The familiar ring of the bakery once again echoed throughout the store as you hopped inside, deciding to prolong going home and being by yourself. It was surprisingly busy as you maneuvered skillfully around many customers, muttering apologies as you tried to move closer to the back room.

         “I haven’t seen the likes of you in a while,” Minjae mumbled as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

         “Miss me?” You replied with a wink.

         “No, I was just wondering if I should fill out your missing person report.”

         “Har har,” you groaned, smiling at a few costumers who glanced your way.

         “Where’s Jaesung?”

         “Out on her break I think.”

         You frowned, “Mmm.”

         He scoffed. “So that means you didn’t come here to see me?”

         You laughed and shook your head, “You’re such a little .”

         “Who you adore,” he finished, walking away after a customer walked up to the register. It was true though, even after all the problems he caused, you still love to put up with him. Maybe it’s his sense of humor that draws you in, or the fact that he is blunt and to the point, and doesn’t sugar coat things. You watched him ring up the woman at the register, chuckling to yourself as you watched him smile and act polite. You took out your phone to snap a picture to annoy him with later, but just when you were about to click down on the button, a new text message interrupted your screen:

        ⇒ I’m so sorry for the other night. I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I can’t formally blame the alcohol since it was my doing as well. I only hope that one day you        will forgive me. Until then, I want you to know that I am so sorry and if there is anything I can do, let me know. I am so, so sorry.  –Unknown number

         You blinked at your phone screen as you read the message from an unfamiliar number and paused to think: Youngjae. As if on command, your hand went up to the side of your neck and your fingers gently rubbed the barely visible mark.

         “I was going to ask you about that,” Minjae said abruptly as he made his way back over to you.

         “!” you jumped, glaring at him, “Stop with the damn sneaking up on me, will you?”

         He smirked in response and tilted his head, pointing to your neck again, “May I?”

         “May you what,” you sneered.

         “May I ask who the hell that was from?” he said while suddenly raising his voice in annoyance.

         “None of your business Minjae.”

         “Well you should be wary of that kind of business, because people can see that.”

         Your jaw dropped, listening to him berate you, “Listen, it’s none of your business! You’re not even old enough to know how this happened,” you smirked.

         His hands went up to his hair and he ruffled it angrily, “I’m only two years younger!”

         “Oh don’t get upset sweetie, want noona to hold your hand?”

         He glared at you intensely, and you couldn’t help but giggle. It was too fun messing with him, and he never seemed to understand you and your joking ways.

         “No, but I have something else noona can hold on to,” he mumbled under his breath.

         “YAH,” you screamed, unwary of the customers still shopping inside, “You watch your mouth!” You yelled furiously, hitting him on the arm repeatedly, ending it with a violent push into the back room. He was hysterically laughing while you slapped him with everything you had, “YAH!”

         “I was kidding—OUCH !” He yelped as you gave him a good whack on the back of the head with your palm. You both froze when your phone started ringing; your hand was grasping at his hair and he had one hand on yours while the other was placed on your shoulder trying to push you away. You dared him to move as you shot him a snarl while snatching your phone from your back pocket, giving him one last smack before answering.

         “Hello,” you mumbled, not moving your furious gaze from Minjae.

         “It’s, uh, Youngjae…I was just calling to say—“

         “—Youngjae?” You questioned, bringing the phone back to your face to glance at the unknown caller ID, “Ah, hey!” Minjae’s eye twitched when he heard Youngjae’s name, and he tried to wiggle out of your grasp but you only tugged at his hair harder, making him almost have to bow to get low enough for you.

         “Look, I know I’m probably the last person you want to see, or talk to, but I was wondering if maybe I could meet up with you to formally apologize,” he took a deep breath and held it.

         “Apologize? Ah, Youngjae it’s fine. Trust me,” you giggled, slightly loosening your grip on Minjae, to which he then took his free hand and jabbed you in the side.

         “OUCH, YAH,” you yelped, trying to kick him in the shins, making him jump repeatedly to avoid your swift blows.      

         “Um, what?” Youngjae questioned.

         “Sorry, it’s just Minjae, he’s—“

         “—Oh noona, stop,” Minjae suddenly moaned, making sure his face was close enough to the phone. Your jaw flew open in shock, brows furrowing in anger.

         “…Maybe I should call you later…” Youngjae muttered.

         “No no! It’s fine, he’s just messing around.”

         “Noona~” Minjae cooed again, this time with an excruciatingly loud and awkward moan at the end. You gave him one last slap to the arm before releasing your grip on his hair, to which he sighed happily and slumped to the floor.

         “Sorry Youngjae, that’s uh, --it’s a long story.”

         He didn’t answer for a few seconds, but you heard him breathing so you knew he was still there.

         “It’s fine,” he laughed slightly, “So do you have any free time to meet tonight by any chance?”

         You crossed your arms and turned away from Minjae, who was still sprawled out on the floor, cradling his head, “Sure! I’m actually by that cupcake shop, if you want to meet--,” you glanced warily back at Minjae, “around here?”

         “Ah! Yeah! I’ll get ready and meet you soon! Thank you so much!” His voice instantly raised a few pitches, and you were surprised about how concerned he sounded before. You hung up the phone with a goofy smile, which soon faded when you remembered Minjae was still in the room. You turned to see him facing the back with his forehead pressed up against the wall, leaning forward slightly.

         “Um?” You questioned, not really wanting to ask, but figuring he would tell you anyways.

         He lifted his arm weakly and pointed at the entrance towards the shop. “Just go,” he mumbled. At first you thought he was kidding around and just being himself but you bit your tongue when you felt the slight difference in the air between you two.

         “Minjae?” You questioned again, this time taking a step forward. He sighed when he heard your small footstep and turned his head sharply to glare at you. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before swiftly brushing past you, lightly running into your shoulder, “I need to go help customers.” You just stood in the back in complete shock; you had never seen this side of him before. You weren’t going to play dumb and assume he was actually just going to help the customers, and you glanced at your phone. It was Youngjae that set him off, just mentioning his name really. You let out an exhausted sigh, wondering if Minjae somehow is jealous of Youngjae, meaning that he somehow has feelings for you. The back door swung open and Minjae’s face poked through the crack, throwing you another stone cold face.

         “I know, I know, I’m not an employee.”

         He continued to stare at you and squint his eyes in annoyance.        

         You threw your hands up, “I’m leaving, and I’m leaving!” You walked briskly past him tossing him a playful face by rolling your eyes.

         “And you should get that checked out,” you mumbled quickly.

         “What?”

         “The stick up your ,” you whispered while nodding excessively. You turned to ignore his comeback and you smiled sweetly at customers as you heard him let out a groan. Before you fully left the store, you checked one more time to see Jaesung, but continued on your way with no avail. You twinkled your fingers and threw a wink to Minjae, who painfully smiled and returned a small wave due to the nice audience he had around him.

         You checked your phone again, not really sure of where exactly you were meeting Youngjae, since after all you just suggested to meet around this area and you two hung up before coming to a conclusion. You decided not to text him as you aimlessly wondered around the cupcake shop, glancing in a few windows of random stores that surrounded it. It was almost dark and you didn’t want to be out for that much longer, and you took out your phone again to look at the time.

         “Ah,” you hear faintly from behind you. You turn to see Youngjae standing a couple feet away, hanging his head and avoiding your gaze. Your eyes automatically squint as you notice another blonde head behind him and you lean a little to the left to meet Daehyun’s eyes. His eyes automatically soften when he notices you and he waves slightly, a small smile forming at his lips.

         “Hey Youngjae,” you smiled as you walked over to them, ignoring the slight blush on your cheeks after memories flooded your mind, “If I may ask, why is he here?” You point at Daehyun, who takes your gesture with a disappointed frown.

         “I wanted to make sure Mr. Touchy-feely doesn’t get anymore airtime,” Daehyun shrugged and threw a nod to Youngjae, who instantly turned around and smacked him on the arm.

         Youngjae snarled quickly before turning to you and bowing severely, “I am so sorry…” Before you could say anything, he bowed again, this time lowering himself onto the street in front of you and kneeling against the ground.

         “—Ah!” you said, waving your hands around to try and stop him, as it was not needed, and neither were the couple of stares you were receiving from passerby’s.

         “Youngjae!” You hissed this time, lightly tapping him on the back a few times, “It’s okay! Get up!” He continued to ignore you and bowed in silence until Daehyun walked up to him and kicked him in the side.

         “You guys really shouldn’t be out here in public like this,” you mumbled loud enough for them to hear it.

         “I just felt so terrible,” Youngjae started, looking down at you, to which you held eye contact for until the blush became too prevalent on his cheeks for him to continue. Daehyun scoffed from behind him and you shot him a soft glare, returning your eyes back to Youngjae.

         “It’s honestly fine Youngjae, please, don’t worry about this any longer, okay?” You reached out your arms and squeezed his wrist slightly, nodding with worried eyes.

         “Ah,” he paused, looking at the ground, “Okay.”

         “Promise?”

         “Ah,” he paused again, this time looking at you with wide eyes, “Promise.” You flinched when you heard a heaving noise coming towards you as Daehyun pushed Youngjae aside.

         “So, how have you been?” He asked nonchalantly, glancing at you up and down.

         “Yah, thanks for interrupting, and we need to head back soon you anyways you idiot,” Youngjae growled, elbowing him in the side.

         “I’ve been fine Daehyun, why don’t you guys head back soon, I need to anyways.”   

         Youngjae leaned forward slightly, looking at you intensely, “Again, I’m really—“

         “—EH.”

         “I’m just—“

         “—EHH.”

         He blinked and slightly smiled, nodding at you while giving you one more tiny bow, “Until next time.” You nodded in agreement and boldly walked forward, wrapping your arms around his neck. He stood there and didn’t move his arms until you whispered quietly in his ear.

         “Youngjae it’s fine. I promise. But just so you know, drunk you is quite the amazing kisser.” You released your arms and laughed at his wide eyes and jaw that was practically on the ground below him. His eyes darted around before turning abruptly, and not even that could hide how red his face was. He awkwardly turned back to you to wave, and then started walking back towards home, shaking his head furiously in the process.

         “And I don’t get a hug,” Daehyun mumbled while frowning. You rolled your eyes and slightly opened your arms, groaning playfully as you see his eyes light up. He trots over to you and weaves his arms around your waist, squeezing and slightly picking you up. You laugh at his sudden movement, weaving your own arms around his neck for stability.

         “We should hang out again soon,” he whispered, his breath slightly tickling at your ear.

         “Of course!” You giggled as you tried to get him to release you.

         “Just you and me.”

         You stop moving when you hear those words, “Just you and me? As in…” you let your sentence fade out as the word “date” invisibly lingered in the air. His arms finally released you and you took a step back, looking up at him while tilting your head.

         “Yah! Daehyun!” Youngjae shouted as he turned around and walked quickly to grab Daehyun’s arm. He started tugging immediately after he realized a few lingering eyes on the two of them, their blonde hair and ridiculously good looks finally coming back to bite them.

         “I’ll talk to you soon then?” Daehyun quickly said while tossing you a small wink.

         “Uh, sure,” you replied hesitantly.

         “Then I’ll go ahead and take that as a “yes” in reply to my question.” He smiled, his lips smirking as they noticed your shocked expression, and he waved to you quickly before turning around and scurrying off with Youngjae, who also threw you a wave goodbye. Your arm rose slightly, and your hand waved back and forth slowly as you watched the two of them disappear around the corner.

         “My life right now,” you muttered in shock as you remembered everything that has happened in the past couple of days, not even believing half of it. You feel like you now have seven boys to juggle, and you had no idea what to do about it.

         “To the bars!” You shouted to yourself, steering your legs in the direction of liquid courage and worriless conversations.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Oh how the plot continues to thicken...I think? =       3  =

I hope everyone enjoys this update, and know that I am also working on a few one shot requests!

Thank you to the subscribers, and thank you for all of the comments that have been posted! They keep me motivated, and it's great to know that other people enjoy what I write ;  u  ;