Summer’s over

Everyone, even those who have the same daily routine, will be different. Take as an example, and for the sake of the story, GOT7. The group spends a good 24 hours a day together and have still managed to keep their personalities apart. Park Jinyoung, the motherly charmer. Mark Tuan, the quiet observer. Jackson Wang, the mood-making hyena. Kunpimook Bhuwakul Bambam, the Fan-service King and Thai Prince. Kim Yugyeom, the innocent kid. Choi Youngjae, the awkward genius.

Im Jae Bum, the sly and cunning man.

It’s visible from that little smirk he puts on when he means to smile: JB’s a clever man. That’s how he is and was since he learned to calm his rage. He wasn’t too clever before, back when he was a delinquent with temper issues. Maybe that’s why he fell for hidden cameras in his JJ Project days; he was clouded by stress and anger. Now, he convinces himself, he’s smarter with a clearer head (he saw through a GOT7 hidden camera, after all).

But even the sliest can get surprised.

A bit of rising suspicion catches his eye one day when he sees his roommate, Youngjae, squirming around awkwardly. The two hadn’t been sleeping in the same room for a while, trying to find different mattresses that are in rooms closer to the A/C. But a few months of summer won’t make JB oblivious to his little brother’s feelings.

            “Hey, you okay?” the leader asks, one hand on his shoulder.

            Youngjae stops and laughs a bit, his awkwardness a bit forced today. “Yeah, I’m good. I just…”

            “What’s this?” JB interrupts, not having enough time to wait for Youngjae to make up an excuse. He’s referring to a small box with a few books in it, which caught his eye.

            Youngjae’s awkwardness quickly diminishes, and he speaks almost immediately. “Oh, that’s just a few books I want to read before bed. I might as well take them to where’s I’m actually sleeping, right? Since this technically isn't really my room anymore...”

            JB only smiles and nods in agreement, but it stings a bit that it feels like Youngjae doesn’t see this room—their room—as his own room anymore. Of course, he would never admit this disappointment, being a role model the younger boy sees as manly. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted as Youngjae’s phone beeps.

            “Oh. Hyung, Manager Hyung’s downstairs. See you,” he dismisses.

            “Hey, where are you going? It’s pretty late.”

            “I’ve got a night acting class.”

            As Youngjae walks past him, JB is stung one more time. The boy he once jokingly said he was raising is now going through the phase where they don’t tell their parents anything. JB had no idea he was taking acting classes; he had thought that if Youngjae were to take acting classes, he would at least take the same class as JB himself. That, too, stings a bit.

Ever since they stopped sharing a mattress, he’s noticed Youngjae has developed a liking to motherly charmer Jr. Sure, even the 2jae pair thought that their room was a bit too close for their taste, but seeing that the power vocalist had found a new best friend, JB has started to miss the awkward warmth a bit.

            It makes sense; Youngjae always struck him as more of a kind of momma’s boy than a daddy’s kid. Even so, Jr.’s been coddling him and protecting him for the past two months more than JB ever had in the past year.

            Mark, the quiet observer, notices first, and walks to JB after Youngjae leaves for class. He approaches JB and offers a small can to his leader.

            “Want a drink?”

The hyung line sits down at their table as Mark pops a beer can. JB chuckles at the sight; seeing Mark in his all-American pride as he can finally have a drink with a bro like he did back in the States.

            “Where did you even get this?” JB observes the can, “We’re not allowed alcohol.”

            “You know, being quiet really has its advantages,” Mark needs not to speak any further as he clinks his beer can with JB’s.

            They drink a bit in silence, and JB finally speaks up. “So why are we drinking? I figure you’d at least invite Jackson for a sip.”

            “Jackson…” Mark chuckles, “He’s a natural drunk. He doesn’t need beer.”

            Mark’s specialty is these sarcastic comments, to which JB almost spits out his drink in laughter. “Dude! I could’ve choked!”

            “I’m just playing around. Hey, JB…”

            His tone suddenly lowers significantly, in a way that reminds JB that fathers are always the eldest in the family. Mark coughs a bit, feeling a strange atmosphere coming on. “Say, are you feeling okay lately? Ever since A, you’ve been a bit quiet.”

            Quiet? You’re to talk, Leader thinks, and it’s been since summer started. Not A.

            “Quiet?” JB says out loud.

            “You know…” Mark sits back and lines the rim of his beer can like an old man, “Do you know how Jackson is on Roommate?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, “When he started the show... I felt really lonely without him. He was doing great, promoting for us on that show, but he seemed to have forgotten to contact me, because he was used to me approaching him first.”

            “I don’t think I quite understand where this is going.” JB squints in thought. What a lie. Jackson always approaches Mark first. Jackson would also never forget to contact Mark. But being the sly man he is, JB lets Mark talk to get his point out.

            “Do you know who I turned to when I couldn’t be with Jackson?”

            Pause.

            “Junior.”

            The name makes JB twist a bit inside. The mother of the group is also one of JB’s best friends, but he still feels jealous that everybody turns to him when they’re lonely. “Why are you telling me this?”

            A hesitating hand places the beer can down. “I was kind of hoping the beer would get you to open up a bit. JB, just tell me—are you feeling lonely without Youngjae?”

            So straightforward. The only option is to play dumb. “What do you mean, miss him—he never left anywhere.”

            “Okay, sure. Just remember this: if you care about someone, physical closeness is not the only thing keeping you close.”

            Deep vocabulary from someone who normally struggles to even introduce himself in Korean. It almost sounds rehearsed. Maybe the beer got Mark to open up more than JB. Not knowing how to conclude, Mark awkwardly walks off, leaving JB wondering why he would even care about the rooming situation.

Nonetheless, Mark’s words keep JB up all night. Mainly because he’s right. Ever since JB and Youngjae haven’t been sleeping in the same room, they started drifting apart as friends. Does Youngjae even care about him? If they care about each other, the closeness shouldn’t be just physical; these words echo in different forms throughout the night.

Cut to about a month later. The second group to notice is mood-making Jackson and his maknae line. They gather around JB to get him to fess up his feelings. Well, they don’t directly force him to vent, but their intended subtleness about the situation is made rather obvious as idiot #1 (Jackson) purposefully bumps his back against JB’s front and falls dramatically, as if he were pushed forward.

            “Whoa, JB, why’s you push me like that?!” the Hong Kong native accuses.

            “Wait, what—Jackson, you fell on your own.”

            “Um, I think not,” Jackson continues his acting on, “You guys saw, right? He pushed me!”

            He’s speaking to the maknae line. Bambam and Yugyeom nod in full agreement, obviously playing along at Wang-Kong’s plan. “What do you think is a suitable punishment for JB? For both pushing me and denying it ever happened?”

            JB is still dumbfounded and confused as Yugyeom and Kunpimook pretend to discuss a punishment in all seriousness. The Thai prince, Idiot #2, places his hands on his hips and nods deeply. “You know, there’s only one way to get past this fiasco.”

            Imitating his pose, 3^rd idiot Yugyeom agrees. “The only way to fix this is for JB Hyung to give an equal in return. Hyung has to tell us one if his secrets. Sounds fair?”

            “Sounds fair to me.”

            “As an injured man, I think it’s best.”

            The leader runs his fingers through his hair and stammers, still trying to wrap his head around the scripted scenario. “I-I-I don’t even understand where this all came from. I don’t even have a secret to tell!”

            “Then,” Yugyeom suggests, “We’ll help you think of a secret.”

            “Let’s go with your feelings. What are you deep-ridden emotions about our sleeping situations?” Bambam asks like an inspector, failing at being subtle about his intentions.

            Their scenario is almost ridiculous. Why is everyone suddenly so obsessed with his deep ridden emotions? First Mark, now them. There’s no reason to. JB just scoffs. “You guys are so stupid.”

But they’re not stupid. In fact, they’re all exactly right. Somehow, the Jae pair have drifted very far apart, to the point where JB can say that he’s no longer one of his closest friends in GOT7. How did all of this happen because of sleeping arrangements? But he assures himself it’ll all be fine. Once summer’s over, they won’t need to sleep near an A/C, and they will be back together like they were before. Mommy Jr. can it.

            He can deal with the daily pain until then.

About half a month later, an emergency meeting is called in the dance room. The topic is supposedly Youngjae. After hearing his little brother’s name, JB rushes around the dorm to get the others gathered. To his surprise, everyone seems to have left already.

            “,” JB curses under his breath, “They left without me.”

            He rushes for a ride, which had been prepared by their manager, Noh Young. He feels like telling the driver to hurry up, but doesn’t want to get in a car accident. Nothing further was said other than the fact that "a meeting about Youngjae" was called, but Jaebum has a horrible feeling about this. Like a mother feels in her gut when her baby is in trouble, or a telepathic headache when a twin is in danger.

            He makes it to the JYP building and runs to the door of the dance studio right after stepping foot inside. He stops himself, and regains his composure before walking into the dance room as if he were totally relaxed this entire time.

            His shock is that everyone was already in the dance room. Another shock was how miserable everybody looks. Mark is hanging a snapback flap over his head to cover his face. The maknaes are just silent. Jackson looks like he was just told Hong Kong disappeared under water. As for Jinyoung… it looks like he’s fighting back tears.

            Youngjae looks like he’s been letting his tears loose.

            “What… what’s going on?” JB asks, acting only a little bit concerned, when in reality, he feels like his chest is popping out of his T-shirt.

            The subject of the meeting is sitting in the middle: Youngjae. He tries to speak first. “Um… Hyung… I b… I finally told…”

            He’s struggling. His stammering voice is as if someone is strangling bits and pieces of words out of him. Lucky for momma’s boy, Jr. comes to the rescue. He clears his throat, obviously not finding the words easy either.

            “Youngjae’s finally made his decision. He’s going to leave JYP.”

There it is. The words stab JB in his already swollen chest. One would think that he would have a million questions running through his head, but in this shock, only a few make it to his brain. The fog gathers around everyone’s faces, and the only thing he can make out right now is the look of regret in Youngjae’s.

            “I’m… wait, finally?” he speaks clearly through a sore throat, “Have you been biting this subject for a while now?”

            Youngjae looks up at him like he was crazy. “Hyung, I’ve been talking about this subject for ages—I thought you knew.”

            “No… no, I didn’t know!” his voice rises. As is the first stage of mourning, or maybe the second—not that it matters in his rage—anger. “Did everyone know?”

            The whole group is silent.

“Of course this would happen!” He shouts, anger at a high level. “Of course you and I would drift so far apart that I, the leader, would be the last to know about the most important thing that will ever happen to our group!”

            He pants, and drops to the floor. He hasn’t let go in so long, he doesn’t know how to handle these rising emotions. Should he scream? Yell at the top of his lungs? Make the situation much worse than it should be? Instead, his voice croaks up and his tears well.

            “Why didn’t you tell me?” he tries to say, but whispers instead, “Summer’s over. I want us to room together again.”

            There is a long moment of silence. The members don’t know what to do. JB places his hands over his eyes in shame that he’s letting GOT7 see him in this weak state. Jr.’s eyes widen when he sees JB clearly.

            “Oh my god, guys, he’s really crying.”

“Abort mission! Abort mission!”

The whole team breaks out of their teary states and start yelling in frustration and worry. All of a sudden, their remorseful voices switch to joking and embarrassment. Jackson's laughter is especially loud. JB looks up, eyes red and confused yet again. Why are they suddenly happy? His first sight is Youngjae, who is staring at him in extreme concern.

            “Hyung, it was supposed to be a hidden camera.”

            “What?”

            The team freezes, fearing an extreme outrage. Especially Youngjae, who is slowly making one step back. Jackson bites his lower lip.

            “, maybe we shouldn’t have made the atmosphere so damp.”

            JB covers his face again, only rising the tension. “A hidden camera, huh?”

            “Y-yeah.”

            “Why?”

            “W…” the genius of the group tries to find a good wording, “We wanted to know if you still cared about me enough to sleep in the same room again.”

            That’s when it hits Jaebum—as much as he felt neglected by Youngjae, he never did a thing to make a change. He only sat back, waiting for Youngjae to come crawling into his arms again. But Youngjae felt just as neglected. JB realizes he’s been such an idiot. He could laugh at himself, how pitiable.

            Instead of breaking into rage, he grabs Youngjae by the back, catching the younger by surprise, and hugs him tight.

            “Please never leave me.”

Jackson almost laughs, thinking the atmosphere has risen, but is stopped by Jinyoung and Mark. They nod to JB, hugging Youngjae and looking like he'd just come back from the dead. Youngjae doesn’t know what to do. He hovers a hand over JB’s back, and after a hesitant tremble, rubs it. JB is trembling, letting go of his past shame.

            “I missed you too, Hyung.”

            “Shut up.”

            “So we’re rooming together again, Hyung?”

            “I said shut up for a second.”

He giggles. “Why should I shut up?”

            “Summer’s over.”