Jongdae lit his cigarette carelessly, and inhaled longer than Joonmyeon could hold his stare. They were tangled in each other's legs on the hammock that hung on the edge of the big garden of Jongdae's backyard. The smell of the smoke made Joonmyeon cough, the unfamiliar scent filling his lungs too suddenly. 

"What do you think you're doing?" 

Jongdae removed the cigarette from his lips and tapped it like it was his known gesture. He moved it towards Joonmyeon's frowning face, causing the cigarette to be slapped out of his hand. 

"Yah Kim Jongdae." Joonmyeon bolted up, parting himself from Jongdae's body. 

He was met by laughter, Jongdae teasing him as he sat up as well. The cigarette was scrunched up between his two fingers. He dropped it in the cocktail on the table beside him, and leaned over to kiss Joonmyeon. 

"You need to loosen up sometimes, hyung." The smoke in his breath almost made Joonmyeon gag, and he pulled his smirking face away, looking straight into his drooping eyes.

"Since when do you smoke? It's not cool." 

"I don't. You know I don't. I wanted to try it just now," Jongdae laughed and grabbed the cocktail that had the remains of the cigarette on the bottom of the drink, "Cheers!" 

Joonmyeon watched his boyfriend gulp down the cigarette infested cocktail, smiling while he did so. He wondered what it was that was messing up the brain of Jongdae's that was causing him to act so...not himself. Just a few minutes ago, they were swinging on the hammock, just Jongdae and Joonmyeon, just like they always were. And then all of a sudden, there was cigarette in his mouth. And now, he was smiling, stealing kisses like he always did.  

"You're...you're acting so weird today," Joonmyeon huffed, locking his arms around his waist and lying them both down again on the hammock in one motion, "is everything okay?" 

There was a long pause, a long silence that made Joonmyeon even more curious, before Jongdae reached for his chin and kissed his cheek. Silence...it didn't exist with Jongdae. The uneasiness made Joonmyeon hold him tighter, allowing for once, silence to break between them. 

He waited. It was almost an half an hour before Jongdae flinched, moving his hand to the back of Joonmyeon's head, playing with the brown streaks of hair that the sunlight hit.  

"My- my family is having problems." Jongdae stammered. 

Joonmyeon held onto the cotton that stuck on Jongdae's body, breathing against his chest. "Talk to me." 

"Well, it's nothing serious-"

"It must be serious because you're acting weird," Joonmyeon pulled himself up and positioned himself so that he could face Jongdae. 

"Like this..." he reached over and held up the cocktail glass that had the soggy cigarette remains on the bottom, "what the hell?" 

Jongdae giggled, pulled the glass out of his hand, and sighed. "Hyung. My parents' business isn't doing good." 

Joonmyeon frowned and opened his mouth, but was left with a feeling of weight pour down on him. This wasn't the first time that Jongdae had told him about the problems with his parents' business before. It was a successful turnout in the beginning, but they've been facing financial crisis lately. 

"Not that I care or anything, I mean it's their problem, but..." Jongdae bit his lip and then looked into his boyfriend's eyes, "it might be taken away for good..the business." 

"But your parents are successful business people, my parents even say so-" 

"It's different this time hyung," he interrupted, sighing and looking up at the mansion ahead of them, "I might have to move houses, and that most likely means that I have to move schools." 

Joonmyeon shook his head and reached for his hand that was clenched. He locked their fingers together and pulled up his hands to his lips. He kissed them, and then looked up at Jongdae, smiling weakly. 

"No. You're not going anywhere." 

-

"Why don't we finish up the project at your place-" 

"Don't even think about it." Jihoon furiously pressed down on the marker that he was using to colour the jersey they had drawn on a big poster. 

They were close to finished their last project and Luhan felt relieved that he was only going to meet Jihoon once more after today. He also felt guilty because he put less amount of effort into both projects than Jihoon. But at least they were getting closer to finally ending their "friendship". 

"Aren't you getting sick of meeting here?" Luhan plopped down on his couch and buried his face in the throw pillow. 

"No." Jihoon continued to colour furiously, but the picture was turning out great, regardless. 

Luhan rolled his eyes at his response. His phone buzzed, and Minseok texted him for their plans with Lay later that afternoon. Soon after completely zoning out and focusing on his phone, he realized that Jihoon was talking to him, staring at him with a blank expression. 

"Oh- oh sorry," Luhan put his phone away and sat up, "what was that?"  

"Never mind-" 

"No. No, that was rude of me. Go on." 

Jihoon sighed and rolled his eyes. "I said I'm sorry. For acting like a douche bag all the time." 

"Oh..." Luhan raised his eyebrows, surprised, "well..I guess I'm sorry too-" 

"I wasn't planning on making small talk. I don't wanna hear your lousy apologies either. I just said..." He sighed again, "if you want to finish this at my house, then fine. My parents think I'm just out doing and not actually doing our project." 

"Doing ..?" 

"Yeah. They're delusional-" 

"Maybe it's because you never really bring any of your friends over." Luhan gasped a little in his mind, realizing what he just said. He tried to think of reasoning out, maybe even apologizing, but-

"You're right," Jihoon began to lightly move the pencil crayon across the page, "if only I had friends to bring over." 

-

Tao was pushed on to the marble floor of Kris' room, and then pulled up furiously into a kiss. Smiles issued in between each break they took, and then rough pushing, , and scratching occasionally made him purr. 

After an hour of rough making out, Kris let go of Tao's hands that he clenched hard, and then plopped down on the bed beside him. He could feel Tao move closer towards him, but he didn't move an inch. He allowed Tao's unsure arms to reach around his waist, and then he quickly turned to return the hug. 

"How long are we gonna be like this?" Tao sighed, the sweat from his head gliding down on his neck. Kris wiped it away with his finger and then scoffed. 

"Well what do you think my parents will say about it?" 

They lay on the messed up covers on his bed, silently intertwined. Kris hated this feeling. The feeling, when he treasured the fact that he had Tao all to himself one moment, the boy who made his insides weak whenever they kissed, but then reminded himself that it was forbidden. 

Tao did not reply. He's asked the same question too many times, and he's heard the same answer from Kris that it wasn't even an answer anymore, it was a fact. They just couldn't be together. Not in a few months, not in a few years, just never. 

The son of the big time business partners of the holders of the biggest education establishment in Seoul couldn't possibly be gay. What an outrage. What a disappointment. Kris closed his eyes and held Tao closer to him. 

"It doesn't matter how long we have to hide, as long we have...this. This time spent together-" 

"You mean like having to hide my feelings for you forever? Is that what you want?" Tao released his arms from Kris and sat up on the bed, "enjoying this time we spend together in private?"

"Tao..." 

"Kris, I want to be able to kiss you whenever I want. I want to be able to tell you that I love you without having to look around for bystanders first. Hiding...it just doesn't make sense if I love you and if you...love me." 

"Huang Zitao, you know I love you-" 

"Look at Joonmyeon and Jongdae hyung. He holds an even bigger reputation than you, but he's not afraid." 

Kris sighed and sat up slowly. He faced Tao and weakly gave him a half-forced grin. He was right. But Kris' parents were different. They despised Joonmyeon's uality preferences, but still loved him as their son's best friend. They constantly reminded him that he would marry their business partner's daughter, Amber Liu, in the future. 

"I know, that you know how much I want to show you off to the whole world," said Kris making Tao smile, "but it's just... not the right time. I love you, and that's all that matters, isn't it?" 

Tao bit his lip and nodded slowly. He moved his face away from Kris who leaned in for kiss, but he felt the ticklish lips land on his cheek instead. He watched Kris get up from the bed, hands in his pockets, walking towards the bathroom door in his lazy, manly fashion. Kris glanced over his shoulders and caught Tao's gaze, he chuckled and continued on walking. And Tao thought that maybe, just maybe, Kris was right (as always). They knew that they loved each other, and they had each other...sometimes, but that was all that mattered. Tao followed Kris to the bathroom, undressing before fully reaching the door. He was pulled in by Kris who was smirking, already waiting for him. 

-

Luhan was greeted by Minseok's wide and full smile by his apartment door, and an over the shoulder hug from Lay who pulled him in. The apartment was an exact replica of his, only everything was mirrored. Service butlers and maids occupied the kitchen and doorway, something Luhan has surprisingly grown used to. He could use some personal maids or security, considering the fact that he got himself into trouble almost everyday. But the thought only crossed his mind. It would become too much to ask for from Mr. Kim, and the school board.

"Here, these are yours," Lay held out a bouquet of daisies towards Luhan, "hurry, mama and papa Kim are waiting." 

Minseok laughed at his best friend, hitting him with his own bouquet of lilies. Minseok slightly pushed Luhan's elbow, smiling shyly, who in return, put his arm around Minseok. "Mama and papa Kim haven't seen me in almost two weeks." Luhan said, making Minseok laugh. 

"I know. They were upset when I went alone last week." Minseok replied. Lay hooked onto Minseok's other arm, and the trio left the apartment, each with a different bouquet of flowers. 

-

Lay was busy cleaning the exterior of the rusty monastery, and forced Minseok and Luhan to stay inside to talk. The fresh flowers replaced the dead ones, and Minseok positioned them around the stones. He ran his fingers through the engraved words, 'Loving parents, strong, and free willed'. 

"I wish I met your parents in real life." Luhan said, taking a seat beside Minseok on the cement floor. 

"Mmm, I've heard that from you before," giggled Minseok. 

"I know. I just... envy these words I guess." Luhan ran his thumb over the last engraved words 'free willed'.

"Envy?" 

Luhan nodded slowly. "Envy." 

Minseok frowned, a bit confused. He dusted the stones and glanced over his shoulders at Lay who winked at him, and then pointed at Luhan. 

"So, how have you been?" He asked, trying to be vague.

The issue with the blackmailer has become an awkward topic with Luhan. He seemed to be doing fine, but Minseok could tell that he was still tense. 

Ever since he brought up the real problems he's been facing to the boys, he felt relived, but even more pressured. The blackmails were not threatening, rather, they were warnings. 

"If you're talking about the blackmail situation, I'm doing fine," Luhan sighed, "they haven't done anything to me and thankfully to you guys, so I'm not really worried." 

Minseok put his arm around Luhan's shoulder and pulled him in cautiously, "It's probably just some jealous schoolboy. We've gotten those in the past few years, but this kid...he seems to be really fond of you, of all of us. But, I wouldn't worry. Whoever it is, they're not worth your time."

Luhan rest his head on Minseok's shoulder, and they both fell into silence, just looking at the tombstones that were placed in front of them. Somehow, Luhan felt like all of the problems and the worries were lifted from his shoulders just by being there with Minseok, and Minseok's parents who don't even talk, who aren't even alive, yet are giving him the sense of comfort he's been dreading for. Everything in that moment made him realize how grateful he was for...everything. Minseok helped him, without words. And Luhan graced him for that, admired him sentimentally, and maybe even loved him. 

It grew darker quicker than usual, a sign of winter coming soon. The boys were still at the cemetery, now all huddled inside Minseok's parents' monastery, forgetting the time. They talked and talked about non-sense, and then broke into a fit of laughter every now and then. It was half past nine when Lay pulled out his phone and freaked out. 

"Oh my gosh, it's already nine thirty!" He stood up, squinting his eyes at his phone screen to make sure he wasn't going blind, "I really have to get going. I live far." 

"You can just sleepover," said Minseok, clenching on to Luhan's hands who were pulling him up from the cold cement floor.

"No, my parents are expecting me tonight. I'll get going, see you guys at school!" Lay hugged and lifted his best friend of the ground, waved at the tombstones, and gave Luhan a quick side hug before he ran out through the gates and over the hill of tombstones. 

Minseok locked the gate of the monastery, and the two boys waved goodbye to the parents. They began to walk up hill, past the lined up tombstones that filled the faint, green grass. Luhan hesitated before quickly stealing Minseok's hand, allowing him to hook their fingers almost instantly together at the his touch. They both looked down at their hands in unison and both shyly looked away, Luhan smiling ridiculously. 

Up the hill, they caught sight of Lay further down, walking out of the main cemetery's gate. The sky was almost pitch black now and Luhan held out his phone to use as a light guide for them. It buzzed. 

"And then there were two..." 

Luhan read the text out loud and then quickly met worried eyes with Minseok. "W-wha-" 

The phone buzzed in his hand again. Minseok pulled it closer to his face so that he could read the text as well, easing Luhan a bit. 

"I see him running, ah he's running. Hmm, I told you to run Luhan. Run, run..." 

"It's too dark out and you'd let your friend go alone...some friend you are. Hah, some friends you have." 

The text came one after the other, and each time, Luhan grew in frustration. The blackmailer had to be following them, stalking them. He was shaking, and he let go of the cellphone, Minseok holding it for him. He grasped Minseok's hand tighter. 

"Lay, his driver was there waiting for him, right?" Luhan questioned. 

"I'm pretty sure," Minseok hurled him towards the cemetery gate and bobbed his head around the dead street, checking for any signs of cars except for their own that was already parked down the street, "but Lay...he's unpredictable. He could've...who knows- he's so adventurous. His drivers always arrive on time though..." 

They both crossed the street and lounged in the parked car, constantly ringing Lay's phone and texting him endlessly, but he wasn't replying. Luhan grew more tense, blaming himself for Lay's safety over and over again in his head. Minseok, on the other hand, began to text the others and instructed his driver to start driving around to maybe find Lay's car or Lay himself. He tried to assure Luhan that everything was okay, but Luhan kept shaking his head, repeating the phrase "it's all my fault". He pitied Luhan who was trembling, close to tears, but was attempting to hold himself together like a man. He continued to tell himself that this blackmailer wouldn't do harm since they haven't at all before. He held on to the thought that the Lay was okay and that he was safe, but a part of him even doubted himself. 

How are you guys liking the sorry so far? Too slow, too fast? I hope you enjoyed reading, because you will surely enjoy the chapter that I'm currently writing now. This was quite short, so wait for my next update to find out about what happened to Lay, who this blackmailer really is, who Luhan will finally choose to be with, and more! (I might do some more throw backs of the already mentioned otp's!)