Hoya pulls in his arms as he trails his eyes down on both L. Joe and Jinyoung. Hoya walks back and forth slowly as he takes his time to nag at those two.

            “I’m utterly disappointed in both you,” he says with a serious expression that it almost brings laughter to L. Joe and Jinyoung, who are sitting leisurely on the couch.

            “Why?” Jinyoung holds back his laughter as he asks the question.

            “Good thing you ask,” Hoya mutters tightly as he shoots him a piercing glance. “But I don’t suppose you’re all that curious.”

            “Just tell us why, Hoya or we’d have to leave.”

            Hoya’s jaw clearly dropped as he raised one brow. “Do you guys even love me? How could you guys abandon me?”

            Jinyoung quickly sprang forward. “Good God, Hoya, what is it that you’re trying to tell us? Why would you even question our love towards you- ugh, it’s such a disgusting matter to touch on. Let’s skip the mushy part. It’s normal for us boys to be talking about love between- boys. ” He then falls back in the couch.

            “L. Joe,” Hoya turns to his other best friend who was busy tweeting on his iPad.

            “Hmm?” L. Joe never bothers to lift up his chin.

            “Will you look at me?”

            “What?” L. Joe finally looks at him, though he wears an annoyed look. “What, Hoya?”

            “Don’t you have something to tell me?”

            L. Joe then turns to Jinyoung and Jinyoung absent-mindedly shrugs.   

            “I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Jinyoung whispers it so loudly to L. Joe obviously wanting Hoya to hear it.

            “I can hear you!” Hoya snaps at once. Then he draws in some air into his lungs. “Fine. Imma just gon’ spell it out to you guys cuz you guys are so unimaginably stupid.”

            “Ouch.” L. Joe and Jinyoung say in unison.

            “What happened last night when Jiyeon’s home video went off? Like what was actually going on between L. Joe and Jiyeon. You guys can’t just shut me out like I had nothing to do with this.”

            Putting on a pokerface, L. Joe snaps, “You have nothing to do with it.” And that makes Jinyoung burst out laughing, finally.

            Hoya is hurt as he gulps down and clenches his teeth. “Well then,” he says in a flat tone, “I guess your only friend now is Jinyoung, isn’t it, L. Joe?”

            Hoya then grabs his backpack and leaves the house, leaving L. Joe and Jinyoung puzzled as they turns to each other.

***

            “Was he mad at us? Did we really ditch him?” Jinyoung asks when L. Joe comes out of the kitchen. He passes him Mr. Potato.

            “Nah,” L. Joe shrugs. “He’ll be fine. Let him cool off.”

            “Why didn’t you tell him about you and Jiyeon? What is there to hide?”

            “I’m no hiding anything. I just don’t want to do the explaining. It’s bothersome.” L. Joe gets back to playing Starcraft II.

            “I think he’s mad for sure. If you don’t wanna tell him, then I will.”

            “No. Don’t spoil him,” L. Joe says coolly. “Besides, Hoya’s only being a brat. He always does that when he doesn’t get what he wants. We need to teach him a lesson or two.”

            “How could you say that? He’s our best friend.”

            “I know that. That’s why I’m acting like this. He can’t always get what he wants. He needs to learn that sometime things don’t work out the way he wants it and he needs to learn how to deal with it. I’m only doing him a favour, Jinyoung.”

            “But you were so cold on him. He might feel a little sad with your behaviour.”

            “Good. Then I just taught him how to deal with disappointments. That’s life.”

            “Fine, Jinyoung finally says, giving in to L. Joe’s hard-headedness. Then they both freeze for moment. “Is it just me or I feel like we were bunch of old couple fighting over our spoiled kid?”

            “Nope. It’s not just you, dude.”

            “EEEWWWWWWW!!”

***

            Jiyeon has been questioning herself whether or not she should call L. Joe and ask him about the trip his father mentioned this evening. It was 10 PM and she is hesitant to meet up with him at this time of the night.

            But it’s not like she’s never met him late at night. And 10 PM isn’t at all ‘late’. Besides she doesn’t have to meet up with him. This could only be some regular phone conversation.

            Why feel so awkward, Jiyeon? You guys are doing okay now. One normal phone call won’t ruin anything, right?  Right?

            She sits upstraight and presses the number of L. Joe’s cell after minutes of contemplating.

            The line’s connected through and she can hear the familiar voice at the end of the line.

            “Hey Jiyeon, what up?”

            “Hello, L. Joe.” Jiyeon draws her hair behind her hair as it’s starting to become a distraction. “Am I bothering you?”

            “Nope. What’s up?”

            “Nothing. It’s just that-“

            “Do you miss me, cuz I do miss you. A lot.” All of a sudden. L. Joe’s voice sounded so serious and she is starting to believe him. Her heart skips a beat.

            “L. Joe...”

            The notion is completely shattered as she can hear the sound of his devilish chuckling.

           “Are you ing high or something L. Joe?” Her tone was angry. “I need to ask you a question.”

            “I was just kiddin. Gee, why so serious. Don’t get mad at me. I can’t handle two people not talking to me okay. It’s too much. Seriously, pick another day.”

            “What are you talking about? Who’s mad at you?”

            “Hoya,” he answers crisply.

            “Why?”

            “Nothing. It’s a small matter anyway. So, you wanted to ask me...?”

            “Oh. Right.” She clears his voice while mentally battling with her mind to sort out words that are jumbled together to ask the curious question about the vacation in Japan.

            “I heard that- my dad told me, I mean, that umm, are we like going somewhere this weekend, if I’m not mistaken, like together on a holiday in like, Japan or something?”

            L. Joe’s silence at the end of the line makes her feel anxious.

            “L. Joe...”

            “I’m still here.” He later breathes out. “True. I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you sooner.”

            “It’s fine. So, what, like, is it happening?”

            L. Joe’s mind flashes back on his promise with Jinyoung. This vacation might be a big move for Jinyoung to tell Jiyeon about his feelings and no doubt Jiyeon will definitely accept him, and that’s the thing he fears about. To have his best friend date each other.

            “Yup,” his voice sounds hoarse suddenly. “And Jinyoung and Hoya will be joining us.”

            “What? Are you kidding me? This isn’t fair. This will be like, boys night out. It’s unfair for me.”

            “What do mean by unfair? I don’t want to just spend this vacation seeing your face, it’ll be boring. I want my boys with me. If you have a problem with it, then don’t bother to come along.” Jinyoung will definitely kill him for this.

            “You’re despicable, L. Joe.”

            “Glad you know that.”

            “Ugh! Good night, leech.”

            “Good night octopus.”

            Jyeon pauses for a moment when she is about to hang up. She gasps greatly at the end of the line and breathes out, “Are you calling me fat?”

            “What? No, I was not calling you fat.” L. Joe’s starting to  freak out. He doesn’t foresee his joke to be taken seriously.  “B-but you called me leech first.”

            “Don’t try to change the topic. You just called me fat. How could you! That’s rude and disrespectful.”

            “W-what? I wasn’t trying to change- what, Jiyeon, you’re not fat.  I was not calling you fat. I never see you as a fat woman.”

            “I hate you! How could you say that to me? Don’t you know you’re supposed to say how fat a woman looks because that’s the most disgraceful thing to say."

            “Are you ing kidding me? I never called you fat. Didn’t you hear what I just-”

            “And now you’re calling me deaf?! My Lord, L. Joe, I will forever hate you! Do you hear me you stupid jerk, I will forever hate you!” Then the line goes dead even before L. Joe manages to process the new break-out situation.

     sorry fot the long wait. enjoy reading <3