Uh...Surprise?

“Why is this so confusing?!” Daniel banged his head against the cafeteria table. Young Won placed his hand on Daniel’s forehead and held him back.

“Stop it. You can’t get hurt during promotions, okay?” Daniel glared at him.

“This stuff is so frustrating though. Hyung, you’re good at math right? Do you think you can tutor me tonight? I have a test coming up and I don’t know anything,” Daniel begged Young Won. He knew his sister wouldn’t have enough patience to help him out with math. Also, she was probably too busy to even consider helping him. Young Won patted his shoulder.

“Sure, I’ll help you with studying. Just promise me you’ll stop hurting yourself. Dalmatian can’t afford to have any injured members,” Young Won reassured his friend. Daniel sighed in relief and thanked him. The bell rang and the boys all headed out to their classes.

“I’ll meet you at the front gates and we can go to my house after,” Daniel did his special handshake with Young Won before walking into his class.

“Alright, see you then.”

“Hey! A friend of mine is coming over after school, so don’t come home right away. I’ll text you when the coast is clear. -Danny”

He didn’t wait for a reply and shoved his phone in his pocket. He walked into the Music Comp class and saw his sister sitting with her friends. ‘Hopefully she got my text.’ He took his seat and glanced over at his sister. She had pulled out her phone and pressed some buttons before placing it back in her bag. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ve got fencing practice afterschool anyway, so I won’t be home until around 8. See you tonight! -Leona” He was able to breathe comfortably knowing that his sister got the text. The class began and today, they had to present whatever they had of their composition. One by one, students took the stage and either sang or played an instrument. Daniel noticed that there were a lot of love songs being written by his peers. He too, wrote a love song. ‘Should I change my topic?’ Before he could answer his own thoughts, the teacher called his name. He walked down to the front of the room and played his song. The girls all melted at the sound of his voice. He only had half of the song, so he stopped playing.

“That was good, so far. Next!” The whole class took turns and soon enough, Music Comp class was over.

“YAH! Your song was really boring,” Daniel felt a nudge on his side. He looked over to see his sister.

“Not as boring as yours, Yeon Ah,” he shot back.

“Hey, my song is the bomb. Even the teacher thinks so,” she retorted. They playfully glared at each other and went their separate ways. He entered his Double Choral class and was greeted by his teacher and peers. On the other side of the school, Yeon Ah finally joined the rest of the Jazz band with L.Joe. She was excited to be able to play with the whole group and L.Joe too, was very happy to be able to play with his seniors. The final bell rang and everybody packed their things and left the school. Daniel and Young Won met at the front gates and took the bus to the Chae family home. Yeon Ah gathered her belongings and scrambled to the gym. ‘I’m late, I’m late! Hopefully they didn’t start without me!’ She ran as fast as she could, dodging through the few students wandering through the hallways. She burst through the doors of the gym to find it empty.

“Uh, hello? Anybody here?” She walked over to the gym office and saw a notice taped to the door.

[Fencing practice is cancelled today. The teacher sponsor is sick with the flu. Sorry for any inconveniences]

‘Great. Oh well, looks like I can catch up on some sleep then,’ Yeon Ah left the gym and walked to the parking lot. Her bike ride home took less than 10 minutes and she took less than 5 to wash up and fall onto her bed. She was asleep upon impact.

“Okay, we’re here. Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to change and get my stuff. I’ll be back,” Daniel closed the front door behind Young Won. Young Won nodded and sat down on the couch. Daniel ran up to his room and was down within 10 minutes. He grabbed some bottles of water and a plate of watermelon from the kitchen and brought it out to the living room.

“Thanks. So, what do you need to work on for math?”

“I have a test on graphing next week and I don’t get the concept of graphing equations.”

“Okay. Give me your textbook and notes. You’re lucky graphing is one of my strong points.” For the next two hours, Young Won taught Daniel the whole chapter on graphing. After many attempts at explaining the concepts, Daniel was finally successful in graphing out equations without any mistakes.

“Wow, thank you hyung! You’re so much better at explaining than the teacher,” Daniel fell back onto the couch. Young Won stretched out his back and laughed.

“Thanks. I had to learn math on my own because my teacher was bad too. I try to teach in the simplest ways because I know what it feels like to be completely at lost.”

“Well, it’s late now, so you should call manager hyung for a ride.” Daniel cleaned up his things and brought the plate of watermelon rinds to the kitchen. Yeon Ah was sleeping peacefully in her room, but was awakened by the sound of her cell phone. She opened it and found that Hyo Min had texted her.

“Hey Yeonnie! Do you have any more blank score sheets? Rin and I have both run out! Can you bring them tomorrow? THANKS! -Min”

Yeon Ah chuckled lightly and replied to the text. She was about to close her phone when she saw the text she got earlier from her brother. ‘Wait a second….’ She re-opened the text and her eyes widened in fear. Downstairs, she heard two voices and the water in the kitchen running.

“Hey Daniel. Manager says he’ll be here in 15 minutes. Do you think I could use your washroom?”

“Sure, it’s the first door on the right.”

“Thanks.” Young Won ran up the stairs. Yeon Ah panicked at the sound of his footsteps and hid in her closet. He reached the top of the stairs and walked into the first door on the left.

“Huh, that’s weird. It’s a bedroom. OH RIGHT, he said first door on the right. Hahaha, stupid me.” Without thinking twice about the room, Young Won closed the door and walked to the washroom. Yeon Ah held her breath and hid in the closet until she heard footsteps going down the stairs. ‘Oh, shoot. That was too close. I was too happy about practice being cancelled that I let Daniel’s text slip from my mind.’ Daniel came back into the living room, but froze mid-step. He didn’t see it earlier, but he saw it now. Yeon Ah’s shoes were lying at the entrance of the front door. ‘When did she get home?! Hopefully Young Won hyung didn’t see it,’ he thought. He walked over to Young Won, who was laughing at the TV show. 10 minutes later, they heard a honk outside.

“I guess he’s here. I’ll see you tomorrow, hyung. Say hi to the others for me. And tell them I’m sorry for not visiting often,” he rushed Young Won out of the door.

“Uh, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow Dan,” he waved behind him and got into the car. Daniel watched as the car drove off before he closed the door.

“Yeon Ah! Where are you?”

“Yo, I’m right here.”

“How come you’re at home? Didn’t I tell you I was bringing a friend over?”

“He he, well you see. Practice was cancelled and I was so happy that I momentarily forgot the text you sent me. At least he didn’t see me,” she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the cupboard.

“Still, we were this close to being discovered, and by Young Won hyung, to be exact!”

“Sorry! Geez, don’t have to get so angry.”

“If you want to stay safe, then don’t let this happen again.”

“Yes, mother.” They both went to the living room to watch some more TV. A comedy show was on and they were both laughing really hard at the jokes that were being made. Yeon Ah fell forward on the couch and felt something under her stomach. ‘What’s this?’ She pulled it out and her eyes shot open.

“Danny, I think we might have a problem.”

“What do you me--” Before he could finish, there was a light knock on the door and the sound of the door knob turning.

“Hey Daniel, the door was open, so I let myself in. By the way, I think I left my phone he-YEON AH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”