Step by step she walked towards the door that had led to her escape so many times before. It had been so long since Lani had stepped inside the company building but everything was still familiar, for a moment she felt like she had never left. She placed her hand on the door knob and looked back at L.Joe who was standing just a few feet behind her.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been here,” she smiled at him.

He quickly put his fingers to his lips, “shhh,” he motioned as he cautiously looked behind him. He had to sneak her into the building and past the security guard; they were so close to getting away with it, he couldn’t let her blow their cover now.

‘Sorry,’ she mouthed before turning back to face the door. With a small push, the door swung open and she stepped out to feel the cool air on her face. She looked around at the familiar rooftop; it was exactly as she remembered it, except there was one small difference.

“What’s this?” Lani questioned with surprise.

In the middle of the rooftop there were balloons, held down by tiny weights, forming a circular wall around a large blanket sprawled across the concrete surface; it was covered with even more blankets and tons of pillows. It reminded Lani of the time they had a picnic on the rooftop on their anniversary. Everything looked so beautiful, Lani was in awe with how much thought L.Joe must’ve put into this.

“How did you do all of this?” she turned to face L.Joe who was just a couple steps behind her.

“I called in a few favours,” he winked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“You didn’t threaten the maknaes, did you?” she accusingly questioned.

“Well…” L.Joe sheepishly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yah Byunghun!” Lani lightly smacked his arm as she scolded him.

“Come on, let’s get in,” L.Joe motioned as he walked towards the blanket.

Lani followed closely behind him and was about to take off her shoes, when she abruptly stopped, “um, is it safe to have all these balloons on a roof?”

L.Joe reached forward and grabbed one of the balloons by the weight attached to the ribbon; he held it out to her and she took it in both her hands, almost dropping it at the unexpected heaviness.

“I think we’ll be fine,” he laughed, taking it back from her.

“You made the maknaes lug these all the way up here?”

“Well I didn’t really have any other choice, I wanted everything to be perfect for you,” he responded as he lightly her cheek, a small smile on his face.

Lani returned the smile and slipped her shoes off before carefully pushing a few balloons aside so she could enter the make shift room L.Joe –well the maknaes –had created for just her. She settled under a fluffy blanket and patted the spot next to her for L.Joe to sit. He followed suit and made himself comfortable under the blankets. He put the bag of food down in front of them and placed the dishes down before turning around and lifting one of the pillows. Behind it carefully sat a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses.

“Tada~” L.Joe chanted as he held up the wine with a proud smile.

-

Niel was in the middle of an intense battle, about to slay the boss monster he and his guild have been training for months to defeat, when his phone vibrated on the desk, breaking his concentration from the video game he had been playing all day.

[Hey Niel, I'm outside your building, can you come out? -Junghwan]

All of Niel's online friends began yelling at him -well typing in caps lock- for ruining their chances at finally defeating the boss.

"Ugh!" Niel let out an irritate groan and grabbed his phone off the desk before slipping on his shoes and walking out the door.

"What do you want Junghwan?" Niel demanded when he saw his former best friend standing on the sidewalk.

"Punch me," Junghwan stated, his face straight, expression serious.

"What? I'm not going to punch you, just go home," Niel retorted.

“Not until you punch me,” he stubbornly persisted.

“Junghwan, you’re wasting your time, go home.”

“Aniyo.”

The two argued back and forth until Niel couldn’t take it anymore and he balled up his hand, not thinking as his fist collided with Junghwan’s jaw. Junghwan stumbled back, his hand tightly holding his sore jaw, staring at Niel in bewilderment.

“Omo,” Niel was shocked by his own actions, “mianhae, are you okay?” he asked as he stepped closer to Junghwan.

“I can’t believe you actually hit me,” Junghwan breathed out.

“You told me to!” Niel exclaimed in defense.

“But, I didn’t think you’d actually do it!”

“What do you mean?! It was your idea!” Niel argued back. “Okay, okay, to make it even, you get a free swing at me.”

“What? I don’t want to hit you,” Junghwan quickly denied the offer.

“Come on just do it,” Niel insisted.

Junghwan gave it some thought before balling his hand into a fist and taking a swing at Niel. As instinct, Niel blocked Junghwan’s blow and counter attacked, punching him right in the stomach. Junghwan fumbled back at the force, falling onto the ground.

Junghwan’s eyes widened, staring up at Niel who was shocked at his own actions.

“What the hell dude!” Junghwan was mad. And when Junhwan was mad, things got bad. He shot up from the concrete sidewalk, his eyes filled with rage as he ran towards Niel and body checked him right to the ground. It didn’t take long for Niel to fight back, the brawl escalading quickly. They threw punches in every direction, head butts and kicks, elbows and knees. They didn’t stop until they were both gasping for air, split lips and bloody teeth, they both looked at each other before breakingdown into laughter.

“What are we doing?” Niel asked, amusment in his voice.

“I dunno man,” Junghwan responded, using the bottom of his shirt to wipe his bloody mouth.

“I’m sorry for punching you,” Niel sincerely spoke.

“I’m sorry about this whole mess. Letting my sister do what she did… I shouldn’t have told her in the first place,” Junhwan became serious as he sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, still catching his breath.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Niel responded, and he knew it wasn’t. Junghwan had no control over what his sister was doing, he hadn’t even known about her schemes until that day in her room. He took a seat next to Junghwan and continued to speak, “I’m sorry for being such a , cutting you off and everything…”

“It was kind of low,” Junghwan chuckled, somehow able to make a joke out of this whole situation. “But seriously, I get it.”

“Why don’t you come up to the dorm and get cleaned up? I wouldn’t want your mom seeing blood dripping down her baby boy’s face.”

Junghwan laughed and accepted the offer; he stood up with Niel and they made their way into the building. It was as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, and I’m sorry for ruining your battle. I know how badly you wanted to beat that boss,” Junghwan added as they headed to the elevator.

“Yah, enough with the apologies. But maybe you can help me out by re-joining my guild ,” Niel smiled.

“Really? You’re un-kicking me out?”

Niel nodded and a bright smile lit up across Junghwans face.