Horyeong and Daun walked to school the next morning, both having gone to bed late so they were taking their time walking. 

 

“Do you think we’ll get grounded if we miss first period?” Daun muttered, slightly slurring his words as he struggled to keep his eyes opened. “I want to go back to bed.”

 

“Honestly? I’m quite tempted.” Horyeong yawned, already regretting staying up late on his computer. It was quite funny, how engrossed he had been on his games while he would look over at Daun’s bed, seeing the soft glow of his phone while he watched music videos. “I think the school will tell mom and dad, though.”

 

“Man.” Daun kicked a rock that was on the sidewalk, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Eh. I’ll be fine.” 

 

Horyeong glanced at his phone in his hand, checking the time. He really did not want to be late for first period, couldn’t afford to lose his freedom right now. “I think we need to walk a little faster-“

 

Daun groaned, picking up the pace thus quickly leaving Horyeong behind. “I’m TIRED!!!”

 

“Idiot, don’t leave me!!” Horyeong sprinted to catch up with Daun, who was still complaining. “You’ll be fine, stop being dramatic-“

 

“Never!” At that point, Daun started running, laughing at his older brother struggling to catch up. “And you’re telling ME to stop being dramatic? Running is not going to kill you-“

 

“IT WILL!! TRUST ME, IT WILL!”

 

***

 

“You got no sleep or something?” Dongin said to Horyeong during lunch time, when they got into the line together. “Or is that your normal glaring face?”

 

“Donghwi spreading propaganda to you too?” Horyeong let out a yawn, rubbing his face while doing so. “You guys hate me.”

 

“Never, never.” Dongin grabbed two of the trays on the stack on the table, handing one to Horyeong. “No, you’re cool to hang out with. And Donghwi thinks so, too, but he’ll never admit it. He doesn’t like admitting he cares.”

 

“Well, that doesn’t sound healthy,” Horyeong muttered.

 

Dongin snorted, setting his tray on the metal racks, sliding it across. “Oh, there’s a lot of unhealthy messes going around with him. Don’t tell him I said that.”

 

Horyeong looked down at his empty tray, sliding it onto the metal rack next to Dongin, who was grabbing himself a bowl of white rice. “What’s up with his dad?”

 

“Oh, don’t get me started,” Dongin mumbled, looking back at Horyeong who was getting rice as well while the line moved. “Didn’t you go to his house yesterday? I’m sure you know something.”

 

“He mentioned something about his dad being busy and having a girlfriend,” Horyeong admitted.

 

Dongin sighed. “Yeah, that’s usually the case. No girlfriend has ever become his second wife, can’t believe he’s still looking-“

 

“Second?” Horyeong looked up from his tray, eyeing Dongin. “What happened to the first?”

 

“Are you stupid or- my bad, I forgot you’re new here. Dead, Donghwi’s mom is dead- YAY, ARMY STEW!!”

 

Horyeong’s eyes widened at the sudden statement, Dongin oblivious to the fact that he just dropped a bomb on him while grabbing a bowl of army stew. “His mom is WHAT?!”

 

“You heard what I said, I’m not repeating that.” Dongin took out his meal card from his back pocket, getting ready to swipe it. “I’m not telling you this because I want to gossip, I’m telling you because this is something the whole group knows and the last thing I want is for your oblivious to say something in front of him like you did just now. Donghwi doesn’t like to admit it, but he has loads of parental issues.”

 

Horyeong stayed quiet, processing it all in. He almost forgot to grab a bowl of bulgogi, grabbing the bowl hastily before speaking up again. “He does say off comments here and there.”

 

“Oh, don’t we all. I say one thing to Hwalchan and he gets the worried eyes. Try joking to him about doing , that’ll give him a breakdown- actually, please don’t give my boyfriend a breakdown.” 

 

***

 

After school, the group of seven congregated near the end of the parking lot, deciding the next steps. 

 

“I want to go to bed,” Baekgyeol whined.

 

“I want to kick you but we can’t all get what we want in life so we’re going to have to decide on the second best thing,” Uiyeon retorted back to him.

 

Haneul raised his hand up. “I’ll do it,” he said, following it by kicking Baekgyeol in the shin. 

 

“OW!!” Baekgyeol jumped on one foot, rubbing his shin against his other leg hoping the pressure would help. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!”

 

“We should probably not be kicking each other,” Dongin said. “What’s the second best thing, Uiyeon?”

 

Uiyeon gave him a smug look, squinting his eyes to focus on Dongin. “Convenience store.” 

 

“NO!” Jae I screamed. “If I see one more Minute rice on the shelf I’m going to scream!”

 

Haneul rolled his eyes. “Says the guy screaming-”

 

Donghwi started picking his nail polish, watching how tiny splotches of black were peeling away. “I don’t know but I’m hungry-”

 

At the mention of the word hungry, Jae I turned to look at Haneul, pouting. “Please.”

 

“NO ICE CREAM!!” 

 

“You can’t have ice cream for dinner at 4 PM,” Hwalchan said. He had been standing behind Dongin, not touching him but in close proximity. “Especially if it’s just chocolate-” 

 

“Let’s just go out to eat,” Uiyeon suggested, putting his arm around Haneul. “I’ll pay for you-”

 

Baekgyeol exhaled dramatically. He didn’t have to comment at their PDA, the whole group minus the two oblivious idiots could sense it.

 

Jae I was already making a disgusted face at the not-couple when notice a few feet away, two students were heading to the sidewalk. “DAUN!” 

 

The two brothers stopped in their tracks, with Daun waving at him with a smile on his face. Even though they shared the last class together, Daun had left the class in a hurry after the bell rang, so Jae I didn’t get the chance to talk to him. 

 

Horyeong whispered something to his brother that the rest of the group couldn’t hear, only for Daun to kick his knees. 

 

“We’re going out to eat, bro!” Dongin yelled. “You hungry?!”

 

“The question is WHERE are we eating?” Uiyeon asked the group. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m craving rice.”

 

“Oh, wow, rice, never heard of that, what does it taste like, Uiyeon?” Haneul asked him sarcastically. 

 

“Shut up, Haneul, you know you love me.”

 

***

 

They went to a Japanese sushi bar to cure Uiyeon’s need for rice. In case he hadn’t noticed, luckily for him, they lived in Jeju which was surrounded by water and fish everywhere. 

 

Being a large group, they were seating at the huge table in the back, and Horyeong found himself seated between Daun and Donghwi. 

 

Daun, who was now stealing glances at Jae I, who would either talk to him or bicker with someone in the group. For someone being the oldest, it was a mystery to Daun how they acted all carefree to Jae I. 

 

“What if I order a bunch of shrimp and call it a day?” Haneul said, yawning. They were all staring (well, supposed to be looking at) the menus in front of them so that they could order. 

 

Uiyeon ran his hand through his hair, sighing. “So many choices,” he mumbled. “They all come with rice.”

 

“Wow, it’s almost like we live in ing Asia-”

 

“Baekgyeol, I swear to ing god-” 

 

Dongin, who was sitting between Hwalchan and Donghwi, closed the menu in his hands and placed it in the center of the large table. “Well, while y’all are arguing, I already know what I want-”

 

“I think the waiter is about to come over here,” Haneul added. 

 

While the group continued arguing, Horyeong and Daun were texting on their phones to each other, ignoring the entire conversation. 

 

Daun: I can’t think of any excuses

 

Horyeong: Maybe we can lie and say we are allergic to fish?

 

Daun: Can’t, Jae I saw me wolf down shrimp cocktail the other day at school

 

Horyeong: Since when does the school sell shrimp cocktail?

 

Daun: Leftovers from his house, you ing idiot. You know he gives me everything

 

Horyeong: Yeah I see that

 

Daun: Stfu

 

Horyeong: Let’s lie and say we are allergic to rice

 

Daun: We eat rice everyday at school you idiot

 

Horyeong: Okay fine, you’re getting blood drawn and I’m on a diet and can’t eat anything after seven

 

Daun: It’s not even five PM idiot

 

Horyeong looked up from his phone and glared at Daun next to him. “Don’t call me an idiot.”

 

“The did that come from?” Horyeong look to his left to see Donghwi staring at him. 

 

“I’m working on my glaring, I swear.” Horyeong turned off his phone and put it face down on the table, crossing his arms. 

 

Donghwi rolled his eyes. “I’m talking about you defending yourself from Daun when he didn’t even say anything.”

 

Well, it’s not like the brothers could tell them that they absolutely had no money and thus no way to pay for their meal at the semi-expensive restaurant could drag them, but Daun had been so caught up in the moment of hanging out with Jae I that the thought didn’t cross their minds until they were already halfway walking to the restaurant and were now texting at each other to come up with a believable excuse as to why they couldn’t order anything. 

 

Horyeong had panicked, texting his mother to call them and lie about needing them at home right this instant, but all his mother said was have fun! And that was that. 

 

What was he supposed to do? Hey mom and dad, you know how dad lost his job and we had to move all across korea to live in the ing basement because we are poor? Well we are too embarrassed to tell the group of friends at school this so we need you to call and fake an emergency so that we can leave without looking like s.

 

Curse Daun and his new profound discovery of liking Jae I and being swooned easily. This wasn’t like Daun at all, but that was a moment of thought for another day. 

 

“He sent me a meme on his phone and is now insulting me,” Horyeong lied. “He looks cute right now, especially to some people but trust me, he’s not.”

 

“Why don’t you go yourself.” Daun also set his phone down and decided to go with the lie even though it made him look bad. “You’re a crybaby. At least I don’t accidentally set the oven to broil instead of off-”

 

“That was ONE time! GET OVER IT!”

 

“YOU BURNED MY BAGELS!! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU-”

 

“Hello, my name is Sana and I will be your server today!”

 

The group of nine all turned to pay attention to the waitress who had come up to their table, notepad in hand. In unison, they all bowed their heads and formally said hello. 

 

“Oh, this will all be in one check,” Donghwi said, closing his menu and stacking it on top of Dongin’s. 

 

Both Horyeong and Daun look at him wide-eyed, jaws open. There was no way Donghwi was saying that after the prices they already saw on the menu.

 

“Wait, what the ?” Daun asked.

 

“HOW ING LOADED IS YOUR DAD?!” Horyeong yelled at the same time. 

 

The rest of the group just glanced at Donghwi, unsure of how he was going to react. They knew the amount of money his father carried, but also knew about the delicate situation it was to bring it up. 

 

They didn’t become friends with Donghwi because of the money, though. No, he was already close to everyone in the group when they finally put the pieces together. 

 

And once Donghwi has his mind set to pay for something, there was no arguing with him, no matter how bad you felt. They learned that the hard way too many times. The best course of action was to show him his appreciation through some way else. Because whenever Donghwi got a huge sum of money from his father, it was bad news. 

 

Something they forgot to share to Horyeong and Daun. 

 

Dongin started panicking, glancing at his friend. Donghwi was quiet, drumming his fingers rapidly on the table, though he remained expressionless. Oh no. 

 

Whenever Donghwi offers to pay for anything expensive, Dongin always asks him what’s wrong in private, along with Donghwi at his house in case he needs to bawl. Not in front of the group. 

 

Donghwi grinned, laughing as he stared face down at the table. “Dad is vacationing right now with his girlfriend and gave money so I that I survive alone in the house, which I have been doing for the past few years-”

 

“Can we have a plate of tempura and a plate of fried tofu for appetizers?” Dongin interrupted him to talk to the server. “For now? We’re still deciding.” 

 

“Donghwi, I’ll venmo you half,” Uiyeon piped up, putting his open menu on top of Haneul’s. “What are you thinking about?”

 

“Hey, at school they are already talking about midterms,” Baekgyeol said. Everyone was trying to ignore Donghwi’s comment, already making mental notes not to mention family at all. “When do we plan on studying-”

 

“DON’T mention studying!” Jae I shouted, covering his ears. “I can’t have any meltdown for a couple of business days.”

 

The ramble went back to the normal, at least for the close group, but Horyeong couldn’t help but look at Donghwi, who was now innocently looking at his phone, pretending to look bored. 

 

Which he was failing, at least to Horyeong. He noticed how Donghwi kept rubbing the corners of his eyes, his fingertips becoming wet.