Guanlin stood at his assigned post outside the entrance of the castle trying not to die of hypothermia. It was as if he was placed in a freezer to rot for all eternity. Why of all days did he draw the short stick? Thankfully, the guards on duty were all provided with warm uniforms to ward off the weather.

Nothing was happening at all. How boring.

The guard yawned into his gloved hand. When was the time for the break again? His eyes flickered from one thing to another, desperate for anything interesting to happen. Why couldn't he follow the prince and his friend again? That was way more fun.

Grunting, Guanlin shifted his feet. Who ever said guarding a castle was exciting? Not him. His stomach growled in pain. 

For the fun of it, he started composing a poem in his head about food. It went a little something like this,

There once was a guard named Guanlin

The cold was attacking his shins

He wanted to eat

A wonderful treat

No he could not even begin

Guanlin made a mental note to work on the ending. It didn't sit right on his tongue. The poem succeeded in distracting him for a few minutes, but it was not enough. Hunger seemed to mix with the frosty weather as he shivered a little bit.

He tried to think of other poems to make, but his hunger blocked his senses. At last, when it looked like he might collapse from famine and cold, the head guard called for the 30 minute break. Other people who had already eaten would take up their post.

Relieved, Guanlin headed inside to eat.

...

"It's so cold today!" Jihoon complained. "I almost slipped on the ice on the way here."

"How interesting," said Jinyoung from behind the counter. "You're also late to your shift. You're lucky I didn't tell Woojin you weren't here when he called."

Jihoon shot finger guns to his coworker. "Thanks, Jinyoung!"

"No problem. I told him you were in the bathroom with diarrhea from eating terrible diary products I made."

"What?!" 

"Now he's coming here to reteach me how to bake diary products properly."

"Wait-"

"So if I were you, I'd get into that bathroom stall quickly because he's parking his car right now," continued Jinyoung.

Jihoon flashed Jinyoung a furious look and scampered off to the bathroom.

A blast of winter air invaded the bakery and Park Woojin strolled into the room. 

"Jinyoung, how many times have we been over this?" scolded the red head. "You need to make sure to use dairy products that are not expired! Especially ones with mold already growing on it." 

Jinyoung lowered his head in false shame. "I'm sorry. I'll do better next time."

Heaving a heavy sigh, Woojin showed his dongsaeng how to identify bad produce and how to clean the ingredients adequately. Again. After the lessons, Woojin went to the restroom to check on Jihoon. Jinyoung followed him.

"We're going to the bathroom right?" Jinyoung raised his voice so his elder could hear they were arriving. "Isn't that right?" 

Perplexed, Woojin turned and asked, "Are you having problems with your voice? Why is it so loud?"

"I'm just making sure it's working," replied Jinyoung weakly. "I guess it is since you hear it."

Woojin shook his head. "You're so strange." 

The door opened and Jihoon stepped out of a stall as soon as the others entered. He raised a hand to Woojin, trying to look constipated. 

"Hi..." Jihoon clutched his stomach. "Jinyoung's baking skills are really something, aren't they? Ow! My tummy!" He gave a thin smile to the two and rushed back into the bathroom stall.

"We'll leave you be for now," Woojin said quickly. 

They both left and Woojin resumed reteaching Jinyoung certain techniques. Woojin left when Jihoon appeared to be in charge again. 

"I will be taking my leave now," announced Woojin. "Jinyoung, please do not try to make anything by yourself for a while, you hear me? The last thing I need right now is the Health Department hounding me about the cleanliness of the food. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go meet someone."

"Do you mean Hyungseob again?" Jihoon teased and held his stomach tightly. "Am I right or am I right?"

"Oh, go back to the toilet," laughed Woojin. "Yes, I'm meeting him, now get back to work." He walked out the door and into his car. Woojin waved to his friends as he drove away.

Jihoon spun around to face Jinyoung. "You're going to pay for making me stay in that dirty restroom for such a long time."

Innocently, Jinyoung patted his wallet. "I don't have that much money, but I can take you to the movies later to pay."

"Uh, that's not what I mea-"

"Good it's a date! We'll figure out what movie to watch later, after work."

"Did you just ask me ou-"

"And it would not be dirty if someone actually cleaned it." The younger looked sternly at Jihoon and walked away.

"Where are you going?" called Jihoon. 

"I'm going to clean the bathroom. I'm sure it stinks because of your diarrhea!" Jinyoung smiled wickedly and left Jihoon to wonder if he just got asked out.

...

Daniel curled up in his blanket and tried to doze off again. There was an annoying noise that kept invading his ears and it was so loud. Was there someone scraping elephants everywhere or something? It was disturbing his sleep.

A quick examination through the window confirmed Daniel's suspicion. There was no elephants, but there was a moving truck and a bunch of furniture being moved into the apartment building. It must be the new neighbor across from him. Even though Daniel didn't work at today, he didn't feel like getting up and talking to the new person. Talking to new people was so draining. 

Besides, Daniel had to think about the stranger from yesterday. 

The messy haired boy checked his phone. It was too early for this. Daniel crawled back into his bed and slept some more.

A/N: I'm so sorry I don't keep updating consistently! I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. Thank you for being patient with me. Comments, kudos/votes, and subscriptions are always appreciated! <3 -Veil