Fifteen minutes later, Taehyung pulls me into the new café two blocks down.

 

“I thought you wanted to eat jjajangmyeon to commemorate the move?” I ask, sitting down at the table the waitress shows us to.

 

“I thought so too,” he says, “but then I remembered that a new café was opening and I wanted to come take a look.”

 

I roll my eyes and wave the waitress over. “Can I have this please,” I order, pointing at the menu, “and an iced green tea.”

 

“I want this burger, also the strongest coffee on the menu.”

 

The waitress takes everything down before disappearing to send the order in. I look at Taehyung.

 

Before coming out, he’d quickly pulled out one of the many boxes from his room and changed into another outfit. While Jin’s outfit had been of the more casual and comfortable style, Taehyung is dressed in a pair of loose, wide-legged pants topped off with an oversized button-down shirt. Between the both of them, Taehyung is definitely the dressier one. His long bangs fall messily over his eyes and he shakes his head to get them out of the way.

 

The waitress returns with our drinks first. Taehyung takes a sip of his black coffee and cringes.

 

“You don’t look like someone who drinks coffee,” I say, watching his facial expressions.

 

Taehyung shudders after another sip of the bitter drink. “I don’t.”

 

“Then?”

 

He shrugs. “I’m not going to sleep tonight,” he tells me. “I want to play for another day,” he adds when he sees me waiting for an elaboration.

 

I process that information for a while. “Is that the only way you… change? Is sleep the only trigger?”

 

“For as long as I’ve been around.”

 

“But I thought DID was random,” I ask without thought.

 

Taehyung sighs. “We’re not your usual case, I’m telling you. But noona, will you really be okay living with us?”

 

The same waitress brings our food over at this point. I thank her before turning back to Taehyung.

 

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I have another question. Which one of you is real?”

 

Taehyung drops his fork. “What do you mean?”

 

“The host. There should be one, right?”

 

“I didn’t think of you like that but you’re just like everyone else,” he spits. Pushing his chair back, Taehyung storms off.

 

I try to call after him, but he’s already gone. I sigh, and call for the waitress again. I smile apologetically. “Please help me pack these for takeaway, thank you.”

 

Once I’ve paid for the bill, I carry the bag of packed food and step out to see that the sun is already setting. The season must really be changing now that night is coming earlier. It’s also starting to get chilly after sundown. Taehyung didn’t bring a jacket with him when we came out and he’s only wearing a thin shirt. Have I not given him the passcode for our apartment? Sighing again, I hasten my pace as I speed-walk back home.

 

Just as I’d expected, Taehyung squats in front of the door sulking.

 

“What took you so long!” He pouts.

 

I hold up the food I’m carrying. “Were you going to stay up on an empty stomach? I went to get coffee too.” I walk over and press in the passcode, making sure that he sees it too.

 

“We need to use an easier passcode,” Taehyung says as we enter the house.

 

“Surely that wasn’t too difficult to remember?” I ask.

 

Taehyung glares at me. “I don’t know when I’m going to come out next. How am I supposed to remember something I’m only going to use for a day?”

 

“How have you lived until now?” I mumble, setting the table.

 

“We usually write in our diary before going to sleep. Speaking of which, I should go look for it later, see what Jin hyung wrote.”

 

We eat is silence for a while as I try to gather my thoughts.

 

“Taehyung-ah.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Sorry about just now. That was insensitive of me.”

 

Taehyung shakes his head. “No, I was too sensitive. I just never thought about it before, you know? That I might not be… real.”

 

I nod, my brain churning at record speed to think of another topic. “Tell me more about yourself,” I say eventually.

 

“Me?” He blinks blankly. “What do you want to know?”

 

“Anything. Let’s start with what you like to do when you come out.”

 

He bites his lip as he dives deep in thought. “Shopping! Yeah, shopping for sure. Compared to the others I have a more unique style so I have to shop for my own clothes.”

 

“Who earns all the money?”

 

“Hmm, everyone is doing different things. Jin hyung owns a shop and has someone working for him when he’s not around. He earns quite a bit from it.” Taehyung stops for a breath and takes a sip of coffee. “Jiminie helps out sometimes when he can. Namjoon hyung teaches part-time at this academy I don’t know where. He’s very smart so people don’t really bother about how irregularly he shows up for work. Jungkookie is a personal trainer at the gym, and Hobi hyung is a dance teacher. Ah, we all call Hoseok hyung Hobi. And I play the saxophone in the pub downtown. They pay pretty well.”

 

I count the mentioned names mentally. “There’s still one more.”

 

“Is there?” He scratches the back of his neck. “Have I talked about Yoongi hyung? He makes music. Probably earns the most out of all of us. But he’s also the most annoying because he stays awake for the longest. This hyung can go without sleep for a whole five days!”

 

My mouth drops in shock. “How even…”

 

“Anyway, that’s pretty much what we do for a living. We mostly spend our own money but sometimes we just leave allowances for each other because we don’t always want to only work whenever we come out.”

 

“Is there an order as to who comes out when?” I ask.

 

Taehyung shakes his head. “But you don’t have to worry about us. We’re all quite easy-going, except for Jungkook who’s a bit shy with strangers. But get to know him and he’ll become that irritating little brother you never wanted.”

 

I laugh. “It’s amazing how you know everyone so well when you’ve never met each other before.”

 

“This is what we keep diaries for,” he shrugs, “to communicate with one another.”

 

Later that night, Taehyung moves around noisily trying to get the room organised. Unable to sleep, I knock on his door to see if he needs help.

 

“Taehyung, you okay in there?”

 

The rustling quietens down and I hear footsteps approach the door. As it opens, he smiles.

 

“You must be Lee Hyekyung-ssi. Nice to meet you, I’m Kim Namjoon.”

 

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