It was as if some unknown force was hating on Mir, even on Seungho and GO. Joon and Sanghyun were sitting at the same table as MBLAQ. Mir fidgetted with the clean white table clothes and flinched a bit when he heard exasperated sigh from Seungho who was sitting next to him. The table was... Well... Cold and eerily silent.

"Maybe we should change?" Mir said in a small voice and shrunk when he noticed sharp glare from Joon.

"I'm not that happy sitting on the same table as well, you know." Joon shot coldly.

Ignoring the spiteful remarks from Joon, Seungho looked over the scared maknae and gave the maknae his soft smile that never fail to comfort the younger. "Eventhough this is private function, the reporters are here too. It's going to raise some suspicion if we just move away." He explained.

Joon snickered. "At least he got brain to think." He spat quietly so no other people other than the ones involved could hear him.

"Joon hyung. I think that's enough." Joon just clicked his tongue and looked away but still listened to Sanghyun.

Mir looked up when GO finally came towards them. GO had to come a bit late due to his individual schedule. From the look on GO's face, obviously he didn't even a bit fond of the sitting arrangement. Kyungho who was following GO from behind also saw the same thing and was looking worried.

Mir saw Kyungho and GO were whispering while approaching them and ended up with GO shaking his head and Kyungho nodded before the manager left.

Mir got up when GO reached their table and let GO sat next to Seungho. That was for the better. He didn't know what to expect if GO sat next to either Joon or Sanghyun. So, the only solution is for GO to sit in between him and Seungho while his other side was occupied by Sanghyun. The five men sat around the round table. Still having some silent war. Mir sighed. This... Was going to be a long night.

○○○○○

Joon kept having a silent staring battle with Seungho who was sitting next to him. He was sure none of them even paid any attention towards the speaker and all the performances on the stage.

He stopped only when he felt a cold hand on his own. "Hyung... That's enough. I can't even watch the performances properly with you acting like this." Sanghyun gave the older a stern look.

Joon scoffed. "Me? Say that to him." He said and his hand absentmindedly reached for the faded bruises on his jaw that were hidden behind his thick make-up while his eyes were shooting daggers on Seungho whom stood his ground, glaring back with his own dark, sharp orbs.

"Still, hyu-"

"Hyung!" Mir's sudden high pitch squeak stopped Joon and Sanghyun's squabble. Both turned instinctively since Mir used to call them hyung too, once, only to watch the maknae who was scrunching up his nose cutely while GO kept trying to feed the maknae. "My belly going to explode!" He shoved GO's arm away.

"Aaah~ You know I'm dieting." GO tried to yet again feed the maknae with a grin on his face.

"You got Yang shiksin on your left. Give that to him." That words managed to snap Seungho's attention to the other two as the oldest gawked at the maknae's rudeness.

"Yah!" He seethed in a low voice.

Mir gulped and scooted away only to bump to Sanghyun. Like he was just being touched by electricity, Mir jumped away and clung on GO. The truth was, Mir noticed the darkened expression on GO's face when he sat too close to Sanghyun. And Mir acted on his instinct and gave the older a half hug so GO won't let the dark shadow of his depression resurfaced again. Not in a function like this. It wasn't a great idea to draw attention in a room filled with reporters. 

However, that gesture had made Sanghyun felt worse than he had been feeling for the whole night. He felt like Mir hated him to the point of not wanting him any closer than they were right now. He felt hurt that even his breath hitched for a second at the stabbing pain over his chest. 

Being hated on wasn't a pleasant feeling especially when the one who hate you was practically your brother, in this case, former brother. It made he felt worthless or if he was to say it bluntly, he felt like . Or worse...

"Shiksin! Eat this!" GO ignored Seungho's dark glare and just shove a spoonful of mesh potato into the leader's mouth.

Mir giggled softly and hid behind GO when Seungho tried to reached for the maknae angrily. Only GO could treat Seungho that way without getting reprimanded and Mir always enjoyed watching that. Watching his two hyungs duel on who was more powerful, strong and held more authority than the other because both seemed to be on the same level in maknae's eyes though he had to admit he was more scared of Seungho than GO.

The three might seemed like they were having fun in the outsiders' eyes. But, Mir knew better. GO was just fooling himself, convincing himself that on this table right now, there were only the three of them. He acted like Joon and Sanghyun weren't even there. This was all an act. The art of pretention that all three of them had somewhat mastered through experience. Excruciating experience...

But, if this would make GO felt better, then Mir and Seungho had no qualm to play along. And they kept acting like that in order to protect GO whom they knew was still so fragile and vulnerable. So they acted. Acted like there were only three of them. And in all honesty, this, wasn't fully just an act. It was quite the reality that they had been through for months. It had been only three of them for so long already. This wasn't an act. This was a truth.

But it was different for Joon and Sanghyun. The three acting like that just added the fuel to Joon's burning anger and slowly, dark grudge seeping into Joon's skin. The darkness only intensified when he saw the sad look in Sanghyun's eyes as the younger was looking over the three in some kind of longing look.

He really didn't understand how the three could have treat him and Sanghyun this way. What had they done to deserve so much hatred? He really didn't understand. He wouldn't understand. To him, the three were just self importance jerks. End of story. 

If the three thought they were the only ones could act like this, then they were wrong. Joon too can treat them like that, or worse because hell, he didn't care anymore.