“Okay, okay. I got this. I’m gonna hit this yellow rat so hard, it’s gonna burst into a million pieces,” Mir said as he brandished the bat in his hand like a sword. He was standing in front of the Pikachu piñata, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Joon was in the background, sobbing at the unfortunate fate that would soon befall his beloved Pokémon counterpart.

Cheondoong watched on with amusement, glad that he had gotten a piñata. It seemed as if Mir was going to enjoy bashing the poor thing in. Minah and Yongguk were preparing a blindfold for Mir while Seungho stood beside Jongup having their own conversation. Once the blindfold was ready, Minah walked over to Mir and attempted to hand it to him.

“No, put it on for me,” he said, folding his arms across his chest with a smug smirk on his face. Minah raised an eyebrow and the cloth into his face.

“Do it yourself,” she retorted. Mir stood his ground and didn’t make any attempt to move at all. Growing exasperated, Minah sighed and gestured for Mir to bend down so she could wrap the blindfold around his eyes. A triumphant smile adorned Mir’s face when he felt her hands working at the back of his head to tie a knot. When she is finished, he caught her hands before she could pull away. She gasped in surprise and tried to tug free from Mir’s grip.

“What are you doing? Let go of my hands,” she snapped.

“Sorry I can’t see what I’m doing,” Mir said with a sly smile. Minah scoffed and twisted out of his grasp.

“Yongguk oppa, let’s spin Mir fifty times before he can hit the piñata,” she called over to Yongguk who had been standing a few feet away.

“What? No way! I’ll puke if you do that!” Mir exclaimed. He whirled around and faced Minah however she was not standing behind him anymore. She stood by Yongguk and watched as Mir flailed around grabbing at empty space. “What the hell? Where did you go?”

Minah laughed and stepped over to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and he stopped moving.

“Fine. Since it’s your birthday we’ll only spin you ten times,” she said. Mir glowered a little, still not satisfied. Before he could protest though, Yongguk came over silently and took Minah’s place behind him. She removed her hands and Yongguk placed his on Mir’s shoulders.

“Ready? 1…2…3!” Yongguk counted off in his deep voice catching Mir by surprise.

“Wait, what?” Mir shouted as he was spun around in a circle against his will. Yongguk twirled Mir around ten times before letting him go but not until he made sure Mir was facing the piñata.

“Okay, go beat that yellow rat now,” Yongguk said gruffly, shoving Mir towards the Pikachu hanging on the tree.

“, I’m not ready for this.” Mir started rambling on, a slew of curse words escaping his lips as he stumbled dizzily towards the piñata. Minah giggled and hi-fived her brother.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the birthday boy staggering around like a drunk. Mir took a few random swings at the air, hitting nothing. He yelled angrily, swearing like there was no tomorrow.

“Dammit. Where the is that yellow rat?” he hollered. Joon frowned at Mir’s choice of words.

“Pikachu is not a yellow rat! He’s a Pokémon,” Joon shouted at him.

“You know what, I’m going to beat your with this stick instead,” Mir growled as he started moving towards Joon, following the sound of his voice. Joon yelped and ran away, hiding behind Cheondoong. Minah sighed and went over to Mir, gently holding his arm.

“Here, since you’re so challenged at finding an inanimate object dangling from a tree, I’ll lead you to the piñata you baby,” she teased. Mir scoffed but allowed himself to be led towards the tree where the Pikachu was hanging. When they got there, Minah was about to leave Mir stopped her.

“Wait.” The sound of his voice made her pause in her tracks.

“What?” she responded.

“Help me hit the piñata,” he said. Minah turned to give him a look that clearly showed she was not amused, but her breath caught in when she found Mir standing right behind her, their bodies nearly touching. He had taken off his blindfold and staring at her with an intense gaze. Although the words he had said were meant to be taken lightly, the way he was gazing at her said otherwise.

As if gripped with fear, Minah’s heart raced at an abnormal pace and she was paralyzed for a moment. She didn’t understand why exactly her heart was beating so fast like adrenaline was coursing through her. When Mir started to lean down, bringing his face closer and closer to hers, she could have sworn she was about to have a heart attack.

Mir could hear his own heart thumping wildly, threatening to burst out of his chest. He had no idea what compelled him to do what he was doing then, in fact he wasn’t even sure what he was trying to do. Seeing Minah stare up into his eyes only furthered his drive to draw them closer to one another. He dropped the bat he had been holding onto the ground and moved his hand up to touch Minah’s face. His fingers just barely brushed against her cheek before a ball of brown and denim came crashing into him, knocking him to the ground and in effect, knocking the air out of him.

“Bang Mir, you dirty ert! Don’t touch Minah!” Mir groaned as the sound of Joon’s voice floated into his ears. The next thing he knew, Joon was sitting on his back, smacking Mir’s back mercilessly.

“Oh, God. Get off me, damn it!” Mir roared once he had regained his breath. By now, the others had made their way towards the scene, watching with slightly amused looks. Seungho went over to Minah but didn’t say a word. He watched her silently, looking for some type of reaction.

Why didn’t you do anything? Why did you nearly let him touch you? What if he had kissed you? Seungho interrogated her but knew his mental questions would never reach her. But, it truly did puzzle him. Why didn’t she move away? She had the opportunity to but she had merely stood there like a statue.

Before Seungho could torture himself with unanswerable questions, he was broken from his thoughts at the sound of Yongguk’s deep voice growling at Mir.

At this point, Joon had reluctantly gotten off of Mir’s back and now Yongguk had Mir by the collar, glaring into the boy’s eyes. A nasty scowl was on Yongguk’s face as he stared Mir down.

“And just what the hell were you about to do there Mir? You weren’t planning on kissing my sister, were you?” Yongguk snarled. If there was one thing Yongguk couldn’t tolerate, it was the idea of someone touching his sister. Of course, he wouldn’t go so far as to scare away any guy that wanted to court her, but he had definitely thought of it before.

“I-I wasn’t going to do anything. I’m sorry hyung, it won’t happen again,” Mir stammered. One thing of Mir’s list of fears: an angry Bang Yongguk, it was above scorpions but below clowns. Oh, how Mir detested clowns.

Yongguk glared at Mir for another moment before slowly releasing his collar. Mir gulped and tugged at his collar a little.

“What is it about the collar of my shirt that makes people wanna grab it?” he muttered to himself. Yongguk chuckled as he walked towards Minah. He lightly gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes, a completely serious look on his face.

“If any guy tries to touch you again, kick him where it counts, okay baby sister?” he said, smirking. Minah was stunned for a moment before she giggled and nodded. Yongguk smiled pleasantly and clapped his hands. “Alright everyone, we’ll save the piñata for another time. It’s getting late. We should start cleaning up and heading home.”

At his statement, everyone began to move about, picking up trash and taking down the decorations. It wasn’t long until the entire picnic area was spotless. Then, everyone said their goodbyes and wished Mir a happy birthday one last time before they all headed back to their homes.

---

Cheondoong parked his car in his usual spot and turned off the engine. He didn’t move for a while, staring out the windshield. His hands still gripped the steering wheel. Then, he heaved a sigh that could have split the ground. All the heavy feelings in him were released in that sigh.

Cheondoong lightly rested his head on the steering wheel. Flashes of a conversation he had with Joon earlier came to his mind.

“So…you got my call right?” Cheondoong asked as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Joon turned his head away from where he had previously been watching Yongguk and Minah spin Mir and tilted his head. A look of confusion crossed his features.

“What call?” he replied. Cheondoong nearly laughed at the quizzical, puzzled-puppy-dog face Joon had on. But, he was too preoccupied with Joon’s answer to laugh.

“You know…the call from yesterday,” Cheondoong prodded again, hoping Joon would recall it. Joon’s face scrunched up in thought and he stayed like that for a moment before shaking his head.

“I never got a call from you yesterday,” Joon replied. “Why? Was it something important?”

“Are you sure? Check your phone,” Cheondoong said. Joon pulled his phone out and went through his received calls. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he noticed that he had received a call from Cheondoong yesterday.

“Oh, I guess I did.” Cheondoong’s eyes narrowed as he took the phone out of Joon’s hands. He made sure it was the correct time that he had called him. And it was. Joon stared at Cheondoong again, looking confused still. “I don’t understand though. I never remember picking up my phone and talking to you.”

Joon scratched his head and thought back harder. “I don’t know. Maybe someone answered my phone for me. I think Minah got out of work early that night so we went to watch Seungho at soccer practice.”

Cheondoong nearly dropped the phone in surprise. His eyes grew wide and he turned to look at Minah. If she had answered, she would have said something to him right? Then, maybe it was Seungho. However, Seungho always had a poker face on so Cheondoong couldn’t tell.

The car honked as Cheondoong sat up and brought his fist down on the steering wheel. Making that call had been a mistake. A terrible mistake. Now, he had no idea who knew his secret. He didn’t know who knew his feelings for Minah and what they might do with that knowledge. And the thought terrified him.