The next night Summer was perched on a table pushed against the side of the hallway as she waited for the floor’s idols to filter back after dinner when she perked up, an unexpected figure making their way down the hallway.

“Unnie, what are you doing here at this hour?” she questioned as Seoyeon made her way over, clutching a cup of coffee to her as if it was life itself.  The Korean looked absolutely wrecked, dark bags under her eyes and Summer immediately grew worried.

“Because of many things, too many things to tell you or we’d be here till tomorrow night,” Seoyeon replied and the foreigner pulled a face as she perched herself on the table as well, taking another gulp of coffee.

“You won’t sleep tonight either drinking that at this hour you know,” Summer chided lightly and the other pouted, holding the cup closer again as if she was about to reach out and take it.  The blonde merely shook her head, waving idly to Mino from Winner as he passed them by.  “I haven’t got to ask, how was Japan?”

“Good, not so good,” Seoyeon responded with a sigh and Summer looked at her curiously.  “I think the boys could do with a bit of a break.  Things were a bit tense off stage and they still put on a heck of a show but… well I could tell their energy lagged, and Junhoe’s voice cracked on the last night during Apology.”

“Uh oh,” Summer sighed along with her friend, her worry immediately reaching beyond Seoyeon to the group as well.  She had always wondered how idols managed to live the lives they did without burning out completely.  Once upon a time her and Mei had jokingly created a theory that all idols were actually vampires, surmising that could be the only valid explanation.

“Yeah uh oh.  I haven’t seen you in forever though, how are things?  And how was the concert in Daegu?  I heard the boys arranged tickets for you,” Seoyeon enquired and the blonde shrugged.  The concert seemed like so long ago already.  

“Things are things, I’m running my own version of an idol’s schedule.  The concert was fun though, Mei and I had a blast.”

The Korean gave her a bright smile and had just asked more when Hanbin appeared and she made to move.  The boy raised a hand to stop her however, turning to Summer instead.  “Can I have a word with you please?”

The two girls exchanged glances even as the foreigner nodded and pushed herself off the table.  A sickening sensation settled in her belly, but nevertheless she bowed to Seoyeon in farewell and allowed the idol to lead her down into an unused room.  Once inside he beckoned for her to take a seat and she did so, the boy taking one opposite her.

“I feel like I’ve just been called into the principal’s office,” she commented and even as Hanbin flashed her a grin she could see the tiredness and stress he was carrying.

“Kinda.  I don’t mean to pry, but I have to ask.  What happened between you and Junhoe the other week?  He just keeps saying nothing, but Chanwoo saw him storming out of the practice room and he’s been in a mood ever since.  Then I couldn’t help but notice last night that he wouldn’t talk to you.”  Summer let out a sigh with the words, guessing that it may have had something to do with the absent idol.

“I-” she made to start along the same vein as Junhoe and deny everything, but then she realised if Hanbin was coming to her it was obviously important.  And serious.  “We may have had an argument, but what’s new?”

He gave her a look that prompted her to go on, just as much as it said he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.  Summer now felt less like her statement about the principal’s office, and more like she was giving a witness confession at a police station.  She chewed on her lip as she tried to form the words to explain and decide what exactly to tell Hanbin.  She felt awkward admitting it was over his taunting about Bobby, and she definitely felt that she couldn’t reveal Junhoe’s reaction.

“He uh, he always teases me about being a Bobby fan and I just, I got frustrated and angry.  I may have made a couple of threats and then uh, denied his former apology,” she condensed as much as she could, giving him the rundown while still keeping all the details locked in the room from that night.  Hanbin’s reaction was to sink lower into his seat.

“I know you have a limited viewpoint, but Junhoe has a lot of sides to him and he’s actually a pretty sensitive guy.  He might not seem it with his cold front, but he is,” Hanbin said and Summer certainly didn’t feel any better for him having done so.  Had her one statement really got to the boy that much?  “Do you think you could maybe apologise to him?  Please?  His moodiness and sulking are driving us crazy.”

“I did!  And I’ve been trying,” Summer cried and Hanbin took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I can’t believe a cleaning girl is causing group conflicts.  Now I understand why they’re all ahjummas,” he mumbled and she immediately felt like a two year old throwing a tantrum in the middle of a supermarket, casting her head down and wringing her hands together.  “It was a sorry in the middle of conflict, right?”

Summer nodded, not daring to lift her gaze yet.  “Then of course it doesn’t count, not really.  Try something a little more formal and heartfelt, please?  For all of us?  Before we turn into a lynch mob and hang him.”

“Well, when you put it like that… I don’t want a legion of fangirls blaming me for their conceited idol’s death,” Summer couldn’t help but reply, her humour always rearing itself at inopportune moments.  Luckily for all his stress Hanbin seemed to be able to see the lighter side, letting out a chuckle.  Then again, maybe he just needed the laugh.  “I’ve been wanting to.  But I don’t know how, he’s been avoiding me ever since.”

Hanbin fell into thought with her words, his eyes seeming to dance this way and that as ideas presumably flashed through his mind.  Eventually he looked back at her, nodding his head once.  “Come into work a little earlier tomorrow night.  Time it that you enter the room five minutes before we’re supposed to wind up and I’ll take care of the others.”

With the plan decided on the two of them rose, Hanbin holding the door open for her to leave and like that they parted ways, Summer turning her attention back to the hallway.