"You'll thank me later," Hyunjin muttered to his dog once they were outside. He stifled a yawn and he clicked his tongue, trying to get Kkami to walk alongside him. 

The small dog snorted and walked slowly, avoiding Hyunjin's eyes. He wasn't surprised his dog was giving him a hard time, as he chose to wake up early on a summer day to take Kkami for a walk. With the temperatures getting up to dangerous levels with heatstroke warnings, he thought it was smarter to get up and protect Kkami's pads from hot sidewalks and avoid sweating while walking. 

Even his parents seemed a bit surprised to see their son up early, but they agreed with his logic and his dad smiled when he headed for the door. 

"Already a man," his father remarked. "Taking responsibility of his dog and what's this I hear about a girlfriend?"

The last part made Hyunjin freeze and he stared in shock at his parents. While technically it wasn't new information, he didn't make a big fuss out of the recent change in his life – dating his friend's older sister. 

"Honey stop! Hyunjin's old enough to date and I've met the girl – she's already got a job and is in college!" his mom replied as she nudged her husband. 

Before his father could say anything, Hyunjin quickly grabbed his set of house keys and mumbled that he needed to walk Kkami now. He breathed a sigh of relief once he was a block or two from his house and he glanced occasionally at his dog to see he was interested in anything. Kkami slowly perked up and eventually became interested in sniffing bushes and lawns of his neighbors. 

Speaking of his girlfriend, he hadn't spent too much time with her over the past week and a half, due to her busy work schedule. She worked at Side Effects, an entertainment center that housed multiple activities like rock climbing, trampoline, karaoke, an escape room, and a unique area where you could break things on purpose. He guessed that many people sought to hang out there, due to the air conditioning and the destruction room, which saw a spike in clients as summer's hottest temperatures kicked in. His friend Seungmin happened to be her brother, which meant he got in for free. 

Maybe if Seungmin didn't mind? Hyunjin thought as he paused, letting Kkami mark a nearby tree. 

"How about some breakfast for both of you?" his mom asked once he came back. 

Hyunjin agreed and removed Kkami's leash, the latter making a dash for the kitchen. He hung up the leash and made a beeline for the cupboard where the dog food was kept. He scooped out the amount of kibble for Kkami's breakfast and placed it in his bowl. He added a few supplements in powder form that the vet told him to give to his dog, then mixed the concoction up carefully. 

"Seungmin called you while you were out," his mom noted. 

Hyunjin turned and looked over his shoulder. "Oh?"

"He asked if you were free today," his mom continued. "He said he's going to Side Effects today because it's Discount Thursday. He was wondering if you were interested."

"Yeah, I'll call him back after breakfast," Hyunjin replied. He turned toward the fridge to retrieve some turkey for Kkami's dish, a small smile spreading across his face. He had to wonder if his friend was psychic or something, but today sounded like it was going to be a good one. Checking out a place he never visited, hanging with Seungmin, and maybe seeing his girlfriend. 

Once he was done mixing up Kkami's breakfast, he put his bowl down and went to wash his hands. His phone buzzed and he saw it was Seungmin.

Seungmin

Hey! Sorry I missed you – your mom said you were walking Kkami?
Sent 7:23 AM

Hyunjin

Hey, yeah I was. Thought it was better than risking heatstroke. She told me about Side Effects – I'm down to go. 

What time?
Sent 7:24 PM

Seungmin

Um...maybe around 9? Ame said her shift starts at 10 and she was happy to drive us. 
Sent 7:26 PM

If you want, you can sit up front with her. 🙄
Sent 7:27 PM

Hyunjin

No I'll sit with you. Thanks for the invite. Don't worry, I'll pay for my admission today. You can take your sister's free one.
Sent 7:28 PM

"Hey long time no see!" Amelie remarked once she parked the car. She rolled down her window and greeted Hyunjin's mom. 

Hyunjin climbed into the back next to Seungmin and greeted his friend, before securing his seat belt. 

"You're not gonna sit up front?" Seungmin teased. "I mean, you haven't seen her for a whole week...actually almost two weeks!"

Hyunjin threw his friend a look and turned to face the front, as Amelie rolled up the window and turned around to face the pair. "Okay so Hyunjin, your mom said you can stay as long as you like. I'm working until 18:00 today, but if you wanna leave sooner, either my mom or your mom can grab you and Seung. That cool?"

Hyunjin flashed her a thumbs-up and he thanked her for driving them over. "How are you?"

She turned to the front and nodded her head slightly side to side. "Okay. Seung didn't tell you that they finally sacked Miss Clueless, did he?"

Seungmin shook his head and turned to face Hyunjin, explaining that the female co-worker that Amelie mentioned was fired from Side Effects. "Apparently the regional manager came for a visit and was not happy with all of the mistakes made. He called everyone in the office to figure out where the disconnect was, and eventually, um...how to say this?" He looked up front and met his sister's eyes in the rearview mirror. 

"The regional manager discovered that my branch manager maybe didn't do the best job vetting candidates," Amelie explained. "Now, you don't have to be a whiz at this stuff, but she had zero work experience in any customer service-type job before this one and I think the regional guy could see that our guy has a big, fat crush on her. That alone is a cause for concern and so both were forced to speak with him in the office at the same time. I don't know exactly what happened, but apparently she suggested some questionable way of proving her value and got the boot." 

Hyunjin nodded to show he understood and Seungmin asked if they found anyone to replace her yet. Amelie bit her lip and confessed that her manager was interviewing some people, with new protocols in place, but no one had been selected yet. 

"Actually, did you know your friend Jeongin had applied?" she asked. 

"Wait what? Innie?!" both declared from the back.

Amelie stopped at a red light and briefly turned around to look at them. "Yeah, he had an application and was dressed in business attire when I saw him come in one day. He said he wanted a part time job to earn some extra money and thought this looked like a cool place to work. Not sure how he did, but if he does get hired, he's in good hands."

"I hope he gets it," Seungmin spoke up. "Innie said he's good with tech and he wants to interact with people regularly."

"Then he probably has a good chance," Amelie replied, before turning back to the front. "So Hyunjin, how are you? Kkami doing okay?"

Hyunjin nodded with a small smile and he explained that he was trying to move the walks up to earlier in the day, to prevent risk of heatstroke and hot concrete sidewalks. Seungmin listened and he turned his body toward Hyunjin, while looking up front at his sister. 

"Hey Ame, do you think Mom would let me come over one morning so I could walk Kkami with Hyunjin? I mean, if you're okay with it Hyunjin!" 

"Well she did comment you are notorious for sleeping in this summer, so probably," Amelie teased. "But Hyunjin should get the final say, after all, Kkami is his dog." She glanced at Hyunjin in her rearview and explained that Seungmin was experiencing sadness over not having a family pet again. 

"Our horrible neighbor across the street got a dog and she already told Seung that she refuses to pay him a cent to walk the dog," Amelie explained. "Seung even said he'd do it for free, but our neighbor didn't believe him."

"I just wanted to hang out with a furry friend for once!" Seungmin whined. 

Hyunjin smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. "I'll let you borrow Kkami some morning. I'm warning you though – he isn't a huge fan of waking up early."

"Seung, who's using my free admission?" Amelie asked once they parked at her workplace. 

Hyunjin pointed to Seungmin and said he brought money to pay for the discounted admission. 

"Ame, has your co-worker used any of his free sign-ins?" Seungmin asked. "I'm talking about–"

"Binnie? Naw he hasn't, come to think of it," Amelie replied. "Let me see if he would cover Hyunjin today. Think I saw his name on the schedule for today." 

Hyunjin shut his car door and started to protest as Amelie headed inside. "It's fine Ame, I can buy a ticket."

"I doubt Binnie's gonna mind," Amelie replied as she held the door open for her brother and Hyunjin. After both entered, she followed and walked behind the counter, greeting the dark haired male behind it. 

Seungmin greeted the young man as Changbin and asked how he was doing.

"Not bad, could do without the heat," Changbin replied. "Congrats on graduating. You both going in today?"

Seungmin nodded and Amelie put her bag under the counter in a locker bin. She turned the key and put it into her pocket, before straightening up. She came up behind Changbin and nudged his shoulder.

"Hey Binnie, this is Hyunjin," she said, gesturing to Hyunjin. 

Changbin tilted his head and gave a slight nod. "Ah, you're the guy who beat up Seungmin's bully huh? Melie said you knocked the guy out cold in one hit – nice," he said. 

Melie? Hyunjin thought as he forced himself to smile and shake hands with the guy. He knew that was another common nickname his girlfriend tended to get, but he never heard anyone else call her by a nickname, other than him or Seungmin. 

"For that, I'm gonna put you down as my guest today," Changbin replied with a smile. "So you guys can save your money." He swiveled around in the chair and asked Amelie to log that in the back on their office computer. 

She excused herself to make a note about the free admission for both her brother and Seungmin, calling a thank you over her shoulder. Seungmin beamed as he thanked the older boy and Hyunjin quietly bowed his head as he muttered a thank you. 

"So, what did you guys want to do today?" Changbin asked. 

Seungmin looked over at Hyunjin and Hyunjin glanced at the laminated menu on the desk, showing the offerings at Side Effects. He skimmed the options and murmured that he wanted to start at the trampoline room. Seungmin agreed with his option and Changbin grabbed wristbands with a flat rectangular plate displaying a code on top. He passed them over and instructed them to put them on their left wrists. 

"That flat thing on top is a scannable code – put it up to the door of the room you want to go into and it will unlock for you. I already set them so they can open any of the rooms today – no need to come back here to ask for access," Changbin explained. 

"Cool, thanks Changbin!" Seungmin replied. He grabbed Hyunjin's wrist and began leading him over to the trampoline room. 

Hyunjin cast a quick glance over his shoulder at Changbin, who was focused on some new customers that walked in. He jabbed his thumb behind him and asked his friend about his girlfriend's co-worker. "So that's Changbin? The one that also couldn't stand the bad co-worker?"

"Yeah he looks really scary at first, but he's not that intense," Seungmin explained. "Honestly he's really soft once you look past the glare."

"How old is he?" 

"Um I think he's a year younger than Ame," Seungmin guessed. "I think he started college last year? Why?"

Hyunjin shrugged and mumbled it was just a question. "I mean, I've never been here before so yeah."

"Relax, he never dated Ame and has never looked at her that way," Seungmin sighed with a roll of his eyes. He paused at a door and put his wristband against the scanner to the right of the door.

"Wha–hey I never said that!" Hyunjin whined as he scrunched his brows up. He scanned his wristband quickly and stepped inside the trampoline room. 

"It's not a competition," Seungmin reminded him as they sat down in a karaoke room. 

"I never said we were making singing a competition," Hyunjin insisted as he grabbed the remote to toggle through the songs. 

Seungmin rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I didn't mean singing, I meant–"

"Hyungs!" 

The pair looked up and saw a familiar smiling face looking at them from the other side of the glass window on their kar