We got outside and Joonmyun hyung locked the house for us. we walked our way to the company building together, only with more masks and more sunglasses. I don’t like wearing them though, feels hot on my face. Being recognized, or stalked to explicitly say, was annoying, but not so much of a problem to me. It was quarter past eight when we got to our sky room and to our surprise, everyone from M was already there, except for Luhan hyung. He was in the restroom when we got in.

As soon as Luhan hyung came back, we stood up, prayed and group-cheered, then started dancing for the joined formation. All of our title songs were comparably long compared to other songs by other bands, which is why Kyungsoo’s meals were always such a good start for the day. They were good and they could really hold us for so long (until the fastest-digesting members started whining).

The first routine was finished and the player jumped to the next track. We stood there catching our breaths for a while then I came to the tape and repeated the song for us. We scurried back to our starting place and started the song all over again.

There was one part that required the guys change formations so fast we would occasionally bump each other on that part and we would just giggle to ourselves.

It was the cold part of spring today, around the time our lives changed last year. Our choreography was complete as it was only weeks to our comeback. All we needed to do was to make it perfect, and if it’s perfect, make it better than perfect. Everything, I mean literally everything was set. We only needed to countdown, evoke curiosity, and show what we’ve got to the public.

It was around noon and we had been doing the routine for about four hours when we heard a muffled knock on the door. We all heard, some turned their heads, but only Kris hyung decided to open the door. I watched from the mirror but his tall stature and broad shoulders were blocking my view.

We were halfway through the first refrain when he called, “Guys, it’s Rino nuna!”

The call made us stop whatever movement we were doing and we scrambled messily to the door wanting to usher her in. We were so happy that she came all the way to visit us again after not seeing each other for almost a month already. The music was still blasting and we kinda have to shout to get our words across.

“Come on, come on, don’t stop,” Rino nuna cheered and took a spot at the front right. The song was almost entering its dance break and we ran back to our places. She turned her head to make sure and started to put us back into the beat. “One, two, three, four.”

Yes, right in time.

Rino nuna danced with us and like whoa, the fiercest part of the song gets even fiercer. She joined us from that part till the end of the song and we all cheered so loud when the song finished.

She was the one teaching us the dance to this song.

“You did great, guys!”

We replied in cool cheers with our, well, barely passing English.

“Yeah! Whoop!”

Chanyeol hyung went back to the radio and asked, in English, “One more time?” We all nodded and got back to our places. Rino nuna tailed in at the same place she first stood and would make our triangle formations dodge, but we never mind. She was awesome and blasting with power. It pumped me up.

And again, after the song was done, “Yeah! Whoop!”

“How long have you guys been practicing now?” she asked.

“We started at nine,” Kris hyung answered, smiling as he was trying to catch his breath. Rino nuna gave a big ‘oh’ look, a positive one though.

“Rino nuna, come to our house please. I can cook for nuna!” Kyungsoo said with a smile and that cute tagging intonation at the end of each punctuation mark. We clap-laughed at the question. He would always tag around as the cutest around her, being the second cutest only behind Tao who could never stop calling himself a panda.

She gave a very happy-half-stunned face and clasped her hands together for emphasis. “Of course, that would be awesome!”

“Yeah, D.O’s really good,” Kris hyung said. Everyone nodded and gave thumbs up.

“Awesome,” she smiled. There was that kind of awkward silence, then she turned to me and clung a hand around my shoulder. “Yo Kai, how’s it going?”

“Uh…” I smiled nervously. Everyone was laughing at me. It was half because I was standing right beside such a cool person and half because of my English. “Y—yeah, cool, cool,” I smiled awkwardly and scratched my head.

“I still need to go visit the others upstairs though,” she said, still clinging an arm on my shoulder, her idle hand pointing upwards for us to understand. We pouted together and begged her to stay for a little longer. “No, I’ll be going, ok? If you miss me, I’m upstairs,” Rino nuna said, then waved her hands. “Bye guys!”

“Bye Rino nuna!” we waved happily and bowed our gratitude lightly. Although fully Japanese, being from America, she didn’t really use the age difference thing the way I kinda don’t either. She waved for the last time and closed the semi-transparent door. We sighed to her absence.

“Guys what about lunch? I’m hungry,” Minseok hyung whined.

Half the guys wanted to continue practicing and the other were giving into their growling tummies. Well mine was rumbling like crazy too but…

Joonmyun hyung went outside and took the pantry lunchboxes inside.

From two winters ago and on, we had to munch on skimmer, pantry-qualified healthy meals because we had to look nice and handsome. It was not such a big difference to most of us because we were not much of a big eater though, although we all still ate a boy’s normal plate. To the ones outside most of us, like Minseok hyung for an instance, it was painful at first but eventually everyone got used to it.

We were sitting messily instead of making a cute big circle. I sat beside Sehun, who was sitting beside Luhan hyung. I don’t really talk much when I eat (except if people put me in conversations), and thus, I was there watching them joke around like crazy. I could only really have Sehun to myself in the van or at home in the dorm.

Luhan hyung finished first and left us to put his emptied lunchbox near the door. He came back and sat at the empty space on my left. “Jongin, it’s been two singles and you haven’t told me that you have Sehun now? Man, I thought you were still with your junior girl,” Luhan hyung chuckled as he whispered down my ear.

I turned my head to see him. I silently smiled.

“When was the last time you came back?” I asked, a laughing smile sticking on my face I guess. “Like I mean, before this song?”

“Last September—no, December. It was last December. We performed together in last year’s Gayo Daejun right?”

I shot at a random direction on the wooden floor. Sehun and I had dated for a bit long at that time, it was impossible for Luhan hyung not to notice while practicing for the Gayo.

“Just—just take good care of him,” he gave a very brotherly smile and ruffled my hair. He scooted so our eyes would align straight, and stared at me intently. He wanted his every word to be engraved in my mind. “Be very careful, Jongin. Sehun breaks easily.”

He smiled again. Luhan hyung stood up casually as if he had only mumbled nonsense. He clapped and announced to his boys, “Hup hup! Come on, come on! Let’s get up and practice!” I looked up to my seemingly undergrown brother in awe, then I cleared my mind and stood to put my lunchbox back. I could never switch faces ever so easily.