Kyuhyun's POV

"Venezuela, Caracas. Vietnam, Hanoi. Yemen, Sana'a. Zambia, Lusaka. Zimbabwe, Harare..."

I paused.

"Aargh." I rolled over on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. 

No matter how many lists I went through, I couldn't get my mind off of what had happened to Universe, and the fact that I had messed up with Krystal. 

I looked at the clock on the wall.

I should make my way down to the restrauant and help my parents out as much as I could. Thanks to me, they were dealing with customers that were yelling all sorts of profanity at them everyday. It was the least I could do to help them clean up. 

A few hours later, I was just about to close up shop when I heard a knock on the door. I paused, wary of antifans, but to my surprise, it was Sky and Gongchan. 

I raced over and opened the door.

"What are you guys doing here?" I said in surprise. Gongchan immediately tried to hug me. I barely avoided his embrace, but then his long arms sneaked around my waist.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I shouted.

"Kyu Hyung!" Gongchan said, squeezing all life out of me.

Behind us, Sky politely bowed to my parents, who had come to the front to see what all the fuss was about.

"I'm so sorry for the mess we've caused your son," Sky said, and his face was completely serious.

"Don't be ridiculous," my mother said. "We know you didn't do anything wrong, and besides, you're all in this together."

Gongchan paused and let go of me. I leaned over the nearest table and wheezed.

"Yes," Gongchan said thoughtfully. "Yes, we're sorry. We didn't mean for all this to happen."

"Gongchan," I groaned. "How did you get stronger during break?"

"I ate sweets," he grinned. 

"I'm not sure that's how it works," my father said thoughtfully.

I waved my hand at my father to dissuade him from having any serious conversation about sweets with Gongchan. 

"How are your parents doing, Sky?" my mother asked.

Sky answered politely, and then we were excused to talk amongst ourselves. 

We went out the back and gathered in the alleyway.

"I feel like we're in some candelstein gang," Gongchan said, laughing. 

"Clandestine," I corrected, slightly irritated. 

"Lighten up, hyung," Gongchan said, and tried to poke my cheek. I avoided his finger and swatted his hand away. 

"I haven't seen you in months," Gongchan pouted at me.

"Speaking of, why are you here?" I asked. "I know Sky lives pretty close, but how did you get over here?"

"The bus. Duh," Gongchan said.

"How are you?" Sky asked, looking at me. 

I shrugged. 

"Heard you're still not on good terms with Krystal," Gongchan said to me. I frowned, annoyed. 

"Soori told me," Gongchan said matter-of-factly. 

"I thought we weren't supposed to be talking to the girls," I said.

"Except Eun Suk is kind-of living with Sky," Gongchan reminded me.

"Right, and how's that going?" I asked Sky.

He hesitated, and his eyes flickered away awkwardly.

"Did something happen?" I prompted.

There was a moment of silence, and then Sky said, a little embarassed, "Yeah, uh, I messed up." 

"Join the club," I said morosely. I scanned the curb for a clean spot to sit on. I didn't find any. I sighed and crossed my arms. Meanwhile, Gongchan was climbing like a crazy monkey on the bars of the ramp from the restuarant door down into the alleyway. 

"I don't know what Eun Suk's up to," Sky said, scratching the back of his head. "She's always gone in the mornings, although she comes back in time to help close up every night."

"Did you ask her where she was going?" I asked.

"Yeah, and by the sounds of it, she goes to some different idol guy's dorm every morning."

I frowned. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah," Sky said. " A different guy. Every morning. And these are famous male idols- DBSK's Yunho, Bi Rain, Se7en..." 

"That sounds... suspicious," I said flatly, not knowing a better way to say it.

"Exactly," Sky replied. "I tried to ask her about it, and it kind-of got out of hand. And then I said..." He winced. 

Gongchan chuckled, and I realized Sky had already told Gongchan about it.

"I said something about how it used to be drinking and smoking and now it's... boys."

My eyes widened. Sky said that to Eun Suk? I let out a low whistle.

Sky sighed and sat down on the dirty curb. "I messed up, I know," Sky mumbled. "I don't know why I said it. I don't know what I was thinking of." 

"Well, what's worse?" I said dryly, "Accusing a girl of sleeping with multiple men as a new coping habit or sleeping in the same room with another girl for months and forgetting to tell your girlfriend about it?" 

Gongchan finally jumped off the bars and came over to us.

"You know who could help you out, Kyu hyung?"

"Who?"

"Jaesun."

"I don't want him to get in the middle of this," I said. "I don't want to complicate his relationships with his sisters."

"If I were Krystal's brother, I would want to know that you still cared about Krystal and that you're ready to apologize," Gongchan replied seriously. "When Jaesun hyung found out I was still talking to Soori, he was pretty mad at me for a little bit, but he never told me to stop. I think he was relieved that I didn't, actually. It showed him I was serious." 

I fell silent, knowing Gongchan was right, but not wanting to admit it. 

"Jaesun has a tough time," Sky said, shaking his head. "Protecting three attractive sisters, that can't be easy." 

"And you," Gongchan said to Sky. "I have a antidote to your ignorance-"

"An antidote," I said, frustrated.

"-But, Sky hyung, you're going to owe me big time, and by that, I mean, you're going to get me free pastries from your bakery," Gongchan said.

Sky looked up at Gongchan. "What the hell are you taking about?" 

Gongchan grinned and said, "She likes stuffed animals."

"Who?" Sky said, confused.

"Eun Suk noona, of course," Gongchan said.

"Eun Suk?" Sky said, in disbelief.

"Yup, the cuter the better," Gongchan nodded knowingly. 

Sky frowned. "I don't... see that working..."

"I know, you would never guess," Gongchan said sagely. "That's why you owe me so much."

Then, with a yell, he bounded off and went running like a madman down the alleyway. He was clearly thrilled not to be confined in his room anymore. 

I sighed and said, "Good to see he's as cheerful as ever, even if it is still annoying."

Sky looked up at me and said, "You didn't notice? Kid has bruises on all of his knuckles." 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shim Jang's POV

"Shim Jang? You need to take a break. You've been dancing for eight hours."

I ignored Tae Yang, who had just entered the dance room to talk to me. 

"Also, you need to stop leaving your stuff outside the practice room," Tae Yang said, a bit more sternly this time. "It's getting in the way of delivery men."

This time, I did pause. What? I didn't leave anything outside.

I pulled out my headphones and turned around. Tae Yang oppa was gone. I felt a pang of guilt, but not enough to overcome the anger that had hardened within me. 

I opened the door and stepped outside. I gaped at the pile of things outside. Water bottles were stacked on top of each other, topped off by a recent delivery of milk tea and boba. There was also a small mountain of strawberries and Pocky, along with a complete sandwich and salad. 

I sighed and took a few minutes to move it all inside. Then, I sat on the ground and stared at the bunny in the corner. 

"This is totally unnecessary," I said. "I just want to dance."

But I knew that was not true, and I had a feeling the bunny knew as well.

"It's not your responsibility, anyways," I continued, still talking to Chu. "You didn't do anything wrong. If anything, it was everyone else, getting caught up with dating and causing scandals. You didn't do anything." 

I sighed. "I know I'm being stubborn, but this is what got me through everything, you know? If I wasn't like this, I would never have been able to debut with you guys. I just... I just want to be the best dancer. Why is that so complicated?" 

Chu seemed to glare at me, so finally, I reached over and took poked a straw through the milk tea and unwrapped a sandwich. 

I glared right back at Chu and said, "Only because you're making me. I'd have to throw it all out otherwise, you know." 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soori's POV

Soo Ri and I had snuck up onto the rooftop of the f(x) dormitory. When things had gotten too heated, Amber had told me about this hideaway and said that none of the girls knew except her. Amber ended up being one of the coolest girls I'd ever met. It was no wonder she was good friends with Sky. 

"I wonder what the guys are up to," I said, staring out across the city. It was just about sunset.

"I wonder if Kyuhyun's okay," Soo Ri, and sighed heavily. "I really made things difficult for him and Krystal. I'm so sorry."

"I know," I told her. "I know you're sorry. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"This whole thing is such a mess," Soo Ri said, and rubbed her temple to prevent her headache from getting worse.

"Stop stressing yourself out over it," I reached over and touched her shoulder softly.

"I miss the stage. I want to be out there, performing again," Soo Ri said. 

"We practiced so much on our music to become Universe, but once we became an idol group, it felt like our music was the last thing to define us," I said, voicing the words that had been eating away at me all this time. 

Without meaning to, I confessed, "I worked so hard on my voice. I worked so hard to be different from my sisters. But in the end, they all look at us the same way: as 'celebrities'. 

Soo Ri dropped her hand from her head and scooted closer to me. She rested her head gently on my shoulder. 

"It's going to be okay," she told me, her voice no longer hurting, but full of convinction. "We're going to sort it all out, from this misunderstanding with Kyuhyun and Krystal to the bigger issue with Universe. We'll make it happen, Soori. You didn't... You didn't train hard for nothing. This world needs to hear more of that beautiful voice of yours."  

Soo Ri's words caught me by surprise and suddenly, I was struggling not to cry. But I believed in her, and so I believed that things were going to work out and that Universe was going to come back- I just didn't know how yet.