“Yes, dad,” he said for nth time—and it’s actually the only answer he repeated during the call anyway, being bored already. His dad regularly called him like seven times in a week which meant one call for average per day. Please add his mom and his chatterbox elder brother, too, made it about twenty calls for a sane straight week. There are times he ignored the call and texted them afterwards saying sorry for not noticing his phone.

The first time he got such call was actually about three months ago, when he was still feeling pleased to accept it and thought of their calls as huge supports for him because it was really encouraging. Yet, from time to time, the call was getting more and more burdening as his dad kept adding strange things to requisition.

Today, his dad asked him to join audition of being an idol.

He scoffed, thinking how his dad must’ve gone crazy for his jobless son.

‘Click’—he hung up the phone and turned it into silent mode to prevent calls. At least, he couldn’t hear if there’s any other call from other family members and he won’t feel much guilt for deliberately ignoring it.

Sehun stood up from his current position and move to the common room, where bunch of already opened newspapers were laid in disarray on the floor. The neat-ordered navy blue pair of chairs and single couch with a table as the center have long gone, been marginalized to other side, leaving the common room into half blank space. Soojung must’ve scolded him later when she’s back from work but he couldn’t care for now. He got plenty of time for tidying it all again into its first position. Sehun squatted in the center between those newspapers, eye brows arched as his eyes worked to sort the list of job vacancy.

Engineering.

Public Health.

Economics.

Business.

Engineering again.

Engineering.

Again and again Engineering.

Business, again?

Business

Well, engineering.

Finance.

Enginee—fuc,

He heaved sigh before being able to mental curse himself, elbow is propped into knees, he kept his head down for some moments. Sooner, he found himself laying and staring blank at the ceiling for thinking too much. It’s been four months since his graduation and he still wasn’t able to get any job for himself.  It was not that he has no skill at all, he was just unlucky for graduating from a minor department. Forestry, who in Seoul would ever think to hire those graduates? Forestry is not a big and oh-so-important sector in Seoul—or even in the country. Who cares if he graduated from one of big three universities in South Korea? Department decided everything because the job vacancy never wrote ‘Seoul National University graduate’ in the list of requirements.

Some of his classmates now pursued career in foreign countries that have large amount of forest area such as Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brazil. Some even have been promoted as a General Manager in forest concession of some countries. Sehun once thought to go abroad for his career, yet Soojung had cried a river even when Sehun only told her million times that ‘it was a mere idea, Soojung-ah’.

Losing Soojung is the least thing he can imagine, apparently.

He took one more deep breathe.

Sehun had no idea that being jobless would be really suffocating. First, is that you have no money while you need money to extend your life. Second, that he was depending everything on Soojung now. If there’s something he hated the most after cockroach, it’s going to be 'a-dependent-man-that-likes-to--the-opportunity-from-his-girlfriend’. Unfortunately, he had no choice. His parents have stopped sending money to Sehun because he wasn’t a student anymore—seriously, you should seek for a job!, said his dad, the quote has echoed in Sehun’s mind since then.

Soojung paid everything for their lives. She got a good job right after graduation and thank God, the girl was the most outstanding student in the Industrial Engineering Department. As soon as she graduated, she was scouted by the biggest manufacturing company in South Korea and appointed as project manager. She might seem to be only a fresh graduate, but the Board of Direction in the company never once underestimate what she is capable to do, since Soojung has shown everything during two months internship before her graduation.

Apartment rent, electricity, foods, his girlfriend purchased it all. People will see that Sehun was such a leech to everything that is in Soojung’s wallet, but he had been apologizing for zillion times to the girl that he didn’t intend to make her doing everything. Yet, as usual, Soojung would beam him a smile, give him a warm hug and said that she understood his position.

And Sehun would be dead embarassed after that for being a useless man. Seriously, why did he ask her to live together for the first place?! He suddenly blamed his two years ago decision.

3pm, it read, as Sehun looked up to the dark brown digital clock attached on the corner of the common room. He crawled to his left side for reaching his phone, sheets of newspaper are glued on his back since he constantly rolled to get the phone.

3 missed calls.

As expected, from his mother. He huffed, deleted the notification before texting her that he was right now in the crowd, couldn’t be able to pick up any phone calls.

To: Jung Soojung

Where are you? Thought you’re going home early?

From: Jung Soojung

5 minutes to home!

To: Jung Soojung

Why don’t you tell? You knew the nearest bus station is 10 mins walk from here. Wait there, I’m now going.

From: Jung Soojung

A friend offered me drive, honey. No worries.

Sehun rushingly jumped from his position to tidy everything in the common room. He re-set the order of the couch, chairs, table and picks and rumples all the scattered sheets of newspapers before throwing it to the trash in kitchen. he quickly proceeds to take his red long sleeves buttoned shirt on hanger and put it on his thin but muscular body to drape the black V neck t-shirt he currently wore. He left it ed and feet passed by the flip flops on the doorstep before making his way out to fetch Soojung outside the building.

It’s been an unwritten tradition that Sehun would always walk to fetch Soojung in the nearest bus stop after her working time or even only fetch her in outside building when her friends offered to drop her off. He was a quite over protective boyfriend, he doesn’t like the idea of his girl walking alone withour his company—or at least, a company.

“Today’s meeting is very productive, thanks to you. You’re jewel in our company,” the man said, patted Soojung’s shoulders friendly.

“Don’t say that. We actually have a great team, tho,” she replied, but her partner seemed to not believe that and playfully waved a hand in f