N noticed that Hongbin was uncharacteristically broody during the ride back to the dorm. Usually, he would be noisily chatting with Ravi and Ken, but now he was just pretending to sleep. He sighed and wondered what to do with that boy.

                Once they arrived back to their dorm, Hongbin immediately went into the bathroom to take a long shower to take his mind off of seeing Hyuk and Jaemi. For a few, short-lived moments, he was actually able to pretend that he was standing under a waterfall in some tropical island on vacation. His daydream ended abruptly with Leo knocking on the door, urging him to hurry up. He let out a long, drawn out breath, turned off the hot water, and came back to reality.

                He dried his hair as he walked through the living room to get to his room, which he shared with Ravi and Ken, and stopped in his tracks when he heard N talking rather loudly on the phone.

                “What about the day after New Year’s? Does that work for the both of you?” N asked. Hongbin narrowed his eyes at the seemingly oblivious N who continued to make dinner plans with Hyuk and Jaemi.

                “Yeah, that should work for us. I don’t think we’ll have a late schedule that day,” N replied. “Ok, ok, just let me know, ok, bye Hyukkie!” He hung up and looked up at Hongbin, who quickly averted his eyes. Hongbin continued towards his room as if he had not been listening to N’s conversation.

                “Oh, Hongbin. Wait, I think you left something at the broadcasting station,” N called out. Hongbin turned around and saw an extremely familiar gift box sitting next to N.

                He blushed deeply and explained, “I—I, um, it’s just a friendly gift. It’s nothing special.”

                N raised an eyebrow at Hongbin and replied sarcastically, “Yeah, mhm, I’m sure you give all of your friends expensive perfume.” Hongbin’s eyes widened in shock and anger that N would not only take his gift to Jaemi, but also open it up. Before he could say anything, N handed the box back to him and said, “You should save this for somebody who would really want it, Hongbin. Jaemi already has good perfume.” Hongbin rolled his eyes and took the box from N.

                He headed towards his room again, but stopped and asked, “Wait, hyung. Did you take Jaemi’s gift to me too?”
                “What are you talking about?” N asked, genuinely confused.

                “What? Oh, um never mind then,” he quickly excused himself and retreated into his room.

                Jaemi’s phone buzzed and she silently cursed when she saw the caller ID. She looked apologetically at Hyuk, who just smiled understandingly at her, and went to a quieter area to answer the call from Shin.

                The VIXX boys entered the restaurant and were immediately seated at Hyuk’s table. Hongbin didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed that Jaemi wasn’t with him.

                “Hey Hyuk, did Jaemi not come with you?” Ken inquired. Hongbin sat diagonally across from Hyuk and casually took a sip of his water, hoping that he didn’t look too eager to know the answer.

                “Oh, she did. She’s just answering a call right now,” he replied good-naturedly. Hongbin felt a lead weight drop in his stomach and he knew that he was definitely not ready to see Hyuk and Jaemi again.

                The guys all looked through their menus and chatted for a bit before Jaemi returned. Hongbin kept his face firmly planted in the menu so that he wouldn’t look at her and Hyuk interact with each other, but there was no way for him to not be able to hear them.

                “I’m sorry but I have to go now. Something, um, came up,” she explained.

                “Is everything ok?” Hyuk asked quietly.

                “Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” she answered a bit too quickly. “Anyway, I need to get going. Sorry about leaving before we even ordered anything.” Hongbin could almost picture her nervous half smile.

                “Don’t worry,” Ken replied. “It’ll be a guys’ night out now.” The other guys agreed and Hongbin looked up from his menu, thinking that it would be fine since she was leaving.

                “Ah, that’s good,” she said with a smile. She turned to Hyuk and told him, “Be good while I’m gone, ok?”

                Hyuk jokingly scrunched his face in distaste and Jaemi lightly hit his cheek in response. They laughed at each other and sweetly kissed each other. Hongbin felt numb. He wanted to feel anger, jealousy, betrayed, but for some reason, he just couldn’t feel anything. All he could do was sit there and watch the love of his life press her lips onto the lips of the love of her life, who annoyingly, wasn’t him. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally broke away from the kiss, gave Hyuk one more sickeningly bright smile, and left.

                Hongbin could barely pay attention to what they were all talking about during the dinner, except for when they were talking about Jaemi.

                “I’m kind of worried about her because she’s been taking a lot of time off to go on dates with me and I’m scared that her manager is going to be really mad at her,” Hyuk said. Hongbin asked a waiter to bring him a beer.

                “Yeah, we watched the sunrise yesterday. It was really nice. Have you ever done it? You should. We’ve done it every New Year’s since we started dating,” Hyuk explained. Hongbin took a drink of his beer.

                Once the hell-ish dinner was over, the VIXX members headed to the practice room. Luckily, Hongbin had a relatively high alcohol tolerance level, and so he didn’t appear drunk to the manager, but he wasn’t able to do more than a few repetitions of the dance before having to sit down.

                During one of the breaks, N noticed Hongbin nearly passed out on the ground, shielding his eyes from the artificial light with a pillow. “Taekwoon-ah, don’t you think that Hyuk and Jaemi make a really good couple,” Hakyeon asked loudly, intentionally upsetting Hongbin. Hongbin threw the pillow in N’s direction and told him to shut up. N ignored him and continued to ask the other members what they thought of Hyuk and Jaemi. Reaching his limit, Hongbin went over to the computer and blasted the music over N’s voice.

                “Aigoo, so petty,” N commented about Hongbin’s behavior. The other members correctly sensed that a fight was about to follow, so they each shuffled out of the room, not wanting to be in the middle of it. Hongbin just turned the music up even louder in response to N’s comment. N scoffed and marched over to the computer to turn off the music.

                “Seriously, Hongbin, what are you doing? Giving her expensive gifts? Talking to her but ignoring Hyuk? That’s so petty. Why can’t you just move on? She’s already moved on, why can’t you?” N yelled.

                “Don’t you think I would if I could?” Hongbin yelled back, even louder. “Do you think I like being in a one-sided love? I hate that I’m the one who’s suffering while she’s out on a super date with Hyuk! It’s not fair!”

                N reached out and silently pat Hongbin’s back in an attempt to comfort him.

                Hongbin lowered his voice and dismally stared at the wooden floor. “She’s my first love, hyung. I can’t just give up on her. You can’t ever give up on your first love.”

                Hyuk peeked through the crack in the doorway and saw Jaemi fast asleep. He quietly opened the door wider and noiselessly closed it behind him. He smiled to himself before getting a running start and jumping into the empty space in her bed.

                Jaemi shrieked upon feeling the bed shake, only to find that it was her boyfriend who caused it. He smiled innocently at her and asked, “Oh, did I wake you up?” She took the pillow out from under his head and whacked him with it.

                “You’re so annoying,” she complained, unable to stop herself from smiling at his childish antics.

                “You’re so violent,” he countered. She rolled her eyes and whacked him again. He took her pillow and hit her back, starting a full on pillow fight.

                At one point, Hyuk decided to throw his pillow at her, but she swiftly ducked, and the pillow landed at the foot of the bed. Jaemi smirked at him and he knew he was doomed. He dove to the end of the bed to grab another pillow, but he was not fast enough. Jaemi sat on his back and attacked him with her pillow.

                “Ok! Ok! I surrender!” Hyuk shouted. Jaemi stopped her attack long enough to ask if he really meant it, to which he replied, “Nope,” and flipped her over so that he was on top of her. He mercilessly tickled her sides, ribcages, armpits, and all of her other ticklish spots.

                “Stop! Hahahaha! Hyuk, stop it! I give up!” she yelled as she laughed. He gave her sides one last tickle before falling over to lie down next to her. They smiled at each other, their breaths in sync as they tried to calm down. Hyuk pulled her in closer to him and wrapped his legs around hers. She buried her face into his chest and listened to his heartbeat as it became slower and more evened out.

                “I hope I get to annoy you like this for the rest of our lives,” he thought out loud.

                She giggled and replied, “Yeah, I hope so too.” He happily planted a sloppy kiss on her forehead and held her tighter, falling asleep within minutes like any other night.