The next day I was woken by the sounds of someone knocking loudly on my door. Grumbling, I got up and opened it to see Hyesu and Sora standing there. “Doyeon! Hurry and get your dressed!” Sora exclaimed, looking at my disheveled figure. “What the hell for?” I yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “There’s a huge cypher being held at this one club that I go to in an hour!” Sora said, pushing her way past me and going straight for my dresser. I watched sleepily as she went through them, picking out whatever she liked. Hyesu turned to me, smiling. “We had heard that you’re a really good rapper, and thought you might want to join in.” I thought about it for the moment. “Hell, why not?” I said, walking over to the pile of clothes Sora had thrown onto my bed and grabbing a few pieces. “Oh, why aren’t Kris and Daehyun with you? I’m sure they’d want to go too.” I said, and Sora scoffed. “We already spend a crapload of time with those idiots; we need a break occasionally, so we got them tickets to a baseball game so that they wouldn’t pester us today.” I laughed, shaking my head, and turned back to my clothes. I quickly changed and finished getting prepared, and we were soon ready to head out. I told my mom where we were going, and as I opened the front door and stepped out of it I crashed into Woosuk and Jonghyo. “Oh, where were you guys yesterday?” I asked as Hyesu and Sora followed me out of the house, closing the door behind them. “We had to fight yesterday.” Woosuk said, and I looked over their bodies; they didn’t seem to be any worse than they had the other day. “So did you guys win?” I asked, and they both grinned, nodding. “Yes! And it was a lot easier than our last one! And we also made sure not to hurt them too badly, just like you asked us.” I smiled, wrapping an arm around both of their shoulders. “That’s great! Well, why don’t you two take a break today and come with us? We’re going to check out a cypher that’s being held at a club these two go to.” They both grinned. “Sure!” I turned my head to look back at Sora and Hyesu. “Is that okay, you guys?” They both smiled. “Why the hell wouldn’t it be?” Sora said. “The more the merrier!” I let go of the guys and we all set off for the club. When we arrived I looked around; it was a lot bigger than Gunwoo’s club, and it was filled with people. They had already started the cypher, and the crowd was cheering as people rapped on stage. We stood with the crowd for a while, enjoying the show, and then I started to get restless. Right after the current rapper finished I made my way up to the stage, Hyesu and them cheering from behind me. I grabbed a mic and stepped on stage and just let out all of my pent-up energy. It felt good being on stage again, and I found myself having a lot of fun while I was up there. Once I was done I left the stage to the sounds of the cheering crowd and made my way back to my friends. “That was freakin awesome!” Sora exclaimed, slapping me on the back. Woosuk and Jonghyo were just kind of staring at me in shock, which weirded me out a bit, but I let them be. “Come on,” I said, still high from the exhilaration. “Let’s go get some food.” They chorused their agreement and we set off in search of a good restaurant. The scent of beef caught my attention, and I noticed a restaurant across the street. “Woosuk’s buying!” I yelled before running over to it, followed closely by the cheers of everyone else – Woosuk excluded. I ordered a big helping of bulgolgi, sighing with happiness when it arrived. The five of us chatted while we ate, erupting in laughter occasionally, and I found myself smiling ceaselessly. It felt good to be among friends. Everyone cheered when Woosuk reluctantly coughed up the money for the bill, and as we left I wrapped my arm around his and Jonghyo’s shoulders; they were both taller than me, but not by too much. They looked at me in surprise, and I smiled. “You know, you guys really matured a lot since our first encounter.” Their faces flushed with embarrassment at the memory of our first meeting, and I laughed. “You’re not so bad after all – though I’ve known that for a while now.” I ruffled their hair lightly before letting them go. They both smiled shyly, causing me to laugh, and the five of us walked around, not really having anything in mind of what to do next. Someone pointed out an ice cream stand, and we all rushed over to it; Hyesu paid for everyone this time. We were really just hanging out and having a good time, and it turned out that this was exactly what I had needed. I looked at my four friends, smiling to myself. First Hyunsoo yesterday, and now this – I’m being spoiled. We spent the day just wandering around, enjoying ourselves, and when it was finally time for us to split up I found myself wishing that we didn’t have to. I had had a lot of fun today, and I didn’t want that to end, but I knew it had to. I smiled and waved at everyone as we split up, and then I headed home. When I got home I went upstairs after saying hi to my mom and sat on my bed. I looked at a little stuffed panda that Sora had won for me in a claw machine and I smiled to myself. Then I noticed something from the corner of my eye. I went to my window and opened it, picking up a single rose from the sill. My jaw clenched and I ripped the head off of it and threw both halves to the ground below, not even bothering to read the note that was carefully secured around its stem. I then closed my window, locking it, and lay back on my bed, holding up the panda again and smiling at it.

Outside, the rose stem hit the ground with a faint clatter, the petals following close behind. The small note came loose and fell open, revealing its words to the world.

Good Little Kitty-Cats Don’t Let Other Men’s Lips Desecrate Them

P.S. You Were Wonderful On Stage Today <3