Taeyong shouldn’t worry. He knows that, because Inhye clearly told him that Nakamoto Yuta isn’t anyone to her. So why does he find himself cursing under his breath when Yuta takes the seat next to her when they’re eating dinner, or the way he looks at her when they watch a movie? But as soon as Yuta looks at Taeyong, flashes a smile, his frustration is replaced by jealously. Yuta is good looking, and even if Taeyong wants to dislike him (he even tells himself that he dislike the brunette), it’s impossible. His stories never failed to make people laugh and his way of speaking made everyone listen. He was gifted. Even Inhye, who looked like she was about to cry again at any minute before, is now laughing along with the other guys.

”See, as expected of my company,” Ten nods, satisfied with his decision to invite Yuta to this midsummer party.

”There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Yuta speaks. ”You do know that South Korea doesn’t celebrate midsummer, right? I mean, okay if it’d been Japan, but South Korea?”

”Ey,” Ten elbows Yuta in his ribs and he flinches, Taeyong’s eyes going wide as the Japanese boy hides behind Inhye’s shoulder. They look good together. He hates it. ”It was my idea, mine and Johnny’s. So actually, it’s a... Thaimerican party. We just decided to invite Hansol and Taeil and Taeyong.”

”And that the party should be in my barn,” Hansol says, his mouth stuffed with potatoes. ”Speaking of which, let’s all sleep in the barn tonight. The weather is vegetableful.”

Taeyong was about to translate to the ever so confused Inhye that ‘vegetableful’ was the Busan way to say ‘fruitful’, but someone else is quicker. Yuta bury his nose into Inhye’s hair to get to her ear, whisper something and Inhye makes that face she usually does when she really wants to throw something at Hansol.

”Finally! The barn is my favourite!” Johnny exclaims, nods and then claps his hands once, twice, before settling down.

Taeyong groans as he remembers not being able to sleep for three ing months, because Johnny and Ten loved the barn and really wanted to sleep there every night only to ing giggle the whole night. Taeyong may be a deep sleeper, yes, but falling asleep is another thing. He can’t fall asleep when Johnny and Ten are doing things he doesn’t even want to think about.

The barn is hefty a kilometre away from Hansol’s house, but fortunately they put their mattresses and other heavy things into a tractor and then Hansol drove away with them. Then Johnny became a fake taxi driver again.

Inhye had thought that he’d drive two times; once with a group of people and next time with the others. Never had she thought that he’d complain about fuel and that they can fit into his ing Kia. They are eight people with Johnny included. Ten hurried and took the seat, no not next to Johnny but right on Johnny. He sat in his lap. Inhye wanted to ing get a train back to Seoul because she’s sure that the chances of surviving this drive is low.

Kun and Winwin somehow managed to get the front seat, after winning rock, paper, scissors against Doyoung and Jaehyun.

So then there’s Inhye, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung and Jaehyun left. They do another round of rock, paper, scissors about the seat in the middle; since that person will be the only one without someone sitting in their lap.

Taeyong wins that one, and Inhye sees the kind of look of concern that colours his face before he takes the seat in the middle.

”I wanna’ sit in Jung Jaehyun’s lap!” Doyoung says and drags Jaehyun into the car.

Then Inhye is left with Yuta. Honestly, she had momentarily forgotten who he was to her, because she had been so caught up in laughing at his stories and slapping him on the arm for saying stupid things when eating dinner. She hadn’t forgiven him, not a single chance, but because she was so certain that she’d never see him again; her mind had started to forget him.

She forgot for a second why she hates him.

Not only that. She was more or less an uninvited guest to this midsummer party, and Yuta was actually fitting in better than her. Everyone loved him, and Ten was so proud to be friends with such an extroverted an fun friend. If she was going to be sulking, being cold to Yuta every time he spoke with her or ignore him; she was going to ruin the mood and the midsummer party. She didn’t want to come here and be a burden to everyone. If anyone would find out their history, the tension would be unbearable for Inhye’s conscience.

”I can run after the car, if you don’t want to sit on my lap,” Yuta offers and Inhye can’t stop a smile.

Because he still says stupid things like that. Because he still says things that makes her like him. Because she really hates him, but still can’t.

”How about you sitting in my lap?” Inhye requests, teasingly but not intended. As everyone was looking at them to hurry up, if she was to ignore him or spit something mean to him it’d be way too obvious.

”... I’d rather run.”

So that’s how she ended up with Yuta’s arms around her waist in the car. But she’s way too distracted by Johnny’s driving that she prepress Yuta’s presence.

”Johnny, hands on the wheel!” she cries out as his hand’s goes to Ten. If he could keep his hands away from Ten for even a second, her heart would be more at ease.

”Alright, mommy,” Johnny snickers, eyes her through the back mirror.

”Eyes on the road!”

Taeyong finds it cute, because they are all used to Johnny and Ten being idiots like this and getting into near death situations because of them. It’s cute how Inhye doesn’t know that these two are always at each other, no matter what they’re doing or where they are.

Then he glares are the other new requite. Yuta, who is leaning his chin onto Inhye’s back. Yuta, who hasn’t been here for even a day, but Taeyong already misses the times when he wasn’t here. Yuta, who hasn’t been here for even a day, but fits into this group so perfectly as he could’ve been here for three years. He’s fun, he’s good looking and somewhat extroverted. Taeyong doesn’t know if it’s how close Yuta gets to Inhye that triggers him, or if it’s just how perfect he is. He had never met them before and was already ‘bestest friend in the world’ with Ji Hansol. That’s a hard task.

Yuta notices that Taeyong is staring (or maybe he felt it, because honestly Taeyong’s gaze were no joke), opens his eyes and looks straight into Taeyong’s. Then he smiles. He ing smiled. Taeyong clenches his fists into his thighs to prevent punching that smile off his face, then smiles back.

And just a second after that, Johnny drove right into a fence.

The eight of them get out of the car, Johnny patting the fence.

”No big harm, but three boards are more or less useless now,” Johnny sighs.

Taeyong groans, glares at both Ten and Johnny. Ten looks like he just got caught with his finger in the cookie jar, and that is too cute for Taeyong.

”If I wasn’t already a murderer, I’d consider being one,” he grits his teeth. ”Ten did you have to give him a right then and there?!”

Ten gasps. ”When did I!? And it was a funky song on the radio, couldn't help it.”

”I just knew it’d be you guys when I heard a crash!” a voice from the other side of the fence suddenly calls and a somewhat shortish boy with his hair looking like a bird’s nest for some damn reason comes running towards them. ”Where’s Hansol, that jerk, I’ll totally sue him for this.”

”Take a chill pill, Taeil hyung,” Johnny assures and taps Taeil on the head over the fence. Because Johnny is disgustingly and unnecessarily tall. ”I’ll fix this, don’t worry about it.”

”Yeah, and if it hadn’t get crashed into today; it’d be on the midsummer party!” Ten adds more fuel to the fire.

Taeil groans. ”Right. That thing. I had almost forgotten it,” Ten scolds him for a few seconds before Taeil continues. ”Oh well, Johnny you better fix this. But it’s okay, I’m not mad, almost. At least the garden gnomes survived.”

”But we almost didn’t!” Taeyong exclaims, and that’s when Taeil notices him; they do some kind of high five over the fence. After that, Taeil introduces himself to Inhye and Yuta. The only ones he didn’t know already.

”You made a mistake coming here,” he groans.

”We figured,” Yuta snickers.

Johnny grins, tries leaning onto the fence only to break another board and hearing the sound of glass breaking. That’s most likely a -

”No! Gnomeo!” the look of pure horror in Taeil’s face reveals that Johnny just did something stupid.

”Uh, time to leave,” he declares. ”See you at the party, Taeil Hyung!”

Johnny hurries to take his driver seat and manages to close the door just before Taeil’s shoe hit the window. Ten takes the seat Kun and Winwin originally had and in the midst of the chaos; Yuta and Taeyong get left behind. This is one of the few times Inhye and Taeyong has been separated and Taeyong doesn’t know how to feel about that.

”Well,” Yuta comments. ”That’s some great hospitality!”

Taeyong agrees, grinning slightly. ”I know the way to the barn, though. Remember it from three years back.”

”Really? How?”

Well it’s not that hard they don’t have many roads out here. Anyhow, Taeyong points to a big oak a bit further down the road as they start walking. ”There’s a tree. I almost crashed into that thing.”

Yuta laughs and Taeyong hates it. Because it’s pretty, but still manly. Because he can laugh like that. Taeyong can’t remember when he last laughed like that; so that you could just look at the eyes and tell that the person is laughing. Maybe he did, once. With Inhye.

”What are you and Inhye?” Taeyong asks, interrupting Yuta speaking about something that he hadn’t been listening to.

Yuta stops talking instantly, raising his eyebrows. ”Why are you asking?”

”Because she had been crying,” Taeyong sends him a glare, annoyed how Yuta is testing his patient. ”Don’t answer my questions with questions. Just answer the damn question.”

Yuta smiles, but another type of smile this time. Taeyong envy how someone can have so many attractive smiles. It takes a while for Yuta to speak again, but just as Taeyong was going to comment on it he speaks. With yet another type of smile.

”We’re lovers.”

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