Your shining smile melts me
It reveals the world, it shines in front of me
Even if everything changes and disappears

- Light, Kim Sunggyu

You slapped the door of the car close, after you grabbed your stuff inside the cab. You hugged your things to yourself and then felt yourself shiver because of the cold weather outside.

You checked your phone to check the time, it is nearly seven o’clock in the morning. One of the coldest times of the day. You also realized that you have 56 missed calls and 20 messages, all from Aera.

You sigh in relief because Hyejin didn’t text you something about being missing or leaving the house at a very constricting time of the day.

Maybe she hadn’t noticed that you weren’t at the house because she came home late again or maybe she didn’t care. You shrugged, maybe she slept immediately after she came home from work.

You were secretly praying that the gate was unlocked so that you could sneak in inside, good thing the lock wasn’t inserted on the grill and that gave you a great chance to go inside.

You left your heels on the shoe rack outside then fold your dress and then tucked it inside your shirt. Good thing it wasn’t even the thick kind of dress so even if you tuck it inside your body, no one would even suspect that you were hiding something inside your shirt.

You tiptoed your way through the living room when you noticed that Hyejin was there looking at you, eyeing you from head to toe like there’s something wrong.

"Good morning?" You said awkwardly then straightened up. "Are you going to work now?"

She nodded, still having this small frown from on her eyebrows. “Where have you been? Isn’t it too early for you to go out? You have no classes today right?”

You glowered at her. What is she now, my mom? Why does she even care about my class schedule? She’s as uptight as mom.

"I just happen to read your schedule because it was posted on the refrigerator and you have a big handwriting, it would be hard for me not to ignore it" She said coolly and then shifted the topic again. "So… Where have you been?"

It’s none of your business. You snapped inside your mind but you decided against it. If you would snap at her this time, she would suspect something and you know her. She’s a snoop and a smart person. She can trace things even if she doesn’t think of it through.

You decided to say, “I went out for a jog. You know, I need to continue a.. A healthy lifestyle”.

As soon as you as you nearly choke at what you said, she snorted and said, “Yeah! That explains the packs of Doritos and some junk foods inside the mini-refrigerator on your room”.

"Are you saying that I’m not living a healthy lifestyle?" You crossed your arms, keeping your dress firm in place, to stop it from falling.

"No, I’m not saying anything" Hyejin chortled, then gave you a playful expression with her eyes. "Did I?"

You rolled your eyes. She smiled at you, “So you were jogging outside.. With a house slippers on?”. Her smile grew bigger after she pointed at your purple slippers.

For a second, you panicked. You didn’t only steal his sweatshirt nor his sweatpants. You also stole his slippers. You tried to keep a straight face so that she won’t suspect you of anything.

"I was excited to jog that I forgot to remove these" You suddenly said, hoping she would buy this even though that was the lamest excuse ever.

She snorted, “Sure yeah. What’s so exciting about jogging anyway that you almost forgot your running shoes and you have smudged mascara all over your fave, huh?”

Wait- What?!

You gave her a mortified face and then touched your face to see a black smudge on your finger, as well. You glared at her before you run upstairs to your room and checked your reflection.

"Holy crap! I look like . Oh my god!" You cursed under your breath searching for a tissue and your make-up remover.

"You should know that wearing mascara and eye-liner while working out is a big no-no, sis!" You heard her shout downstairs.

You snatched the bottle of make-up remover from the top of your drawer and realized it was empty. “Hey, do you still have a make-up remover in your room?”

You can feel your sister giggling downstairs which made your blood boil but you patiently waited for her to answer, “Yeah! It’s on the first drawer of my cabinet”.

You rushed to her room, being welcomed by a big picture of Myungsoo on the wall. You looked at the picture with great disgust.

"Eww. It is either the guy is narcissistic or my sister just misses him so much that she kisses this photo every night" You scrunched your nose before looking for the remover. You suddenly had an imagination of your sister kissing the photo, making you squirm in disgust and said, "Oh! Pls don’t let it be the latter".

You tried to make sure your face is clean and flawless before stumbling downstairs to get something to eat. You were welcomed by Hyejin’s gaze especially on your jacket saying, “Was that jacket yours? Because I can say that really looks familiar”.

You stopped your tracks and then tried to keep a straight face, “Why? I bought this at a thrift shop. Oh! Do they sell some goods like this here too?”

"Yeah I was sure I saw that jacket on an expensive store around Gangnam though" She crossed her chest, trying to organize her thoughts. "Oh by the way, I’m going to be late for work, I better go now"

She hurried to the door before saying, “Don’t forget to lock the door, okay?”

You grabbed the casserole and bit the chopsticks between your lips, “Yeah, sure”. 

You marched your way towards the couch and turn on the television. You placed the casserole on the table and checked for the messages, Aera sent you.

Majority of her texts were…

 “Where are you?”

 “If you’re looking for us, just text me and I’ll tell Chanyeol to go wherever you are so that he could you here”

“Hey! Did you reach home safely”

And the list goes on.

Finally, the last one she’ve texted was,

Hey! Key told me there’s a change in your sched. The class that you should’ve attended yesterday will be scheduled tomorrow & the school decided to make the class 4 days a week since we have more free time than class hours. I texted you cos I want you to be ready tomorrow. That’s all! I hope you got home safe. Just text me if you’ve got any questions, okayyy? :-)

"4 days? That seems okay though since it was a jazz class" You whispered. "Oh anyway, who cares I’m starving and all I need right now is.. foooood".

You were patronizingly watching the television, while slurping the soup of your ramen, when it suddenly came to a segment where it highlight’s a photo shoot of Infinite for some known magazine.

You were munching through your food, eyeing each of the members. You gave Myungsoo snide remarks especially when he’s acting cute and all, like he didn’t have a wife. You know there were some familiar faces because you saw some of them when they visited your sister in New York and you also saw them in her wedding.

But through it all, one guy stands out the most..

"I say Ho! You say Ya! Ho.. Ya! Hoya!"

Oh my god! Why is this guy, here?

You can hear cheers and laughters on the television but that doesn’t go with any of the feelings you are feeling right now.

"Okay let me bring you to the trailer right now where they store everything that we wear, from the hats to the shoes. So yeah.. Follow me!" You heard him laugh awkwardly after he said that.

Your sister once told you that Infinite was more than a Korean boy band. They were more like brothers because they grew up side by side each other and they’ve been friends ever since they were young. By the way she tells you their story, it feels like she was attached to them and she treats them as a family which makes them.. closer.

Oh god! Please don’t tell me I screwed up with my sister’s friend and one of my brother-in-law’s ‘bestest friends’

But you couldn’t turn back time nor break their relationship with each other. They were like metal chains that were hard to detach from each other. You just have to pray that he doesn’t remember you or everything will be in disarray.

Whoever this guy is, one thing is for sure

"This won’t be our last meeting that’s for sure" You gritted through your teeth nervously before you glanced at the screen, capturing Hoya’s captivating smile which sent shivers to your spine.