“So Woohyunah, are you still hanging yourself from tree branches in the hopes of getting taller?” said Sungyeol in a loud voice so that everyone in a 5m radius could hear him. He was stretching back on his chair lazily and had a twinkle of mischief in his eyes as he looked around to check that there were enough Woohyun fan girls in the vicinity.

Woohyun’s face became tomato red while Myungsoo and Howon choked on the spaghetti and sauce on their lunch tray. It was for a split second though; Myungsoo hurriedly grabbed his napkin and regained composure as soon as he wiped the sauce from his lips. Howon, on the other hand, stuck out the tip of his tongue, slowly and deliberately, and the sauce off the corner of his lips, sending the girls on the next table into their lunch trays. With a satisfied smile, he looked up to see Woohyun’s face was composed as well.

“Well Sungyeol, I’ll rather not be tall and lose my brain as clearly demonstrated by you,” said Woohyun coolly.

It was Sungyeol’s turn to flush. He narrowed his eyes and leaned towards Woohyun, “Jealous Woohyun, that I get all the girls?”

Splat!

The contents of Woohyun’s lunch tray went flying and landed on Sungyeol’s chest.

“You--” roared Sungyeol and grabbed Woohyun by the collar. Woohyun jumped up; his one hand flew at Sungyeol’s neck and the other clenched into a tight fist that made contact with his white jaws.

The students at the other table jumped out and moved away, the girls clutching at each other and straining their necks to see who took more hits. It was actually an everyday business at Infinite High. Sungyeol and Woohyun fought for anything and everything. Even the teachers were tired of putting them in detentions. Parents were called to no avail. Sungyeol’s parents always failed to turn up and Woohyun’s father only laughed when he heard his son had almost gouged out the eyes of his best friend’s son.

“We used to do that in school as well,” he would fondly recall. “Ah, those days,” he would sigh, staring at Sungyeol, who reminded him of his best friend. “I hope your dad’s doing well, we never get to meet these days.”

“Erm…” Sungyeol always looked anxious when anyone asked him about his parents.
 

“Mr. Nam,” the teachers would try to explain to him the seriousness of the fight but all was in vain.

Myungsoo looked at Sungyeol and Woohyun’s faces, handsome but disfigured by rage at the moment.
 

Here we go again.
 

It had been almost four years and yet he wondered how Woohyun and Sungyeol had managed to remain friends. Myungsoo had thought before that Howon and he acted as the glue to their friendship but he had given up on that thought.

Woohyun and Sungyeol are more than friends—they are entwined somewhere—where even Howon and I are not allowed. To everyone it may seem that Woohyun and Sungyeol can kill each other but in truth, they would die for each other.

All of them could do that actually—Sungyeol, Woohyun and Howon and Myungsoo would gladly go through hell for one another, come back, and go through it all over again. Such was the power of their friendship.

While Myungsoo chewed his bottom lip nervously, Howon looked nonchalantly at Woohyun and Sungyeol throwing punches at each other, twirling a long piece of spaghetti at the end of his chopstick. He usually would never intervene unless the fight gets too bloody.
 

“It’s better if they let it all out instead of having bad memories,” Howon had said when Myungsoo had asked why he never tried to stop the fights.
 

“Seriously, we still have to get through four more classes today,” murmured Myungsoo and went to stand between the fighting pair. By then, Sungyeol was sporting a bloody lip and Woohyun had a large lump on his forehead.
 

“Come back, I’ll show you what a real punch feels like,” Woohyun growled, his body trying to shove Myungsoo from between them. However, both he and Sungyeol had dropped their punches in case they accidentlly hit Myungsoo. It was an unwritten vow they had taken—they would never hit Myungsoo, not even accidentally. So Myungsoo standing in the no-man’s land between them usually meant the end of physical brawl.
 

“Sorry Woohyunie, can’t see you. Try heels next time,” said Sungyeol snidely. Woohyun flung himself towards Sungyeol while Myungsoo lunged forward to shield Sungyeol’s body, pushing him against the wall. Before Woohyun could crash into Myungsoo, Howon caught him from behind.
 

“Woohyun, stop it now,” Howon said silently in his ears and then loudly, “And you too, Sungyeol.”
 

“He stopped a long time back, you think he has the guts?” spat Woohyun.
 

Myungsoo felt Sungyeol’s body trying to push him aside wildly and he turned, his face inches away from Sungyeol’s. They looked into each other’s eyes—the angry coal black ones fought for domination with the calm, commanding ones and finally lost. Sungyeol’s hands dropped to his sides and he lightly pushed Myungsoo away, storming off through the parting crowd of students. Myungsoo turned around and nodded at Howon, then followed Sungyeol out of the cafeteria.
 

“Let’s go play some soccer Woohyun,” said Howon, grabbing Woohyun firmly by the wrist. Woohyun let Howon steer him to the school’s football field, while the girls stared at them in awe. Since it was break time, the soccer club members were practicing on the field.
 

"Woohyun will take the right wing,” shouted Howon, while he went to stand as the goalkeeper. Even though Woohyun was seething with rage, he played really well, venting his anger at the ball.

Myungsoo, on the other hand, followed Sungyeol to an empty classroom. Sungyeol put his feet up on one of the desks moodily and started throwing bits of chalks at the board.
 

“Tomorrow’s Parent’s Day Yeollie, what are your parents going to say if you get reported again?” asked Myungsoo wearily, sitting down on a desk. He had asked this before many times and he knew the answer he was going to get.
 

“They’re not coming,” Sungyeol replied. “Your brother’s coming, right?”
 

“Yes, although I asked him not to a thousand times,” said Myungsoo, staring at the ceiling. “The way he looked at me when I told him he’s not my parent…I don’t know what he expects from me.”
 

“Maybe that you’ll become a genius like him, graduate from University early and become a Physics professor at 23,” said Sungyeol and laughed out aloud. The idea was that absurd. It wasn't that Myungsoo was not smart enough, but none of them would ever do that.
 

Myungsoo rolled his eyes at him but he knew, inside, that Sungyeol was probably right. Growing up in the shadows of Kim Sunggyu—a child prodigy, an award-winning student, and a renowned professor—wasn’t easy for him. Having no parents on top of that was even worse. Their relatives pitied him because he had no parents and told him to grow up and be like Sunggyu. He was tired of this.
 

As if being a copy cat of Sunggyu is the only way of being successful in life. I hate it. And even if I do something, it’s not good enough because Sunggyu had already done it. And if I do well in something Sunggyu never could, such as playing the guitar, everyone would say I am wasting my time.
 

Myungsoo had always wanted a younger brother. That is why he harboured such great affection for Howon’s younger brother, Sungjong.

“Hey are you thinking about your idiot brother?” Sungyeol’s voice brought Myungsoo back to the classroom.

“Hmm ye- I mean no. Hey can’t you respect other people’s siblings? Just because you don’t have one—”

“Whoa, this is new. You’re the one complaining about how your bro’s a nutcase,” said Sungyeol, picking at his sauce-stained tie.

“Sunggyu’s a nutcase, but I was talking about Sungjong,” Myungsoo scowled.

“Sungjongie!” exclaimed Sungyeol. “Oh come on, even Howon admits he’s girly.”

“You know he does that to please you,” said Myungsoo, always the observant one.

Sungyeol was silent for some time.

“Howonnie, we go way back, before high school, like Woo—” Sungyeol stopped abruptly. “Howon hangs out at my place a lot, even as kids we were together most of the time. I was lonely, and he kept me company.”

And left Sungjong alone. Myungsoo added in his head. He felt pained thinking about Sungjong, small and alone, doing chores around the house while his brother was busy goofing around with his best friend.

Howon and Sungyeol were polar opposites in terms of social status. Sungyeol’s parents were multimillionaires whereas Howon had lost his parents right after his younger brother was born. Ever since then, he had worked at his uncle’s shop, his father’s friend. He had literally raised Sungjong. Although the uncle initially looked after them, he passed away when Howon was 14. The restaurant was run by his son now and both Howon and Sungjong worked at the restaurant after school.

On the other hand, Sungyeol’s parents were separated. His mother, a fashion designer, lived in Paris while his father, a business tycoon, opted for the luxury apartment above his 23-storey office building. None of them could care less about Sungyeol. They felt that they had given Sungyeol everything a child can ever wish for—money, luxury and freedom. Sungyeol lived in the huge mansion all alone. Well, not exactly alone; he had butlers, maids, a caretaker, gardener, chauffeur, which meant he didn’t need to take care of anything. His tutor, Park Jungmin, also lived with him and was mostly responsible for his welfare.

Sungyeol was very easily a spoiled brat. But he would always be there for his friends. He could easily help Howon financially with his pocket money alone but never did that because he knew it would hurt Howon’s pride. Instead, he would sneak treats and good snacks in Howon’s bag, always saying they were for Sungjong if Howon asked. Another thing which Howon was grateful for was the fact that Sungyeol treated him as normally as any of his friends. Infinite High was one of those rich kid schools, where the social misfits were not welcome. Sungyeol had ensured, through some contacts of his father's,that Howon had gotten the scholarship offered by the school. Howon was not a brilliant student, so he received 50% scholarship. It was the only way Howon could afford the same high school as them. Sungjong read with full scholarship at his school so it had taken some of the burden off Howon’s shoulder. Sometimes he felt guilty though since Sungjong and he earned equal amounts but he definitely spent more.

“You call him a girl but he works harder than you,” Myungsoo reminded Sungyeol, taking the rest of the chalk pieces out of his hand.

“That’s why you go and help him?” asked Sungyeol, getting up from the chair.

“I try but he’s so nice that he declines my offer every time,” said Myungsoo fondly.

“Does he really do the dishes at the restaurant? So girly!” exclaimed Sungyeol.

“Say that once again and I’ll strangle you,” warned Myungsoo with a smile, getting up and putting his hands around Sungyeol’s neck softly, caressing his Adam’s apple while resting his chin on his shoulder.

“We’ll see about it,” Sungyeol smiled back and patted Myungsoo’s hands. When Myungsoo didn’t let go, Sungyeol walked out of the room, Myungsoo tugging along behind him.