“I think Jae’s avoiding me,” Brian said.

Dowoon blinked. “What makes you say that, hyung?”

The maknae’s gaze, which was glued to the cup of noodles in his hand, instantly switched to focus on Brian.

They were back in their shared room at the Day6 dorm, each occupying their respective spots on their bunk bed—Dowoon on the top bunk and Brian on the bottom. The older of the two was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling as if in deep contemplation. Dowoon was leaning against the wall, cup of instant noodles on his lap. Usually his hyung would nag at him whenever he ate such an unhealthy midnight snack, but tonight Brian was unusually quiet.

A few seconds passed until Brian answered. “Well, to start off... Jae isn’t here.”

Dowoon turned to look at the empty bed across from them. Jae’s tall form was nowhere to be seen. “True.”

“He’s been gone for hours,” Brian continued. “It’s already past midnight.”

Dowoon thought about it for a bit. While he did so, he decided to climb down from his bunk and plop himself onto Brian’s bed. It was a magnificent feat considering the cup of noodles in his hand. Finally after settling himself in a comfortable sitting position, Dowoon replied. “I’m sure Jaehyung-hyung knows what he’s doing.”

“And.” Brian sighed.  “Other things happened.”

The drummer blinked. “Such as...?”

Again, Brian was quiet. He replayed the last few days in his head.

Three days ago, he kissed Jae. On the lips. In a haunted house. Afterwards, they pretended as if nothing happened. They even rode a few more rides together, clinging onto each other and screaming together. But on their way back to the hotel, Jae wouldn’t even look at him. Upon reaching their shared room, Jae threw himself onto the nearest empty bed and proceeded to make loud, exaggerated snoring noises. He practically faceplanted into his pillow.

Two days ago, Sungjin encouraged all of the members to spend time at the hotel’s swimming pool. On that day, Jae clambered onto the highest diving board. He nearly shrieked when he saw that Brian had followed him. And when Brian opened his mouth to speak, Jae immediately jumped off the diving board and into the deep waters below.

Brian couldn’t even get his friend’s attention on the flight back to Korea. The second they took their seats, Jae stared intensely outside the plane window. Afterwards he watched the in-flight film, laughing loudly whenever Brian tried to talk to him.

“This scene isn’t even funny,” Brian said.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA,” Jae said.

“You’ve watched this film literally a dozen times,” Brian said.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” Jae repeated.

And one day ago, they were back in Korea. The band ordered pizza and ate at the dorm. Jae would usually fight over the last piece of pizza, but he surprisingly told the other members that he was full and ran back to his room. When Brian opened the door of their shared room, Jae was already hidden in a cocoon of blankets, snoring loudly.

Fast forward to the present day. Dowoon was looking at him eagerly, and Brian could only sigh.

“I think I might have done something that freaked him out,” the bassist answered carefully.

There was a pause before the maknae answered, “Such as...?”

“Um..." Brian shook his head. “You know what, never mind. I think I’m just overthinking it.”

“Uh, ok.”

“Hey, Dowoonie.” Brian lightly put a hand on Dowoon’s shoulder. “Don’t tell Sungjin-hyung and Wonpil about this conversation, okay?”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to worry them. I’m just overthinking things.”

Dowoon shrugged, though he didn’t look convinced. “Whatever you say, hyung. But—”

It was then when they heard the muffled sound of Sungjin’s voice outside of their room.

“Where were you?”

Dowoon put a hand over his mouth.  “Oh, I think Jaehyung-hyung just came back! Sungjin-hyung sounds furious! He must have stayed up to wait for Jaehyung-hyung.”

Brian nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah.” He wondered if he should open the door of the room so that he could hear better, but decided against it.

“Just taking a walk around the apartment.” It was Jae’s voice. “I can’t sleep.”

“It’s nearly 2 o’clock in the morning, and here you are. What were you doing?” It was Sungjin again. Brian could imagine the angry look on the leader’s face, eyes wide and brows furrowed.

Brian and Dowoon stayed silent while they strained their ears to listen.

“I told you, I was just walking around.”

“You were gone by 8 o’clock. You’ve been gone for six hours.”

There was a pause.

“...It was a long walk.”

Sungjin sounded exasperated. “A long walk?”

“Okay, I may have walked around a bit outside.”

“Jae—”

“I won’t do it again.”

Another pause.

“The next time you do this," the leader said, voice tired, "I’m locking you out of the dorm.”

Dowoon let out a tiny laugh. “Sungjin-hyung wouldn’t actually do that.”

“Jae knows that,” Brian replied softly.

“I really wonder what Jaehyung-hyung was doing though.”

“You and me both, Dowoon.”

“Brian-hyung—”

“Wait, shhh. I’m gonna try something.” And with that last word, Brian closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Two seconds passed before he heard the door of the room open and close.

“Jaehyung-hyung!”

“Hi, Dowoonie." The volume of Jae's voice was considerably low. "Shh, don’t talk so loudly. Hey, give me some of that.”

Brian tried to appear as natural as possible, fighting off the urge to open his eyes. There was a slurping sound as Dowoon fed Jae some of the instant noodles.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, hyung.”

There was another loud and long slurp as Dowoon himself devoured the noodles.

“Why are you still awake? And... uh... why are you on Brian’s bed?”

Dowoon let out a nervous chuckle. “I woke up because I was hungry. And it’s hard to climb onto the top bunk if I’m holding onto something.”

“But I see you climb onto your bunk while holding onto a lot of things before.”

“I also want to see if Brian-hyung will dream about noodles if I eat noodles next to him.”

Brian resisted the urge to smack Dowoon for such a lame excuse.

Jae didn’t sound convinced either. “Er...Okay.”

“Sungjin-hyung sounded angry,” Dowoon said quickly.

“You know how our leader is,” Jae replied, letting out a sigh. “Bob, oh precious Bob. I tried to sneak in without him noticing. He was asleep on the couch and I tried to tiptoe around him. But you know how he is.”

Dowoon nodded. “He’s a very light sleeper.”

“Yeah.” There was a pause. “This guy’s not a light sleeper though, I guess.”

Brian assumed that Jae was talking about him. It was at that moment when the bassist decided to open his eyes and stare dead ahead at Jae.

“Hi,” Brian said calmly, poker face on.

Jae screamed at the top of his lungs.

That was predictable. But what happened next wasn’t.

Obviously surprised, Jae took a couple steps back, still screaming. Then he tripped over his own bed and fell backwards.

There was a soft bonk noise as Jae’s head collided with the floor. The screams stopped.

There was a moment of shock and disbelief as Brian and Dowoon stared at Jae, whose legs were sprawled over his bed, upper half of his body on the floor. It must be hard being so tall.

Brian was the first to speak. He sat up slowly, eyes not moving from his friend’s unmoving figure. “Um... Jae?”

There was no reply.

“Um... Dude, are you pretending to be asleep again?”

Still, no reply.

Brian felt his heart drop. “Oh .”

Dowoon shoved his cup of noodles into Brian’s hands. Before the bassist could say anything, Dowoon jumped off the bed, rushing towards Jae and crying out, “Jaehyung-hyung!”

Brian could only stare dumbfounded as the maknae not-so-lightly slapped Jae’s cheek multiple times in an attempt to wake him up. “I, uh, didn’t think he’d react so badly.”

“Jaehyung-hyung!" Dowoon cried. "Wake up, hyung!”

“Is he, uh, really knocked out?”

“Jaehyung-hyung! Jaehyung-hyung!”

“Oh man, what have I done.”

“Jaehyung-hyuuuung!”

The door slammed open.

”What is going on?”

It was Sungjin. He stood at the doorframe, fuming. And this time he wasn’t alone.

“Jaehyung-hyuuung!” Wonpil shrieked. He was in his pink pyjamas, messy hair indicating that he had just woken up. He flung himself to Jae’s side, shaking the eldest’s shoulders. “Wake up, hyung!”

“Jaehyung-hyung!” Dowoon wailed.

“Jaehyung-hyung!” Wonpil wailed.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh,” Brian breathed out.

“What.  Happened.” Brian looked up to see Sungjin, who was now standing in front of him. He stared at the leader’s big eyes for a few seconds while the two youngest members continued screaming Jae’s name.

“I, uh...” Oh geez, how could he even explain it? Brian cleared his throat. He gripped awkwardly on the cup of noodles still in his hands. “I surprised Jae and he flipped out. Uh, literally and figuratively. He tripped on his bed and hit his head. I think he’s knocked out.”

Sungjin seemed to think carefully while the air was filled with cries of “Jaehyung-hyung!”. Then the leader sighed and nodded. He then walked out of the room.

Brian thought that he ultimately screwed up when Sungjin returned with Day6’s manager a few minutes later. Wonpil and Dowoon clamped their mouths shut. Brian himself could only stare at the floor while their manager grabbed Jae by the shoulders and lifted him up. With the help of Sungjin, they both hauled the unconscious guitarist out of the room.

A few more tense and uncomfortable minutes passed while Wonpil clung onto Dowoon (“I’m scared, Dowoonie!”) and Brian continued staring at the floor. Then Sungjin returned.

"How is Jaehyung-hyung?" Wonpil asked nervously.

“He’s fine,” the leader said, and everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief. “He’s sleeping on the couch.” He then explained how their manager had informed him that Jae would be awake in a couple of hours. Sungjin then stopped before turning to look at Brian, straight in the eyes. “Be more careful next time, okay?”

Sungjin had many sides to him. He would be hilarious whenever he was being his dorky and silly self. He would be charismatic and charming on stage, strumming away at his guitar while singing.  But when he was being serious after a problem occurred, he could become quite a scary person.

So when Sungjin told him to be more careful, Brian nodded without missing a beat.

The night ended that way, with the leader returning to his room and Wonpil refusing to leave Dowoon’s bed. Brian just stared at the wall, not getting even a second of sleep.

Brian wasn’t the type of person to run away from problems. He preferred to face them head on, bravely and determined. Running away would only delay the inevitability of solving them afterwards.

But today was different.

Instead, Brian left the dorm early in the morning. Wonpil and Dowoon were still fast asleep, snuggled against each other. Sungjin was still in his room, and Brian could hear the soft strumming of a guitar from behind the closed door.

Not that he was surprised, but Brian didn’t see Jae anywhere. It didn’t matter. Brian wasn’t trying to look for him anyways. The moment he stepped out of the dorm, he whipped out his phone and dialed a familiar number.

The person on the other end of the receiver picked up after two rings.

“Yo, wassup.”

”Bernard,” Brian said. “I, uh—Um.” What should he say? I kissed Jae and now he won’t talk to me and I accidentally knocked him out last night?  Everything is weird between me and Jae and now I’m confused? I don’t know how I feel anymore? He could have asked many things. But instead, he blurted out, “Are you free today? Wanna play some video games?”

There was a small pause. Brian felt the blood roaring in his ears. A few seconds felt like years.

Then Bernard answered cheerfully, “Yup! Sure, come on over. I’m so gonna kick your .”

Brian smiled. “I doubt it.”

Which is why an hour later, Brian found himself in Bernard Park’s living room, playing video games. They were comfortable on the couch, smashing at their controllers, boxes of pizza and cups of soda strewn all over the table in front of them. They held small conversations in English, trying to distract each other from the game. A wall clock ticked noisily nearby, but the occupants of the room payed no attention to it.

Bernard was kicking his .

Well, his avatar’s in the video game. Brian tried hard to focus, but he couldn’t. He tried and tried and tried but he just couldn’t. Just when he thought he was getting the hang of things, his concentration would slip and Bernard’s avatar would pummel his into the ground.

It was around their third hour of gaming when Bernard paused the screen.

Brian was still furiously pressing a button on his controller when he realized that his avatar wasn’t moving anymore.

“Yo, Brian.”

Dazed, Brian turned to look at his friend. He ceased his furious button pressing.

“Dude, you ,” Bernard said simply.

Brian said nothing. He didn’t know what to say.

“You don’t usually . Well, not this much.”

“I...”

“You okay, bro?”

“I...” Brian shook his head. “I’m fine, Bernard, really.”

“You’re a ty liar.”

“I am, huh?”

“Totally ty.”

A small chuckle escaped Brian’s lips. It was just a small chuckle, but more followed. And another. And another, getting louder with each repetition until he was laughing so loudly that Bernard inched away from him on the couch.

“Okay, uh, this isn’t creepy at all. You’re the opposite of okay.”

“Yeah,” Brian wheezed, shaking his head and willing himself to calm down. Finally the laughter ebbed away. He took in a couple of slow, careful breaths. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“Now after you freaked me out, mind telling me what’s going on with you?”

“You won’t believe it.”

“Try me.”

Brian wondered if he really should spill out his problems like this. He came to take his mind off of the current problem, not to face it. He chose his words carefully and slowly, telling himself that he could stop if he wanted to. “I got into an...” He paused before continuing. “...awkward situation with one of my bandmates.”

Bernard stared at him. “Hmm... Lemme guess. You didn’t order dinner when Sungjin asked you to? You told Wonpil that his aegyo isn’t cute? You nagged Dowoon too much and he’s annoyed with you? Or did Jae borrow your guitar without telling you again?”

Brian smiled, his eyes still fixed on the paused television screen. “Oh, I wish it was that simple.”

“Is it a problem with Jae?”

Shocked, Brian immediately turned to look at his friend, who looked unfazed. “What makes you say that?”

Bernard shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

“Please don’t be surprised.”

“Again, try me.”

“Seriously, don’t be surprised.”

“Oh, Brian Kang,” Bernard sighed. He reached over the table and grabbed a cup full of soda. He took a sip and smirked, eyes fixed on his friend. “I’ve known Jae for a preeeetty long time. He told me of all the times he fought with you because of this and that. You guys used to hate each other, right? And even after you’ve become buddies, you still have some fights and Jae comes running back to me with the newest story. So whatever you tell me, it won’t shock me.”

Brian gulped. “Did he, uh, tell you what happened when we went overseas a few days ago?”

“Oh. Well he didn’t tell me anything about his trip yet.”

It was now or never.

“Still, I’m sure that it won’t surprise me.” And with that, Bernard took a big sip from his cup.

“I kissed Jae,” Brian said.

Bernard choked violently on his soda.

“Told you,” Brian sighed, watching his friend bend over and cough madly. 

After regaining enough breath, Bernard bellowed, “YOU WHAT?!” His eyes were as huge as Brian has ever seen them. “You—Jae—You mean... on the lips? Or on the cheek? Or—”

“Lips.”

“DUDE, WHAT. DID YOU LOSE A GAME OF SPIN-THE-BOTTLE OR SOMETHING—”

“No, but—”

“DID YOU GUYS GET CAPTURED ON A KISS CAM—”

“No, Bernard—”

“ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH HIM OR SOMETHING.”

“What? No!” Brian held up his hands, as if to defend himself. “I— I don’t... I don’t know. , it’s all just very confusing right now.”

“DID YOU—” Then Bernard suddenly closed his mouth. He made a loud coughing noise and then leaned heavily against the couch. He put on his serious face. “Okay, I’ve calmed down now. Now tell me what happened.”

Brian would have laughed at Bernard’s comical and sudden change. But he didn’t. Instead, he launched into a recollection of what happened during the past few days. His friend listened to him carefully and intently, only interrupting to ask for certain details. Brian told him about the haunted house, about the riddle that asked them to kiss, about him kissing Jae, about Jae avoiding him since then, and about him accidentally knocking out Jae. It was a messy narration and Brian himself was disappointed with his own storytelling ability, but it would have to do.

“...And now here we are,” he finished. “I didn’t even apologize directly to him. I just wrote a note and put it on the couch when he still slept. Just a small note saying ‘Sorry, bro.’”

“Sorry for what, though?” Bernard asked.

“For surprising him and causing him to trip and fall.”

“Are you sure it’s just that?”

Brian wondered what his friend meant. Then it clicked. “I guess I’m also sorry for kissing him like that.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I even a bit after we left the haunted house.” Brian sighed, running a finger through his hair. “I thought he was cool with it. We even laughed about it. He was the one who asked me to kiss him in the first place. But he’s been avoiding me like I’m the Loch Ness monster or something.”

“Uh-huh.”

“If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have just dragged his around the freaking haunted house till we found an exit. It was just—It was just a spur of the moment thing. He kept blabbering on about how he was scared and I thought I could calm him down.”

“So you kissed him?” Bernard asked calmly.

“So I kissed him as per instruction.”

“Hmm...” Bernard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “How did you feel though, when you kissed him?”

It was an unexpected question. Brian was glad he wasn’t drinking anything or he would have choked too. “I—uh... Oh, geez.” He thought about it hard, trying to remember how he felt when he pressed his lips against Jae’s. “I didn’t really feel anything, though? I mean, yes, there’s that rush of energy and dizziness that you get when you kiss someone, but—“ He shook his head. “He’s my friend. I just felt a bit... odd?”

“Odd?”

“I dunno, man. My emotions were all mixed up because the haunted house was so loud.”

“Hmm...”

Brian thought about it some more. In that haunted house, he did feel his heart beating fast, blood roaring in his ears. But it was because of the adrenaline of being in a haunted house, not because of... Not because of...

“Only time will tell,” Bernard said, snapping Brian out of his thoughts. “My dear Brian Kang, only time will tell.”

“What do you mean?” Just then, Brian's phone let out a loud ping noise. He nearly jumped in his seat. He quickly fished out his phone from the pocket of his jeans and opened the newest message. It was from Dowoon:

Brian-hyung! Hyung! I don’t understand what’s going on 
between you and Jaehyung-hyung, but I really hope
you can solve it with Jaehyung-hyung soon! :) Because of that,
I asked Sungjin-hyung and Wonpil-hyung to accompany me on a
movie marathon! So the dorm will be empty  (except for Jaehyung-hyung)
until around 8pm at night! Jaehyung-hyung thinks you’re going home late
so he won’t be expecting you. Good luck, hyung! ^.^

“Whoa, Dowoonie is the real MVP,” Bernard said  after leaning in to read the message. He checked the wall clock. “It’s three p.m. right now. You’ve got five hours. Go, go.”

“Wh-what—?” Brian spluttered.

“What do you mean ‘what’? Get your to the dorm now!”

“N-now?”

“Are you gonna let Dowoonie’s efforts go to waste? Go, dude!”

Brian felt like faceplanting into a box of pizza. He tried to think of a hundred reasons to avoid this, to avoid facing Jae so soon when everything was so messed up. He just needed a couple days to figure out what to do... What to say...

He would figure something out... Right?

But it only took him a couple seconds to understand. To understand that deep down, he would never ever be ready. He would never be ready to talk to Jae about what happened, about the kiss. About how Brian had felt then, and how he felt now. And finally, he would never be ready to face the conversation that would determine and set the definition of his and Jae’s relationship.

He hated the haunted house for putting them through this in the first place, hated Jae for freaking out and begging for the kiss, and finally, Brian hated himself for giving into the confusion and emotions coursing through him during the heat of the moment.

He dearly missed the days when he and Jae were just two boys, practicing with the band, writing songs together, excited for their debut. They hated each other at first, of course. Hated each other so much that he couldn’t count the amount of times they fought. But they got through it, became friends, and grew closer by the day.

Everything was so simple then. It was sad and hilarious how all of that simplicity vanished in just a few seconds, in a dark and gloomy haunted house.

Brian let out a curse under his breath. Dwelling on the past wasn't going to help him. Focus on what will happen next, he scolded himself.

Escaping from the situation was not an option. He knew he couldn’t run away, no matter how much he wanted to. Face it head on, was his motto. Face it.

Gathering his determination, he pulled on his best calm face.  Or at least he tried to.

Brian Kang, you can do this, he told himself.

Finally, he turned to look at Bernard straight in the eyes. “Okay, I’ll go,” he said firmly.

Bernard grinned, full teeth showing. “Attaboy. Go, Brian! Run, Brian, run!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Brian jumped off the couch and practically ran out of Bernard’s front door, hair blowing in the wind.