“Can someone please explain why this guy is inside my closet, eating the Special K cereal?!” Before Hongbin could try to look for Jaehwan again, an annoyed Taekwoon entered the scene while dragging Jaehwan—who was busy shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth—with him.

“So, that’s where he had been hiding.” Hongbin sighed. “Now, the only problem is waking Wonshik up but Sanghyuk could do the job by throwing Wonshik off of his bed.” He stated.

“But that is if he’s on his bed. That hyung could be sleeping in the bathroom right now so I’m going to pour cold water on him.” Sanghyuk happily suggested laughing like an evil child he was.

Taekwoon groaned. “Before that, can someone please explain why of all places, Jaehwan always chooses to hide inside my room?” He asked in frustration. Well, seeing Jaehwan all over the place was not a very pleasant thing to see anyway. If Taekwoon could go back to the time when they were still trainees, he might actually reconsider being part of the group with Cha Hakyeon, Lee Jaehwan, Kim Wonshik, Lee Hongbin, and Han Sanghyuk in it. It was not a very good choice after all.

“Why are you all so obsessed with me?” Jaehwan asked, finally done eating his precious cereal. “Can’t all of you just let me live such a peaceful life inside of a closet with this Special K cereal?” He added in a dramatic way but he immediately dropped his dramatic acting when he saw the photo albums lying on the floor. Hakyeon was the one sitting on the middle of them all. “What’s that for?” Jahwan asked, sounding a bit excited as he already had an idea about what it was for.

“Let’s travel back in time through this photos.” Hakyeon suggested.

“Can we all just get ready so that we can leave soon? Our CEO would scold us again for being late.” Hongbin was not sure about how many times he said that already but he was going to say it again until the other members could finally get it tthrough their heads. Five years living together was enough for him to know that it was not going to happen but it was still worth trying. The other guys were just too fearless for their own good. One time, they even hung up on both the producer and writer of a reality show, it was even aired on Plan V Diary. Come to think of it, only Hongbin was worried that time. The others did not even care.

“No.” Hakyeon disagreed. “No one is leaving this house until I find the person who ate my precious strawberry ice cream. It really is worth two dollars, believe me or not.”

“I thought we already found the culprit?” Sanghyuk asked, pointing at Taekwoon. If it was five years ago, the youngest would surely have no guts to point at the older male. But since it was 2017, not a stone age, the youngest knew no fear—so much for being an unchanging group, right? If Hongbin’s farmer hair could change, why wouldn’t the youngest, right?

Hakyeon let out a sigh as if he was actually the one who was having a hard time and who was so close to losing his sanity when there was a certain Lee Hongbin who was stuck with them and who was suffering because of them since forever. “Han Sanghyuk, just go and fetch Wonshik. We have to take a look at this album that shows how much we’ve changed all throughout the years.” Hakyeon commanded the youngest. The youngest wanted to protest but decided that it was not worth of his time plus who could protest when a Lee Hongbin was already giving you his signature judging look that did not change one bit in five year’s time? “Who would have thought that our dear Sanghyuk would grow up so much in just five years? It feels just like yesterday when he was introduced to us. Back then, he was an adorable little . Now, he’s already an adorable huge .” Hakyeon was teary-eyed as he spoke.

“I know!” Jaehwan agreed, the topic about his bizarre hiding spots and his Special K cereal was completely forgotten—not by Taekwoon, of course, but he was ignored when he tried to bring it up again. “Sanghyuk used to be so scared to even greet us but now, we’re the ones who are running away from him. I should have made him fear me so much to the point that he could not look at me in the eyes. I should have and made fun of him. I regret being nice.” Jaehwan stated, pouting at his own words as he recalled how nice of a boy Sanghyuk was. “I guess it’s late now.”

“It is late.” Taekwoon agreed, finally dropping the topic about his closet and Jaehwan’s cereal because he knew that he was not going to win anyway. He had been trying to find answers to his questions for five years and it was pretty safe to say that the answers were still nowhere to be found. “The moment you open your mouth to retort, you’ll feel yourself being lifted up from the ground and who knows what’s going to happen to you after.” He spoke based on his experience.

“While Sanghyuk changed a lot, there is Wonshik who still wouldn’t budge on his bed unless it was the evil youngest member who would wake him up.” Hakyeon commented, still had not moved on from the sudden nostalgia that hit him in their anniversary.

Hongbin would have had been so touched at how unchanging everyone was and how few things changed. However, there was not enough time for that especially when their CEO would be heading to the restaurant to meet them soon. If they were late, they would be scolded again and Hongbin did not want that. He just wanted to eat a delicious piece of Korean beef but seeing the scene in front of him, it was a bit impossible, he could tell. They might end up just staying inside their house, eating something that they—Sanghyuk—would force Taekwoon to cook. “We don’t even have the time to reminisce, let’s go to the restaurant first and meet our CEO before we go back here again and deal with this nostalgia that everyone is feeling.” He said in one breath. People thought that he was always calm and collected but the real him was not like that. The real him was so fed up of being late because of five idiots.

Before any of the three guys could even respond, they heard a series of loud noises coming from the bedroom of Wonshik followed by the opening of the door. “Wonshik hyung is up!” Sanghyuk proudly announced the moment he opened the door. He closed the door behind him to give Wonshik the privacy he needed before heading towards where the others were. “It’s a bit tough to wake him up today.” Sanghyuk informed the other guys as if it was something new. “Makes me remember of the time when we had to wake him up for our One Fine Day. People think that it’s hilarious—it really was but it’s burdensome at the same time especially if we have to deal with that for five years now.”

“It isn’t even time to complain.” Hongbin interjected even though he knew that he and his words wouuld be ignored as usual as if he was the one who did not make any sense.

“Ah… I remember that One Fine Day. Our Taekwoon got sick.” Being the mother of the group, Hakyeon frowned at the memory. “He and Wonshik had to get injections on their butts.”

“We did not!” A very deep-voiced person denied the baseless accusation. The guys turned their heads only to find an already ready-to-go Wonshik. His hair was already combed and his clothes were neat. He really did wonders in the bathroom—and it had only been two minutes since he was woken up. That’s because of one secret—he did not take a bath and only threw some clothes into his body and combed his hair. Then, voila, a ready-to-go main rapper. “Why do you keep on saying that we got injection on our butts? I was holding my back because it hurts.” He reasoned out to Hakyeon.

“If anything is worth remembering in that trip, it’s probably the hail that nearly killed us.” Jaehwan said, ignoring Wonshik’s protests. “I thought that it would be our last trip together especially during the zip line. Luckily, I got to hide behind Wonshik.”

“I was unlucky because Hongbin hyung just laughed at me all the way to the other side.” Sanghyuk commented, chuckling but still looking a bit bitter at the memory of that painful ride. “Is seeing me in pain gives such a happy feeling?” He sneered.

“Yes.” All of the five guys agreed without even hesitating but looked away when Sanghyuk stared at each of them with his evil eyes. Each part of his body was evil after all. No wonder, in one episode of VIXX TV, Wonshik said that Sanghyuk fits the role as Hades the most because he brings everyone to hell—when Sanghyuk saw it, Wonshik was brought to hell right away.

“I remember that Taekwoon hyung almost killed me too during our hide-and-seek. How can he be so scary?” Wonshik asked, earning himself a glare from Taekwoon which he blatantly ignored. It was not 2012 anymore. Wonshik would not be threatened just because of Taekwoon’s glare because the former knew how gentle the latter actually was. He also seemed happier unlike in 2012 when he looked like he was going to murder everyone in their sleep. Wonshik did not even want to remember those times when Taekwoon still seemed like a mass murderer.

“I didn’t know but I found out during the broadcast that Sanghyuk stole the oranges that I picked.” Jaehwan said when he remembered.

“I was smart enough to stop him!” Hakyeon boasted.

Hongbin let out a sigh and heaved another one when his phone vibrated, indicating that there was a message. It was from their CEO, reminding them about the dinner and especially emphasizing that they should not be late. “Enough with this and let’s first prepare ourselves so that we can leave.”

“Where are we going?” Taekwoon asked, completely clueless when he was the one who reminded them about it at the kitchen earlier. He sure was getting so old and was getting so forgetful.

“Dinner.” Hongbin replied, a bit relieved that someone was actually paying attention to him. “We have a dinner with Mr. CEO tonight, right? We have to leave soon so that he won’t scold us for being late. You do know that he does not really fancy us being late, right?”

Sanghyuk chuckled and walked over to the older guy. He patted the latter’s head. “Hyung, stop worring so much. You know that he will only scold us for a few minutes then get over it.” He grinned.

“Yeah, and we cannot leave until I find the culprit who stole my ice cream.” Hakyeon stated firmly even though he made no move to investigate. Instead, he remained sitting on the floor as if that was a big help to the case. “Whoever that is seriously committed a big crime.”

“Can you stop saying that because we all know who the culprit is?” Jaehwan heaved a sigh. “It’s Taekwoon hyung. It’s the same person who eats every five minutes. It’s the person who never listens to you and it is the person who never take his daily dose of ginseng.”

After that, the boys were back to their nostalgic state, discussing each memorable event in their lives. Hongbin could only sigh in defeat. If they could not be beaten, joining them would be the best solution. Screw their CEO, screw being polite, Hongbin was so done with trying to be the normal one. His inner Jaehwan and Hakyeon were coming out. 

Author's Corner: (2012 words again~)

...I really am not lying when I said that I forgot the existence of this story. #sorryIfailedasanauthorlol

Anyway, this story really has no plot but I am glad that people are still reading this and actually finding it funny.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who read, subscribed, even upvoted this story lol
marlia91, vixxcha, bcpfgrg, sugarysugar92, thank you so much for upvoting!

My other stories starring VIXX:

Kindergarten Series (One-shot stories//Completed):

Little Sanghyuk's First Day of school

To the Pig Farm We Go

Letters to Santa

Crack (Chaptered//On-going):

One Great Escape

Angst (One-shot collection//Indefinite Hiatus):

Darkness Within