“This is stupid,” I blinked, staring at Hakyeon in utter disgust and confusion. “I, this is not happening.” Hakyeon merely stared back at me, arms crossed over his chest, and stomped his foot down again – much like a toddler. “I cannot believe you did this without my knowing. How did you even contact them?”

          “I have my ways,” Hakyeon wiggled his eyebrows in an attempt to be mysterious but ended up looking as if he had an eye spasm instead. “To be honest, if you ask me, this meeting is long overdue.”

          “Well no one asked,” I threw my hands into the air and sighed again. Hakyeon gave me a scandalized look, sniffled once, before sticking his nose in the air. His bottom lip quivered and he held his hands over his heart – as if he had been shot. “Oh my god don’t you dare start this act again,” I muttered right when Hakyeon bent over in pain.

          “How rude,” Hakyeon started, blinking back tears. “You’ve changed. Do you not remember Hyukkie? The times we’ve spent together? The laughter, the tears, the pain, the happiness?” Hakyeon straightened up, spreading one of his hands to gesture around the cafe (which regretfully, still had some customers in it; and they were now staring very confusedly at the owner). “All the things I have offered you. A job, a roof over your head, economic stability,” Hakyeon continued, ignoring the looks he was getting. “And yet, this is what I get in return,” the hand returned to its original place over his heart, “this, this, ungratefulness. I have done nothing but good for you, yet this is how you treat me.” Leaning his head back, Hakyeon stared up at the ceiling, sniffling again. “Of course, it was only time until you became this way, I was too lenient with you after all, too soft, I should’ve-”

          “He is not going off on another dramatic monologue again is he?” Wonshik scoffed as he comes out of the kitchen. Flour dusted his forearms and he was wiping his wet hands on the apron tied around his waist. He gave Hakyeon a disapproving look. “I swear he should’ve become an actor or something instead.”

          “True,” I smiled a bit at that, but Hakyeon merely glared at Wonshik before continuing on his speech – as if nothing had happened. “How long do these last for again? It’s been a while since he last did this,” I commented as Wonshik made his way over to stand beside me.

          “I think last time he went off for 20 minutes over how Jaehwan hyung betrayed him because he worked a shift at another cafe,” Wonshik thought back. “Although hyung had already told him that he was covering for a friend who fell sick, Hakyeon hyung still went off.” Wonshik grimaced at the memory.

          “And now you’re all grown up, oh how the days fly, the seasons change as quickly as the swan flies,” Hakyeon continued rambling, making his way towards Wonshik and I. He spun around, stopping in front of me, before grabbing my shoulders.

          “What does that even mean?” I asked, shrugging off Hakyeon’s grabby hands. “And stop this, there are still customers.”

          “I don’t know, I thought it sounded poetic,” Hakyeon (luckily) ceased his performance before waving at the other customers in the shop. “That reminds me, we’re closing up early in order to prepare for tonight.”

          “Which reminds me,” I grumbled, “you still never told me how the hell you got Ilhoon hyung and Sungjae’s phone numbers.”

          “I’m good friends with Minhyuk remember? He knows them from somewhere, I don’t know, that guy knows so many people I can’t even keep track of them,” Hakyeon replied.

          “You’re one to talk,” Wonshik mumbled, causing Hakyeon to glare at him. “Anyways, what’s going on? You called everyone in to work today.”

          “Can’t I just have all my staff working for once?” Hakyeon asked innocently, fluttering his eyelashes ( which caused Wonshik and I to gag). “Fine, we’re meeting Hyuk’s family.”

          “Not my actual family,” I rolled my eyes when Wonshik’s mouth dropped and his eyes widened. “Just my roommates.”

          “And why are we doing this?” Wonshik questioned, raising an eyebrow at the whole situation.

          “That’s what I want to know,” I grumbled, crossing my arms across my chest. I gave Hakyeon a pointed look and motioned for him to explain the whole situation.

          “Well Wonshik, as you know, our dear Hyukkie and Hongbinnie are now a thing,” Hakyeon started. “After years of making heart eyes at each other-”

          “I’ve only known him for like, half a year!”

          “-they’ve decided to become official. And after a couple more months of keeping this flourishing relationship a secret-”

          “Literally two weeks.”

          “-will you stop interrupting me?” Hakyeon paused, turning on his heel to pout and glare at me (how it was even possible for one to do both of those things at the same time was unknown to me but Hakyeon somehow managed to pull it off). He waited a couple seconds as I begrudgingly lapsed into a silence before continuing. “Anyways,” Hakyeon began again with a pointed look at me. “As good friends and family of both parties, we’re going to have a celebratory party for the two of them and meet our future in-laws.”

          “I don’t think people have parties for when their friends get together,” Wonshik commented.

          “There’ll be alcohol. And cake,” Hakyeon replied.

          “I’m down,” Wonshik agreed immediately, causing my mouth to drop open. I stared at him in complete and utter awe while he merely laughed and patted me on the head. “Hey, free food is great. And I’m assuming Taekwoon hyung’s cooking,” Hakyeon nods, “so that’s a bonus. Besides, you think I’d give up a chance to make you and Hongbin squirm?” I sighed as Wonshik grinned and walked back into the kitchen to finish whatever he was doing.

          “I hate you all,” I groaned as Hakyeon laughed out loud and began to dance around the cafe, shooing customers out in order to close early.

          “You were supposed to turn left not right,” I sighed into my phone, leaning against the walls of Starlight. The others were inside, running around and preparing for whatever party we were going to have, while I was stuck outside waiting for Ilhoon and Sungjae.

          “But you said right!” Sungjae whined, causing me to wince. “You said, ‘right, turn there,’!”

          “I meant right as in you are correct,” I countered. “Because you asked if you were supposed to turn left at the second intersection.”

          “Ooooh,” was Sungjae’s simple reply. “Alright then, we’re turning around now, we’ll be there soon!”

          “Yes, yes, see you then,” I sighed and shook my head, before ending the call. Leaning back on the brick wall, I looked up at the darkening sky and slipped my phone into my pocket. Pushing off the wall, I walked a little farther away from the building and watched the road to see if I could see Sungjae’s car coming.

          How Hakyeon had managed to plan all of this in less than two days was beyond me. He had gotten both Wonshik and Jaehwan in on the party/meeting within minutes (mostly because he bribed them with cake and drinks) and Taekwoon had willingly been preparing food all day. In addition, Hakyeon even called and arranged for Sungjae and Ilhoon to clear their schedules in order to come to Starlight today. Any time I ever asked them to visit me at work, I was met with groans of, ‘that’s so far!’ and ‘I have other things to do’ yet they had come willingly – with such short notice too. Mumbling about terrible friends, I paced back and forth on the sidewalk while the sun moved lower in the sky. The days were getting longer, and, as such, there was still quite a bit of light out despite it already being 8 PM.

          “Hey there,” a soft voice breathed as arms encircled my waist. Jolting backwards, I tensed up slightly before relaxing when Hongbin’s side profile came into view. “Why are you waiting outside?”

          “My friends got lost on the way here,” I answered, pushing Hongbin away from me slightly. “Did you put your bag away already?” I asked.

          “Mhmm, I put my stuff in the back when I arrived,” Hongbin nodded. “But then I couldn’t find you so I came looking.”

          “Gross,” I laughed when Hongbin winked. “How did Hakyeon convince you to come to this event?” I questioned after I elbowed Hongbin in the side for being greasy.

          “Well, cake,” Hongbin started, causing me to roll my eyes. “And you,” Hongbin nudged me. “Although I’m still kind of hesitant about meeting your family.”

          “They’re my roommates,” I stressed, pinching the bridge of my nose as Hongbin merely shrugged.

          “Close enough,” Hongbin sang, before pointing at an incoming car. “Is that them? That’s a really fancy car, damn.”

          “Sungjae’s dad is very important or something,” I commented as Ilhoon pulled the car into the almost empty parking lot. “But Sungjae usually doesn’t drive because one, he’s lazy as , and two, Ilhoon takes the car out any chance he can get. Although,” I turned towards Hongbin as Ilhoon turned the car off. “Your family is pretty important too right?”

          “I guess,” Hongbin said, “but I don’t have my driver’s licence yet.”

          “Hyuk!” Sungjae is the first one out of the car. He’s smiling brightly (because he’s always down for embarrassing me and parties) and the boy practically ran up to me and forcefully gave me a high five. Ilhoon is slower, patting the car affectionately and locking it twice for good measure, but he eventually makes his way over as well and waves at the two of us.

          “Hey guys,” I greeted, turning towards Hongbin. “This is Hongbin hyung, you guys probably know plenty about him already, Hongbin, the excited idiot is Sungjae and the one who’s trying to act cool is Ilhoon hyung.”

          “Hey!” Ilhoon and Sungjae chorus, high fiving for synchronization, before turning to glare at me.

          “Hi,” Hongbin grinned, bowing slightly at both males before they did so in return. “I think they’re almost finished setting up inside, let’s get going then?”

          “Sure, this’ll be fun,” Sungjae cheered before dragging Ilhoon into the cafe. Turning to follow them, Hongbin grabbed onto my arm to stop me.

          “What do you mean they know a lot about me?” he asked worriedly, causing me to burst out into laughter. “What?”

          “Ilhoon hyung knows like every single piece of gossip that’s ever been uttered. Sungjae has a lot of friends in high places. You’re popular as . Of course word will get around,” I explained. Hongbin still looked a little taken aback and extremely nervous, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the building before he could chicken out. “Come on, you can’t tell me you’ve never met anyone whose heard about you beforehand?”

          “Yeah, but they weren’t my boyfriend’s family!” Hongbin complained, pouting a bit.

          “For the last freaking time,” I sighed, pushing open the doors of the cafe. “They’re just my roommates!”

          “Just your roommates,” a scandalized voice squeaked from inside. Looking up, I’m greeted with the sight of the workers of Starlight and my roommates mingling together. “Oh but Hyuk, I’m so much more,” the first voice continued, and I turned to the side to see Sungjae already holding a cup of a suspicious liquid that was most possibly alcohol. What the actual hell he just walked into the place and he was already drinking.

          “We’re practically your family, and you know it,” Ilhoon piped up from his spot next to Jaehwan. “After all, we healed you back to health that time you slipped and broke your ankle,” Ilhoon continued, “because you fell off the curb. Who breaks their ankle falling from a height of like, five centimetres?”

          “Or that time we dragged your home because you fell asleep in the library,” Sungjae added on. “Because you didn’t realize you grabbed the wrong coffee and took one that was spiked with alcohol.”

          “How about just last week?” Ilhoon thought back. “When Hyuk was late to class because he got distracted petting our neighbour’s dog and then panicked because it followed him halfway to Haepari and wouldn’t let him go?”

          “Yeah, we had to distract him while you sprinted to class,” Sungjae laughed out loud. “And then the dog’s owner was so worried when we finally got the animal back to his house.”

          “Oh the things we do for you, yet you still refuse to call us your family?” Ilhoon raised an eyebrow.

          “Wow, you’re pretty high maintenance aren’t you?” Hongbin turned to me, grinning widely, as I flushed a bright scarlet.

          “Oh you wouldn’t believe the things he has us do for him,” Sungjae grinned, turning in a circle until he found Hongbin. “One time last semester-”

          “Alrighty then,” I cut Sungjae off with a harsh glare. “Have we done introductions yet?” I asked, moving towards a table while Taekwoon locked the front door. Hongbin sat beside me while the others filled in the other seats. “Everyone, these are Sungjae and Ilhoon hyung,” I pointed at my roommates who had sat down next to me. “The one beside Hongbin hyung is Hakyeon hyung, then Taekwoon hyung – don’t worry he stares at everyone like that – next to him is Wonshik hyung and Jaehwan hyung is the one beside you Ilhoon.”

          Ilhoon and Sungjae greeted the other workers and they returned the favour. After introductions were done, Jaehwan began to lead the conversation away from me and more towards getting to know Sungjae and Ilhoon. As the table began to talk about their majors, Taekwoon excused himself to go to the kitchen while Wonshik and Hakyeon followed to grab more drinks. I turned to look at Sungjae, who had attached himself to my side a couple minutes ago, and he smiled brightly up at me. Figuring he was having a good time, I looked over to Ilhoon and saw him and Jaehwan get in a heated discussion about who was the better singer, Ailee or IU.

          “Well this is going well,” Hongbin spoke up, causing my head to turn back to my left side. “Your friends seem nice too,” he gestured towards them right as Sungjae began to cough wildly.

          “Charming,” I sarcastically agreed.

          “Shut up Hyuk,” Sungjae rolled his eyes before leaning in with his elbows on the table. “Anyways,” Sungjae gave Hongbin a long look. “What about you? How are you treating Hyuk?” At the mention of that, Jaehwan and Ilhoon immediately quieted down and turned to stare at Hongbin.

          “Uh,” Hongbin started, clearing his throat awkwardly when he noticed all other conversation had stopped. “I’m treating him... nicely?”

          “Good one,” I coughed, rolling my eyes. Hongbin jabbed me in the side under the table.

          “But how nicely? Are you going to hurt my poor baby?” Ilhoon joined in. “He’s frail one Hyuk is. All fluffy and no edges. So easily taken advantage of.”

          “Shut up,” I reached over Sungjae to punch Ilhoon in the shoulder.

          “He doesn’t seem very soft right now,” Jaehwan commented, laughing when Ilhoon shot him a betrayed look. “It’s true, you even flinched,” Jaehwan pointed at Ilhoon’s shoulder and Ilhoon glared at the offending body part.

          “I’m treating him... very well?” Hongbin tried again, and to his surprise, Sungjae leaned back nodding. Ilhoon too, seemed quite satisfied with the answer and went back to talking to Jaehwan. “That was surprisingly easy?” Hongbin half asked half commented, turning to me for assistance.

          “They’re still judging you,” I revealed, laughing when Hongbin shot me a horrified look. “They might be weird but they’re pretty perceptive when it comes to these things. They’re part of the reason why I don’t have many friends, because after they meet a likely candidate, they immediately reject said person.”

          “We’re only doing it because we love you,” Sungjae announced. “And besides, we know exactly what kind of person matches with you. Otherwise you’ll just be involved in drama – and we know you hate that – so we handle it for you.”

          “You, don’t like drama?” Hongbin asked hesitantly.

          “Not really,” I shrugged. “If someone’s not hurting anyone why should their business matter to me? Getting all riled up over things like gossip is more of Ilhoon thing that mine.”

          “Ah, makes sense,” Hongbin replied, a little quieter. “Doesn’t it bother you that they’re pretty much controlling who you hang out with though?” this time, Hongbin’s voice comes out extremely soft, so much so, that I’m pretty sure I was the only one who heard him.

          “They don’t really control me though?” I replied, voice dropping to a quieter tone. Hongbin gave me an odd look, causing me to shift closer to him. “Sure, they judge my friends and stuff, but if I really want to hang out with them, they let me. We kind of have that mentality - a ‘learn through experience’ concept. We’ll offer advice and warnings, but if push comes to shove, we’ll step back and be there to pick up the pieces. It happened when Ilhoon went out with that senior even though we told him not to. Or when Sungjae fell for the scam and had a huge portion of his money stolen. We’re there for advice and strength, but we won’t control each other’s lives.”

          “Oh,” Hongbin blinked. “That’s... different.”

          “Same thing applies to you,” I smiled at him. “You’re my friend and my boyfriend, but if you want to do something, I won’t constrict you. I’ll disapprove of it and tell you not to, but in the end, I’ll support you. I won’t be blindly loyal; if you do something I don’t approve of, you best know I’ll be sassily reprimanding you the whole way.”

          “Ah,” Hongbin thought to himself for a minute, before looking at the ground and smiling. Nodding, he looked back at me and gave me a grateful look.

          “Why do you ask?” I asked, leaning in closer in curiosity. Hongbin’s eyes darted back and forth to check if anyone else was listening to us before opening his mouth.

          “Food is here es,” Wonshik announced, causing the both of us to lean back and watch as Wonshik and Taekwoon set down the meal Taekwoon had cooked. Hakyeon followed closely behind, cups and cutlery in hand, and soon enough, everyone was digging in.

          I didn’t have much time after that. Eating was a battle itself when I was just eating with Sungjae and Ilhoon. The two of them had so much room in their stomach that we often had to order double the usual amount. Of course, it’s not like I didn’t eat a lot either, but combined with the black hole that was Wonshik’s stomach; we ended up finishing the meal within minutes. And those minutes were war. There was no such thing as friends when it came to food – I had learned that long ago. Once the food was set, you dug in. The fastest chopsticks won, and in a world where everyone had trained their skills since birth, you had to be sneaky. ‘Accidentally’ knocking into someone’s hand, strategically overstretching your arm to block someone else, heck, distracting someone with a random conversation topic, anything and everything worked. When it came to food, I’d do anything I could to fill my stomach.

          “I cannot believe you,” Sungjae glared at me as I managed to take the last piece of chicken. Smiling at him, I blew him a kiss before biting into the heavenly piece of meat. Laughing, Ilhoon placed his bowl down and smiled at Taekwoon (who was merely observing Hakyeon try to pour two drinks at once).

          “This was really good,” Ilhoon complimented, causing Taekwoon to turn towards him slowly. The tall male blinked twice before flushing and looking down immediately. Taekwoon nodded to show that he understood Ilhoon before standing up and taking Hakyeon and his own place into the kitchen.

          “Aw, you made Taekwoon hyung shy,” Jaehwan sang after Taekwoon disappeared into the kitchen. “Good on your part,” Jaehwan lightly punched Ilhoon in the shoulder. “At least he didn’t glare at you for days; that’s what he did to Wonshik when he first started to work here.”

          “He did that to you too okay,” Wonshik complained about being singled out. “Did it to pretty much everyone.”

          “Except me,” Hongbin pointed out, raising his hand in triumph.

          “That’s because you’re Hakyeon hyung’s child,” Jaehwan commented, “that’s nepotism.”

          “Does that even apply to this situation? It’s not like I work here,” Hongbin blinked.

          “Eh, same deal,” I shrugged. “You still got... familial benefits.” Rolling his eyes at that, Hongbin pushed me away before Hakyeon announced that everyone was to take their own plates to the kitchen (even though his own plate had already been removed). After losing terribly in rock-paper-scissors, I ended up teaming up with Ilhoon to wash the dishes. Rolling my sleeves up while Ilhoon put gloves on, I pointed at the stack of dishes. “You can wash since you already have gloves on, I’ll rinse.”

          “Brat,” Ilhoon stuck his tongue out at me but grabbed the soap anyways. “Always choosing the easier job, what a kid.”

          “You just stuck your tongue out at me,” I pointed out, starting to run the tap water so it would warm up. “Does that not make you more of a kid?”

          “It doesn’t,” Ilhoon announced, lathering the sponge before beginning to clean the first dish. We lapse into a comfortable silence while the both of us focused on completing the task. I could hear soft music playing outside while Wonshik’s loud laugh came through the closed doors. When I had walked into the kitchen the others had started playing some kind of weird card game that Jaehwan made up. I could only hope the game didn’t involve taking shots or undressing.

          “Hongbin ssi seems like a nice kid,” Ilhoon speaks up suddenly. I dropped a plate (although my hands had been close to the bottom of the sink) in shock before slowly picking it back up and placing it on the drying rack beside me.

          “You guys are the same age,” I said slowly, trying to judge Ilhoon’s reaction.

          “Even more reason to call him a kid since we’re already ‘friends’,” Ilhoon replied, handing me another glass. “Anyways, I like him. He seems pretty pleasant, not anything like the rumours. Although, those rumours were mostly started from salty fangirls who could never have a chance with him in the first place. I guess I just kind of assumed he would be more, I don’t know, arrogant? With looks like that I thought he’d be super confident.”

          “He was like that when I first met him,” I confessed, thinking back to our first encounter. “Always acting like just being around him was a gift. I think it has something to do with the people he used to hang out with and his past.”

          “Maybe,” Ilhoon stopped washing in order to think. “I’m like that too I guess. I act pretty arrogant – I’ve been told – but in the end, I know what I’m worth. Most of the time I do it as a joke, you know that,” I nodded, “but for Hongbin ssi it seems different. You said he changed? Why would that happen, something has to have sparked that,” Ilhoon gave me a pointed look.

          “What?” I blinked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

          “It was probably because of you,” Ilhoon sighed at my lack of understanding, starting to wash the dishes again. “You have that impact on people you know.”

          “I do?” I asked in confusion, furrowing my eyebrows. “I didn’t know.”

          “Of course you don’t, that’s why it happens,” Ilhoon rolled his eyes. “You have this, I don’t know, easy nature? Not to say that you’re an easy person, more like, when people hang around you, they feel as if they don’t need to act so high and mighty. People usually have that kind of outer shell, most of the time it’s for protection. It’s their public image so others don’t judge them you know? But when they’re with you, you’re just so honest and earthy, simple in a way, that they don’t feel like they need that.” I nodded at Ilhoon’s explanation, trying to process his words. “It’s like; I can kind of compare you to a home. When people go back to their hometown, they drop the act, the outwards image they have, and just be themselves. I’m not saying you’re an expert at it, it still takes time for people to be more comfortable around you, but you seem to be good at making people relax. Honestly? I think it’s because you don’t talk to people a lot.”

          “That’s kind of rude?” I jerked back. “You start complimenting me and then end with an insult?”

          “I wasn’t finished okay,” Ilhoon shoved me good naturedly. “You say you don’t like drama, and that’s why. You don’t have a lot of experience with people, but that makes you innocent I guess. Not naive, because you sure as hell don’t take bull from anyone, but because you’re not used to seeing fake people, you kind of see past that. You look more at the actual person and less at the usual things they do to impress people. Because you’re not usual, your ideal Saturday is sleeping in until noon and then playing video games until one in the morning for goodness sakes.”

          “That last part was totally unneeded,” I stated, rinsing the last dish. As I placed it on beside the others, I turned towards Ilhoon, who was taking his gloves off. “And how does this relate to Hongbin hyung changing?”

          “Hongbin ssi, from what I know,” Ilhoon started, “was quite the spoiled brat. He had a rich dad and connections, so he was used to getting his way. I’m not really sure how Hakyeon hyung met him but he seems like the only person that actually got past Hongbin ssi’s... superficial ways. In any case, he was probably only chasing you at first because you rejected him. But then, after a while I’m assuming, he actually started to like you. Because he didn’t have to be fake with you – as I stated before, you have that impact on people. So it’s thanks to you that Hongbin ssi is a lot more tolerable now.”

          “But how would you know that? I thought you said that the rumours were lies,” I questioned.

          “They’re lies now because I’ve met him and decided that he’s not that kind of person. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t like that before,” Ilhoon explained, before grabbing my sleeve and pulling me towards the door. “Anyways, let’s get back before they come back in here thinking that I don’t know how to do the ing dishes.”

          “This was nice,” Hakyeon stated at the end of the night. It was probably around one in the morning and everyone was a little too full to feel comfortable but it really was a pleasant evening. After Ilhoon and I had finished washing the dishes, we had started a round of Monopoly (lame game, but we’re lame people) and when Sungjae aka the stupid business major won for the second time that evening (how we managed to get through a game of Monopoly in less than two hours much less two was a mystery to everyone) we decided to call it a night.

          “We should hang out again,” Sungjae agreed, as Ilhoon unlocked the car. We were all crowded around the expensive vehicle, Ilhoon and Wonshik ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the model while the rest of us talked. “Maybe over the break?”

          “We have a break?” Ilhoon stopped poking at the car’s tires to look up.

          “Next weekend, it’s a national holiday on Monday so we have a three day weekend,” I piped up, remembering praising the Lord because my history test got moved.

          “Ooh, sounds good, where should we go?” Hakyeon jumped up and down, obviously hyped.

          “Who knows, we’ll keep in contact though,” Ilhoon shrugged. “We should get going though; we can talk about this later.” Nodding, Sungjae and Ilhoon got into the car as Taekwoon and Hakyeon waved goodbye before walking back towards the cafe to lock up. Jaehwan and Wonshik went back to their own car, leaving Hongbin and I.

          “How are you getting home?” I asked.

          “Wonshik’s giving me a ride,” Hongbin explained. Biting his lip, he crossed his arms and looked away before sighing and turning back towards me. “By the way,” he started awkwardly, wringing his hands together. “Back there, you asked me why I questioned the whole, consent thing with your friends?”

          “Yeah?” I replied, tapping on the car door to tell Sungjae and Ilhoon to wait a bit. Taking Hongbin away from the car, I nodded for him to continue.

          “Well,” Hongbin took a deep breath. “That kind of thing is new to me I guess. All the friends I had did what I told them because I was ‘powerful’ and ‘influential’,” Hongbin makes air quotations. “And Chansik... he kind of, was controlling in a way. I didn’t notice it before but after meeting you, I realized he didn’t let me do a lot of things. So the whole, ‘looking after each other’ thing is foreign to me. I’m not used to a give-give relationship I guess.”

          “Well, here’s a good chance to learn,” I grinned, poking Hongbin in the chest. “Here’s lesson number one, don’t make your boyfriend’s friends wait when it’s already late at night. That’s just selfish,” I teased, causing Hongbin to punch me. “Seriously, they’re probably really close to driving off without me. And Wonshik hyung doesn’t look very patient himself.”

          “Okay, okay, I get it,” Hongbin rolled his eyes. “Just trying to get something off my chest and share emotional stuff but that’s cool, whatever,” Hongbin smiled at me to show he was joking before leaning in and placing a soft kiss on my lips. We had kissed before, obviously, it had been weeks since we had been together, but the experience was always a pleasant one. It made me relax and tense at the same time, and while I couldn’t full describe the feeling, it was definitely a good one. Stepping back, Hongbin smiled widely once again. “Thanks for tonight.”

          “You should be telling Hakyeon hyung that,” I pointed out.

          “Whatever,” Hongbin scoffed. “Say goodbye to your friends as well,” I nodded, waving goodbye as Hongbin walked back to his ride before making my way to mine. Opening the door and slipping into the backseat, I buckled in my seatbelt.

          “Took you long enough,” Sungjae turned around and pouted at me from his spot in the front. “What’d you guys talk about?” he asked as Ilhoon started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

          “Stuff,” I replied mysteriously, leaning back while Sungjae began complaining and Ilhoon turned the radio on. Grinning at Sungjae’s antics, I slumped into the seat. The evening had gone a lot better than I originally thought. I could only hope that there would be many more like it in the future.

*whispers* I kept meaning to write this chapter years ago I swear but I’m a lazy . Anyways. VIXX comeback friends. How are you all dealing? I love it so much okay. I know some people thought it would be more dark but it’s a three-part series, it’ll get dark soon. I love the song though, reminds me of SHINee’s Married to the Music and damn was that song a jam. The music video kind of reminds me of the horror game, Ib (if any of you have played it), especially the mannequins and choreography (the arms part at the beginning kinda looks like the hands that reach out for you while you’re walking around).

Also I’m going to New York this week (as in tomorrow) so sorry if I’m a little inactive in replying to comments and all that jazz.

Hope you’re smiling!

~ alateni

PS: Thanks to Steprck for upvoting!!