Whatever happens tomorrow, we've had today.

“Chips and more chips,” Kyungsoo sighed for the umpteen time. Picking up a striking red packaging, he frowned. “What the hell is this? Kitkat Pops?” 

“It’s grocery shopping for a reason, not junk food.” Kyungsoo announced before they entered the supermarket but his words fell upon death ears with the mountain of processed trash in the trolley. Instead of shopping for fresh, real, edible food, he was occupied with pacing up and down the aisles trying to return the useless items the boys dumped into the trolley.

“Look what I’ve got here.” Baekhyun wriggled his eyebrow, hands behind his back.

“Black soda drink?” Kris pointed at Baekhyun who let out a chuckle in agreement.

“Oh yeah~" Baekhyun sang, making a little dance. "Let’s have a party tonight.”

“No-uh,” Kyungsoo grabbed a hold of the coke bottle Baekhyun was hiding. “Give it to me.”

"Noooooo, just this once?" Baekhyun whimpered, holding onto the bottle for dear life. He was not going to let Kyungsoo have his way this time, not on a school trip.

Kyungsoo wasn't one to give in as well and clutched tightly on the bottle.  The duo were engaged in a fierce staring competition and while Kyungsoo was determined, Baekhyun wasn't to give up without a fight.

“Oppa, it’s a school trip.” Jiyoon argued softly, trying to help.

“Jiyoon is right!” Baekhyun countered arrogantly.

Reluctant, Kyungsoo released his grasp of the bottle. If Jiyoon said so then- he hoped he wasn't going to regret this

“Just this once and you have to do the dishes tonight.” Kyungsoo stated his conditions in return.

"Me? Again? Even when I'm already doing the laundry? Heol, you can ask Kris to do it!"

Kris shook his head, lips pressed in a firm line. "Oh please don't bring me into this."
 

"Jiyoon ah-"

"Neh oppa!" Jiyoon spun around from the boys' squabble to find Luhan fidgeting uncomfortably with a hard boiled egg wrapped in white cloth. 

"Can you come here for a sec?"

Jiyoon trailed behind Luhan to the dry food section of the supermart. "I-is he alright?"

"I'm not asking because I'm concerned for that idiot you know," Luhan quickly tried to explain himself, "I-I just want to know if he's dead or alive."

She broke out into a fit of laughter hearing that exact same sentence that came from Luhan which tallied with what Lay asked when they returned to the empty villa before she ran off to join the boys leaving Lay behind. "Now I can tell why you guys are friends."

"Yeah well, just a broken leg and a twisted arm." Jiyoon shrugged, "No biggie."

"What? Don't we need to call an ambulance or something?! How can you just leave him back there-"

"He's fine." Jiyoon patted Luhan's back. "And you still said you're not concerned huh~"

"That wasn't funny." Luhan let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back against the shelves. 

"If it was just us I bet he'll only return in the morning the next day. He keeps everything inside, every tiny bit and piece of unhappiness until it all explodes-" he continued. "He's too harsh on himself."

"The first time he stepped into my house, he looked exactly like a survivor from a zombie apocalypse. I only heard from his parents that he hasn't been eating for close to a week.

"Oppa, can I ask you somethin- nevermind."

"Come on, ask away." Luhan straightened up, all ears for the girl.

"Why did you two came to Korea, all alone from China?"

Luhan froze, stunned momentarily by her question. "Lay told you?" 

Before Jiyoon could respond he spoke again. 

"They won't find us here."

"His parents- and mine. They won't find us here. They won't even think that we will even hide here." he laughed bitterly, "They must've thought we ran off to London or New York. It's way too obvious they'll start searching from there."

"Why...?"

"Tired of living a rich kid's life with no dreams." he stretched his arms lazily, it was away from that oppressing society that he finally felt freedom, like a caged bird set wild. "Life is so much better here with this bunch of amazing brothers-"

"Aigooooooooo, our little Luhannie got punched in the face." Xiumin crept up from behind him and pulled his cheek playfully. He let out a loud howl from the pain and threw the egg straight at Xiumin's face.

"KIM MINSEOK THIS IS SKIN AND IT HURTS! HUANG ZITAO CAN YOU STOP SWINGING YOUR ARM-"

"Thanks, really." Luhan sighed in defeat after being hit squarely on the face again by Tao. Xiumin on the other hand was a laughing goofball. Luhan turned back around to Jiyoon.
 

"I'm taking back my words."
 

The night spent at the villa was noisy as usual. All of them were gathered in the backyard and everything was the same, the boys turned instantly into hungry wolves before the glory of food, Kyungsoo was occupied with turning Korean beef before the barbecue pit and how could we ever forget Suho's incessant nags?

"You two aren't kids anymore so apologise and hug." Suho stated calmly, both hands wrapped around the wrists of the duo who were avoiding each other's gazes awkwardly.

"Sheesh, you say we aren't kids anymore and you expect us to apologise and hug?" Luhan sneered, "You wish."

"Tch, are your wings hardening on your back?" if Suho wasn't afraid of the boys running away without him grabbing them, his fist would have already landed on Luhan's head. 

"Don't make me repeat twice." his voice oozing with threat as he glanced at Kyungsoo whose forehead glistened with sweat, face flushed and piling stacks of juicy meat on the bone china plates. What better threat was there other than food?

"EXCUSE ME THE NEXT BATCH IS UP!" Chanyeol hollered, pushing past the trio. For a second, Suho's grasp on the boys were released and they took the hint, running after Chanyeol for food. Suho stood rooted on the ground trying to process what just happened.

He was soon interrupted by a plate of beef shoved in his face.

"Korean beef," Jiyoon gestured at the plate. Seeing that Suho wasn't taking it she spoke again, mouth crunching on the beef wrapped in green lettuce. "It's really good!"

"Thanks."

Honestly speaking, Suho never liked the idea of having one more kid around especially when they already had a large number of 12, adding one more was just a headache. And with the addition of someone new came changes and unexpected circumstances that Suho hated to deal with so, really. It wasn't that he hated Jiyoon or did not like her but it was just, you know. He didn't like the idea of change especially when they had been like that for quite some time. But seeing how the girl did wonders to the boys was astonishing. It was livelier, happier and the smiles were more - genuine. His gaze flitted to Jiyoon who moved seamlessly in the backyard between the boys, handing them meat and just joking around. She didn't forget about Kyungsoo who was busy behind the pit and hand-fed him one as well, earning a small grin from him. Things are changing, he could feel it in his bones, like how he did not have to nag at the boys for school assignments and household chores, their dorm corridors is no longer strewn with worn clothes and dirty underwear with unfinished packets of potato chips under the couch.

It was good, real good.

The night was spent watching chick flicks which Jiyoon was convinced to only appeal to females, yet those bunch of boys were watching it with interest. They listened to a mini-concert by Chen and Lay who brought his acoustic guitar and played card games which Sehun was on a winning streak - Jiyoon was sure he was playing foul, somehow but she never found the loophole. After clearing up the black soda drink bottles lying messily on the floor along with unfinished plates of food, she finally headed upstairs.

Jiyoon scrunched her nose seeing that most of the boys were still in the same shirt the night, how dirty could they be. She took a quick shower to rid herself of the barbecue odor and slipped on a simple tee shirt with shorts before jumping onto the bed. It was at times like this that the entire place was quiet because the boys would never,