---7---

“Assa!” Sungjong exclaimed as he raced into his room and flopped onto his bed, “It’s great to be back home!”

Not far behind him, his hyungs entered the dorm, dropping their backpacks on the floor and letting out sighs of relief.  Silently, Sunggyu walked straight to the bathroom, tossing his cap to the floor and ruffling his hair before slamming the door behind him.  Myungsoo frowned at the leader’s coldness, muttering, “I wonder what happened to him.”

Sungyeol shrugged.  “I have no idea.  He’s been like this since we got back from Japan.  Shouldn’t he be on cloud nine right now?” he questioned confusedly, looking to the other boys for an answer.

Sungjong emerged from the bedroom.  “The bunk feels so nice after sleeping in a hotel bed for so long!” he proudly announced, not noticing the tense atmosphere.  When no one answered, the maknae then realized that one of his hyungs was missing.  “Where’s Sunggyu-hyung?”

Hoya tilted his head toward the bathroom.  Sungjong started to move towards the door when Woohyun interrupted, "Andwae.  It’s best to leave him alone for a while.”

The members headed to their designated rooms to unpack their bags from the trip.  Meanwhile, Sunggyu finished his shower and stared into the foggy mirror, his towel wrapped around his waist.  How am I going to break it off with Miyoung without hurting her too much? he thought in exasperation.

He hadn’t seen the girl since their encounter in the waiting room.  His manager had made sure to keep the two apart, giving Miyoung tasks that required her to be in separate rooms from Infinite.  He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much worry or hurt she was feeling at the moment.

Sunggyu ran his hand through his wet hair, making it stick up in all directions.  “Aish!” he shouted in frustration, slapping his palm against the glass as thoughts ran rampant through his mind.

The only way is to pretend nothing ever happened.  She’ll move on eventually…

When Sunggyu stepped out of the steaming bathroom, the members, now seated in a circle in the living room, stared at him, expecting the withdrawn silence from their leader again.  But instead, they were taken aback when Sunggyu smiled and cheerfully exclaimed, “Who’s hungry?  You guys want ddeokbokki for dinner?”

Woohyun’s mouth dropped open in shock at Sunggyu’s nonchalance.  Myungsoo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, sensing something abnormal about the leader’s behavior.  The other members answered with a confused, “Ne?”

“I’m in the mood for ddeokbokki.  Should we order some from the restaurant next door or just make it ourselves?” Sunggyu said, striding over to where his backpack lay abandoned in the corner.  “Maybe it would be easier to just order it.  It’s kind of late…” he trailed off, pulling his wallet out of one of the pockets and gesturing to Woohyun and Dongwoo to follow.

The three oldest members quickly left to buy dinner before the shop closed.  The remaining four members stayed motionless in their spots, still bewildered by the sudden change in Sunggyu’s mood.  After a while, Hoya announced, “I call the shower next,” before getting up and claiming the bathroom.

Sungjong and Sungyeol looked at each other and shrugged, hurrying to the kitchen to set the table.  Now only Myungsoo was left.  The visual pondered over reasons for the leader’s strange mood swings.  “He was fine when we were in the dressing room after that press conference.  More than fine actually, judging by the glances between him and Miyoung,” he mused to himself, “What could’ve happened to mess things up?  And now–”

Sungyeol’s voice floated into the living room, effectively cutting off the boy’s monologue.  “Yah!  Myungsoo-ah!  Stop talking to yourself!  You sound like a crazy person!”

Rolling his eyes, Myungsoo put aside his worries about the leader and got up to help set up for dinner.