Chapter 38

Youngjae chuckled nervously. “Look, Annie, you really don't have to do this,” he reasoned, still cowering behind Jongup's muscular body. He knew the kid was useful to him somehow.

Annie shot him a murderous glare. “Do what?” she asked calmly.

“Murder us,” he replied sheepishly refusing to meet her eyes. “I mean you just now told us to dig our own graves.”

“I might change my mind with enough convincing from the two of you,” she said coolly glancing at Yongguk and Himchan. “I wouldn't want your friends to witness me with blood on my hands. Right?” She then glanced at Zelo and Jongup. “And I wouldn't want Zelo or Jongup to clean up a very big mess. So let's act like adults and go have a little chat in the kitchen.”

“It's my kitchen!” Daehyun called out to her. “Don't I get to call the shots around here?”

“Whatever!” she barked back. “Kitchen. NOW!” Her voice echoed throughout the apartment startling everyone else. She soon made her way into the kitchen crossing her arms and tapping her foot against the tiled floors expectantly.

“Oh , Dae. The kitchen,” Youngjae's eyes widened. “The knives...”

“Oh !” Daehyun cried out, immediately catching onto his best friend's allusion. Quickly, he made a beeline towards the kitchen before Annie could reach it.

Annie was taken by surprise. “What the hell?” She muttered, clearly confused at their behavior. “Weirdos...”

Daehyun laughed awkwardly standing in front of his kitchen knife set. “I'm here,” he finally said sounding like a typical school boy at roll call. He breathed a sigh of relief leaning against his kitchen counter.

Youngjae soon followed behind and caught his breath. “Whew! That was close,” he breathed out wiping the bead of sweat on his forehead.

“What the hell is the matter with you two? I knew there was something in that cheesecake,” Annie shook her head. “Maybe I should stop bringing it to you...”

“Why?” Daehyun whined.

“I think that's beside the point, Dae,” Youngjae placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder tilting his head towards Annie's direction to silently inform him that they're not here to talk about cheesecake.

Daehyun frowned then turned back to Annie. “Okay, so we're here,” he said crossing his arms over his chest. “What is it that you needed to speak to us about?”

“Isn't it already obvious?” she barked back motioning towards Yongguk and Himchan, who were sitting on the adjacent couch chatting away with Zelo, Jongup, and Lucy. “What are they doing here?” she asked in a hushed tone.

Daehyun and Youngjae glanced back at one another then turned back to Annie. “We invited them,” Youngjae answered matter-of-factly.

“Why?” she asked impatiently.

“Because I can if I want to?” Daehyun replied thoughtfully. “Last time I checked, it is my place. And we did agree to hang out here therefore that means I can invite whomever I want and you can't say anything about it.” He said lifting his chin smugly. Annie wanted to punch him in the face but she did not want to draw attention to herself especially with the other guys here.

“Yeah,” Youngjae nodded in agreement. “What's the big deal anyways? It's just Yongguk hyung and Himchan hyung. What's wrong with them?”

“Did you two forget about the discussion we had while the others were out getting food?” Annie huffed. “And I HATE surprises,” she said throwing Daehyun's words right back at him. He sighed in return.

“Look Annie, we're just trying to help you out,” Daehyun finally said. “You'll thank us later.” He turned to give Youngjae a knowing look.

“Do you not realize that you're putting me in a really awkward situation at the moment?” Annie asked. “How the hell are you two helping me? This isn't helping me at all. If anything, this is one of your little plans to throw me under the bus and I'd have to hand it to you... It's working.” she said matter-of-factly.

“Hey, remember what I said before? It's only awkward if you make it awkward,” Youngjae pointed out. “And as I've said before, it's just Yongguk hyung and Himchan hyung. They're our friends too and we barely get to see them aside from hanging out at the studio so this is just another way for us to hang out with them. I mean it's their night off too.” His serious expression then turned into a look of amusement. “And I admit, a part of this was to throw you under the bus. It's pretty hilarious if you ask me.” He snickered but immediately stopped when Annie shot him a look.

“You two are so lucky there are witnesses otherwise you'd be dead by now. Bang and Himchan must think I'm crazy,” she said glancing back at them cautiously.

Daehyun snorted. “But you are crazy,” he muttered which earned a kick in the shin from Annie. “Ow!” he yelped in pain. He doubled over in pain. As a result, Youngjae caught him in time. He shot Annie his own death glare.

Annie smirked, clearly amused and unaffected at Daehyun's attempts to intimidate her. “Oops, I'm sorry. My foot slipped,” she said, feigning innocence. She then left the two of them alone in the kitchen to join the others.

Youngjae cringed. “Good thing she didn't get me,” he sighed in relief then turned back to Daehyun, who was still doubling over in pain. “Just be glad it was your leg and not your, um, you know...”

“Oh shut up, Jae,” Daehyun groaned in pain. “Grab some ice from the freezer. I think it's gonna bruise...”

The whole room grew silent as Annie emerged from the kitchen making her way to the living room. “What?” she demanded. “You guys all act as if I killed two people.”

“Um, it sure appeared that way,” Lucy cleared setting the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table. “Where are Dae and Jae?”

“Still in the kitchen,” Annie answered with a shrug proceeding to join Lucy on the couch.

“We'll go check on them,” Himchan announced then made his way towards the kitchen past Annie without another word. She perked up as she watched his retreating figure in confusion. That was weird, she thought.

Yongguk, on the other hand, stopped to give her a warm smile. “I'll be in the kitchen,” he said with a chuckle.

“I'll be right here,” Annie returned the smile as she watched his retreating figure disappear into the kitchen. Lucy shoved Annie slightly garnering her attention and gave her a giddy look as they averted their eyes toward the kitchen. Annie shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Noona, is Daehyun hyung okay?” Zelo finally asked. “I heard a loud thump and his loud scream from the kitchen.”

“What did you do?” Lucy's eyes widened.

“Nothing!” Annie exclaimed in denial. “I may have kicked him really hard on the shin. That's all.”

“Serves him right,” Lucy muttered. “That's my girl!” she held up her hand. Annie slapped her hand in response then started giggling.

“So are we watching the movie or what?” Annie asked glancing around.

“We were waiting for you to return, noona,” replied Jongup flashing his adorable mega-watt smile.

“That's so sweet of you,” Annie caressed his shoulder tenderly.

“But, aren't we waiting for the others?” asked Zelo, glancing towards the kitchen curiously.

Annie shrugged. “Forget the others, I would like to get my mind off of tonight and watch my husband in peace,” she sighed dreamily.

“That's what he's here for,” Lucy added with her own sigh.

“Are you okay?” asked Himchan as Daehyun was tending to his bruised leg with a bag of ice.

“I'll live,” Daehyun grumbled under his breath glaring in Annie's direction. “Where the hell were you guys? I would have appreciated your help.”

“We're sorry!” Himchan chuckled. “We weren't sure if our help was necessary. And Annie looked like she was gonna snap at us any minute if we intervened.” he said scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I forgot how hard she kicked,” Daehyun groaned in pain.

“I'm glad she kicked you and not me,” Youngjae finally said, relief was evident on his handsome face.

“Me?! You deserve this just as much as I do!” Daehyun cried out. “This is all your fault!”

“My fault?! How is it my fault?!” Youngjae barked back.

“You're the evil mastermind in all our plans to sabotage Annie,” Daehyun huffed.

“Yeah, but you tend to act before you think,” Youngjae snorted.

“So you're calling me dumb?!” Daehyun scoffed glancing over at Himchan and Yongguk pointing to Youngjae at how ridiculous he was sounding.

“That's EXACTLY what I'm saying!” Youngjae provoked him.

Daehyun pushed himself off the bar stool, preparing for battle. “Why you little--”

Yongguk cleared his throat and stepped between them. “Alright, that's enough!” he announced firmly. The entire apartment grew silent. The people in the living room paused the film to shift their attention over in the kitchen's direction. Yongguk didn't realize his deep voice was firm enough to silence everyone. Even he was stunned at this realization but that didn't seem to matter at the moment.

“Oh ! Dae and Jae are having a couple spat!” Lucy exclaimed excitedly.

“I know!” Annie snickered. “You know it'll be good if the whole room is quiet.”

“Why do you guys like to pick on her?” Yongguk had to ask. “She did nothing wrong.”

Youngjae and Daehyun turned to Yongguk, flabbergasted. “Hyung--”

“What's the purpose of all of this? Did you invite me and Himchan just to get a kick out of seeing Annie squirm and beg for mercy out of you two? I never knew you guys would be this childish,” Yongguk shook his head. “Maybe it was a mistake to come. Thanks for having me over but I think I should get going.” he grabbed his car keys then made his way to the door. “Good night, everyone.”

“What? Hyung!” Daehyun called out to him but he was already out the door.

“I should go too,” Himchan said grabbing his own car keys then made his way to the door.

“We didn't mean for this to--” Youngjae managed to say but was cut off by the slam of the door. Turning to Daehyun, he huffed. “You see what you did just now? This is all your fault!”

“My fault?!” exclaimed Daehyun, clearly outraged. Before another argument could escalate any further, they were interrupted by another slam of the door. “What is it this time?” he grumbled walking over to the door to see who it was. Glancing from the door to the living room, he realized Annie was the only one missing. “Where'd she go?”

“She went after Yongguk and Himchan, where else?” huffed Lucy. “Thanks to the stunt you idiots just pulled, she felt really bad about all of this and decided to go after them. Thanks a lot for ruining a would-be good night. Kudos to the two of you.” She said raising her cup then taking a swig of her drink. Daehyun and Youngjae gaped in return while the two younger boys were too entranced in the movie to notice.

Annie ran outside frantically searching around the building in the hopes of not losing the two best friends. She wanted to apologize on her friends' behalf as well as her own for her behavior. Come to think of it, she did act a little childish. What was wrong with having Himchan and Yongguk over? They did nothing wrong. They were just there to hang out and enjoy themselves but it was ruined when she decided to go off on Youngjae and Daehyun. Glancing towards the doorway, she spotted two familiar figures about to exit. “Hey, wait up!” she called out prompting them to turn around. “Please don't go...”

They stood still eying her expectantly. She took this as her cue to continue. “Look, I'm really sorry about what happened back there. I don't know what came over me. I guess it was because it's odd seeing you guys again after a while. I hope you guys aren't taking this as me not wanting to see you because I do. I mean you know how it is. I was just taken by surprise by your sudden arrival, that's all... I just want you guys to enjoy yourselves and not let one little stunt those two idiots just pulled ruin your night. That's the last thing I want,” she pointed out. “So please stay and don't go... We have plenty of food and beverages. And we are watching a war movie,” she said matter-of-factly glancing over at Yongguk with a hopeful smile. “I mean from what I heard, you do like war movies, right Bang?”

Nodding slowly, he finally said, “I do.”

“Then, that should be a great reason for you to not leave!” she beamed taking his hand in hers along with Himchan's. “Come on, Himchan!”

Both best friends glanced at one another awkwardly before looking down at the oblivious petite girl leading them away. Himchan gave Yongguk a slight shrug before relaxing and allowing himself to be led away into the elevator.

“Honestly,” she finally relaxed once they were inside the cramped space. “I'm really glad you guys are here. I don't want you guys to think I don't want you here so don't take my behavior from earlier personally. I'm just bad at showing you guys that I don't want you to leave... Okay, that's just got awkward. You guys must think I'm weird and crazy,” she chuckled nervously.

Himchan gave her a reassuring pat on the back. “You're fine,” he assured her. “We're glad we could be here.”

Yongguk took note of the tender look in Himchan's eyes as he stared down at Annie. In turn, he coughed loudly enough to shift her attention away from his best friend.

“Are you okay?” Annie asked worriedly patting his back.

“I'm fine,” he continued coughing. “My throat's a little sore...”

“Well, we're almost there so I'll get you a glass of water,” she assured him then stared ahead at the floor levels.

Himchan gaped at his best friend in astonishment. Scoffing, he shook his head. Yongguk, on the other hand, gave his friend a triumphant smile. Annie did not seem to notice the interaction at all as they waited for the doors to open.

A/N: Hey guys! Here's another update! It might seem a little sloppy so I apologize in advance! >.< I admit I had to write this chapter so many times. I had to change it up so I decided to write it this way... Enjoy! ^^