On the morning when the sun had fully risen, Jaehwan started throwing the most random things inside the trolley bag that he was planning to bring with him to the trip with the five guys he met. He did not have money to afford the bag, of course. However, he remembered that he did have one years ago when he was planning to travel with some friends only to cancel because he started worrying about the bills his family might face.

"So, you're finally going to a trip?" His mother asked, a proud smile was playing on her lips. She knew how much her eldest son had sacrificed for their family. He deserved a break—that and the household also deserved a break from his loud mouth which never really shut up. He was her son yet even she could not stand his loud mouth. "I have been telling you to go to one for like five years already!" She was nagging at him.

"So, you're trying to send me away for five years now?" Jaehwan gave his mother a look, pausing from what he was doing so that his attention was all directed to his mother.

His mom, being equally as stubborn, ignored her son's comment. "I'm surprised that you would rather go to a trip than to mope around after being left behind by that girlfriend of yours. I told you she's bad news. She did not even greet me or your father properly when you introduced her to us." She spoke, making her own son frown.

"Mom, she did not leave me behind. There are just some misunderstanding that came along the way which separated us—perhaps, she was kidnapped or fed to some sharks—but I am telling you, we are getting back together. Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday, mother, someday we'll be together again." Jaehwan spoke, looking at nothing in particular with sadness evident in his glassy eyes. He was confident that he would somehow get back with his girlfriend one way or another that was why he was able to utter those words without sounding so broken (that and the fact that he sounded cool why speaking lifted up his whole mood).

Rolling her eyes, his mother did not take his words seriously. "Please, Lee Jaehwan, those cheesy lines are from the drama I was watching with you. You just tried to be more creative by adding the 'kidnapped' and 'fed to sharks' part." The older woman sneered at her own son. "When are you coming back though? As much as I love to send you away, we still need you in this house and I wouldn't want you to neglect your duties now because you found a bunch of new friends." She spoke without pausing. "Do you need money?"

"For your first question, I can only tell you that I may be gone for several days, four weeks at max. I won't extend it anymore. As for the second question, no, I don't need money. I have some savings plus my friends did tell me that they will take care of the expenses when I tell them about my financial problem." Jaehwan explained, turning back his focus to what he was doing earlier before his mother even came to the scene—throwing the most random things into his trolley bag (and when he say, 'random' it was as random as it could get). "You don't have to worry too much about me, just take care of our family while I'm gone."

Hakyeon was clingy—like a newly birthed mother dog, like a noisy mother duckling, and yes, like an annoying girlfriend whom you dated to play around yet was not willing to let you go. He was that kind of clingy and Sanghyuk was starting to regret his life's decision particularly the part where he agreed to live with Hakyeon. If he were to be honest, he did question Hakyeon's intention of making a stranger stay at his home for free (Sanghyuk had concluded that the guy was planning an evil deed such as killing him) yet Sanghyuk did not question the tanned guy's purpose since he was desperate. Turned out, he'd regret it either way. 

Don't get him wrong, he appreciated the older guy (yes, Sanghyuk found out that the tanned guy was about five years older than him due to a strange conversation which Sanghyuk could not clearly recall) very much but the younger wished that the older would be more tamed and actually start living his life properly. They had been together for hours yet Hakyeon just would not shut up even when Sanghyuk woke up from his nap the next morning.

"Hyukkawaii, I'm going to call you, Hyukkawaii from now on."

"You're like the best younger brother I have ever had!"

"You're so tall yet your face is so cute."

"I want to adopt you. Can I just adopt you? You can live here forever for free, I won't mind."

"I have always wanted to have a baby brother."

Sanghyuk could only force himself to laugh during brunch as Hakyeon was busy gushing over him as if he were the cutest baby brother around—which Hakyeon believed   he was. Albeit appreciating the comments, Sanghyuk could actually tell why Hakyeon's girlfriend left. That tanned guy was a bit too obsessive. At that point, leaving became inevitable. Sanghyuk's girlfriend, on the other hand, did not have any reason to leave him. At all. As Hakyeon said, Sanghyuk had always been so adorable yet still managed to look like a man, a real man. Sanghyuk also came from a rich family which he willingly left for her. Where had he gone wrong? Nowhere.

"You look so upset all of a sudden," Hakyeon commented, sensing Sanghyuk's foul mood. "Let me guess, are you thinking about her?" The former sighed. "Sometimes, it's really like that. One moment, you cannot even feel it, you think you have forgotten her yet after a while, you'll realize that the wound has not closed just yet. You try to hold it in for days, only to realize that it won't be enough. Time does not do anything; it heals nothing. In fact, it just gets worse as time passes by. You must have been scared—terrified that the wound might not heal any longer, fearing that the scar is deeper than you think."

"What have you been drinking?" Sanghyuk frowned. "As much as I respect you, I would just like to tell you that it had only been two days since my girlfriend was kidnapped or have gone missing. As much as it hurts me, I don't think it deserves to have such a long- monologue which came from you whose girlfriend is not around either." He stated. "By the way, I think I have seen that kind of monologue somewhere before so it does not faze me—not until those came from your mouth."

Hakyeon pouted just a little bit. "Don't you agree with me though? Life works that way."

Sanghyuk let out a sigh. He did not want to have a dramatic conversation with Hakyeon at all. "Don't you think we should start planning our trip?" He asked. "We're going to Cheongsando like we talked about last night and we're leaving at 6pm, then, what? We still have several hours before our departure, should we ask them to meet up with us so that we can finalize our plans?"

"You know what, you're quite smart." Hakyeon nodded his head in approval. "I did not think of that."

"Maybe because you were busy fawning over me instead of thinking about your girlfriend?" Sanghyuk suggested. He was blatantly ignored though. "Anyway, we should just call them up and meet somewhere near the bus station to plot what we're supposed to do at Cheongsando. It's amazing how we decided where to go first using draw lots and never actually considered a plan." He let out a sigh.

Hakyeon shrugged. "Well, we did came up with it at one in the morning, we were sleepy so we agreed to do it the easy way which is a draw lot." He reasoned out. "If you want to meet up with them, we can always give them a call. I'll do anything for my baby brother." He cooed (to which Sanghyuk could only give him a forced smile). "I don't have their phone numbers though." Hakyeon stated flatly as if that was the most obvious thing he had ever said.

Sanghyuk had to fight the urge of hitting his own head in frustration. Instead, he let out a shaky breath before reaching out for his expensive phone that was inside his pocket. Being the rich kid he was, his phone was adorned with a limited edition white gold phone case. "I can ring their phones. I got their contact numbers yesterday before we parted ways." He explained. After all, he was a careful kid.

Hakyeon was looking at him with a proud expression. "Your parents raised you well. I'm so proud of you." He nodded in approval as if Sanghyuk even needed that.

"It's not that. I just really think ahead of everyone." Sanghyuk shrugged his shoulders. Upon saying that, he scrolled through his contacts to look for the names of the four other guys he met. He probably should be giving them a benefit of a doubt because why would he willingly pay for the trip of the people he just met. Then again, he believed in fate. What happened to them, the fact that their girlfriends happened to go missing and the fact that they met each other in a police station the same night, seemed like it was fate. It was as if they were indeed meant to meet each other, as cheesy as that might sound.

Shrugging his cheesy and cringe-worthy thoughts off, he started messanging the other guys in order to inform them of the meet up.

"There better be a good reason why we have to meet up now." Hongbin broke the silence the moment the six guys settled themselves on the seats at the farthest corner of a café just a few blocks away from the bus station. It was only around three in the afternoon, about three hours before they leave Seoul. "I sacrificed my beauty sleep for this so this better be good." The actor added. "You do know that my face is my greatest asset as an actor."

"You are willing to be defamed for your girlfriend yet you are not willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep?" Jaehwan commented, giving the young actor a look that clearly yelled 'I'm judging you'.

Hongbin raised an eyebrow. "Don't say that about me. I'm not the one who sleep-walked to this place." He defended himself by pointing at Wonshik who was half-asleep yet half-awake at the same time.

Wonshik grunted albeit not yet fully awake. "I worked from one-thirty until eight this morning to make up for the days when I'll be gone." He reasoned out through his half-lidded eyes, trying to stop the yawn from coming out of his lips to no avail.

"This meeting was my idea." Sanghyuk honestly replied. "Think about it like this, we are planning to go somewhere other than Seoul yet we did not have plans. We have to finalize our plans. The first place to go to is Cheongsando."

"That's where my girlfriend's best friend is staying." Hakyeon told the other guys even though he had repeated it about a hundred times the night before. "Perhaps, she knows where my girlfriend is."

"Where do we start looking then?" Taekwoon, following Sanghyuk's way of thinking, inquired. His voice was remained soft and calm although he did sound like he was forcing himself to speak louder. "Cheongsando is neither big or small, it will still be difficult to look for your girlfriend or her best friend. Do you know her face? And did you know where we can conveniently find her? Did your girlfriend tell you anything?"

Hakyeon nodded his head. "I met my girlfriend's friend once. We bumped into her, quite literally. I can still remember her face and if I'm not wrong, her name is Shin Hana or something like that. Her family owns a restaurant somewhere in Cheongsando."

"Great. Are we supposed to eat at every restaurant there then?" Sanghyuk asked. You would think that he would at least look annoyed for being forced to waste his time but he did not seem anywhere near being annoyed. In fact, his eyes were sparkling as if he liked the idea of eating at every restaurant.

"Then, we are supposed to stay there for three days and two nights, right?" Hongbin asked, taking out a notepad and a pen in order to take note of the schedule.

Jaehwan nodded his head (out of a habit rather than a confirmation). "Where are we heading off next then?" He asked, his voice sounded tired since he used his supposedly rest time for working instead of just resting and preparing himself. He was that hardworking, it had became difficult for him to stop himself especially if it were for his family. He might be a bit stupid, or slow, or weird, or loud but he was still the eldest son. His family depended on him and they needed him.

"Should we continue our draw lots now?" Sanghyuk suggested.

"I have a problem with that though. Not every places are near each other. In fact, almost all those six islands are far from one another although some are near to each other. We'll waste time, money, and effort if we end up going in circles instead of just carefully planning." Taekwoon explained to everyone. Perhaps, for him, it seemed like he was the only one who actually cared about those things. Sure, he was earning just enough money and aside from his parents who only needed a small part of his money, he had nothing else to spend his fortune, still, he cared about his time and effort. He could actually use his time and energy for something else that would actually deserve his time. Then again, he already agreed on coming to this trip.

"Are you willing to have the last turn?" Sanghyuk countered. "The problem is that everyone wants to go first so a draw lot is the easiest and fairest way of deciding. We would not want anyone to have a broken nose and disturbing face after deciding using another method, would we? This is the manliest way."

"Okay, fine." Hongbin, who was thinking the same thing as Taekwoon, gave in almost too immediately when something concerning his face was mentioned. Indeed, that was the most important part of his being. An actor was an actor after all. Anyway, he was also aiming for the yearly award of 'Most Handsome Face' of the year.

Hakyeon grinned, taking out the small plastic bag with five small pieces of paper in it. "Here's the draw lots. Let fate decide."

With that set, the guys started their round of draw lots which would decide their fateful vacation.

Taekwoon looked out of the bus window, a heavy sigh escaped from his lips. He was seated beside Wonshik who was already snoring his head off despite the bus just leaving from the terminal more or less than five minutes ago. Ignoring his seatmate, Taekwoon continued to look at the congested highway where the bus had passed by. He was naturally a tough guy, wouldn't even flinch if he were in a horror house (unless there were bugs because he swore, he would run away while squealing like a teenage girl who met her crush in the school hallway). Still, he was bothered. He did not know if it was a good idea to travel with strangers whose only connection to him was the fact that their girlfriends were missing—possibly kidnapped by some hooligans who decided that it was such a nice and convenient idea to kidnap a girl after her fight or argument with her boyfriend.

Growing up, Taekwoon was reminded that he should not talk to strangers, let alone travel with them. However, what his parents did not know would not kill them nor would it do them any harm. Taekwoon's girlfriend, he presumed, deserved to be chased around. Hence, she was worth the hassle of this trip. For Taekwoon, he was willing to sacrifice that much—his money, his time, and his energy. He believed everyone else thought that way. Their girlfriends deserved all those perseverance and stress. If not, none of the six of them would island hopping instead of just sticking with their original life plans. Anyway, it was just for a month. After that, they would live happily ever after with their beloved people. They might become good friends after the long journey.

Along the huge mountain ranges, along the long highways, along the vast blue sea, a genuine friendship might form or a genuine hatred might occur—Taekwoon could not tell for certain, he was no fortune teller. It might become very memorable for the six of them. Yet what would still become the most memorable fact was that they reunited with their girfriends. Someday, they would meet each other and recall the short trip they had.

He hoped that it would just be worth it.

Author's Note:

Andddd I'm back! (Forgive me please!) I had a hard time deciding the story of this fanfic since it's not purely crack but does not lean on dramas either. Finally, I came up with a plan regarding this (that was planned a few hours ago to be honest). Now, we're here. Forgive me for the filler chapter but next update will be longer and will have more content. As for the schedule of updates, I am yet to come up with one.

Special thanks to vixxcha and bcpfgrg for the upvote. You know that I love you guys, right?