“Yo Byeonghee!” a voice shouted, causing Junseo to turn his head. He saw his friend sitting on the stairs at the entrance of the stairs. He was drawing in a sketchpad, but stopped when he was called. He lifted his head to face Lee Seunghwan coming up to him with three other guys.

“Seunghwan,” Byeonghee said with a small smile. “What’s up?”

“Kosuke’s birthday is today, which you know of course,” Seunghwan said, causing Byeonghee to chuckle and nod his head.

“I mean, I live with him  so I’d hope,” Byeonghee said, turning to one of the two boys who were blond. The one he looked at was shorter than the other. He also looked foreign. Japanese.  “Happy birthday Kosuke hyung.”

“Thanks,” the boy named Kosuke said with a bright smile. Junseo guessed he was probably someone who was easy to get along with.

“You should come to the party the team is throwing for him!” a boy next to Kosuke said. He was also foreign. Junseo guessed he was Chinese. “Taewoo’s brother got a place for us.”

“Namjoon? I doubt it,” Byeonghee said with a small laugh.

“Of course Namjoon would never let us through a party,” Seunghwan said, rolling his eyes. “No, Yugyeom hyung. Well I guess you never met Yugyeom, since you’re new. Yugyeom was a resident at the home 2 years ago. When my brother and I were brought in. We were two of the first set of siblings to be taken in. Anyway, he rented us a place to celebrate!”

“Anything run by Taewoo could be possibly dangerous,” Byeonghee said with narrowed eyes. “The whole football team will be there?”

“Yes,” Seunghwan said, nodding his head. He sat down next to Byeonghee and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. This caused a pang in Junseo’s heart. He bit his lip and walked towards the school, knowing he had to pass them. But he didn’t want to witness the rest of this conversation.

As he walked towards the entrance, he accidently bumped into the final boy standing with the group. He was the same height as Junseo, but for some reason he seemed so much taller. Junseo decided he didn’t want to start any unnecessary conversation, so he just continued to walk. This seemed to piss off the blond boy as he grabbed onto Junseo’s shirt. Junseo’s eyes widened as the boy turned him around.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” he asked, catching Byeonghee’s attention. “Don’t just bump into me and not apologize, rude jerk.”

“Dongjoon, stop,” Byeonghee said, standing up. The other didn’t seem to be listening as he glared at him. “Answer me.”

“Isn’t that your friend?” Seunghwan asked Byeonghee. Junseo didn’t hear a response as he was suddenly shoved to the ground by Dongjoon.
“Yah, stop it,” Byeonghee said again, rushing over to help Junseo up. Junseo pushed him away, however, and pushed himself up. He glared at Byeonghee before starting to make his way towards the door. “Hey! Junseo, stop.”

“Leave me alone,” Junseo hissed, tears appearing in his eyes. He was still hurt after what happened last night.

“Junseo, please,” Byeonghee said, grabbing onto his wrist. “What they said last night, it wasn’t true. I promise. Please believe me.”

“Right,” Junseo said, glancing at Seunghwan before shaking his head. “It definitely wasn’t true.”

“Junseo,” Byeonghee said with a frown as Junseo shook his hand away. “Please, you know I would never do that to you. You’re my brother. I would never betray you like that.”

“It’s not what it looks like to me,” Junseo whispered, before walking into the school without another word.

“What was that about?” Seunghwan asked as soon as Junseo was out of sight. Byeonghee frowned and bit his lip. “You apologized, right? Don’t feel bad. He won’t listen to you anyway.”

“It’s not that simple,” Byeonghee said, shaking his head. He knew how sensitive and shy his friend was. So he knew that he was really hurt. “Something was said last night that really hurt him.”

“Then he’s stupid for not letting you explain yourself,” Seunghwan said, causing Byeonghee to glare at him.

“Yeah, he’s a stupid jerk that has no manners,” Dongjoon added. That last statement really set Byeonghee off. He balled his fist and the next thing he knew, Dongjoon was on the ground, his hand covering his jaw. Byeonghee’s hand was now throbbing in pain. He then Seunghwan, hurt and anger in his eyes.

“Don’t ever insult him. Ever,” Byeonghee hissed, before picking up his sketchbook and his backpack and storming away from the group.

“Oh, Byeonghee fighting with his boyfriend? This is new!” Taewoo said as he and Yongha walked towards them.

“ off Taewoo,” Byeonghee snapped. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“So I take it you’re not coming to the party tonight?” Taewoo asked, causing Byeonghee to sigh and close his eyes, turning to face the older boy.

“I don’t want to miss Kosuke’s birthday,” Byeonghee told him. “But I live with him, so if I do I can always make it up to him. My priority right now is fixing things with my foster brother. My best friend.”

“So you’ll fix things with this kid, but you’ll leave things weird with Seunghwan?” Taewoo asked, glancing back at Seunghwan who had caught up with them.

“It’s not that I want to leave things weird with Seunghwan,” Byeonghee said, glancing at him as well. “Look, Junseo and I, we were in the same foster home when we were six. It was his first foster home, my third. And that foster home… They abused him. Because he was too quiet. Because he cried a lot since he was separated from his older brother. And he went through this for four years. I was his only saving grace. I was the reason he got out of there. So yeah, I’m super protective over him. Yeah, I want to fix things with him. He IS my brother. Besides, it’s your fault he’s made at me anyway. The comments you guys made when you left yesterday really hurt him.”

“Oh, don’t tell me he has a crush on you or something,” Taewoo said with a snort.

“So that’s why you betrayed him?” Seunghwan stepped in. “Wow, I can see why he’s hurt.”

“No,” Byeonghee said with a deep sigh. “