Sunggyu was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing the familiar ringtone of Woohyun's Everyday, Woohyun's personal ringtone. With a sigh, Sunggyu rejected the call and snuggled back to his pillow.

He had wanted to drown himself in alcohol last night but Heechul and Hongki were adamant that he shouldn't develop that bad habit. They had dumped him at Junhyung's place but not before cleaning the rapper's fridge from alcohol.

Sunggyu had pouted, sulked and threatened to run away but the two of them had only ruffled his hair fondly like he was a kid throwing a tantrum. Heechul had even dared to tuck him in bed.

Sunggyu laid on his back and stared at the ceiling if Junhyung's guestroom. He probably should start looking for a place to stay. However, he knew his overprotective friends won't let him go without a fight. He appreciated them, he really did but right now he just wanted a quiet place to his wound and started healing.

And he wouldn't start healing unless Woohyun stops calling him. He glared pointedly at his ringing phone. He took the phone, planning to block the younger's number but a message chimed in.

'Sunggyu hyung, I hope you're doing fine. Are you having a hangover? Don't forget to eat breakfast before taking a painkiller. Make sure you eat and rest, hyung. I miss you. I love you, Sunggyu hyung.'

Sunggyu wiped the traitorous tears that escaped his eyes angrily. Woohyun had always known him the best. The younger always cooked hangover soup whenever Sunggyu drank too much. Sunggyu sniffed, mad at himself for missing Woohyun's hangover soup.

Sunggyu heard the front door opened so he stumbled out from his room, dressed only in his boxer. His eyes widen when he saw five males dressed in suits, standing in the middle of the living room.

"What are you doing here?" Sunggyu wanted to smack himself as soon as the question left his mouth. It was a stupid question considering that one of them was Junhyung and this was his house.

"I live here," Junhyung said with a roll of his eyes and pushed Sunggyu onto the couch before his group members surrounded the elder.

"I thought you were supposed to be overseas?" Sunggyu tilted his head in confusion.

"We came back early because we have a proposal to make to you," Doojoon cut in excitedly. Sunggyu watched the five of them suspiciously before crossing his arms when he realised he was only wearing his boxer.

"Can I at least get dressed?" Sunggyu asked wearily.

"Why? You look cute like that."

Sunggyu choked at Gikwang's comment and he could feel the blush spreading his entire body. The dancer whined when Yoseob smacked him on his head.

"Please ignore Gikwang hyung, Sunggyu hyung," Dongwoon said apologetically before Yoseob cleared his throat in annoyance.

"Okay, enough playing. Let's get down to business. We, as in Around Us Entertainment is offering you to sign a contract with us." Yoseob passed Sunggyu a folder but he didn't open it.

"Why? You know my reputation. Signing this contract would just drag you guys with me," Sunggyu said with a frown.

"It's just a small scandal." Yoseob waved off the issue.

"A small scandal? I punched the leader of a boy group with the largest fandom in the country. I'm still getting death threats, you know," Sunggyu countered incredulously.

"It was a long time coming," Junhyung muttered under his breath.

"That's all in the past. You have the talent, we have the connection and money. This is a good partnership." Doojoon leaned forward excitedly.

"This isn't a good idea..." Sunggyu rubbed his face tiredly as the five CEOs closed in on him. Being half among five men in suits could be a little threatening and Sunggyu could feel himself cracking. That must have been their plan when they came here dressed like that.

"So does drinking but I don't see you stopping."

Sunggyu scowled at Junhyung and sighed heavily.

"Fine. Give me a pen."

Gikwang presented his pen to Sunggyu with a flourish and the elder had to smile at that.

"You're not checking that first?" Dongwoon asked.

"I got nothing to lose anymore." Sunggyu signed with trembling hand and compared this to the last time he signed a contract.

"Smile!"

Sunggyu looked up into the camera Yoseob was holding for a selfie and an unintentional smirk crossed his face. He watched as Yoseob excitedly typed something on his phone.

"You're not posting that, aren't you?!" Sunggyu squeaked.

"Why not? It's for celebrating you joining our company."

"I'm half , for crying out loud!"

"It's good for your bad boy image," Yoseob quipped.

"I don't have a bad boy image!" Sunggyu was so close to tearing out his own hair by now.

"You kinda do, hyung. You did hit EXO's Suho on the face in front of a live camera," Dongwoon innocently said and Sunggyu flushed in embarrassment.

"I wasn't aiming for him!" Sunggyu defended himself.

"You were aiming for his group member, same difference," Junhyung snickered.

"You- why am I still talking to you guys?!" Sunggyu huffed in annoyance.

"Because you work for us now. Here." Junhyung placed a thermos in front of Sunggyu, causing the elder to blink blankly at him.

"Um...thank you?"

"That's not from me. Someone left that at the guard downstairs for you."

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at the way Junhyung pressed the word 'someone'. There was a tag attached to the thermos with a handwriting that Sunggyu knew.

'Eat me. ^^'

Sunggyu smiled as he uncapped the thermos to Woohyun's hangover soup.

Sunggyu tried to cover his face as much as possible as he walked through the security check at Around Us Entertainment building. True to Yoseob's words, his bad boy image had received quite the attention from everyone. Sure, him coming back into the entertainment industry had sparked the scandal from before but now people actually expected him to act like that.

Meanwhile, the hamster known as Kim Sunggyu had been nesting in Junhyung's house, practising his singing. He couldn't even get drunk because Junhyung hadn't replaced the drinks that Heechul and Hongki had taken.

Today was the first time he went to the company since he signed the contract to discuss his comeback. He and Junhyung had been arguing between comeback and debut. Junhyung was all for rebranding Sunggyu as a new idol but Sunggyu didn't want to lose his fanbase.

Throughout the entire week, Sunggyu had been holed up in his room, Woohyun sent him a message every day. He had stopped calling after Sunggyu rejected his call a couple of time. Today was no exception. Sunggyu smiled to himself as he remembered Woohyun's message from this morning.

'Good luck at the new company, hyung.'

Sunggyu never replied to the younger but that obviously didn't deter him from sending messages to Sunggyu. He also never actually blocked Woohyun's number. He adamantly refused to think why.

"Sunggyu hyung!"

Sunggyu smiled at Dongwoon greeted him and led him to the conference room to discuss his comeback. Sunggyu almost fell asleep as they talked about everything from Sunggyu's style to what they had for dinner last night. They were all over the place and Sunggyu amused himself that this was the company that he had signed his life too.

"13th January."

Sunggyu snapped his head and paid attention when he heard the comeback date.

"But- but it's Infinite's comeback date." Sunggyu really didn't want to compete with his old group.

"Exactly!" Gikwang said excitedly.

"It's also EXO's comeback date," Yoseob said with a smirk. Sunggyu couldn't help the groan coming out from him as he rubbed his temples.

"You guys are determined to start a war, aren't you?"

"Go big or go home. We are aiming for the big," Doojoon added in as he tidied up the papers.

"I'm a solo artist. With a scandalous past. I'm not that mad to go against those two groups," Sunggyu hissed. Junhyung walked around and sat on the table, patting Sunggyu's shoulder.

"You have us. And your fans."

"With your bad boy image, the fans are really expecting you to do this. Go against the flow! Break the tradition! Rebel!" Yoseob shouted with fire in his eyes.

"Who died and made Yoseob my image manager?" Sunggyu groaned, banging his head on the conference table.

"Your dignity. You are ours now. Here's your schedule," Junhyung said evilly, sliding the papers to Sunggyu. He blanched when he saw how full his schedule would be for the next few months.

"I think you guys forget to put some break time to sleep and eat..." Sunggyu whined.

"No can't do, mate. We need you to get back into rookie's mindset."

"I'm beginning to regret signing that contract."

Sunggyu's voice broke at the last note and Junhyung made a sign to stop the recording. With a sigh, Sunggyu left the recording room, grabbing his bottle of honey lemon and took a swift sip. The bottle had come with the tag 'Drink me.' and Sunggyu almost cried, touched by Woohyun's consideration.

"Are you okay?" Junhyung asked, looking at Sunggyu up and down.

"I'm just tired. It's been awhile since I had such vigorous schedule." Sunggyu had been swamped with works since he signed with Junhyung's company. He had attended all shows that the company managed to get for him, even securing a few permanent spots as MC. But the actual pressure was acting up to his image.

Who knew it would be that hard to act as a bad boy?

"Take a break before the comeback. I want you to be well rested."

"Take that to Yoseob. He had been quite the slave driver," Sunggyu scoffed.

"I'm sure he would let you go if you ask nicely. Why don't you take Woohyun somewhere..."

Sunggyu's eye twitched at Woohyun's name. The younger might had been sending him messages and food lately but they still hadn't spoken since the night at Chocoball.

"We are not together anymore."

"So who was it that had been sending you food?" Junhyung looked pointedly at the bottle Sunggyu was hugging protectively.

"No one."

"Sure... I'm pretty sure 'no one' would want to spend some time with you."

"He has a comeback too, he won't be able to get away," Sunggyu answered absentmindedly before blushing furiously when he realised what he had said.

"Kim Sunggyu." Junhyung was looking at him with a weird smile.

"No! I won't sabotage their comeback," Sunggyu snarled.

"I'm not asking you to. I just want you to be careful. With your image right now, anything you do will be seen in a bad light. I don't want it to backfire on you."

"Don't worry. I'm planning to hide in your house until my comeback."

I was so sleepy while writing this that I actually fell asleep in the middle of typing a sentence. I can't believe myself.