Author’s Note: Update Update Update! I don’t know what I’m writing… so I’m going to wing this chapter, sound good? Probably not. Oh well. >.<

“You…oh god.” Rainie raised a horrified hand to .

“There’s no need to call me god, I already know I am one.” Jackson winked.

“I – .”

“Shhhhh.” Jackson raised a mischievous finger to his mouth as he edged over and sat down beside Rainie. “Let’s pretend we just met, okay?”

Rainie nodded uncomfortably and shifted in her seat.

Raising his voice deliberately, Jackson called out, “So, Rainie-shi, you’re a friend of Sungjae’s, I assume?”

“Oh, YES.” Rainie replied shakily. Her voice came out louder than she’d intended and the last word was more like a harsh cough.  

“She’s my sister.” Sungjae hacked in a raspy voice. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and sat up lazily. “She’s my sister.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, .” Jackson said.

“You call me that again, and you’ll be the one with the TV remote shoved up your .”

“Oh, how .”

“Shut up.”

“That’s not possible. You can’t shut up.”

Sungjae glared and turned away to face the crowd seated at the kitchen table. With a loud bang, Hyungsik and Minhyuk darted into the living room, gesticulating madly. Well rather, Hyungsik was gesticulating and Minhyuk was simply trying to push him away.  

“I did not fart.” Minhyuk sighed.  

“Yes you did, I can smell it!” Hyungsik said with one hand pinching his nose and the other pointing accusingly at random directions. 

“Liar.” Minhyuk hit him. Hard.

Hyungsik was undeterred. “You can’t deny the senses of Hyungsik, SingleManHyuk.”

“You must really adore farts if you can smell them when they’re not even there.”

“Whoever smelt it dealt it, Hyungsik.” Jackson called out loudly from his position on the couch beside Rainie.

Peniel threw Rainie a sideways glance. She attempted a smile which looked more like a grimace. Jackson was still too close to her for comfort. Her eyes kept drifting towards his lips. The ones she’d kissed just a few hours ago. He did have really nice lips. Rainie swallowed nervously and clasped her hands together tightly.

Rainie noiselessly closed the door of BTOB’s new dorm bathroom, pulling her beat-up backpack roughly onto her shoulder with a quiet grunt. The happy chattering of BTOB and the rest of the guests was slightly muffled in the distance by the hallway.  

“Leaving already?” Peniel said quietly, peering out from the doorway of what Rainie could only assume was his room.

“I need to get back before…” Rainie paused. She’d been about to say that her parents might worry about her. That would have been a lie.

“Can we – can we talk for a bit?” Peniel shuffled awkwardly against the door.

“In there?” Rainie pointed nervously toward his room.

“Yeah, in here.” Peniel chuckled. “I promise I won’t do anything gross.”

 “Oh, o – okay.” She hesitantly followed him into the bedroom.

Looking anxiously around the space, Rainie realized that Peniel had been quite efficient with his time, having already finished unpacking his possessions. Makeup bottles were lined up neatly in front of the mirror on the dresser across from his bed, which was carefully made and adorned with fluffy pillows and a stuffed animal shaped liked… Sungjae? A shelf beside the window was filled carefully with books and comics. Rainie noticed how every book binding was lined up with eagle-eye precision.

Peniel politely pulled out the chair from his desk and gestured for Rainie to sit down. He sat down in another chair beside the book shelf.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I’ve been wanting to ask you something, Rainie.”

“Yeah?” Rainie crossed her right leg over her left. A second later she switched.

“Yeah. I was wondering... how’s school?” Peniel said. He looked away from Rainie sheepishly.

“School?” Rainie didn’t know why Peniel would ask her such a strange question. He sounded like an overly caring mother who spent her time reading how-to books on talking to teens.

“It’s just… I feel like when my friends were in high school, they talked a lot about school and stuff.” Peniel looked Rainie in the eyes. “But you, you don’t.”

“I don’t really like it all that much, I guess.” Rainie tried to shrug nonchalantly.

“Nothing interesting ever happens?”

“Do you really want to know?”

Peniel stood up and approached Rainie carefully. Bending down on one knee he looked up at her. “Yes, I do.”