He made his bed with military precision, satisfied only after every corner had been pulled taut and coins bounced back at him. It was an unusually early start to

the day, especially for Haeri who had to be coerced into getting up before noon. While he would’ve liked to return to dream land, after a trip to the bathroom revealed

how untidy the dorm had been left last night, he couldn’t close his eyes with a clear conscience or peaceful mind. The bedroom was easily the most disastrous, he’d

save it for later. Instead he made his way out into the common areas pausing only to slam the door unnecessarily hard behind him. Smiling to himself in satisfaction

when Woohyun’s startled, sleepy swears met his ears. The first hours of Haeri’s day were spent grumbling to himself as he scrubbed the filth from every corner of the

dorm. Still avoiding the bedroom as the silence of his still slumbering roommates was a rare commodity, one he refused to disrupt. Instead, he nestled himself on the

worn sofa and pulled out his phone. Opening Kakao Talk, he started a group chat.

‘Chopstick one, reporting in.’  It was a simple, nonsensical greeting but the intended recipients would understand. It seemed like they were never on the same

wavelength anymore, these days just  passing along a friendly ‘Hello’ took hours. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised when, nearly simultaneously,

responses popped onto the screen. 

‘Chopstick two, reporting in.’

‘Chopstick rest, reporting in.’

‘Oh, so you do remember me.
I couldn’t tell.’

‘Aww, did my other half miss me?’

‘Don’t take it to heart. We’ve just been busy.
You’ll understand when you’re in our position.’

‘

Yes, mom.

You mean your better half. And no.
It was just getting a little boring around here.
It’s like prison compared to SM.’

‘Oh god, please don’t call me mom.
I get enough of that around here.’

‘I miss you too, pal. But at least you don’t have to be
in a million places at once and no one’s shipping
you with a man that lives in China 75% of the time.’

‘…’

‘Don’t forget that your hair and clothes
look like 100% of the time.’

‘No, we’re not going to ignore what was just said here.
Is the problem that fans ship you with Luhan or
the fact that he lives so far away?’

‘Hey, there buddy.
Do you have something
you need to share with the group?’

‘Don’t start.’

‘All rumors are based in at least a little truth…’

‘

I should’ve known something was up when
you literally died your hair into a rainbow.
I’m such a bad friend.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up about it,
they had us all fooled.’

‘And it’s okay, little one. We love and support you.
Look at the bright side, you get to see him more often now!’

‘I can’t say what I really want to because
you’re older than me. But know this:
It wasn’t pleasant.’

‘

We should celebrate. When’s the next
time the two of you have a free day?”

‘At the same time?’

‘2015’

‘…’

‘I think that depressed us both…’

‘…in a few months, we have an afternoon off, though.’

‘

That’s really sad but I’ll take it.’

‘On an unrelated note, how’s everyone else?’

‘Everyone like who?’

‘

Everyone like the rest of our friends.
The rest of your group, the trainees,
f(x). Just…everyone.’

‘Krystal is doing fine. She’s started filming
for a new drama so she’s been kinda busy.
But otherwise, she’s well.’

‘

Okay and….’

‘Okay and what?’

‘

Do we really have to go through
this a second time?’

‘Do we really have to pretend that wasn’t
the only person you were concerned with
hearing about?’

‘What makes you say that? If I
wanted to know how just Krystal was doing,
don’t you think I would’ve called just Krystal?’

‘That’s a good point.
Why don’t you go do that? Bye.’

‘We’ve gotta go, good luck.
We’ll see you around.’

Haeri rolled his eyes at their childishness but it felt good to talk to old friends, if only for a few minutes. Now in a better mood than he’d started, he cracked the

bedroom door open and peered in. It seemed everyone was at least mildly awake now. Iseul and Kenny were engrossed in their clothes and phone respectively.

Woohyun, on the other hand, sat up in his bed, his legs dangling off the edge of the top bunk. Too tired to move, to alert to fall back to sleep. Grimacing at the mess

that still lingered, he tossed his phone on the bed and gathered his things for a much needed shower.

By the time he stepped out, refreshed and slightly damp, the first thing that caught his eye was the wrinkles in his once perfect sheets. He cringed at the thought at

someone spreading their germs on his bed as he hurried to correct the offensive sight. Even though Kenny was the only one in the room, it was doubtful that he was

the culprit. They didn’t like each other much, despite having known each other the longest, he tended to respect Haeri’s space. Besides, the only evidence that he’s

moved at all was that his own bathroom necessities sat at his feet. His sour mood returned as he pulled on his clothes and dusted invisible germs from his sleeping

space once more before taking a seat and dialing the familiar number, though the response he got from the other side was one he wasn’t quite so used to.

“What?” The voice was bitter and clearly angry. He pulled the phone away from his face and glanced down at the screen and sure enough Krystal Jung’s face stared

back at him. Cautious and confused, he put the phone against his ear once more. 

“Krystal?” He tried cautiously as if the sound of his voice would miraculously cure her of any homicidal thoughts.

“What do you want?” Though no less annoyed, she’d changed from Korean to English. He assumed she must be in public and trying to keep their conversation from

prying ears, he returned in kind.

“If I’m interrupting something I can—“

“If you’re calling to apologize, do it. If not, I’m hanging up.” Haeri was suddenly scraping his brain for anything he should be apologizing for. Had he broken a promise?

Maybe forgotten to meet her somewhere? No, if they’d had anything planned it would’ve been in his phone’s calendar. She made sure of it. He hadn’t seen her since

his transfer nearly three months ago so the possible offenses must be limited.

“I— I’m sorry for not calling lately, I guess. I’ve just been really busy…“ His sentence trailed off as a quiet snort of laughter from across the room reminded Haeri that

Kenny was still in the room and more than capable of understanding everything he was saying. He frowned but didn’t bother relocating. Kenny listening in was better

than the alternatives, at least he’d keep what he heard to himself. The sound of Krystal fuming brought him back to the problem at hand. She wasn’t talking into the

receiver directly so he assumed what was being said wasn’t meant for him but he’d kept an ear pressed tightly against the combination of circuitry, glass and hard

plastic anyway. She was complaining to Amber, very vaguely he might add, about whatever it was he’d done wrong. Apparently the boyish member was just as

confused and in the dark as Haeri because it took quite a few tries before she’d gotten Krystal to slow down and tell her what the problem was. She was reluctant to

share any details but from the sound of it, he'd pissed her off this morning through text.   Haeri called her name into the receiver, trying to bring her attention back to

him. It wasn’t until he raised his voice loud enough for Iseul to pop his head in that she seemed to hear him. Haeri waved him off and turned his back to the door,

lowering his voice to nearly a whisper.

“Krystal, I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I did not text you or anything today. I was just getting out of the shower when I called.” His reasoning was

met with the soft clicking of a call ending. And then all it at once, incoming message after message from Krystal showed on his screen as she forwarded all the

messages of their supposed conversation back to him. His face red with both anger and embarrassment he exited the shared bedroom.

“Woohyun!”