taejin’s card.

“Ruha, you should say goodbye. Say thank you~”

Ha Jinwoo gently pushed Ruha’s back.

“Huh?”

Ruha shot Ha Jinwoo a sharp glare.

However, Ha Jinwoo was more afraid of the president than he was of Ruha, so he ignored the glare and pushed Ruha’s back even harder.

“Ruha!”

“Ahem. Right, Ruha should say goodbye too.”

Yoon Taejin spoke with a satisfied expression, as though he had been waiting for this.

“Whattt~?”

Ruha’s eyebrows twitched.

“Ahem! Aren’t you going to properly greet your uncle?”

Yoon Taejin threatened him playfully while shooting him a sideways glance.

I’m watching you from right here. If you don’t want to get caught, do it properly.

His eyes were practically saying that.

“Phew… Th-thank you. Unclllle~”

Ruha reluctantly gave a deep waist bow, his lips twitching in annoyance.

“Oh my~ Good boy.”

Yoon Taejin smiled in satisfaction.

At the same time, Ruha’s eyebrows formed an upside-down V.

Yoon Taejin quickly shifted his gaze toward Ha Jinwoo.

“W-Well, good work!”

“Yes, thank you. Please get home safely!”

And with those final farewells, Yoon Taejin’s car drove away.

The sun had already begun to set, and lights were gradually turning on throughout the LUMIS dorm.

Ding-

As the dormitory door opened,

“I’m back.”

Ha Jinwoo’s voice rang through the LUMIS dorm.

“Oh~ The youngest is back? What the heck~ Is our household’s youngest back too?”

Kang Ian, who would have been the youngest if Ha Jinwoo hadn’t joined, welcomed Ha Jinwoo and Ruha with an awkward dialect.

“Why are you talking like that?”

Ryu Sian asked with a slight frown as he crossed the living room carrying a pile of laundry.

“I’m hungry. I wanna eat dinner~ You go to the kitchen.”

Kang Ian said jokingly.

Kang Ian normally loved movies and dramas, and he had the peculiar habit of changing his speech and behavior depending on what he had watched that day.

Judging by today’s behavior, he must have watched a few short clips from the movie Friend.

He was already completely immersed in acting out the dialect.

Creak-

The bathroom door opened, and steam drifted out.

“Jinwoo, you’re back?”

Baek Doha appeared through the dispersing steam.

He was shirtless, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

Every time his arms moved, the muscles covering his body rippled smoothly.

His solid abs and clearly defined muscles were revealed beneath the soft lighting.

“Oh-ho.”

Ruha had already approached him and began circling around Baek Doha with an intrigued look in his eyes.

“R-Ruha?”

Baek Doha froze, looking flustered.

“Oh, come on. Stay still for a second.”

Ruha raised the back scratcher and poked here and there, inspecting his body.

These weren’t muscles that merely showed because he was skinny.

They weren’t particularly large, but the balanced lines and densely packed definition made it obvious that they had been built through proper training.

“Do you work out?”

Ruha asked, glancing up at Baek Doha.

“Me? No?”

“Then why is your body like this?”

“W-Why is my body like this…? My fans said they liked it…”

Baek Doha quietly turned his gaze away and scratched the back of his neck.

Why wasn’t he answering the question?

“Answer me!”

Ruha’s stern command rang out.

“S-Sorry! I used to dance a little.”

“Before you became an idol?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Baek Doha awkwardly smiled as he diligently answered all of Ruha’s questions.

“Oh-ho? So that’s how it is.”

Ruha’s eyes sparkled.

He had already discovered two interesting people today.

Baek Doha.

And Ha Jinwoo.

“Phew…”

When Ruha turned away, Baek Doha unconsciously rubbed his chest in relief.

What was so scary about that little kid?

Yet whenever he stood in front of Ruha, he somehow felt smaller and smaller.

“No… Can’t… Can’t…”

“What? You want an eye mask?”

“B-Be quiet…”

“Quiet? You want me to lower the volume?”

“Q-Quiet… Nooo…”

Nod, nod.

Ruha’s head swayed endlessly in every direction.

He was currently engaged in a desperate battle against sleep.

It was only nine o’clock, yet sleep was hitting him like a truck.

Harp… The harp fairy is going to appear soon…

If he could just hold out a little longer, it would be time for the new character in Season 5 of Piano Fairy Do-Re-Mi—the Harp Fairy—to appear.

He tried desperately to stay awake, but Ruha’s eyelids collapsed against his will.

He had heard that children slept a lot, but he never expected it to be this bad.

He was sleepy in the morning, sleepy while eating, sleepy while watching YouTube, and once it passed eight in the evening, an outright sleep bomb would go off.

He was simply sleepy at all times, regardless of the situation.

“Hehehe, how cute.”

The members’ eyes practically dripped with affection as they watched Ruha.

Normally, he showered his older brothers with cutting remarks, swung his back scratcher around, and acted like a tyrant.

But at this moment, rubbing his eyes sleepily with tiny, fidgeting movements, he was nothing more than an adorable five-year-old child.

“…They say kids are cutest when they’re sleeping.”

A very quiet voice came from the corner.

“…?”

All the members’ heads turned at once.

The words had come from Cha Eungyeol, LUMIS’s official cold beauty—a chic, cold, emotionless robot of a man.

“Oh-ho~ You think Ruha’s cute too, hyung?”

Kang Ian asked, looking genuinely surprised.

The other members looked equally shocked.

Their reactions were understandable.

As the team’s leader, Baek Doha was responsible for looking after Ruha, especially because of the filming for Our Family’s Youngest.

So he had always taken the initiative in caring for Ruha.

The normally energetic and playful Ryu Sian and Kang Ian were no exception, and even the youngest, Ha Jinwoo, despite his normally quiet and cautious personality, always showed concern for Ruha.

But Cha Eungyeol was different.

He was the cold beauty who normally seemed uninterested not only in the people around him but even in himself.

Ruha was no exception.

When he first met Ruha, all he had said was:

“…Small.”

That had been his entire reaction.

Even afterward, he rarely paid attention to whatever Ruha was doing.

So what had gotten into Cha Eungyeol?

“!”

The one who was actually flustered was Cha Eungyeol himself.

“I-I didn’t say anything.”

Perhaps embarrassed by the word “pretty” that had slipped out of his mouth without him realizing it, he hurriedly avoided their gazes and left the room.

“See? I knew he’d do that.”

Ryu Sian chuckled.

All the members’ gazes turned toward Ruha.

By then, Ruha was fast asleep with his head resting on Baek Doha’s lap.

“Hnnng… hnnng…”

Soft, even breathing could be heard.

He was so adorable that everyone’s lips naturally curled into smiles.

Baek Doha took out his phone and checked the time.

“Should we go to bed too? We have to get up early and practice tomorrow.”

“Yeah~ Let’s slowly head off to dreamland~”

One by one, the members stood up.

Everyone went into their rooms, and Baek Doha was the last one left.

He carefully picked Ruha up.

His tiny body was so light that it seemed as though it might break, and he gently cradled him in his arms as he slowly walked away.

“Haaaarp… The harp is coming soooon…”

Ruha’s tiny lips moved in his sleep as he searched for the Harp Fairy.

Baek Doha quietly smiled and whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

“Little lucky charm, thank you so much for coming to us.”

At that moment, as though answering him, Ruha’s little lips moved and curved into a smile.