Nam Woohyun, out of all of the hole-in-the-wall restaurants that he could be in the entire city of Seoul, why did he have to be in this one? Sunggyu swore that it was because Fate wanted to screw with him again. Every time Sunggyu let his guard down, this wolf would creep into his fold, and now he was picking off Sunggyu’s flock. Or was Kate begging to be dragged away by him? She was red in the cheeks and giggling at nothing in particular. That might’ve been the alcohol, or it could’ve been something else. Sunggyu eyed Nam Woohyun suspiciously as he sat down right beside Kate. It was obvious that she wasn’t in the right state of mind. Anyone could tell that from several feet away. Is that why he’s here? He shoot a glance over towards Kate. Or did she call him?

Sunggyu decided not to beat around the bush. There was no need to be delicate when there was a potential predator prowling in his territory. “What are you doing here?”

Woohyun leaned back in his chair. His smile had changed from a happy grin to a sly smile. His eyes darted around the small room. Sunggyu tried to follow his eyes’ path, but ended up dizzy (he had some to drink too). After a few more seconds of keeping Sunggyu perplexed, Woohyun finally revealed, “This is my family’s restaurant. I saw that Kate was drinking by herself, so I joined her.”

This place? This place is his? Was Sunggyu the one infiltrating his territory? Was he the predator stalking on another’s grounds? Sunggyu could’ve sworn that Woohyun’s family had an upperclass establishment with a dresscode and meals paired with wine. Not this. Not a place that looked like it was handed down from one generation to the next with cheap soju and even cheaper dishes. But then Sunggyu finally noticed what Woohyun eyes had been fixed on, pictures of Woohyun throughout stages of his life with what seemed to be his parents and an older brother. I guess it really is his. How many times had we been here? “Aish,” he cursed out loud and winced. The wolf cackled at that. Sunggyu opened his eyes again to glare at him, but then his eyes flew to the side of the place where the kitchen was. That ahjumma...is that his mother? Sunggyu’s mind raced through every conversation he’s had with her, when he’d apologize for Kate and Sungyeol who were being exceptionally loud, when he’d flatter her in hopes of getting service...when she’d talk about her son around his age. Woohyun’s eyes followed his gaze, and he cocked an eyebrow when he saw his mother in the kitchen.

“He’s a good friend,” Kate spoke, tearing Sunggyu’s attention away. Friend? Sunggyu looked back and forth between the other two. Exactly how close are they? Kate then put a bottle in front of his face. “He told me that this was water. You!” She slammed the bottle back down on the table and pointed a finger rudely at his face. “You’re a bad, bad, bad, bet a bad, bad friend,” she growled in English.

Woohyun leaned forward across the table, closer to Sunggyu. “What is she even saying?” he whispered.

Sunggyu pressed his back up flat against the wall. “I don’t know. She’s tipsy,” he grumbled back. He then watched Woohyun sit back in his seat and take a sip from his own soju glass. “Should you be drinking?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun paused, with his glass to his lips. “Can’t I?” he challenged. Sunggyu scoffed and scanned the room. In spite of it being in the middle of the week, the place was quite packed  (because the food was quite good, regardless of what day of the week it was, and reasonably priced). Yet, here was the wolf laying in the grass at his leisure. Woohyun frowned and finished what was left in his glass before setting it roughly on the table. “I don’t help out on weekdays. My mom won’t allow it. She says that students should be students. They should study and play with their friends,” he explained. He then nodded over to Kate. “I’m with a friend, and I’m playing.” Kate grinned broadly at that and nodded emphatically. She then rolled up her sleeves and put out her hands in the shape of ‘mandu’ again. Woohyun smiled again and did the same. But his smile left as he looked over towards Sunggyu. “Are you going to play with us?” there was a bite to his voice.

Kate nudged her old friend several times with her elbow until he finally gave in. “Sure, but not that game,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest in protest to the game. “Who plays it with two hands? You guys are embarrassing.”

“Hey, it was fun,” Woohyun argued. His attention then flew over to Kate. “Right?”

She nodded again. “I’m betting on you!” she happily exclaimed in English.

Sunggyu lowered his voice as he spoke to the other man, “This is why I started giving her water.” He gradually pulled the soju bottle away from Kate so that she wouldn’t notice. She did, and she took the one in front of Woohyun.

But Woohyun wouldn’t let her have it. He grabbed it back from the giggling girl. “I got it. I got it,” he huffed. “Only water from now on.” He wagged a finger at her. “You’re sneaky,” he spoke in a reprimanding tone. But seeing Kate smile as she tried to reach for his bottle again, he just let her take it. Sunggyu scoffed again. Nam Woohyun was surprisingly weak. Sunggyu took the bottle away from his friend and handed it back to his enemy.

“So no mandu,” he reiterated as Woohyun took the bottle back into his hands. “What game should we play?”

As it would turn out, Woohyun had several games up his sleeves, and once he had it literally up his sleeve, taking out a kleenex and challenging them to see who could make themselves sneeze first. Sunggyu suspected that Woohyun made most of them up on the spot, especially the one that they were playing right now, seeing how many chopsticks that Kate could place side-by-side down his arm. But they would roll off as soon as she put them on. “Lose my focus,” she grumbled in her native tongue as she fought to keep a stubborn chopstick on Woohyun’s arm. When it fell down onto the table with a soft clank, she let out a groan and had her own head thud loudly against the table.

Sunggyu sighed as he moved her hair out of the empty dishes. Kate was more tired than drunk at this point. Not only was she ‘losing her focus’ but also was losing her fight against sleep. Her eyes were half-way open, slowly closing more and more. Woohyun’s weird games had stopped her from drinking too much more, tired her out, and (even better) kept a smile on her face. Even though he’d known her for years, sullen Kate was a rare sight, and it made him feel like`world had been its end, up was down, and Kate’s usual smile was a frown. So Kate, nearly passed out on the table, was much more preferable to Sunggyu.

“How much has she had to drink?” Woohyun asked as he was collecting the utensils that she’d dispersed all over the table.

Sunggyu scanned the table. There were only a few bottles on the table, and three of them. “Not that much,” he concluded.

Woohyun chuckled as he poked at her head through her mess of hair. “She’s a lightweight, huh?” he teased.

Kate then raised her head only to place it in her arms, hiding her face. “Give me the light,” Sunggyu could’ve sworn that she mumbled that English phrase, but it made no sense. Whether it made sense or not, Sunggyu pulled at her shoulders until she was sitting upright and in full light. It must’ve done something right because she muttered “Thanks” through her barely moving lips.

“Is that a drinking habit of hers?” Woohyun asked in a low voice. “Saying random things in English?”

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu answered. Just then, Kate’s head started to fall back down, almost hitting the table again, almost. Sunggyu saved it from doing so. He pushed her back upright with his hand on her forehead, keeping her still. When she seemed steady, Sunggyu let her go with a sigh. “She’s never been drunk before.”

“Really?!” Woohyun exclaimed.

Sunggyu crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were still on his friend, not letting her out of his sight. “Yea. Really,” he mumbled.

Suddenly, Kate opened her eyes fully and turned her head towards Sunggyu. “Gyu? Do you hear me?” she whispered in English. Her voice was raspy from being tired (and from yelling for most of the night). Cautiously, Sunggyu nodded in response. At least he could understand her, but what he was slightly scared about what she might say next. He glanced over at the man across from them, who was lying in wait and eager to hear what she had to say. Kate seemed to have rallied because her voice was coherent. “You’re a really good friend,” she said and reach over to pat his shoulder. She then faced Woohyun. “Both of you are good friends,” she had a warm smile on her face as she spoke that. She dropped her gaze along with her voice. “And you guys really cheered me up tonight. Thank you for being here.”

Sunggyu then poked at her and poked her again until she looked at him. His friend looked up at him with clear eyes. She must’ve really sobered up. It was his chance. The question he’d been wanting to ask all night finally sprang from his lips: “Kate, why are you doing this?”

The smile grew wider on her face until it overtook everything, her eyes disappearing into it. Kate lifted her hands, placing them on each side of Sunggyu’s cheeks and then squishing his face together. “You are my shining star, and I love you so,” she returned to talking in her native tongue. Or Kate was still drunk.

“I don’t think you’re going to get an answer out of her tonight,” Woohyun stated the obvious as he stood up from his chair and walked over to the other side of the drunken girl who was still playing with Sunggyu’s cheeks. Woohyun reached over her shoulders and pried her hands off of the man’s poor, abused face. “Jah! Let’s get her home.”

“I’ll just take her to my place,” Sunggyu’s voice was muffled as he was rubbing his cheeks. He dropped his hands down to his side with a sigh. He only had one bed at his place, and part of him was hoping that Kate was drunk enough to pass out on the floor (he had a very finicky back). He then raised his gaze back up to Kate, and subsequently the man still hovering behind her, looming like an omen. His eyes were black and sharp, cutting through Sunggyu. Does he know what I’m thinking? Ah no, he can’t . “It’s closer,” he reasoned. But the wolf’s glare was still fixed on him. “I’m not going to do anything to her! I swear!” Sunggyu shouted, trying to guess what the other was thinking behind those cold eyes. He then grumbled, too low for Woohyun to hear, “If anybody would, it’s someone like you.” He’s not worth paying attention to anymore. It’s time to go. Sunggyu gently patted Kate’s arm, trying to stir her into action. “Kate, let’s go home.”

Kater recoiled and covered her arms. “No way! No waaaaay!” she yelped.

Woohyun, who was still behind her, leaned forward until she could see his face. Then there was that grin, sly and canines peeking over his lips. “What if oppa carries you all the way home?”

Kate suddenly perked up. “Okay okay!”

“I thought you meant you’d carry her,” Sunggyu groaned as he stopped in his tracks in order to push Kate up his back and get a more secure hold on her. She had slowly been slipping down his back, and she weighed just enough to make this trip home really hard on Sunggyu. It was still possible, but barely so. Sunggyu continued walking and glared out of the corner of his eye at the man next to him, who was chuckling as he rearranged their bags on his shoulders.

“Nope,” Woohyun replied cheekily. “Kate’s older than me by a few months.”

“That would’ve been nice to know,” Sunggyu mumbled as he shifted his glare from the man to the girl on his back. She knew. She had to know that Woohyun was younger, but she agreed to make Sunggyu’s life a living Hell tonight (in his own opinion). Nam Woohyun is a bad influence on you . Sunggyu sighed (which sounded more like a grunt) and shook his head. Maybe this wolf was more like a werewolf, and with one bite, he could convert others, turning them into his followers. Sunggyu glanced at the other, keeping a close eye on him, and took a step to the side and away from Woohyun. He won’t get me .

Woohyun cocked an eyebrow as he watched the elder step away from him and then teetering a bit from the (great) weight on his back (Kate was only a lightweight in terms of drinking). “Well, it got her up and out,” he remarked. Woohyun juggled the three bookbags in his arms again. He was no longer laughing at Sunggyu’s misery. Sunggyu hoped that his suffering was boring Nam Woohyun now so that the wolf could move onto the next target. But that tight thin line across Nam Woohyun’s face was just as disconcerting. Sunggyu couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“It did,” Sunggyu admitted. He jostled Kate again on his back, who was still murmuring nonsense. Her head was rolling off to the side. Woohyun stepped closer and with a forefinger on her forehead, he pushed her head back onto the center of the back. All the while, Sunggyu watched him carefully as the other then pulled back and stepped away from them. The corner of his mouth twitched as he did so. Sunggyu pulled away his gaze from the other and looked forward. “Thanks for helping out,” he spoke lowly, regretting saying it as soon as it left his tongue. But Nam Woohyun didn’t have to help her home like this. It left Sunggyu wondering what exactly the younger wanted to get from this. Her?

The smile, that fake smile, it came back. “It’s no problem,” Woohyun responded. He nodded over to the girl slumped on Sunggyu’s back. “It’s kinda worrisome to see her like this.”

“Woah!” Sunggyu lost his grip slightly on her. “Worrisome? For you?” he asked.

Woohyun nodded. “She’s my friend,” he added.

“Since when?!” Sunggyu raised his voice in disbelief.

“Conversational English Club,” Woohyun answered with a slight chuckle, but it died quickly. And the night felt eerily silent for a moment until Woohyun added seconds later, “She and Sungyeol still go, you know.”

“Yea.” Actually he didn’t know, or at least he didn’t think of it. After he left the club, the club left his mind. But of course those two would’ve kept attending the meetings. Just because Sunggyu left, didn’t mean that they had to.

“Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea,” speak of the devil , Kate roused from her sleep and began singing to an unknown tune. “And can you smile?”

“Yes. See,” Woohyun responded and gave her a large, bright smile. Sunggyu could feel his friend giggle and move her head, looking away from Woohyun. Those two play well together , Sunggyu thought as his eyes fixed on those gleaming teeth. He doesn’t smile like that around me. As only more proof of that, right as Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s gaze, their eyes met and the smile twitched and fell. Why is he like that?

Sunggyu faced forward. They should be getting home soon, which was good because he was losing feeling in his arms. “I thought she was being too quiet,” he joked. He bounced the girl on his back. “Yah, are you just being a creep, listening to us and pretending to be asleep?” he chided her.

“I hear that never forget you. I will find my baby,” Kate rambled on in English.

Woohyun sputtered into a short laugh. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu mumbled in response. Maybe her time abroad had robbed Kate of her English because Sunggyu was pretty sure that was just barely a sentence. But he’d been finished with her nonsense soon and with his Herculean labor. They had just to his street. In just a few more feet, they’d be home. Sunggyu hazard a glance over at his ‘helper.’ What do I do with you? Woohyun was just feet away from his home. He was going to know where it was and who knew what he’d do with that information. Would he come back? Sunggyu pushed that to the back of his mind. First things first. “Are her eyes closed?” he asked.

Woohyun stepped closer again, until he was hovering over the back of Sunggyu’s shoulder. Does he really need to get that close? “Eung,” Woohyun then hummed lowly, near the other’s ear, before pulling away, retreating back to a safe distance (for Sunggyu). “I think she’s asleep,” he whispered.

“Good,” Sunggyu snapped back, a bit above a whisper. “She was kinda yelling in my ear. It hurt,” he lamented, only to earn chuckles from the other. “What?” Sunggyu challenged with a mean glare.

Woohyun bit his lip and shook his head, acting as if he hadn’t laughed at all. “Nothing. You’re different than I thought you were,” he answered with a shrug.

Sunggyu stopped at the steps of his building, facing the other straight on. “What do you mean?”

“Just that,” Woohyun put vaguely. His face was shadowed in the darkening sky. “You’re different. Completely.”

Sunggyu waited for him to continue, but Woohyun wouldn’t say anything more. They were just staring at each other at the stairs. Then the street lamp over the steps flickered on, chasing away the shadows of the night.  And Sunggyu could see Woohyun’s face in the full light. Apprehensive. Timid. Why did he look like he’d just been lured into a trap?

Suddenly tired, Sunggyu slowly sat down on the steps, carefully putting down his friend first, resting her body against the railing. After he was down, Sunggyu moved his shoulders back and forth and rolled his neck. He hadn’t realized it early, but he was out of breath from the exertion. Although he didn’t have quite enough air to ask, he did so anyway, slightly panting, “What did you think of me before?”

Woohyun cocked an eyebrow. “Do you really want to know?” he challenged.

“Yes,” Sunggyu blurted out but seconds later he shook his head and took it all back, “No.” He then cursed, rubbing his back, “Aish! I think I pulled my back.”

“That’s it!” Woohyun exclaimed and started cackling evilly again. “You’re totally an old man!” he teased. “I was going to say that you’re like her dad, but now I’m starting to think grandpa.”

“Yah!” Sunggyu snapped. His hands stopped rubbing his back and folded into fists at his knee.

“Sh!” Woohyun hushed him, putting a finger to his lips. “You’re going to wake her up,” he whispered and waved in the direction of Kate. Sunggyu pouted and felt himself growing hot. Woohyun was the only who first started to raise his voice, getting excited. And now when Sunggyu naturally followed along, he felt like he’d done wrong. His pouted deepened when he heard Woohyun trying to stifle a chuckle. Sunggyu raised his gaze to him, about to snap, but the laughter had died and Woohyun was looking towards the right. “Oh,” he muttered and faced the other again with the uneasy smile, complete with the corner of his lip trembling. He unloaded himself, placing the bookbags at the foot of the stairs. “Here are your bags. I’ll see you around, okay?” he said before stepping away, getting ready to walk away.

Sunggyu jumped up from his seat and began yelling after the other, “Y-yah! Nam Woohyun! You aren’t going to help me carry her up?”

“Nope!” Woohyun shouted back cheekily. He was already half-way down the hill, but he began walking backwards and waved at the other. “Good night, Kim Sunggyu!” he wished him before turning around and disappearing around the corner in a slight jog.

“Jerk,” Sunggyu grumbled as he sat back down on the steps. He turned to look at his friend behind him, frowning deeply. “How am I supposed to carry all of this?” he mused aloud. He could only come to one conclusion: just don’t carry her. He nudged her and urged her, “Wake up.”

Kate’s eyelids fluttered but were just barely open. “Wake up. Wake up,” she mumbled in English and rubbed her tired eyes. She leaned away from the railing but was swaying when she tried to sit up straight. Kate still needed help to get up stairs. A lot of help.

“Was that Nam Woohyun?”

“Ack!” Sunggyu yelped. He lost his breath again and now his heart. It was racing in his chest as he growled, “Myungsoo! How long have you been there?”

“Not long,” Myungsoo answered back coolly as he leaned against the railing. But he looked past the elder and down the street.  “It was him,” he concluded with a frown. “Why didn’t he stay? I haven’t seen him in awhile.”

Sunggyu’s eyes immediately dropped to the hand gripping the railing. I think I know. The hand looked fine now, but Sunggyu remembered what had happened to it and how the pain from that day still followed his neighbor. Sunggyu decided to let it be. It was too late to be bringing up (literally) old scars, especially when he still had a fearsome trouble at hand: drunk Kate. “Soo, can you help me?” Sunggyu asked.

“Sure,” Myungsoo immediately agreed and moved around the railing to help. He helped Kate back up to her feet, who then told him that “success is the best revenge.” Did she know about his history with Woohyun? Exactly how close were those two? Sunggyu had a list about a meter long full of questions that he wanted to ask her. Unfortunately, his curiosity had to painfully wait until morning when she felt like speaking coherently again...and in Korean.

But fortunately, she could sort of make it up the stairs, but she was relying on Myungsoo for support who more or less dragged her up the stairs. And even better, she did end up crawling into Sunggyu’s apartment, curling up on the floor, and falling asleep. Sunggyu gently placed a pillow under her head and threw a blanket over her body before sending off Myungsoo with many ‘thank yous.’ After he shut the door, he stared at the girl on the floor. Right there was a wasted night that could’ve been spent studying, that he had planned on studying. Or was it truly a waste? Sunggyu didn’t get out much anymore after he quit the club. He’d forgotten what being human was like rather than just (barely) living like a studying-machine. It was nice. Even though Nam Woohyun was there, it was nice. Really nice .

“Who you love, who loves you.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu hummed as he peeked out of his bathroom door with a toothbrush still hanging out of his mouth. Great, now she’s sleeping talking, Sunggyu thought as he watched Kate roll over onto her side. He stepped back into the bathroom and began rinsing his mouth out. As he was doing so and had a mouth full of water, she said something else: “Just another lonely night, lonely night without you.”

Sunggyu looked at his reflection in the mirror and swallowed down the water harshly before leaving the bathroom. “Are you really going to be whining about being alone when I’m right here?” he asked in a low tone, hovering over her. And of course, now was the time when she fell silent, when he’d wanted to talk, when he needed to talk. The silence soon grew oppressive, heavier on Sunggyu’s back than when he’d carried Kate. It was a lonely night indeed. Sure he had company, but she wasn’t really there. She was no better company than a ghost or a fish. In fact, Sunggyu felt lonelier because of it, because there was the temptation. Here was his best friend, but he couldn’t say a word to her. Torture. Sunggyu sighed and went over to his bed, crawling under the covers and hoping that sleep would swiftly overtake him too. But it didn’t. Who you love, who loves you...who you love...who loves you...who you love...who...what sort of person would he love?

“Please, look at me, look at me, look at me

I can feel you, like this, feel you, feel you

Struggling to catch your expressions

Struggling to catch your smiles

You, who I struggled to understand

In the place where we were together

In the moment where I resembled you

When it felt too good being soaked in the rain

You are gone, gone.”

That singing, it wasn’t Kate. First of all, it was in Korean, and second, Kate was snoring away in the middle of his floor. It wasn’t her. It was some other girl singing, and she was right outside his window. Sunggyu rolled out of bed and walked to his window. His window just above and a little to the left of the steps that lead up to his building, which is why Myungsoo’s random singing and playing at odd hours of the day had bothered him. But this wasn’t Myungsoo either. It was his little sister, singing on the stairs of the building in the middle of the night.

“Myungeun-ah,” he called out to her in a loud whisper as to not wake up the entire neighborhood. At the sound of her name, the teenager immediately stiffened and stood up, searching for whoever had called her. “It’s late. Why are you awake?” Sunggyu chided her, and probably because of that she figured out who was looking for her.

“Oppa!” she called back to him happily and waved, as if being out in the middle of the street in the bleak hours of the night were a normal thing for a teenager to do. And to sing on top of that. “I couldn’t sleep,” she explained, pouting as she twiddled her thumbs. “I have a big audition tomorrow, so I thought I’d practice.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Sunggyu said to her with a proud smile. “You sing really well, like really well.” He clapped a little for her (laughing as she bowed). “Two thumbs up!” he exclaimed and gave her two thumbs up.

“I know!” Myungeun replied cheekily, but there was a faint blush in her cheeks. She’d been flattered by the praise. “That’s why I wanted to be a singer.” She then eyed him suspiciously. “You sound surprised, oppa,” she sounded disappointed.

To be honest, he was surprised, completely surprised. The only time he’d heard her sing, Myungeun went horribly off-key. And Sunggyu had assumed that her ambition was similar to her brother’s, having a dream that she put little effort towards. However, she had put in the effort, a whole lot of it. She had a solid technique, a good color to her voice. She... She could actually do this . But Sunggyu would never admit to thinking so little of her, especially not the night before a big audition. “Uh...it’s late,” he tried to change the topic. “You should really go to bed and rest your voice.”

“True,” Myungeun admitted as she kicked her foot against a step. She was hesitant and wanted to practice more, but knew what she should do. “I’m nervous, but…” She bit her lip before continuing, “I have a really good feeling about this one, oppa. I think this could be it!”

“I think so too,” and Sunggyu meant it. Myungeun had what it took: the talent and the drive. But what she needed was sleep. Sunggyu put on a stern expression and pointed at the door. “It’s late!” he repeated once more. “Come inside and sleep!”

“Okay,” Myungeun grumbled and walked up the steps. Sunggyu waited until he could hear her coming up the main staircase and walk into her apartment. Myungeun made it easy for him because she stomped all the way back home. Sunggyu smiled as he heard the door close and he crawled back into his bed.

Once he was under the covers again, he was plagued with guilt. He had misjudged her completely. Sunggyu wished that he’d given her more encouragement rather than treating her like a child with a pipe dream. But even worse, it lead him to wonder if he might’ve misjudged anyone else just as badly.

Struggling to catch your smiles...You, who I struggled to understand.

Sunggyu felt like he’d barely slept once his alarm rang, which would be the case. He’d only shut his eyes for a few hours, but his brain wouldn’t turn off. Restless, he’d been restless the whole night and he was almost grateful that the alarm rang, almost until he realized he’d have to spend the entire day sleep-deprived and irritable, which wasn’t the best mood…

“Good morning.”

It wasn’t the best mood to deal with that. Sunggyu sat up in his bed while rubbing the sleep away from his face. After blinking a few times, his vision cleared and he could see his friend who was just as exhausted and miserable as he was. “Don’t ever drink that much again,” he warned her.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Kate grumbled. Her hands were furiously rubbing at her temples. “My head,” she whined. Sunggyu rolled his eyes and opened up a drawer in his bedside table. After finding it inside, he threw the bottle of painkillers at her. She wasn’t even upset to be hit by them. She was just grateful to see them. “Thanks,” her lips barely moved as she struggled to open the bottle. A shiver ran down Sunggyu’s spine. This was eerily similar to last night when she kept trying to line up chopsticks along... This is not the time . Kate gave up on the bottle temporarily and went into the kitchen to grab some water for the pills.

“Do you like Sungyeol?” Sunggyu finally asked one of the many questions that plagued him last night. Kate shuffled out of the kitchen with a cup held securely in both hands. She shrugged as her answer, or at least she tried to. Sunggyu glared at her sternly until she gave in and nodded. “Why don’t you just tell him?” he spoke with a slight whine. He couldn’t help it. He was frustrated, and Kate was slowly ruining the small circle of friends he had with her insecurities.

“I’m a coward,” she admitted shamelessly as she sat back down on the floor. She put down her cup and picked up the bottle once again, renewing her struggle against it.

At least she knows it , Sunggyu thought. He almost preferred that she didn’t because now he was failing to see what her problem was. “What’s so hard? He obviously likes you back,” he declared.

“Yea, for now,” Kate huffed. She stopped trying to open up the bottle and clenched it in her hands. “But how long is that going to last? How long will he like me?” She tore her gaze from the bottle and looked up at her friend with a thinly drawn smile. “I’m not confident in being a good girlfriend for him, but I make a great friend. Just look at us. Still going strong after all these years.” Her smile grew wider as she talked. Being a friend was something that she was confident in.

But Sungyeol wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. No one would, Sunggyu thought. “And it’s just going to be you and me years later. Alone together and bitter about our lives,” he pointed out in a grim voice.

Kate gave him a sly look. “Will we really be alone if we’re together?” she argued.

“Yes,” Sunggyu replied without a second thought, remembering how he’d felt the night before. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life like that. He didn’t want that for Kate either. But there was at least a way for her to avoid that fate: “You should tell him.”

“What? That I like him?” Kate’s eyes bugged out as she asked the question. Sunggyu nodded. And in spite of her throbbing head, she shook her head furiously. “No!” she whined. Finally her head couldn’t withstand anymore shaking, and she stopped, but her tongue kept moving: “What if, down the line, things don’t turn out so well? We break up and I lose him? What then?”

Sunggyu narrowed his already droopy eyes on her. “What makes you think that’s going to happen?” he asked.

“What makes you think that it won’t?” she retorted. The bottle finally popped open, and that was the only sound between them for a few moments as Sunggyu struggled to find an answer. He could only come up with one. It wasn’t so much of an answer as it was a feeling, and so it was difficult for him to put it into words.

“Because you’re Kate and Sungyeol. You guys...go well together,” he slowly stumbled his way through an answer. He was scratching the back of his neck as he said that, but he stopped to wag his finger in admonishment to his friend. “And you’re only going to lose him if you keeping pushing him away.”

Kate spilled a couple of pills on the floor, but didn’t care. She looked up to her friend in panic. “I don’t want to lose him! He’s the best friend that I’ve ever had!” she blurted out frantically.

“Yah!” Sunggyu yelled as he threw a pillow at her head. “I’m your best friend!” he reminded her.

Kate just let the pillow fall down into her lap. She smiled at her friend apologetically as he picked up the fallen pills from the floor. “Sorry, oppa. You lost that title when you left me for the stinking army,” she excused herself, trying to soften the blow by talking to him formally (sort of). Sunggyu sighed. It wasn’t like he had a choice. He had to leave. And it probably was the best thing he did if she met Sungyeol as a result. But as he was contemplating that in his mind, he’d almost missed her saying: “That’s why I’m trying to find you a new best friend.”

“Really? Who?” he muttered in disbelief. He pointed over at the wall which was shared between the two apartments. “Myungsoo?”

Kate shook her head. “No. Nam Woohyun.”

“What? Nam Woohyun?” Sunggyu repeated. Is she still drunk? She wasn’t making any sense. “You mean that wolf, Nam Woohyun? That deceptive creep?”

“Oh god, Sunggyu!” Kate had had it. She put a hand over her heart. “When are you going to realize that I’m the clever and deceptive one and not Nam Woohyun? Hm?” she argued. “I was the one who started to invite him to our lunches. And then you, ya big jerk, disinvited him on the first day!” she revealed with a snarl, looking Sunggyu up and down with disdain. “I told him that you guys could walk together after class to the cafeteria. I guess he forgot to tell you that he was eating with us, and what did you do? ‘I don’t eat.’ Who is going to believe that?” she asked with a scoff.

“Nam Woohyun did,” Sunggyu retorted.

“No one would believe that!” Kate came back.

“Why do you want me to eat with him so badly?” Sunggyu deflected the attention off of him and back onto her. “I thought you had a crush on him or something.”

Kate waved her hands frantically. “No, no, no,” she denied. “I just wanted you guys to talk things out because, somehow, you guys completely misunderstood each other,” she explained.

“Misunderstood?” Sunggyu repeated with a scoff. “I think I know Nam Woohyun very well.”

“Oh my god, can you please stop calling him Nam Woohyun? He’s like the only Woohyun we know!” Kate exclaimed. She picked up the pillow on her lap and threw it back at her friend, straight at his head. And when it fell away, Sunggyu saw her smug face. No, it wasn’t smug the more he looked at it. It was almost sad; resigned was probably the word for it. “Well, I guess you don’t know him at all,” she remarked. “You guys would make good friends if you just stop being so stubborn. The both of you. You guys are giving me a migraine.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just the hangover,” Sunggyu made a joke out of it, not knowing what else to say. Kate gave a short nod in agreement and popped the pills into finally. Sunggyu finally got out of bed. He needed to get ready for the day. Kate did too. However, he wasn’t finished with her. He had even more questions for her now. “Why do you think we’d even be friends?” the question was low.

But Kate still heard it and answered. “I’m a good judge of character.” She then tried to take a drink from her cup but ended up spilling it all over her shirt. “Oh ,” she cursed.

Sunggyu tutted at her as he put on his sweatshirt. How can she be a good judge of character if she can’t even judge where is , he thought. He was starting to question if she knew him at all, or if there was a marked difference between the Sunggyu before his service and after. There probably was a difference; there had to be. Two years is a much longer time than one assumes. All Sunggyu had to do was look at Kate for proof of that. Her style had changed. She’d grown to be more mature in his absence, in some ways more than others. In other ways, she’d become more childish.

“Hey before, when you said that you thought I had a crush on Woohyun,” Kate began the question as Sunggyu was pulling his head through the opening of his hoodie.

“Yea,” he grunted as he gestured for her to turn around so that he could change his pants. Kate did so and continued her question.

“Do you think Sungyeol thinks I do too?”

“To be honest, right now, Sungyeol probably thinks you have a crush on every guy besides him,” he answered bluntly. “You’ve been treating him badly lately. I know why because I’ve seen you do this before. But Yeol has no clue.”

Sunggyu glanced over at her, but her back was still turned to him. Her knees were now pulled to her chest and her back hunched. “So what? I go up to him and say ‘Sorry that I’ve been disregarding you lately but it’s because I’m afraid of losing you?’” she spoke as if it were ridiculous.

“Yea.” As ridiculous as it sounded, it was the only viable solution that Sunggyu could see.

Kate craned her neck back to look at him with a shy grin on her face. “Can you say it for me? You’re better at talking than I am,” she begged. As an answer, Sunggyu tossed her jacket at her so that it covered her head. “Okay, I’ll tell him later.”

Sunggyu should’ve given her a deadline, made her promise to confess to Sungyeol by the end of the day, or at least talk to him in private, because Kate appeared to have no intention of talking to Sungyeol today more than necessary. In fact after her conversation with Sunggyu that morning, she seemed more shy around her lackey more than ever. A master afraid of her own slave. And Sungyeol didn’t know how to react to Kate moving away every time that he got closer. Sunggyu tucked his lips in, forcing himself back from revealing everything. Kate had to do this herself.

The next day was no better. Actually it was probably worse. After Professor Kang’s lecture, Sunggyu walked to the cafeteria to eat with those two bumbling doofuses (and him suffering in silence once more). But he halted his step and ducked behind an open door. Kate was talking to none other than (Nam) Woohyun at the entrance of the cafeteria, whom Sunggyu hadn’t seen since that (long and awkward) night. And he had no intention of ‘seeing’ him again (but spying on him from behind a door was perfectly fine).

“Can I eat with you guys today?” the wolf asked her. He looked anxious. Why?

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” Kate replied sadly. “Somehow those two got it stuck in their heads that I have a crush on you.”

Woohyun burst into a roaring laugh and hit the other playfully on the shoulder. Kate laughed too, shying away from his ‘attacks.’ Those two, they were acting as if it were a ridiculous notion, but at the same time, they were acting as if they liked each other in that way, flirting. “What? Didn’t you tell them about me?” he asked after the laughter left him.

Kate shook her head. “I didn’t think it was my place. You should tell them, especially Sung…”

“What are you doing over here?”

Sunggyu yelped and grabbed at his heart. Sungyeol had snuck up on him while he was spying. And because Sunggyu was too busy gathering himself up again after the scare, he couldn’t stop Sungyeol from seeing Kate and Woohyun together. “Oh,” dropped from his lips as soon as he caught sight of the two of them. Sungyeol walked around the door and up to the giggling pair (and to her credit, Kate tried to stop from laughing, but the whole situation made her so nervous that her giggles kept coming back again and again, stronger each time). With a grim expression and a cold voice, Sungyeol greeted them, “Hello. Will you be joining us today, Nam Woohyun?” Sunggyu scurried up next to them while cranking through his mind how best to handle this situation. He couldn’t think of anything.

Woohyun did. His eyes flickered over to Sunggyu and then back to Sungyeol, giving his friend a forced grin. “Nah, I told Dongwoo and Hoya that I was going to eat with them,” he excused himself. Liar .

Sungyeol’s eyes darted back and forth between them. He swallowed harshly. “You guys look good together,” his voice as dead as ever. Sunggyu’s head whipped towards him and looked at him incredulously. Is Sungyeol giving them his blessing?

“Thanks! I think we have similar smiles. See!” After saying that Kate flashed a too-broad grin and Woohyun followed her, trying to mimic her smile the best he could. She tried to make a joke out of it, but it failed miserably. Kate, you’re an idiot . They looked more like a couple than ever. Woohyun seemed to have more sense and took his leaved. Kate waved at him as he walked away. “Bye Namu...hyun...ssi,” she tried to sound as formal as she could, eyes darting back to Sungyeol to see his reaction, but he kept a blank expression.

“Bye Kate-nim!” Woohyun responded back in kind. Sunggyu shook his head. It sounded more cute than formal. The both of them, idiots . “Hyung-nim,” Woohyun added with one last wave before darting down the hall. Was that me? Sunggyu asked. He glanced behind him. Woohyun could’ve been talking to Sungyeol, he supposed. Is he older than him too?

Hyung-nim or no, Sunggyu fully intended to keep avoiding the wolf as he’d been accustomed to doing. It was safe this way. It was habit, although Woohyun had recently been in the habit of sitting next to him during Kang’s class. But it was the only seat available, and Sunggyu could bear with it. Woohyun never talked to him. They were like two stone statues standing next to each other, forever facing forward, wordlessly. Soon, Sunggyu felt his presence no more than a statue’s too. He supposed that it was better than before (or was it really?).

In addition to shunning Woohyun, Sunggyu could no longer stand being with Sungyeol and Kate either until they resolved their issues. He’d hoped that their absence would give them more time together, but every time Sunggyu would leave, Kate would take her leave as well. And no conversation ever took place, it seemed. Maybe I’ll have to talk to her again.

But Sunggyu wasn’t avoiding everyone. In fact, he was spending more and more time with his neighbors. It lifted his spirits to hang out with them. Myungeun had passed her auditions and was bursting with happiness. And Myungsoo was same as always. His sister’s success didn’t seem to spur him into any more action. He still played on the steps, waiting for his fortune to fall from the sky into his lap. At least Sunggyu could depend on Myungsoo being constant, forever playing songs on the stoop and forever holding a grudge against Woohyun (much like himself).

“Oh, I saw Woohyun-hyung today,” Myungsoo remarked as he strummed on the guitar. Sunggyu had sat down next to him on the steps when he returned home from school.

“What?” Apparently Sunggyu couldn’t depend on him. “Didn’t you say that you hate Nam Woohyun?”

Myungsoo put down his guitar and shook his head. “No, I never said that,” he insisted.

“But he broke your hand,” Sunggyu reminded him.

Myungsoo raised the said hand and moved it around freely. “Yea, by accident,” he responded. He lowered his hand, placing it back on the guitar strings. “Don’t you remember what I said?”

Sunggyu closed his eyes and tried his best to recall the three of them back in the Myung’s apartment that day. He and Myungsoo were sitting side-by-side on the couch. Myungsoo had just made the joke Sunggyu’s eyes after looking at the photo of him and the wolf. Myungeun was in front of them, eating the chicken that Sunggyu had bought for her.

“He broke my hand...by complete accident,” Myungsoo said. “He shut a door on it. We were fooling around, chasing each other around the house. Myungeun, you remember, right?”

Myungeun put the chicken down and faced them. “Eung, oppa’s finger was like this,” she stated, and she pulled her pointer finger backwards.

“Ah, right! My finger broke too,” her brother added, wincing at the memory. “Anyway, Woohyun felt guilty. He apologized and bought me my favorite teddy bear.”

“You still sleep with it,” Myungeun remarked with a sly grin.

“Yah!” Myungsoo snapped at her. He then turned and pouted to Sunggyu, probably trying to distract him from what he sister just said. “It still hurts sometimes,” he whined, reminding Sunggyu of his misery and not his teddy bear.

And it had worked. Sunggyu had concentrated on that and nothing else. In his bias against the man, Sunggyu was taking any chance he had to dislike Woohyun even more. And this was just barely a reason for him too. Even Myungsoo didn’t hold a grudge about it. It was all water under the bridge for him. And the aspiring musician could still freely play his guitar without any hindrance. So why was Sunggyu still clinging onto his grudge? Because it’s still warranted , he insisted. Myungsoo might’ve not ultimately suffered at Woohyun’s hands, but Sunggyu had still been slashed by his sharp claws.

“You met with him? But didn’t he just avoid you the other day?” Sunggyu argued.

“Oh, that,” Myungsoo muttered. “He owes me money. So he was embarrassed, but he repaid me in part today.”

“What?” Sunggyu blubbered. “He owes you money?” Myungsoo? Myungsoo who always asked Sunggyu to buy him things? Who just barely scraped by day to day? Woohyun must be in dire straits to ask money from him. And where has Myungsoo been hiding all of that money. Sunggyu glared at the other.

“Eung,” Myungsoo happily hummed along with his song.

“You guys reunite and the first thing he does is ask you for money?” Sunggyu reiterated the entire situation. The whole matter was odd.

“I offered,” the musician admitted. And his tune didn’t miss a beat. “I kind of forceful about it. He was thinking of taking a year off so that he could pay for school. I just helped him out a bit. He probably felt awkward about that then, especially with you there too.”

“Me? Why?” Sunggyu was astonished.

Myungsoo put down his guitar. “He cares what you think,” he said as he placed the guitar back in its case. He then clicked the case shut. “He cares what everyone thinks. Maybe a little too much. He doesn’t want to give anyone a reason to look down on him.” With that he stood up. And Sunggyu followed.

“I wouldn’t do that,” the elder insisted but his voice faltered. It was a lie, a bold-faced lie.

However, Myungsoo still bought it. He always believed the best in Sunggyu, even when he didn’t deserve it. “I know that, hyung,” he replied, giving the elder his best dimpled smile. “Hyung, since I have no money now, can you buy me dinner?”

Sunggyu gave him a half-smile, and a heart full of guilt. “Sure.”

The next day only shed more light on all the wrong assumptions that Sunggyu had made, making his mood darker and bleaker. Before lecture, his copycat was at it again. Today he was wearing the exact same sweatshirt as Sunggyu and was even wearing a black cap. The original couldn’t stomach his forgery any longer. It was high-time that he said something about it. When the doppelganger sat down in front of him, Sunggyu tapped him on the shoulder. “Nice sweatshirt,” he remarked snidely. The other grinned, muttered ‘thanks,’ and tried to turn back around but Sunggyu quickly added, “I’m wearing the same one.”

This time the copycat turned completely around and looked Sunggyu up and down. An amused smile spread across his face. “So we are,” he responded. He pulled at his sweatshirt. “But I’m wearing this ironically.” With that said, the doppelganger spun around in his seat, facing the professor who’d just walked in.

“Ironically?” Sunggyu mumbled as he looked down at his sweatshirt. What was ironic about this?

“His dad is a pastor,” Woohyun mumbled lowly, eyes still facing forward. He’d broken the strain of silence that had been stretching between them for the last few days. It had reached its limit. “Hoya wears shirts like that to get a rise out of him.” Woohyun cast a quick glance over to the other, looking down at the image on Sunggyu’s sweatshirt. The pagan god, Pan, was spread across his sweatshirt in the shape of the cross, complete with hellish fire, which would make any good pastor cringe at the sight of it. “It suits you though,” Woohyun remarked with a straight face before returning his attention once more to the teacher.

And Sunggyu tried his best to do the same, but he found it difficult to do so, especially with his (maybe not) a copycat in his line of vision. He’s still lying about dating Kate , Sunggyu reminded himself. So Sunggyu hadn’t been entirely wrong about him. This Ho-person was still trying to emulate his life. And it was time Sunggyu put an end to it. After taking off his sweatshirt, Sunggyu found it far easier to pay attention in class.

After lecture, Sunggyu had to fulfill his duty and suffer through another awkward lunch with Kate and Sungyeol. However, this lunch wasn’t as dreadful as the ones before. Kate was just uncommonly quiet, and the three of them mostly ate in silence. Perhaps it was because they were so silent, Sunggyu noticed the group a few tables away from them, chatting and laughing loudly and barely touching the food in front of them. It was his copycat along with Dongwoo and Woohyun, but the trio was soon joined by a girl with shoulder length black hair. Sunggyu narrowed his eyes on her. She didn’t seem Korean, maybe Chinese? But that didn’t seem to fit her either. Then Sunggyu’s eyes widened in shock as he watched the newcomer kiss his copycat on the cheek before sitting down next to them.

“Hey,” Sunggyu gathered his friends’ attention. “Who’s that eating with them?” he asked, nodding over to the table behind them. Unabashedly, Sungyeol and Kate spun around to look at the table face-on. Sunggyu groaned. Those two weren’t subtle in the slightest, even though they’d been carefully hiding their feelings for each for nearly a week (if not longer).

“That’s Karen, Hoya’s girlfriend,” Sungyeol answered plainly, as if it were nothing interesting. He turned back around and resumed eating again.

Kate, on the other hand, gave more of a reaction. It wasn’t shock, like Sunggyu expected it would be. She just happily answered, “Karen’s from Canada. I met her through one of my classes and invited her to the club. She started coming after you left. They met there and began dating.” Kate glanced back at them and smiled as she watched Karen and Hoya talk to each other. “Hoya really opened up. It’s almost like he’s a different person.”

Yea, me , Sunggyu kept that to himself. “Since when did you call him Hoya?” he pressed. It was strange. Before this Ho-kid wasn’t even a blip on anyone’s radar; he was just a minnow in a sea of bigger fish. But ever since that break, he’d become Hoya and a friend to all.

Kate looked over at Sungyeol. “It’s been a while now, right?” she asked him.

Sungyeol nodded. “Yea, Hoya had told us about how you accidentally called him that, hyung,” Sungyeol revealed. Sunggyu grew hot. He didn’t want to remember that...or think about the club talking about him behind his back. “Apparently he liked the sound of it and made a gag out of it.” His eyes flew over to Kate. “I say ‘ho’! You say…”

“Yah!” she filled in for him and laughed.

So Sungyeol did it again. “Ho?”

“YAH!” she shouted even louder.

“Ho?”

“YAH!” this time the table behind them finished the line.

The owner of that gag stood up from his seat. “Hey! That’s mine,” he reminded them, but he was still grinning broadly and getting joy out of people enjoying his joke. He then sat down, and everyone returned back to their lunches, except Sunggyu. He’d lost his appetite. After the break, the Ho-minnow didn’t become him ; he became Hoya, still a different person but a unique one (and probably not that far different from the minnow, just less shy).

And Kim Sunggyu had been wrong yet again. How many times had he been wrong this past week? He hoped that this would put an end to that streak.

“Sungyeol,” Kate spoke his name, her voice slightly trembling from nervousness. “I’m going to get coffee before class. Do you want to come with?”

Sungyeol stared at her suspiciously but still agreed, “Uh, sure.” And the two of them left Sunggyu alone at the table, who’d been drowning too deeply in his thoughts to notice.

But eventually he did notice and got up from the table. He could squeeze in a couple hours of studying before his next class, and so he made his way to the library. “Where did they go?” he mused out loud, scanning the campus for any sign of his friends. He couldn’t believe that they snuck off without saying a word to him like that. What are they doing? “What’s she doing?” Sunggyu asked with a scoff. It was a face he hadn’t seen in awhile. Actually, it wasn’t so much her face as her back. Inha, his stalker, was crouched behind the bushes in front of Sunggyu. She probably was anticipating Sunggyu coming from the business building and was waiting for him to walk by so that she could ambush him. But her prey was standing right behind her, unbeknownst. She’s slacking , Sunggyu thought as he stepped slowly and quietly up to her. Let’s see how much you like being snuck up on .

Sunggyu crouched down and started to duck-walk up to her. “In…”

“PEANUT!” Inha suddenly cut him off and jumped up, causing Sunggyu to fall back onto his behind (which hurt a lot). She then leaped over the bushes and onto this small man, who was delightfully surprised to be attacked by such a creature. Sunggyu stood up, groaning and wincing all the while. He’d feel that fall for days. But his pain was replaced with shock. Inha’s Peanut, he’d (just barely) recognized him. If Hoya had been a minnow, then this kid was plankton. Sunggyu had at least known half of Hoya’s name before, but he could only recall Peanut’s face and where he sat in Kang’s lecture, nothing more. However, Peanut was much more than a face and a seat to Inha. She was clinging onto his arm and doting on him with all the affection that her big heart had to give. And Peanut was giving it back tenfold. His aegyo was quickly leaving a deep, deep impression on Sunggyu, and it would be hard for him to ever forget Peanut again. And the two of them walked straight past Sunggyu and into the cafeteria without paying him any heed. Sunggyu watched them go inside with his jaw unhinged.

“I’ll be damned. She finally found the perfect target.”

Sunggyu was able to get over the shock while studying, and it became an even more distant memory after his class. His mind was filled more with thoughts about managerial strategies than Inha and her new beau. Everything was being set aright. He no longer had a copycat. He was no longer being stalked. And Woohyun was being cordial to him. So Kim Sunggyu could now return to his studies in peace, which he did later that afternoon when he returned to the library. He had the best, most productive study session that he’s had in weeks. And he walked out of the library feeling quite accomplished and with his head held high. He hoped to cap off this day with a good night’s rest, but he felt uneasy and wondered if that was possible after catching sight of Kate and Sungyeol outside of the library, sitting on a bench.

“Oh! Gyu!” Kate exclaimed after catching sight of her friend (who was trying to sneak past them).

“Gyu!” Sungyeol repeated, and the both of them leapt from the bench and surrounded him on both sides, not letting him escape. They were in the best mood that Sunggyu had seen them all week (or month or maybe semester) and were giggling to themselves as they stuck to Sunggyu’s side, which made him very uncomfortable.

“What?” Sunggyu asked. He felt like he’d missed out on a joke. Is it me? “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Kate insisted, trying her best to keep a straight face.

“Nope. Nothing at all,” Sungyeol repeated as calm as he could. But then the two caught sight of each other and began giggling again. Sunggyu whirled his head around, looking for the answer. His eyes fixed on his sweatshirt. Is it because of the whole copycat thing? It wasn’t but Sunggyu soon got his answer. “I have to go, okay?” Sungyeol announced. He stepped back behind Sunggyu and reached over, pulling Kate with him. And that’s when Sunggyu heard a familiar sound. A very familiar sound. Sungyeol returned to Sunggyu’s side and waved to him. “I’ll see you later,” Sungyeol said before rushing off to his night class.

“Bye!” Sunggyu whipped his head over to see Kate waving goodbye to Sungyeol with one hand, and the other hand was gingerly touching her cheek. Blush slowly overtook her face starting with the tips of her ears.

“So…” Sunggyu began as he lead their way to the bus stop.

“So?” she repeated, pretending to be oblivious. She fanned her face hoping to stop blushing, but the memory of it made her hot all over again.

“Are you guys dating?” he asked in a knowing tone.

“Yea,” she admitted shyly and dropped her gaze. Kate had stopped fanning and resigned herself to be forever red in the face. She had nothing to hide anymore.

“You finally told him,” Sunggyu concluded. The two of them had reached their stop and sat down.

“Eung,” she hummed as she plopped down. “I did. And it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, to confess to someone. I don’t know what I was afraid of,” Kate bragged.

“Honestly, me either,” Sunggyu remarked.

“I was being silly,” Kate confessed. She dropped her gaze to her bag on her lap, and she began her giggle fit all over again.

Sunggyu, amazed, watched her unceasingly giggle for a few seconds and then finally asked, “What is it now?”

Kate took in a deep breath before facing him. “I’m happy,” she stated. “Lee Sungyeol is my boyfriend, and I’m just happy.”

“Why? It’s just Lee Sungyeol. It’s not like you’re dating Park Bogum, or something,” he .

But that diss did not dampen her mood in the slightest. “To me, Sungyeol’s better,” she responded in all seriousness before breaking down into giggles again. Sunggyu retched. If this is what it was going to be like with them as a couple, he was going to start yearning for the days when they hadn’t confessed yet. This was all too cheesy.

Sunggyu was just about to some more but her phone rang. Sunggyu could tell who called just by the smile on her face. “Oh, what is it?” she asked Sungyeol after picking up the call. She turned her back towards Sunggyu as she continued talking, “Of course, I can pick that up for you….Why? Hmmm, because I like you….No, you’re the best!”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes and placed his headphones on, cranking his music up loud enough to drown the cheesy conversation out with a calm and melodic tune. The song that was playing was slightly sad and bitter, which contrasted greatly against the bubbling girl next to him. But it suited the mood that was washing over Sunggyu like a sudden and overpowering tidal wave. He pouted. Everyone is getting together these days. Everyone but me.

The following day was a Saturday, and Sunggyu took a risk and invited the new couple over to his apartment that afternoon. He’d woken up that morning and noticed how empty his apartment was. He couldn’t bare to see it like that any longer, so he called them up. The couple was more than willing to jump at the chance to hang out with Sunggyu who now normally spent his Saturdays studying. And because he’d normally spent his time studying, Sunggyu didn’t know what to do once they appeared on his doorstep. Luckily, those two always had a plan up their sleeves.

They were sitting in front of his television watching a drama that Sunggyu had never seen before, let alone hear of. But the two of them seemed all too familiar with it. They seemed more bored than anything. “I’d rather watch a platter of cheese for a solid hour than watch this drama,” Kate whined. She turned to her boyfriend. “How can this drama be called Cheese in the Trap and not have any cheese in it?”

“It’s one of life’s mysteries,” Sungyeol answered seriously. “Like how white chocolate is still called ‘chocolate’ but doesn’t have any cocoa beans in it.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Nope,” Sungyeol responded. It was strange. They were carrying a conversation all throughout the show, but at the same time, they had barely tore their eyes away from the screen. They’d been following it closely. Whereas Sunggyu had already grown tired of it and was in the kitchen, scrounging for food.

“If you guys don’t like the drama, then why are you watching it?” he shouted over to them as his head was deep in the fridge. All of this cheese talk made him hungry for it.

Kate yelled back, “I devoted too much time. Besides…”

“Piano scene! Piano! Two sips!” Sungyeol cut her off excitedly.

There was a pause in the conversation. Sunggyu closed the fridge door and walked out of the kitchen to see them drinking from the beer they’d brought along. “Yeol and I made a drinking game for it,” Kate finally explained after she was done drinking and place the beer can besides her.

“What did we say about drinking?” Sunggyu asked in a stern voice.

“I remember!” Kate snapped back. She then leaned over and whispered to Sungyeol lowly, “I’m not supposed to drink anymore.”

“Okay. Let’s just do it secretly then. He doesn’t have to know,” he whispered loudly back, obviously wanting Sunggyu to hear them. The couple then began giggling at their ‘devious’ plan. Sunggyu rolled his eyes and sat on the other side of Kate.

“Oh!” Kate exclaimed, pointing at the screen. She put her other hand on Sungyeol’s back. “She asked for money again! Drink,” she commanded. And Sunggyu did as he was told. He picked up her beer can and began drinking from it. “Hey that’s mine,” Kate complained after she had searched for her drink only to find that he’d stolen it.

“It’s one sip, right?” Sunggyu asked as he took another swig from the can.

Sungyeol leaned over, peering around Kate. “Gyu, are you playing with us?” he asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Might as well,” Sunggyu said, putting the can down by his side. “How about we invite invite the neighbors over?” he suggested.

The couple looked over at each other and shrugged. “Okay.”

When the neighbors joined in on the game, Kate and Myungeun opted for cola instead of alcohol, which ended up being a good idea in the long run. The rules that Sungyeol and Kate made had them drinking almost at every turn of the plot (just how many piano scenes did one episode need?). Luckily for Sungyeol, he and his lanky body had a high tolerance and could withstand the hits. Unfortunately for Sunggyu and Myungsoo, they became tipsy fairly quickly, and Myungsoo grew excessively chatty the more that he drank, which was good because they’d missed some cues to drink and the impromptu party became less about watching the drama and more about talking to each other.

All the while, Sunggyu kept an eye on his two friends. The dynamics between the three of them hadn’t really changed. Sure the two of them whispered a bit more to each other and the skinship between them had increased, but Sunggyu never felt shut out by them. He didn’t become a third wheel, and after realizing that, he breathed a great sigh of relief.

“YES!” Kate cheered at what just happened on the screen. Her and Myungeun were the only ones who were still paying close attention to the drama.

Sungyeol watched the drama for a few seconds before turning to his girlfriend in disbelief. “Are you really cheering because she got hit by a car?” he asked. Kate could only nod because the only noise she could manage right now was laughter. “Why are you laughing?”

“It’s funny,” she wheezed through her laughter, which was renewed after seeing the heroine on the pavement with blood slowly dripping from the side of her head. Myungeun glanced over at Kate and took a drink (she’d been drinking whenever the elder had laughed inappropriately).

And Sungyeol turned to her dear old friend Sunggyu for an explanation. “Don’t look at me. That’s your problem now,” Sunggyu said, pointing at the mess of the girl on the floor.

“You know what? I think I can deal with that,” Sungyeol spoke fondly. He then walked over to Kate and urged her to get up. “Come on, it’s time for the club meeting.”

“Oh right,” she muttered as she let Sungyeol help her up. Kate searched for Sunggyu then said, “We’d already told them we were coming, but you can come to! It would be fun, like old times!”

Sunggyu thought for a few seconds. A lot had changed since the ‘old times,’ and the couple was proof of that. Sunggyu politely declined, “You guys, go ahead. I think I’m going to try to study.”

“Myungeun-ah, it’s time for us to go too,” Myungsoo announced to his little sister. “We’re going to our parents’ house tonight and celebrating her acceptance into the company,” he explained to Sunggyu. He then pat the elder on the back. “But this was fun. We should do this more often.”

Meanwhile, Myungeun got up from her spot and shuffled over to her brother, who patted her head warmly as soon as she came near, but the teenager’s eyes were on Sunggyu. “Thank you, oppa, for inviting us,” she spoke as if she rehearsed it.

“Aigoo, good girl,” Myungsoo cooed. “Come on, let’s go!” he spurred her on and the two of them left. Sungyeol and Kate followed them soon after, leaving Sunggyu once more with an empty apartment, which now seemed to grow even bigger and colder.

Sunggyu sighed after seeing the door shut and walked over to his window. After a few seconds, he could see Kate and Sungyeol walking out on the doorstep. Kate stopped, however, a couple of steps from the bottom and tapped on the other’s shoulders. When Sungyeol turned around, he noticed that they were the same height. They then laughed, bringing their heads closer and closer together until...Sunggyu ripped his gaze away. He shouldn’t be watching them like this. It wasn’t his moment; it was theirs, and he was invading it.

Sunggyu walked away from the window and fell onto his bed, face first. That drama without any cheese, Sunggyu had an eerie feeling as he watched it, like deja vu. Sungyeol and Kate were much like the lead’s best friends, too much alike. Sunggyu had a stalker too, like the one in the drama. Then there were all the deceits and misconceptions at every twist and turns, which left your head spinning wondering what character you could trust, which was a feeling that Sunggyu was grappling with right now in reality. Sunggyu thought he could trust a person like Inho, although he was a bum and horrible with money, just like lending someone money for tuition when you have little to spare (Myungsoo). But what about a person like Yoo Jung? Someone who had tortured the heroine? Someone who could make lies out of the truth and the truth from lies? Sunggyu didn’t want to trust a person like that, although Hong Seol eventually did. She fell in love with a person like that. But dramas wasn’t like reality, and people don’t overcome prejudices that easily. Their pride gets in their way.

Sunggyu had many prejudices in his life, but he was starting to think he didn’t have a Yoo Jung. Maybe slowly and with effort, Sunggyu could overcome them.

Sunggyu rolled out of bed and put on his jacket. It was time for his grand return back to the club.