[word count : 550] [post]

“d_o! come join us - less isolation, more interaction please. it is our day off and i would like to gather the group together for a quick dinner and games, to get to know each other better.” 

d_o was startled and when he looked up, right there standing right at the door, their leader is leaning against one side of the door frame with his arms crossed, half smiling. 

deep down, he prefers to be on his own on days off, doing things he enjoys and getting ample rest. but he is very aware of his commitment to the group too. 

“alright hyung, give me five minutes. let me finish this episode that i am watching now. what do you and the rest want to eat? i will go to the grocery store to get them later.”

“oh, dont worry about cooking. we ordered fried chicken earlier, and i just made a pot of vegetable soup to share. join us, we can start on games while waiting. five minutes ok?”

d_o nodded silently.

“it is your turn, ka_i - stop dreaming.”

ka_i looked at all the cards in his hands and realised that the chances of winning this round is very slim. he shifts nervously, as he ponders about his next move. right now, he has the most number of cards since everyone basically piled up their plus cards and he had to draw eight in total.

“you are going to lose anyway. so stop pretending that you are thinking so hard about your next move!” said yeol as he leaned across the table to share a victorious high-five with baek, quite suspiciously. 

ka_i saw that the leader was smiling from ear-to-ear with hunnie, who had no more cards left hence they both can avoid the penalty. he glanced to his left and saw that d_o was silently observing everyone, looking quite anxious too because he was also holding on to many cards.

“here are the rules - to make it more interesting, lets add a penalty for loser of each round. we will play 6 rounds altogether since there are 6 of us. i want everyone to write down their penalty of choice. we will put in all in this box, and we will draw one out once we finish one round. losers must do exactly what is written on their chosen piece of paper. deal?”

“DEAL!”

it was unavoidable - he hates losing in games like these, but he could not get rid of all his cards so he lost this round. baek has been pretty lucky so far with zero loses. yeol had to do a striptease while lapdancing, while su_ho had to be flicked on the forehead by everyone. 

ka_i reached his hand into the box, gave it a quick swirl and picked up the one that got stuck between his index and third fingers. he really hates losing but he hates penalties even more.

“read it out aloud, ka_i! hurry up!”

his jaw dropped as soon as he saw what was written on the piece of paper in his hands. he could not believe his lousy luck. he dropped his head in disbelief and embarrassment, as he read it out, loud enough for others to hear.

“kiss the lips of the person to your left”