After one last month of his remaining schedules Howon was starting to practically live in my apartment even after I took some extreme measures of chasing him out. He was still the stubborn bastard he was and got away with everything.

“I thought you were making me dinner”, he came out of the room with only his boxers rubbing his neck after a really angry session we had inside.

“In your dreams, .” I threw him a shirt while folding the finished laundry from the dryer.

He snorted while he put on that shirt and his jeans which was lying on couch, “Fine, I will go get the groceries and fill your beer cabinet”

“Atta boy” I smiled happily that he accepted to do that after all the tantrums I’ve been throwing at him ever since he temporarily moved here.

I gathered the folded clothes to take them inside when my phone buzzed,”You actually remember I exist” I teased sungjong

“Don’t do that. Get ready and come down in 30 minutes”

“And why should I?”

“Don’t make me come up to drag your ”

I laughed and agreed it. I cursed myself for not calling howon to tell him sungjong’s plans. He promised not to be seen and come up to the apartment from the back entrance. I still haven’t told sungjong or anybody about us, more like howon didn’t want them to know. How much ever I tried talking to him he just wouldn’t listen up and gets angry, so I just left it for the better good. Although howon was in good terms with s, he found it hard to reveal about us. He just couldn’t predict how they would react, so instead of dwelling into complexity he made me promise to not tell them unless and until he agrees to it. So till then, he would lay low. I couldn’t but agree to all his decisions since it was already hard for him and I didn’t want to push it.

I kissed him before leaving as he stood by the door looking at me, as much as I wanted to stay back I missed sungjong.

“You do wear clothes other than plaid and ripped jeans” sungjong exclaimed seeing me wear a denim knee length dress which howon helped me choose in an online site. Funny how he kept coming to my mind when only a while before I wanted him out of my apartment.

I was shook of my thoughts when sungjong pulled into a parking lot scowling how those slanted drawn lines gave him a hard time to park properly. He said we would be meeting sunggyu for lunch because it had been a long time.

“I heard the wine is excellent here” sungjong said with his nose between a huge menu card. “We are not going to drink in broad daylight” the eldest nagged him.

I watched them squabble next over what to order, I certainly missed watching this. We finally settled to get steak and just one glass of wine to make sungjong stop whining.

“We definitely have a lot to catch up” sunggyu straightened to look at me; we spoke about my new job at a boutique and their individual schedules. I didn’t want to bring up howon unless they did.

“Hyung you should invite her to your house warming party this weekend” sungjong spoke with a mouthful of meat. Sunggyu thanked him for reminding while handing him a tissue.

“So the guys insisted I give them a party although it’s been over eight months since I moved into that house” he chuckled,

“If it’s only the guys why am I coming?” he eyed sungjong thinking he put sunggyu in an awkward position to invite me.

“Don’t glare at him; I made him remind me to tell you. It’s the guys and few other people too. A small get together or something along those lines”

As much as I had the urge to ask if howon was invited too I restrained with telling them “I’ll try” since it was on a working Saturday.

Although sungjong insisted he would take me home when his house was near the restaurant, I got into a taxi quickly before he forces me into his car and headed home.

-

So when I was just getting of work, my dad thought it would be nice to tell me he had come to seoul to meet a friend and alongside visit me right after he got in a taxi to head to my apartment. This was the second instance this week and I was growing more apologetic to howon for asking him to leave. He said he was anyway planning on going to his own apartment for the weekend to see if everything was intact and not robbed. I told him I hoped for it to be, for which I got back a diss that he would have to permanently move in with me if that happened.

“I bought pizza”, came my dad inside as I opened the door for him like an excited child. We had a good dinner time where he was eager to fill me how annoyed he was with my brothers for not calling for his birthday last week and that I was the only child he was going to pamper from now on.

“I’m pretty sure your middle child would go crackers when he hears this, you are just giving him one more reason to hate me” we chuckled together while talking about him.

 As he was putting on his shoes he looked at me saying, “I hope you are happy with whoever you are with right now”. Well who was I kidding, my dad and his savvy personality would never let go anything under his watchful eye.

I nodded slowly, “He really has been nice to me, but nobody knows yet so you might as well consider this as an exclusive secret between us” I eyed him.

He laughed agreeing before I made him pinky promise it again, “Find out what cologne he wears, I actually might fancy this over Old spice”

I hit him slightly to make him stop sniffing the shoe rack and promised to get him one.

-

Howon looked quite shocked as he entered the apartment with his hoodie and mask on, I almost didn’t recognize him if it weren’t for that purple backpack he had been obsessing over recently, “Wh…Why did sungjong’s father go out of your apartment? Didn’t you tell me your dad was visiting?”

“Did he see you?” I asked calmly flipping a magazine.

“No but wh…how…what was he doing here?” he stuttered trying to form a sentence looking confused before clicking his tongue, “Ah was he your dad’s friend since both of you are from the same hometown right?” trying to convince himself while I watched him leaning on the sofa resting my head on my hand.

“Howon” I called out before he came up with more ridiculous assumptions and motioned him to, come sit next to me.

“That is my father” I blurted it out raw because I didn’t how else to form words to say it otherwise, he looked at me with a scrunched forehead which I leaned to plant a peck on.

He waited looking at me to say more as I moved closer to him wrapping my arms around his waist sniffing in the cologne my dad liked, “I am his daughter legally so which does make him my father right?” I laughed trying to peep into see his face which kept getting foggier.

“Legally” he let out a careful questioning whisper, I nodded against his shirt. “Sungjong’s parents took me in after my own left me to go their own ways. They’ve know me since I was child living in the same neighborhood also as sungjong’s best friend though I was little older to him” 

“For a few years I denied from being adopted, it was sungjong who finally convinced me to change my surname