July passed into August and soon, it would exactly be a month since Chanyeol arrived on Jindo Island. He had finished composing one full song that was rejected by his executive producers. Nonetheless, at least he had done something, even if he wouldn’t be able to see results out of it.

It took Chanyeol a few days of fishing, moping around and borrowing Jongin’s bicycle to go around the island until he was ready to hole himself up in his room again and work on composing again.

Sometimes, Chanyeol would cycle down by himself to an empty beach and sit for an hour or two on the rocks, watching the sunset in silence as he contemplated his life. Through doing that, Chanyeol had actually become rather acquainted with a group of divers, composed of the middle-aged women from the island who fished through diving near the beach.

They always had words of advice and encouragement for Chanyeol, and while he appreciated the gesture, he still felt like they would never be able to understand his dilemma.

It was still the school summer holidays for a few more weeks, which meant Jongin was usually hanging around the house with Chanyeol, so he was never alone during the day even when Kyungsoo was out at sea.

When Jongin was around and blasting his loud dance music on his Bluetooth speakers in the living room, Chanyeol worked on different things until the teenager left and he finally had the silence to record something without the interference of distracting background noise.

Chanyeol didn’t want to reprimand Jongin for being loud and merely learned to tolerate and work around it. Chanyeol felt even older living in a house with two people significantly younger than him, so he wasn’t really set on claiming the title of the old cranky uncle anytime soon.

Jongin’s dance competition would be held in Mokpo, about an hour away, on the first Saturday of August.

Leading up to the dance competition, Jongin had been training and practicing non-stop alone and with his dance group too. Sometimes, Chanyeol even found Jongin dancing under the sun outside the porch, doing some elaborate handstand or the likes of it.

Chanyeol was told by Kyungsoo to watch out for Jongin, so it was actually his business to inspect Jongin every now and then to make sure the teenager didn’t get hurt. Because according to Kyungsoo, Jongin had once broken his leg while dancing.

Chanyeol didn’t want Jongin to get hurt, and more importantly, he didn’t know what to do if Jongin broke his leg again when he was supposed to be watching over the teenager. Kyungsoo probably wouldn’t blame him if it happened, but Chanyeol couldn’t bear the thought of seeing Kyungsoo’s disappointed face.

On the Friday night before the dance competition, Jongin was literally jogging and running around the house in circles while Kyungsoo and Chanyeol avoided him as they laid out the dishes for dinner.

“Can you stop running already and eat,” Kyungsoo sighed, already seated on the pillow on the floor at their low dining table.

Chanyeol didn’t say anything, merely sitting and waiting for everyone else before they could eat. He didn’t want to interfere in such a thing.

“I can’t. I need to warm up and be energized for tomorrow so I have to prepare from tonight too. If I eat, I’ll throw up,” Jongin ran out of the door, outside to the front yard and back into the house again in circles.

“That beats the whole point, Jongin. If you tire yourself out tonight, you won’t have the energy for tomorrow. You still need rest,” Kyungsoo tried to reason.

“I can do that later, trust me,” Jongin continued running past behind Kyungsoo.

“Let’s just eat,” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, shaking his head, as he picked up his chopsticks and pushed a plate of kimchi closer to Chanyeol.

“Alright,” Chanyeol nodded, holding his bowl of rice close to his face before eating.

“Oh, by the way, I’m not free tomorrow so are you able to send Jongin to Mokpo? You can drive, can you?” Kyungsoo asked, in the middle of chewing on his rice.

“Yeah, I can drive,” Chanyeol answered, “I guess I should be able to help send Jongin to Mokpo- but what do I use?”

“You can use my truck,” Kyungsoo suggested.

“Then how will you get to the dock tomorrow if I take the truck?” Chanyeol brought up.

“We have to be early!” Jongin chimed in, running on the spot behind Kyungsoo, “The competition starts at ten in the morning but I have to be there at nine to meet up with my team!”

“Yeah, what he said,” Kyungsoo added, “It takes an hour to get to Mokpo and Jongin needs to be early too so we’ll all just leave the house tomorrow at the same time. You’ll drive me to the dock and drop me off, and then you two go on ahead and drive to Mokpo.”

“So what time do we leave?” Chanyeol asked, looking up from his bowl.

“We have to be out of the house at seven the latest so you should sleep early,” Kyungsoo advised.

“Yeah, please sleep early and don’t drive too slowly as Kyungsoo hyung does. He drives like an old man and I don’t want to be late,” Jongin mentioned.

“Slow!?” Kyungsoo retorted, “I’m being safe! Besides, the roads here are country roads and not highway lanes like on the mainland. There’s no need to be fast. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Well, Chanyeol is older than you and he doesn’t seem like an old geezer unlike you,” Jongin teased.

Chanyeol chuckled while trying to hide the fact that he was laughing at their banter. He thought it was actually funny but he didn’t want Kyungsoo to feel like he was laughing at him.

Jongin did eventually stop running and then had dinner with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Throughout dinner, Jongin was rushing and talking about how he had to go back to warming up and practicing again.

It didn’t really happen though because Jongin fell asleep just after they had cleaned up their dinner, sleeping in the living room with his shirt riding up; his tummy exposed and mouth half-open while snoring.

Kyungsoo only sighed even more as he dragged out an extra blanket to cover Jongin while he slept.

With Jongin asleep, Chanyeol used the short hours of silence to continue working on something before he too fell asleep not long later, with his alarm set to ring at six in the morning.

On Saturday morning the next day, Chanyeol woke up a few minutes before his alarm rang while he was still groggy and half asleep in his bed, lying down and looking up towards the ceiling.

Chanyeol’s alarm on his phone started out soft and slow before gradually speeding up as it got louder, the longer it was left on.

Even while still lying in bed and hearing his alarm gradually pick up speed and volume, Chanyeol was already thinking of how he could use the concept or pull inspiration even from a thing such as that.

It did make Chanyeol realize that maybe he was trying too hard to force himself to produce a new unique song which had to be a hit. It wasn’t an easy feat and it got worse when he started to compare himself to other successful producers.

Sure, everyone was different and had their own music producing styles, but Chanyeol was more envious of their success and recognition than he was of their unique works and individuality.

That kind of pressure to perform had been one of the catalysts that led to Chanyeol’s decision to plagiarize another artist. Along the way and even now, he realized that maybe he was just trying too hard beyond his actual capabilities.

Chanyeol loved music and making it, but since when had it became so stressful and started to drive him insane? That too was the reason why he was currently in the middle of nowhere, living with two brothers whom he didn’t even know existed until a month ago.

After he was done going over that while in bed, Chanyeol thought it would be a good day for him to take a break from writing music, go outside and do other things instead. Having to drive Jongin to Mokpo that day seemed like the best thing to happen to him now.

Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Jongin didn’t eat breakfast at home that day. They drove down to the dock and reached there even before seven in the morning, where they then had breakfast at a seaside café near the fisher’s market.

Chanyeol paid for all of their meals even when Kyungsoo insisted that he should pay because Chanyeol was the guest on the island and Kyungsoo said it was his responsibility as the host to do so.

They went their own ways after breakfast, with Kyungsoo going down to the dock towards his boat, while Chanyeol drove on with Jongin in Kyungsoo’s truck.

Chanyeol wasn’t familiar with the roads and could have used the navigation app on his phone but Jongin knew the way and was eager to point it out to Chanyeol, so they could apparently arrive there sooner- according to Jongin that was. So, Chanyeol just drove on blindly with Jongin telling him where to go.

With the weekend traffic and Jongin needing to stop to pee at a gas station at least once, Chanyeol finally pulled up at the gymnasium hall where the dance competition would be held, just a few minutes before nine in the morning.

Jongin quickly grabbed his bag pack, said goodbye and told Chanyeol to pick him up after two in the afternoon.

While Chanyeol was pulling out from the parking lots in front of the gymnasium, he could see other parents dropping off their children for the dance competition. Again, Chanyeol felt old, because he could have been Jongin’s father and even blend in with the rest of the parents there.

With five hours to waste, Chanyeol decided to explore Mokpo and spend some time in a city before he returned to Jindo Island. Since he was there, he might as well enjoy what he couldn’t find on a rural island.

For the first time in a month, Chanyeol stepped into a shopping mall to buy something and not a wet market by the dock or a small general store ran by a single family, who had apparently been continuing the business for many generations now.

Chanyeol shopped for supplies such as personal hygiene items from brands he couldn’t find on the island, especially the more high-end ones he was used to. While at it, Chanyeol also bought new clothes and shoes from designer brands which were of course not available on the island too.

Chanyeol earned pretty well from royalties and the amount he charged for producing a single song because of his fame and status, so he was able to afford such things, although he expected his income to be on a decline now with the scandal and whatnot.

Chanyeol stopped at a popular franchise coffee chain that would be far from ever existing on Jindo Island. On the island, everyone bought their own powdered coffee beans from the same store and made it themselves with just sugar or milk.

He stayed there for at least an hour to charge his phone, check his social media while drinking overpriced and heavily sugared coffee and continued to wait until it was time to pick Jongin up.

After going through two different shopping malls, Chanyeol decided to get something for Jongin and Kyungsoo too.

Chanyeol bought Jongin a pair of wireless earbuds as a gift, which was meant to benefit him too because now Jongin could practice his dance and leave the place as quiet as Chanyeol wanted it to be.

Chanyeol thought of buying a shirt for Kyungsoo but he could already imagine the latter’s flustered face, telling him to take back the gift because Kyungsoo was the type of person who was uncomfortable about receiving things and feeling indebted to others.

Instead, Chanyeol decided to do something more subtle as a gift to Kyungsoo, which he couldn’t refuse too.

Chanyeol sent Kyungsoo’s truck to a mechanic’s for quick service and oil change. Chanyeol then filled up the truck with gas until it was at full tank

At the gas station, a young woman recognized him and even asked Chanyeol if he was LOEY. Chanyeol pretended to not know what she was talking about and quickly ran back to the truck to pick up Jongin.

Chanyeol thought he had been discreet and did his best to avoid people who might recognize him that day, but it didn’t appear to be like that. At least, he was doing something else other than stress about making music so there was that.

At half-past-two, Chanyeol received a text from Jongin, asking to be picked up just as Chanyeol was on the way to the gymnasium already.

Chanyeol stopped the truck where he had dropped Jongin off earlier on, where Jongin was already waiting with his bag slung over one shoulder and a frown visibly displayed on his face.

“How did you do?” Chanyeol asked excitedly when Jongin entered the truck and slammed the passenger door shut.

“Third place out of fifteen groups,” Jongin’s voice was monotonous and flat when he replied.

“Wow, that’s great. Good job and congratulations!” Chanyeol praised as he began to drive again, out from the gymnasium’s parking lots.

“Yeah, I know a third place is alright considering we didn’t even place the previous year but we could’ve gotten second place if it weren’t for her team beating us by a mere one point,” Jongin hissed, sounding bitter as he looked out the window from inside the truck.

“Who’s ‘her’?” Chanyeol questioned, paying attention to the road and to what Jongin was talking about.

“My ex-girlfriend, Jennie and her dance team. I knew she’d be joining the competition too since I saw her team practicing in the school hall a few weeks ago,” Jongin answered after a pause, sulking.

“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” Chanyeol chuckled.

“You didn’t? I thought Kyungsoo hyung told you about it,” Jongin continued to look out at the window and the cityscape that passed them by in the moving truck.

“No, he didn’t tell me about it? Should he?” Chanyeol was curious.

Jongin sighed, “I got into a lot of trouble after I broke up with Jennie so it was a big issue and I thought Kyungsoo would have told you about it because of that.”

“How would you get into trouble from just breaking up with someone?” Chanyeol asked.

Jongin was hesitant to answer but he did so anyway, feeling like he could trust Chanyeol with the information, “Well, Jennie and I broke up after two months together because she said she wasn’t able to make time for studies, her dance team and me. So she cut me loose and I got mad at her, I broke into her shoe locker and threw her expensive dancing shoes in a drain outside the school gate. Someone saw me do it and I got in trouble for it. I had to work on my parent’s farm and Kyungsoo’s boat every weekend for months to earn money and give it back to Jennie so she could buy new shoes.”

“Um…” Chanyeol was at a loss of words to say, “Why’d you do that?”

“I got angry at her because she chose her dance team and her studies over me!” Jongin defended.

“-but she was honest about her reasons to you, wasn’t she?” Chanyeol reasoned, “She recognized that she was not yet able to divide her time properly. So she was actually doing you a favor by letting go of you. Do you really want to be in a relationship with someone who couldn’t spend time with you?”

“No, I don’t,” Jongin replied.

“Exactly,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, “You didn’t like it but it sounds like Jennie was also thinking in the best of interest for you too.”

“-by breaking up with me?” Jongin remained baffled.

“You’re still young, Jongin. You two are only in high school. Maybe it was wise for you two to go your separate ways for now and learn how to deal with your own life before getting into a relationship. Who knows, one day when you’re older and more stable, you two could get back together,” Chanyeol advised.

“You really think so? Has that happened to you before?” Jongin questioned, wanting to believ