“Mina,” said Haruka as she poked her head into her daughter’s room. “Your friends are here.”

    Mina looked up from the book she was reading and to her mom. “My friends?”

    Haruka nodded. “Come out. I’ll make you all some lunch.” She turned and headed back to the kitchen. Mina frowned and glanced at her phone sitting on her nightstand. Weird. Momo and Sana didn’t tell me they were coming over.

    Mina shut her book and laid it onto the nightstand next to her phone and walked out of her room. She stopped at the end of the hall as her eyes landed on her “friends” who were sitting in the living room. So that’s why, she thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She in a breath before placing her hands on her hips. “What the hell are you all doing here?”

    Bambam looked up at her and grinned. “Hi, noona.”

    “We have a project to work on remember, Mina?” Mark shot her a wide grin as Mina shook her head. Youngjae and Jinyoung both nodded adding on to Mark’s lie.

    Jackson shrugged. “I wanted to see you. I missed you.”

    Jaebum rolled his eyes as Bambam, Mark, Jinyoung, and Youngjae threw glares in Jackson’s direction. The Chinese male smirked as Mina herself rolled her eyes.

    “And you, Yugyeom?” she asked. “Why are you here?”

    Yugyeom who had been sitting quietly on the couch shrugged. “Bambam dragged me here—”

    “Because you like her too!” Bambam said. “We’re all here to fight for you, noona.”

    Mina frowned, her gaze staying on Yugyeom. “Is that true?”

    He nodded. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. You were stressing about everyone else liking you, I didn’t want to add on to it.” He walked over to her. “But it doesn’t matter. I know you won’t choose me and all I want is for you to be happy.” Yugyeom smiled pushing a piece of Mina’s hair behind her ear. “So do me a favor. Don’t choose Bambam. He’s not your type.”

    Bambam frowned. “Yah—”

    Yugyeom turned to the other and grinned innocently. “Oh, come on. You know it’s true.”

    Mina giggled as Bambam and Yugyeom argued with each other. Jackson raised an eyebrow watching the two young males argue. “You know, you two fight like a couple,” he said.

    Bambam twitched. “W-What? No—” He looked to Yugyeom who had a conniving smirk on his face. Bambam felt a weird feeling of fear rush over him at the younger’s smirk.

Yugyeom threw his arm around Bambam and pulled the young Thai male close. “What if we are?”

Mina and the others burst out into laughter as Bambam’s face flushed bright pink. He immediately pushed Yugyeom away from him and punched the other in the shoulder.

“Jerk—” Bambam muttered as Yugyeom shot him a playful smile.

    “Mina,” Haruka called out to her in Japanese. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

    “Coming.” Mina scanned her eyes over the boys. “Try not to kill each other while I’m gone.”

    “No promises,” Jackson said gaining himself a hit on the back of his head from Jaebum. Jackson grunted at the impact and glared at his friend. Mina shook her head and made her way to the kitchen where her mom was waiting for her.
    “Yes, okaa-san?”

    Haruka looked at her daughter across the counter. “Did I ever tell you about how your father and I got together?” Mina shook her head. “It was just like what you’re going through right now. This whole group of boys was competing for my heart.” Haruka smiled. “Runs in the family. Your grandmother, my mom, went through the same thing. No one can resist a Fukujima girl.”

    Mina chuckled at the last comment before sighing as she sat on the stool by the counter. “How did you choose otou-san?”

    “He was the only one my heart yearned for.” Haruka reached across the counter, held Mina’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “You know it in your heart which one you want. While they may be boys who don’t seem to pay attention to everything, they already know who you’re going to choose. It’s just,” Haruka said as she waved her hand, "male pride that they won’t give up on you.”

    Mina stayed silent as she thought back to what Yugyeom said. ‘I know you won’t choose me and all I want is for you to be happy.’ Could it be that they really do know who she’s going to choose?

    “But I don’t even know how to choose,” Mina said. “How do I choose?”

    Haruka smiled, fixing Mina’s hair. “Listen to your heart, Mina. You’re thinking about it too much.”

Mina walked back to the living room to notice all of them arguing with each other.

    “She’s mine!” Jaebum shouted.

    “Stay in your lane, Jaebum. She’s mine,” Mark shot.

    “Guys, I’m pretty sure I saw her first. Noona is mine,” said Bambam.

    Jackson rolled his eyes. “No one cares if you saw her first. She’s clearly mine. She likes me, not you losers.”

    “Mina noona likes me better—” Yugyeom said.

    Jinyoung shot a look at Yugyeom making the younger twitch. “You said you weren’t interested anymore. She’s mine.”

    “Okay, everyone. Stop wishing,” Youngjae said. “She’s mine.”

    Mina’s eye twitched as they all argued with each other. Oh, my God— she thought.

    She stood there for a good five minutes and they just kept arguing. “Alright! That’s enough!” Mina shouted. All seven boys turned their heads in her direction. Mina rubbed her forehead and huffed. “Will you guys just stop? I’m not some…thing you can just fight over.” She walked over to them. “And coming to my house unannounced? How rude.”

    “Sorry—” Yugyeom immediately apologized.

    Mina placed her hands on her hips and looked at each of them. “Look, I know you guys want me to choose, but—”

    “I don’t care who you choose. So long as the person you choose is me, everything will be fine,” Jackson said.

    Mina rolled her eyes. “You guys have to give me time. I can’t just make a decision right now.” She sighed. “After the talent show on Friday, I’ll have my decision. Until then, refrain from killing each other and please, don’t come over like this again. A simple text would be nice. Now get out.”

    Yugyeom bowed. “Yes, noona. Come, Bambam. Let’s go.” He grabbed his friend’s arm and pulled him out of the apartment.

    “Just so we’re clear, you are going to choose me, right?” Jackson asked.

    Jaebum rolled his eyes and grabbed Jackson by the back of his shirt. “Bye, Mina. See you in school.”

    He dragged Jackson out following after Mark, Youngjae, and Jinyoung and shut the door behind him. Mina exhaled deeply and plopped down on the couch. “Oh, boy…Now I have to make a decision… Great.”