“You look like hell,” Amber piped up, four seats down at the cafe bar. The girl had become a common occurrence at EXODUS lately. She was here every second morning, if not everyday.

 “I know,” Minseok groaned, scrubbing at his face with a paper towel. It was tough work roasting coffee beans.

 It’s because I stayed up all night to watch over Jongdae. I’d do it again, though.

 Irene walked up behind him, precariously balancing a plate of tuna sandwiches on her elbow. “Careful there with the beans. It’s full-city roast, not a goddamn cremation.”

 “The poor boy’s just distracted,” Amber defended, flicking her free hand towards Minseok.

 “He’s always distracted. Probably daydreaming about Jongdae and what not.”

 Yup, Irene could not only turn back an army with her dead-eyed stare, but she could also mind read.

 “Jongdae? As in our neighbour, Jongdae?”

 “Unfortunately.” The girls looked almost appalled by Minseok’s “poor taste” in men.

 “What?” he snapped defensively. “There’s nothing wrong with me, or Jongdae for that matter? He’s my friend! He’s funny, he’s creative, he’s- "

 “Shut up, Minseok. You’re babbling again.”

 “Sorry. It’s weird, isn’t it.”

 Amber looked up from her plate, the sauce from her fingers. “Your little obsession? Maybe.”

 “I AM NOT OBSESSED.”

 “Want his number?” Irene held up her phone and waved it like it was a dog treat, testing out the blonde’s patience.

 “.........Yes….! Do you have it?”

 “I used to,” Irene said, making a face. “Just let me check.” She quickly skimmed through her contacts, trying to ignore the fact that Minseok was standing right over her shoulder, breathing heavily like he needed an inhaler.

 “Yeah, nope. I blocked him.” She held out her screen and shook her head helplessly. “Just trust me on this. Jongdae is not somebody who you want to text. He’s annoying.”

 “Speak of the devil,” Amber muttered, pointing a thumb towards the entrance, at a boy in a dark-green high neck hoodie, kicking at the ground with his Converse sneakers.

 “Wait.” Irene’s eyes gleamed, and she stepped across the floor quickly, seizing Amber’s arm and dragging her to the kitchen.

 “Get him his bagels, or what you usually do,” the girl said, before shoving Amber forcefully towards the cooling rack.

 “Where are you going?”

 “Just do your job!”

 That answer was fine for Minseok; he knew better than to question Irene, and he didn’t think too much of the hushed whispers coming from the kitchen as he quickly packaged the bagels and handed them over.

 Jongdae took them without a word, mouth melting into a soft smile.

 “Stop right there!” Amber suddenly screamed, barrelling from the kitchen with her palm outstretched like an anime policeman.

 “W-what?”

 “If you would like to pass-” Amber said, sliding her feet towards the glass door, which Irene had appeared out of nowhere and was now blocking with her arms, “you’ll need to tell me the secret password.”

 “The secret password,” Jongdae repeated, bagel crumbs spewing everywhere.

 “Yes. I’ll give you a hint. The password is a combination of numbers. Seven numbers.” Amber caught Minseok’s eye and winked, and he knew exactly what was going on.

 “Excuse me,” he said hurriedly, rushing past the line of customers to get to the washroom. This was not going to be pretty, whatever their plan was.

 As soon as he flipped the washroom latch closed, a wave of relief(and also chlorine scented toilet cleaner) flooded through him. Phew. He could ride out the remainder of the time in here, and perhaps avoid the direct fallout of Irene and Amber’s horrible wing-girlling.

 Minseok made a mental note to never do this to Yixing as he pressed his ear to the door and listened.

 At first, there was some inaudible grumbling, followed by a woman’s voice talking. Then a man’s. Then a random shout, and a wail that had to be Jongdae’s, because nobody else could hit those high notes just like him.

 “I’ll talk to him,” somebody said.

 “Can you write it down?” another voice suggested.

 After that, there were sounds of a pencil scratching, followed by footsteps and the firm closing of a door. Minseok waited it out for a few more seconds, just to be safe rather than sorry.

 Coast is clear.

 He exited cautiously, doing the thing where he played with his sleeves when he was nervous. The two girls were already waiting for him across the counter, their big, stretched out smiles more real than fake as Amber approached him, and pressed something into his hand.

 “You’re welcome,” they both said in unison. “But you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Irene quickly added.

 It was a single sliver of paper, curled at the edges. As he unfolded it and smoothed it out, there was a series of seven numbers on the back.

 He didn’t need it, he could always message Jongdae on Instagram or something….. But he wanted it, and that was a different story.

 Smiling, Minseok typed the number into his phone, saving it for later.