“Seriously, hyung. How’d you know Kwang Soo?”

Chanyeol sighed. How am I supposed to answer this without telling him that I actually grew up with the Moons? He didn’t want the others to know that he actually knew Ga Young from the start. He needed to accomplish his personal mission first before going around confessing the truth.

But Sehun won’t stop asking until I tell him. The man knew the younger long enough to be very well aware of that.

Sensing his predicament, Baekhyun, as the only person who knew the real reason why Chanyeol had offered to use their house as their new dorm and his relationship with the Moons next door, quickly intercepted. “Ah, I was talking to Ga Young-sshi the other day and she was telling me some things about herself, including her brother. Chanyeol was there, so I guess he remembered.”

Chanyeol glanced at his best friend and gave him a thankful look.

Thankfully, Sehun accepted the lie and nodded his head although Kyungsoo, who had just walked over to them upon hearing the commotion, gave him a suspicious side glance.

“But why have you been texting her brother all day?” Chanyeol asked out of curiosity, pretending not to notice Kyungsoo’s stare.

“Ah, Kwang Soo here is an avid fan of anime and we were discussing Sword Arts Online,” Sehun told them. “It was Naruto and Avatar before that.”

“Nerds,” Baekhyun with a joking smile.

“You’re one to talk. You’re a gamer!”

“Games and anime are different, maknae.”

“Whatever.”

Chanyeol shook his head in amusement and turned back to his guitar, but he suddenly paused before glancing out at the house next door. He briefly wondered what Ga Young was doing at the moment before shifting his attention back to his guitar, unaware that he was being watched very closely.

***

“This is madness!”

Ga Young rolled her eyes at that. “Mom, stop overreacting. It’s like you didn’t know how manipulative Goo Jun Pyo’s mom could be,” she said. She has no idea why her mother was watching Boys Over Flowers out of the blue, but her reactions throughout the drama had amused her.

“But seriously, she’s such a… a wrench! Someone should just kill her!” her mother exclaimed from the couch, glaring at the screen.

Ga Young sighed and turned to her dad. “What is going on with her? Is she drunk?” she asked.

The man snorted. “No, she’s not. She’s just stressed over work, sweetheart. It’s been a busy couple of weeks.”

“I can tell.” She let out a sigh but kept her eyes on the onion she’s peeling. “Dad, do you think I should just start working with you guys now?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted some time off before working?”

“Yeah, but you guys are busy with work and I feel like I should work as well. Maybe I can assist you guys with something.”

Mr Moon smiled at her. “It’s fine, sweetie. At least with you at home, you can cook and clean while we’re away. You don’t know how glad your mom is right now that you’re not working, or else she’ll have to worry about the chores at home or Kwang Soo’s meal.”

“That guy should just learn how to cook for himself,” she scoffed with a shake of her head.

“Don’t worry, he will one day.” Ga Young doubted it but she nodded anyway. “Right now just focus on where you wanted to go next," he reminded her and she nodded again. "So, how’s your work next door? Did you make friends with our neighbours?” 

“It’s okay, I guess. There’s always something to do, and sometimes when they’re at home, they’d ask me to join them for breakfast or lunch. They’re not always around though.”

“I heard from your mom that they’re famous artists. Is it true?”

She nodded. “Very. They’re famous and super busy.”

“And you’re actually friends with them,” her dad said with a light nudge at her elbow.

“I wouldn’t really say we’re friends,” she corrected him. “I mean, they’re nice and all, and we get along, but they’re more like my friendly employers. We didn’t say we’re friends and we speak formally with each other too.”

Except for Chanyeol, her subconscious reminded her.

“Ah… why don’t you make friends with them? From what I heard, they’re off your age too. It’s not wrong to make friends with your neighbours, even if your neighbours turned out to be some boys from a famous boy group.”

Ga Young chuckled at that. “It’s fine, dad. Don’t worry about me and just focus on your work,” she said before letting out a sigh. “Okay, onions are peeled and vegetables washed.”

“The chicken has been marinated too.”

“Great. Let’s start cooking.”

***

Chanyeol was working in the studio at SM Entertainment with some few guys, making a few tweaks here and there from the lyrics he’s written for his newly composed song. When they were satisfied, they even asked him to record the demo before wrapping everything up. He remained in the studio even after the others had left and played some random songs from his phone that has been connected to the speakers.

“What’s going on in that beautiful mind… I’m on your magical mystery ride… And I’m so dizzy, don’t know what hit me, but I’ll be alright…” he sang as he went through his Instagram feeds, reading the comments fans had posted on the picture of himself in the studio an hour ago.

“My head’s under water but I’m breathing fine… You’re crazy and I’m out of my mind...”

Chanyeol frowned and sat up straight in his seat when he read one of the comments posted. A fan had asked him about Suho’s condition and hoped that the man will get better soon, and immediately after reading that, Chanyeol felt his mood worsen. He switched off the song and closed his eyes in frustration as the silence enveloped him.

***

Two weeks before moving…

The EXO members were practicing hard for their upcoming concert, sweating like crazy as they danced in front of the mirrors in the dance studio. Their shoes squeaked and padded loudly against the wooden floor as they danced, doing so over and over until their moves were perfectly synchronized.

“Chanyeol, work on your spins please. Don’t just flail your long arms or else you’ll hit your members,” Shim Jae Won, also known as BeatBurger, commented before lightly patting him on the back. “But that was good. Good job, Yeol.”

“Thanks, hyung. I’ll work on that,” he replied as he panted for breath.

“Alright guys, let’s call it a day. Go shower and leave,” the man said with a few loud claps before gesturing them out the door.

“You’ve worked hard!” the EXO members yelled in unison and bowed at the director.

Instead of following after s, Chanyeol approached the man with a light smile. “Hyung, can I stay longer? I want to work on a few of the moves from Growl. I feel like I was a mess earlier.”

“You did just fine though,” the man said. When Chanyeol kept giving him a pleading look, he sighed. “Is everything alright, Yeol?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been… messy lately. I heard you haven’t been able to work on your composing lately too. Did something bad happened? Why are you so distracted?”

Chanyeol lowered his gaze and shook his head. He can’t possibly tell the director that he’s lacking so much because he broke his lucky pendant. Jae Won hyung will laugh at me, he thought. “Nothing, hyung. I’m fine. I’m just… having a slump now, I guess.”

“Well, don’t let yourself drown in it too much. You need to do your best, Yeol.”

“I will, hyung.”

“Make sure to switch off everything before leaving, Yeol. And don’t stay here too long. You need to rest too.”

“Just an hour would do, hyung. Thanks, hyung!”

Jae Won waved at him before walking out of the room, and Chanyeol walked over to the radio to put on the song but stopped when the door opened again. Suho stood there with a raised brow.

“What are you still doing here?” the leader asked.

“I’m going to stay to practice a bit more. What are you doing here, hyung?” he asked back.

“I guess we had the same thing in mind,” Suho shrugged. “You don’t mind me joining you, do you?”

“And if I do?”

Suho gritted his teeth at him and Chanyeol laughed before putting on the song he wished to practice on. The elder gave him a look but said nothing and they stood within an arm length from each other as they started to dance. Chanyeol always felt sad whenever he listened to the songs which they promoted with all twelve members and were now doing with less than the number, but this time he decided not to dwell on it and focused on his dancing.

An hour later, they both decided to finally call it a day. It was close to midnight then and Chanyeol was dying to just get back to the dorm and sleep. They have an afternoon schedule tomorrow and they won’t have to do their hair and makeup until 10 o’clock, so he looked forward to sleeping in.

Suho suggested to walk back to the dorms instead of hailing a cab, and Chanyeol protested at first but he’d rather tire his muscles than let his leader walk alone. Luckily, there were no fans in sight so they were able to walk and talk freely all the way to the dorm (“Thank God the dorm is close by because my legs are about to fall off!”). When they walked into the lobby, Suho realized that the elevator was not working and Chanyeol groaned.

“Sorry, Yeol.” Suho apologized with a sheepish grin, but Chanyeol could tell that the elder was really sorry.

He sighed quietly and smiled at his leader. “No, it’s fine, hyung. It’s not your fault. Come on, we need to climb all the way up to the 11^th floor.”

They hardly spoke much since they were both really tired and wanted to save energy, and they’ve barely made it to the 10^th floor when Chanyeol heard a commotion along the stairs and stopped, making Suho pause as well.

“Do you hear that?” he asked, whispering.

“Are those… girls?” Suho whispered back, eyes wide with alarm. “How did they get into our building?”

“Wait, what if they’re not fans? Just girls who came to visit a friend living here?”

“On our floor? Our next door neighbour is a deaf grandmother and a security guard who works night shifts at the mall. Not unless these girls are the grandmother’s granddaughters, then I’m betting that they’re our fans instead.”

Chanyeol gave Suho a look at that. “Wow, you just sounded like Baekhyun.”

“Do not compare me to the puppy, Yeol. Please, I’m smarter than him.”

“Okay, but he thinks he’s two times better looking than you though.”

Suho let out a snort at that. “Please, multiplying two and zero still makes it zero, Yeol.”

He laughed. “Wow, you're sassier when you’re dead tired huh?”

“Chanyeol, focus! Let’s head back downstairs.”

“And then what? We have no place to go!”

“We can call manager hyung and–”

“OH MY GOD IT’S CHANYEOL OPPA! AND SUHO OPPA!!”

Their eyes widened comically and with a yelp, Chanyeol quickly ushered Suho to run back down when they heard the footsteps coming closer and their screams getting louder. Chanyeol was clearly panicking; he was tired after a long day and his head felt heavy too, and due to the rush, he missed a step and stumbled into Suho and they both rolled down the stairs, groaning in pain.

When Chanyeol sat up, he realized he had a rather soft landing and turned in horror to see Suho, his beloved leader, silently in pain with his ankle twisted in an odd position.

***

Chanyeol got back to the dorm only to find it empty. He recalled that Kyungsoo had a filming for his drama while Baekhyun had a meeting to attend, but he was pretty sure that Sehun was supposed to be home. He quickly whipped out his phone to dial the maknae’s number and he answered at the third ring.

“Hey, hyung. What’s up?”

“Where are you? Shouldn’t you be home?” Chanyeol asked as he dumped his bag onto his bed.

“I was home but I was bored and Kwang Soo had a night class to attend, so I came to visit Suho hyung at the hospital.” Sehun replied.

Chanyeol stilled, his phone tucked in between his ear and shoulder, while he was taking off his jacket. “Oh… uh, how’s he doing?” he asked.

Sehun sighed. “He’s okay, but he just fell asleep. He asked about you.” When Chanyeol didn’t say anything, he continued, “The doctors said he can be discharged tomorrow, hyung.”

“R–Really?”

“Yeah, but he won’t be able to dance for quite some time. The doctors think that it might take him at least half a year before he could do that again.”

Chanyeol swallowed hard at that. This is all my fault.

“And manager hyungs said that they’re going to push back our concert tour, too.”

“…I know.”

“Hyung, aren’t you going to come visit him?” Sehun suddenly asked after a short silence.

“…I’m sorry, Sehun. I can’t,” he whispered, his throat choking him and preventing him to speak louder. But it wasn’t necessary because Sehun heard him well.

“It’s not your fault, hyung. It really wasn’t.”

He didn’t have anything to say to that.

***

“You really need to stop making me send food over,” Ga Young complained while her mother packed the spaghetti and meatballs and mushroom soup she’s made for dinner. It’s rare for Mrs Moon to suddenly crave Italian cuisine so they’d usually enjoy it whenever she cooks them, and Ga Young was surprised that the elder wanted to share it with the neighbours as well. “What’s gotten into you lately? Since when do you make extra spaghetti for neighbours? You hardly allow us to have seconds so you can have it all.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” her mother said with a roll of her eyes. She grinned once all the foods were packed and placed into a paper bag. “Right! We’re all set. Now go on, send them next door, would you?”

She sighed. “I should get paid for this,” she grumbled.

“Oh, honey. Of course you are. They’re paying you for cleaning their house, aren’t they?”

“This isn’t part of cleaning, mom.” she deadpanned.

“We can call it an extra service then,” her mother shrugged nonchalantly before ushering her out the door. “Now off you go!”

Ga Young let out a groan when the door closed behind her, and she spent a second glaring holes at it before turning around and walking over to her neighbour’s house. “They’d better be home,” she muttered before pressing onto the doorbell.

One minute turned into two, and she rang the bell for the fourth time in annoyance before it swung open, and Ga Young almost jumped back when she saw Chanyeol frowning deeply at her.

“What are you doing here? It’s not yet morning, Ga Young.”

She sighed. “I’m not here to clean your damn house, Chanyeol. I’m here to hand you the food my mom made.”

“Food?”

“Spaghetti meatballs and mushroom soup. She’s feeling Italian tonight.” Chanyeol’s eyes seemed to gleamed at that and Ga Young found herself smiling at the sight. She peered past him in suspicion when she heard nothing but silence, and raised a brow at him. “Hey, are you alone?” she asked.

Chanyeol was still staring at the paper bag and she had to snap her fingers under his nose to make him turn to her. She repeated her question. “Oh, yeah. The others had schedules,” he told her.

“Ah, bummer. It to eat such good food alone,” she absentmindedly commented as she glanced down at the bag.

“Do you want to come in then?” She looked up at him in mild surprise and disbelief. He cleared his throat when he saw this and said, “W–Well, you’re right. It eating good food when you’re alone. Since you’re here, might as well come inside, right?”

Ga Young blinked at him once, twice and a third time. “Sure.”