Nicole picked a drink can up from the ground before threw it into the big plastic bag she had in her left hand. Her lips couldn’t stop mutter annoyedly since thirty minutes ago when she started doing her punishment.

Blame it all on her insomnia that made her had a drama marathon all night long with the expectation she could get sleepy, but it turned out another way. She watched until morning comes and only slept for about thirty minutes. She fell asleep as soon she met her desk in class, and get caught by the teacher. The teacher punished her to clean up the schoolyard. And unfortunately, there was so many trash because the school just had a festival yesterday.  

“Cupid, what are you doing there?”

Nicole turned her head and straightened her position as she found Junsu and Changmin approached her with a big smile.

Junsu stared at the plastic bag she held and looked back to her. “You got a punishment?” he chuckled.

Nicole bit her lips. She wasn’t close to these two yet, but she didn’t want to have a bad reputation in front of Jaejoong’s friend. And why in the world from so many students in this school must these two that found out she was getting the punishment?

“Wow, you are a little rebel, aren’t you?” Changmin smirked.

“I was just sleeping in class though,” she muttered but enough for making the two cracking up.

“You should’ve told us so we could help you, Cupid,” Junsu pinched her cheeks as Nicole moved backward, surprised by the sudden skinship.

“You guys want to help me?” she shuttered.

“Yes, but of course not by picking up those trashes,” Changmin smiled mischievously. “Follow us.” He grabbed Nicole’s wrist and dragged her to the backyard of the school.

“Hyung, eat delicious food today, okay?” Junsu winked as he ran to a middle-aged man who was guarding the backyard of the school and gave some money to him.

The middle-aged man nodded as he gave a thumbs up and pinned a wooden stair to the wall. 

Nicole who just seemed to understand the situation pulled out her hand from Changmin’s grip. “What are you guys doing?” she asked, her eyes widened.

“You know it,” Changmin winked and started climbing the wooden stairs. He jumped over the wall and landed on the other side quickly. 

“Hurry up,” Junsu commanded her to climb the stairs.

“No, I won’t do it,” Nicole tried to escape, but Junsu pulled her back and pushed her to climb. “Stop, stop! What if I fall and die or my hand and foot broke? Do you want to take the responsibility?”

“No, you won’t fall. I’ll catch you if that happens.” 

“Cupid if you’re already on top just jump, I will catch you safely from here,” Changmin shouted from the other side the wall.

Nicole took a deep breath and started climbing up. Changmin’s face appeared as she reached the top and he waved his hand, commanding her to jump.

“I’m going,” she closed her eyes and hastily jumped from there, landing safely in Changmin’s arm as she was gasping in fear.

“You did it.” Changmin laughed, and soon without her knowing Junsu was already beside them.

“Gosh, what am I just doing. And you, you guys paid that uncle so you can escape from there, right? You guys skip the classes? You know it’s not the right thing!” Nicole looked at the two in disbelief.

“And you still doing it, anyway,” Changmin pointed out.

“It’s because you forced me!” Nicole snapped back.

 “Oh, c’mon guys, we’re already halfway anyway, so where should we go?” Junsu asked, embracing the two arms.

Nicole let out a sigh. After discussing for some minutes, they decided to spend their ‘free’ time at the coffee shop nearby. 

“Hyung must be busy right now,” Junsu put his phone in his pocket back after failed calling his friends.

“I’m curious after they are graduated, what are they doing now?” Nicole asked curiously.

“College, of course,” Changmin answered.

“Which University?”

“Yunho Hyung got accepted into SNU, and for Yoochun Hyung it’s KAIST,” Junsu answered and thanked the waiter who set his coffee on to the table.

“They’re our smarty Hyung,” Changmin smiled proudly.

Nicole chuckled. “How about Jaejoong oppa?”

“Jaejoong hyung? He didn’t take any college entrance exam this year.” Junsu said and took a sip of his coffee.

“Why?” she asked in surprise.

“You didn’t know that? I thought hyung already told you. He’s working in his father company. Or more like, he was forced to work there,” Changmin folded his arms and leaned back to his seat.

“So he’s working now with his dad?”

“No. Jaejoong Hyung’s father had passed away,” Changmin replied.

Nicole’s eyes widened in shock. Kim Jaejoong never said that to her. Or more like he never told her anything related to his family. So that’s why everytime she asked about his mother or father he’d changed the topic immediately.

“I didn’t know that,” Nicole’s voice faltered. 

“Well, ever since that hyung always keep anything related to his family in privacy. Even to us who are like his brother.” Junsu said as he let out a sigh.

“May I know why?” Nicole asked carefully.

Changmin looked at her for a while, contemplating whether it was okay to tell her or not. “They were on a family trip at that time. Hyung was like five years old. His parents lost him when the amusement park got crowded. Later, his parents found out hyung got kidnaped. They chased the kidnapper by car and lost the control. Uncle didn’t see the traffic light and hit another car. His father suffered a severe head injury and was in a coma, meanwhile his mother…” Changmin sighed deeply and looked down.

Junsu continued. “The police arrested the kidnapper later. We believe his aunt involved in this audacious to kidnap hyung. But there was no strong evidence, and sadly, hyung’s father passed away.”

Nicole bit her lips and without she realized her eyes began to teary. She waited for the two to continue their story, but the two boys in front of her remained in silent. Nicole let out a long sigh as she shifted her gaze to the outside of the window. 

Her heart hurts. All of this story was like a deja vu for her. She experienced the same feeling when she was young. And she chose to continue her life. She changed into a bright girl because she believed, her parents didn’t want to see her drawn in sadness forever. But for Kim Jaejoong, he chose the opposite way. He became a cold person to hide his pain.

“Okay, let’s stop the sad moment,” Changmin said, broke the silence. 

Nicole nodded and smiled, “Thanks for letting me know.”

“To be honest, I don’t know if it’s right for us to tell you about this. But I think hyung will be okay with it.” Junsu said while his hand rubbed the back of his neck.

“Don’t worry. I can keep it a secret,” Nicole smiled and shifted her gaze again outside the window. “It’s raining outside,” she muttered and continued eating her cake in silent.

* * *

That night Nicole decided to help Hara at the coffee shop. Nicole was eating a cupcake Hara gave to her while her friend brought the order to the customer table. Hara was