Four burger sets, hot off the counter along with the week’s promotional toys sat on a brown plastic tray that was sloppily placed onto one of the speckled tables at the local burger joint. Two sets were left unopened in their yellow and blue foil packaging, bidding time before their eventual death by digestion as two hungry teenage boys tore into their Happy Meals. One of the boys – a lanky kid of about fifteen and a quarter – bit into his unwrapped bun of vapid nutrition and watched in mild amusement as his friend, a slightly chubby kid of the same age picked apart his own.

Youngjae peeked under the sesame-laden top and made a face before lifting the bun off to reveal two nasty slices of pickle. The sight of the circular bits of acrid greens made his stomach churn and he quickly slid his beef patty over to Daehyun. To Youngjae, pickles owned a shade of green reminiscent to the patch of two-week old bread mould he cultured in first grade. Its musty scent had permeated his room for a month when his sister had accidently broke the container it was in and hid it under his bed in fear of being caught sneaking into his room. Needless to say, Youngjae had to have his nose clamped with a clothespin every time he walked in (and he failed his Science project that semester).

Daehyun however, had no qualms in devouring the limp preserves and made it a point to chew on the extra slices with an over-the-top expression of pure ecstasy. Sure, pickles could taste a little funky but Daehyun was never one to say no to free food or discriminate against a little off-colour. He could never understand Youngjae’s distaste for them (and he had a secret stash of pickles hidden behind some cottage cheese on the top shelf of his fridge). After all, they were strangely addictive.

Daehyun was halfway through wolfing down his second hamburger when Youngjae nudged his elbow in a rather excitable manner, breaking apart Daehyun’s concentration on enjoying his deleterious meal. “It’s Joeun and her uh…group of girly friends?” Youngjae’s voice was calm but his expression flickered with curiosity at seeing his sister trawling the mall. She was supposedly working on a project at the library today and had told their parents that she would be home late.

Youngjae was feeling rather cheeky and decided to tease the calmer of the two instead of worrying about his sister’s extra-curricular activities, “Do you think she’s here looking for you? Hmm, I should call her over. She’ll be mighty pleased to see you, I bet.”

He stood up, making a move to wave her over and holler out her name but the other boy reached over the table to clamp his hand over Youngjae’s mouth, “Shut the hell up, Youngjae. We’re meeting Yongji in twenty. We don’t have the time to entertain your baby sister or her friends, so sit your fat down.”

“Are you…insulting my rear end, Jung Daehyun?” A look of annoyance flitted across Youngjae’s face at Daehyun’s choice of words. He knew Youngjae had a sensitive spot when it came to his little excesses of weight. How dare he!

“Are you sure Yongji’s the reason why we’re avoiding Joeun? Or is she just an excuse, loverboy?” He spat out that last word as though it left a horrid aftertaste and was pleased that his slimmer buddy was turning beet red at the nickname.

“Well guess what, fatso? It is. And she’s here; fifteen freaking minutes early.” Daehyun leaned back against his chair and pushed his burger away. He wasn’t hungry anymore. Youngjae rolled his eyes and looked away, folding his arms as his lips set themselves in a downward curve. This was how Yongji found them when she made her way to the table with a cheese burger of her own.

Yongji mindlessly unwrapped her burger, alternating her attention between the two boys as they sat, faces turned to opposite ends, ignoring each other. This was weird. She cleared and realized how thirsty she really was after running for a good five minutes from her house. Grabbing Daehyun’s cup of now diluted Coke, she finally noticed the remnants of a burger he had left uneaten, “Whoa, is this the fourth dimension? Daehyun, why aren’t you finishing your burger?”

He merely shook his head at her and let out a low growl that sounded something like ‘Not Henry’. Or hungry(?); but that would be…impossible. Nothing came between Daehyun and his meal. Daehyun and food were O T to the freaking P.

“Guys, what’s wrong?” The brown haired girl with mid-length curls snapped when she grew tired of the frosty atmosphere that hung over the table like an unwanted Christmas ornate. When none of the boys made a move to speak up she shoved off Youngjae’s foot that had been resting against hers and delivered a swift kick to his shin.

“Damn it alright, he started it!” Youngjae pointed an accusing finger at Daehyun with an ugly sneer (or maybe it was pain). A look of indignation coloured Daehyun’s face as his head whipped front at the allegation being thrown his way.

“Excuse me? You started it with the Joeun comment!”

“Oh, is Joeun here?” Yongji thought it was weird that Youngjae’s sister was at the mall because she was certain Jongrin had mentioned about a project Joeun and her brother, Jongup were working on at the library. “Is she here for you, Daehyun?”

“Gosh! Not you too, Ji!” She laughed at Daehyun who swiped his half-empty drink from her hands. It was amusing how easily he was flustered when it came to Joeun and her mini crush in him.

“Sorry,” she patted his head, giving his ugly pout a smile. Daehyun almost forgot why he was so worked up in the first place – save for Youngjae’s equally ugly pout as he chewed on his plastic straw. Stupid Youngjae and his annoying biting habits. It took a firm clenching of his already fitted denim pants to keep his hands from smacking Youngjae out of his gnawing stupor.

“Guys, it doesn’t matter how this started because I’ve got more pressing matters at hand. So, apologize.” She was met with two pairs of eyes that screamed reluctance. Boys and their inflated egos. “Go on! Apologize, fist bump and shake it off, whatever. Just get over this silly misunderstanding so I can start on my story.”

“Why don’t you just start telling –” Youngjae was cut off with another kick to the same spot on his shin and this time he let out a whimper.

“Why don’t you two just apologize? …hmmm?”

Daehyun, who had (sadistically) enjoyed a tortured Youngjae decided to offer up an apology first and reached out for a fist bump that Youngjae met halfway, “Sorry, Jae.”

“I’m sorry too, bro. ! What the hell was that for, man?!” He held his throbbing head that Daehyun had mercilessly whacked moments after apologizing.

“You were chewing on your straw,” Daehyun stated in a matter-of-fact tone and Youngjae threw his hands up in exasperation.

Yongji grinned at the adorable sight. “What a cute married couple you guys would make. Now, let me tell you about Yongguk. That big oaf has been sneaking out past midnight and making phone calls that last for hours.” Daehyun shrugged at the description of his hyung’s behaviour. It didn’t seem like big news. He was sure Yongguk hyung had a legit reason.

“Guys, he smiles when he’s talking on the phone! And while he’s hogging that damn cordless thing, he goes out and does stuff like water the plants in our backyard!”

Both Daehyun and Youngjae agreed that watering the plants did seem like an odd thing for Yongguk hyung to do. “So what do you think is going on?” Youngjae quizzes, starting to chew on the other end of the straw before catching sight of Daehyun’s glower that threatened to smack him.

“I think…” Yongji said before looking around suspiciously and dropping her pitch into a whisper. The two boys huddled in closer over the table, peering at her as she continued, “Well, I think oppa has a secret girlfriend.”

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There has been this horrid, horrid headache that has been bugging me the entire evening so this hasn't been completely proofread hurhur. Let's play Spot-Le-Errors.

And I know what a whole lot of bamf!information was included in this chapter so I'm going to break it down a little:

The four friends are Daehyun, Youngjae, Yongji and Jongrin (has yet to make an appearance). These four peeps live in the same neighbourhood. Joeun is Youngjae's younger sister and Yongguk is Yongji's older brother. Jongup and Jongrin are siblings where she's older (bet you guys aren't confused because smart BABYs hah)

I hope that was clear :) And do leave comments because I love comments <3

Love,

Lynn