For the rest of the day, Taekwoon stayed away from Yooji. By the time they got back to the hotel, the girl was certain that he was avoiding her, for reasons unknown to her. She was annoyed and was about to go after Taekwoon, but someone grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Hongbin?”

“I’ll talk to Taekwoon hyung, noona.”

Yooji was confused, “huh?”

“I think I know why he’s been acting like that the whole day,” Hongbin said, “go get some rest and don’t think about it, okay?”

The younger boy bounded up the stairs before Yooji could say anything.

----

Hongbin entered Taekwoon’s shared room with Jaehwan and Wonshik without knocking, startling the room’s occupants. Taekwoon was sitting on his bed, scrolling through something on his phone.

“Yah! Learn how to knock next time!” Jaehwan chided.

“Taekwoon hyung,” Hongbin called, but got no acknowledgement, “you saw us last night, didn’t you?”

He noticed Taekwoon pause his movements for a short few seconds, before resuming what he had been doing.

“What are you talking about?” Wonshik asked.

“You saw noona and I at the pool, didn’t you?” Hongbin repeated, this time earning a glare from Taekwoon.

“Okay, wow, I am confused here,” Jaehwan said, “what is going on?”

Hongbin sighed, “last night, when I went downstairs to get a drink, I saw noona alone by the pool, seemingly deep in thought. So I went to check up on her. I guess Taekwoon hyung saw us and misunderstood something. You think there’s something going on between noona and I, don’t you, hyung?”

He knew he hit bull’s eye from the way Taekwoon was looking at him.

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding the both of us the whole day, isn’t it?”

“Wait, so that’s why hyung looked like a royally pissed off hamster the whole day?!” Jaehwan exclaimed.

Taekwoon was ready to lunge at Jaehwan if it wasn’t for Wonshik who held him back.

“Gosh, hyung,” Hongbin chuckled, “I don’t like Yooji noona the way you do, okay? She’s really just an elder sister to me!”

“Hyung!” Wonshik’s eyes widened, “you like Yooji noona?!”

And that was all it took for Taekwoon to divert his frustration to the boy who was restraining him.

----

“Alright, kids! Time to go!” Jaejoong called