The next day started out really simple. Lexi woke up at ten after the very eventful MC comeback stage, where apparently, everyone decided it was most appropriate to make her suffer the whole night. As if that wasn't enough, she was forced into an afterparty where the only people she knew ended up dead drunk and slobbering. Now to top it off, being the only sober one(except for Dong Ho, who had enough brains to stay well away from the alcohol), she had to drive the lot of them home. She had successfully done that -and had been about to celebrate with a huge snorefest when it turned out the six boys -plus Xander, were too hammered to even figure out where the keys were. Dong Ho told her it was Eli, who smiled in a drunken daze and pointed at AJ -who in turn held up a hand and lifted a flowerpot. Lexi had been about to reach into it when AJ suddenly deemed that time appropriate to gag and spew his dinner into it. Well, you get the idea.

                So she gave up and drove them over next door to her apartment -and with the help of quite a few interested bellhops, successfully dumped UKISS on her couch, the floor, by the door, under the kitchen table and wherever else she can find that worked. And so her simple day went sort of like this: she walked down to the living room and heard a low groan. She was ready to panic when she remembered what had happened the night before, and guessed that one of the zombies had woken up.

                'Where are we?' AJ had his head on his hands.

                'Welcome to hell,' Lexi answered, standing at the foot of the stairs.

                The boy almost jumped, then seemed to recover himself as he grinned. 'Ah. But what are you doing here angel?' He waggled his eyebrows like a vaudeville. 'Did something naughty, did you?'

                She cursed at him, not minding what his reaction would be. 'Speaking of naughty. I guess you're off the nice list now, after filling your flower pot with your dinner.'

                Someone chuckled from the floor. It was Eli, who had been most dead drunk of the lot. He stood up and wobbled over to Lexi. 'What exactly did we do?'

                The girl glanced at Kiseop, who was drooling on her couch. She made a face. 'Do I have to answer that?'

                'Oh, wow. We're at your penthouse,' he muttered, looking at the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

                'Yeah.' She dragged him up. 'Kick those hungover butts up. I don't like hanging around.' Then she walked towards the kitchen, where Dong Ho had made himself at home with her Froot Loops. He must have sensed a whole lot of wigging coming his way, because he pointed at the coffee maker and announced. 'I made coffee.'

                Eli watched them from the kitchen then personally made sure they were all up. Which consisted mainly of kicking butts, pulling hairs and tickling noses -crude but effective. All of them had the same 'where-the-hell-am-I' look on their faces when they opened their eyes, which he answered with a jab of his thumb towards the kitchen-slash-dinner table. Thankfully, although they had been thoroughly hammered the night before, they didn't need further explanations.

                'Dead drunk deserve Jamaican!' Lexi announced from where she sat as she watched the lot of them walk doggedly towards her -exactly like zombies.

                'Why are we here?' Kiseop asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

                The girl nodded and gestured grandly at him. 'Exactly. Why don't we ask AJ what happened to the key?'

                They boy in question pretended he didn't hear anything and proceeded to look for a mug to pour his coffee in. He at least had to have a sip of coffee before explaining that their key was now swimming in a puddle of puke -and that there was no way he was fishing it out of there anytime soon. He cringed slightly.

                Lexi was about to say something again when she felt something move under the table and grab her foot. Startled, she jumped up abruptly, kicking whoever it was -in the face, in the process. There was a loud cry of pain then a muffled groan. Everybody froze, with Dong Ho silently counting themselves to see who was absent and was unfortunate enough to have his nose broken. He scratched his head and counted again. 'Unless one of us has a twin we don't know about, I don't see any reason why anyone should be sleeping under the table right now,' he remarked.

                That was when Lexi smacked herself in the head. 'Right. Xander was with us last night.'

                As if on cue, Xander crawled out from under the table with another low groan. 'I thought we were the screwed ones last night.' He gave Lexi a meaningful look.

                She made a face. 'It's not my fault. You crawled under the table.' She stood up and was about to make for the coffeemaker when the phone rang. Muttering, she fished it from her pocket and glanced at the screen. It was her brother. She distantly remembered promising him she would call back and mentally kicked herself. Now she was really going to get it. 'Hello,' she muttered, walking out into the living room, motioning at the boys to go on with their business.

                'Oh, so you're alive!' came the dry reply from the other line.

                'Oh. Hi, hyung,' she said innocently, trying not to think of the wigging and the thousand-word monologue she was going to get in about two minutes -and of the fact that he had probably just arrived at the house(the one she'd visited not two days ago). 'How's life?'

                'Didn't you promise to call me back?' he demanded, refusing to be sidetracked by pleasantries.

                'Uh, yes. But I -'

                He cut her off before she could say it. 'Working.' His voice had gone so dry now that Lexi was surprised he didn't think it was prudent to take a long gulp of water. 'I just hope that working doesn't mean what I am staring at right now isn't entirely true,' he continued testily. 'I could have died in a plane crash, and you'd still be rapping your brains out with that two-bit moron.'

                She rolled her eyes. Sometimes her brother seemed too melodramatic to be a boy. 'May I remind you that the two-bit moron you're talking about is also your, and I quote, best buddy in the whole wide world?'

                'Are you defending him?'

                'Merely stating a fact based on your opinion.' A sudden noise from the kitchen made her turn around.

                'What is that?'

                She cleared . 'I just stacked some pans the wrong way. Fell down.'

                'Since when do you stack pans?' He changed the subject again. 'And what is the use of technology if you don't actually use it?'

                'I'm probably busy,' she proffered weakly.

                'Like seriously, princess. If you weren't trending on Twitter, I wouldn't even know you're still in Seoul right now.'

                'You know I am.'

                'Barely,' he shot back.

                Lexi groaned. And then was interrupted by the sudden shout from the kitchen.

                'That did not sound like pans,' Byunghun exclaimed.

                Lexi dropped her phone and ran towards the table where Xander had Kevin pinned to the floor. Eli and Aj were holding him back -because he seemed ready to pound the life out of Kevin. And if you ever saw Kevin, you'd swear it wouldn't take much. It all looked pretty serious, except when you looked at the other side of the room where Dong Ho and Soohyun were cheering. The predominant worry ebbed a little. At least some people thought it was a joke. She moved in towards them. 'HEY! BREAK IT UP!' But instead of doing that, Kevin reared up and tried to kick Xander. She screamed and felt herself get pulled back from the line of fire.

                At that moment, the intercom speaker buzzed.

                Wordlessly, Hoon(who had been standing by just as wordlessly throughout the whole predicament) pressed the speaker button. 'Yes?'

                Byunghun's voice was cool and calm, but the warning was more or less evident. 'I'm about three seconds from calling 112. So somebody better open this door, right now.'

                Nobody spoke.

                'NOW!'

                All at once, upturned chairs straightened themselves -the table became spotless. The two boys who caused the little kerfuffle stood up and looked magically presentable. The eight of them sat at random sides of the room, and you had to wonder how many times they'd gone through the same exact situation to be so goddamn efficient with it. Lexi stared at them open-mouthed. Hoon opened the door. And stepped back just as soon.

                Byunghun stepped into the room, looking exactly like someone who meant business. He's put on muscle since the last time Lexi had seen him so that he looked so much more imposing than he sounded on the phone. His dirty blond waves were cut up to his ear and pushed back to expose his square jaw. The image that flashed on Lexi's mind was of Colin Farrell, only taller -and Korean. Eight audible gulps sounded out. 'Somebody better explain why my little sister -' he pointed at Lexi -'screamed like there was bloody murder going on here?'

                Nobody spoke.

                'NOW!'

                The eight of them began to launch into their own different versions of what had happened. Complete with awfully exaggerated hand gestures. Byunghun held a hand up and massaged his temple gently. Everybody stopped speaking.

                'So you mean to say a chair fell on Xander's foot and his hand flew to smack Kevin's face here. Kevin fell down on Dong Ho's bowl of cereal, and the milk spilled on the floor. The cereal landed on Kiseop's hair -' he turned to Kiseop -'which I doubt, since there are no visible traces on there. But for the sake of argument, let's say it really did. So he punched Soohyun in the gut -and he fell back and landed on Eli. Eli pushed Soohyun back so that he landed on AJ and dominoed to Hoon, who accidentally pushed the intercom?'

                The eight of them looked at the older boy in confusion. Then Soohyun began to nod slowly -he elbowed Eli in the ribs and pretty soon all of them were nodding and muttering things that sounded like, 'Yeah. That sounds about right'; 'I think so'; 'That's it.' Kevin and Xander caught each other's glances and glared briefly before turning to their other sides and nodding affirmation at the others. Byunghun didn't miss that little bit of contempt and turned to smirk at his sister.

                'Shut up,' she mouthed and dragged a finger across her neck in the universal sign of 'Kill it.'

                He shrugged and put on his stern face again. 'Why are there eight boys in here anyway? I thought this was my sister's apartment? Are you people homeless or something?'

                They shook their heads almost in unison.

                Byunghun pretended to blow on his nails and tapped his foot lightly. The younger boys looked at him curiously. Sighing, Lexi’s brother turned to them again. ‘So what are you still doing here? GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE!’ He watched as the whole lot of them stood up, picking up wayward ties and shoes, and then rampaged out the door like the hounds of hell themselves were after them. He could almost imagine the cloud of inexistent dust that were trailing them as they ran. Of course, like Lexi, he had a penchant for this kind of thing. They were siblings after all. Even if Lexi preferred the stoic and Byunghun was the ironic brother with the dramatic flair. Which he decided to employ on Lexi just then. ‘So,’ he began. ‘I see you’ve got your work cut out for you.’

                The girl was about to answer, but he held up his hand and motioned for her to sit.

                ‘I also see that your problem seems to have doubled.’ He smirked again.

                She stood up again. She figured she needed all the height she could get if she were to begin arguing with her brother. ‘If you’re here to lecture me on the values of relationship again, I should just listen to the speech I recorded a year ago. Or read the many letters you sent me while you thought I was killing myself with depression in Japan.’

                Her brother lifted an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t say anything you know. If anything, I think I know how to help.’

                ‘What do you know?’

                He laughed. ‘Little sister, when you’re twenty-three, single and living in France and you look this good, there are many things you would know.’

                Three hours later, he stood in front of six very nervous, very intimidated boys. Even Eli, who was usually the one pretending to be the tough one looked like he was about to crap his pants at any moment. The edge was evident in their eyes as he walked past them again and again, looking at their faces. It must have felt like some kind of interrogation.

                ‘Where did you send Kevin to?’ he asked, training his eyes on Dong Ho, who looked more relaxed than all of the rest combined.

                He gulped. ‘Soohyun-hyung told him to go get kimchi from his mom. That’s about two hours away.’

                ‘And Xander?’

                ‘He doesn’t stay with us.’

                Byunghun nodded, walking back and forth again. He stared at each of them in turn. ‘We have three hours to do this.’ He turned when Eli raised his hand. ‘Do I look like a teacher to you?’

                Eli shook his head.

                ‘Then why the hell are you raising your hand?’

                The blond pulled his hand down at once.

                ‘Okay, what did you want to say?’

                He cleared his throat. ‘So what’s the plan with those three?’

                ‘What makes you think this is about those three?’ Byunghun muttered testily.

                Eli shrugged. ‘Well, one, they’re in a love triangle, and the only ones who don’t seem to realize it are them. Two, you saw what happened this morning. Three, all the touch and go and warnings and innuendos are getting really old. Four, you came to Korea. And five, you’re talking to us.’ He leaned forward on the couch. ‘And between you and me, the longer Lexi doesn’t choose anyone, there’s a higher risk one of them goes loco.’

                Byunghun seemed to glare, then clapped Eli’s shoulder playfully(still, the younger boy winced). ‘You are my new favorite person today.’ 

                For the next hour, they thought up ‘levels’ where the two nitwits have to impress Lexi –or do so much more. At one point Soohyun raised his hand and asked if it was actually moral, what they were about to do. ‘Aren’t we playing with them?’ he asked. It took Byunghun a while to answer. And for a moment, it seemed like he couldn’t, until he sighed and muttered, ‘Have you met Lexi? She needs a hell of a lot more than slight prod to the right direction. If you ask me, you have to force her one way or the other if she has to make her choice. She’s either too mean or too careful. It’s either she doesn’t want to let either  of them go, or she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.’ They nodded in unison. Then he added. ‘Besides, we’re only here to support those bozos. We won’t do anything.’

                Pretty soon they had a complete game plan at hand. With the exception of –

                ‘Who’s going on Xander’s side?’ Kiseop asked suddenly. They turned to him. ‘I mean, as UKISS, we root for Kevin, right?’

                Eli cleared his throat. ‘Not necessarily. I’m with Xander.’

                ‘So am I,’ AJ seconded, raising his hand in a playful salute.

                ‘You what?’ Kiseop looked at Eli in confusion. ‘I’m still with Kevin. So is Leader-nim.’ He turned to Soohyun, who nodded reverently.

                ‘What about you two?’ Byunghun asked Dong Ho and Hoon who were busy stacking up cards in one corner. They’d been uncannily active with suggestions earlier, and had gone suspiciously quiet.

               ‘Yah, come with your leader, maknae,’ Soohyun prodded and started for the boy. But Eli and AJ were already there, their arms around him.

                ‘Maknae,’ Eli muttered with a sly grin on his face. ‘Remember who cooks here.’ His hand pat Dong Ho on the head in what was supposed to be an affectionate display, but instead, looked more like a threat to anyone who was watching closely. ‘You wouldn’t want to go hungry for a month, would you?’ he added under his breath. AJ looked at the slightly terrified expression on the boy's face and smiled widely.

                'I think Dong Ho needs time to think,' he announced.

                They turned to Hoon, who was still stacking cards. He looked up. 'Don't look at me.'

                 They turned to Dong Ho again, who gulped and nodded.

                ‘That’s my boy!’

                ‘So I guess I’m with Kevin,’ Hoon muttered.

Byunghun straightened up and a fist lightly into the air. ‘Let’s do this.’