"So… see you tomorrow then, Hun-ah?" Namjoo yawned over the phone as she bid goodbye to Sehun, after making him promise to help her tomorrow with the shopping. Sehun sounded hesitate to end the conversation, "What? Do you have something else to say?" Still. The sound of hesitation. "What's wrong? You can't come tomorrow?"

Sehun was thinking for another seconds, if he was really the right person to break the news. He sighed, No. He's not. "Promise me, Namjoo, if something good happens, don't ask why or how, being grateful is enough," 

"Why?"

Sehun laughed, "Don't ask," he closed the talk. "See you tomorrow,"

Namjoo slid off her phone, put it on the table, thinking hard what Sehun really meant. 

***

"Hey, have you been waiting so long?" Sehun tapped Namjoo's shoulder from behind, the girl stepped back in surprise and turned around. 

"Nope," she said, showing her hand which full of shopping bags. "You came at the right time. I need more hands to bring more bags," 

"What have you bought?" Sehun shrieked, "I know you will go in a month but… is this not too much?" 

"Shut up," Namjoo shoved half of her goods in Sehun's hand. "I want to buy everything on my list before MT-- considering I have no time left after that," 

"Geez, I thought we will buy the stuffs together," Sehun shook his head. "It turns out you have bought everything,"

Namjoo raised her brows, disagree, "I haven't bought everything," she showed the list in her hand to Sehun, "Look!" 

Sehun grinned, "You can buy everything you want. We have more helpers here," 

"Helpers?" 

Sehun turned his back and gave signal with his whistle. Baekhyun and Chanyeol appeared from behind the wooden cabinets, hands in front of their body and head hung low, "Namjoo…"

"Baekhyun!! Chanyeol!!" 

"We are sorry…" they said in sync. "We are just…" Namjoo gave the rest of her shopping bags to Sehun, stretched her arms wide to hug both of them. "Wait.. wait.. are you not angry?"

Namjoo laughed, "Why should I? I am glad that you forgave me. I am sorry, I should tell you all sooner about my abroad study programs," 

Sehun smiled, now everything is back to normal. Carry hundreds of shopping bags was worth it after seeing this heartwarming scene. Namjoo looked around, felt that someone missing, "Jongdae?" 

The troublemakers exchanged their gaze, confused. It was Baekhyun who broke the silence, grabbed some of the bags from Sehun's hand, "Today, just three of us are enough for Princess Joo," 

Chanyeol nodded and winked, taking another half of goods from the maknae, "We will make this month to be your best month ever, Princess," 

Don't ask how or why. Being grateful is enough. Was this what Sehun really meant? 

***

Namjoo knew what was the reason that her brothers always hanging out in the house lately. It was too obvious that they were all sad because the date of the flight also came nearer. Call her a bad sister, but it was slowly bother her that they showed their overprotective side more than they did normally. Sunggyu kept asking her if it was really a good choice to leave her friends and her families behind even just for two years. Hoya stopped visiting the gym and doing his schedule in general just for to be at home and spent the time with his sister. The last one was Woohyun who ranted and disagreed about her attending on the MT events. She knew that they loved her so much, but what the old said was true, that too much love really drove you crazy. 

It was a leisure evening when Namjoo unpacked the whole shopping bags in the living room with helping from Woohyun, "You bought too much, Namjoo-ya,"

Namjoo took a bundle of socks and threw it to the open luggage, "I bought not only for me, but also for aunty and uncle in the SF,"

"Soojin Noona said you don't have to bring anything," Woohyun said, folding a fluffy sweater and put it neatly on the sofa. "Your body and soul are enough," 

Namjoo laughed, it's been awhile since she saw the big Unnie and she was really excited to meet her again. Soojin said that she would take care everything Namjoo needed once she arrived in SF. She also heard that her cousin tried to convince Kim Brothers to let her go and pursue her dreams, instead of imprisoned her at home. 

"About the MT," Once Woohyun opened the conversation, Hoya was ready to eavesdrop from the kitchen. They played rock, scissors, paper the night before to decide who had to speak with Namjoo. And Woohyun lost three times straight. "Are you sure that you will go?" Namjoo threw a displeased look at her brother, but she didn't say anything. "It might be better to spend rest of the days with your family," 

Namjoo put the clothes on her laps, sighing, "We are done talking about this, Oppa. You are really important for me, but so are they," she smiled and patted his back, "It's just for three days," 

Woohyun pouted, so did Hoya in the kitchen, "You can do MT here in our house," 

Namjoo laughed, "Do you think it makes sense?" She counted with her fingers, "Twelve persons and also Chorong Unnie. And we have to stay here for three days? In our house?" 

When Woohyun was ready with his answer, Namjoo's smartphone rang. And it came from the person she had least expected. 

Kim Jongdae. 

***

Namjoo needed exact thirty minutes to get where he was, a small tent street restaurant near Jongdae's apartment. She spoke with the owner of the restaurant on the phone for exact one minute, dressed up for three minutes, and ten minutes to make up a story and convinced her brothers that she was okay to go alone to meet Bomi ("Her parents filed divorce. I have to go," she promised she would apologize to the poor girl later on). 

She stepped into the tent in a hurry, "Aunty, I'm Jongdae's friend," 

The Aunty pointed to where he sat on the corner of the tent, "He's over there," Namjoo's eyes followed her movement and she found Kim Jongdae was there, sat soullessly with his head hung low. "He was already like that for an hour, debating him self and crying. He stared at your telephone number for long time, so I thought you are his friend,"

"I am," Namjoo swallowed her feeling. "I am his best friend," 

Namjoo walked to his table and sat beside him, "Jongdae-ya… are you okay?" she tried to ignore five empty bottles soju on the table, the condition of her friend was more important than judging him. The smell of the alcohol hit her nose once she tried to shake Jongdae's shoulder lightly. He didn't response immediately, "Kim Jongdae…" 

Jongdae slowly shifted his drunk gaze, reacting to her voice. His pupils slightly widened when he found Namjoo in front of him, "Are you Namjoo?" He scoffed at his own imagination, "I think I'm drunk. What is Kim Namjoo doing here," Namjoo threw him a worried look when he cringed after shaking his head for a moment, the heavy headache hit his nerves. Jongdae glanced the empty bottles on the table, chuckled, "So, if I drunk five bottles soju, Kim Namjoo would appear in front of me. I have to try it again next time, every time I miss you…"

Namjoo's heart was beating so hard, she inhaled and exhaled breathily so it could reduce the pain. 

Jongdae poked her on her arm, "But you seem real…"

She kept silence, every possibilities went through her mind; should she call Baekhyun or Chanyeol but then again, she really wanted to know what he would say. Namjoo shook her head, it isn't right. 

The urge to call the boys to pick him up emerged when Jongdae called a name, that she didn't really want to hear, "Minah…" 

Namjoo was stupefied for a moment, she shook his shoulder again, this time was a little bit harder, "Jongdae, you are drunk. I'm not Minah," she sounded a little bit hurt. "Wake up,"

Jongdae ditched her hand, hung his head lower, "Minah… I'm sorry," She was still holding his shoulder when he whispered. She gasped and felt her eyes burnt hearing the next sentence he said, "I hurt you. But I can't forget her…" She was holding her breath unconsciously, struck in the moment. "I tried hard, but I can't… I'm sorry," 

"Jongdae-ya…" she whispered. "Let's go home," 

"Namjoo?" he widened his eyes again, as if he saw her for the first time. "Where is Minah?" 

"She's not here," she answered patiently, she rummaged her bag, looking for her phone. "I'll call Sehun so he could…" 

"Kim Namjoo. Did I hurt you too?" he grabbed her wrist and asked, "Sehun said that you cried because of me," he chuckled when Namjoo looked at him back with confused eyes. "I'm bad. I hurt my girlfriend. I hurt my best friend. I hurt everyone because of this stupid feeling," he looked Namjoo straight in the eye, making her wonder if he's already sober. He whispered but it was loud enough to hear, "I'm sorry, Namjoo. I just don't know what happen with us," 

The phone on the table rang, she glanced at it and the name she never saw before appeared on it. 

Lee Chunji. 

***

"STOP FOLLOWING ME!" Chorong shouted at her brother when she heard his whining for nth times today. "I said I don't know what Luhan had planned for the MT,"

"But you are the manager," Chanyeol pouted. He never knew that convincing his sister would be this hard. 

"But he is the captain," she rolled her eyes. She turned her back and now he was face to face with his brother, "And you! You don't want to explain further about your plan and now you expect us to team up with you? Are you kidding me?" 

He knew the reason Chorong acted like this. She was hurt because he kept secret from her, but sharing it with his best friend. And exact an hour ago, while Chanyeol persuaded her to be on their side, he blurted out something about Namjoo and Jongdae. He immediately closed his mouth, but Chorong trailed him to explain more, in which he didn't. But he still needed her help, so it was kind of unfair in Chorong's eyes. "But Noona… it's a top secret," 

Chorong, again, rolled her eyes, now she even put her hand on her hips, annoyed, "Then don't say!" she widened her eyes, "And don't expect any help from us," she folded her hand and scoffed, "And I will tell Luhan to plan our MT at the top of mountain. Forget your plan on the beach!" 

"Chorong Noona!" Chanyeol was shocked at her statement. How could she be so childish?

"What?" 

"Give me ten minutes," Chanyeol pouted and took his phone. Calling for help. 

***

"Hello?" Sehun growled at his phone. It wasn't even his bedtime yet but he fell asleep with opened laptop on his lap. 

"Sehun?" 

Sehun furrowed his eyebrows, he was sure that it was Namjoo's voice. But what was with the cold tone? He even glanced at his phone display, making sure that it was really her. "Namjoo?" 

"Explain, please," Now she sounded like she was holding her breath. Her tears.  

"Namjoo?" Sehun put the laptop on his side. Wide awake in a sudden, he paid attention to the girl over the phone. "What happened? Are you okay?" Silent. That heavy breath again. "Are you okay?"

"Jongdae broke up with Minah?" Sehun kept silent for couple of seconds, he knew that Namjoo waited for his answer. "Is it true? Why?" 

*** 

"Wake up, Jong," Chunji shook Jongdae's shoulder with ungentle manner, "Wake up. I have to go to work," 

Jongdae ground as the sunlight shone into his eyes, brought him back to the earth with super heavy head. "Ugh. Where am I?"

"Your apartment of course," Chunji sat on the bed, throwing a disgust look to his best friend. Geez. If only he knew how ugly he is right now. 

"And? Why are you here?" 

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Chunji asked the obvious, knowing his drinking habit. He managed his flat face, teasing him a little bit far, "You don't remember that I carried you here?" Jongdae shook his head. "Changing your stinky shirt? or tucked you in?" he swished his hand mindlessly when Chunji asked the next question, "Then I bet you also don't remember that Namjoo came to the tent and found you drunk?"

Jongdae woke up in a sudden, ignored his heavy headache and dry mouth, "Me? What? Namjoo?" he observed Chunji's face throughly but didn't find any sign that he was lying, "You are kidding right? What did I do?"

Chunji shrugged his shoulder, "She was upset about something as I came, or crying, or I don't know," he recalled the vivid memory about last night. "But wow, man! You have taste! She's pretty. Prettier than the photos you showed me last time," 

Jongdae whined and went back to his bed, rolling around like a spoiled kid, "Aaiiisssh! What have you done, Kim Jongdae!!!!!!!!!" 

***

Chanyeol was sitting in the manager room with Luhan, Minseok, Chorong, and Suho. It was not his intention to attract so many ears about their 'secret' plan but Luhan rejected to discuss anything without Minseok, and could be guessed that Suho didn't allow Chorong to go alone. 

"So, you want us to help you with your plan?" Luhan asked the youngest in the circle, while he was nodding. "And it would be succeed if only I don't decide mountain training program?" Chanyeol nodded again, begging help from his sister with his eyes. Luhan could reject his proposal at any second. And it seemed that he would do that. Luhan shook his head, "Is it not just your story made? Because you all," he cleared his throat, "Troublemakers, don't want to join my super perfect program? You just want to play on the beach?" Minseok threw a disgust face at Luhan. The captain barked, "What? It could happen, seeing their track record," 

Minseok folded his arms, "But really, you want us to help you but you are getting halfway to tell us. You just muttered about Namjoo would move to SF, and then Jongdae… I don't really get what happened with him," Luhan gave the vice captain his sweetest smile when he continued, "Sorry, Yeol, I'm on Luhan's side. I want to help you, but I don't think going to the beach could prevent Namjoo go to SF, and honestly, it had nothing to do with Jongdae too, except he had acrophobia, which is not, or at least not as bad as him," he pointed Luhan and the latter pouted. "Luhan even promised to climb mountain with us,"

Chanyeol is getting frustrated. He couldn't speak about Namjoo and Jongdae's secret but these elders just keep pressing him. And his 'awesome' speech ability didn't help at all. He threw a hateful gaze to Chorong who sticked her tongue out once she knew she got disrespect action from her brother. 

"Can't you just tell us, Yeol?" Suho opened his mouth. "I know you really want to help them, but we have to know the real story so we could help you too. As long as I remember, you said nothing about the plan,"

Chanyeol sighed in despair when someone opened the room with just one push, "Jongdae likes Namjoo, but he's a loser. That's why," Baekhyun said it out loud. He was outside the room for the whole time and he was really frustrated to keep quiet. He turned his head to Chanyeol, ignoring Minseok, Luhan, Suho, and Chorong's shocked face. "And so you are, giant," 

"Wait.. what? Jongdae likes Namjoo?" Minseok repeated, taken aback. 

Luhan's jaw was still dropping until the floor, "Since when? Why we don't know any of this?" 

"I thought he is with Minah?" Chorong recalled the world cup days; how they had to sneak out for the sake of the lovers. "Hwoah, Park Chanyeol, I don't know that you are so loyal to your friend and told me nothing about this," 

Chanyeol scrunched his nose, "I knew about it three days ago, Noona. So… yeah," Baekhyun threw a displeased look and Chanyeol corrected his sentence at once, "But I'm a loyal friend!" 

Baekhyun took a seat between Chanyeol and Suho, "The first question; he likes her for nearly two years. That dumb boy," he sighed, ditched Chanyeol who gave him 'could we really tell this to them' kind of look. "And Siwan happened. Minah happened. Everything bad happened, so…"

Suho frowned, "But wait, I know you really want to help him but it's no use if Namjoo doesn't like him back, don't you think?" 

Chanyeol leaned his back, "She likes him too… but the timing wasn't really right… that he got together with Minah…" 

"Got?" Chorong repeated, assuming something, "They broke up? Wow it's like a drama," 

"They broke up because Minah knew that Jongdae likes Namjoo from the first time," Baekhyun said, and Chanyeol whispered loudly if he could really tell the elders about it. But Baekhyun saw the opportunity in it, he felt guilty about everything; how he knew nothing about his friends. "You know what? We were the one who pushed Minah and Jongdae together… so I thought, we thought, it's the best time to fix everything,"

"But you still can't play as God here, Baek," Minseok rubbed his chin. He saw Namjoo as his sister, and of course he wanted her to be happy, but.. it didn't seem right. 

"But you can give happy memories to Namjoo," Baekhyun whined, hurt that Minseok didn't consider it as a good plan. "And she moves to SF very soon. And…"

"We go to the beach," one statement from Luhan ended everything. Everyone looked at the captain with widened eyes, "And we would help Namjoo and Jongdae; not for going out together, but to make good times and happy memories for her, before she moves to SF,"

"Lu!" Minseok still frowned, still shocked at Luhan's decision, while Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's eyes beamed with happiness. 

"THANK YOU CAPTAIN,"

"And for paying this back, I hope you play with super good condition for the next match. 

"SIR, YES, SIR!!!"

"And of course, don't be too happy about MT on the beach. It won't be easier than training on the mountain,"

***

"But tell me, Baek, I thought about what Minseok Hyung has said. Our plan has nothing to do with beach or mountain," Chanyeol took his bag and slung it on his shoulder. The elders had already gone since ten minutes ago, leaving him and Baekhyun behind. 

Baekhyun whistled, "He is right, it has nothing to do with them," 

"What?"

"Sehun and I didn't want to go to the mountain," he laughed, first mission accomplished. "So we slip our needs into the plan. But everything is going well, right?" 

Chanyeol dropped his jaw and flicked Baekhyun on his forehead, "You don't know what I've been going through just for that!!!!!!"

"Blame Jongdae then!!!"

***

The cafeteria was already fast empty when Jongdae got there. There were just two or three students who were still busy with their assignment or just enjoying the summer noon at the campus. He saw his clique on the same table, being loud as they were always been. And Kim Namjoo was also there. The one he seek all day long. 

It was Baekhyun who saw him first and kicked Chanyeol's leg under the table. Sehun glanced at the girl with obvious worried look, the girl still wasn't notice. She was immersed to the book and she was backing the entrance. "Ah! I want to go to the bathroom," Baekhyun was faking a yawning and standing up. He turned his head to Chanyeol, "Come with me,"

"What?" Chanyeol widened his big eyes, "To the bathroom?" Baekhyun sent him a signal with his eyebrows. 

"You too, Hun-ah!" Baekhyun swished his hand repeatedly. 

Namjoo looked at the boys and scoffed, "What are you? Girls? Even girls nowadays go to the bathroom alone," 

"Namjoo," Jongdae called her name carefully. He could even feel that the girl was startled with his sudden appearance, even though she was backing him. 

"Uh… yeah… bathroom," Chanyeol muttered. Baekhyun and Sehun followed his lead to collect their stuff and walked away. Each of them gave an encouraging light pat on Jongdae's shoulder when they passed him. 

Jongdae sat on her side, giving her little time to react; slap him or maybe run away. But Namjoo was still there, with opened book in front of her. She turned her head and gave him a worried look, "Hey, how are you?" 

Jongdae sighed, tired of acting that they did for the past months, "I'm sorry for acting like a jerk, Namjoo. I have to support you. No matter what. Like what Sehun did," 

"I'm sorry, too, Jongdae. I have to tell you sooner," Namjoo frowned a bit, playing with her pen. "I just don't want to hurt you all with my decision,"

It sounds familiar, Jongdae thought. "And I am sorry for everything. You had a hard time because of me," 

Namjoo smiled, "We apologize to each other thousand times in this past months, so I guess one little forgive won't hurt,"

Jongdae let out a dry laugh, "You are right, I'm sorry," 

"Look, you are apologizing again," 

"About last night too," he whispered. 

They were silent for a second before Namjoo threw her rhetoric question, "You want to say sorry?" 

"No," Jongdae looked firm, making her startled with sudden seriousness in his eyes. "I won't," He tried hard to calm his heartbeat but it was just too hard to do. Namjoo was still staring at him, waiting for his next sentence, "I was drunk but I remember everything," he whispered and looked her in the eyes, "Kim Namjoo, I… still love you…" 

They didn't break their sight for a couple of moment before Namjoo took the lead, leaned to his side, and hug him tightly, "I miss you, Kim Jongdae," 

This was Sehun meant. Don't ask. Just be grateful, she thought. 

a/n

wow. I'm really queen of dragging things. I don't know why I wrote this much. >.< I'm sorry.