When Won Woo got home, he was slightly disappointed when he was greeted by a dark and quiet apartment. He really thought Soo Min would have woken up while he was gone and be patiently waiting for him on the couch to ask about his outing with Mingyu, because she would have guessed he was with Mingyu or Jeonghan would have told her. But she wasn’t there sitting on the couch waiting for him, Jihoon wasn’t there either. He figured Jeonghan had put them in bed in Soo Min’s room after he left with Mingyu earlier. It was silly to think of it like that way, like his friends were two little kids being put to bed after a long day, but he understood that the two were tired after what they had to go through, he was glad they were sleeping.

 

And that’s when he started to notice she hadn’t been there eagerly waiting for him this past week to ask about Mingyu like she used to before. Of course. He thought with a small snicker. I was never open about it from the start. He felt stupid to think after so many times of not talking about his feelings for Mingyu with her, she’d still be eager to ask about it. Maybe she gave up on asking about it at this point. She backed off, just like he wanted but he couldn’t help but feel bad since he wanted to tell her about what happened at the river, he was sure it was going to make her so happy. There were other things going on recently, he knew that had to play a part in it in the end.

 

For once, he wanted to talk about it, he wanted to talk to his best friend about his new relationship because he was happy and scared. He knew if it wasn’t for her, none of this probably would have happened? He wanted to thank her but... I seem to have bad timing. He thought while taking off his shoes and hung his hoodie on the coat stand near the door. He put the keys up on the small hook by the door and headed to his room with the flashlight setting on his phone so he wouldn’t bump into anything on the way there. He entered his room and turned the light on before shutting his door.

 

He took a seat at his desk since he wasn’t exactly ready to go to sleep yet, he probably wouldn’t be for another hour or so, it wasn’t even 11pm yet, the night was still young to him. He wasn't sure what he was going to do until he was tired enough to sleep. He started to scroll through some of his social feeds on his phone, but got bored quickly and decided he should at least try to sleep even if he wasn't that tired yet. He'd regret it later if he ended up not being able to sleep if he got stuck doing anything else to pass time. He lied in bed for a good thirty minutes before he started to get lost in thoughts about everything.

 

It started with how happy he was tonight about finally kissing Mingyu and starting their relationship. He could honestly think about that for hours, but unfortunately thoughts about his lunch with Ren started to into his happy moment, like it was life trying to tell him he couldn’t be happy for more than a few minutes. Or maybe that was just him and it was all in his head.

 

Thinking about it, he started to think about Soo Min again, and how much time he’s spent away from her lately because he was with Mingyu. That should be a good thing, but it felt weird to him. He felt like things were changing and not in such a good way, he didn’t like it. He couldn’t be so sure if the situation was bad or not since there were other things going on, and now he started to worry. He recalled the small fight Soo Min had with Jihoon, how she claimed that Jihoon never had time for anything or anyone, how much she felt neglected in their friendship. I was there for her though… he reminded himself. I helped comfort her… but did that really mean anything? Of course it meant something! He started to feel like he was against himself.

 

Growing up with so much bad luck and misfortune, he was rarely this happy before and maybe he was self sabotaging himself because he didn’t want anyone or anything to take it away from him or something.

 

I’m just over thinking things. He took a deep breath before exhaling. It’s fine. Everything should be fine… it’s okay. He his side and faced his closed bedroom door. A part of him was expecting for Soo Min to sense he was stressed and come to his room like all the times before, but not tonight and that didn’t help his worried thoughts. It’ll be okay, right? Sleep soon took over shortly after.

 

…

 

“You’re finally home.” Seungkwan blurted out after Mingyu tried to quietly sneak into their shared room. He had taken too long trying to shut the door and Seungkwan noticed when he shifted in his bed to put his phone away for the night.

 

“... you scared me!” Mingyu pouted after silently shouting, it was a good thing his voice didn’t come out or he probably would have woken up the other two in the next room over.

 

“Good.” Seungkwan pouted. “That’s what you get for not replying to any of my calls or texts!”

 

“Sorry~! I was busy.”

 

“Busy with what?” Seungkwan seemed annoyed yet upset. “I was worried when Hansol told me you two ate together and you left saying you were going home but you never came home.”

 

“Where else did you think I went?” Mingyu snickered, almost like his friend had worried for no reason. “I went and saw Won Woo.” He explained.

 

“You could have at least told us you went there!”

 

“Sorry, I guess my phone was on silent or something…” Mingyu reached for his phone in his jean pocket but it wasn’t there. He checked the other pocket, it wasn’t there either, he even checked his back pockets despite he’d know it was there if it was. “Uh oh…”

 

“What is it?” Seungkwan noticed Mingyu’s worried expression now. “You lost your phone?”

 

“Yeah.” The older whimpered and knocked on his forehead. “I must’ve left it in the car when Won Woo dropped me off.” He left out the “Must’ve fell out of my pocket when Won Woo suddenly kissed me before I got out of the car.”

 

“Nice going.” Seungkwan chuckled at his roommate’s failure. “I guess you’ll have to wait until morning to get it back.”

 

“Can’t I go get it now?” Mingyu whined. “Morning is so far away!”

 

“It’s late! No!” Seungkwan frowned. “Just sleep and wake up early. Besides, how else are you going to contact him now, we don’t have his number and I’m sure you don’t have it memorized, right?”

 

“No.” Mingyu plopped onto his bed and let out a deep sigh.

 

“Goodnight, dramatic Gyu.” Seungkwan teased and turned off the lamp near his bed.

 

“Goodnight, sassy Boo.” Mingyu muttered back.

 

He was really bummed about losing track of his phone like that. He hadn’t had a problem like that before. He was really hoping it was in Soo Min’s car and not anywhere else. The last time he used it was when he made that phone call to Won Woo at the burger joint. Hopefully he didn’t leave it there. He also visited Jeonghan’s grandmother at the elder home, he could have left it there, too? Maybe it was there since if it had been on him when he was with Won Woo, he would have felt it buzzing in his pocket, right? Must be at the elder’s home.

 

Well, he knew where he was looking first thing in the morning.

 

…

 

“You’re still doing homework?” Seungcheol asked when he passed by Jeonghan’s room after washing up. It was midnight now and while it might not seem late for them, Jeonghan had been doing his homework since he got home four hours ago.

 

“I just can’t seem to focus!” Jeonghan sighed while dropping his pencil onto his desk and sat back in his seat before sighing deeply and ruffling his loose hair.

 

“That’s no surprise.” Seungcheol snickered before coming over to sit on his bed next to his desk. “What are you stuck on?” He asked after grabbing the paper he was working on.

 

“Everything.” Jeonghan said immediately with a defeated expression.

 

“I have a feeling that I’m going to be doing your homework now.”

 

“If you don’t mind~!” Jeonghan chuckled with a sheepish smile. “At this rate I won’t be sleeping tonight because it’s due tomorrow.”

 

“Fine, I’ll help you.” Seungcheol snickered and started to go through Jeonghan’s assignment. It didn’t look that easy but a little familiar. He asked to see his friend’s textbook in hopes it would jog his memory about it.

 

“So, Cheol, I was wondering about something…” Jeonghan’s voice broke the short silence between them.

 

“If you’re going to ask about Jihoon, I’m not going to help with your homework.” Seungcheol warned while glancing between him and his text book.

 

“C’mon!” Jeonghan pouted. Being friends for 20 years made it that much more exciting to hear about his best friend’s crush, it’s been awhile since he last heard about Seungcheol’s love interests, they were previously girls in elementary school, middle school and the beginning of high school, so to notice something between him and Jihoon who is a guy… he was highly curious. There were a few minutes of silence until Seungcheol spoke.

 

“I admired him first before I realized I had feelings for him.” The older simply said while looking over some examples in the textbook. “How many problems did your instructor assign? Sheesh!” He complained when he noticed how many problems were listed on the small sticky note at the top of the page.

 

“I think they want us to suffer!” Jeonghan laughed. “But anyways, I see, it started with admiration and then blossomed into something more! How sweet~! Reminds me a little of myself!” Because he had first noticed Soo Min after she stood up to Won Woo’s bullies. He admired her for that and eventually it turned into something more.

 

“I’m not too sure if he feels the same, so don’t in and do anything crazy, alright?” Seungcheol warned while shutting the textbook. “Not everyone knows about my uality yet, and I’d like to be the one who tells everyone, okay?”

 

“No need to be serious~!” Jeonghan gave a nervous chuckle. “I won’t do anything.”

 

“Good.”

 

“But the others might already have an idea given the way you act around Jihoon.”

 

“I know.” Seungcheol sighed before getting up. “I’ll deal with it when the time comes, okay? Now go to bed.”

 

“What about my homework~?!” Jeonghan called after him with a look of horror. “Yah!”

 

“Ask for an extension, there’s no way you’ll have it done on time.” Seungcheol said while waving his hand in the air. “Go to the tutoring center after class tomorrow and pay attention!” He added in a scolding tone.

“... fine.” Jeonghan pouted. He really didn’t want to do that, he really didn’t like doing that, but he supposed he had no choice or he’d fail the class. “By the way, I better be the first to know if anything ever happens between you and Jihoon, promise me that!” Jeonghan shouted from his bedroom and laughed when he heard a flustered Seungcheol scold him about going to sleep. Hopefully things could work out between them.

 

He had a feeling Jihoon probably felt the same about Seungcheol, but since neither of them have been open about their uality, they haven’t done anything about it. It was probably wrong to assume Jihoon is gay, actually it is wrong to assume things about people, but there really is no ill intent behind it. It was just Jeonghan wishing for happiness for his best friend and one of his girlfriend’s best friends. He was hoping to go on a triple date with Won Woo and Jihoon once they get lovers of their own! Someday...

 

...

 

It was about 1am when Won Woo heard knocking. He didn't know what it was at first but after a few minutes he realized someone was knocking at the front door. He was going to ignore it but the person kept knocking and it was getting annoying. Who the hell is it?! He thought after getting out of bed. It didn't seem like he slept for long before being woken up… maybe about half an hour of sleep.

 

When he got up to the door, he waited for the person to knock again, he swore he was going to flip a table if they finally left after he came all the way out from his bed to be stood up at the door. There was a moment of silence and just as Won Woo was about to head back to bed there was a knock. “Who is it?” He blurted out.

 

“Won Woo! It's me, Mingyu!”

 

“Mingyu?” Won Woo repeated quietly and opened the door. “What are you doing here?” He asked and was clearly confused.

 

“I thought I left my phone in the car when you dropped me off earlier.” Mingyu said with a sheepish smile. “Seungkwan told me to wait till morning but… here I am. It’s technically morning now.” He said with a cute chuckle.

 

“Seriously?” Won Woo snickered, but not in a rude way, a cute way. “You left it in the car?” He added with a tilt of his head.

 

“I stole Boo’s phone.” Mingyu held up the mentioned phone. “When I got here I looked into Soo Min's car and called my phone to see if the screen would light up but I couldn't see it.”

 

“You need me to unlock it so you can get a better look?” Mingyu quickly nodded. “Okay.” Won Woo said before grabbing the keys off the hook and slipped his shoes on and hoodie to walk down to the car with Mingyu. “Wish you would have realized this earlier…”

 

“I'm sorry.” Mingyu said apologetically. “I was worried if I left it at the restaurant or the elders home, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't just in Soo Min's car before freaking out.”

 

“Well, hopefully it's in the car.” Won Woo said with a small smile. Even if he was woken up in the middle of the night, he was glad it was by Mingyu.

 

“Yeah, hopefully!” Mingyu pouted in reply, he seemed pretty stressed. Once they made it to the car, Won Woo unlocked it so he could look for his phone. He thought maybe it died and that's why he couldn't see it light up. After a few minutes of searching, no luck.

 

“It's not there?” Won Woo frowned when Mingyu shut the door with a dejected sigh.

 

“No.” He replied before giving a weak smile. “Thanks so much for coming to the door when I knocked though. And I'm sorry for bothering you so late at night.”

 

“It's fine.” Won Woo assured him with a sleepy smile. “I'm always happy to see you no matter what time of the day.”

 

“Me too.” Mingyu grinned. He hadn’t expected to hear Won Woo saying such things so soon, but he was and that made him happy. It seemed like their first kiss finally got Won Woo feeling more open with him. “I'll walk you back up to your apartment.” He said while holding his hand out for Won Woo to take. He could see the smile on his lips grow wider and he took his hand before they started to walk up together.

 

“We can look for your phone in the morning, okay?” Won Woo said on the way up. “I'll pick you up in the morning before school so be ready.”

 

“Alright, thanks.” Mingyu's mood seemed to lighten up a bit from that. When they made it back to the apartment Won Woo started to pout. He didn't want Mingyu to leave, but he knew he had to. “Boo will be angry if he wakes up and finds out I took his phone.” Mingyu said with a nervous laugh.

 

“Okay, I'll be seeing you tomorrow anyway.” Won Woo snickered at how silly that sounded to him. “Get home safely.”

 

“I will.” Mingyu nodded with a cute smile. “Sweet dreams.” Mingyu leaned forward to give Won Woo a kiss to the cheek but was surprised when Won Woo moved last second so that their lips met.

 

“Sleep well.” He said with a blush before shutting the door in Mingyu's face. He turned and leaned against the door while resting a hand over his mouth. That makes eighteen, I’m addicted...

 

…

 

When Mingyu returned home, he was nearly startled when he caught Soonyoung eating a snack in the kitchen with the light off!

 

“Where we're you at this late hour, hmmm?” Soonyoung question with his mouth slightly full and his tone sounding like a suspicious mother.

 

“I thought I left my phone in Soo Min's car when Won Woo dropped me off.” Mingyu explained after bumping his foot into the living room couch, he bit his bottom lip to stop himself from yelping from both being startled and in pain.

 

“On purpose, clever.” Despite it was dark, Mingyu could tell Soonyoung was grinning based off his reply.

 

“No, it wasn't even in there, and it would have been by accident!” Mingyu pouted. “And why are you eating this late at night, in the dark, too?!”

 

“I got hungry.” The older shrugged. “Worked up an appetite earlier before bed.”

 

“... Goodnight hyung.” Mingyu suddenly left to his shared room with a disgusted tone.

 

“What's with that reaction?” Soonyoung asked aloud. “I did exercises…” when he was done with his snack, he made his way back to his shared room and managed to get into his bed quietly, but when he rolled over onto his side he bumped into someone. “Yah!” He almost shouted.

 

“Late night snack without me?” He could hear Seokmin say in a pouting tone.

 

“Like I was going to wake you up for that!” Soonyoung snickered. “Why are you in my bed again?”

 

“I want to cuddle!” His boyfriend chimed before pulling him close to his chest. “I was so lonely without you, baby!”

 

“I was gone for five minutes!”

 

“That’s too long! Never leave me again!” The younger held onto him tighter.

 

“Seriously, I swear…” Soonyoung sighed and gave up.

 

He knew there was going to be no way he could get Seokmin out of his bed at this point, but at the same time he didn’t mind. He was starting to think that they should push their beds together and make a queen size bed for them so situations like this wouldn’t happen. They had their own beds currently because Soonyoung moved a lot in his sleep, so it was hard for Seokmin to sleep in the same bed with him. One of the first times they slept together, he got an elbow to the face and a knee to his kidney. But it seemed like Seokmin didn’t care about that and always tried to sleep in the same bed as Soonyoung when he got the chance.

 

“Goodnight, babe!” Seokmin said happily a moment later when he heard his boyfriend yawn.

 

“Goodnight, hopefully you don’t wake up with a broken nose or anything…” Soonyoung muttered and giggled when Seokmin giggled.

 

“I’ll still love you in the end.” Seokmin assured him, because he knew Soonyoung would always feel guilty when he got hurt by him on accident.

 

“Thanks.” The blonde was happy. “I love you too.” He could feel Seokmin place a soft kiss to his forehead before getting more comfortable. They both managed to fall asleep moments later in each other’s arms.

 

…

 

The next morning, Won Woo woke up before his scheduled alarm could go off. It was around 8:05am in the morning and he usually wakes up around 8:30am and leaves the apartment before 9:30am. He stretched before he got out of bed and left to the bathroom to wash up. While he was brushing his teeth, he thought about last night. That prompted for him to hurry and wake Jihoon up so they could go pick up Mingyu and have enough time to look for the younger’s phone before class.

 

He went into Soo Min's room shortly after to wake up his adorable sleeping friends. He had to wake Jihoon since he knew he had a morning class, but he decided to let Soo Min sleep a bit more last second. He was hoping that he’d get to talk to her before he afternoon class today, or after. He needed one on one time with her soon.

 

“Can I borrow a shirt?” Jihoon asked after returning from washing up in the bathroom.

 

“Sure.” Won Woo nodded and headed to his room to fetch one from his closet. He supposed Jihoon staying the night wasn’t really well planned since he didn’t bring a change of clothes. But it would be okay, he only needed to get through two classes and he was always borrowing Won Woo’s clothes in situations like these so it wasn’t a big deal..

 

“Hey, Won Woo…” Jihoon said a moment later while they were in the kitchen, mentioned person was making them some toast. “How do you think this trip to L.A will go?”

 

“I’m not sure.” Won Woo shrugged. “Hopefully it won’t be that stressful.” He was at least trying to be positive about it even though he felt like things weren’t going to turn out so great.

 

“I don’t know why I feel like it’s going to go horribly wrong?” So maybe Won Woo wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

 

“How so?”

 

“I don’t know. I hope it’s just me overthinking it.” Jihoon tried to shake that negativity out of his brain before Won Woo handed him a piece of toast. “It’s clear something happened between your parents and Soo Min’s parents. I’m just worried things are going to get crazy since her parents are coming with us this year.”

 

“I’m worried about that, too. I’ve thought about it a lot recently, ever since the strange encounters with Ren and his mother have been coming up. I feel like, even if what Ren said might be true, I wouldn’t be too mad.”

 

“Really?” The younger was slightly surprised.

 

“Yeah. I would feel hurt and disappointed that they kept something like that a secret for so long. I would be sad that I had to find out this way… I think a part of me has already been accepting it even though I don’t know if it’s true yet.”

 

“Well, that’s good. You know, in case it is real.” Jihoon gave him a gentle pat on his arm.

 

“Who are we kidding though?” Won Woo snickered. “After hearing the story, it has to be true.” He added. “I just don’t know what I’m going to say to my parents when I see them now…”

 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something before you meet them.” Jihoon said in hopes to comfort his friend. “Even though I know I wouldn't know what to say either if I was in your situation.”

 

“Damn, why did all of this have to happen now?” Won Woo sighed. “Right when I’m going to visit them…”

 

“Maybe you shouldn’t visit? Maybe you can say something came up?”

 

“But I already bought all those tickets, that’d be such a waste.”

 

“Right, I forgot.” Jihoon frowned and tried to think of something else.

 

“Maybe I’ll just stay quiet about it for now. It might be difficult though. I’ve stayed quiet about other things before, so it should be a little easy.” He was referring to his uality. He was surely going to be quiet about Mingyu when he visits as well, even though he’d like to introduce him to his parents, he just wasn’t ready to do anything like that yet. He felt like it might be cruel to introduce Mingyu as his friend, but then at least his parents would know him. He was conflicted now.

 

“I wish you luck and I’m on your side. I’ll be there to help when you need it.” Jihoon snapped him out of it with a pat on his shoulder.

“Thanks.” Won Woo appreciated that.

 

“No problem. You’d do the same for me, right?” Jihoon said and his expression faltered a bit.

 

“Yeah, of course.” Won Woo nodded before he noticed that. “What is it?”

 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” He waved his hand in the air to dismiss it. “I’m going to go wake up Soo Min.” He said before leaving the room. Won Woo was a bit confused and worried while watching his friend leave. He wondered if there was something that was bothering Jihoon? He would have to wait and find out later, right now he had to focus on getting ready for school. He also promised to pick up Mingyu early, too. I have to hurry! He thought when he noticed the time, 8:17am.

 

…

 

“You’re up earlier than usual.” Seungkwan said with a small yawn at the kitchen entrance. Mingyu was currently making breakfast for them, but since he would be leaving soon, he got a head start so he wouldn’t keep Won Woo waiting in the lot when he arrives.

 

“Yeah, I’m going to go look for my phone, remember?”

 

“Right.” Seungkwan nodded. “Good luck with that.”

 

“Thanks. Breakfast is almost ready.”

 

“Should I go wake the others up?” Seungkwan pointed over his shoulder.

 

“At your own risk.” Mingyu chuckled while turning the burner off and transferring the food in the skillet onto a tray.

 

Seungkwan gave a small shrug before leaving the room to go wake his older roommates up. He knocked on the door a few times before opening it and peek inside. “Hyungs, it’s still early, but wake up, breakfast is almost done.” He said before noticing Seokmin’s bed was empty. He stepped forward to see where he was, maybe he was awake and getting dressed, but no, he was face down on the floor next to Soonyoung’s bed, still asleep. Instead of being shocked and rushing over to see if his hyung was alright he just stood there and stared with a blank face before turning around and left the room and shut the door. The sight wasn’t even shocking to him, he had seen it many times before, that’s why.

 

“Were they awake?” Mingyu asked when Seungkwan returned to the dining area where the food was ready to eat.

 

“They were still asleep.” Seungkwan simply said while sitting down and took a moment to admire the food that was made. “Thanks for the breakfast.” He smiled.

 

“Of course.” Mingyu nodded. “Eat up.” He gestured for the younger to start without him. “I’m just going to double check on them.” He added with narrowed eyes.

 

“You don’t ever trust me, do you?” Seungkwan snickered but brushed it off and started to plate his food. Mingyu headed for their hyungs room and Seungkwan held in his laugh when he heard Mingyu freak out at the sight of Seokmin knocked out on the floor. He was definitely going to get scolded for that, but he was going to enjoy his breakfast first.

 

...

 

The room was dark yet it was clear there was something standing there. A dark figure or a shadow. It was in Soo Min's room and she wasn't sure what to make of it, but the second it moved towards her she suddenly got scared. She couldn't move or speak, she couldn't even look away or close her eyes while it inched CLOSER and CLOSER to her.

 

She could hear a weird noise, almost like it was growling or what could almost be described as an angry monster. Petrified and paralyzed, she watched it reach out to attempt touching her shoulder. She still couldn't move nor scream and her eyes remained wide open like she was being forced to watch this creepy dark figure approach her. It was so dark she really couldn't see it clearly but she could hear it… just as its deformed hand reached out to touch her shoulder, everything went black. She started to panic for a second before she suddenly stopped and there was a spotlight shining down on someone in the distance, it was like she had been teleported to some other dimension or something, it was just this plain of nothingness around her.

 

A single female figure stood there with her back facing Soo Min. At this point she didn't think she could trust anyone she comes across, so she turned to take a different path but then she heard a weird noise, that weird growling noise, that angry monster noise. Soo Min's body already turned back towards the figure and started walking towards the woman against her own will.

 

The CLOSER she thought she was getting to the woman, the farther the path seemed, like she was getting nowhere. It quickly got frustrating and she tried to run. The noises behind her suddenly sounded CLOSER and she started to run as fast as she could. She put her all into it and finally, the woman on the never ending path got CLOSER.

 

She stopped a few feet away from the woman, not even out of breath for some reason. The noises from before stopped and she stood there watching the unknown woman continue to stand there silently. “Uhm… excuse me?” Soo Min finally said after a moment.

 

“Oh, hello sweetie.” The woman turned around and Soo Min continued to stare at the woman's unrecognizable face, there was nothing there but a black void of nothingness and it seemed so hypnotizing. “Isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?” The woman asked in a familiar voice. That's when Soo Min noticed the woman was holding a baby.

 

A baby.

 

“Your baby?” She asked the woman, clearly curious. The woman shook her head from side to side in reply, that was a no. “Whose?”

 

“It's not my place to say, I'm sorry.” The faceless woman said in an apologetic tone before taking a few steps back.

 

“Wait!” Soo Min reached out towards her but the woman and the baby suddenly disappeared into the darkness, leaving the confused girl all alone in the dark. “Was that… Ren?” She muttered to herself a moment later. “Was that Choi Rina?”

 

There was a noise that snapped her out of it and she froze. Fear started to take over again, but something happened, it was like she was able to shake that fear off and put on a brave face. OVERCOME. She overcame that fear and the invisible ice that contained her, that froze her broke and she faced the dark figure behind her. “Who are you?!”

 

“I can’t say.” The figure replied in one of the creepiest demonic voices ever.

 

Soo Min didn't know how to interpret that and backed up when the figure reached out towards her. The fear started to come back each time the figure came CLOSER to her. “Are you going to kill me?” She blurted out.

 

The figure stopped and said nothing before it retracted its arm back. “It's time to wake up.”

 

“What?”

 

“Would it kill you to go to campus early again? You skipped class twice this week.” The creepy demonic voice started to change in tone and pitch and she started to recognize that voice. “Wake up before I confiscate all your Choco Pies!”

 

The darkness all around her started to fade into white and she suddenly sat up in bed. “NOOO!”

 

“You don't have to shout!” Jihoon scolded her and smacked her upside the head. Instead of frowning and complaining about it, she stared at Jihoon standing next to her bed. “What?”

 

He was suddenly tackled with a hug that knocked him onto the floor. Won Woo came rushing in when he heard a thud and Jihoon shout. “What's going on?!”

 

“Won Woo!” Soo Min cried out and got up to tackle him with a hug as well, but she wasn't able to knock him over.

 

“Whoa, whoa! Calm down!” He managed to say after giving her a proper hug. “You had a nightmare or something?” She only nodded before holding him tighter. “It's okay, it was just a bad dream.” Won Woo said in hopes it would help comfort their emotional friend.

 

“Yeah, it’s just a dream.” Jihoon joined in and rested his hand on her shaking shoulder.

 

“Sorry.” Soo Min apologized after a moment of calming down. “I’m okay now.”

 

“Are you sure?” Won Woo wasn’t convinced, but time was ticking now.

 

“Yeah.” She parted from Won Woo so she could check her phone for the time. “You two should head to campus before you’re late.”

 

“Then get ready so we can go?” Jihoon pointed out, he was implying that she should be leaving with them.

 

 

“No.” She frowned. “I don’t feel like going early today.”

 

“What’s wrong?” Won Woo started to worry. It was clear he hadn’t been checking up on her as often as he used to before he started hanging out with Mingyu. He would always make sure she was okay, he supposed not this time around. But could he really blame the recent events going on?

 

“I’m still tired.” She admitted. “I also wanted to take a shower.” That was a bit odd since she never liked taking showers to start with. They figured she must feel pretty ty if she said that.

 

“Well, you should have time before your noon class, right?”

 

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I'll get to it when you leave.” She added and gestured for them to head out. “Go ahead and get to school before you're late! I'll arrange for a ride when I'm done.” She managed to give them both a small smile.

 

Jihoon snickered before he followed Won Woo out of her room. “We'll see you later then.”

 

“Bye, have fun in class!” She called after them at the front door. The two were actually ready to go before Jihoon tried to wake her.

 

After they left the apartment, she proceeded to get ready for the day by taking a 10 minute shower in hopes it'd wake her up and give her energy. She'd have about two hours until she would have to leave for class.

 

...

 

“Will she be okay?” Jihoon asked after Won Woo drove away from the apartment.

 

“Soo Min?”

 

“Who else could I be talking about, genius?” Jihoon snickered.

 

“She'll be fine. I hope.” Won Woo said with a weak laugh.

 

“You don't sound so confident…” Jihoon frowned.

 

“It happens every now and then. She'll get pretty stressed and start having nightmares when she sleeps. They stop happening once the stress is gone. I hope we'll be able to relieve that stress once we get some more answers to the situation going on with Ren.”

 

“I can see how that'd stress her out. I wish I could help.” Even if Ren told him what he knew so far, he didn't think it was his place to say anything at the moment and he hated that. He now understood how his parents felt when he pestered them about their friendship with WooMin’s parents.

 

“It's okay.” Won Woo gave him a small smile. “There’s not really much we can do when she has a bad dream. She never likes retelling what happens, she hates remembering it, so just comforting her is all we can really do.”

 

“But…”

 

“I know, things have been changing but I don’t think it’s been enough yet. She’ll be fine, don’t worry. Even when it seemed really bad, she was fine after a bit. It sounds bad, but it’s just how it is.”

 

“Gosh, it seems like there’s still a lot that I don’t know.”

 

“Well, five years is still a long time, right?”

 

“It’s shorter than fifteen years, that’s for sure.” Jihoon said with a small snicker. “That or I’m just really bad at being a good friend.”

 

“Don’t say that.” Won Woo frowned. It actually started to make him think about those thoughts from last night, how he felt like he had been neglecting Soo Min in his friendship as well.

 

“But it’s true. I’m sorry.” Jihoon sighed.

 

“You know, it takes two to tango and everyone’s effort when it comes to friendships. If you’re bad, then we’re all bad.” Jihoon didn’t say anything in reply to that, but it was clear that he was upset. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t do a lot for her. She always does everything and beyond for me, but I don’t seem to do the same for her…”

 

“Really?”

 

“So don’t feel so bad about it. I’m much worse than you.” Won Woo said with a sad laugh. “I’ve been with her longer, so I can’t blame the time frame, there’s no excuse for me.”

 

“Damn.” Jihoon felt bad for him and even stupid for thinking such a thing in the first place.

 

“How about we talk about something else for now?” Won Woo said a moment later after it got quiet between them. He didn’t mean for the atmosphere to get so tense like that.

 

“Sure.” Jihoon nodded.

 

“I kissed Mingyu last night.” Won Woo blurted out just as they came to a stoplight. He stepped on the break a little too hard and Jihoon jerked forward a bit. “Sorry!”

 

“Do I look like Chae Soo Min to you?” Jihoon said with a flustered expression. It always embarrassed him when it came to couples talking about their partner, especially like this. What's next, Won Woo telling him about their first time, too?

 

“I guess this kind of talk isn't suited for us. Sorry.” Won Woo said with an apologetic smile, he wasn’t sure why he picked that to talk about, but he supposed since they were near Mingyu’s apartment, it just slipped out.

 

Jihoon felt bad again. Even though he didn't expect Won Woo to talk about that to him, he should listen to his friend, right? He was sure Won Woo also felt neglected in their friendship like Soo Min did. “No, it's fine, I was just a bit shocked.” He said quickly. “You can talk about it with me if you want, I'll listen.” When he really thought about it, Jihoon was probably the first to hear this before Soo Min and that somewhat made him feel special.

 

“Really?” Won Woo’s expression seemed to lighten up after that. “Thanks.”

 

“No proble-ah!” The left side of Jihoon's face met the seat when Won Woo stepped on the gas to go when the light turned green.

 

“Sorry!” Won Woo laughed while Jihoon glared and said it wasn't funny. It wasn't funny… it was hilarious! “So, would you mind if we dropped by Mingyu’s to give him a ride.”

 

“Sure. I don’t see why you need to ask me?” Jihoon snickered.

 

“Because he has to sit in the front, his legs are too long to be sitting in the back…” Won Woo said with a sheepish laugh.

 

“Oh…” Jihoon understood and pouted. “It’s fine. I’ll sit in the back.”

 

“Thank you~!” Won Woo beamed while making a turn to take the right street since they were making a detour now.

 

“Wow, who are you and what have you done with my quiet and non expressive friend Won Woo?”

 

“Rude.” Won Woo pouted at him and that earned him another laugh.

 

“No, I get it. You’re happy now, I’m glad.” Jihoon said in a sincere tone. “It’ll just take some time to get used to it all.”

 

“Definitely.” Won Woo nodded in agreement. A few moments later, they were pulling into Mingyu’s apartment complex, and Mingyu was already waiting out in the lot with his backpack over his left shoulder.

 

“I thought you would have been here earlier!” He blurted out after rushing up to the driver’s side window.

 

“Good morning to you too.” Won Woo snickered. “Sorry, there was traffic.”

 

“What's wrong?” Jihoon asked from the passenger seat when he noticed Mingyu's troubled expression.

 

“Oh, morning, Jihoon~!”

 

“Morning.” Jihoon gave a small smile and waved.

 

“I lost my phone yesterday!” Mingyu exclaimed.

 

“Wow.” Won Woo frowned and looked at Mingyu like he was just ignored.

 

“AH, GOOD MORNING WON WOO!” Mingyu suddenly shouted. “YOU LOOK REALLY HANDSOME TODAY~!” The driver’s side window started to roll up while Jihoon laughed.

 

When the passenger side door opened, Mingyu saw Jihoon beckon him over to get in while he moved to the back seat. The younger made a dash over and hopped in. “Sorry! Like I said, I lost my phone and I don’t know where it is!”

 

“Can you remember where you last used it?” Jihoon asked from the back.

 

“I ate lunch with my friend Hansol and I called Won Woo. But then I also met Jeonghan’s grandmother after I left the restaurant, and then I also spent time with Won Woo after that…” Mingyu explained with a defeated sigh. “I came over last night to see if it was in here but it wasn’t.”

 

“So that was you knocking on the door last night?” Jihoon muttered with a slight irritated expression.

 

“Yes, that was me, I'm sorry!” Mingyu apologized and looked so guilty. He had forgotten that Won Woo didn’t live alone and that Jihoon was over as well.

 

“It's fine, don't worry.” Jihoon assured him with a small smile.

 

“Then it might be at the elders home?” Won Woo spoke up and Mingyu nodded. “I think we still have time. We can drop by and ask if they found it?”

 

“If you don’t mind?!” Mingyu looked at him and back to Jihoon.

 

“Sure, you need to find your phone, it’s important.” Won Woo nodded and smiled at him. With that they were off.

 

…

 

 

When Soo Min was done with her shower, she got dressed and blow dried her hair a bit before returning to her room to sit on her bed for a few minutes to relax. She planned to work on her midterm project a bit before she'd eat and then head to campus. Time was ticking but right away she was distracted by thoughts from yesterday, thoughts about her talk with Won Woo. And even thoughts about her dream this morning. That faceless woman… I want to meet with that Choi Rina soon. She started to pace around the room.

 

She concluded that baby the faceless woman was holding represented Ren. It was kind of strange, she wasn't sure why something like that was in her dream… if only she knew someone who could interpret it for her. Could the dark figure from the first dream represent the truth that I'm scared of discovering? She suddenly stopped pacing the room. But why did it have to look so terrifying? She shivered at the image in her mind and shook her head in hopes to shake it off or shake it out.

 

“So… Ren is possibly our half brother?” She said aloud a moment later. “What does that make Won Woo and I? Still not blood related or?” She muttered while looking at the few photos from her childhood pinned to her wall by her desk.

 

There were a few photos from the day they became neighbors. They were only five and they already seemed like the best of friends. There were other photos from the rest of their childhood, even Jeonghan and Seungcheol made it into some of the photos because they were taken at school events. “Forever cute.” She giggled to herself while reaching out to touch the picture.

 

She snapped out of it when she heard someone at the door. Not much time had passed since she started to zone out so she wondered who it was. Upon opening the door, she was surprised to see Ren standing there. He smiled and gave a small wave in greeting. “Good morning.”

 

“Good morning.” She managed to greet back. “Sorry, did you message me or something about coming over? Cause I was in the shower.” She said with a sheepish smile and pointed to her damp hair since she had blow dried it a bit until she gave up, her arms had gotten tired real quick.

 

“I did.” He nodded. “Sorry, I must've caught you at a bad time?” He added with a small frown.

 

“No, no! It's not like that!” She stepped aside to let him in. “I don't usually take showers in the mornings.” She added after shutting the door. “But I was due for one before my classes later..”

 

“Right, you still have classes today.” He nodded after taking a seat on the couch when she gestured for him to do so. He wasn’t a full time student this semester which meant he didn’t have that many classes to attend during the week, he really only had one class he attends during the week and the other was an online class. He’s had a lot of free time since the semester started, time he didn’t know what to spend it on. Soo Min took a seat next to him and made sure to leave space between them. “So… how are you?” He asked to start a conversation.

 

“... good.” She hesitated on that answer and he noticed it. “You?”

 

“Good.” He replied in the same manner but neither of them wanted to ask the other what was wrong. A long silence ensued after that and just before it could get uncomfortable and awkward, she spoke up.

 

“Ren?” She asked and suddenly looked serious. He started to get nervous, he wondered if she was going to ask about what he said the other night to her? He had come over to see about giving her a lift to school while at the same time spending some time together again. After everything that’s happened, he really wanted to get to know her better. “Are you any good at packing clothes into a suitcase?” Her questioned snapped him back to reality.

 

“Packing?” He repeated, dumbfounded.

 

“I mean, I don't want to jump to conclusions and assume you're a pro at it or anything, but given your passion for fashion, I just thought maybe you'd know some tricks and tips on packing outfits into a suitcase?”

 

“Right, Won Woo mentioned about you guys going to L.A next week after midterms. But isn’t it a little too early to be packing now?” He asked with a small chuckle.

 

“I don’t really want to put it off until last minute, so I’m starting early!” She admitted and let her head drop. “I mean, I don't care if my clothes get wrinkles but everyone else does. I'd rather not get a headache from their nagging later on. For once I would like to not need Won Woo to pack my suitcase for me. I’m an adult now, I should at least be able to pack my own suitcase at some point in my life, right?!”

 

“Okay! Okay! I'll help you, relax!” He covered with his hand to stop her. Also something Won Woo would do. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re brothers, right? They could just have similar mannerisms, right?

 

“Really?! Thank you!” She beamed after he retracted his hand and jumped out of her seat so she could show him to her suitcase. He followed her into her room and he glanced around again to admire it for a few seconds before walking over to where her suitcase was on the floor by her closet. He could see some of her other stuff was already packed but her clothes were just tossed in. He got on the floor and proceeded to examine the outfits she picked and he frowned. “What?” She asked when she noticed.

 

“How long are you going to be in L.A?” He asked while taking the outfits out and put them in a pile next to her suitcase.

 

“Well, we leave next Thursday night. We’ll be there for most of our fall break. I think we’ll be coming home on a Friday near the end of fall break, which would be Saturday evening when we get back to Korea. Wow… time differences are difficult to think of, my head hurts now...” she complained and held her head in her hands with a pain expression.

 

“So roughly about a week?” He looked down to her outfits while getting up and took a step towards her closet. “Do you mind?”

 

“Go ahead.” She nodded.

 

He looked through her closet for a few minutes and muttered to himself here and there. He seemed pretty focused and she thought it was kind of funny. She didn't know what the big deal was about clothes in the first place. She watched him for a moment before her mind started to cloud with thoughts and questions. She remembered what Jihoon had said yesterday “Ren does know more, you should ask him next time.” was now that next time? But Won Woo had also mentioned about asking Ren after their trip to L.A. Now or later?

 

“Here we go.” Ren's voice brought her back and she saw him sit down with a small pile of clothes. “L.A is pretty warm, so we'll change out the outfits you already picked so far and double it.”

 

“So six?”

 

“No.” He shook his head quickly and chuckled. “You have to prepare in case something goes wrong. At least you'll have a back up to change into.”

 

“Ooooh…” she understood now.

 

“Pay attention, so you can pack on your own for next time.” He snapped his fingers to get her full attention. She nodded and watched with determination. It was adorable, like the older sibling teaching the younger sibling something new.

 

He packed the first four outfits and then had her do the last two. She did pretty well from just watching, he praised her for being a fast learner. “Do you also have any tips for straightening hair, too?” She asked with a hopeful smile. She still had two hours until she had to go to class, Ren practically saved her a lot of time by helping out.

 

“Sure.” He didn't seem to mind at all and he followed her to the bathroom. “How do you usually do it?” He asked.

 

“Just straighten what's not straight.” She said while demonstrating with a chunk of her hair.

 

“How have you survived this long?” He joked and laughed when she pouted at him through the mirror.

 

“Won Woo usually helps me unless he's busy.”

 

“That explains it.” He said with a small smile before taking her hairbrush and started to brush her hair. It was kind of strange, they only met the other week on that camping trip and in the short amount of time, they had gotten CLOSER over certain situations. It seemed their bond had gotten stronger after their hangout on Monday this week. Even now, he helped her pack her suitcase and was now helping her straighten her hair. He felt a lot CLOSER to her than before, it seemed to feel that way after hearing him call her his little sister, after Won Woo told her what they talked about during lunch yesterday. It really felt like… Ren was her older brother who had stopped by to make sure she had her suitcase packed and offered to do her hair. It was kind of sweet yet...

 

He gathered her hair into a low ponytail and held it at the base of her neck before brushing out some of the small tangles that occurred while blow drying her hair. “It always hurts when I do it… but it seems like you and Won Woo know how to do these things better than me.” She sighed while Ren continued to help her. “It's kind of interesting, it's like you're my older sister doing my hair for me, but you're not my sister, you're my…” she trailed off and Ren's brush slowed to a stop. “Ren…”

 

“I know what I said that night must've been shocking. I'm sorry.” He said with a weak smile and continued to brush her hair. “I'm not sure if the fact I've always wanted a younger sister influenced my words or…”

 

Soo Min knew that wasn't the only reason, but she couldn't bring herself to speak up and ask him about his talk with Won Woo. There was a small silence before she spoke again. “Won Woo's been like my older brother growing up. We met when we were five and have stuck together ever since. We were neighbors until we moved out and became roommates. I met Jihoon when I was fifteen and we also became close and it was like he was my younger brother since I'm older by almost three months. But by the end of the day, they're just my close friends and nothing more. They're not my real family, but chosen family. I always wondered though, what it would have been like to have a true brother or sister, but my parents never thought about having another kid. So it's just me, just me and my lonesome.” She ended with a sad smile. “An only child pretending her other only child friends are her brothers.”

 

“I'm an only child too.” Ren blurted out. “At least that's what I know. Not sure if my parents decided to have another kid after me.” He added with a small snicker. “If they really did, I hope they had a boy and a girl.”

 

“Twins?”

 

“Hmm, no, they don't seem that alike.” He chuckled.

 

“You talk as if they're already born and that you know them.” She looked at him suspiciously. Honestly, that seemed to answer one of her main questions.

 

“Maybe.” He simply shrugged.

 

“I don’t mean to get so personal, but… I’ve met your mother before at the mall. I wanted to know who your father is?” She asked and noticed him tense up at the question. “Is he also another famous figure?”

 

“I… actually don’t know who my father is.” He answered honestly.

 

“I’m sorry.” She felt guilty now. “Did he walk away or something?”

 

“I’m not sure.” He was honest again, she could see it was difficult for him to talk about it. “Now pay attention so you can do this on your own for next time.” He changed the topic after he finished brushing her hair. “Number one tip, separate your hair into sections and start from the bottom and work your way up.” He instructed while grabbing one of her big hair clips to clip her hair off onto the top of her head which left a nice layer of hair to work with at the bottom.

 

Soo Min remained quiet while he worked on her hair and she felt horrible for asking about his father in this situation despite what she heard from Won Woo. She really thought maybe he had information about his father but it was clear he didn’t, that or… he just didn’t want to tell her. Moments passed and she started to realize maybe Ren was just being careful, maybe it wasn’t confirmed and he didn’t want to say anything that wasn’t true or legitimate yet. After fifteen minutes, her hair was perfectly straight.

 

“Thanks!” She forced a smile while running her hands through it.

 

“No problem, sis.” Ren said before pausing. “Sorry.”

 

“It's fine.” She assured him. “I don’t mind if you call me that.”

 

“Really?”

 

“You’ve wanted a sister growing up, right? I wouldn’t mind being your pretend sister from now on...”

 

“... alright.” Ren smiled. He learned something today. My sister is hella smart. It was clear she had caught onto him, he could tell through her expression when she said all of that. He thought about telling her the truth, but he didn't want to say it now, not before she had to go to class and definitely not when it wasn’t confirmed just yet. He was sure that she'd be upset once it was confirmed, so he thought to wait, just for now. “Then as your pretend brother, can I drive you to school today?” For once he didn’t get emotional about it and he was proud.

 

“Yes, please!” She nodded excitedly, it was adorable.

 

“Have you eaten yet?”

 

“Oh!” She paused. “Not yet.”

 

“Breakfast first.” He said before pushing her by her shoulders out of the bathroom. “I know of a place we can go to.”

 

“Will they have toast?” She asked while stepping into her room to grab her school bag.

 

“They’ll have more than that.” He nodded.

 

“I only need toast.” She explained. “I don’t really eat a lot in the mornings… because I’m rarely up in the mornings anyway.”

“Why not?” He frowned.

 

“Not a morning person.” She chuckled. “And my stomach just goes sour once I get to campus if I ate a big breakfast so I just avoid it. I don’t really like school ‘cause it stresses me out.”

 

“I see.” Ren nodded, he understood now. “Then you can just order toast, no big deal.” He added with a small smile. She returned that smile, glad that he listened to her. “Let’s get going then, shall we?” He gestured to the door.

 

“Is Baekho waiting?” She asked while heading to the front door with him now that she had everything she needed to leave.

 

“No, I came alone.”

 

“Did you text him?” She suddenly stopped and looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

 

“You’re on his side now?” He pouted.

 

“Answer the question!” She shook her head.

 

“Yes, I did text him before I came here. Relax.” He laughed and pet her head. “I can see you’re going to be Baekho’s little spy from now on.”

 

“Of course! You shouldn’t be making his job difficult.”

 

“I know.” He chuckled. “Thanks for thinking about him.”

 

“He’s so nice! Naturally I’m going to give him one less headache by making sure you tell him where you are when you’re with me! So be sure that you don’t give me a headache while trying to help him either!”

 

“Got it.” Ren turned her around by the shoulders so they could leave. “Let’s go now!”

---

Chapter thirty-eight~!

 

Awh, SooRen.

And Mingyu losing his phone… nice going lol

Hopefully I can start updating more again, just been a rough and slow past three weeks x.x

I somehow hurt my right ankle on Aug 2nd and it’s been bothering me since then!

Don’t really know what’s wrong with it, but my therapists have been keeping an eye on it since it’s on my good side. Like of course, it had to happen on my good side XD

Hoping to get back into the swing of things since the holidays are coming up and it’d be fun to actually post the Halloween chapter near or on Halloween this year!

Until then~!

Happy Belated Birthdays to Seungcheol and Minhyun, I didn’t forget since I wasn’t posting on that day! Sorry for missing it! OTL

Hope to have the next “INTENSE” chapter out next weekend, because if I post it before I have another chapter ready, I feel like I stress myself out that way when I don’t have anything to post XD so just bare with me! The chapters shall be long and eventful from now on, fingers crossed~!