Anniversary Special: 10 Years Later

Life would begin at your thirties but Sanghyuk was not so sure. He was thirty-one yet he felt like dying. Every day was like a roller coaster ride for him. It had been ten years since the time when he had to live in a mental asylum. Though ten years had passed, Sanghyuk still could not forget those times as if they happened just the day before. No, not because of some dramatic reason that people were thinking but rather, because of the exhaustion and the annoyance he felt during those times that cursed affected his whole life forever. One, he was stuck with five people for the rest of his dreadful life.

“Why are you frowning? You’re not getting any younger, Hyukkie. That can cause wrinkles.” Hongbin appeared at the living room where Sanghyuk was in. He was wearing a facial mask in the middle of the day so that he could take care of his skin properly. Even after ten years, to him, physical appearance was still everything—though he put his buddies as his priority but kept it as a secret because it was embarrassing to admit.

“Today is April 27. It’s the day when I came to the mental hospital and met all of you.” Sanghyuk replied in all honesty. He was about to speak more, to say something even more touching but he was not able to do so when a certain person named Hakyeon started nagging from the kitchen.

“Hey! There’s an extra ginseng in the refrigerator! Who did not eat the ginseng last night? All of us are not getting any younger so we should eat ginseng and live for so long. If we die, who is going to take care of Mimi, our Leo’s daughter?” Hakyeon’s annoying voice was heard from the kitchen.

Sanghyuk sighed. Dang it! If he knew that he was going to meet Hakyeon, he wouldn’t have had set his foot on the white tiles of that hospital. “And how did he even know that Mimi is Leo’s granddaughter?” He wondered out loud.

Hakyeon, who heard Sanghyuk’s question, ran to the living room and started speaking. “From the moment I met eyes with her, I knew that she was the one—Leo’s one and only daughter. It is a bit upsetting that Leo had not been able to introduce me properly to his wife and daughter but this is enough. At least I get to raise his daughter for him.”

“Have you ever thought of the cockroach’s feelings? Well, no, you only think about yourself!” Hongbin sarcastically said, sounding just like Jaehwan. He cleared his throat upon noticing that fact while Sanghyuk stared at the former as if saying that the former should pack his things and go back to the mental hospital. “…is what Jaehwan hyung would say but I won’t say anything like that because I am not Jaehwan hyung and because I am not weird unlike him.” Hongbin hastily added. The last thing that he wanted to be was to be like Jaehwan—and Hakyeon, of course, but that was a whole new topic.

“Hakyeon hyung! I found him! I found the person who did not eat his red ginseng last night!” Jaehwan’s loud exclaimed was heard followed by loud hasty footsteps from the stairs. The said guy then appeared in the living room, grinning widely as if he just won in a contest or something. His eyes were turned into crescent shape as he smiled. “I know who it is! Should I tell you? Should I tell you?” Jaehwan asked, trying to act cutely as if he was not turning thirty-five soon. To be honest, the nearly thirty-two-year-old Sanghyuk would like to throw the former away but stopped himself from doing so since he was also not getting any younger.

Hongbin rolled his eyes, totally not interested in the conversation because he was sure as hell that he and Sanghyuk managed to throw the red ginseng far, far away because they did not want to hear the oldest nagging about them not eating the red ginseng. It was like this: Hakyeon turned thirty, he decided that he was going to die if he would not be living a healthy lifestyle, and so, he forced the other guys to sympathize with him by making them take the same medication as him. Hongbin found the taste disgusting and too ugly for his own appearance and so did the other guys. That was why they were doing everything to avoid it—except for Jaehwan who had the same mentality as Hakyeon and the poor Wonshik who was forced to eat ginseng in his sleep (yeah, he ate foods while he was asleep, courtesy of Jaehwan).

“Who was it?” Hakyeon dramatically asked as if it was even surprising to hear that someone would throw away such a tasteless medication that he provided. “How dare that person betray me?”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised.” Jaehwan said, wriggling his shoulders along with his eyebrows for some unkown reasons as he spoke like a villain in some Korean drama that he may or may not have watched a few days ago with Wonshik who was snoring all throughout the drama but had no choice but to sleep while sitting up. “It’s someone whom you trusted, someone who acted like he would never betray you yet he did.” Jaehwan said, grinning like a creepy old man that you would usually meet during midnights in an abandoned bus stop.

Hongbin rolled his eyes. “If you’re talking about Taekwoon hyung, then, no, it is not surprising at all. When did he even listen to Hakyeon hyung and why would he even listen when this is his house? He can just kick out Hakyeon hyung if he wants too. I wish to have the same privilege as him.” He stated blankly.

Sanghyuk nodded his head, totally agreeing with Hongbin. “I actually don’t know why Hakyeon hyung is still here.” He muttered under his breath, not caring if anyone would hear him. He was just being honest. They had been living in Taekwoon’s house for several years yet Hakyeon was only kicked out for—was it twenty-four or twenty-five times? Yet the two friends—if you can even call them that—would reconcile. It was super weird and was extremely strange that the other four could only watch. Come to think of it, how they all ended up in Taekwoon’s place remained as a mystery even to them. It probably had something to do with a certain escapade that they had years ago. It was one insane ride and breaking a coffee machine may or may not have played a role in it. (Spoiler alert!)

“Who is it, Jaehwan?” Hakyeon asked Jaehwan, pretending that he could not hear Hongbin’s and Sanghyuk’s side comment. “If you’re just doing this to hurt me, please don’t.” He dramatically added.

Jaehwan smirked—looking like some drunkard outside. “I guess you already have a clue. I think that you already know him, right? That person whom you thought that could be trusted…”

“Why are you guys acting like you’re in some sappy drama? Just say that it’s Taekwoon hyung already, good gracious! You guys are almost fourty soon yet you still act like that. Why isn’t the mental hospital calling you back until now? You people are causing me wrinkles.” Hongbin made a ‘tsk’ sound as a sign of disapprovement. “I’ll go to my room before this conversation sends me back to the mental hospital.” He said, walking away while stomping his feet.

Sanghyuk watched as Hongbin walk away but shifted his attention back to the unfazed weird duo. Who could blame him? He was thirty-one who already experienced so much. To him, the conversation of the former patients of a mental institution was much interesting than any K-dramas or sitcoms there was. If anyone found those things on TV cool and interesting, that person certainly hadn’t seen Hakyeon and Jaehwan’s every day conversations—that person may or may not be so lucky.

“It’s none other than Jung. Taek. Woon.” Jaehwan finally replied after a dramatic pause, emphasizing the every syllable of Taekwoon’s name.

Hakyeon, as if he had not expected it already, gasped in surprise. “How…how could he?”

“How could he not?” Sanghyuk mumbled but was, as always, ignored by the dramatic duo.

As if on cue, they heard a ‘click’ sound coming from the front door, signalling that the door was opened. The three guys turned to the door and saw Taekwoon entering the house. As usual, his face showed no expression but on his hand were three black plastic bags, a proof that he went to the grocery store before coming home.

“Kids! Dad’s home, hurry and greet him.” Hakyeon called out as if he was the mother of the house.

“Dad!” Jaehwan yelped, forgetting his supposedly villain acting and ran towards Taekwoon, hugging the poor guy and earning himself a hit from the latter. “Ouch! Why did you hit me? Mom!!!” Jaehwan cried out, hiding behind Hakyeon.

As usual, Taekwoon could only sigh. If only he was not so nice, he would have had kicked both Hakyeon and Jaehwan out of his house. “Hyukkie, I bought the ingredients for your gopchang.” He told Sanghyuk, changing the topic. He did not want to deal with the new idiots any longer.

Sanghyuk stood up excitedly but did not get a chance to speak when Hakyeon spoke up. “I forgot to cook for you!” Hakyeon exclaimed. “I’ll help you.” He told Taekwoon, taking the plastic bags and running to the kitchen to—uhmm—cook.

“But you can’t cook, hyung!” Sanghyuk exclaimed, running to the kitchen to save his gopchang from Hakyeon’s killer hands.

Taekwoon just had to sigh once again before following both Hakyeon and Sanghyuk in the kitchen because everyone else, except for Taekwoon, in the kitchen means nothing but disaster. Everyone else got a chance to showcase their cooking skills—but they really had no skill. Hongbin cooked an inedible meat, Hakyeon created a charcoal from the expensive beef, Sanghyuk made an uncooked chicken and served it well, Jaehwan made a weird looking and weird tasting fried rice, and the worst, Wonshik almost burned the kitchen when he fell asleep while cooking.

“Can I join too?” Jaehwan sounded so excited as he asked.

“Just wake Wonshik up.” Taekwoon replied, not wanting Jaehwan to join the cooking fiasco.

“Aye, aye, sir!” Jaehwan saluted before running to who-knows-where to get his bucket of ice—his secret weapon to wake Wonshik up. The latter seemed to need to sleep for at least forty-eight hours a day which was not even possible because a day only had twenty-four hours. But then, even if he slept for twenty-four hours straight, he was still sleepy. So, the conclusion of the other five guys was he needed forty-eight hours of sleep a day—it was really Jaehwan who suggested that.

“Let’s dig in!” Sanghyuk gladly said, so excited to eat the gopchang that Taekwoon had cooked—with so much trouble because Hakyeon kept on trying to help so he had to be tied up.

“My arms still hurt so much though. Woonie, why did you have to tie me up?” Hakyeon, the newly released one, whined. “You don’t have to be that harsh to me.” He added.

“It’s because you were causing such a commotion.” Sanghyuk told Hakyeon, feeding himself a spoonful of rice and gopchang. Taekwoon, on the other hand, did not say a thing.

Wonshik was quietly eating beside Jaehwan, wearing such a thick jacket. “I think that I’ll catch a cold. Jaehwan hyung, why can’t you just wake me up like how a normal person would do?” He asked, though there was not a hint of annoyance in his voice—he was talking to his Jaehwan hyung anyway.

“Because he isn’t normal.” Hongbin sarcastically muttered under his breath.

“I’m sorry, Wonshikkie.” Jaehwan apologized, pouting and tilting his head to the side cutely as if he was not in his thirties.

“Aw… so cute!” Wonshik cooed, patting Jaehwan’s cheeks.

Taekwoon could only shook his head in both amusement and annoyance. Nothing changed. People usually do not want change but Taekwoon begged to differ. A little change would be much helpful but there he was, stuck with the same people from ten years ago. They were still as weird. Hakyeon still talked to cockroaches and even built a house for them outside Taekwoon’s house. Jaehwan still talked to dogs and other animals and he still loved to imitate everyone and everything—one time, he imitated the washing machine. Wonshik’s relationship with his bed was still solid. They would never break up: #relationshipgoals, #ontheroadtoforever. Hongbin was still the same. He loved his appearance more than anything else and had over fifty mirrors in his room—that was why Taekwoon never visited him there, it was freaky. Sanghyuk was, well, still a devil. He still played with people like always and still came up with great plans.

Taekwoon? Oh, he was still the same. He still dreaded them more than anyone else. But to him, even though they would always argue, even though they would always trick each other, they could not live without each other. He was nothing without them. Just kidding. Taekwoon would sell his soul to live a life without those idiots. He’d do everything to get rid of them.

Author's Note: (Happy Anniversary!)

I don't know why I wrote this but I just felt like it. Technically, yesterday was the anniversary but oh well...

LMAO originally, I was planning on updating two or three chapters but school is... surprise, surprise, being harsh. I have a research paper, comparison analysis, concept paper, and many more all due next week so yeah...

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, Sweatervest_Suho, hongbeann, love_kris, Hala-bear, Zhuchu, Lola20, pink_baekbaek, vixxcha, Uvichan1, and nam-seok thank you so much! It means a lot to me.