Author's Note: (For my lovely older cousin)

Okay, so, it's your 18th birthday and I don't even have a very nice gift (I humbly say sorry, dude). But this chapter is dedicated to you and it's the 18th one! (Coincidence? Well... yes xD)
Happy 18th birthday!

“Hakyeon…” Taekwoon softly called. Hakyeon just gave him a glance before scoffing and looking away. “Y-yeonie…” Taekwoon tried again but he was still ignored. What had he done to deserve all those? He had no idea. If only his guilt and conscience weren’t in the way, he would not even glance at Hakyeon. But then, his conscience was not the only problem, Hakyeon himself was the biggest problem. How did Taekwoon ended up talking to Hakyeon once again, anyway? Well, it’s a long story but…

Taekwoon could not remember when was the last time that he was so happy even when returning to the room. He could not remember probably because there was nothing to remember. For the few weeks that he had been staying at the mental hospital, he dreaded going back to the room because he would only be stuck with Hakyeon. But that day, that was not the case anymore. He was actually happy to go back. No one would bother him anymore, Hakyeon would finally shut up.

“You look too happy about Hakyeon hyung’s anger.” Hongbin commented. The boys—with the exception of Hakyeon who was inside the ward—were heading back to their respective wards after their hangout time.

Taekwoon just nodded in reply. It was obvious that he was very happy due to the fact that Hakyeon was angry and was going to ignore him for a while. It was a great news for Taekwoon. Without a word, he twisted the doorknob of the room.

Wonshik could only look at Taekwoon in envy. He, too, wanted to get away from Hakyeon. Unfortunately, he had never done anything to make the eldest angry. “I want Hakyeon hyung to ignore me too so that I can finally sleep properly. I’ve been losing sleep since the day that he arrived.” He said, looking so displeased. When he first arrived, he expected that he would be able to sleep for 24/7 without any interruptions at all. Ever since the day Hakyeon arrived, Wonshik’s sleeping times were ruined.

Hongbin could only give Wonshik a judging look. The latter might have not realized it just yet but the truth was even if it was not for Hakyeon, Wonshik would still lost his sleep because he always end up playing with Jaehwan. But, of course, Wonshik’s sleeping time was still longer than the other five’s hours of sleeping combined. Shrugging the thought off, Hongbin turned to Sanghyuk. “Will you be okay in your ward? Hakyeon hyung and Taekwoon hyung are fighting. You might be disturbed by those two.”

“But I think that it will be a pretty interesting sight though.” Sanghyuk said, inhaling sharply as he thought about the possible things that might happen. As a curious person he was, he wanted to witness the most interesting things that would happen around him. That was the reason why he visited the mental hospital in the first place. “Don’t worry, Hongbin hyung. If Hakyeon hyung’s moodiness got too annoying, I will go to your ward. The three of you would take me in, right?”

“Of course!” Jaehwan answered before Hongbin could. “We will take you in. I have a new supply of Special K inside my closet. We can eat them all together.” He added.

“Where did you get those boxes of cereals from? I thought we’re not allowed to have a contact with the outside world?” Wonshik asked, talking like a prisoner who was imprisoned for many years.

Jaehwan simply shrugged his shoulders, grinning childishly. “That…is a secret, of course.” To emphasize his point, he put his index finger in front of his lips.

Sanghyuk chuckled.”Well, I’m going to get inside our ward now. I don’t want to miss the exciting things that might happen inside. Who knows if I can witness an exciting fight?”

“Okay but if the fight is really exciting, call us so that we can watch too.” Hongbin told Sanghyuk.

Sanghyuk nodded his head. “Of course, I won’t forget to call you guys.” He said before entering the room that he shared with both Hakyeon and Taekwoon. He was disappointed to see that both Taekwoon and Hakyeon were quiet. Taekwoon was on his own bed, trying to read a book titled ‘To the Pig Farm, We Go’—a weird story about kindergarten students. Sanghyuk was pretty sure that it was Jaehwan who lent Taekwoon such a weird book. On the other hand, Hakyeon was busy glaring at Taekwoon while sitting on his own bed and hugging his cockroach pillow that he said resembled Leo a lot. His eyes were red so Sanghyuk assumed that he had been crying.

Sanghyuk made his way to his own bed, suddenly feeling awkward because it was quiet. He did not know if he should enjoy the fact that Hakyeon was quiet for once or if he should be bothered because he had never encountered a quiet Hakyeon before. But since it had not been a day yet, Sanghyuk decided to just choose the former—he should enjoy it while it lasted. Knowing Hakyeon, the guy would sure do something weird once again after he was able to move on.

An hour passed and it was still quiet inside the ward, only Sanghyuk’s soft snores could be heard. Taekwoon heaved a sigh as he layed down. He did not want to admit but it seemed like he got too used to the noisiness of the other five that the quiet environment that he once liked suddenly seemed boring. He secretly glanced at Hakyeon but quickly looked away because the latter was still glaring at him. Taekwoon did not know if he should be amazed because of the fact that Hakyeon managed to not stop glaring at him for the past hour or should be annoyed because he was already feeling uncomfortable due to the glare. But he decided to ignore the guy then he turned his focus back to the book that he was reading.

Taekwoon thought that Hakyeon would only glare at him for the next twenty four hours but he was wrong. He heard soft sobs that eventually became louder. Furrowing his eyebrows, he turned to Hakyeon. Indeed, Hakyeon was crying like a lost child, cupping his mouth to muffle his sobs. Alert, Taekwoon sat up. The guilt hit his heart all of a sudden. “Why are you crying?” He could not help himself but to ask.

Hakyeon, unlike usual, did not respond and continued crying instead. That action made Taekwoon worry even more. Sure, he had seen Hakyeon cry before but it was still an alarming sight. Hakyeon was a carefree person who was always smiling. Seeing him sad made Taekwoon feel sorry and guilty at the same time.

Of course, Taekwoon wanted to pretend that he never saw Hakyeon’s crying face but his conscience bugged him more than it should. With another sigh, Taekwoon stood up and walked over to Hakyeon’s bed. “Please…” He trailed off. “Stop crying.” He managed to blurt out. Unexpectedly, he was, once again, ignored by Hakyeon.

Sanghyuk, who happened to wake up because of Hakyeon’s sobs, watched the scene with interest. Oh, how he wished that he had a camera with him so that he could take a video of the unusual sight. He would love to call the others too but once he made his presence known and obvious, the scene would surely disappear. So, for the mean time, he should just watch the weird scene alone. It was not a scene that he could see every day anyway.

Taekwoon sighed when Hakyeon cried even harder. His conscience would really kill him soon. He patted Hakyeon’s back, hoping that it would calm the latter but to no avail. Hakyeon just cried even harder. It was annoyingly loud. On normal days, Taekwoon would have been annoyed but that day, it was different. He knew that it was his fault so he did not know how to deal with it. Damn that guilt that bothered him so much when he was supposed  to enjoy the fact that Hakyeon did not want to talk to him. “Hakyeon…” Taekwoon softly called, touching Hakyeon’s shoulder.

Hakyeon glared at Taekwoon before turning away. “Don’t talk to me.” He said, shrugging Taekwoon’s hand off—which surprised both Taekwoon and Sanghyuk who was eating the cereal that he stole from Jaehwan.

Sanghyuk felt like he was watching a typical romance drama. You know, when the girl was mad at her cold-hearted boyfriend? But more than that, it reminded him of how his mom and dad were whenever they were fighting. His mom would always cry and ignore his dad whenever there was a lover’s spat. In the end though, they would still end up kissing. Sanghyuk furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head in a rapid manner to get rid of the horrifying image of Taekwoon and Hakyeon kissing that popped into his mind for some crazy reason. For once, Sanghyuk understood why he was in a mental hospital. How could he think of something that could taint his already not-so-innocent mind?

“I don’t care.” Taekwoon groaned after a few seconds of silence and headed back to his bed. If Hakyeon wanted to be that way, it was fine by Taekwoon. In fact, it was even in his favor. He did not care about Hakyeon. Like, who would bother to care for that guy? Definitely not Taekwoon. He could not be bothered just because of someone’s cries. He could be cold hearted.

“Let’s catch the mouse! Let’s catch the mouse! Jjik, jjik, jjik!” Wonshik, Jaehwan, and Hongbin were once again bored so they tried to play their favorite game on the floor. Wonshik—once again—had a red forehead because he had been losing five times in a row. Clearly, Jaehwan and Hongbin were enjoying the fact that they could hit someone’s forehead. Wonshik was just thankful that Sanghyuk was not there or he would have to suffer more because the youngest knew no mercy. But he spoke too soon.

There was a loud knock on the door and following it was Sanghyuk’s panicking voice. “Guys, please open the door. I think I’m going to vomit soon.” He said, his voice was shaking.

Hongbin, who could already picture Sanghyuk’s sad and helpless expression, immediately ran to the door and opened it. He was not wrong but he was not right either. Sanghyuk looked tired but he did not look so helpless just like how Hongbin imagined. “Why? What’s wrong?” Hongbin asked worriedly anyway.

Wonshik and Jaehwan were also looking at Sanghyuk worriedly since the boys looked so pale as if he just saw a ghost of a charismatic cockroach. “You look so pale.” Wonshik commented. “Did something happened inside your ward? Are they fighting yet?”

Sanghyuk shook his head, inviting himself into the room. He plopped himself on Wonshik’s bed. “It’s better if they are but they aren’t!” He exclaimed, massaging his aching head. “I am starting to imagine some weird images in my head. It is traumatizing.”

Jaehwan crawled to Sanghyuk’s side, looking at the younger guy curiously. “What exactly happened?” He asked, being unbelievably serious.

Sanghyuk sighed, sitting up. “Well, to be precise, it’s kinda like this…” He grabbed Jaehwan and started acting weirdly. “Yeonie…” He stated in the most dramatic and loving voice he could muster with an even weirder and loving look on his face as he caressed Jaehwan’s face. “I’m so sorry.” He added. He might or might not have exaggerated a bit when it came to his words and actions.

“Hmmph!” Jaehwan decided to play along by acting like a girl who was playing hard to get. “Don’t talk to me.” He looked away dramatically—oddly, he almost resembled Hakyeon’s attitude earlier. He almost got it right. Indeed, he and Hakyeon should stick to one another.

Hongbin pulled Sanghyuk away from Jaehwan while Wonshik went to Jaehwan’s side and snuggled to him. “So, Hakyeon hyung and Taekwoon hyung are acting that way?” Wonshik asked. “Taekwoon hyung is really the one apologizing this time?” He added another question, obviously not believing anything. He could not picture Taekwoon apologizing to anyone, especially not to Hakyeon of all people.

Sanghyuk nodded his head. “I know, I was surprised too.” He sounded like a gossiping woman but he did not care about that at the moment. “But if you heard how Hakyeon hyung cried, you will feel bad too and you will want to apologize too and correct your mistakes.” He explained.

“Does that mean that I won the bet?” Jaehwan excitedly asked. “I won! I won!” He stood up and started doing a weird dance that no one had ever seen before. How the other three hoped that it would be the first and last time that they would be seeing such a disturbing dance.

“But if Taekwoon hyung is just apologizing to Hakyeon hyung, why do you look so pale and traumatized when you entered the room?” Hongbin asked. “Shouldn’t you enjoy the sight and eat the box of Special K cereal that you stole from Jaehwan hyung the other day?” He added.

Jaehwan gasped in a loud and definitely dramatic manner, finally stopping himself from dancing too much. “What? You stole a Special K cereal from me? I knew it!” He exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Sanghyuk. “Just kidding.” He grinned childishly. “My real question is how come I did not notice that one of my lovely cereals is missing? They must have hate me already for being so ignorant and not taking care of them properly.” He pouted, sitting down on the nearest bed to him which happened to be Hongbin’s bed.

Sanghyuk shook his head, averting his gaze from Jaehwan to Hongbin. “Hyung, it’s fine if Taekwoon hyung is just saying that he’s sorry. But he’s cooing and calling Hakyeon hyung in a soft voice. Hakyeon hyung, on the other hand, is acting like a girl having mood swings because of PMS.” He sighed, completely ignoring Jaehwan. “And what’s more disturbing is when I was able to fall asleep, I dreamed about them being my parents. Do you know how scary that is?” He whined out, shivering. “Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps and scares me to death.” He rubbed both of his arms.

Wonshik pursed his lips, thinking about it. “Hmm… that is pretty scary. Having Hakyeon hyung as your annoying naggy mom seems to be a very displeasing thought.” He agreed with Sanghyuk.

“So, hyungs, can I stay here for a while? At least until after Hakyeon hyung stop crying and until he finally forgive Taekwoon hyung.” Sanghyuk asked the older guys, pouting his lips cutely so that he would have more chance of staying there with them.

“Of course!” Hongbin replied before the other two could. “You are always welcome to stay here anytime, right guys?” He turned to Jaehwan and Wonshik with his usual bright smile. Jaehwan and Wonshik nodded their heads. If it was Sanghyuk, they really did not mind him staying with them—as long as it was not the annoying Hakyeon or Taekwoon who had been planning on murdering them in their sleep for a while already. At least, Sanghyuk kept them safe all the time. Plus, he was the mastermind anyway.

Sanghyuk grinned widely, happy that he was able to escape from Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s life drama also known as a lover’s quarrel or lover’s spat. Or it could be known as parents’ argument and Sanghyuk was the poor son. Luckily, he had a family next door who would be willing to take him in so that he would not have to deal with his parents’ endless quarrel.

“Y-yeonie…” Taekwoon called Hakyeon again but he was ignored. He said that he would not be bothered because of Hakyeon but he was indeed bothered. Hakyeon had long stopped crying but he was still not talking. He was only scoffing and glaring at Taekwoon. So, Taekwoon, being a total softy inside, felt guilty. He might look like a murderer but he was a total softy inside. He felt so guilty because he understood that Hakyeon had a very deep affection towards the deceased cockroach.

Hakyeon gave Taekwoon a look then he rolled his eyes. He was really taking the ‘playing hard to get’ to another level of annoyingness. Taekwoon had to admit, he was doing a great job annoying people. Taekwoon, though he admitted to be a softy, was already getting more and more annoyed. Just a little more and he would forget about apologizing and being sorry for Hakyeon. He would totally move on and forget about Hakyeon’s existence—which was a bit hard before Hakyeon never really stopped glaring at Taekwoon.

“Hakyeon, this would be the last time.” Taekwoon said through gritted teeth because he already reached the limit of his patience. “I said that I am sorry and I never meant any of the things that I said. So, spare me mercy and set me free from my guilt by accepting my apology.” He said in a monotone—sounding almost like a robot or a trained parrot. He waited for Hakyeon’s response for a few seconds.

But Hakyeon did not even flinch. “I don’t care.” He responded coldly, flipping his nonexistent long hair. “Do what you want.” He added.

Taekwoon sighed for the umpteenth time that day. “Fine.” He uttered before heading to his bed and lying down. He closed his eyes to sleep. Hakyeon could do whatever he wanted, he could even cry all day and all night. Taekwoon would not care anymore. He would just sleep. He could not believe he even wasted his time trying to talk to Hakyeon properly all because of his statement about a certain dead cockroach!

Hakyeon stared at Taekwoon in disbelief. Taekwoon already gave up on him after only a few hours of convincing him and he was not contented because he wanted to be cooed for a few days. He huffed, glaring at Taekwoon even though his eyes were already hurting. He had been glaring at Taekwoon for hours already! Whose eyes would not get tired of it?

Anyway, Hakyeon swore that he would not be the first one to talk to Taekwoon again. That guy insulted his lovely Leo so he could not forgive him—no, not ever. 

“Woonie!” Taekwoon woke up the next morning due to Hakyeon’s annoying voice. With a groan, he opened his eyes only to see Hakyeon smiling widely towards him. “You’re awake, Woonie!” Hakyeon exclaimed.

“Weren’t you mad at me?” Taekwoon asked, annoyed. He wanted Hakyeon to forgive him the day before but now that he was forgiven, he wanted Hakyeon to ignore him again.

“Mad? Who’s mad at you? I don’t remember.” Hakyeon played dumb. “Anyway, Woonie…” He started blabbing, completely acting like he was not mad several hours ago. Oh, damn it.

Author's Note: (Next update schedule)

The next update is supposedly scheduled on Friday, right? So, consider this as an early update...? xD Just kidding, this chapter is a gift to my cousin (and if it is your birthday or if your birthday is near, I can always update for you ;-)) But the next chapter may or may not be up on Friday. I am guessing that it's the latter though. I have a lot of assignments and projects due this week so I am not sure. If I cannot update this week, the next update will be up next week.

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, Sweatervest_Suho, hongbeann, love_kris, Hala-bear and Zhuchu thank you so much! It means a lot to me.