"Long time no see!" Taehyung exclaimed when he spotted Seungyoon walking down the pathway to Minah's house (or their house, technically). The said person raised his hand to wave at him, all smiles.

"Hey, Taehyung-ssi, correct? Fixing the doorbell, I'm guessing?" Seungyoon asked once he was close enough to see what Taehyung was doing.

"Yeah, practicing my engineering skills." Taehyung replied. Minah planned to buy a brand-new set and get it installed by a technician, but he wanted to try fixing it first.

"Great work." Seungyoon gave him a thumbs-up. "How's it going?"

"Good." He had been fiddling with the old, broken set for about ten minutes, and it seemed like he got the issues figured out. Now, he just needed to buy some tiny parts to replace inside the set. "Any who, if you wanna see Minah-ssi, she's taking a shower right now I think."

"No problem, I just texted her. I'll wait out here." Seungyoon said, not entirely looking comfortable as he did not expect to wait for his friend with a (practically) stranger.

"Is it something important?" Taehyung asked, not entirely invested to know what Seungyoon came for, but he figured it would be better to keep the conversation going.

"Not in particular." Seungyoon answered, suddenly became shy as he looked down and scratched his nape. "She gave me her credit card to pay for our meal yesterday, but I forgot to return it back to her."

Taehyung thanked himself for managing to hold in a laugh. Seungyoon could have just handed him the credit card, but he chose to wait just so he could see Minah. He shot Seungyoon a knowing grin, making the latter blush.

"Someone is being too obvious." Taehyung sing-songed, turning his eyes back to the doorbell he was fixing but not missing Seungyoon's laugh beside him from his peripheral vision.

"Please don't tell her. She doesn't know." Seungyoon whispered, leaning towards Taehyung.

"I figured out that much." Taehyung replied, "But don't you think you could try to make a move? She seems to like you, too." And you are the only man she sees outside of her school and work. Taehyung knew that Minah spent all of her free time during the day to do chores or catch up with school work if not to attend lectures, and during the night to visit her father at the hospital. That was, unless she hid her date from Taehyung, which was highly unlikely given her honest nature.

"She doesn't like me that way. It's best we stay friends though, to be frank." He simply shrugged, though his eyes appeared wistful, in contrast to his casual tone.

Taehyung wanted to bombard the guy with questions as it did not make sense to him, but he noticed Seungyoon did not look like he would want to elaborate any further. He decided to get back at re-connecting the doorbell to the wall.

"As expected, I need to replace some parts. I'll leave to buy them now, and to make it less obvious for your visit too, of course." Taehyung winked at Seungyoon, making the latter chuckle but he nodded thankfully at him.

He left to buy the parts only to realize on his way that he forgot to dis-connect the device because the audio system from the outside would be on standby until it got dis-connected. However, he figured it would be a hassle to turn back then. It should not cause any trouble anyways, he assumed.

"That's troublesome." Seungyoon commented as he was talking on the phone. "Even with you as the CEO, I don't think they'll disapprove of the deal. I'll get to the company as soon as I can. Probably in thirty minutes."

"Okay, see you later, dad." Seungyoon continued after a few seconds of hearing whatever was spoken to him from the other line and hung up.

"Um, Seungyoon, I overheard you talking outside." That was the first sentence Minah spoke to Seungyoon when she went out to meet him at the gate. That made Seungyoon startled and alerted soon after.

"Wait, how...? You were inside the house until now." Seungyoon claimed, sounding more like he was asking. He seemed frightened as his hand reached up to cover his mouth, eyes quivering as if reminiscing what he had said.

"I'm so sorry! I was still putting on clothes at that time so I couldn't get out of there. I'm not sure why the doorbell transferred your voice even though I never pressed on the intercoms pad inside. And no matter what I say through it, it seems you can't listen."

Minah was caught off-guard by his extreme reaction. "Is the fact that you are a CEO's son confidential?"

Seungyoon seemed flustered, but he started to stabilize his breathing when Minah only mentioned his talk with his father.

"Oh, no. It's just a little secret I'd rather keep to myself. I'm sorry I lied to you before... I wanted people to treat me like a normal person. From my experience, you know... it wasn't always great to let them know about my connections. I hope that makes sense." Seungyoon scratched his head, but soon got an approving look from Minah. "Was that all that you heard?"

Minah nodded. "I'm sorry again. Speaking of, did you see Taehyung-ssi? He was fixing the doorbell moments ago."

"He's out right now to buy something I heard that was to replace some parts." Seungyoon said, recalling. "Oh right, I guess he turned it on just before he left."

"I see." Minah said, "He should be able to fix it. A few days ago, he fixed the power outlets in my room. He's majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Handyman, isn't he?"

Seungyoon furrowed his eyebrows, wincing. "You got him into your room?"

"He's harmless, that much, I am sure." Minah said, amused at Seungyoon's still relentless expressions. "But if he was to do anything to me, then please, look for him and do whatever you deem fit!"

"Taehyung, someone's looking for you." Taehyung looked at the friend who just informed him, and along his hand pointed towards the door of the hall.

"Oh, Minah. Whatcha doing here? Missing oppa?" Taehyung said when he caught sight of Minah. His enthusiasm garnered the girls' attention inside the hall. In reaction to his spontaneous cheekiness, Minah gaped, eyes almost escaping her own sockets. She quickly got back to her senses as Taehyung approached her near the door.

"Let me talk to my cousin a little bit." Taehyung said to the curious spectators inside the hall, most of whom showed signs of relief at his excuse. He turned to Minah, winking at her.

"Oppa," Minah mocked, shooting him a bemused gaze as she fished out a USB out of her pocket, "I think you forgot to bring this."

"My god. I could've been in huge trouble for our group presentation later today." Taehyung shrieked, ruffling his already messy hair. He took the USB from Minah's hand while gawking at Minah.

"Seriously," Minah sighed but she chortled afterwards, "yesterday too, you forgot to turn the doorbell off making me overhear Seungyoon talking on his phone."

"Oh my god, yes I only remembered it when I was already on my way. I was too lazy to head back." Taehyung shrieked, covering his mouth, looking cautious, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be worked up about it, you're fine." Minah smiled, not a sign of accusation in her tone. "You helped me save money on that doorbell. I feel none but thankful."

Taehyung waved his hand dismissively, looking relieved. "How did you know I would be here though?"

"Oh. I never told you," Minah said, waving her phone near her head. "I texted Yoongi-ssi because you had your phone turned off. He's taking  a class at the same time slot as mine in the same building this semester. He's been accompanying me on my way out when the class is over and somehow, we grew close enough to share contacts."

"Cool! Hyung never told me this." Taehyung exclaimed, "I'm amazed. He's not that out-going usually."

"Well, that was my first impression about him too," Minah agreed, "but he gets nicer the better you know him."

"Minah-ssi, don't forget," Taehyung whispered, coming close so only Minah could hear him, "none of my friends are worth dating."

Minah chuckled, "Don't worry. As I said, I'm not in the mood for love right now", she tilted her head to clear her view from Taehyung and took a quick glance at the girls behind him, "On the contrary, you seem to have a plethora of romantic possibilities just from this room alone."

For the first time in front of Minah, Taehyung smiled wistfully, almost like wincing. He managed to shrug and changed the topic by thanking Minah again.

It seemed like she just spiced up a grim spot in his mind for whatever reason, and she felt bad for it.

"No," Taehyung sighed as he read the time on his watch, tapping on the table in the kitchen, "but why isn't she coming home?"

It was almost one in the morning, and Minah was supposed to be home by ten. She normally got home by midnight, but she told Taehyung she would be home sooner because she forgot to bring the house keys that morning on her way to school. She said that she did not want to bother him by having him open the gate for her late at night.

Taehyung was not particularly annoyed. He was worried.

He knew she was at the hospital at that moment. He had texted her an hour ago, but there was no sign of receipt from her side. He called her a few more times, but he always got transferred to an automatic voice message. He thought she might have dozed off, given how busy and tired she usually appeared. But again, Minah had never slept elsewhere beside home from the day he moved to the Bangs, which was, more or less, two months ago.

The back-and-forth mental argument soon gave Taehyung a headache. That's it. He gave in to curiosity. Time to go check by himself.

When Taehyung arrived, Minah was sobbing profusely next to her immobile father. He suddenly forgot how to speak as he came by her side and looked back and forth at Minah and her father till sunrise. It was the longest few hours he had experienced as far as he could recall, yet he stayed up along with Minah, until Minah's throat went too hoarse to let her keep crying, when it was best she agreed to transfer her father to the mortuary, to never see her father again.

Author's notes: Man, I didn't know chapter outline I had was still way immature (main plot figured out but execution is still a rubic cube to solve, mostly because I want the characters to appear less one-dimensional). almost half of this chapter was written today, but the planning for it took me a week to figure out >/< I hope it was still enjoyable ;-;