Soojin flinched at the sound of a glass breaking from the other room. He could hear the guys’ rowdy laughter and incoherent conversations about things they find funny. On the other hand, Soojin had offered herself to prepare their midnight snacks to keep herself busy and useful. If she had the choice, she wouldn’t even do this in the first place. But because of what happened today, she felt like distracting herself from reality.

I’m going to have fun, she thought to herself, as if compromising and comforting herself. And then I’ll forget about what happened. Yes, I should do that.

She could hear Xiumin’s nagging from the other room, whining about being hungry and the lack of space. Chen’s house was small and they have been aware of it since they were kids. But what Soojin didn’t understand is the fact that Xiumin doesn’t seem to stop coming.

“Soojin, ignore Xiumin hyung.” Suho stride across the room gracefully with this angelic expression on his face. He was always the optimistic member of the group, assuring s with comforting and soothing words. And he seems to be quiet, too. But he completely changes when it’s time for those video games they always play Friday night. He’s an expert and he doesn’t like losing at all.

She laughed. “I don’t really care about what he says, Suho oppa,” she says. “He’s complained about that every time I come, which makes it any less surprising than the first time.”

“Is it almost done though?” he asks, giving me a worried look. “Xiumin hyung is kind of impatient.”

“Actually, the food is done,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “The only thing I needed to do is transfer the food to the living room where we can all sit and relax. Unless, of course, Xiumin finishes the food before we could eat it.”

Suho laughed. “Oh, don’t worry,” he reassured her. “Chen won’t let him do that.”

As soon as everything was done, Soojin called for others to help transfer the food to the living room. Xiumin, who was too excited, got the food first and left Tao to prepare the table where they place the food. Chen eventually had to help him.

Setting everything on the table, Lay went over to the DVD rack and chose the movie. During the movie marathon, the five of them—well, six including Soojin—take turns in choosing the movie. But now, it was Lay’s turn.

“Yah!” Xiumin barked, showing a small pout. “Choose any movie but My Little Pony! You’ve watched that a million times since you were a kid and until now. And aren’t you going to be embarrassed that a woman is here with us and she knows that you’re still watching that cartoon?”

Soojin laughed. “Oppa, don’t be so harsh. I don’t really care if Lay oppa still watches it.”

In the end, Lay chose a horror movie titled A Tale of Two Sisters. They weren’t a fan of horror movies, except Soojin, who declares her love for horror movies a lot of times. So when Lay actually picked it, she jumped for joy, prancing around the room happily. She settled herself between Chen and Tao, who were sitting on the floor, while Suho, Xiumin and Lay sat on the couch.

The screen dimmed, signaling the start of the movie. Tao, who gets scared of horror movies the most, subconsciously moved closer to Soojin. He hooked his arm through hers, his eyes focused on the dark screen. When the furtive background music starts to play, causing them to flinch rather surprisingly. Soojin had to restrain herself from laughing.

“You guys get scared way too easily,” she teased, nudging Tao on his shoulder.

Xiumin snorted. “Tao gets scared a lot but now that you’re here, he’ll probably try to act manlier.”

As soon as the movie started, the six of them were totally absorbed at the movie. Except for Xiumin, who seems to be dividing his attention between the food and the movie. Tao still has his arm through Soojin, trying to act manlier and uninterested by eating popcorn swiftly. Chen had moved closer to her, too.

When they got to the scary part, Soojin had that urge to scare them. Starting from Tao, she carefully studied him out of her eye, making sure he wouldn’t even notice what she’s about to do. Abruptly patting him on the shoulder, Tao let out a loud cry, almost jumping out of his sitting position. His deafening cry had startled the others, causing them to flinch and let go of what they were holding.

Soojin fell on the floor, laughing and clutching her stomach. Chen grabbed the remote, clicking a button to pause the movie. He watched Soojin lying on the floor, having hysterics.

“You’re so unfair, noona!” Tao whined, pouting and looking as he could cry any moment.

Soojin tried to stop laughing, pressing her fingers on her cheeks. “But—it was funny! You should have seen your face!” she exclaimed, looking as if she could laugh again but would rather didn’t. She didn’t want to make Tao cry. When she realized that she had definitely scared Tao, she calmed herself.

“Okay, okay,” she coos, taking Tao in her arms. She wrapped her arms around him. “Noona is sorry for what she did. It was just a prank and I didn’t intend to make you cry.” A smirk played on as she glanced at Chen, Lay, Suho and Xiumin. “At least you didn’t cry or spill your food. Look at your other hyungs. Xiumin spilled his food and Suho’s pants are drenched with water. It looks like he peed on his pants.”

Suho blushed, glaring at her. “Yah! It was because Tao’s cry surprised me!”

Xiumin puffed his cheeks. “Yeah! You’re so unfair, Soojin. Just because Chen lo—I mean, just because we love you doesn’t mean you can go and pull pranks on us. That is so unfair!”

Soojin pulls away from Tao but he only held on, tightening his arms around her waist. She chuckled. Turning to face Xiumin, she exclaimed, “But it was funny! Really—I’m not even kidding. Your faces were… epic.”

“How come Tao gets to hug you while we don’t?” Xiumin complained, pointing at Tao accusingly. “Chen gets to hug you every time he wants to while the three of us can’t.”

Soojin cackled, shaking her head in disbelief. “What—I didn’t even tell you that you can’t hug me.”

“So, we can hug you anytime we want?” Suho asked eagerly, leaning forward. He looked like he was about to jump out of the couch any moment.

She nodded with a smile. “You guys are my friends so I don’t mind, of course.”

“Yah! Huang Zi Tao!” Lay yelled, placing his hands on Tao’s shoulder. “Get off! You had your turn; now let us hug Soojin, too. You can’t have her all to yourself. We’re all equal.” He tried to yank Tao off but he won’t budge. Instead, once Tao gets pulled, Soojin gets dragged as well.

Soojin’s phone rang out of the blue, cutting the merriment between the six of them. It was so loud that it surprised them, making them jump out of their seats. Tao had shouted a little shriller this time. Because of the dark lit room and the fact that it was already evening, the smallest things start to scare them.

She tried to wrench herself out of Tao’s tight grasp but she was unsuccessful. She even tried to convince him, that she had to answer that call and she’ll be back but he still won’t let go. In the end, Tao came with her to get her phone from her bag which was at the table near the door.

She was surprised to see Kris’ name blinking on the screen. Why was he calling her? Didn’t she tell him that she’s leaving?

Chen and the others scurried towards her, surrounding the table.

“Yah, stop hugging her!” Xiumin nagged, trying to yank Tao away from her. “I want to hug her, too!”

She answered the call anyway. Maybe Kris has something to say about the contract or just something... really important. “Hello?”

“Is this Jung Soojin, his secretary?” It was a completely, different voice. It wasn’t Kris’. She was pretty certain of that. Kris’ was huskier and… deeper. And his voice has that certain edge of irritation and haughtiness. Someone stole his phone, perhaps? She thought.

“Y-yes.” Why was she stuttering? And what is this terrible feeling she has that something bad happened to Kris?

“Miss Jung, your boss seems to be really intoxicated and we need you to come over here quickly and get him home,” the unknown man says. She couldn’t hear him quite well because of the loud noise in the background. “He’s trying to make a scene and it would be a very good idea if you come here before he gets kicked out of the club. He needs you. He keeps mentioning your name.”

He does? “Um, I don’t know where he—”

“Do you know the Angry Avenue club?” he asks. “It’s where he is right now.”

She heaved out a sigh. “I’ll be there in a few.”

Chen stared at her with curiosity but he didn’t bother asking. He knew what was wrong and who she was referring to. She gave him a sad smile, hoping he forgives her for ditching them for him. She grabbed her bag as quickly as she could, surprising Tao and the others. She ignored their calls and their questions as she dashed out of the house.

In the end, Chen still forgives her. He loves her, it’s that tad simple.

asdfghjkl i love chen here, okay.

i just.... i can't even. whut.

o w o

comments are lovely.

thank you.