7.00 p.m.

“Guys, dinner is ready. What are you guys doing here?” Coach Cho who had just returned from the kitchen asked as he made his way towards the closed circle the kids formed in the living room.

“But Wooyoung and Minsun haven’t returned. Should we wait for them for a while?” Munhwa asked.

“But I’m hungry already!” Chansung pouted. He kicked a footrest nearby in protest.

“Or should I go look for them instead?” Taecyeon suggested.

“Nah,” Coach Cho casually said as he plopped onto the nearest sofa. “They probably would be back after the rain stopped.”

“Or maybe,” Junho suddenly added. He tried to open his eyes wide to emphasize on his suspicion, but he loked funny doing so since his eyes were so small, “Maybe they stopped somewhere to have some delicious snacks by the roadside, and only bring home some cheap popsicles!”

“What?! How dare they!” Chansung shouted.

“What are you guys-”

“I don’t know about Minsun,” Jaebum quickly cut short Munhwa’s protest, “But there is a big probability that Wooyoung would do that.”

“Hey, you’re right.” Coach Cho straightened his back. “He probably did.”

“Coach, you think so because you always do that, didn’t you?” Gohee asked, smiling.

“Really, Coach, you? So all these time when you left early was because you went eating without us?” Chansung asked as he intently stared at the coach who looked uncomfortable now that his little secret was leaked. Gohee looked at Jaebum and they laughed together.

“Hey, hey, hey. I did bring you guys some snacks once in a while.”

“Yeah right. Those 20 cents crackers,” Jaebum snickered.

“Alright, alright! I’ll take you guys for a meal next time, okay?”

Chansung and Junho exchanged their made up hand shake happily.

“But are you guys going to let go of Wooyoung that easily? Besides, isn’t he the one who keeps making troubles?” Coach Cho raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Oh, yes, he does!” Munhwa said enthusiastically, and the rest couldn’t help but to laugh at how she reacted to Coach Cho’s questions. Everybody knows what she had been through because of Wooyoung.

“Are we planning a prank on him?” Taecyeon who was usually stern during practice started to smile. Well, he shared some tough time with Munhwa because of Wooyoung too. 

“I’m in!”

“Me too!”

Both Chansung and Junho quickly jumped in, not wanting to miss on the planning.

“So, what are we going to do?” Jaebum asked.

“Heh,” Coach Cho grinned again. “I’ve heard a lot of ghost stories in summer villas, y’know?”




“Ahjusshi! What’s the time now?” Wooyoung slightly turned his face and yelled at the shopkeeper ahjusshi at theback. 

“It’s 7.30! I’ll be closing the shop at 8.00!” A voice shouted back. Seemed like the ahjusshi was busy arranging some stuffs back there.

Minsun looked at Wooyoung who seemed as surprise as she was. She never thought it had been that long since they left the house. The other guys must have been worried for them, but the rain didn’t show any sign of stopping soon.

“It’s late. I think the dinner had been served.” Minsun stated.

“Let’s just quickly go through the rain.”

Minsun nodded and they both got up to get their stuffs.




They decided to hide in different places. Coach Cho did most of the planning. Chansung and Junho would scare the hell out of Wooyoung and Minsun when they got back by squirting syrup all over them, and then before they even realized that it was Chansung and Junho, Gohee would appear from the kitchen as a long haired ghost, with an extra pair of hands from behind her, played by Jaebum. So, when Minsun and Wooyoung tried to run away from the ghosts, Taecyeon and Munhwa will come down from upstairs looking like zombie while the coach did the recording so they could always watch the precious  moment over and over again in the future.

“Woah, you’re really good with these things,” Taecyeon said as he held up a mirror and looked into his reflection. They were upstairs, getting ready with their prank. Munhwa had been putting on some make-up on Taecyeon, making him looked like a dead person; pale skin, dark circles and all. After she finished her make-up on Taecyeon, she too put on the same make-up.

“He, he, I know right?” She was putting back all the stuffs in the make-up box she found in Minsun’s room when suddenly the light went off. Munhwa gasped at the sudden blackout.

“Munhwa! Are you there?” Taecyeon asked.

Munhwa nodded. She was a little panic at the darkness, but realized that Taecyeon couldn’t see her and answered, “Y-Yes. I’m here.”

Munhwa reached out her hands to look for Taecyeon, and when she tapped his shoulder by chance, Taecyeon quickly grabbed onto her fingers tightly.

“Stay put,” He said reassuringly. Taecyeon took out his mobile phone and using it as a source of light even though it wasn’t that useful. At least he could see Munhwa’s face now and she seemed relaxed to be able to see him too.

“Let’s go down and look for the others,” Taecyeon suggested and Munhwa nodded. They kept their hands clasped together tightly and Munhwa tailed closely behind him. Taecyeon slowed down when they were going downstairs, but at the landing, he paused when he saw a figure not far from him from the dim light from his handphone.

“Gohee, is that you?”

The figure slowly turned around, but Taecyeon couldn’t see her face. All he see was the white dress she had on her and the black long hair over her face.

“AAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Both him and and Munhwa screamed their lungs out. When they ran out of their breath, a flashlight was directed at their faces, and another set of screaming echoed through the house, this time coming from the mouths of the long haired ghost and her extra pairs of hands.

“AAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

“Wh-what is going on? That sounds like the sunbaes…” Chansung whispered to himself in fear. The sky was dark and the rain still pouring down heavily. When the lightning struck, Chansung shivered and pushed himself further into the corner he was hiding at. His eyes wildly scanned outside from the glass door for any signs of Wooyoung and Minsun coming home but he saw something else instead. There was a figure walking wobbly towards the house. To be exact, towards him. Eventually, the figure neared the glass sliding door, fell and hit the door, right in front of his eyes.

BAM!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

“Chansung! Chansung what happened?! Chansung aaaaaaah!” Junho quickly left his spot from behind the sofa when he heard Chansung ‘s scream, but since it was dark, his movement was slow and limited.

“JUNHOOOOOOO!!!” 

When the lightning struck again, Junho saw Chansung hugging his knees in the corner, slightly shaking. If he wasn’t scared less just like Chansung, Junho would have laughed his off at the sight of a big guy shivering in fear like that. Junho ran to him while there was some light available, and he too saw the soaked body lying against the glass door from outside.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” Junho screamed. His weakened knees failed on him and he fell to the floor. He reached for Chansung, and the boys hugged each other tight as if hanging onto their dear lives without being able to avert their gaze from the body agaisnt the glass door.

“M...n…s… ah…”

A faint voice was heard over the heavy rain and strong wind. Junho and Chansung exchanged surprised look before they leaned slightly closer to the glass wall to make sure that the voice they heard just then came from that body.

“MINSUN AAAAH!...” This time the voice shouted louder.

“Chansung! Junho! Are you guys okay? We heard you guys screaming!” Jaebum rushed to Junho and Chansung, his flashlight pointed at the two younger guys. Taecyeon and the two girls followed behind him while Coach Cho arrived the last since he was looking for his camera from his room at the third floor. However, when they got closer to the two boys, their attention diverted to the body which was curled up against the glass door.

“Wha… What the hell is that?!” Taecyeon asked, his eyes widened in disbelief.




Wooyoung heaved a big sigh of relief when they arrived back at Minsun’s summer villa. It didn’t take long from the shop, but since it was raining so heavily, they were soaked head to toe. This time, Wooyoung offered on riding the bicycle and strictly told Minsun to take good care of the firecrackers and never let them get wet.

“How’s the firecrackers?” Was the first thing which flew out from his mouth as soon as his feet touched the ground.

“They’re fine,” Minsun pulled something out from underneath her wet blouse, it was a plastic neatly wrapped around the bunch of firecrackers they bought from the shop. She showed it to Wooyoung and he smiled, showing his satisfaction.

“C’mon, let’s get in.” Wooyoung took the plastic along the other one that contained the ice creams and get inside together with Minsun.




The two of them paused as soon as they arrived at the living room to find it empty. Wooyoung and Minsun looked at each other with questioning looks on their face. Wooyoung was about to open his mouth to call on somebody when there were footsteps noises coming from the stairs, and they were Chansung and Junho.

“Oh! Minsun ah, you’re back!” Chansung seemed relieved. “Someone’s here to see you, and he’s been waiting for you upstairs, in Taecyeon hyung’s room.” Chansung said.

“Who?” Minsun didn’t have any idea who would suddenly look for her in the middle of summer. And there wasn’t  much people who knew about her summer villa.

“Go upstairs, Munhwa will explain the rest to you,” Junho added.

Minsun suddenly had a bad feeling and rushed upstairs. A few people, Coach Cho, Jaebum, Gohee and Munhwa were hanging around outside of Taecyeon’s room. Munhwa stared at the floor as she tried to figure the possibilities of what had happened. She instantly looked up when she heard footsteps nearing her.

“Minsun ah, Nichkhun sunbae- Did you go through the rain?” She asked out of concern when she realized that Minsun was soaked head to toe.

“Khun oppa? Is he inside?” Minsun ignored Munhwa’s question and asked about Nichkhun instead. It was not common for Nichkhun to be looking for her at time and place like this. Usually on summer holiday, he would be off with his elite cliques on a cruise or something. Despite them being close since young, most of the time they do their own things. Unlike Nichkhun, Minsun wasn’t fond with mixing with the rich princes and princesses of her parents’ friends. She preferred keeping her profile low and keep her grandmother company.

Despite Gohee and Munhwa by her side telling her to dry herself first, Minsun went straight to the door of Taecyeon’s room which he shared with Jaebum. She knocked on it a couple of times and opened the door right away.

And what she saw inside gave her mixed feelings. A chair by the bed Nichkhun was lying on tumbled over, Taecyeon facing his back to Nichkhun, his hand on his waist and his face looked angry, Nichkhun‘s face turned to the other side not wanting to look at Taecyeon. She was worried to see Nichkhun lying down looking pale, uneasy to see that him and Taecyeon were arguing, and she even felt slightly annoyed that these boys couldn’t get along.

“Sunbae, can I talk to him for a bit?” Minsun requested. Nichkhun turned his face towards her when he noticed her presence.

Taecyeon wiped his face with his hand, as if wiping away his anger. He looked calmer now when he looked at her in the eyes.

“Sure,” he said gently and stepped out of the room, and shut the door.

Minsun stepped closer to the bed and picked up the tumbled down chair and sat herself on it. She eyed Nichkhun up and down, and he did the same to her too.

“Why are you wet?”
“Why are you here?”

They spoke simultaenously. Nichkhun waited for Minsun.

“Why are you here?” Minsun repeated her question.

Nichkhun chuckled and mildly rolled his eyes since he was feeling a bit weak. If he wasn’t, they probbaly would have start arguing.

“Why? I can’t visit you anymore now that you have Taecyeon by your side? And can’t you ask me if I was okay first?” Nichkhun couldn’t hide his jealousy anymore as more and more pictures of her and and Taecyeon surfaced on the internet these days, uploaded by a user called Channuneo, he wasn’t sure who that was, but he was sure that they were from the basketball team and that they were doing that to get more visits on their gossip blog.

Minsun looked away. She started to feel annoyed whenever he dragged Taecyeon’s name into their conversation. He made her sounded like she was head over heels with Taecyeon to the point that she would gave up her friends for him when in fact she wasn’t like that at all. 

Since Minsun didn’t seem like she would continue the conversation, Nichkhun decided that he should speak first.

“Can I stay here for a few days?”

Minsun slowly looked at him again, and he looked serious.

“Why? What happened?” Her voice softened, now laced with honest concern. If there was anyone at all who could understand Nichkhun, it was her. They shared the same family background, and she knew it wasn’t easy to be born as the only heir of the leaders in corporate world. Their everyday façade was actually a total lie from what they actually feels inside.

“I was at a party with these people… I don’t know, but they seemed suspicious, their party and all. I could tell that I was drugged, so I tried to get out of there right away. I’m pretty sure they are all up to no good, whether against me or just like that,” Nichkhun shook his head and sighed. Minsun could tell he was still a little drunk and dizzy from what happened.

“You came here on your own? In that state?” Minsun knew Nichkhun loves to go around with his car or bike on his own on his personal outing.

“Minsun, I-”

“Oppa, did you know what you just did?” 

“I know,”

“You could kill yourself!” Minsun’s voice slightly rose, but then she reminded herself to calm down and took a deep breath.

Nichkhun smiled a little to see that Minsun still cared a lot for him. “You know my parents would rather have me die in an accident than getting involved in a scandal and ruin their image,”

Minsun sighed. She took his hand in both her hands. He felt cold, so she gently rubbed his fingers. He was right, and that made her pity him so much. At least she still has her grandmother whom she could go or talk to anytime.

“I told my mother that I will be with those guys for a week, so is it okay for me to be here until this weekend?”

“Of course you can, but promise me you’ll get along with the other boys too,”

“Of course I will. You know I get along well with just anybody, but Taecyeon is still an exception,”

Minsun shook her head in regret. 

“I didn’t know Taecyeon didn’t like you either?”

“I havent tell you why didn’t I?”

Minsun shook her head.

“It wasn’t that long… since Subin’s…” His voice trailed off as his drowsiness kicked in again. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to keep awake but this time it was harder to fight it off since he was on a comfotable bed and warmly blanketed. Minsun raised from her chair and pulled the blanket up to his chin. She placed her hand on his forehead and she to confirm her doubt that he caught a fever, and she was right. She might have her doctor to come over first thing tomorrow morning if his body temperature didn’t go down next morning.

“It’s okay… Just have a rest first,”

His eyes slowly closed. “Thanks,” he whispered.




7.00 a.m.

Last night Taecyeon slept at Chansung and Junho’s room since Nichkhun was occupying his bed. Besides, he didn’t mean to share the same room with him anyway. He tried his best to avoid him or they would immediately got into argument again. He didn’t want to look bad especially in front of his team. However, despite all the hate and bitterness, Taecyeon managed to note Jaebum before he left the room to keep an eye on Nichkhun, since he was sick and all and that nobody in the team actually know him. Jaebum was one of the few people who knew the history between Taecyeon and Nichkhun, but since he was an outsider, his relationship with Nichkhun was pretty much neutral.

All the boys got up early as usual and gathered at the dining area for breakfast. The girls were a little late, they came down when the boys almost emptied their plates. When Munhwa and Gohee already seated themselves at the table, Taecyeon waited for Minsun to appear but she didn’t. 

“Where’s Minsun?” Taecyeon asked to one of the girls.

Munhwa looked at Gohee, as if asking the older girl if she should tell him.

“She’s upstairs,” Gohee explained, “With Nichkhun,”

Everybody paused whatever they were doing and stared at Taecyeon, who seemed to be unaffected and continued eating. Despite him always stating that his ‘dating’ status involving Minsun was fake, slowly everyone in the team started to be suspicious of his real feelings towards Minsun. He seemed to be too nice to her when he was usually the first to run away from their fangirls.

Taecyeon pretended like he didn’t see all the curious stared and kept a straight face while he continued with his breakfast.

“I see,” he simply replied. His mind slowly drifted to the converstaion he had with Nichkhun last night, which made him realized how he still despised that guy even after a few years.




“What the hell is wrong with you? Do you drink now?” Taecyeon asked as he eyed Nichkhun who was lying on his bed from head to toe. He asked the others to let him have some private moment with the guy whom he hadn’t talked to since the last couple of years.NIchkhun looked wasted. His face pale and he could barely moved.

Nichkhun avoided his question. “I heard from Minsun you pretend to date her.” His voice sounded unpleasant, as ifTeacyeon doing so was a big sin.

“So what?”

“Do you like her?”

“Does it matter to you?”

“Yes, in fact, it does. She’s a good girl. She’s very precious to me.”

“Whatever precious to you isn’t necessarily yours.”

Nichkhun chuckled bitterly. He forced his eyes open, fighting back the drowsiness so he could get his point across while he had the chance.

“Her family background, her fragility, her naivety. Does she make you feel like protecting her? Does she reminds you of someone?”

“What are you trying to imply, Khun?” Taecyeon was surprised at himself how naturally that name slipped from his own lips, despite how much grudge he had against him.

“Us fighting for the same girl for ourselves. Doesn’t that sound familiar?” His voice laced with sarcasm.

Taecyeon didn’t reply this time, but Nichkhun could see him clenching his jaw. He clearly hadn’t forgotten the past, Nichkhun made a mental note.

Nichkhun continued, “I’m saying, people who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it. You better not lay a finger on her, or the story will have the same ending. You know it. You do.”

“ YOU.” Taecyeon abruptly stood up sending the chair he was sitting on just now tumbling backwards, causing a loud thud. 

Knock, knock.

Taecyeon instantly turned his back from Nichkhun as a way to calm himself down. He didn’t even turn to look at who it was when the door opened since he was too angry, and he didn’twant  anyone to see him like that, except for Nichkhun.




The heat hadn’t completley left Nichkhun, but at least he felt better than last night. He was still on his bed, but he was sitting up, his back againts the bed head with a pillow in between them. By his side was Minsun, holding a bowl of hot rice porridge. Nichkhun watched her with a soft smile on his lips as she gently blew the scooped up poridge. Not long after that, Minsun stretched the hand with the spoon, offering to feed Nichkhun.

“Aah,” Minsun opened , motioning Nichkhun who was still staring at her, smiling, to do the same. He complied without averting his gaze from her even for a second.

Minsun scooped up another spoon of porridge and blew on them. She took a brief glance at Nichkhun, and his gentle gaze was still locked up on her.

“What are you looking at?” Minsun asked and fed him the food.

Nichkhun chuckled. “You.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

The routine repeated. Minsun scooped another spoon of porridge, and blew on it before feeding him.

“I didnt’t know you still care for me this much.”

Minsun smiled. “I don’t know either. It’s not like I want to,”

“Ouch.”

Minsun smirked. And then she sighed.

“Can you not meet those kids anymore? I know you don’t like them that much,”

“Mm… I promise I won’t cause any trouble in the future anymore. This will be the last,”

“You didn’t answer me.”

Nichkhun just grinned like an innocent little child, which earned him a light slap on his arm.

“Ouch, I didn’t know you were violent too,”

“Oppa~” Minsun slightly pouted, “Fine, don’t answer if you don’t want to. But you can’t complain about who I’m friends with,”

“Ah,” Nichkhun sighed in turn, he slightly threw his head back. “I’m fine with anybody, but not-”

“Including him; Taecyeon sunbae.”

Nichkhun sighed. Minsun wasn’t the type who would listen to others that easily. 

“Then tell me, do you like him?” Nichkhun looked straight into her eyes, and Minsun could tell, he wasn’t playing around just like just now.

“It doesn’t matter whether I like him or not. He is still my friend.”

“I really can’t stop you, can I?”

“No, of course not. You know it.”

“Then, will you at least listen to my reason?”

“Of course. Tell me about it.”