Today was a Friday – I was greeted by the sound of my alarm clock. I didn’t really get enough sleep since I was playing a game until 2 am. The only thing that was fueling me was the fact that the gang was going to have Sober Club for the weekend.

I finished taking a shower and put on a denim jacket on top of a white shirt with dark blue stripes and some black jeans. I opted to eat breakfast with my mom since I would be disappearing for the weekend and staying at Sungmin’s crib. The best thing about my friends was that they felt like my actual blood-related family – generally, all our parents and siblings were acquainted with one another. I had to add the generally since my old man hardly made his presence known in any of the gatherings that have occurred throughout the years I’ve known my friends.

As I reached the dining room, my mom just finished preparing breakfast and the food enticed me to come and say hello to it. I had this theory that an indirect relationship existed between the amount of sleep I get and the amount of food I consumed. In any case, I was definitely not going to pass breakfast this time.

My mom turned around at the sound of my chair when I moved it to sit down.

“Just in time for breakfast. And congratulations for waking up on your own this week,” she smiled warmly.

“Yeah, whatever. Thanks for the meal.” I began to eat my food and my mother joined me.

“Kyu, Ahra said she’s going to call later at around 10 pm. Think you can come home before then?” The three of us would usually have a weekly video call depending on Ahra’s schedule. My mom was terrible at learning technology apart from using a cellphone for texting and calling. If she wasn’t my mom, I would’ve given up teaching her how to use her cellphone back then.

I swallowed my food before looking at my mom squarely, “Eomma? I forgot to tell you something.” She tilted her head to the side in puzzlement.

“The seven of us will be staying at Sungmin’s place for the weekend, you know for Sober Club since his parents are out.” I was bracing myself for the guilt that was sure to follow. She doesn’t show it but I knew she disliked being alone at home. I was pretty sure all mothers have this innate ability to make their children feel guilty at the proper timing.

“Ohh… I guess I’ll see you on Sunday night, then?” She understood the underlying meaning of my absence this weekend – she would not be present for our video call.

“I’m sorry eomma. But hey, I’ll tell noona to call you on your phone later before calling me, okay? I think she’s saved enough money for an international call,” I told her, trying to be reassuring.

“Thanks Kyu. I knew I could count on you,” she replied gratefully.

Before I took another bite of my breakfast, she added, “By the way, I hope you didn’t forget that you scheduled your car for a tune-up today.”

“Crap.” I had to be careful about using profanities in front of my mother. When she stood up to grab some juice from the refrigerator, I fished out my phone and quickly chose who to bother to take me to school today since I wasn’t in the mood to use any public transportation. I grinned when I realized I had one hyung left to bully for my Last Man Standing privilege.

=+=+=+=

To: Yeye

Hyung! You don’t need to buy me a meal. JUST BECOME MY DRIVER FOR TODAY. Please fetch me at the car repair shop before you and Ryeonggu go to school. Thanks :)

=+=+=+=

Throughout our meal, I had this funny feeling that my mother was deliberately withholding some sort of information as if it were a secret that she couldn’t tell. I was too preoccupied about whether or not Yesung will indeed abide by my demand so I finished my breakfast quickly and thanked her for the meal.

After brushing my teeth, I packed my stuff for school when I saw Seohyun’s notes placed by my desk. I haven’t read it but I promised to return it before the weekend starts since she’s grade conscious and everything. I had to read it within the day before returning it to her.

Before leaving the house, I bade my mother farewell.

“Have fun but do take care of yourself. Say hi to the boys for me.” My mother loved my friends as if they were her own children. I gave her a hug and a chaste kiss on her lips. It’s amazing how I’ve managed to outgrow my mom.

“I will and thanks. Maybe I could sponsor the next Sober Club at our place, huh?” I smirked. My mom just laughed at my response. So was that a yes?

“Take care, Kyu.” She reiterated and waved goodbye. I was fortunate I had a mother like her.

- - - - - - - -

As much as I loved driving my baby everywhere, I had to get it maintained on a regular basis. The repairman told me that it would be available for pick up later in the afternoon. Seeing that we had Sober Club Weekend, I told him I’d probably pick it up on Sunday afternoon.

Thankfully, Yesung and Ryeowook picked me up. Since their families lived in a duplex, they used an extra car that Yesung’s father owned. Like me, they both started their Fridays with a 10 am class. I considered Friday as the best day in the week ever just because it signaled the end of weekdays and the beginning of weekends.

While I was attending my 10 am calculus class I was multitasking with listening occasionally to the lecture and reading Seohyun’s notes from Biology yesterday. I had to admit, the girl had a legible handwriting relative to most people. If I were her, I’d sell my notes since these could pass as a handout. Thirty minutes before the lecture ended, I felt my phone vibrate. I checked the message I received.

=+=+=+=

From: (Unknown number)

Hi Kyu! Think you can attend a quick meeting after you’ve eaten your lunch later? We’ll be in one of the discussion rooms at the library. Hope you can come :) Henry Lau

=+=+=+=

I had to read the last word a couple of times in case I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep. Wow. Apparently, Henry was already discharged from the hospital, good for him. As much as I wanted to complain about setting meetings during lunch (which happens to be the case this week as I’ve observed from the people around me), at least it was better than having meetings after last period in which case, people had to delay their after-school activities. I sighed and resigned myself to attend the damn thing.

By the time lunch started, I was groggy as hell. I contemplated on whether it was stupid to have slept late or woken up early. I dragged my feet to a stall and ordered some beef bulgogi with rice and headed to our usual hangout place to find Yesung and Siwon already there waiting for the rest of us to arrive.

Siwon teased me, “Wow Kyu, can you teach me how to apply under eye make-up?” I glared at him.

“Sure, if you can tame those caterpillars you call eyebrows,” I insulted him to even the playing field. Yesung chuckled at our silly banter.

Yesung interrupted and said, “By the way, Kyu, the group decided that you’ll be in charge of financing our supply of alcohol for Sober Club Weekend instead of paying each of us 5,000 won. Non-negotiable, of course.” Well-played. I couldn’t disagree and continued eating.

Yesung noticed that I was quickly consuming my food, “What’s with the hurry, Kyu?”

“Henry asked me to attend a meeting,” they didn’t miss out the fact that I referred to Henry. By now, a lot of students were aware that he incurred appendicitis prior to the Org Fair Showcase which allowed my timely rescue for the guild.

“Thank God he pulled through,” said Siwon, the God-fearing person that he was. Yesung nodded being a fan of Henry’s playing skills.

“Tell the others I’ll see them later,” I ate the remains of my food and continued grinning, gazing at Yesung, “I’ll text you later hyung, you know before we drive to Sungmin-hyung’s place.” He just face palmed himself ready to explain to Siwon what that was about.

“See you soon!” I bid my farewell and left the table.

Before heading to the meeting, I decided to get a cup of hot coffee at the cafeteria to relieve my sleepiness. The coffee they served there was cheap, one of those 3-in-1 sachets, and served to you without the lid. It was unfortunate because the moment I turned my back to the lunch lady, I harshly bumped into someone and accidentally spilled the contents of my coffee.

“!” I swore loudly gaining the attention of nearby students. I was sure that some of them were laughing at how I swore so passionately than at the person to whom I spilled my coffee. I even looked down to notice that only a small amount was seen on the floor meaning I spilled most of it on the unlucky person’s outfit.

“Oh , Seo! I’m really sorry! I-I didn’t m-mean to – I-I was hurrying a-and – “

She managed to giggle while tending to the ugly splatter the coffee made on her long-sleeved pink blouse and grey pants. “Don’t worry about it, no harm done.” Was she kidding me? Her skin must have turned red from the hot water I used.

“, Seo. I didn’t mean to, I swear. I feel ing terrible,” I apologized profusely and profanely.

She placed both her hands on my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? I’ll just ask one of my unnies to lend me a change of clothes later. Besides, I wanted to ask if you’d like to join me since I’m also heading to Henry’s meeting,” she said, her smile reassuring. “Don’t punish yourself, Kyuhyun-ssi.”

I sighed in defeat, “Okay. Is there anything I can get you?”

“No, thank you. I’m good. I’ve had lunch. Would you like another cup of coffee?” Was she insane? To be honest, she smelled like coffee (thanks to my stupidity) and it was enough to wake me up.

“No need to do that, Seo. Let’s just leave here and go to the library.” She agreed and we began heading to the meeting.

“Wait,” I began and she looked at me with concern in her brown eyes. I removed my denim jacket and placed it around her shoulders. “Wear this until you can, um, replace your clothes.”

She nodded in appreciation and we made our way to the discussion room. On our way, I took glances at how funny and cute she looked while wearing my jacket since it was obviously too big for her. Add to that the fact that she smelled like coffee. She didn’t mind, though. Only Seohyun can pull that off.

- - - - - - - -

After the meeting with Henry, Jun, Eric, and Seohyun, I was now part of the theater band. Basically, they had practice every Thursdays and on any other day, you just had to practice on your own. It sounded like I was having piano lessons again but I didn’t mind. They were all convinced that I would be a great asset to the music faction of the guild. I was kind of surprise at the amount of faith they had in me after just one performance. In any case, I made a pact with myself that I should take this responsibility seriously just because I loved playing the piano.

The rest of the afternoon passed by and before I knew it, I was making my way to where Yesung’s car was parked. I greeted him with my usual salute before opening the door to the back seat. We waited for a couple of minutes before Ryeowook arrived with a knowing smile on his face. He sat at the passenger seat and placed his seatbelt before we were off to go buy some alcohol at a supermarket.

“Yesung-hyung, I’ll tell you something interesting that happened while I was buying lunch at the cafeteria,” Ryeowook broke the silence. I knew where this was going. I simply listened to what he had to say.

“I was minding my own business, see? Just got a tray of food ready to pay the lunch lady, when a loud ‘!’ resonated in the entire cafeteria,” he told, imitating the way I swore. Both he and Yesung laughed hysterically.

“I mean, even if I was blindfolded, I don’t need to guess at who could’ve been the culprit but our dear Kyunnie.” Mind you he said that while affectionately passing his left hand on my chin while facing me. I hated that pet name, it was too cute for my own good. When I removed my chin from his hand, he continued to look ahead on the road.

“Why the hell would you curse like that, Kyu?” Yesung asked.

I mumbled, “I spilled coffee on someone.”

“And who might that ‘someone’ be, Kyunnie?” Damn Ryeowook for getting the upper hand.

“Seohyun-ah.”

“Wow, Kyu. You’re sure bumping into her a lot this week. Are you sure it wasn’t intentional?” Yesung grinned mischievously. I glared at him ready to retort but Ryeowook wasn’t giving me an opportunity.

“You should’ve seen him, hyung. He was all over the place while Seororo was cool as a cucumber. And when I say all over the place, I meant even his eyes,” Ryeowook exaggerated while Yesung faked a gasp. Both of them were snickering.

“Shut up, Ryeo. The coffee stain was ing staring at me like I was a murderer or something.”

“You sure it was the stain, Kyu, and not her… heart?” I knew what that implied and Yesung was just being euphemistic. Fine, I acknowledged that my gaze lingered for the shortest amount of time on her chest while fixating on the stupid stain I made. They didn’t need to know that.

“Shut up, hyung.” Yesung was shaking his head and clicking his tongue.

Ryeowook continued, embarrassing me further. “Want to know what happened to his jacket, hyung?” his eyebrows wiggled.

“No way! No wonder you looked different. ” Yesung pieced the story and looked to Ryeowook then at me while the latter just nodded his head in confirmation. “Siwon would be so proud of you, maknae.”

I answered rolling my eyes, “Whatever.” I was probably turning red from anger, from embarrassment, who knows.

“Leeteuk-hyung is going to have a field day with you, Kyunnie.”

“Let him. I don’t care. All I know is that I was being honest and sincere.”

“We believe you, Kyunnie.” I wanted to wipe that ridiculous smile off Ryeowook’s face.

“Stop calling me Kyunnie!”

Ryeowook disregarded my threat and replied, “At least once more… Kyunnie.”

Yesung laughed at Ryeowook’s relentless teasing and continued to drive to our destination. It was difficult to stay mad at these crazy blokes.

- - - - - - - -

We dropped by the supermarket where I immediately went to the liquor section to pick our poison and the two of them went together to buy ingredients for whatever it is Ryeowook was going to cook tonight. It was odd at how we all texted Sungmin about our whereabouts or ask on any available food he had at home yet he never replied. A normal person would wonder if Sungmin was okay but Yesung was more concerned about Sungmin’s phone being okay. What a crazy stupid hyung.

We stayed longer than intended since we sampled all of the free taste we found at the grocery. By the time we were going to Sungmin’s place, it was 5:30 pm. We all figured he’d be at home by then. When we reached his place, Yesung parked his car along the street and we took out the things we bought from the supermarket. He rang the doorbell and all of us had our fingers-crossed and believed Sungmin was home. Less than a minute later, Sungmin opened the door for us and we entered their mansion.

“ you know, we had no back-up plans in case you weren’t here. What the hell happened?”

“Seriously Kyuhyun, you need to work on how to greet others properly,” Sungmin began. “I just left my phone with Saeun and forgot to get it back.”

“Ohoho… why would that happen, pray tell?” Yesung was making everything an issue. I thought only girls did that.

“I had free period so there was a lot of waiting time. I went to the coffee place she worked in and we chatted for a bit. I left my phone there, hyung,” Sungmin reasoned. Ryewook began texting the others about what happened to Sungmin so that they could understand as well.

Yesung looked at me and spoke, “It seems a lot of coffee was involved with our men and women today.” He and Ryeowook laughed seeing the similarity with Sungmin’s and my carelessness. I thought they’d dropped with the teasing but I believed this was punishment and letting me have a taste of my own medicine.

“I’ll tell you later. Can I have water? I’m kind of thirsty,” Yesung requested, pulling Sungmin to the kitchen, and leaving Ryeowook and I to tend to the groceries. Oh the joys of being the youngest.

I helped Ryeowook prepare the ingredients he would use to make our dinner (since I can’t cook) and placed the alcohol in the refrigerator to get it chilled before we start Sober Club. When Yesung finished relaying my disastrous encounter with Seohyun, Sungmin’s expression paralleled to the Cheshire Cat.

“Yah Kyu, is this your new dating style?” He asked while high-fiving Yesung in the process.

“Sungmin-hyung, you’re supposed to be on my team. Why the hell are you siding with them?”

“Because this time, they’ve got the upper hand and you don’t?” he answered innocently. Ryeowook and Yesung cheered him on.

“You know what? I’m just going to let off some steam.” Letting off some steam meant differently to each for us but for me, it meant that I was going to play the piano. They all knew that. Finally, they left me alone when they thought I had enough of their teasing.

I went to the living room where their grand piano was located. It was always such a joy to be able to play on a grand piano.

I sat down and placed my hands on the keys thinking about what to play. For a while, I thought about playing something mellow but decided against it since they’d probably tease me again with Seohyun. I settled with Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude, instead. When I played pieces similar to this, I felt like I was being unleashed like in a basketball game where I’d have to play offense. Fast pieces, for me, were very unwinding.

After I finished playing, I heard someone clapping and turned to find Yesung. Ryeowook and Sungmin teamed together whenever cooking was involved so they remained in the kitchen. Yesung came up to me and patted my back in a brotherly gesture.

“You’re getting pretty good, Kyu. Think you can help me let off some steam, too?” I knew what that meant for him and smirked.

“What’s your request, hyung?”

“The usual – my personal anthem,” he replied with a sad smile. I didn’t question him any further and closed my eyes since I was trying to remember how the piece went. The last time I’ve seen it was two months ago. At that time, he just broke up with a girl he dated on and off for 3 years because she cheated on him with 5 different guys – that was pretty harsh.

I began pressing the keys to the tune of ‘It Has To Be You’. When Yesung started to sing, I was reminded of how long it has been since I last heard his voice. I loved how his voice sounded – its appeal lied in the emotion that it made you feel when you listened to it. The kind of voice that made you wanted to listen with your earphones on. Truly, whenever Yesung sang these types of sad songs, it felt as if he was holding his tears back. Somehow, I regretted not recording this little duet we had.

We were both too absorbed in our music that we were surprised to hear clapping when I pressed the last note. We turned to find the person responsible. My eyes grew into saucers since I’ve never seen her this exposed before.

“Bravo!” she cheered.

The same person who I spilled my coffee on was wearing a different set of clothes from what I’ve seen at lunch. She donned this dark blue one piece shorts outfit and retained a familiar denim jacket that was a couple of sizes larger than what she would normally wear.

I had to stop thinking about how smooth her legs were and how nice it would feel like to run my hands on them. , I just had to stop.

What was she doing here?

Why is she torturing me like this?

0000000000

A/N: Merry Christmas! Let’s all enjoy the holidays :) I went back writing to Kyuhyun’s POV. Forgive me if it didn’t live up to your expectations.