“Hey, Bomi?”

She looked up from one of the old CDs she was browsing at the second-hand shop. “Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Would you date me?”

Her brows formed a line as Bomi gave him a look, trying to figure out if he meant it as joke or else. “Um, are you asking me out? Because I don’t real―”

“Hypothetically speaking, I mean,” he added afterwards although he didn’t notice the change in her face.

“Oh. Okay.” She pondered over Minhyuk’s question and thought about the way they spent the day with each other for the first time. “Well, honestly I wouldn’t say no if you ask me out.” She picked up another CD and was turning it around when her frown made a return. “Wait, are you?”

“Are you going to say yes if I ask you now?”

“Ugh, it’s not funny, you know!”

A small chuckle escaped from his mouth as his half-moon eyes curved upwards. “Sorry to ruin your little fantasies but I’m not asking you out.”

She snorted at him but her face still contorted into a smile because although there was no other questions asked, she understood him well.

--

Silence fell between them as they ate except for the sound of cutleries and the workers there. Chorong stole glances at Woohyun who was fiddling with his phone, tapping and scrolling through something. A lot of thoughts were running through her mind, a lot of questions that she wanted to ask, and she wondered if she should risk ruining the light atmosphere by pushing them out.

In all honesty, she was enjoying every moment of this. Of course, spending time alone with Woohyun made her nervous. Besides, there wasn’t much opportunity like this before where she was left with him all by themselves. Still, it didn’t stop her from stealing glances at him when his gaze was elsewhere, smiling bashfully to herself when his hand was on hers while he guided her through the throngs of people earlier and their close proximity, wishing that the clock would stop ticking and this instant could just freeze eternally.

She’s been reminded today of the small details that attracted her to him. Woohyun, despite his nonchalance and what appears to be indifference at times, has always been attentive. He pays attention to the people around him and is always thoughtful, always looking out for others and putting their needs ahead of his. He makes the people around him feel safe. Sometimes she forgets that he’s just a month older than her, not years.

It hasn’t been the most perfect day, the most ideal type that she had yearned for. Their conversations were brief, some even awkward and sounded rather forced. But still he made effort to initiate a chat, however short it turns out to be, and always answered when she asked. He walked ahead of her most of the times, but kept his pace slow so she would be able to catch up.

“Can I ask you something?” she mumbled, clumsily picking out thin carrot slices from her bowl. “Well, it’s rather personal, perhaps.”

His focus was still on his phone, his food untouched on the table, but he heard her nonetheless. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Why NK Design? Not that it’s bad, but I mean, you could’ve gone for some place bigger, I heard?”

“Why, I wonder,” he smiled a little as though he was recalling something funny. He put his phone down and rested his elbow on the table, hand cupping his chin as he played with the spoon with his other hand. “I worked with them before. It’s a small company with nice people. Maybe I could do with a higher pay at a bigger place, but I guess I’m just not fussy enough about those things,” he began explaining. He casted his gaze away afterwards, staring far off at a distance rather longingly. “And besides…”

Chorong raised her eyes at him then as she waited for him to finish his sentence. Deep down inside, she could already guess it.

He returned his gaze at her, his usual beguiling glowing on his face. “Besides, it’s nearby. There’s a direct bus that stops just across the street. And if I wake up early I can simply walk there.” She continued to stare at him, but he only stopped there without going further into details that she somehow hoped to hear coming from his own mouth. “What about you, though. Did you start looking for a place yet? I heard the competition is tough now.”

“I did,” she murmured quietly. She reached over for the jar of water, but he beat her to it and poured it into her glass for her before doing it for himself.

He has been kind towards her. And that kindness, she realized, was a different kind of generosity compared to the kindness he showed to the rest of the people in their circle.

--

When Hoya glanced back at Joohee who had slowed down her pace, he found a grin on her face as she stared at the phone in her hand. “Joohee?” he called to catch her attention.

Doojoon, who heard and noticed that the two were lagging behind, also halted his steps and turned around. “What’re you doing?” he questioned after taking out the lollipop from his mouth.

“I received a photo from Minhyuk,” she answered joyfully. She held up her phone so it faced the two boys. The screen displayed a picture of the said name with Bomi, their heads close together as they leaned in for the shot, happy smiles gracing both their faces and their hands forming a small heart. The message that came along with the photo read ‘We’re not awkward!’ and an additional ‘(anymore)’ several paragraphs later, causing the older boy to chuckle.

“What is this about?”

Still laughing, Joohee pocketed her phone and resumed her steps. “I was just curious about their progress so I sent Minhyuk a text asking about them, and that photo came as a reply.”

“Song Joohee, busybody as always.” Doojoon shakes his head before popping the candy back into his mouth. “Did you ask the other two, by the way?”

“Yoon Doojoon, the actual busybody,” she returned and snatched his lollipop away.

“Hey!” he yelled as he tried to retrieve it back. The two broke out into a chasing game in the middle of the sidewalk for a while.

Standing at the side of the pavement, Hoya only watched them amusingly and laughed. Not too long afterwards, he spotted familiar faces across the street strolling leisurely together. “Speaking of the devils,” he said, nodding at the pair with a smile.

Joohee and Doojoon’s eyes followed the direction and saw Woohyun and Chorong who were now dropping by at a convenience store. They both stood outside in front of the newspapers rack, and while he picked up a copy and scanned the headlines, she lingered by his side before picking up another copy of the same newspaper.

“Hmm, they look alright to me,” Joohee commented, and then turned to Doojoon. “I suppose you got your answer now, Yoon.”

He shrugged in response, averted his gaze away and continued to walk ahead whistling a tuneless song.

--

Slightly past lunch all seven of them gathered again at their parked van. The trio were the earliest to arrive, followed by Minhyuk and Bomi who returned wearing matching sunglasses. Joohee who was sitting inside the van with the door ajar was the first to see them and burst out laughing.

“Are those to celebrate your new found friendship?” Doojoon asked jokingly only to get smacked in the tummy by his sister.

Minhyuk got on the van and settled down next to the taller girl. “Sorry Joohee, but I think I found myself a new best friend.”

Chuckling, Joohee pulled out his sunglasses and put it on herself. “That’s okay. I was getting tired of you anyway,” she responded. He placed a hand on his chest and faked a pained expression before ended up laughing with her.

Just in time, Woohyun arrived with Chorong lagging not too far behind him. Hoya offered her his drink which she accepted with a brief smile as she climbed into the van and sat at the very back, while Doojoon and Woohyun chatted for a bit. The different atmosphere between the two unlike the one he saw earlier didn’t go unnoticed by him, but he said nothing about it.

--

That night they sat together circling the fire big enough to heat them up. Despite it being summer, nights still feel chilly especially with the presence of sea breeze.

Joohee rested her head on Bomi’s shoulder as she waited for Minhyuk to peel the steaming hot sweet potato for her, while Doojoon scolded him for babying her too much. “You’re just jealous no one’s doing it for you,” she remarked. The younger boy only laughed and handed her the sweet potato, already cooled down, while the latter rolled his eyes in defeat.

“Let’s play a game,” Hoya suggested. He took a large bite of his own sweet potato and eyed the rest of them for response.

“What game?” asked Minhyuk, interested.

“Truth or dare!” Bomi quickly jumped in, but her brother made a face.

 “Ugh, so tacky.”

“Sounds fun enough to me,” Hoya said, much to her joy. He then turned to the others. “You guys in?” Chorong nodded numbly while Woohyun only shrugged before taking a sip of his drink, but they all knew he wouldn’t say no since he hates being left out, so Hoya proceeded with the idea. “Okay, losers finish a whole can at one go. Let’s start with Bomi.”

“Me?” her eyes widened in surprise. “Well, okay then. Um, Doojoon-oppa!”

“Hey!”

Enjoying it, she glanced at Joohee and exchanged a knowing look before turning to him. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he decided at 0.1 second.

“Show us your bbuing bbuing.”

The rest of them burst into a fit of laughter while Chorong gave the younger girl a high five. “Wait a sec, let me record this. For future blackmailing purposes,” Joohee giggled as she took out her phone and held it up. “Okay, go.”

Doojoon’s face flushed as he glared at both her and his sister, and soon after he picked up one of the unopened cans and started gulping it down. “Song Joohee!” he began once he was done and shot her a sinister grin. “Truth or dare?”

“Hmm… Truth.”

“Among the four men here, is there someone that you would date?”

 “There is, but that person is definitely not you, Yoondoo.”

“I don’t want to date you either, Song.”

She chuckled then glanced around. “My turn. Well,” she paused to ponder it over. “Hoya?”

He raised a brow at the call of his name. “Uh, truth?”

“Who do you think is the prettiest here?”

“Wow, what a creative question,” Doojoon commented but Joohee shushed him away.

Hoya made an effort to think it over, however in the end he couldn’t contain his laughter. “I’ll be really honest and say it’s Minhyuk.”

Hearing the answer, the latter almost choke on his drink as the rest made a racket out of the situation. Minhyuk quickly recovered to respond. “Oh my, I wasn’t aware of your feelings for me, Hoya.”

The game carried on with the endless jokes and teasing, and empty cans were starting to mount while they all started to grow tired. Eventually, Chorong’s turn came. “Last one before we clean up and crash,” Hoya decided. Everyone else was too sleepy to oppose.

Quietly, she wrapped her arms around her legs, rested her head on her knees and turned to Woohyun who was evidently still sober. “Truth or dare?” she asked, and even without mentioning the name he knew it was directed to him.

“Truth.”

It was silent for a while. She took a breath before stating her question. “Can’t you give up on her?”

Woohyun stared at her for a moment. The fire in front of them gave a reddish-orange glow on their skin and he was reminded of the colours of sunset. In the dimness he noticed a twinkle in her eyes. It didn’t take him long to find out that it was caused by tears pooling up in them. He recalled the small fight they had earlier; how fast he snapped when Chorong brought up the issue between Seungyeon and him.

Tearing his gaze away, he reached out for a new can and finished the content in an instant.

■ Forgive some errors (if any) in this chapter. I crammed this so I could make @pocketdial's words true, but I'm late by just several minutes (or hours in her timezone).
■ If you have questions or confusions just ask away!
■ See you in four months!