Exam week was finally over and Jeonghan felt like he could finally breathe again. The entire week had consisted of cramming, stress eating and getting little to no sleep throughout the 5 days but luckily Jeonghan had managed to survive and he was certain that he had done decent on most of his exams. And most importantly, now that the first set of exams were over it was finally time for Chuseok. An entire week off of school in order to relax, spend time with friends and family and either sleep or eat without having to worry about classes or anything else school related. It was the perfect way to unwind after hell week and Jeonghan was planning to take full advantage of it.

On the very first day of Chuseok, Jeonghan had made sure to turn off any and all alarms and the high schooler slept like the dead for over 13 hours. It was amazing and even though his mother scolded him for being so lazy, Jeonghan couldn't bring himself to care since he finally felt like he had made up for all of the sleep he had lost during the past week. His little sister also but all he did in response was ruffle her hair and take a bite out of the sandwich she was eating before going to the living room to watch some TV with his dad. His father was watching some variety show when Jeonghan decided to join him and the two boys spent some time bonding over the TV. It was only about halfway through the second show that Jeonghan had realized that he didn't have his phone on him. Like any teenager, Jeonghan practically felt without his phone on hand and quickly went up to his room to retrieve.

After taking it off his charger Jeonghan saw that he had several text messages. Most of them were from the groups chat he shared with his friends, a few were messages Joshua had sent him off of the group chat and the last one was from Sehun. Jeonghan wasn't expecting a text from the senior so he quickly opened it, cursing himself for missing an actual text from Oh Sehun...what if the other wanted to spend some time with him outside of school?

But sadly that wasn't the case. Instead, all the contents said was "I hope you're enjoying your Chuseok."

Jeonghan replied with a quick "I am, thanks! I hope you are too :)" before sitting down on his bed and staring at his phone screen with a blush. Sehun had actually thought about him and sent a text message to him wishing him a happy break. He was perfect. He was-

Jeonghan was brought out of his thoughts when he had received another text from Sehun and the junior was eager to see what Sehun's reply was.

Sehun: Sorry. Sent that to the wrong person.

Ouch.

Jeonghan: It's okay. It happens haha

Sehun: Yeah well...Happy Chuseok

Jeonghan: Thanks.

Jeonghan felt extremely awkward after that and he buried his face in his pillows and groaned at how stupid he must have seemed through the texts. It took another few minutes of just lying there on his bed before Jeonghan received another text. Luckily though, this message was from Joshua and Jeonghan quickly called the boy in hopes of forgetting what had just happened to him by talking to his best friend about any random thing.

"Whoa. I was not expecting you to be awake. Are you really done sleeping?"

"Haha very funny Shua. So...what are you up to?"

"I'm hanging out with Dokyeom, Vernon and Jun right now. We're all playing Mario Kart and eating junk food."

"Sounds like fun."

"You wanna join us?"

"Nah, I think I'll spend all of today with my family. How about we all get together sometime later this week?"

"Sounds good. There was this ramen shop Dokyeom wanted to try out in the next town over. We could all go there together."

"I'd be down for that. When will be a good day?"

"Probably Wednesday? I know Thursday everyone is gonna wanna be with their families since it's Chuseok day and tomorrow is too short notice since I think Mingyu and Wonwoo already have plans."

"Wednesday sounds good."

"Great. I'll let everyone know on the group cha- JUN! Did you just start the game without me? That's so cheating!...I gotta go Jeonghan. Someone's about to get their kicked."

"Ha! Bye Shua. Make sure you don't kill Jun or Minghao will probably kick you in the throat."

And with that, the phone call ended. Jeonghan spent the rest of the day with his family, just like he said he would and he even got to bed at a reasonable time.

His Tuesday was much like his Monday. Again he spent time with his family, except on that day Jeonghan had taken up his role as a good older brother and took his sister shopping a bought her whatever she wanted. His sister hugged him multiple times, calling him the "best big brother ever" and his parents were pleased with him for being a good older sibling.

On Wednesday, Jeonghan may have woken up a tad bit late to meet up with his friends. It wasn't his fault....he had just gotten used to sleeping in past noon every day for the past few days so he accidentally missed the first two alarms that he'd set. He quickly rushed out of bed and went about his morning routine before he picked out something comfortable yet fashionable to wear for the autumn weather and then he was out the door and on his way for Joshua's place.

Most of his friends were already there, except for Vernon and Seungkwan, and it looked like his friends were playing video games to pass the time until everyone had arrived.

"Finally! I thought you'd forgotten about our plans." Mingyu said as he greeted the long haired boy.

"And miss out on some good ramen? As if." Jeonghan replied. "By the way, where exactly is this place?"

"We have no clue. Dokyeom said he got a recommendation from a friend but he won't say who." Wonwoo answered.

"It was probably Yuju." Woozi said next.

"I don't doubt it. He'll do anything she tells him to do. He's so whipped." Jeonghan joked and just then Dokyeom came out from the bathroom.

"Hey, Jeonghan! Are you ready for some good food?" The sophomore asked.

"Depends. Where are you taking us?"

"Umm, well...I'm not exactly sure of the name of the place but it's somewhere around Seoul's Girls High school."

"You do realize that's almost an hour away right?"

"Yeah but my friend said it was really good and that I had to try it."

"Who?" Jeonghan asked and Dokyeom only blushed which basically confirmed everyone's suspicion. "Alright, we'll go so that you can have something to talk about with your girlfriend." 

That comment left Dokyeom's face burning red and the others all eased him until they heard the doorbell ring and a few seconds later Seungkwan and Vernon came in.

"Sorry we're late guys. I was doing stuff." Seungkwan said as he took off his jacket.

"Hi, I'm stuff." Vernon said with a large grin as he followed behind his boyfriend and half of the boys in the living room cheered while the other half gagged and Seungkwan just hit him on the chest and told him to stop being an idiot.

"Alright, now that we're all here we might as well leave." Mingyu suggested.

"But we just got here. I wanted to play some video games." Vernon complained.

"But we don't even know where the place is and it's gonna take us like an hour to get there by bus." Joshua reasoned.

"Aw, I wanted to play some more games too." Hoshi said next.

"I have an idea, why don't we play one more game but make it a little interesting." Jeonghan said with a little smirk.

"What are you thinking?" Joshua said, knowing that Jeonghan was scheming something.

"How about we play one game of Super Smash Bros. Hyung team vs. Maknae team. Losing team has to pay for food?"

"You're on!" Dino said excitedly.

"Are you crazy? They've got Woozi and Wonwoo on their team! We're gonna lose!" Mingyu said.

"Don't worry hyung! I know I can beat them!" The youngest said, full of confidence.

And so the game was set up to multiplayer mode. Dino and Vernon represented the maknae team while Woozi and Wonwoo represented the hyung team. Unsurprisingly, the game didn't last too long. Woozi and Wonwoo completely destroyed the dongsaengs and suddenly their entire team was groaning over their loss while the hyungs all cheered.

"Okay, now why did you really suggest that game?" Joshua asked Jeonghan but not at all complaining about the thought of his friends paying for his food.

"Oh, yeah I had realized that I forgot my wallet at home so this was the easiest way to get one of them to pay for me." Jeonghan said with a cheeky grin.

"You're terrible." Joshua said with a huge smile as he high-fived his best friend.

"I'm great." Jeonghan praised himself. "Alright losers! Let's go eat some good food!" Jeonghan said, getting everyone's attention and then proceeded to lead them all out the door.

The boys all head to the nearest bus stop and they waited for the next bus that would take them to Mapo. It wasn't a long wait and soon they were all on the bus, joking and laughing and being stared at by middle school girls who thought they were all attractive. Jun had joked about flirting with some of them and even winked at one before Minghao stomped on his foot and glared at him which made everyone else laugh before they went back to talking about random things going on in their lives.

"Hey Jeonghan hyung, you should invite Seungcheol to come eat with us." Hoshi suggested.

"Oh yeah! I'm sure he'd enjoy it. Hyung, you should call him now!" Dino said.

"Umm, actually....I don't have his number. Sorry guys." Jeonghan said awkwardly.

"What do you mean you don't have his number? I thought you guys were becoming good friends." Mingyu pointed.

"Yeah, but we still haven't exchanged numbers. Maybe he can join us next time." Jeonghan replied and they all agreed, saying that Seungcheol most definitely had to come with them the next time they all went out somewhere together. He never would've thought that his friends would warm up to Seungcheol so much but he guessed that would work out better for him once he actually started "dating" the other. 

Jeonghan was snapped out of his thoughts when he was dragged into another random conversation.

The bus ride lasted about 45 minutes before they reached the stop closest to Seoul's Girls High School and once they were off, they all began searching for the ramen shop. All of the couples walking hand in hand and so Jeonghan quickly slipped his in Joshua's which made the other boy laugh and look at Jeonghan questioningly.

"What? Seeing all these couples just reminds me of how single I am. Now be a gentleman and keep my hand warm in your pockets." Jeonghan said and Joshua just chuckled.

"I have such a needy best friend."

"Yeah but you love me." Jeonghan said and then stuck out his tongue.

The 12 boys walked and walked down several streets but then they realized that they didn't even know where they were heading too.

"Didn't she give you the name of the place?" Minghao said after 20 minutes of aimlessly walking around.

"No...she just said I'd be able to find it." Dokyeom replied sheepishly.

"You and Yuju are both hopeless. Maybe that's why you'd make such a good couple." Minghao said and Jun had to rub his arms to calm down the slightly irritated Chinese boy.

"Guys, calm down. I'm sure we'll find it eventually." Joshua said optimistically.

But eventually never came. It was another 30 minutes later and the boys still had no idea where they were supposed to be going.

"I should punch you." Seungkwan said to Dokyeom. They had all decided to go back to the bus stop since they felt like they were just getting lost.

"I'm so hungry!" Dino complained.

'Why don't we just go back to that food stall we saw a few blocks back?" Wonwoo suggested and they all agreed since it was getting late and they all just wanted to eat. But unfortunately the stall had closed since the old woman running it had decided to close early since it was Chuseok.

"I'm gonna kill Dokyeom." Woozi said under his breath but everyone heard it and Dokyeom physically shivered as he pulled Mingyu in front of him to use as a human shield.

"Ugh, and I'm sure everywhere else is either already closed or they're going to close soon since it's the holidays." Hoshi said.

"So what now? Should we just go home?" Vernon asked.

"But it'll take another hour to get there. And the kids are all really hyungry." Jeonghan replied.

"Hey guys, look over there." Joshua pointed towards the opposite direction and they all looked at what he was pointing to. "That convenience store is open! We can just buys some premade meals and eat it there...I mean I know it's not exactly what we had in mind but-"

"Who cares. It's food and I'm starving!" Minghao said as he made his way towards the store with everyone else following behind him.

The boys all entered the convenience store in an orderly fashion and went towards the food aisles to search for something to eat. There was no one at the cash register but they could hear someone moving stuff from the back room and guessed that the cashier was probably working doing some work in there.

They let Mingyu pick out all of the ingredients, since the boy knew how to make a meal out of just about anything and then they made their way to the front counter. Mingyu had called for the employee's attention and within a few minutes someone came out of the back room carrying so many boxes that they couldn't even see his face.

"Sorry, I'll be with you all in a minute." The worker said and they all waited patiently.

The worker eventually came back and they were all surprised to see who it was.

"Seungcheol?!" They all exclaimed.

"Oh...hi guys." Seungcheol said awkwardly, not expecting to see his classmates.

"What are you doing here?" Vernon asked.

"I work here..." He replied.

"Wait, this is where you work afterschool? But...it's so far from school." Jeonghan said.

"Yeah well, it's hard to find a job these days, especially being just a high schooler, and the owner was nice enough to give me one. So yeah...this is where I work. Anyway, will this be all?" Seungcheol said, getting back to his job.

"Yeah, it should be. And hey, do you have a microwave in the back we could use? We kinda wanted to eat the food here." Mingyu asked.

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. And are you guys paying by cash or credit card?"

"Cash. The dongsaengs are paying for it all." Jeonghan said with a smirk and the younger ones just groaned as they remembered that they lost the game.

Soon all the food was paid for and Mingyu and Wonwoo followed Seungcheol to the back room where they could make the food while the others all sat down at the small tables in the store. It didn't take that long for the three boys to come back with trays of hot rice with chicken curry and melted cheese on top. It smelled delicious and the rest of the boys were all thankful that Mingyu was a cooking genius.

They sat down and were about to eat when Dino asked Seungcheol if he wanted to join them, and then Mingyu offering to make some food for him too.

"I'd love to guys but I was actually in the middle of cleaning up and closing the place before you guys walked in." Seungcheol said shyly.

"Oh , really? We can leave if you want." Hoshi said apologetically.

"Oh no. Please take your time and enjoy your meals. I'll just finish up cleaning while you guys eat and then I'll probably close the place and head home a little early. Besides, I've already had some instant ramen a little while ago so I'm not even hungry." Seungcheol said.

"Well...alright." Dino said before going back to eating and the boys all ate silently after that, feeling a little guilty for stopping the older boy from finishing his work just to serve them instead. They ate for a while before Hoshi complained about wanting to drink some cola so Jeonghan offered to go get some for them...with Joshua's wallet in hand.

He carried 2 six-packs of cola to the front counter and looked around for Seungcheol. The older boy was sweeping down one aisle but he did see Jeonghan so he quickly put the broom to one side to attend to the other. It was a quiet transaction and Seungcheol was in the middle of scanning the second pack when his phone rang.

"Hello?.... Hey Ming-Ming, what's up?.... Tomorrow?.... I don't know man, I was-...... fine, alright. I'll cover your shift tomorrow.... Yeah, it's fine.... You enjoy the rest of your night, bye." And then Seungcheol hung up the phone and let out a long sigh.

"Any trouble?" Jeonghan asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Not really. But it looks like I'm working tomorrow even though it was supposed to be my day off."

"Wait tomorrow? From what time? Shouldn't the place be closed so that you can be with your family or something?"

"Yeah but my boss was insistent on keeping this place open for at least a couple of hours. And my coworker was desperate so I don't mind covering his shift. Besides, it's not for that many hours." Seungcheol reasoned.

"But still." Jeonghan pouted, not understanding why he was getting so upset for Seungcheol's situation. "Won't your parents be upset if you're out working when you're supposed be spending time with them?" But Seungcheol didn't reply, as if he were thinking about answer.

"....I don't think they'll mind." The older boy finally said. "But...I guess Samuel will be a little disappointed." Seungcheol said more to himself with a saddened look on his face.

"Samuel?" Jeonghan asked, wondering who that was.

"Sorry, I don't mean to bore you with my problems. Umm, your total is 5000 Won." Seungcheol said, changing to topic.

Jeonghan let the issue go and handed him Joshua's credit card before taking the drinks back to his friends. They were all joking and laughing about something and Jeonghan tried to pay attention but he couldn't help but to feel a little sorry for Seungcheol.

Eventually, they were all done eating and they cleaned up their area the best they could so that Seungcheol wouldn't have that much work to do before he closed up the store. They all said their goodbyes to him and Seungcheol wished them a safe trip home before they all finally left. 

On the bus ride home and up until Jeonghan's head hit his pillow, he forced himself to stop thinking about Seungcheol, telling himself that he didn't care.

On Thursday, Jeonghan wished that he did have Seungcheol's number. He only wanted to check on the other, to see if he was able to possibly get out of work. Jeonghan didn't know why it mattered so much to him but he reasoned with himself that anyone would feel bad for a guy that ended up having to work on a holiday. It didn't seem fair.

Jeonghan spent the rest of the day helping out his parents as they prepared for their relatives to show up. His aunts and uncles showed up with presents and foods while his younger cousins ran past him to play with his sister. His grandparents came and engulfed him big hugs, pinching his cheeks and telling him how much he'd grown since they'd last seen him. Meanwhile his mother was setting the table with all of the food they'd prepared.

Pretty soon, Jeonghan found himself in his living room watching his little sister and younger cousins play traditional Korean games and twirling around in their new hanboks. It was adorable and they had even pretended to have their own fashion show, Jeonghan being their MC and walking them down a make-believe runway as their parents and grandparents all cooed over them. By the end of it, since they couldn't decide who was the best, all of the younger ones chose Jeonghan as being the "best dressed" and the high schooler couldn't help but to double over in laughter as he went along with them. He also managed to get the cutest picture of him and his sister in their matching hanboks and Jeonghan couldn't help but to set that as his phone background and send that to his group chat.

His friends immediately replied with how cute his sister was and how they were glad he was enjoying himself. Jeonghan agreed and wished them all a good time as well. And it was then that his thoughts went back to Choi Seungcheol. It was now almost 8 o'clock, already dark outside, and Jeonghan wondered if the other was able to close up the store yet and go home. It would be a shame if he was still stuck there.

Maybe he would go by the store tomorrow and ask the other about it. Just to make sure that he was able to enjoy the day with his family. 

Yeah, that would work. And Jeonghan would finally be able to get rid of that annoying feeling he felt in his chest.

Only, on Friday when Jeonghan went back to the convenience store, Seungcheol wasn't there. Another employee, Dongjin, was working there and had told him that Seungcheol wouldn't be in today. When the worker asked Jeonghan if he wanted a message to be passed on to the other, Jeonghan politely declined. But strangely enough, when Jeonghan asked the boy for Seungcheol's number, the other refused, using some crappy excuse about it being against the store policy and Jeonghan could only force a smile and apologize after that before leaving.

Jeonghan guessed that he'd just have to check up on Seungcheol next Monday once school had started again.

A/N: I felt like this chapter was a little uneventful but we did have some cameos from our lovely predebut SVT members! Samuel was only mentioned in this chapter but he'll play a bigger role later on ;)

I have better plans for the next chapter so I think I'll be happier with that one lol Anyway, please do let me know what you guys thought! Feedback is always appreciated! And yeah, as always, thanks so much for reading and liking my story! I hope to update this fic again soon but we'll see. Until then, byeee!