Looking at his house, Wonshik could not help but to take a deep breath.

...then another.

...and another.

"I know that you're nervous and all but can't you enter your house just like how a normal person would do?" The dimpled guy behind him—whose name was Lee Hongbin—sneered. Wonshik turrned around to face him and saw the anticipating faces of his five friends from the mental hospital.

"Have you forgotten? He's not a normal person, he's from a mental hospital." The youngest among the six of them, Han Sanghyuk, pointed out. "That is what a mental hospital does to people, they lose all their courage and they become even more insane." He added.

Sometimes—most of the time actually—Wonshik would wish that he could sew Sanghyuk's lips together and this situation was one of those times. Yet Wonshik had no courage to do so. He knew Sanghyuk and he definitely knew what a cruel guy could do. If he didn't, he wouldn't have hesitated to fight back. So, all he could do was sigh. "You also went to the same mental hospital though." He pointed out.

"Yeah but I did not go there on my own will! And at least, I know better than to listen to the advice of a guy who talks to insects." Sanghyuk retorted. During his last sentence, he even pointed at the weird guy, Lee Jaehwan, who was having a good time with the butterflies.

"Say hi, guys, it's Mariposa!" Jaehwan introduced the butterflies to his friends but as usual, he was treated like he did not exist.

"Okay, okay, kids, do not fight. This is not the time to fight." Hakyeon, the eldest one who liked to act like a mom, stood in between Sanghyuk and Wonshik. Then, he turned all of his attention to Wonshik and flared his nose as if thinking that the younger guy would fear him. "Open the damn door. I'm so bored."

"You're the mom! How can a mom curse in front of her children?" Hongbin shrieked like a brat he was. "Not good, really not good at all." He shook his head in disapproval. "What would our dad say?!" He exclaimed, pointing at the guy who did not utter a word since the moment he was dragged to come along—Jung Taekwoon, that stoic man.

Taekwoon glared at Hongbin, not liking the fact that he was dragged into the conversation all of a sudden. He would prefer being treated like he did not exist, to be honest. Anyway, these guys are bunch of idiots—being invisible is better than being forced to get along with idiots whose brains were inside their feet. He wondered if they tried to walk using their heads, would their brains finally work?

"I'm so sorry, Woonie, I did not mean to curse in front of the children." Hakyeon apologized, clinging onto Taekwoon who shrugged him off. "Why are you suddenly being so cold?!" Hakyeon dramatically gasped as if he were not yet used to Taekwoon's cold treatment.

Taekwoon glared at Hakyeon. "Shut it." He hissed before turning to Wonshik. "Just go ahead, push the in' gate open and kill the bastard boyfriend of your sister. The end. We can finally go home."

"Whoa! What a nice story!" Jaehwan made the unnecessary comment, sounding like an excited kid. He then turned all of his attention to Wonshik, smiling softly. "Go ahead, we're right behind you." He said in a low voice, successfully making him sound like a reliable older brother everyone knew he was not.

Wonshik nodded his head firmly, actually touched with Taekwoon's and Jaehwan's words. He might sound like a caveman with his low voice and he might sounded like a brave man but the truth was he was just another pure soul with a heart as soft as a young girl's. Turning to the gates, he took another deep breath. He was ready to face his sister and that jerk of a boyfriend she had.

"I'm back!" He announced the moment he managed to barge into the house. He looked around, expecting to see an unfamiliar shady-looking guy. He found no one else but his sister who was staring at him in shock—surprise, longing, and happiness were reflected in her eyes.

"Wonshik oppa!" Wonshik's younger sister yelped in happiness, running towards her brother to hug him.

"Jiwonnie!" Wonshik's sister—Jiwon—and Wonshik himself froze on their places upon hearing other voices.

"Who are you?" Jiwon asked the five guys who were standing in front of their door, dumbfounded. Of course, she expected her brother to come home after a while but she did not  certainly did not and would never expect five suspicious guys lurking right before the door.

"Oh..." Wonshik uttered as if he just remembered. "They are my friends from the mental hospital. Be nice to them. That's not what really important here though." He paused, mustering all the courage that he had left. "Where is he?" He asked, his voice was soft, almost like a whisper.

Jiwon furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly confused. "Who?" She tilted her head to the side. "Our father? Or our mother? Our dog?"

"No!" Wonshik groaned. "I mean... I—I—" He could not find the right words to say—well, how could he even ask 'where is the damn bastard who dared to in' date you' in a nice way?

Seeing that their friend would not reply, Sanghyuk decided to speak up. To be honest, rather than out of concern, he really was just thrilled to torture Jiwon's boyfriend because other's misery was the source of his happiness. "He wants to meet your boyfriend." Sanghyuk uttered loud and clear. "We were summoned here in order to test your boyfriend's capability."

"What?" Jiwon exclaimed in disbelief. She knew how protective her brother was and it terrified her. Although he did not seem like it, Wonshik was smart—he would only use that smartness to keep someone away from his sister. "You don't have to, you know? I assure you that Jongin is such a nice guy I wouldn't even glance at him if he were not a good person. You don't really have to meet him."

Wonshik nodded his head, eyes red as if he were going to tear up anytime soon. "I see... you don't need me anymore, huh? Who am I anyway? I am just your brother. Just your brother who worried for you and cared for you... and wants the best and only the best for you." He said, his tears were threatening to fall.

"Is that what he get for hanging out with Jaehwan hyung all the time?" Hongbin nudged Sanghyuk as the five of them watched the siblings. "Or is he actually just that sissy from the very beginning?" He asked, receiving a shrug as a reply.

"He learned quite a lot." Jaehwan sounded so proud that he even started to sound like a really old woman—Nurse Park, that nurse from the mental hospital. "Maybe, Wonshik had always been like that. He's a natural." Nodding his head in approval, he continued to watch the siblings.

Seeing that her brother was being emotional, Jiwon sighed. She would just give in to that crybaby brother of hers. "All right. I will tell him that he should go meet you tomorrow. I'll make sure that he is presentable enough. Is that fine with you, oppa?"

"Why wait until tomorrow?" Taekwoon interrupted, the five other boys looked at him in surprise—Taekwoon just invited himself in a conversation! In his defense, he just did not want to waste his time. He would hate it if he came yet he would get nothing from it. "Just call him over today."

"Right!" Sanghyuk agreed. "If he really is a good guy, he does not need to prepare or anything of that sort." He reasoned out.

"So, what are you waiting for? Call him over!" Hakyeon clasped his hands together, obviously excited.

Jiwon sighed. For some reasons, she wanted to drag her brother back to the mental hospital and let him stay there with his weird friends. Nevertheless, she knew that she could not win the argument regardless of what she would say so she picked up her phone and called her boyfriend over.

Jiwon's boyfriend nervously his already-dried lips, looking at the six guys who were glaring at him since the moment he stepped inside the house. The six guys were seated comfortably on the sofa at the living room. "Y-you did not tell me that you actually have six brothers. I thought you only have one." He muttered to his girlfriend who was on his side.

"I also thought that I only have one." Jiwon whispered back.

"Why are you guys so close to one another?!" Wonshik whined, sounding so uncool contrary to his scary look. This earned him a smack on the head from Jaehwan who decided to act like an old woman.

"Of course they are lovers!" Jaehwan exclaimed.

"Jaehwan hyung and Wonshik hyung, stop acting so weird." Sanghyuk scolded the two older guys before turning to Jiwon and her boyfriend. "Jiwon, move a little far ther away from him. You guys are not even married yet." He reprimanded the lovers, ignoring Wonshik who almost fainted upon hearing the word 'married'. "Boy, introduce yourself." Sanghyuk nodded towards the direction of the infamous boyfriend.

The boyfriend gulped before bowing in 95 degrees. "Good afternoon, sir! My name is Kim Jongin, 22 years old. I am finishing my degree in Computer Engineering." He introduced himself.

"We should also introduce ourselves." Hakyeon suggested. "My name is Hakyeon, the kids' mother."

"Eh?" The boyfriend, Jongin, looked confused.

"Taekwoon is the father." Hakyeon added, pointing at Taekwoon. "My lovely sons are Wonshik, Hongbin, and Sanghyuk. Jaehwan is our dog. One cute family, right? What do you think?"

Although he was confused, Jongin nodded his head because not only was everything weird, he was also scared. "Right."

Jiwon, on the other hand, could only hit her own forehead, wondering where on Earth did her brother meet his friends and out of all people, why did he have to be friends with such a weird bunch? However, who was she to judge? Wonshik did not teach her to be that kind of person so she kept shut. Plus, thinking about it, her brother was not better than any of them.

"So, here's what we're going to do. First, we have to test his strength." Jaehwan began. "We want to know if he is strong enough to handle you but then, strength does not have anything to do with love. When you love someone, everything else does not matter. When you love someone, you could not care less about everything else around you." He stated; Jongin and Jiwon nodded in agreement yet Wonshik was nowhere near pleased—but of course, Wonshik did not say anything that would hurt Jaehwan's feelings.

"Strength does not have anything to do with love just like how Jaehwan hyung's statement has nothing to do with the topic." Sanghyuk pointed out. "Still, it would be cool."

"Let's start from the basic then. Let him do the housechores." Hongbin suggested. "I have thought of things to do for the whole week. For today, he has to do the housechores to please us. How is that?"

Taekwoon nodded his head. "Cooking battle." He suggested. Although his voice was as soft as usual, there was a fire in his eyes, showing his burning passion. Nobody could say no to that—especially not Jongin or Jiwon who deemed Taekwoon as someone scary.

"Oh! You talk!" Hakyeon exclaimed, pointing out the obvious. "It's settled then. After letting the poor Jongin to clean the house, he's going to have a cooking battle with Taekwoon. All good, right?"

"Do I have a say in this?" Jiwon spoke up.

"Nope." Wonshik replied so Jiwon could only sigh.

Cleaning the house was supposedly fine but cleaning it while six people would mess it up just right after you finish was not something so pleasing. However, Jongin did not give up. If his girlfriend's brother was like this, then, it was fine. He wanted to please him so that he could be happy with his sister. Anyone with a sane mind—of course, the six guys from the mental hospital were immediately part of the exemption—could see how Jongin loved Jiwon. Jongin wanted to prove Wonshik that. This was why he was okay with it even though the six were obviously messing up with him.  Jiwon, on the other hand, was locked up inside her room by the boys, seeming like a poor Rapunzel who was waiting to be rescued by her prince in shining mop.

"Oops!" Sanghyuk exclaimed, pouring a glass of water on the floor. "Jongin! Would you be so kind and wipe this off for me?" He innocently asked even though everyone around him knew that he was the real devil.

Jongin smiled and nodded his head. "Sure." He ran over to the wet floor with a mop on his hand. While still smiling, he mopped the floor.

Wonshik watched the scene, teary-eyed. They had been torturing the poor guy for hours yet there he was, still scrubbing the floor! Still, Wonshik did not wish to give up his baby sister. She was just too precious so his sissy self just could not give up just yet.

"Do not be so sissy." Hongbin scolded Wonshik. "We have to drive him past his limit, remember? That's the plan!"

"But that poor boy is so nice! He deserves none of this. Wonshik, be nice to him and stop all of this!" Jaehwan cried, clinging on to Wonshik's right arm. For once, he sounded like a cute little angel.

Yet there was a devil. Standing on Wonshik's left side, Hakyeon was smirking. "No, no! Let that boy suffer! He stole your sister. Sure, he is handsome and got nice arms and there is also the fact that underneath that shirt might be tons of abs like sixteen but we should torture him! Let's torture him until he wishes that he had never even met our eyes." Hakyeon even ended his line with an evil laugh.

Wonshik furrowed his eyebrows, weighing his options, the guy was pitiful. Still, Wonshik did not appreciate the fact that a boy was making a move on his sister—worse, the said boy was already his sister's boyfriend! That was a horrifying thought. Thinking about it, however, the same boy would be his brother. Although the thought infuriated him, he could only chew on his lower lip.

"Remember, he's just a poor young boy." Jaehwan reminded his closest friend. "What sin have he even committed? All he did was love! When did loving even become so wrong? So, why don't we just move on to the next task before he passes out because of exhausion and extreme frustration? Oh, and before I walk out because I am getting so bored of this game."

"Fine." Wonshik finally breathed his reply. "Let's move on to the next challenge of the day."

"You're no fun." Hakyeon sneered—as expected, he was ignored.

"It's a cooking battle with Taekwoon hyung. The mechanics of the next game is quite simple." Sanghyuk took the initiative to explain. "Everyone will head to the grocery and buy ingredients for the cooking battle which would take place in the kitchen because where else should we hold a kitchen battle? In the bathroom? Anyway, that's just it. The winner would be decided by the five of us."

Jongin seemed to hesitate. He looked like he was not very fond of the idea.

Hongbin smiled at the poor challenger reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'd be very fair." No, they wouldn't. Jongin did not need to know that though.

"That's..." Jongin stared at the ground, rubbing his nape. It made it seem like he was embarrassed. "I don't really know how to cook."

Taekwoon scoffed. "Guys who do not know how to cook cannot be trusted." He commented, dismissing the protests of his five friends who were not as much of a cook as him. "You should cook or you'd end up like these idiots which is a hundred more times scarier than losing your girlfriend."

"What you said seem pretty horrifying but to me, nothing is more terrifying than losing Jiwon in my life." Jongin sincerely replied.

Even though Jongin's statement was meant to touching, Hongbin grimaced. "I. hate. cheesy. things. especially. couples." He spoke through gritted teeth. "Whenever I see couples, I feel like throwing them into the Pacific Ocean."

Wonshik frowned. "You can throw him." He rudely pointed at Jongin's face. "Just don't include my sister."

"Err... Sorry to burst your bubble but can't we just head to the grocery store? I'm starving and I want to buy something to eat." Sanghyuk suggested.

The other boys did not need to be told twice. Without complaints, the seven boys headed to the nearest grocery store together, forgetting about the locked up Jiwon who was still inside her room. 

Navigating inside a grocery store was one of Taekwoon's many specialties. That was the reason why he was so confident pacing around the grocery store while pushing his cart. However, that did not mean that he was calm. In fact, he was bursting with passion, shopping rapidly as if he were burning. Evehis five friends grew wary of him. His competitive nature was once again seeping out of him.

"I hate it whenever he's burning with passion because no matter how competitive he gets, he would always end up losing. Then, he's a sore loser." Sanghyuk commented; his mouth had no filter. He and Hongbin were the ones who were tasked to watch Taekwoon—they actually volunteered mainly because they wanted to tease the soccer coach.

"Tell me about it. I cannot believe that we played basketball last week the whole day because he could not win even once!" Hongbin grimaced as he and Sanghyuk watched the older guy.

The conversation of the two guys did not bother Taekwoon though. It was as if he had already blocked out everything around him except for the ingredients he needed. He was so passionate that he deserved an applause.

While Taekwoon was so serious in whatever he was doing, Jongin, on the other hand, was lost. He tried to busy himself by staring at different ingredients though despite the fact that he knew practically nothing about cooking. It would not take a genius to know that Taekwoon was at a serious advantage while Jongin was just waiting to be officially declared as the loser. The thought itself made Wonshik, who was watching Jongin, laugh evilly—something that he had learned from both Sanghyuk and Jaehwan. He was confident that he could use the fact that Jongin could not cook as an excuse for not accepting the latter as his brother's sister—as if he, himself, was not a bad cook.

"Jongin is already looking like he lost the match." Jaehwan, who was standing next to Wonshik, voiced out in a high-pitched cheery tone before it later turned into a low sad one. "Will Jongin now be forced to forget his love for Jiwon just because he could not cook? Should he finally start walking on a road where she could not be seen? Will he succumb to the cruel destiny? What sin did he even committed? He just loved."

"Ten fingers and toes, two eyes, two ears, a nose—he was no different from us. Why did we have to be so cruel?" Hakyeon asked, teary-eyed as if he was not playing the role of a devil barely twenty minutes ago. "Seeing his lost expression in this grocery store makes me remember Leo, that precious cockroach of mine. He was just as lost that time, making him feel lost and making him feel like he was less than humans. Jongin did not deserve to feel that kind of pain."

Wonshik frowned, looking at Hakyeon. "This should be Hongbin's or Sanghyuk's line but since they're busy with something else, I'll do the honor and ask it. What does Leo, the charismatic cockroach, have to do with all of these?"

Hakyeon sighed in defeat. "I don't know! Perhaps, I haven't moved on yet. Perhaps, the break-up left such a scar on me and it hasn't been healed. I just have to live properly, to breathe, to eat, and to forget. Yet I cannot do any of those. In my heart, Leo is still that one cockroach sitting on the empty chair beside me, that one cockroach who was walking in that empty street with me."

"It must have been tough." Jaehwan sympathized with Hakyeon. "You've been through a lot."

That was how another drama occured in the middle of a grocery store.

It was practically decided that Jongin would lose. While Taekwoon was preparing his sophisticated rose pasta dish, Jongin was set to ruin himself by preparing a simple Shin ramen. He was a bad cook but at least he did not know how to ruin his Shin ramen. He was well aware that he was going to lose the game and the boys would probably use it as a reason to make him and Jiwon break up. He could already tell just by judging Wonshik's victorous evil grin. Plus, the other guys would serve as the judge. He just had to wait for the judgment to befall on him.

"Taekwoon hyung," Jaehwan's voice echoed throughout the kitchen as he made use of a dirty spatula as his microphone just so that he could keep acting like an MC. "Taekwoon hyung," Jaehwan repeated when he was blatantly ignored by Taekwoon.

"Okay, so, first of all, let's taste the prestige Taekwoon hyung's rose pasta. This cold guy may not look like it but his cooking skills are superb." Ravi tried to speak like an MC. No one stopped him from hosting because apparently, he was doing a better job than Jaehwan who was already busy conversing with an ant—poor ant made a mistake making itself visible to Jaehwan, now, its name was already 'Jin' whether it liked it or not. "Who would be the first one to taste it?"

"Let's just taste it all at once. I don't care about the order, I care about food." Sanghyuk spoke in all honesty.

Agreeing nonverbally to Sanghyuk, the rest of the former mental hospital patients started tasting Taekwoon's dish. They all made a different sound of agreement—, groaning, and even squealing. The winner had been decided then—because how could a Shin ramen beat such an extravagant dish of rose pasta? It would need a miracle to do so and Jongin was not some miraculous statue.

Jongin did not dare to taste the pasta for many reason, one of which was the fact that it was like rubbing salt to his own deep wound. He might not be the smartest yet he was not dumb enough to hurt himself. He could only bite his lower lip as he watched the boys enjoy the rose pasta prepared by Taekwoon.

"Jongin already lost then?" Hakyeon asked in an innocent manner, eyes blinking as he did.

"Yeah," Wonshik was obviously more than glad when he bobbed his head up and down. "My Jiwon can't possibly date someone who can't cook. What will he do when she gets hungry? Buy unhealthy take-outs? That's a no-no."

"I agree," Sanghyuk chimed in. "I mean, what if Jiwon gets pregnant—" Wonshik collapsed on the floor at that. "—and the food that Jongin prepared was not pleasing? She might want to get a divorce." Sanghyuk babbled, completely disregarding the almost-dying Wonshik. "And she would have nowhere to go but to her overly dramatic older brother who is already married to his bed."

Hongbin grinned brightly, more than glad to have possibly ruin a relationship. "Bottomline is Jongin and Jiwon should separate. That's the only way."

"Can't you give me another chance?" Jongin asked, his voice cracking. He knew that he did not need everyone's approval to date Jiwon yet he still wanted to please them. He wanted to prove himself worthy of Jiwon and the only way to do that was to earn the trust of her brother and the other five weird guys. It was a difficult job, sure, still, Jongin deemed it worthy of his time and effort because that was how much he loved Jiwon—as cheesy as that might have sounded.

Jaehwan let out a loud dramatic sigh. "I guess there's no other way, guys." He turned to his friends. "Should we try his dish first before announcing the winner? I mean, it's been practically decided."

Hakyeon shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, I find nothing wrong with that." When all of the guys agreed to taste Jongin's dish, Hakyeon immediately tried it. It was a simple Shin ramen yet there was something so, so captivating about it. It was full of flavor, full of love! When was the last time Hakyeon had tried out such a ramen? Oh, was it a long time ago? Since they left the mental hospital, they ate nothing but Taekwoon's pasta dishes—rose pasta and so on. Tasting the Shin ramen after several weeks was indeed something so refreshing. Plus, Hakyeon had yet to taste such ramen that was so full of love, full of sincere feelings and emotions. The emotions poured was overflowing that Hakyeon actually cried! Yes, the tough (not really) guy Hakyeon cried! When he finally opened his eyes, he realized that everyone else—with the exception of Taekwoon and Jongin—were crying!

"Was it that bad?" Jongin inquired, confusion and worry was written all over his face. He knew he was a lousy cook but he never knew that he was really bad to the point that the boys would cry. Before he could go on with his lousy cooking skills, Wonshik enveloped him in a hug to his surprise.

"Oh, dear Jongin, I never knew that your emotions were so strong that it made you cook such a splendid dish of ramen." Wonshik cried. "Although I haven't accepted you just yet, know that I admire your courage to pour out your feelings in a dish."

Jongin could barely grasp what was happening, he did not even know if it were a good thing or a bad one. All he did was cook a pack of Shin ramen (which already had its seasonings and everything else mind you) so he did not understand what Wonshik meant about him pouring out his feelings. Sure, Jongin might have vented out his anger and frustrations when he was opening the pack of ramen but he believed that it was not something worth crying over.

"I, hereby, declare Kim Jongin as the winner of this competition." Hakyeon firmly stated while crying.

"Wait, what?!" To say that Taekwoon was dumbfounded was an understatement. The problem with having a weird bunch of friends was that you could never tell what they were thinking. "How could his dish be more delicious than mine?!" Angrily, Taekwoon tried to retort although he had a hinch that his effort would end up being in vain.

"Shh, Taekwoon hyung, something about his dish screams 'love'. It is the charm of his dish." Jaehwan explained.

"What on Earth are you talking about?! You just have a cheap tastebud!" Taekwoon protested, his voice was much louder than usual. "How can Shin ramen beat a proper pasta dish of rose pasta?!"

The others ignored him as usual. Jongin was still looking at everyone else in disbelief. He thought they wanted him to lose. Thinking about it, maybe it was all just a test and they were trying to make him win? No, no, that could not be because their reactions and expressions were all genuine. It was a weird bunch indeed.

"Because of this dish, you can rest for today." Wonshik announced, finally letting go of Jongin. "We can call it a day and come back tomorrow for another contest."

"Another contest? What should we do?" Hongbin frowned.

"A sports contest? Call?" Sanghyuk suggested.

Author's Note:

I can't really say that I am back for good but here is the first part! Sorry for the long wait.

Thank you so much vixxcha, marlia91, bcpfgrg, and love_kris for the upvote! <3