“I can’t believe it’s finally summer!”

“I can’t believe you’re finally graduating!”

“Yah!”

Bomi chuckled, setting down her tray of food on the table as she took a seat across her brother who was stretching his arms.

“Don’t get mad at your sister for telling the truth,” Joohee teased, settling down beside Bomi. “Yoon Doojoon is graduating at last. Everyone is proud of you,”

Crossing his arms, Doojoon clicked his tongue and glared at Joohee. “I’m still your senior, you know,”

“Yeah, of course I know. My only senior who repeated two years in a row and got left behind by his friends,” Joohee returned.

“Why am I friends with you again?” he sighed.

“Because like Joohee said, you have no other friends,” Hoya chirped in an answer as he joined the group at the cafeteria table with his own tray.

“Yah, you too?”

“Sorry,” he shrugged, laughing.

“Whatever happened to respects towards the elderly,” Doojoon took a large gulp from his can of black coffee and shook his head lightly.

“Here, your graduation gift from us girls,” said Chorong, placing a thin rectangular box in front of Doojoon while plopping down next to him.

His eyes widened and lit up. “So you did prepare me a gift,” he beamed. “So sweet,”

“Open and read it out loud,” Joohee ordered, anticipating his reaction.

As instructed he followed her words and took the box’s lid off to reveal a scroll inside. He gave Chorong a look with his eyebrows raised before proceeding to untie the ribbon and straighten the paper. He cleared his throat. ““This is to acknowledge Yoon Doojoon who is finally graduating after seven astounding years at the university. Ah, we are so proud of your achievement and so happy that we’re going to cry ke ke ke ke ke ke ke” YAH!”

The group burst in giggles as Chorong sneaked in a high five with Joohee while Hoya gave them two thumbs up.

Minhyuk joined the table just in time, taking the paper from Doojoon’s hand to read it himself after putting his books on table. “You should stop teasing Doojoon hyung,” he said, chuckling.

“Finally, someone sane,” Doojoon commented.

“―or you’d be troubled if he cries,” Minhyuk went on, erupting another round of laughter and applause and earning a high five from Hoya.

“I take back my words,” groaned Doojoon.

Chorong patted his back and smiled. “Excluding Bomi, we’re all graduating soon. Let us tease you while we still can,”

“Yeah, it’s our last chance,” Hoya added, then looked up at Chorong. “And why are you wearing your shades?”

“I don’t want to give people a fright by letting them see my severe dark circles and eye bags. I haven’t been sleeping for days finishing up my project,” she replied, massaging her eyes behind the glasses.

“Isn’t today the final day to submit?” Minhyuk asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

She nodded and smiled. “Yup. Thankfully I got it done in time and submitted it this morning. I’m a free woman now,”

“Cheers to being free!” Joohee lifted her can up at Chorong, in which the latter followed suit and clanked their cans together.

“Boo to you guys being free and leaving me alone,” Bomi scrunched her nose.

“Don’t worry, your time will come soon,” Hoya patted her head, making her blush.

The group fell into a silence for a moment as some of them became preoccupied with filling their empty stomach with early lunch while the rest just enjoyed watching the others in the busy cafeteria. The sun was blazing outside, marking the arrival of summer and causing the heat inside the building to be tremendous despite the air-conditioners.

“You know, we should do something before our graduation day,” Minhyuk suggested.

“Something like what?” asked Chorong.

“I don’t know. Something memorable, maybe. Something we’ll remember even after we leave this place,”

“That’s cheesy, Lee Minhyuk,” Joohee commented. “But I kinda like that idea,”

“Me too,” Doojoon agreed, scratching the back of his head. “Any suggestion?”

Bomi raised her hand in excitement, a huge grin plastered on her face. “Haunted house! Haunted house!”

“Sorry kiddo, but that’s not memorable enough,” her brother shook his head. “Do you want to remember our terrorized faces for the rest of your lives?”

“Even though that would be amusing, no, not really,”

Another shot of silence aroused between them while they raked their brain to come up with ideas. The cafeteria was getting more cramped with starving zombie-looking students, causing the place to be even more uncomfortable with the scorching heat.

As Chorong downed the final bits of her Red Bull, Hoya’s face lit up. He turned to his friends, a bright smile gracing his lips. “Hey, I got an idea,”

--

“Why did I agree to sign up for this again?” Doojoon asked, one hand hovering over his head to shield his eyes from the sun while the other fanning himself. The day was just beginning but he was already sweating profusely from the heat.

“Because you have no other friends,” Bomi grinned, her head sticking out from the window. He flicked his fingers on her forehead, and then they both laughed.

“Can’t you at least leave the engine on so that I can turn on the air-cond?” Joohee asked from inside the van.

“No because we need to save petrol,” he replied.

“Cheapskate,” she muttered.

“Excuse me for being one, but you’re not the one paying,”

She glowered at him and snapped. “At least I provided this van, okay?”

Bomi chuckled at the two’s banter, and turned to the older girl. “Is it really okay to borrow this?”

“100% okay,” Joohee replied, nodding. “My parents don’t use it that much, anyway. They told me as long as there won’t be any scratches, we’re welcome to use it as long as we want,”

“Speaking of long,” Minhyuk joined in, alighting from the van. “How long do we have to wait for these two?”

The four of them shifted their attention to the run down bungalow-like building in front of them where some students from their university live.

“They don’t live together, do they?” Bomi then wondered. “Because every time I went over to Chorong unnie’s house, Hoya oppa would be there fixing pipes or something,”

“Nope. It’s just that since they practically grew up together, they’re used to being near each other so they decided to rent their room next to each other’s,” Joohee explained, then chortled. “But from what I see he’s basically her slave―always doing things for her,”

Doojoon tilted his head to one side. “Don’t you get sick seeing someone’s face for too long? I’m already sick of this little brat,” he pinched the tip of Bomi’s nose, in which she returned with a grimace.

“It’s a deathbed promise,” added the older girl. When no one spoke, she went on. “Hoya promised her mum he’d look out for her. I think they were 12, 13 at that time Chorong’s mum died,”

“How did you know all that?” Bomi probed.

Joohee smiled at her and patted her head. “That’s because I asked,”

The four of them fell into a silence, letting only the chirps of the faraway birds and faint music coming from one of the rooms to fill the gap. Soon, the flake of the building’s front door creaked open, and Chorong stepped out with Hoya behind her, carrying all their things while she had only her small handbag with her. She still had her shades on, and leisurely, she made her way to the van. Hoya, on the other hand, struggled to keep his balance, his lips mumbling something under his breath which Chorong chose to ignore.

Seeing that, Doojoon laughed and proceeded to help the younger boy while Minhyuk opened the front passenger door for the girl with an amused smile painted across his facade because she texted everyone early that morning that she’s reserving that seat since she needed sleep so bad.

“Alright, head count!” Doojoon announced as he took his seat behind the wheels.

Glancing sideways, Chorong snorted. “There are only the six of us here,”

“I know. I just wanted to do that,” he grinned in response. “And besides, it’s seven, not six,”

“Seven?”

“Woohyun’s coming along too of course. But he’s got some things to settle at his new workplace so he’ll catch up by train,” Minhyuk chirped in. “Even though he always seems indifferent about everything, you know he hates being left behind,”

Frowning, Chorong turned her head at Hoya, throwing him a glare. “Did you know about this?”

Hoya stuck his tongue out at her playfully and grinned. “I guess it slipped my mind,”

Her pounding head suddenly got worse. She pulled out her earplugs in frustration and turned her music player, hoping that by letting music to flood her mind, she could take her thoughts off this matter for a while and get the rest she was looking forward to.

Doojoon spun the key to ignition and the van roared to life. “Everyone ready?” he asked, earning deafening cheers from the back.

“Summer vacation, here we come!”

I just thought I need to make a few explanations. For the first chapter, I just wanted to introduce the characters and a bit of their personalities, as well as the setting and atmosphere. I don't want to reveal their deeper relationships just yet. I did leave few hints though. You're awesome if you can read between the lines ;)