“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”                         ~William Shedd

“Tell me, what happened to your sister?” Peniel asked.

He flicked his straw around his bubble tea.

“What do you mean?” Sungjae replied hesitantly.

“She wasn’t so quiet and shy at one point.” Peniel prodded. “And I think you know why.”

Sungjae paused. “I don’t, actually.”

Peniel raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing more. The pair sat quietly at the small table inside the bubble tea shop Sungjae and Rainie loved.

Yesterday had gone well. After the concert, Sungjae had brought Rainie home, and insisted to their parents that she was to stay there through the night. They’d reluctantly agreed, and the siblings had spent the night talking until the sun rose over the skyscrapers outside the window. Sungjae smiled at the memory.

“What are you grinning at?” Peniel questioned, smiling back suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Yah, you can’t keep being mysterious like that. That’s not fair!”

Peniel flicked Sungjae’s forehead. Sungjae stuck out his tongue and kept smiling.  

Then, Peniel’s phone beeped loudly in his pocket.

“Well, time to go.” Peniel sighed, getting up and stretching his arms.

“Did Manager-hyung say something?” Sungjae asked as he put on his jacket while stifling a yawn.

“Apparently he’s got a surprise for us…” Peniel said.

He shrugged and slid into his white sweatshirt, pulling the hood over his hair carefully.

The afternoon sun shone brightly overhead, melting the snow below Peniel and Sungjae’s feet as they walked down the street.

“Where did he even say we were supposed to go?” Sungjae asked.

He felt a bit annoyed that they’d had to leave so quickly. They’d only been at the shop for approximately ten minutes. Ten minutes was nothing ─ at least, not to him. Manager-hyung thought otherwise, and he made all the other BTOB guys think the same way. In ten minutes they could practice one song at least two times. In ten minutes they could rehearse a complete show script and practice their song once. A ten minute break was equivalent to wasting that much rehearsal time, so they did everything to avoid doing so.

But they were still human. They needed rest, and they needed affection and friends just like everyone else. Same-gender company could only go so far. He could go out and make some female friends, but he was an idol. Girls were almost off-limits; meeting up with a girl meant horrendous scandals and tedious lectures from the CEO. Of course, Rainie was an exception, but so far media hadn’t found out about her yet. And Sungjae hoped to keep it that way.

“We’re almost there, don’t worry.” Peniel reassured him.

Peniel was right. Moments later they arrived at a tall brick apartment building. It looked relatively new and the warm red color of the exterior gave it a cheery aura. Their manager stood waving outside the main door, a pair of keys hanging from the pointer finger on his other hand. The two boys jogged over.

“What are those keys for?”

“We’re obviously moving in, Sungjae, you idiot.”

“What!? Why?”

“Our CEO thought it’d be best for you all to train in this part of Seoul for a while.” Their manager explained. “I don’t really know any of the other details, though.”

 “What are you so upset for, Sungjae? Don’t you want to stay here closer to Rainie?” Peniel wondered.

“I ─ I don’t know.” Sungjae muttered. “I don’t think that’d be good for her.”

“Why would it be a bad thing?”

“It just would…” Sungjae answered after a moment.

He fiddled with his fingers for a bit, searching for an appropriate reply. “It’s already my fa ─”.

“─ault that she’s getting bullied at school. Yeah, I know.” Peniel finished for him. “But you shying away from standing up for her won’t do her any good either.”

He looked at Sungjae carefully for a second, then turned and followed after the manager into the apartment building. Sungjae was too at a loss for words to move.