“Why the long face, punk?” Jaemin stole a sip of Donghyuk’s drink, leaning against the bar counter. 

“Hyemi lost her job.” 

“I’m not surprised.” Jaemin snorted, without missing a beat. “Based on the amount of time she spends with you, I’d lay her off.” 

“You’d lay her off anyway.” Donghyuk muttered to himself, taking another swig of water. He actually really wanted a drink of beer or wine, but competition season was coming up and Jinhwan had started on the strict diets again, which meant no snacks, and definitely no alcohol. 

“Touche.” 

There was a brief silence, and Jaemin felt just a little bad for the younger girl. And her brother, too, but mostly for the girl. To be laid off by her own mother, that was pretty bad. Not that she actually had the experience, anyhow. Perks of being an independent kid. 

“It’s just… I don’t know what to feel, you know?” Donghyuk sighed, coming beside her to stand, leaning back with her as they both stared out the window. 

The window of the kitchen opened up to the basketball courts, and they were watching as a joyful girl bounced around in her high-tops, pretty professional looking, and dribbled circles around the other guys. Jinhwan was screaming, Hanbin was yelling something that sounded like ‘cheater’, and Yunhyeong had playfully picked her up on his back and she was laughing, the carefree sound drifting in the wind and bringing a smile to Jaemin’s face. 

“Well, they look happy.” Reaching out, she slapped him on the shoulder, unable to keep a proud smile off her face when her hand came into contact with hard muscle and he gave her a glare. “What, I’m proud that my baby brother grew up.” 

“They look happy all the time now that Yerin is here. Now I’m the only one moping around.’ He ran a hand through his hair. “Pathetic, isn’t it?” 

“On the contrary.” Jaemin looked up meaningfully. “She adds a dash of excitement here, no?” 

~ 

“That was a good game.” Hanbin laughed, ruffling her sister’s hair as they ambled into the house, the other members long having gone ahead, giving them a little bit of privacy. The brother-and-sister duo hadn’t had that many opportunities to be together for some time, so it was only natural that Yerin wanted to talk to her brother about some things. 

“S