“Is that really a coffee machine or a smoke machine?” The dumb question left Wonshik’s mouth as soon as he witnessed how much smoke the machine was producing. He coughed a bit and so did the other four. To be honest though, he was not one bit surprised that they managed to find trouble even due to the harmless coffee machine.

Jaehwan gasped out loud as if he realized something. “Don’t tell me, Taekwoon hyung was scammed and so, he purchased a smoke machine instead of a coffee machine!” He concluded.

“Yes, that could happen!” Hakyeon agreed almost immediately. “Poor Woonie, he’s living his lonely life alone with only coffee as his inspiration and those people even tricked him to purchase a smoke machine instead of a coffee machine. How heartless can those monsters be?”

“And how much of can idiot can you two be?” Hongbin asked, massaging his own head. “My wrinkles are starting to come out due to frustration. That’s not a smoke machine, okay? It’s a coffee machine! A coffee machine that we broke because of the two of you, okay? Now, we’re going to hell because Taekwoon hyung would surely drag us there with him.”

Sanghyuk groaned out of extreme frustration. “Now, we should hide ourselves. I know that he would kill us the moment he finds out about the poor state of his coffee machine. We have two choices, either to stay here and let him kill us or escape and wait for him to find us and murder us. You choose.” He pointed out. “We have more chance of surviving by escaping from this place. I do not have a plan to go back home though. Everything is ruined now.”

Wonshik grimaced at the thought of being killed by Taekwoon. Just then, a smart thought came into his mind. “I don’t know about you but I can just return to the mental hospital now and if Taekwoon hyung did find me, I can just say that I left early so I don’t know what happened.” He smugly said.

“That’s a great idea!” Hakyeon exclaimed. “All of us can leave now and just tell Taekwoon that we don’t know what happened by leaving a letter to him.” He suggested, clasping his hands together. “Let’s do it, huh? Huh?” He grinned.

“Are dumb or just plainly an idiot?” Hongbin scoffed. “Is your brain inside your right foot?”

Jaehwan gasped upon hearing Hongbin’s sarcastic question. “Really? So, if you’re stupid, your brain is inside your right foot. I didn’t know that. Why didn’t my teacher in Physics teach me the anatomy of the human body? Now, I sound dumb.” He whined a little.

“Ah, so cute!” Wonshik cooed, pulling Jaehwan into a hug.

“Good gracious, I’m surrounded with idiots.” Hongbin hit his own forehead. “That’s a sarcastic question, okay? No person has his brain on his right foot. And no Physics teacher would teach his students the anatomy of the human body because why on Earth would they? How did you manage to pass elementary?” He groaned, annoyed but he was completely ignored by Jaehwan.

“Hongbin, stop fighting with your brother.” Hakyeon sternly said.

“I don’t have a brother!” Hongbin argued.

“Maybe it’s possible!” Sanghyuk exclaimed all of a sudden, startling everyone in the kitchen.

Hongbin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “…it’s possible that I have a brother, you mean?” He asked. “No, not you too. I’m sorry to disappoint everyone but there’s no way that I am going to accept that Jaehwan hyung is my brother and that Hakyeon hyung is my mother.” He firmly said.

“That’s not what I meant, hyung!” Sanghyuk shook his head. “I have a thought of a way to escape from Taekwoon hyung’s wrath. Think about this, there is one place where we could go and hide.”

“And that is?” Wonshik asked. “Oh, wait, I’m returning to the mental hospital so it does not matter that much.” He scratched his head.

Sanghyuk nodded his head. “Exactly!” He said but no one understood what he meant. “Where did I escape from? The mental hospital, right?” He talked as if he were talking to kids so that even the idiots would understand what he meant. The four boys nodded their heads slowly. “Where would Wonshik hyung return to? The mental hospital, am I right?” The four boys nodded their heads again. “Then, what does Taekwoon hyung hate so much that he does not even want to go near it any longer?” Sanghyuk asked, hoping that the other boys would get the clue.

“Oh, I know!” Jaehwan voiced out. “Hakyeon hyung!”

Sanghyuk sighed then shook his head. “That’s not it, hyung.”

“Jaehwan hyung!” Wonshik proudly suggested.

Sanghyuk deadpanned. “And not that one as well.”

“I know, I know!” Hakyeon jumped for a few times. “Leo?”

“Who the hell is Leo?” Hongbin frowned. “And why does that name sound so familiar? Ah, right, Hakyeon hyung mentions him pretty often.”

“Leo is the charismatic cockroach, I’m pretty sure that the noob Taekwoon hyung is envying such a precious cockroach.” Jaehwan stated, firmly nodding his head. “Yup, maybe the correct answer is Leo.”

“I don’t even know who Leo is and I doubt that Taekwoon hyung does as well. Why would he even hate on such a small useless creature.” Sanghyuk groaned in annoyance.

Hakyeon looked at Sanghyuk as if the latter had just killed someone. “Leo might be small but he is not useless, he is the only one who understands me and the only one who stayed with me through it all. The reason why I could go on was because he stayed with me all this time.”

“But he left you, didn’t he? He left even if he promised that he wouldn’t. His eyes that were once full of love were now empty. That once warm cockroach spoke in a cold voice then it was over just like that. Separation came just like that.” Jaehwan dramatically said and he, along with Hakyeon, started wailing like some loud creatures.

“Argh! Someone just answer my damn question!” Irritated due to the unwanted noise, Sanghyuk hissed. “I’ll give you a hint, it’s a place. It’s a freakin’ place and not a tiny cockroach.”

Almost immediately, Jaehwan stopped wailing (and so did Hakyeon) and raised his right hand. “I know! Taekwoon hyung hates any place that has Hakyeon hyung in it.”

Sanghyuk shook his head. “That’s not it but it has something to do with that, kind of.”

“Just tell us the answer.” Wonshik chimned in. “My head is aching because of thinking too much!”

“Did you even try at all?” Hongbin scoffed even when he was really the one who did not even bother to think. Turning to Sanghyuk, he nodded his head. “Just tell us the answer before those three idiots lose their minds.”

“Fine.” Sanghyuk breathed, tired of hoping for a correct answer. He had actually forgotten that asking the wall for an answer was better than asking any of the other four—although they were not as bad as the other two, Hongbin and Wonshik were not really expected to give a correct answer because they never really bothered to think. “The answer is simple: the mental hospital. It’s the mental hospital!” He repeated, trying to get his message into the thick heads of the four.

“Ah!” Jaehwan nodded his head as if he understood.

Hakyeon looked at Jaehwan in confusion and tilted his head to the side. “Did you get what he meant? I mean, Taekwoon hates the mental hospital and so? Isn’t it obvious?”

“If it were obvious, you should have answered it correctly.” Sanghyuk gritted his teeth.

“I don’t get what he meant at all.” Jaehwan answered Hakyeon’s question with a silly yet proud grin on his face. Turning back his attention to Sanghyuk, he grinned even wider. “So, what do you mean?”

Hongbin frowned at Jaehwan’s silliness. “If you didn’t know, why did you exclaim and acted as if you did? This hyung, really. He’s making my wrinkles appear again. At this rate, all those beauty products that I used to my already perfectly beautiful face would go to waste.”

“Anyway, let’s go back into the topic.” Wonshik spoke up, fearing that Sanghyuk’s plan included the worst scenario—all of them returning to the mental hospital with Cha Hakyeon. Now, now, that was one scary plan. He would be totally against it. Just when he thought that things would start falling into their proper places, such an incident would occur.

Seeing Wonshik’s horrified expression, Sanghyuk immediately knew that the older guy knew what was about to happen. “I’m so sorry, hyung, but all of these efforts to escape from that place are futile. We have to get back to the mental hospital and hide there to save ourselves from dying of such a young age. Especially me, I’m only in college. I don’t know about Hakyeon hyung but me, I am young. I have dreams that I want to achieve. And I still have goals to reach.”

“I understand.” Despite being startled by the abrupt decision that he should have foreseen, Hongbin gave into Sanghyuk’s idea right away. “I guess that being there is safer than staying here. Taekwoon hyung is kinda shady. I don’t know what he’d do to us.”

“But is it necessary to hide in the hospital? I don’t think that he would go as far as tracking you down so maybe, you can just hide in Hakyeon hyung’s or Jaehwan hyung’s house. Or maybe in Hongbin’s apartment after he decided to pay his bills.” Wonshik suggested.

“Well, he did go as far as getting confined into a mental hospital for a cup of coffee. Of course, he would sacrifice his body to make us pay for ruining his precious coffee machine.” Hakyeon commented.

Hongbin growled at him. “If you know that much then why on Earth did you dare to touch and to destroy his machine?” He snapped. “And how did you even know how he entered the mental hospital? You stalker!” Sometimes, Hongbin would wonder if Hakyeon really was a hated trot singer or was he actually a thief, a con artist, and a stalker in disguise.

“I may or may not have done a background check on all of you before but who cares about that, right? We’re family now.” Hakyeon stated, his voice was firm as if he were talking about something that made some sense.

“We care because we are a family. You do know that a family that eats together, stays together, right? We should learn how to say whatever we feel. From the bottom and deepest parts of our hearts, we have to let go of our desires and wishes. Let each other hear each of our wishes and let’s fulfill it together, not as individuals, not as friends, but as a big happy family.” Jaehwan babbled.

“Good gracious, someone, anyone, please cover his mouth.” Hongbin deadpanned.

“No, don’t.” Hakyeon sniffed, being all emotional all of a sudden. “Don’t you appreciate it at all? Everything he says make sense. Where did we go wrong? Where did I go wrong? I cannot let this happen. I cannot let this family ruin itself. I have to save my household.”

Jaehwan turned to Hakyeon’s direction, gasping dramatically as if something surprising was just uttered. “Mother!” His eyes even widened, urging the two out of three expectators to roll their eyes—since Wonshik loved the older guy too much, he could not even roll his eyes at him.

“Son!” Hakyeon cried. In a slow motion that both created by themselves, they ran into each other’s arms as if they were in some sort of melodrama. “Son! My precious son!”

“Mother! My lovely mother!” Jaehwan cried.

Sanghyuk snorted. “Remind me again why we have to watch this scene? And why we even put up with them?” He asked.

“Trust me, I also have no idea.” Hongbin shook his head. “But let’s get on your plan. So, what’s your plan? What are we going to do about it? Will we really be safe for sure?”

Sanghyuk scratched his head, weighing their options. “Actually, there is no plan. Plus, this suggestion is not foolproof at all. But Taekwoon hyung’s team has a game in three weeks and as a coach, it’s very painful for him to watch them lose game after game without his guidance. Returning to that place would mean that he would have to give up his dreams for his team which seems a little bit too much especially if he would do it for the sake of his broken coffee machine that now produces more smoke than it ever produced coffee.”

“You mean, he would think twice about even stepping a foot on that dreaded place?” Hongbin inquired.

“Yes, you can say  that.” Sanghyuk nodded his head. “The only problem with this plan is the fact that we tried hard to escape but we would go back to that place again.”

“If it is for the safety of everyone then it’s an inevitable move, right?” Hongbin asked, trying to reassure the youngest male with a smile. He was doing a great job in securing his position as Sanghyuk’s number one supporter. “I mean, that’s also the safest place that I could think of.” He lied—he did not even bother to think because he knew that they had Sanghyuk with them so no matter what, they would be able to find a safe place to hide to. “Let’s do it.” Firmly, he said it.

While the two boys had their heart-to-heart talk, Wonshik was sleeping in the corner while the dumb and dumber pair were still having their own melodrama.

“Mother, I know that I have wronged you. I have done many things that I don’t even deserve to be your son but did you know that guinea pigs have weak backs so we cannot let them run into a hamster wheel and it can seriously injure them? They are currently living a boring life, only running around, sleeping, drinking, and eating. Poor babies.” Jaehwan babbled. He could really be trusted when it came to stating facts that had nothing to do with the situation.

Taekwoon’s heart was pounding when he arrived home. He was standing in front of the entrance, confused because it was too quiet. It was awfully quiet considering that there were supposed to be four or five mental hospital patients in there. It was too suspicious for him. It was either they died or they did something awfully wrong—the latter seem to be more probable. Taekwoon could not help but to gulp, whatever the five did, it better not include his precious coffee and coffee machine because he would really cut their heads off and feed them to his neighbor’s tarantula.

Slowly opening his doorknob, he noticed nothing wrong with his house but a suspicious note was lying down the table on the kitchen.

“Surprise… your coffee machine is now a smoke machine. Great, huh?” Taekwoon read the letter loud and clear. He clearly understood what it meant: those idiots messed up and they escaped! Gritting his teeth, Taekwoon swore to find them.

“Where could those insane people be?” He wondered out loud. He thought about the fact that they could be hiding in their houses but then, it was so obvious that Sanghyuk would not consider it. Right, Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk was a genius so if Taekwoon were a genius, where would he hide? “No way.” Taekwoon groaned when a certain place entered his mind.

Relieved to be able to escape, the five guys were sprawled inside their hangout. It was actually a surprise that no one bothered to remove the hangout (it had only been a day but still). It seemed like the nurses were expecting them to come back.

“At least we’re safe here, right?” Hakyeon clasped his hands together. “We did a great job.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble but…” Nurse Park appeared, a sinister grin on her lips. “Someone is back and is looking for fiver patients who ruined his coffee machine.”

As the saying went… the rest was history.

Author's Note: (Apology and Announcement)

I wasn't being lazy this time, I swear! I was really busy with school and just happened to be so tired (I could barely open my eyes) whenever I get home even today so please do forgive this crappy chapter.

I did announce before that the story is coming to an end and it really is because one, I am running out of energy and time to continue this story. If it were inspiration and/or motivation, I do have lots but time and energy? Well, not so much. Two, I feel like the more I keep this up, the crappier the chapters would get so I am ending it lol (not really but yeah). So, I guess, there are two or three chapters left? Thanks you so much for supporting me throughout this story. ^^

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, Sweatervest_Suho, hongbeann, love_kris, Hala-bear, Zhuchu, Lola20, pink_baekbaek, vixxcha, Uvichan1, nam-seok, bcpfgrg, wi2nqs, and Vixxkittens, thank you so much! It means a lot to me.