Orange and red rays paint the sky as the blinding ball of heat dipped into the sky in a final goodbye. I always found the sunset calming and in all honesty hated it all the same. It meant darkness and I hated the night. Maybe I was just paranoid but I couldn’t help it.

I hear screaming and as I turn my head to the source I see Hansol jump on Jongin, causing him to crash on the ground. I resist the urge to yell “Be careful!” but then I see Jongin laugh and punch Hansol in the arm.

“I got you this time!” Hansol screams.

“You need to get into football with those tackling skills,” Jongin comments while he stands and brushes the grass off his pants.

I shake my head in disapproval. “No way in hell my son is going to play football.”

Hansol groans and I smile at how tall he was getting. Well, he was sixteen but he went through a random growth spurt this year. He was almost as tall as Jongin.

“But dad,” Hansol says. “You don’t let me do anything.”

“I let you dance,” I arch an eyebrow.

“And I can’t dance for !”

“Language,” I say, glaring at Hansol. Jongin laughs and picks up the football from the ground.

We begin to walk across the field towards our apartment building across the street. I was suddenly glad I was the one who picked the place to live because Jongin had eyes on a one bedroom apartment in the middle of nowhere. It was definitely a good place to raise Hansol.

For dinner, we called in take out. Chicken specifically, which Hansol and Jongin fought over for ten minutes before Hansol plays the “But I’m your son” card with his large puppy eyes and Jongin melts a little inside and give up his precious drumstick. He substitutes it for a thigh, muttering “That’s not fair” every now and then.

“Dads,” Hansol speaks up after eating two drumsticks and some rice. “I have something to tell you.”

“What?” Jongin and I say simultaneously.

Hansol takes a deep breath and wipes his hands on a napkin. I can tell this is obviously important to him and set my chopsticks down.

“I’m gay.”

“God damn it!” Jongin yells. I grin and hold my hand out to him, moving my fingers. Hansol stares in shock as Jongin brings out his wallet and brings out 50,000 won and shoves it in my hands.

“Hold up,” Hansol says. “You guys were betting on me?”

“Son,” I say. “I know gay when I see it.”

“Is no one straight in this household?” Groans Jongin as he glares at Hansol. “Thanks to you I lost 50,000 won. How do you feel, Hansol?”

“So are you a bottom or a top?” I say as I pocket the money. Hansol groans and brings his hands to his slender face. “Definitely bottom.”

Jongin leans forward. “I swear to God if you’re dating Hyunsu I’m going to scream.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Hansol says and Jongin yells. I’m going to have a long talk with Minseok later about the rules I have for their son to date mine. Especially if Hyunsu is a top, no way in hell I’m letting him break my baby.

“Jongin,” I say with a smile. “Time for you to give the bottom talk.”

My son straightens up with wide eyes, shaking his head. “There’s a talk?”

“Oh yes,” I say.

“But I thought you were the bottom,” Hansol says tilting his head at me.

Jongin laughs and I throw a packet of soy sauce at his face. “Wow, okay, I’m going to pretend you didn’t just insult my man hood like that.”

“We alternate,” Jongin says. “You know, he tops me, I top him. It works.”

“Gross!”

“But listen, kid,” I say while putting a hand on his shoulder. “One night can ruin your life.”

“Yeah, like you did ours!” Jongin says and Hansol glares at him.

“Shut up, dad. That’s mean.”

I glare at Jongin who stops laughing and clears his throat. “But really though you kinda did.”

“Jongin!”

“What? I’m just saying,” He rolls his eyes and scoots his chair closer to Hansol and I.

Hansol says “How?”

Jongin looks at me and smiles. “Yixing, please do us the honors of telling the story.”

“Alright,” I say, grinning at Hansol who glares at me. I make myself comfortable knowing this was a long one. “I personally call this story ‘How Zhang Hansol Ruined Our Lives’.”

“Rude,” He mutters and Jongin hushes him.

“Well it started when twelve testosterone reeking boys moved into one house.”

I hold my back pack tightly in my hands as I stare up at the tall building before me. It’s entire being seemed to be made of glass and how it could withstand storms and typhoons was beyond me. It was really fancy seeing as there was a fountain in the middle of the circular driveway and shiny tiles as the driveway flooring.

I hear the trunk pop open and behind me Han, Yifan, and Zitao pile out of the van. A few other vans pull in behind us, each sporting several different people I recognized from training. I can feel excitement bubbling inside me because this was it, these were the people I was going to make a career with.

I definitely recognized Jongin and Sehun from when they pulled the three of us out of the training room and told us we were to be put in a group called EXO as the main dancers. At first I thought I was being terminated but when the word “debut” flew out our new manager’s mouth I almost passed out.

I didn’t dare talk to them, though. I had a constant fear of talking to people that couldn’t speak Chinese for fear of messing up. My Korean was definitely better than Zitao’s though, the boy couldn’t even say “How are you” with screwing it up. I count eleven other people that were pulling their bags from trunks and talking about the future.

“Exciting, huh?” Han says and I smile.

“Yes,” I reply. “But please don’t tell me we’re all going to be sharing the same room.”

Han laughs and shakes his head. “I hope not.”

“Alright listen up!” A booming voice calls. The twelve of us stop talking and turn our attention to our manager. “For now you guys will have to go three to a room until we get another apartment.” So that meant there were four rooms. Great.

“So what about the bathroom situation?” A short brown haired man asks.

The manager sighs and says “There are two bathrooms.”

A few groans are heard and I sigh. Does our manager not understand how much sharing is going to happen when you stuff three boys in a room and six people per bathroom? One of us is bound to be gay and I’ve already made that list.

The manager brings out a bag full of keys and goes to Yifan who was at the end. He begins to give a key to each of us. “This is your key to the apartment. Don’t lose it or you’re not getting another one.”

“What if it’s stolen?” A deep voice asks. We all look at the owner and see Baekhyun and another short man laugh beside him. Everyone knew him: Park Chanyeol. The trouble maker and those must be other two. Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongdae.

“Then you’re paying for the new key,” Our manager growls in annoyance.

“But what if we don’t have money?” Baekhyun says and Jongdae and Chanyeol laughs again. A much shorter man with big eyes glares at them and another man with glasses tries to get them to calm down.

The manager ignores them and motions for them to follow him. We all pick up our bags and walk through the glass doors and into a spacious lobby. The couch alone could probably pay off my parent’s house and then some. There were four elevators and the manager presses two open.

“Press floor twenty,” The manager tells the people who were going in the one to the right. Five of us get in with our manager while the remainder went into the second one. Han presses the bold number and the machine whirs and shoots upwards. It quiet and awkward in the small space and Han and I look behind us to see that the entire back of the elevator was glass and gave us a breathtaking view of the city as we rose higher and higher. Han grips my arm and I laugh to myself knowing Han’s intense fear of heights.

The machine dings and the doors pull apart. We stream out and see the others already there, waiting. The hall way was long and only had one door which was right in front of the elevators with the the number twenty in gold letters. The manager is the first to move and shoves a key into the lock and turns it. Automatically, the door opens and we all pile in.

“Holy ,” Han says while looking around. Already the place looks huge and it was only the main walkway. We all slip off our shoes and and run out of the walkway and into the living room where a couch was put in the middle with a TV set in front of it. There was a hallway and the manager points to it.

“That’s where the rooms are,” He says. “For now I don’t care who sleeps where.”

Han leans closer to me and whispers “Sorry, Xing, but I’m going to share a room with Minseok,” I nod and smile at him, figuring he was going to chase after him anyways.

Everyone scrambles into the hallway and goes into random rooms. I pick the first door I see and swing it open. Three beds were placed in a straight line against the wall and another door open revealing a large closet. The room was spacious enough for three people to live comfortably. I walk to the bed pressed against the left corner, farthest from the door and closer to the closet. I slip my backpack off my shoulders and place my two duffel bags on the bed. I remind myself to later go shopping for sheets.

“Let’s pick this one!” I hear someone say behind the closed door. I freeze as I forgot that I had to share the room with two other people. Just great.

The door slams open and two people cram in, already arguing who gets which bed. I recognize that it’s Sehun and Jongin. Sehun points out that he’s the youngest and Jongin groans as he agrees that he gets the middle bed. The bed next to mine. Uh-oh. They finally seem to notice that I was in the room and they turn to me.

“Oh!” Sehun says and they smile at me. We weren’t close, in fact this is the first time I’ve actually conversed with them.

“I’m Sehun,” The shorter of the two says. “We were in training together, right?” I nod. “Oh yeah, Yixing!” Again I nod.

The one with the middle bed and grins at me. “I’m Jongin.”

Had I known at the time what the name “Jongin” would mean later on I would’ve stayed the hell away from him but the only thought going through my head was “What a nerd”.