[Ong Seungwoo]

I fell asleep on Wooseung’s bed last night and was awoken by my phone ringing beside me. I stretched out on the bed, turning to see that my brother was deep in sleep. Glancing at the time, I saw that it was still 8 am in morning. Groaning, I reached over to hang up the call when I saw that it was Jackson, sighing as I lifted the phone to my ear.

“It’s today!” he said excitedly and as sleepy as I was, I smiled at his voice. “It’s finally the day I get to see you!”

How lucky I was, to have my presence missed and my existence loved.

“It’s 8 in the morning. I thought you told me the game starts at 3?” I asked and he laughed deviously. I groaned, realizing that Jackson was just playing with me, wanting to wake me up early. “Wang Jackson, you know I hate being woken up.”

“Is that Jackson?” my brother asked suddenly, rubbing his eyes and reaching over the headboard to search for his glasses. I gave him a nod and Seungwoo placed the glasses on his face. “Tell him I said hi.”

‘Seungwoo Oppa says hi,” I told Jackson and he returned his greetings politely, before reminding me to be there at 3 pm and hanging up. “Goodmorning.” I said to Seungwoo who had switched from Wooseung last night and he nodded sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

“I’m still so sleepy,” he complained, but Seungwoo wasn’t one to stay in bed all day. “Wooseung talks so much these days, it’s like my brain never shuts down.”

“At least you’re not fighting and you get to interact.” I told him, tying my hair into a high bun. I had no plans of getting out of bed until the time comes for me to leave the house, sinking back in under my brothers covers. Seungwoo nodded in agreement, suddenly deep in thought.

“It makes me realize though, that Wooseung and I do seem like a different person altogether,” Seungwoo began. “I mean, I know it’s all in my head but he doesn’t seem like a different version of me. Sometimes I feel like he’s not me.”

I listened to him, pressing my lips together, my mind training around the thought. “I think that I always treated you and Wooseung differently and even though he’s just a different side of you, he’s a different person altogether too.”

“I guess. The human brain really is a complicated thing,” Seungwoo replied before standing up. “I am going to the lab and will probably stay there for the whole day. Wooseung says he wants tomorrow for himself.”

“I’m going to Jackson’s game in the afternoon. You want to join?’ I asked even though I already knew what he was about to say and he shook his head, making a face.

If it was Wooseung, he’d jump to the opportunity to go out but this was Seungwoo. He reminded me of his pure hatred for university games and I realized that it was also because he had a past with women from university who kept playing him for his money with not an ounce of respect for the kind of person he was. My brother told me to go back to sleep and it wasn’t long till I sunk back into slumber, the cold breeze of Seoul coming in through the open window.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[KIM KAI]

“Ong Harin!” I heard Kai call out and I rolled onto my back, peeking through my lids to see Kai, Chen and Xiumin by the doorway. “Where are we going today?”

“Ong Harin, wake up,” another voice said and I recognized it as Chanyeol who appeared from somewhere, and all of them seemed to be waiting for me to wake up. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, and to my surprise they were all dressed.

“Wha— I have plans today; I won’t be able to bring you guys out,” I told them. Chen, Xiumin and Kai looked disappointed but they didn’t say anything, turning back to their respective rooms. Chanyeol looked much more stubborn, and he turned to leave but came back in less than two minutes later with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun who had the same expression of determination on their faces.

“Where you go?” Kyungsoo asked and it was the first time he has ever initiated conversation with me. “We go with you.”

“You guys, I really can’t,” I told them apologetically.

Bringing them to a game would be too chaotic, especially with people I knew around me. It would too much of a hassle. Bringing them to places with people I didn’t know was easier because I didn’t care about their opinions, but bringing them to my university was too risky.

My answers seemed to not satisfy them, Baekhyun jumping onto the bed and rolling onto his stomach before he wrapped his body around my leg, clinging onto it. Chanyeol followed, sitting on the bed and grabbing my arm. I blinked and I saw Kyungsoo stand in front of the door frame, not budging—as if he was guarding the door.

“If we can’t go with you, then you can’t leave!” Baekhyun’s voice was muffled, his face pressed against my leg. I poked the top of his head and he looked up, frowning at me. “It’s unfair if you get to go and I don’t!”

“Excuse you, Mr. Byun. But when I was in Exodus, you weren’t the most hospitable,” I said to him, sternly. “None of you have ever brought me out to explore either.” I thought I made point but Kyungsoo grunted at me.

“Not true. I bring you to Forest of Alrevis,” Kyungsoo said to me and I waved a finger at him.

“That was for an event and you enjoyed the forest more than I did,” I told him and he stared at me.

“I bring you again.”

No, Kyungsoo, that’s not a solution.

“Look, I have to go see a friend and it’s someone I like. It’s weird if you guys came along!” I lied through my teeth to no avail of shaking them off, Chanyeol butting in.

“That’s good, we can like that person too!”

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already 1:30 pm and I analyzed the trouble of bringing all of them to the game. Of course, if I ever brought Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo the rest would naturally follow. Then again, I would never see them again and I did want to spend most of my time with them. With a defeated sigh, I nodded.

“Fine. Get ready, we leave in thirty minutes.”

Chanyeol let out a yell and Kyungsoo turned, talking to someone. Looking at the door frame; Chen, Xiumin, Luhan and Tao appeared, already dressed. Suho and Lay were probably downstairs waiting with Sehun. Realizing that they all planned it together, I glared at all of them; Chen giving me a sweet smile.

“I’ll be right down.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The trip to university was fast since it was near.  Seungwoo called me to buy milk when it was time to go home, saying that he mindlessly poured orange juice over his cereal. Baekhyun screeched and asked if Seungwoo was eaten by the horse, and why was his voice echoing everywhere. I had to explain simply that the van had something similar to a Sier connected to it.

When we reached the university, I saw the amount of people and immediately regretted it. I parked the car and immediately everyone began to climb out of the van, their eyes shining at the amount of people. I clapped my hands and all of them huddled around me, and I explained that there would be a competition today.

“My friend is playing. Simple rules, once the ball goes through the line, that team earns a point. The one with the most points win.” I refrained from using the word goal because then I’ll have to explain what a goal was again. “So, we cheer when one team gets a point.”

They all nodded and I reminded them again, no magic and no interrupting the game. I was most scared of Kai teleporting into the football field, grabbing Baekhyun and Kyungsoo with both my hands and dragging them with me towards the bleachers. I seated them down, Suho beside me as he counted heads to make sure we didn’t leave any one behind. Lay and Suho sat with the rest of them and I sat closest to the field with Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Kai, Tao and Chanyeol.

“Oi! Harin!” a voice yelled out and I turned to see Jackson running towards me, his jersey filled with padding.

He flashed me a bright smile and I stood up, leaning over the railing that divided the bleachers with the field to give him a high five. “I want to go up there, but I really don’t have time. And who did you bring?” His voice lowered into a whisper. “Mark said those are your cousins.”

“They are,” I answered, not knowing that Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had crept up behind me and were staring at Jackson. Suddenly I saw Baekhyun’s hand reach out curiously to touch Jackson’s buffed up shoulders before squeezing it creepily.

“Baek,” I said sharply and Baekhyun looked at me with big eyes as if he was caught doing a sin.

“Hey, man. Thanks for coming,” Jackson said to Baekhyun who was staring at him warily.

“You very big,” Kyungso said gruffly, referring to Jackson’s big shoulders. “All of them very big.”

I bit my lip with embarrassment but Jackson was amazing in handling people and he laughed, thanking them. He asked me how I was and we had a quick chat. I was masking my disappearance with lies that I never knew I could tell and was interrupted by a shrill cheer by four girls who had run up to Jackson.

“Hey! It’s Blackpink in your area! Hi, Jackson!”

I felt annoyance rise up to my throat, flickering my eyes towards the four girls dressed in their cheerleader uniforms. Jackson was eating up the attention and I turned away. They were Jennie, Lisa, Rose and Jisoo; our university’s own mean girls’ group. I hardly ever hated people, but I hated them. Jackson called my name and I turned back just to see the four girls staring at me.

“Ong Harin, I heard you and your brother disappeared into thin air. Did you all go to find the mommy and daddy you both do not have?” their leader sneered and I gritted my teeth.

The girls were snotty and bratty, with the exception of Lisa who I thought was a decent person until Jennie got into her head. I used to be friends with Lisa, but popularity has always been a goal of hers. Jennie was one of the few girls Seungwoo dated back in the day, and I remember his pain when she dumped him for someone more good looking.

“Who’s that?” Kai said from behind me, and I jumped at his voice. His flirty side was showing and he winked at them and they swooned.

“They call themselves Blackpink. But I hate them,” I told him and his face fell. His flirty-ness was replaced with a frown and he eyed them warily.

“Okay. I hate them too then,” he concluded, turning his back and going back to sit. I heard him whisper to Baekhyun that: “They are Blackpink and Harin hates them so we hate them too.”

“Really? Well, they can’t sit with us,” Baekhyun’s voice said snottily and Tao agreed with aggression, crossing his arms.

“I guard seat,” Kyungsoo said, following Tao’s actions. “They come; they die.”

“Anyway, I wish you luck with the game,” I told Jackson, ignoring the girls. I saw Lisa look onto the ground and I bit back my tongue to say something. Be classy, Harin. Jackson thanked me before leaning forward and reaching over to pat my head and I could see the look of disgust on their faces.

“We’re having a party today in Kim Samuel’s house today. Are you coming?” Jennie asked Jackson sweetly who turned to me when he heard it.

“I’m going if Harin is going.” He looked at me hopefully. “You’re coming, right? Samuel would be happy if he knows you’re back.”

I had forgotten about Samuel, one of the richest males in our university; second to Mark who was loaded with money but didn’t have time to host parties. I wasn’t really close with him, but we were always civil and polite and hung out often with our friends together. He enjoyed my presence as much as I enjoyed his because he was a happy-go-lucky guy and genuine to his friends. Knowing that I would have to sneak out, I nodded at Jackson and promised him I’d go.

Happy with my answer, he gave me a flying kiss and started jogging back to the field. I saw Jennie eyeing EXO who were staring brutally at them, and I assumed that the news that I hated Blackpink must have reached out to all of them.

“The game is starting!” The announcement blared from the speakers.

“So, every time a person runs past the line with a ball we cheer,” I told them, not knowing how to explain it to them.

The game started and the tackling seemed to have fired a passion in the boys, even Suho was super focused. Jackson was in the blue team, the rhino a mascot of our university. The red team was another university, their mascot a bumblebee. Suddenly one from the red team scored a goal and EXO all stood up, cheering. Covering my face when we got looks from people from my university, I told them to sit down.

“No. Okay, cheer only when Jackson’s team scores,” I told them, pointing at Jackson who was wearing dark blue and slamming against all of them. “Only when Jackson’s team scores.” I repeated and they nodded in sync.

“Only Jackson, I got it.”

I thought they understood but when a guy from Jackson’s team scored, they all booed and I wanted to hide myself in a hole and never come out again.

“Okay, only when the blue colored people scores.” I gave it one last try and thankfully they all understood, the boys enjoying the rest of the game. Kai was excited and ended up cheering any time a ball went past the line and I didn’t want to burst his bubble. I heard Kyungsoo mutter a: “Kim Kai dumb.”

“How do you know when to fight?” Chanyeol asked me suddenly and I raised my eyebrows at him, not understanding his question.

“You mean, how do we know when a game is scheduled?” I asked back and he nodded. “I mean, we schedule it beforehand. We say; on next week Wednesday, June 15th is the next game. Something like that.”

“Wouldn’t it better to take them by surprise though?” Chanyeol questioned me and I blinked realizing that they thought that this was a certain kind of war. “Wouldn’t it be better to just show up and start bumping into them?”

“Well… it is but we have rules here,” I told him and he dropped it.

The rest of the game ended well and when the Rhino’s won, I watched Jackson get carried by his team mates. Jackson was carried past us and he waved, all of us waving back. I smiled when he lifted a hand to his ear, telling me to call him later.

“I will!” I mouthed back.

[King of derp, Star player, MVP, The King, Wang Jackson]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Night had fallen and every one was downstairs playing video games with Seungwoo. Seungwoo wasn’t one for video games, but he was good in trying to entertain the rest of the boys. I fumbled through my closet, grabbing a simple pair of black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. I knew I had to sneak out, and I grabbed my phone to see a text from Mark and Bambam who told me to go see them first and that we’ll go to the party together.

Hearing the commotion downstairs, I lifted the window pane up and climbed through it, lowering my cap down to hide my face. I felt like a burglar in my own home. Dropping down, I tried to tip toe past the window and was about to go out the front gate when I heard someone call my name.

“Ong Harin. Where do you think you’re going?”

.

I turned to see Sehun by the side of the house and it seemed like he had been there for a while. I wondered if he saw me dropping down from my window and his following sentence answered my question.

“I see you’re blessed with the ability to sneak around like a kitchen rat,” he said, narrowing his