“Hey Dad.”

 

Yongguk drops his bag at the side of the bed and pulls a chair to himself, taking a seat beside the pale man lying under the covers. He helps him up, making sure the pillow is comfortable behind his back.

 

“Are you ready for your exams?”

 

“I never needed to study much…”

 

Yongguk’s father smiles at his son, the teenage boy playing with the hems of his uniform shirt.

 

“If you put in some effort, you would do even better.” He never has to worry about the academic performance of his only child, it wasn’t like he had time to worry anyway but Yongguk is intelligent and results slips always come back in A’s or B’s. The only thing he hoped his son would do is to get more serious with school. Yongguk never seems to care about school. But recently, there seems to be a change.

 

“And… you seemed to have gotten more hardworking these few days.”

 

Yongguk meets the mild smile on his father’s face and quickly looks away in childish embarrassment.

 

“N-not really.”

 

“Is it that friend you brought here?”

 

The way Yongguk looks up with wide eyes just tells everything.

 

“He seems like a good kid. Hardworking. Better than your previous friends, I must say.”

 

Yongguk rolls his eyes at his father’s joking comment but can’t hide the smile on his lips.

 

“He’s a mugger.”

 

He stares at his only child, the small tugs on the boy’s lips stirring the curiosity within him as he wonders about the one Yongguk is thinking of.

 

“Hello.” His train of thoughts is broken as the door swings open and a dark haired woman appears behind it, wearing a bright infectious grin as she steps into the room.

 

“What’s up, Maria.” Yongguk smiles and opens his palms to catch the lunchbox dropped into his hands, feeling the fresh warmth from within the cloth bag.

 

“Here’s your dinner and don’t complain about the broccoli.”

 

“Ugh, broccoli.”

 

“What did I just say?”

 

Yongguk grins an impish grin and sets his food on the makeshift table, eagerly opening the box to inspect the dishes before nodding dramatically. Maria knocks him on the head and sits down beside him, exchanging glances with the amused man sitting on the hospital bed.

 

“Something’s up, ain’t it?”

 

Yongguk’s father watches with amusement.

 

“What?”

 

Yongguk speaks behind mouthfuls of food as he wolfs down his late dinner.

 

“Are you in love or something?”

 

Coughing fits ensues and Yongguk hits himself hard on the chest, grimacing when he couldn’t find water.

 

“I knew it! I knew you had something behind our backs!” Maria points an accusing finger at Yongguk who rummages through his bag desperately to find his bottle of water before glaring at the dark-haired woman beside him who seems very entertained by his near-death-by-choking.

 

“What!”

 

After the food went down the right way, Yongguk whines defensively, eyeing his father’s expression nervously as the man remains silent, enjoying the conversation between the two beside his bed.

 

“Look at the way you smile nowadays…”

 

“How do I smile?”

 

“The silly way—as per normal—but you smile like a man in love.”

 

“What?! What bull is this.”

 

Yongguk stuffs his mouth with more food and does a face when he chews on a broccoli.

 

“Who is it, young man?”

 

Yongguk glances in between the two adults beside him as they lean in for answer. He swallows hard and decides to avoid the topic—in a childish way.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Ahh. Mr Bang?”

 

The smiling man observes Yongguk’s reaction with intrigued interest as the boy tries to busy himself with dinner.

 

“Yongguk, you have to tell me if you’re dating anybody.”

 

“No I’m not.”

 

“Who is it?”

 

“What? I said I’m not.”

 

“Your classmate perhaps?”

 

“Oh my god, I said I’m not, Dad!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really!”

 

“Okay.”

 

“What?! I’m serious, I’m not! Really!”

 

“I said okay, Yongguk.”

 

“But you—urgh.” Yongguk picks up the lunchbox and shovels rice into his mouth, eyes squeezed shut in frustration.

 

“What’s there to be embarrassed about.” Maria slaps him on the back and Yongguk starts another coughing fit, choking hard on rice as his father laughs beside him.

 

“I said I’m not dating, I’m not in love! Goddamnit!”

 

“Yea yea, don’t be embarrassed. It’s normal for your age.”

 

Yongguk just gives up trying to deny and quietly eats his meal before he chokes again. He feels his cheeks warming up when a hand rests on the top of his head while he buries his face deep in his lunchbox.

 

“Introduce her to me, okay?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Zelo-ah.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

Yongguk spins the pen in between his fingers, chin resting on one hand as he watches the younger boy bury his face deep in books.

 

“Never mind.”

 

“What is it, Hyung?”

 

Zelo looks up from the pile of physics textbooks on his desk, thick frame glasses on the bridge of his nose. Yongguk wonders how much of a nerd and mugger the younger boy has been hiding under his skin.

 

“Nothing.”

 

Zelo gives Yongguk a look before raising the thick book before his face, scrutinizing the detailed lines with furrowed brows.

 

Yongguk’s face is met with the book cover, eyes zoning in on the large curvy words on the title so close to him that he’s seeing double.

 

“Aish.” He slaps the book down and grimaces at the packed lines of tiny words. “You’re really a freaking mugger.”

 

“Don’t disturb me, Hyung, finals are coming.”

 

Zelo retracts the book from underneath Yongguk’s hand and raises it before his face again, shutting the older student away from his little world of physics.

 

Rolling his eyes at Zelo’s intense love for drowning in books, Yongguk still finds himself smiling at the younger boy’s antics.

 

“Zelo-ah.”

 

“What.”

 

Oh so now it’s only ‘what’?

 

“Aish…” The words just can’t seem to come out of his throat.

 

“What is it, Hyung!”

 

“I… uhh…” He stares into a pair of wide eyes and find himself speechless again.

 

“Hyung!”

 

Yongguk groans and buries his face into the pile of papers on the table, rubbing his cheek into the rough foolscap pad. He can’t bring himself to say it.

 

“You’re weird.”

 

“Yah, you, you’re getting really disrespectful nowadays, aren’t you.”

 

“But technically, we’re in the same grade so…”

 

Yongguk feigns a slap and Zelo leans back on his chair, laughing with his twinkling eyes. Yongguk finds himself intrigued by the smiling eyes as his lips pull up into a smile unconsciously.

 

“Zelo-yah.”

 

“What is it, Hyung. You said it for three times already.”

 

Yongguk scratches his head. “Let’s go see my Dad again.”

 

“Ok.”

 

Yongguk studies the smile on Zelo’s face and is a tad bit surprised at the straightforward answer but he understands the carefree grin on the boy’s face—he didn’t know what Yongguk really meant. Yongguk ruffles his hair and bites his teeth, feeling a little amused and a little frustrated. How is he supposed to tell Zelo that he is planning to introduce him to h