17th September 2018

“You ok?” Junhui slammed his but onto the sofa, looking over to Wonwoo. He’d been sat there the last 5 minutes staring at the same page of his favourite book.

“I’m fine.”

“Sorry, let me rephrase that; what’s on Mr Comedic Genius’s mind?” Junhui took a sip of his recently brewed coffee, embracing the fact that Mingyu and Minghao weren’t in the room at this moment.

Wonwoo glanced at Junhui, “You’re going to keep pestering me until I tell you, right?” He fiddled with the sleeves of his beige jumper, burying his hands under the warm fabric.

“You’ve got that right.” Junhui smirked.

“It’s dumb though.” Wonwoo shook his head.

“It can’t be as bad as what leaves Mingyu’s mouth.” Junhui shrugged in response.

“True.” Wonwoo paused. “It’s just, ever since Chan arrived I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen and, I mean, Jihoon was injured yesterday.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust Chan?” Junhui leaned forwards slightly.

“No! No! I trust him! I just feel like his arrival has set events into motion that wouldn’t have taken place if he hadn’t appeared. I don’t think he caused them! I just think his arrival was like a bad omen or something like that. It’s not his fault.” Wonwoo scratched his head slightly. “Am I making sense?”

“Yes. Yes. I understand where you’re coming from. It feels like he’s set stuff off and from now on chaos will erupt.” Junhui exaggerated. “You’re overthinking it, Wonu. Nothing is happening. What happened last night was just an accident.”

“Maybe I am, but I don’t know. Everything just feels weird.” Wonwoo shrugged, leaning back on the sofa.

“What’s weird?” Minghao breathed into Wonwoo’s neck.

“Nothing!” Wonwoo instinctively answered, sitting up dead straight. “How’d you get in anyway?”

“I have my methods.” Minghao grinned. “It doesn’t sound like nothing to me though. Spill.”

Junhui sighed. “He’s worried about Chan. He feels like his arrival has caused to happen.”

“I see what you mean. Chan is an odd character. I thought that he was boring at first, but he’s slowly intriguing me more and more.” Minghao frowned slightly. “I can’t believe I missed the fact he was planning on taking Law and Enforcement.”

“You’re not expected to know everything, Hao.” Mingyu rubbed Minghao’s shoulders, having waited until after Minghao had scared Wonwoo to approach.

Minghao scoffed. “You saw how Seungcheol reacted when Jihoon went missing. He instantly expected me to have all the answers, but I was useless.”

“He was stressed out. He cares deeply about Hoonie.” Mingyu pouted.

“Still, I should have known.” Minghao muttered, bringing his knees up a little.

“No! Why would you have known that?” Mingyu argued.

“Chan did. Chan had all the answers while I just stood and watched.” Minghao sulked.

“Chan happened to have studied that! That sort of field was his area of expertise! Your area of expertise lies in helping us understand our thoughts and feelings! You understand how my mind works better than I do! You know when I’m nervous! You know when I’m scared! You know what to do when Wonu is down and what to do when Jun’s missing home! You know that when I fail an assignment that I like cuddles and to lie down on the sofa eating junk food with a small group of company. You know when to leave Wonu alone. You know that I need attention frequently. You know when compliment Jun’s appearance so that it doesn’t inflate his ego. You’re perfect at what you do. You don’t need to do anything else, ok?” Mingyu panted, slightly. “Ah! Sorry! Please don’t kill me!” He carefully glanced at Minghao’s face.

Suddenly, Minghao twisted around and clung to Mingyu tightly. “Thank you, Gyu. You’re not too bad at cheering people up yourself.” Minghao smiled gently.

“Ew gross. Feelings.” Wonwoo faked disgust.

“Just because no one reacts to your jokes.” Junhui nudged him. “Anyway, should we bet on it?”

“Bet on what?” Mingyu blinked innocently.

“Chan.” Minghao stated as if that explained everything.

“Well, I’m betting that Chan presence is setting events into motion.” Wonwoo claimed.

“I’ll bet that it’s Jihoon’s fault.” Junhui smiled.

“Jihoon’s?” Wonwoo questioned.

“Well, I mean he’s been tense for the whole term.” Junhui shrugged.

“Interesting.” Minghao grinned, forgetting the tension from earlier. “I’ll bet that Chan has caused these events and there is more to him than we realise.”

“Mingyu?” Junhui turned to the tall beansprout.

“Me?” Mingyu blinked, pointing at himself.

“No Wongyu.” Junhui scoffed. “Are you joining the bet or what?”

“Oh!” Mingyu paused for a minute. “I’ll bet that no matter what everything will end happily and Chan is innocent.”

“Too pure.” Junhui muttered.

“What are the stakes then?” Wonwoo cut in.

“Money?” Junhui offered.

“Too simple.” Minghao waved away the concept.

“Food?” Mingyu tilted his head.

“No.” The other three collectively groaned.

Minghao smirked. “What about the other three have to be the winner’s slaves for a week?”

“Why?” Everyone else whined, but found themselves eventually agreeing.

“Well, I need to do some research.” Minghao rose and went towards the elevator.

Jihoon was content. He’d been allowed to return to the hotel on strict orders of plenty of rest and no exercise for 3 days. Seungcheol had never left his side. Currently, they were both lazing about in their room. Jeonghan, Jisoo and Chan were out somewhere. Jihoon was laying on the bed and Seungcheol was sat on a chair next to him, one hand playing with Jihoon’s hand and the other was running through Jihoon’s hair. It was comforting and calming. Jihoon could stay like this forever, not doing much and just enjoying the gentle breathing of the other and his gentle smile. Things don’t always go his way though. He needs to talk to Seungcheol and he knew if he didn’t do it now, he would never get another opportunity.