“Are you serious?” Ryeowook yelled at the man sitting comfortably in front of him.

“Yes,” Yesung did not even look at Ryeowook. He crossed his legs and went back to reading his book. “I’m ing serious,” he took a sip off his tea.

Ryeowook grunted. He loved doing things for Yesung, but calling him an hour after he left the latter’s house was too much. “I thought you said you can cook for yourself.”

“I’m too lazy to go to the kitchen.”

“What?” the smaller boy gawked at his hyung. He couldn’t believe the man, “so instead of dragging your lazy in the kitchen to cook, you called someone miles away from where you are to come here and cook for you?”

“Seems like it.”

Ryeowook grunted. With an annoyed face he let himself fall freely beside Yesung, who was still in bed at this time of day. “You only wanted to be with me,” he smiled, poking Yesung’s arm.

Yesung shot Ryeowook an awkward stare. “Are you gonna cook for me or what?” he pulled his sheets up to his groin and went back to the book he was reading, trying to hide the red on his face.

The younger male dropped his back on the bed, making lifting Yesung up slightly due to the bed’s squishiness, “hyung.”

Yesung merely muffled “hm.” He pretended to be preoccupied with what he was reading, acting like he didn’t recognize Ryeowook’s presence.

Ryeowook put his hand on Yesung’s shoulder. “Let’s talk.”

Yesung nodded. He set his book at the side of his pillow and slid himself to a lying position. He looked at Ryeowook quizzically, facing him.

“I’m worried about hyung,” he let himself feel comfortable on the pillow he was resting his head on. He looked Yesung in the eyes, “he’s been weaker than ever.”

“Maybe he has a fever.”

“It’s not just a fever,” Ryeowook looked up the ceiling, thinking of a better way to explain his brother’s condition. Just thinking about it made him want to cry. “It’s something worse.”

“Then you should go let him see a doctor.”

Ryeowook shook his head, still looking up. “He doesn’t know that I’m aware of what he’s going through.”

Although Ryeowook looked away from Yesung, he didn’t fail to notice the younger boy’s eyes glistening with tears. He stretched his arm and put his hand behind Ryeowook’s head. He pulled the smaller boy to his chest. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

&&

“What did you do this time?” Sungmin stood in front of the door with his arms crossed. He was tapping his foot in annoyance. Donghae called him while he was on relaxation time to come over claiming he had a “problem.” Sungmin thought he was facing some serious situation like his house being on fire AGAIN or someone dying in his home, heck, he’d even think it’s acceptable to hear his dongsaeng saying he think he saw an alien under his bed. He even hesitated to come over because he knew he was gonna find Eunhyuk there but he thought ‘what the heck, Donghae needs me.’ But no, all he wanted was someone to pour his frustrations into.

“Eunhyuk left me,” he sat on the floor with his back leaning on the couch. “Now I have no one around to clean the house. And today is cleaning day,” he beamed at his hyung.

Sungmin gawked at him, unable to speak for a while. When he zoned back into earth, he walked towards Donghae and tapped his head with a rolled magazine. “Your boyfriend left you and that’s all you could think of?”

Donghae looked at Sungmin with a confused expression, “boyfriend?”

“Well,” Sungmin cleared his throat, “roommate.”

“Are you asking us to clean?” Kyuhyun butted in, “I have a schedule to go to.”

“Then you shouldn’t have volunteered to come here with me in the first place,” Sungmin turned noticed himself slowly becoming more comfortable with the boy he could even make snarky remarks in his face. It’s a good thing, sure. But it made him slightly uneasy.

“Excuse me,” Kyuhyun gave Sungmin a fierce look, “I’m not one to let someone I know walk alone in the streets knowing he might vomit on anyone walking past him.

“Well, I’m okay Mr. Cho Kyuhyun. Go to your oh-so-valued schedule right now,” Sungmin took Kyuhyun’s statement as a rebuke.

“Is there anything going on between you guys?” Donghae, on the other hand, took it differently.

“What?” Kyuhyun looked at him with a blank expression, obviously not being able to hear what he said.

“No!” the smallest boy in the room defensively retorted. “Let’s get cleaning.”

&&

Yesung walked towards the department store he once came into. He never thought he’d have to come there again. The polite ladies, the men pushing promenading around, the beeping sounds of registers, the sound of coins, the dangerous amount of legs and stockings that welcome you once you come past the gate, Yesung found all those things traumatic. He personally preferred a mini-store over an overcrowded, blissful department store.

He entered the office in the corner of the building. There were not many people there. Only an 85-liner lady sitting behind a desk, yelling at someone on the phone and a pair of legs irresolutely serving her tea – somehow he couldn’t notice anything about the people there except their flashing legs. Who the hell designs those things? he thought.

“Aish, I’ll call you later,” the woman hung up her phone and dug her face into her palms. “What the do you want?” she directed at Yesung with a scarily low voice.

“I’m here for my first day of work,” Yesung said simply, successfully hiding the fear in his voice.

She sighed in annoyance, with her face still in her palms. “Go get him his uniform.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the pair of legs laid a teacup gently on chairman’s table and left.

“Am I gonna wear a skirt too?” for some odd reason Yesung regretted asking that.

“You want to?” the woman looked up at Yesung with an exasperated look. Making up his features, her expression changed into a delighted one. “Hey, want to get a higher paying job?”

Next thing Yesung knew, he was standing behind the gates, dressed up in a school uniform. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. All he was told was to stand there and stare at the teenage girls entering the department store. There were lots of them and Yesung didn’t fail to notice how every one of them giggle once they reach a meter away from him and a few other guys he was standing with.

“Hey,” a younger unfamiliarly good-looking boy walked up to Yesung smiling. Yesung found something weird in his smile; he just couldn’t point it out. But he was so good-looking Yesung had to fight the urge to run his fingers through his philtrum. “Do you know why we’re here?”

Yesung looked at the boy from head to toe and then looked away without a word. He kept his poker face on.

“We’re called hosts. We’re some odd gimmick of the store owner to lure more girls in.”

Yesung pretended not to recognize his presence. Who the hell is this guy? People here sure are weird. he thought.

The boy laughed and put his arm left arm on Yesung’s shoulder, offering his other hand for Yesung to shake. “I’m Eunhyuk, you are?”

“Jongwoon,” he kept his gaze away from Eunhyuk.

“Aren’t you that school nurse from Donghae’s school?” Eunhyuk leaned to the wall beside Yesung, acting all attached to him.

“No.”

“You don’t work for Neul Paran?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Will you shut the up?”