“I hate you.” I grumbled as I folded my clothes property before packing them inside my duffle bag. I picked up my essentials next and put them inside my small pouch before putting them inside my bag. I heard my cousin chuckled beside me as he continued to watch me pack my things with this amused yet annoying smile plastered on his face. He was lying on my bed like its his while hugging my favorite pillow.

“Don't you really want to come with us?” I heard him asked after a minute of silence. I turned to him with an unamused look only to find out that he was looking at me seriously so I arched my eyebrow, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“After all the troubles you did you’re going to ask me that, Oppa? You even played well your ‘cousin-card’ and asked permission to my parents just to get me on-board to this summer trip.” I answered. The boys planned on having a 3 days summer getaway since we haven’t met each other after our final exams. They have already rented out a private resort to accommodate us and they’re just waiting for my confirmation if I wanted to come.

We’ll except for Minseok-oppa and Junmyeon-oppa who were both having their internship, everyone else including Aera and Krystal were included. I told them that I’ll think about coming with them, the main reason why Oppa rushed here in our house early this morning. To corner me into joining them by asking permission to my parents and dragging me out of the house as soon as possible since the trip is tomorrow already.

It would be too far if they’ll drive here to pick me up tomorrow so he came today to fetch me. Besides, they have also decided to rent out a van for us to use just like how they always do. No personal car, just one vehicle for us to bond more. Talk about being clingy to each other, kidding!

He stayed silent afterwards again, just looking intently at me as if he was weighing what he wanted to say. I sighed at that and shook my head before going back to packing my things, checking to see if there’s something I missed.

“I don’t want to come because I’ve been away from home for a long time and I wanted to spend my summer with Sejoon. I’ll be out of here once again when the classes starts.” I reasoned out at him. I saw him pouting at the corner of my eyes which made my rolled my eyes at him.

“But he’s not here, Auntie said Sejoon was in your grandma’s house for a week, spending a vacation there. And she also asked me to take you out of the house because you’ve been inside here for a month already.”

“I know. But, still, we’re going on a resort for a couple of days. And there’s a pool there. You know I can’t swim, I’m a deadweight when it comes to swimming. I won’t be enjoying the trip to the fullest.”

“Is that really why you don’t want to come Hye Joon-ah? Or is it because you know Kyungsoo-hyung and Wendy are coming along as well?” I froze when I heard his question and turned to look at him slowly. Am I that easy to read? But I just don’t want to have this awkward air around us, mostly me, because I won’t enjoy the trip if that would be the case. And I don’t want to cause a rift between their friendship with each other if things go south and awkward. I’m an outsider to them before I decided to study in their school. They were all friends before I came into the picture.

He sighed deeply when I didn’t answer his question. He looked away from me and I saw how he closed his fist tightly as if he’s holding back the things he wanted to say. He won’t really come here to convince me into coming if he doesn’t want to talk to me personally. I know he has a lot to say since that incident, and just like Sehun, he’s also respecting my decision so he’s keeping his mum. So I wait there in silence, waiting for him to say what he was really wanted to say.

“I’m only holding back because you told me and Sehun to stay put, to just let it pass. If it was just me, I would throw a punch at hyung and Sehun would probably be so glad to do so too. You don’t know how much self-control we did the following day just so we won’t hit him. You didn’t see how angry Sehun that afternoon after you left. He almost hit Wendy if only she was not a girl and pregnant. He walked out after that, Hye Joon, we both did. We wanted to talk some sense to Kyungsoo-hyung but we respect your decision and just stay silent. It felt unfair for us but we respect what you wanted.” Jongin-oppa started as he unclenched his fists. He looked at me and I saw a sad smile that was plastered on his face.

“But you are my cousin Hye Joon-ah. And I don’t want you to be left alone. Whatever happens, you come first before them. The hyungs were asking, they knew something was wrong. They didn’t know about the incident that happened the last time you went to the practice room. But isn’t it unfair that you were avoiding them, your friends, at all costs just so there won’t be any conflict between you and Wendy? Just so it won’t be hard for Kyungsoo-hyung as well?” he added on. He stood up from my bed and went over to my side. I continued to stay silent, not quite sure how to respond to him. He put his hand over my head and ruffled my hair like how he always does, moments like this wherein he stood up like an older brother to me.

“This is Baekhyun-hyung’s p