Finally, everyone was present at the table. We ate our favorite foods and shared stories trying to catch up on the lives of the friends we haven't seen in recent days. We laughed and teased each other a lot, and made fun of some of the people in the pool. We rated which girls were pretty and which ones were hot. We laughed at all the guys wearing skin tight Speedos and the douche bags who flaunted their steroid-sculpted bodies.

"…speaking of barbecue pork, though," Baekhyun starts, "The 5 of us were at Myeongdong last week and we thought it'd be fun if we all went on a street food escapade together."

"I'm so there!" Chanyeol exclaims happily without even knowing the details.

"We'd be eating street food the whole day?" Suho hyung asks.

Luhan, Baekhyun, Sehun, Lay and I all nod at the same time.

"Technically, from the afternoon to the late hours of the evening." Luhan corrected.

"Some time at the end of the month…?" I add.

Kyungsoo asks, "We'd just be roaming around the streets of Myeongdong eating?"

"Eating, walking, shopping… what people usually do in Myeongdong." Baekhyun replies. "It'll be so much fun."

"You know I'm definitely in." Chanyeol says once again.

Kyungsoo nods. "Can't wait."

"I'll be there." Suho hyung affirms with a bright smile.

"Then it's settled!" Baekhyun happily cheers.

Sehun couldn't stop the huge grin forming, "I'm so excited."

"I have to go back to that mandu stall." Lay comments, "That was the best and cheapest mandu I've come across." He nods.

"You all better not eat breakfast that day, and skip dinner the night before because we are going to pig out." Luhan announces.

I can't even remember how long it's been since the 8 of us last ate a meal so ravenously.

A little bit later, we were all gathered in the game room for our table tennis tournament. We teamed up in our usual pairs. It was Luhan and Baekhyun, Sehun and Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Suho--who, usually just ended up being our scorers since they weren't as competitive in nature as the rest of us, and Lay and I.

There were 3 ping pong tables in the game room, but since we liked watching each others' matches, we played Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine which pairs would play first. It was me and Lay versus Chanyeol and Sehun. 

"7-4!" Luhan announces. "Lay's serve again."

I was pumped up. I forgot how fun playing table tennis was. Lay serves again, and Sehun receives it. It's short when the ball comes to our side, so I hit it with a back hand, which Chanyeol easily returns. But Lay is quick to react, as usual, and hits the ball, returning it at a position Sehun struggled to hit.

"8-4!" Luhan yells.

I high-five Lay.

Sehun grumbles. "Can we just get this over with?" He crosses his arms over his chest. "Everyone knows that it's both of you," he points to me and Lay and then Baekhyun and Luhan standing to his right, "who take this game seriously."

"Sehunnie! But you guys should play for fun!" I tease.

"It's not fun when we're losing, Jongin."

"Then step your game up!" I taunt, spinning the racket in my palm.

No surprise there, we beat them 11-6. Sehun was right, though. Honestly, it was Baekhyun and Luhan who was our real competition, anyway.

The next match, however, was close and pretty intense. It was 8-8, and the team of Kyungsoo and Suho hyung would be serving.

"When did you get so good, Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol asks laughing.

"I had table tennis for P.E. during the last school semester…" He shrugs, holding the ball in his hands, getting ready for his serve.

Baekhyun and Luhan's team won 15-13. The match was fun and intense. And it made Lay and I even more excited to go against whoever won. I had this gut feeling that Kyungsoo toned down his game so that it would be Lay, Luhan, Baekhyun and I in the finals. Which would consist of more dissing and trash-talking than any of the previous rounds.

"Best 2 out of 3!" Luhan exclaims.

"3 out of 5!" I argue.

"2 rounds is all we need to kick your sorry asses." Luhan taunted.

I swear, this guy. You would never know, by the way he looked, that Luhan was a war freak. It to get into a fight against him, but have him on your team, you'll be sure to have him back you up or fight alongside you to the very end.

"2 out of 3, then." Lay calmly replies.

On the other hand, you wouldn't know how competitive Lay was with the way he acted. But his true colors shine during the game. He can get pretty into it and his trash talking is worse than Baekhyun's. Baekhyun just gets loud and cocky. And then he'll make everyone laugh.

"Chanyeol! You referee!" I tell him. Chanyeol was my favorite score-keeper. He never ed, unlike Sehun who complained too much. Suho's too kind and will reconsider points, and Kyungsoo… well… Kyungsoo is quiet. It was the coolest thing to watch him play so well with an unfazed facade.

I was going to serve first.

When I hit my serve, Luhan returned it easily and Lay hit it right back. Baekhyun calmly received it and then right away, I had the ball bouncing back to their side of the table. It continued like this for awhile until Baekhyun decides to do a swift forehand and neither Lay nor I could receive it. Point went to the other team.

Luhan smirked but didn't say anything. He was just waiting for my next serve.

I grip my paddle tightly, and grin when I released the ball from my hand. I hit the ball, giving it extra spin, hitting it hard enough to land at the edge of table, but enough that it wouldn't be counted out, Luhan missed it.

"!" He cursed, to which I laughed. "The hell was that!" Lulu was annoyed.

Lay pats me on the shoulder, "Good one!" He compliments me, "Happy to know you haven't completely forgotten about your table tennis skills."

I chuckle and pass the ball to the other team. Baekhyun was going to serve.

The 4 of us pulled out our best efforts in that first round and it ended in a 17-15 score. I thought Luhan was going to break his paddle. So yes, that meant we won.

We switched sides and the moment the game commenced, Luhan smashes the ball, Lay and I were too surprised to react.

"1-0!" Luhan yells on his own.

Chanyeol chuckles and shakes his head. He holds up a 1 and a 0 with his hands, repeating the score.

It was Luhan's turn to serve again and he repeated the same smash, this time, Lay was able to receive it, sending it back to the other table and Baekhyun returned it with ease. I hit it quickly to Luhan's side, hoping he'd miss the shot, but he went for the ball quickly and returned it.

The current score of the second match was 7-6, with Baekhyun and Luhan leading. It was Baekhyun's turn to serve and he usually always did something to make us all laugh when the mood became too tense.

But my phone vibrates in my pocket and I tell my friends to pause the game for awhile so I could check it.

My screen flashed one new message along with the name Taemin.

Where did you say you lived again?

I grin and quickly reply, typing the name of my neighborhood.

"Yah! What's with that smile Kim Jongin?" I hear Luhan yell across the table. Oh. He noticed.

"Yeah, it's creepy." Baekhyun says.

I wave them off staring at my phone as Taemin's reply comes quickly.

Is the neighborhood having this community garage sale of sorts?

Taemin was in the garage sale? The courts were only a 5 minute walk away from the clubhouse.

I reply.

Yeah, I was there this morning. I'm at the clubhouse right now. Wanna meet up later, though?

Ping-pong suddenly became less interesting to me because of Taemin's one word reply.

Yes.

Again, sorry for the lack of TaeKai. but the suspense is what makes reading more fun! oh ho ho!
to my new readers and subscirbers, as usual, thank you! <3

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