“Sungmin.”

He was looking out the window, oblivious of the glances his classmates were shooting him. All he was able to think and worry about was his brother – what kind of relationship he has with Yesung, what kind of life he lives with Yesung, what kind of man Yesung is, and what brought Ryeowook to him in the first place.

“Sungmin!” the voice grows louder. Sungmin to snaps out of his thoughts. He looks up at his seonsaeng who was standing right beside his place. “Sungmin, lately you’ve been spacing out a lot. Is anything the matter?”

Sungmin was quite surprised by his seonsaeng’s approach. “Actually, I’m not feeling so well. My head is spinning,” he was not lying.

“I see,” his kind seonsaeng takes a small piece of paper from her pocket and writes something down. “Here, go to the room three doors away from here. Bring your stuff with you.”

“Thanks,” Sungmin does as his teacher said.

He knocks the door his seonsaeng directed him to. “Come in.”

Sungmin mentally facepalms himself for forgetting who was expected to be waiting inside. He just stood there, hesitating to enter. He hears someone sigh exasperatedly from inside, turning him stiff.

“What is it?” the door opens, revealing a messy haired man rocking his red pants from underneath his white coat. He was the exact embodiment of everything bad and sinful. “Is there anything you need?” he looks at Sungmin questioningly – infuriated.

“Uhm,” Sungmin clears his throat. His mind starts going into even more uproar after seeing Yesung’s appearance. He gives the man the note his teacher gave him. “Yesung?” he mumbles, not meant for the other man to hear.

“Please call me Jongwoon,” the older man keeps his blank expression on. “Only my friends call me Yesung.”

The smaller man bites his lip and nods. Jongwoon’s y hoarse voice gives him goose bumps. He doesn’t look like he had a lot of friends, though. he thinks to himself.

“So are you just gonna stand there and stare at what I’m wearing or are you gonna tell me what’s wrong with you?” Jongwoon asks coldly and turns his back at Sungmin, walking back to his chair.

“Sorry,” Sungmin looks at his feet and follows Yesung inside. “Do you have anything that can relieve headache?”

“Of course,” Jongwoon crosses his legs and takes a pill from a bottle sitting in front of him. “Take this and you’ll be fine.”

&&

“He’s making me go back,” Ryeowook complains to Kyuhyun who was unashamedly walking home beside a nerd. Kyuhyun had always been kind enough to befriend Ryeowook and not care about his idol image when he’s with Ryeowook. Ryeowook never understood why people from his school hesitate to approach Kyuhyun, counting out his crazy fan girls from other classes who poke their heads into Kyuhyun’s classroom screaming “OPPA!” during recess.

“Let me guess,” Kyuhyun laces his fingers with the strap of his backpack. “He found out who you’re staying with.”

The smaller man nods. They walk in comfortable silence for a while.

“I’ll be living with a couple.”

Kyuhyun widens his eyes and looks at Ryeowook, who was walking leisurely. He panics inside, cursing Sungmin in his head.

&&

“Hyung?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Why aren’t you home yet?” Donghae looks at Sungmin with a worried expression, “seonsaeng excused you from the class after you told her that you were not feeling well, but instead of going home, you’re here sitting on a bench under a tree in the school grounds. And you’re asking me what’s wrong?”

“I forgot my way home,” he answers simply like you forget your way home every day.

“What?”

Sungmin looks at Donghae seriously. “Walk me home?”

The younger boy gapes for a while. “Okay, but I’m meeting someone. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sungmin stands up and flings his bag around his shoulder. “Who are you meeting?”

“Roommate,” he answers as he grabs his phone from his pocket. He dials one and presses call.

“Speed dial?” the older boy giggles, “must be someone special.”

Donghae looks at Sungmin quizzically and looks away blushing. “Oh, hey anchovy. Right. Okay. I’ll wait for you.”

“Anchovy?”

Donghae pouts at his hyung. “Hyung, why do you have to be so nosy?” he complains cutely.”

“Okay,” he giggles again, “sorry.”

They stand there for a few minutes, watching students come by.

“Oh! There he is!” Donghae runs to someone waving by the gates, pulling Sungmin by the hand before he could protest.

“Donghae! Where are,” Sungmin wasn’t able to continue his sentence.

“Hyukkie!”

“Hae!” Eunhyuk jumps to Donghae and hugs him.

“Get off!” the other boy protests, obviously asphyxiated.

Eunhyuk does as his boyfriend says, his gummy grin turning into a weak smile as he sets eyes on Sungmin. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Oh, right,” Donghae takes one step away from Eunhyuk and stands beside his hyung. “Hyung, this is Hyukjae, my roommate. Hyukjae, this is Sungmin, he’s our hyung.”

“Annyeonghaseyo,” Eunhyuk smiles thinly at Sungmin.

“Annyeong,” Sungmin bows his head slightly, “on second thought, Hae, I’ll be walking home on my own.”

Donghae chuckles. “Hyung, it’s fine. We’re,”

The eldest runs off before his dongsaeng could finish his sentence.

&&

“I’m home!” Ryeowook shouts, throwing Yesung’s door open.

Yesung ignores him and continues with his smoke.

The younger boy drops his bag on the doorway and starts taking off his shoes. “Seriously, you shout reduce your smoking. It’s bad for your health.”

“It’s none of your business.”

Ryeowook jumps to the couch where Yesung was sitting. “Hey.”

“What?”

“Sing for me.”

“In your dreams.”

“Please?”

“I don’t know how to sing.”

“Then what’s your name for?”

“Ask my parents,” Yesung tries his best to dismiss Ryeowook and make him go away, but like always, the boy is just too persistent.

Ryeowook pouts cutely and the emo school nurse fails to notice. Annoyed, he snatches the cigarette from Yesung’s lips, luring a hiss out of the latter’s throat. “Sing!”

“Give it back!” Yesung stretches his arm in an attempt to grasp the cigarette from Ryeowook. But the brat had his arm outstretched. So instead of succeeding in claiming what’s his, he falls on top of Ryeowook.

The small boy couldn’t carry Yesung’s weight. They fall back into an awkward position, with Ryeowook lying flat on the couch and Yesung on fours on top of him, holding his outstretched arm. They stay in that position for a moment which felt like an eternity, gaping each other in the eyes.

“Uhm,” Yesung snaps back to a sitting position, his face red. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ryeowook sits up as well, turning ten shades of red.

“So what song do you want me to sing?”

Ryeowook looks at Yesung with innocent wide eyes, feeling happy all over and not knowing how to express it. “My all is in you.”

“Okay,” Yesung clears his throat, sitting on the couch Indian style, facing Ryeowook.

“Even though I know that our parting is approaching, because you’re leaving I hold my breath. When I smile without realizing it, am I passing us by. Even though pretending to smile without knowing why… Truthfully I want to cry. You look into my eyes.”

Ryeowook watches the love of his life sing for him in full reverie. His voice truly is beautiful.

“It seems our Love is ending like this. Before I know it our parting is approaching. You say goodbye. Letting you go like this is still difficult to me, please give me a little more time. I can’t live without you. My all is in,” the door flies open, startling them both.

“Oops?” Sungmin runs behind the door, checking if any screws flew away due to the unintended vigorous opening of the door. Sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength, “sorry.”

Yesung stands up angrily. “Who the are you to barge into my house like that?”

“Sorry, seonsaeng,” Sungmin bows at Yesung, “I came here to collect my brother.”

The house owner raises his eyebrow. “What the are you talking about?”

Sungmin twitches. This guy swears too much, he thinks. “Ryeowook.”

&&

“Do you know each other?” Donghae has his legs crossed, he was staring at his lover, completely ignoring the tall glass of milkshake sitting in front of him.

“Who?” Eunhyuk looks up, keeping his lips attached to the straw he was using to drink his oh so yummy strawberry milkshake.

“Don’t play dumb,” Donghae leans on the coffee table, looking out the window. “I could see the way you greet each other.”

“Sungmin-hyung?”

“See? You even call him hyung!”

“That’s because you said he’s my hyung,” Eunhyuk smiles at Donghae, completely ignoring the anger in him.

“Tell me the truth, Lee Hyukjae. Do you know him?”

Donghae called Eunhyuk by his full name. Uh oh, this is not good, Eunhyuk thinks. “He’s my ex-boyfriend,” he beams at Donghae.

&&

“Hyung,” Ryeowook tries to call Sungmin’s attention then again, but the latter, then again, refuses to answer him. “Hyung, I’m sorry.”

The other boy ignores his brother and proceeds in opening Kyuhyun’s door.

“Hyung,” Ryeowook tries again. He felt like crying for Sungmin kept ignoring him.

Sungmin carries Ryeowook’s backpack into Kyuhyun’s house wordless.

“Welcome home, jagiya,” Kyuhyun looks up from his tea, earning a weird glare from his exhausted ‘jagiya.’ “Oh hey, Wookie, welcome back.”

“What’s this?” Ryeowook asks Kyuhyun, referring to a big box lying in front of the doorway. “A bed? Why?”

Sungmin and Kyuhyun look at each other.

“It’s your bed,” Kyuhyun smiles, pulling his ‘jagiya’ beside him.

Sungmin then again gives Kyuhyun a weird look. He tries to pull Kyuhyun’s arm away from him, but his grip on him was too hard.

“You didn’t need to.”

“Your hyung doesn’t want you to go anywhere again so he bought you a bed to make you stay,” Kyuhyun smiles, hoping Ryeowook would believe.

“Oh,” Ryeowook frowns at his feet. “I see,” he’s always too gullible. He goes straight to the bathroom.

“What is this? Kyuhyun? What are we? Junjou Romantica?” Sungmin protests as he escapes from Kyuhyun’s arm.

“What’s Junjou Romantica?”

“Never mind!” Sungmin stomps his foot in annoyance.

“No stomping in my house!” Kyuhyun yells at him. He looks around, checking if Ryeowook heard. “You dug your own grave, genius.”

“What?”

“You’re making Ryeowook stay here, right?”

“Right.”

“You do know I’m trying to make Ryeowook jealous by acting like I’m head over heels in love with you, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You do realize that by making Ryeowook stay here, you’ll have to be my fake boyfriend 24/7, and you’ll have to talk to me sweetly, act sweetly around me, and sleep with me, right?”

“Sleep with you?”

“Not that kind of sleep with. But,” Kyuhyun tried to think of a way to elaborate, “you get it.”

Ryeowook comes out of the bathroom all refreshed. “I missed your house.”

Kyuhyun pulls Sungmin’s head closer to his and kisses him on the lips, making the latter widen his eyes.