Chapter 33: The Leader Officially Introduces the Queen of Spontaneity
To legitimize their relationship, Rhett decided to officially introduce Kannei to his closest friends, Jaejoong, Yoochun, Junsu, and Changmin. After Jaejoong’s text message, Rhett had to continue the act because sooner or later, the other boys would know and for them to know through others would have been a grave betrayal. To prevent this catastrophe, Rhett had unwillingly scheduled this meeting.
Although the boys generally did not gossip when it came to people’s girlfriends, they participated in hearsay. Of course, all of his friends knew what his ideal woman was like and all of them also knew that there was no way he would stray from his ideals. However, introducing Kannei to them would mean that he had finally “opened up in his mind” as Jaejoong would say. In other words, Rhett would be the center of many jokes to come. Changmin would taunt him about Kannei, starting from her name and ending with her personality. Junsu would comment about surprises, how it was impossible to predict everything, whereas Yoochun would defend that there were no boundaries for love. It seemed that only Jaejoong would be considerate of Rhett’s situation. Well, that was only because Jaejoong knew the truth.
Despite these consequences and his situation with Hana, Rhett still believed that it was better to be honest than to maintain his reputation. He was confident that the other boys would grow to accept Kannei. She might have been very different from the norm, yet she was amiable. She could draw people’s interest with her lively, maybe even sprightly personality. At least, he was never bored when with her.
He just hoped that Changmin and Kannei would not challenge each other verbally; that battle would be bloody. He hoped too that Kannei would not take advantage of Junsu’s innocence by creating jokes that only Junsu did not understand. He also wished that Jaejoong and Kannei would not digress and finally, he prayed that Yoochun did not try to woo Kannei for she was sure to complain to Rhett about this or she might have said, “I can’t believe I met a real player today!”
Standing in front of his house, Rhett felt uncomfortable to the pits of his stomach.
Not again. Why torment me now?
Kannei, who stood beside him, had noticed his stale complexion, and asked, “Are you all right? You look horrible.”
“Thanks,” he first chuckled and then added, “I’m fine. I’m used to this.”
“Used to what?” she grumbled. “You’re not being specific again!”
He gently smiled.
“I just get stomach aches when I’m nervous. That’s all.”
“Well, I think you need some Advil. In fact, I have some in my bag.”
 “No, it’s okay.”
As he retrieved his keys from his pocket, Kannei handed him a pill and insisted, “Take it.”
“N-no, really—“
“Just take it! I don’t want to see your ugly face like that.” He gawked at her, which caused her to correct her statement, “Okay, okay, it’s not an ugly face. I just don’t like your face like that.”
Hearing her indisposed explanation, he took the pill and swallowed it sans liquid. Now, he was ready, or at least, armoured with medicine. Opening the door with his keys, he declared, “We’re here!”
Like free cattle herd, all of them charged to the entrance. Junsu was the speediest, while Jaejoong followed swiftly. Changmin pretended to act cool, along with Yoochun; those two preferred to stroll instead.
“Why hello mochi.” Jaejoong leaned his arm on the open door, specifically zoning in on her.
“Just call me Kannei.”
She folded her arms while Jaejoong winked. He wanted to shake her to remind her to keep with their plan, yet her instincts were too hard to deny. She never liked that nickname anyways. The other boys, though, were shocked. How in the world did Jaejoong know her? Rhett was even more bewildered. How did Jaejoong have a nickname for her already?
Dispelling the awkwardness, she waved her hand to greet the others.“Hi . . . umm, friends of Yunho.”
Now, Changmin, Junsu, and Yoochun looked at each other. She called him Yunho? Since when did Rhett let anyone call him by that name?
Changmin decided to break the awkward pause by snickering, “Nice greeting there. I haven’t heard of that one before. Oh wait, I know why . . .because Yunho has never brought home a girl.”
Rhett had glared at Changmin, annoyed at how Changmin had stressed on that word. That punk.
Kannei complimented, “Well, that’s good isn’t it? It wouldn’t be good for Yunho to get some STD.”
“Y-Yunho isn’t like that!” Junsu strongly defended. “Y-Yunho isn’t like Yoochun!”
Yoochun, at this point, was right behind Junsu and tapped Junsu’s shoulder. “You make me seem like a man whore.”
Jaejoong chuckled. “Ah, Wes! Way to backstab him where he can hear you!”
“High-five man!” Changmin slammed his hand to Jaejoong’s palm.
Not wanting to continue this banter, Rhett joked, “What are we all standing here for? Say Changmin, aren’t you hungry yet?”
With a rather whiny voice, Changmin moaned, “Yeah Jaejoong, are you done with the food yet?”
He hurriedly scurried to the kitchen, but Jaejoong again surpassed him only because Jaejoong had suddenly remembered the brownies that were still in the oven. “Oh no! My babies!” he shrieked.
Kannei raised her eyebrow, so Rhett translated as all of them made their way to the kitchen, “He calls whatever dish he makes his baby.”
“Ahh,” she now accepted too easily.
Dinner was exquisite thanks to Jaejoong’s diligence and talent. The entertainment, however, had to originate from Kannei and Changmin’s witty chaffs. The way the two communicated resembled the game theory, tit for tat.
There were four conditions that each of them fulfilled:
1.      They cooperated unless someone was provoked
2.      Once provoked, the other would strike back
3.      Each of them easily forgave the other
4.      Each needed to be relatively equal, in terms of skill level.
The question was ultimately, who provoked whom? No one could possibly tally the exact wins of each participant. They were too evenly matched, and it was just like Kannei said, she would naturally digress. Rhett faintly remembered Changmin teasing Kannei about her height and youthful appearance.
“So, do pedophiles hit on you?” Changmin asked.
Kannei, in the process of dissecting her filet mignon, mumbled, “No, do hormone-loaded middle school boys hit on you?”
“No.” Changmin laughed, along with the other boys. “Why do you ask that?”
She carefully placed her utensils to the side before stating, “I have a homosexual friend who looks quite like you and is fairly popular among boys.”
“I take that as a compliment then,” Changmin pardoned her.   
Yoochun vividly recalled Kannei commenting on Changmin’s eating habits. He had to admit that they were odd, but they were used to Changmin’s ways. Changmin never cared about his reputation at all. Changmin was Changmin, a vicious omnivore in this case.
Kannei, though, pointed out, “Forgive me for saying this, but I can’t help myself. Changmin, why do you eat other people’s food when your plate is almost half full?”
“Survival instincts,” he argued while crunching a huge lettuce piece.
“Very animal-like then.” She sighed and stabbed at the salad beside her steak.
 “There’s nothing wrong with celebrating one’s ancestry or continuing with tradition.”
 “Not when what you’re doing is archaic and barbaric.”
“Then you shouldn’t be eating that steak,” he preached. “That’s barbaric too.”
She just smiled and carried on with eating.
Junsu only remembered their conversation on video games, one of his greatest interests.
Changmin mentioned, “So, I’ve finally played the latest game from God of War.”
“Oh, I’ve played that,” she informed.
All of the boys were too amazed by this declaration. None of the girls they knew played video games. Didn’t girls focus on fashion and make-up?
Only Changmin seemed to be able to react, “I believe that’s rated R and that’s too violent for girls.”
“First of all, I’m old enough to play whatever game,” she corrected his statement. “Secondly, it’s not too violent for girls.”
“So, maybe you aren’t a girl.” He rolled his eyes.
She too mimicked his action. “Then, you don’t know anything about human physiology.”
“Oh, I do.” His eyes brightened. “Would you like me to list the parts to a woman?”
“No, we don’t need to be re-educated,” she reminded.
He pouted his lips. “So, you don’t believe in my skills?”
“What skills?” She giggled.
Finally, there was Jaejoong, who was too busy serving everyone their dishes to even bother listening to their conversations. He only cared about his so-called babies, who were being gobbled up by vicious humans. Although he felt horrible for their deaths and honestly felt like a hamster that ate its own children, he was too proud of his work of art. Moreover, he had decided that Kannei probably wouldn’t stay with the plan. Stupid Changmin had created a diversion. Wait till I put some hot sauce in his dessert.
At the end of the day, when it came time to deliberate, Rhett had been right. All of the boys were staggered by his choice. Great expectations were bound to be great disillusionments.
Changmin goaded, “Oh man, she’s so far from what I had expected from you. I seriously thought you’d pick a lamb, but who knew that you’d pick a mountain goat.”
Junsu simply praised, “I am really surprised that she plays games! I think you have to bring her over one day so we can challenge her. She seems pretty fun!”
Yoochun grinned. “She’s not bad. Whoever can challenge Changmin is pretty good. Don’t worry, Yunho, I’m not into that type.”
 “Yeah, Rhett.” Jaejoong glared. “I seriously think you shouldn’t do that again for her sake and for your sake. You shouldn’t leave a girl hanging there, and that wasn’t like you. Out of character.”
What was Rhett’s character then? He had started to wonder how he had deviated from his original standards. Then, he remembered that there were some things that were uncontrollable and that there was a word to describe such events: spontaneous. Spontaneity suited Kannei in every manner from how they met to how they spoke to one another. She was spontaneous. He preferred not to be, yet he seemed to be nowadays. He seemed to be adjusting for her. Now, what of his ideals? Were they adaptable as well?