Taeyong

            “That was bold.” Yuta shoves some of his lunch into his mouth as he slaps my back with his free hand. A sly grin on his face.

            “She still didn’t forgive him.” WinWin chimes in, breaking the news for everybody, stating the obvious.

            Even without him saying that I already know I am far from being forgiven.

            “She is definitely bending though.” Johnny leans over the body of the table we sit at to punch my arm.      He smiles at me reassuringly.

            I nod my head, shrugging off the unfamiliar feelings of doubt in me. “Thanks, enough about me though.” I look up at the others. “How are you guys doing?”

            Each of them shrink a bit in their seat. Yuta scoffs. “My girl literally doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

            This makes Johnny scoff. “At least your girl is attractive. The girl I have to go after doesn’t physically meet my ideal type at all.”

            I laugh. “Are you saying that just because she is taller than you?” As much as Johnny tries to deny it, he can’t stand when girls are taller than him because he isn’t used to it, and it doesn’t feel right to him. Even though he is a giant, and rarely meets a girl taller than him.

            WinWin pouts as he stares at us all. “Well, at least the girl doesn’t make fun of your name. My girl’s so serious and studying all the time that she hardly pays any attention to me.”

            He groans. “She always has a book in her hands, and whenever I try to pull the cute foreigner card on her she tells me I should work harder on my Korean!”

            Yuta winces. “Wow, that’s harsh.”

            I rub WinWin’s back. “Sorry man, that’s rough.”

           “Why did you guys give me my nickname anyways? She literally can’t even take me serious because of it.”

            Johnny snorts. “Do you want us to call you LoseLose then?”

            This only makes WinWin whine further. “Come on stop being like that. I’m struggling enough as it is.” His frown deepens.

             I wrap an arm around him and push some of the food I made from the night before in front of him. “Here have some of my food it’ll make you feel better.” His hands instantly reach for my food, and he gladly eats it.

            It pushes a smile out of me to see how his face melts once my food is in his mouth. There has always been something satisfying about seeing people enjoy my food.

            Yuta along with the others complain about how it isn’t fair that only WinWin gets to have some of my cooking. However, I have more than enough food to share with them all.

            My food circles the table. It is like a take one pass it down ordeal, or a potluck, except I am the only person that brought food.

            Johnny looks up from the food with a mouth full of the sun-dried tomato quiche I made the night before. “Why did you bring so much food today?” He speaks through the food in his mouth.

            “Ah, I just got in a cooking mood last night.”

            WinWin smiles as he shovels a scoop of my homemade japchae into his open mouth. “Well, you need to get into those moods more often.” He laughs as the others join in, agreeing with him.

            I nod my head as they request various plates from me, however, the real reason I cooked so much taunts my mind. The truth is that after what Miran told me at the grocery store I couldn’t get rid of her voice ringing in my head.

            The same words of disdain she said to me were on an endless loop. No matter how much I tried to get past her ridiculous outburst, I could still hear her voice.

            “Just because you give someone things, doesn’t mean everything you’ve done wrong is suddenly forgotten.”

            “Why should I get to know you, when you don’t plan on seeing me as anyone more than a girl who collects coupons?”

            Before I realized it, I had cooked a whole feast, and I still could not forget what she said. It was killing me, until I realized what I have to do. The only thing I can do to stop her words’ invasion of my mind.

            I have to prove her wrong about me.

           That is how I ended up walking into class this morning with freshly dyed brown hair. A natural hair color, exactly what she did not expect from me. Something she said I would never do, I did purposefully, in hopes to see her shocked expression.

            In that moment I couldn’t help, but think. See, you were wrong about me.

            “You know though.” Yuta starts in between swallowing some of his food.

            He has completely abandoned the food on his cafeteria tray. “We still have the rest of the year to get these girls. So, let’s have some faith.”

            “Can we not talk about this in public so much?” Jaehyun shakes his head. “Talking about all of this only makes us seem worse.”

            “What are you saying?” I look at him confused. I also see that he is the only one who hasn’t grabbed any of my food.

            He shrugs. “I mean we are douchebags as it is for even playing this game. But, talking about it so casually like this makes things even worse.”

            “We’re not douchebags.” I reassure him. “We have all dated and broken up with girls before. This is no different. We are going to just date and break up with these girls. Like the normal course of any relationship.”

            WinWin, once again breaks my bubble of reasoning. “You’re a douchebag though, if you lose and have to tell the entire school the truth.”

            The table silences a bit at this, but none of us mention changing the punishment. We are all too prideful to do something as cowardly as that. We started this so we plan on finishing it. And, we all plan to win in the end.

            I recall Miran’s shocked expression when I told her I want to get to know her. She was so speechless that she never could make out words for a response. Mr. Moon eventually barged in with his usual rushed demeanor, and I had to go back to my seat with no answer.

            I am definitely still far from winning.

            It is the end of the day and everyone is packing their things. Doyoung from the classroom door calls out to me. “Hey, I’ll be waiting for you at the front gate.” He walks on without seeing me roll my eyes at him.

            I groan. What do I have to do to shake this guy?

            My eyes jump to Jaehyun. “Do you want to hang out?”

            He finishes packing his things and throws his backpack over his shoulder. “Sorry, I have basketball practice today.”

            My lips purse in disappointment, but I turn to look at Yuta. “What about you?”

            Similar to Jaehyun, he smiles in apology. “I’m actually running late to soccer practice.” He clasps his hands over mine. “Don’t worry we will do something fun once my big game this weekend is over!”

            He loops his arm around Jaehyun’s shoulders. “Come on the gym is close by the field. We have to rush.” They both turn to look back at me again. “Sorry Taeyong. Next time for sure!” The both of them run off.

            I let out a deep sigh and shift my attention to Johnny and WinWin. I’m already not expecting much from them. “You guys wouldn’t by any chance be free?”

            WinWin winces then bows his head. “I have to go to dance.”

            Johnny pats his hand on my shoulder. “As much as I don’t like feeling like you’re second choice, and would want to reject you solely for that reason. I actually have to go home to rehearse the piano piece I’ll be competing with.”

            I shrug his hand off and cross my arms. “It’s not like you guys are my second choice. It’s just you two are always busy, but Jaehyun and Yuta seem busy now too since sports season has started…” My words trail off.

            I hate the feeling like if I am the odd one out.

            “We want to hang out with you too, but we all are just preoccupied.” WinWin notably feels guilty.

            “Oh no, it’s not your fault. Don’t feel bad.” I shove him to get him out of his guilt-ridden thoughts.

            Johnny interjects. “Yeah, it’s not our fault this guy has nothing he is passionate about.”

            “Hey!” I raise my fist to him.

            He dodges my fist, and in the process, pulls WinWin away from me. “Why don’t you take up some sort of martial arts. At least then you would learn how to fight.” Then like the jokester he is, he drags WinWin away with him. His laugh echoes down the hall.

           By this point I am left standing alone in the classroom. I heave out a heavy breath before raking my hand through my hair. “I know already without you telling me.” I don’t have anything that I’m passionate about.

            Once again, I find myself sitting in the backseat of my car with Doyoung.

           “So, why did you dye your hair?”

            I decide to ignore his question.

            “Is it because of Cho Miran?”

            “I’m not in the mood for your questions right now.” I continue to look out the car window. However, Doyoung persists.

            “Do you want to talk about it.”

            “No.” It’s not like he would understand. Someone like Doyoung has his whole life planned out. I do too, but unlike him, a part of me isn’t sure if that is what I really want. But, if I don’t want that, what do I want?

Miran

            I am very thankful to have someone like Ten in my life. Sometimes he can be that friend that is over-protective. Or, just overbearing. He is also the type to work earnestly at something, even if he at it.

            Such as cleaning and cooking. I’m one to talk though.

             “Miran! How could you be so terrible at this?” He exclaims in disbelief. “Shouldn’t you have gotten better with experience over time?!”

             I groan as I drop the Swiffer mop. “Well, maybe it’s because my teacher isn’t that great either.”

            Today is one of the days that Ten and I managed to get to my house before my brothers. Ten always helps me do some of my house chores when he can. Even though we both are pretty bad at it.

            “How could you say that to me?” He clutches his gloved hand to his chest, but the glove still has water and soap on it. “Ah!” His shirt is soaked.

            I shake my head, and smack my forehead with the palm of my hand. “This is exactly what I mean.”

            I sometimes feel really bad for my brothers that my cooking and cleaning aren’t the best. Jisung is precious and pretends he likes my food at least, but Haechan is a different story. I can always rely on him for his brutally honest opinions.

            Ten has peeled off his button up, leaving only his undershirt, and is wringing it out in the sink. His back is turned to me, but he starts talking. “What’s going on between you and Lee Taeyong?”

            His question catches me off guard, but I try to play it off as not a big deal. “Oh, it’s nothing. He’s probably just bored, and decided to mess with me.”

            “Your face this morning didn’t make it seem like nothing.” I look up to see that he has turned around and is staring me down with interrogating eyes.

            The way he doesn’t believe me makes me feel self-conscious. I haven’t been acting weird or out of the ordinary, so why am I being questioned? Sure, I was surprised this morning, but I don’t feel any different. Who wouldn’t have a reaction if they were in my position?

            I fold my arms across my chest. “I reacted how any normal person would in that situation, but trust me. I have more reasons to hate the guy than to not.”

           He sighs. His head tips down, but he looks back up at me with concerned eyes. Ah, he is going into over-protective friend mode. “I know.” He starts. “It’s just, I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

           Memories from when we were in Middle School fill my head. I look away from him. I know exactly what memory he is referring to. “I won’t. I already know what type of person Lee Taeyong is.”

            Knowing Ten, he probably has more to say on the subject. However, the front door bursts open and voices fill the hall.

           “I won this time!” I hear Haechan’s voice.

           “Ah, that’s because you got a head start.” Another familiar voice complains.

           I am thankful for the interruption. “Is that Mark I hear?” My feet carry me away from Ten in the kitchen, and my head peaks down the hallway.

          Mark has the same cheeky grin. He runs down the hallway to sweep me into a big hug. “It’s been so long!”

           I laugh at this weirdo. “You come over to our house every day. You were only gone this past week.”

          Haechan yanks Mark away from me. “Jesus, stop touching my sister. It’s disgusting.”

          “Aw, aren’t you cute being possessive of your older sister.” I pinch his cheek.

          This makes him gag, and he pushes my hand away. “Ew, I’m not like Jisung.”

          “Hey!” Jisung yells from the front door.

          We all start making our way to the kitchen, and I take notice how Ten is back to washing the dishes. Clearly, done with the past conversation topic. At least for now.

          “Anyways.” Mark throws his bag onto the couch. “I wasn’t here this past week because I got sick.”

         “Oh my god, me too!” Ten turns around from the dishes.

         “You too?!” Mark points at Ten. “Man, I’m telling you there must be something going around.” He shakes his head.

          Ten takes off his gloves. “No, it’s worse than that. I heard that it’s some sort of virus, but some people contract it worse than others.”

           “Wow, you’re making it sound like some sort of zombie apocalypse.” Haechan jokes as he takes a seat at the kitchen table.

          Jisung sits across from him. “Don’t say scary things like that! It’s not funny.”

          “It’s not funny for a baby like you.” Haechan starts to ruffle Jisung’s hair with his hand, which looks a little comical since Jisung is taller than him.

          He pushes his hand out his hair. “Ah! Stop it!”

          “Hey, no more ok?” I smack the back of Haechan’s head.

          “Why do I get hit?” He whines as he rubs his head.

          Mark meanwhile laughs from the couch. “That’s on you man. You don’t mess with someone like your sister.”

          “Thank you, Mark.” I smile at him.

          “I’m always on your side Miran.” He gives me a thumb up.

         This makes Haechan scoff. “And here I thought you were my best friend.”

         “I am.” Mark says. “But, Miran is cuter than you.”

          I laugh at this, but Ten and Haechan both speak at the same time. “Don’t even think about it.” Their eyes look at each other, but nod their heads. They have always had an unspoken partnership in keeping guys out of my life.

         “Besides, if we were to get sick it would probably be from Miran’s cooking.” Haechan says under his breath.

         I’m about to reprimand him again, but his voice cuts me short. “It’s ok, when mom comes home with dad she can cook us a good meal.”

        My heart plummets at the mention of my lie.

        Mark jumps from the couch. “Oh! I haven’t seen your parents in forever! Your mom’s cooking is honestly the best food I’ve ever eaten.” He smiles at the thought of her savory food.

         I already am pissed off at my mom, but she left behind such big shoes to fill, and this pisses me off even more.

        Jisung beams. “Yeah, our parents are supposed to be coming home in two weeks!”

        The boys continue to gush over how it has been so long since our parents came home. Meanwhile, my eyes cast further down to the ground as I realize the depth to my lie. This is bad.

        Someone nudges my arm. I glance to see Ten looking at me with a question in his eyes, but I shake my head. If anyone understands my situation most it is Ten. As much as I am stressed about what to do about my lie. The few moments like this that I can see the genuine smiles on my brothers’ faces are rewarding enough to ward off my worries for a little bit.

        The question keeps returning however. What am I going to do?

        It is lunch the following day, and I have found a secluded corner of the school I figure no one would come by. Ten stayed after class to talk to the teacher for a bit, so I took that as my chance to call my parents.

        I bite my lip. If it were not for my lie, the last thing I would be doing is calling my parents. Specifically, my mom, and yet the ringing sound of an outgoing phone call repeats in my ear. My mom’s caller ID on the screen of my phone.

        Of course, the rings continue until a familiar monotone voice enters my ears. Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voicemail…

       With a groan, I end the call. “What was I expecting?” I shake my head and dial my dad’s phone number. “I should have just called dad to begin with.” However, a part of me had hoped that my mom would have picked up the phone.

       “Miran?” The sound of my dad’s voice on the other end of the line startles me. While, I had more faith in him answering the call I still couldn’t help but be surprised. The fact that he even managed to pick up the phone in the middle of the day is miracle enough.

       “Oh, you aren’t working?” My voice is stiff, and forced.

       “Yeah.” He laughs with a tinge of exhaustion lacing his voice. “I’m on break right now. So, it’s a good thing you happened to call me right now.”

       The line goes silent again, and neither of us know what to say. It isn’t often that we get to talk like this. It is hard to recall the last time we talked on the phone, or at all. He is always busy trying to earn money, I suppose eventually a wedge began to form between us.

        “I called mom before you, but she didn’t answer.” Is the first thing I can think of saying, which is clearly the wrong thing to say in this situation.

        My dad sighs on the other side. “You know she is working really hard right now.”

       “I know, it’s because she feels guilty.” I shoot back. The way he defends her makes my insides burn. She is the reason he has to work a job away from his family, with unreasonable hours, and he still defends her?

        He doesn’t say anything. The only thing that convinces me he is still on the phone is the sounds of machine clanking in the background. “Miran, your mother loves this family. She would do anything for you kids.”

        “Then come home at the end of the month.” I start