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I only lasted an hour in my room before finally being consumed with guilt. But the moment I decided to apologize and ran down the stairs, grandma was gone. A note on the fridge said she’d just be at her doctor’s clinic, weekly check-up. Great. I could read the coldness in her words. Biting and taunting. Knowing that I’ll just be thinking about what happened the whole day, I got dressed, went out of the house, and caught the first bus heading next town. It was one in the afternoon.

An hour later, I found myself lazing out in our band’s studio. Actually, it was just Suho’s old garage that his dad let him use after they built a new one. “Can’t have a garage when you don’t have a car, right?” He once said, and so he decided to remodel and – voila! – the den of Crepitus was born.

Kyungsoo was the only one in when I arrived. Suho and Chen were out in their respective summer jobs while Tao was buying new eyeliner, he said.

Kyungsoo is like those pretty Chinese dolls; porcelain skin, round face, big eyes and all. Except for the fact that under that handsome visage is pure evil, the son of Satan himself. If you annoy him and he decides to light your hair on fire, trust me, he will light your hair on fire. But somehow, we have developed this sense of comfort in silence so that when we’re alone together, I’ve learned to just shut up and mind my own business while he does his. Never have I annoyed him, and I was in no mood to break that record.

And so imagine my horror when, out of the blue, my phone starts blaring out my signature dubstep mix ringtone while Kyungsoo was on the other side of the room doing his knitting. I literally fell off of my chair and panicked, taking a quick glance to the boy if he noticed – I was answered by a glare. I mouthed a sorry and rushed outside to take the call. It was Kai.

“Yow maaan, wassup,” he practically shouted. I rolled my eyes.

“You could’ve called at a better time,” I grumbled. “What’s up?”

Kai was clearly taken aback. “Hey, what’s the problem?” I told him about Kyungsoo. “I was with Kyungsoo and my party song ringtone echoed all over the walls.” He knew him from my stories about our band. He calls Kyungsoo “SatanSoo” and it kinda stuck.

“Oh man, condolences. Watch out for flying bricks and poisoned drinks.”

I sighed. “So what was it you wanted to bother me about? Not another party invite I hope.” Kai cleared his throat before answering.

“No man. Listen. So I was in this club last night and I met this really, really, cool guy who scored me some good joint for cheap,” I nodded as he continued on. “So this guy, he has to leave for the city tomorrow to meet this girl that his mother had arranged for him. But cool guy has no time for that. So he asked me to go instead of him and I agreed.”

I scoffed. Every bit of word he spoke screamed classic Kai.

“And what does that have to do with me?” I asked.

The enthusiasm in his voice hinted of bad news.

“The story doesn’t end there, my friend. He texted me this morning in panic saying it would be a double date. Turned out the girl didn’t want to come without her pal.”

I know oh so well where this was going.

“So you want me to come with you, is that it?”

“Mhmm”

I rubbed my temples. “So you want me to cheat on my boyfriend to come with you to a blind date?”

“Mh… Wait no! It will be like a friendly date or something. No strings attached man. Come on it would be fun. I know Baekhyun wouldn’t mind.”

My breath escaped out in a gust. If I haven’t known him for years, I might have stormed to where he was and punched the wits out of him. But this was, after all, typical Kai. And typical Kai demands a higher level of patience – perks of having him as a friend.

“Then go ask Baek permission yourself,” I replied, matter-of-factly. His groan could have broken a thousand egg shells.

“But Yeol!”

“Sorry dude. I won’t risk that. I have to go now. Bye.” But before I could put my phone away, his voice came shrieking out once again.

“Wait! Wait! I have an idea,” he said in a rush. I sighed. “Go on.” He paused before answering.

“Can you ask Satansoo, instead?”

Time stopped. All the corpses in the graves turned their ears to listen. The gates of hell burst open.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?”

Turned out Kai was ing serious. If he couldn’t have me, he said, might as well try his luck on the “spawn of Satan” himself. “This is what you get for turning me down,” he added. And after a while of groans and bursts of foul exchanges, I finally gave up and handed my phone to Kyungsoo.

“My friend wants you to accompany him on a date,” I regretted the words as soon as they came out. Kyungsoo stared me down while adjusting the spectacles on his face. I offered him my phone and – lo and behold! – he took it off my hand and pressed it to his ear.

“And why would I come with you?” was Kyungsoo’s opening statement. I felt triumphant hearing the words from him. Surely Kai would be discouraged. But I later sulked, remembering that whatever happens next, all of it was on me. And that is how I finally broke my spotless Kyungsoo record. 

The anticipation was agonizing as I watched Kyungsoo while he listened to the speaker on the other line. His lips were pressed in a thin line, brows furrowed. I wondered what kind of sweet talk Kai was trying on the boy. But I was equally confident that whatever he does won’t sway Kyungsoo.

“Okay. See you there.”

Wait, WHAT?

Kyungsoo ended the call and handed the phone to me. He casually went back to his knitting without batting an eyelid.

What the just happened?

“Uhm… What did Kai tell you?” I asked. How’d Kai manage to tame the beast? I couldn’t even ask him to do simple stuff in the studio! (Especially since Suho, for some reason, backs him up like “You can do it yourself, Yeol” or “He’s too tired, Yeol”. Are they ing or not? ‘Cause I swear to god-) How in the world?!

“Well, he told me you’d have to buy me anything I want,” he said, and shrugged. I burrowed my head into my hand. Well, damn. There goes your Kai charm.

Later that night, we decided to go to the gig early. Or rather, I convinced Suho, Chen, and Tao to since my alone time with Kyungsoo was taking its toll on my shaken self-esteem. I couldn’t even look him in the eye after what happened with Kai!

We arrived at the Coco Café just after dark. Right at the same time, Baekhyun texted me he was already on the bus home. I told him to take care and catch some sleep if he can. Just imagining him running back and forth throughout the university was enough to make me tired as well. A quick nap could at least save him some energy.

And oh! Grandma also texted she was back home and wished me good luck. I thanked her, careful not to bring up memories from that morning. We’ll have the long talk once I get home.  

The owner welcomed us with a hearty smile and offered us some cakes and coffee while we waited for the eve