“JongUp-ah! Wake up, breakfast is ready and you are going to be late if you laze for another minute!” Daehyun’s call from the kitchen made JongUp snap back from dreamland.

                Turning onto his back, JongUp stretched his limbs and let out a moan as his muscles get some pulling. He turned again and reached beneath the pillow under his head for his phone, squinting his eyes as the blinding light invaded his retina. 7a.m. and a text.

                ‘Morning sleepy-head, ready for the test later? – JunHong’

                JongUp moaned in depression. Why, JunHong. Why must you remind me first thing in the morning?

                JongUp got up anyway and ruffled his hair as he slumbered into the kitchen. His eyes lit up as his senses awaken and picked out the fresh smelling scrambled eggs and sausages set on the table. His mouth watered and his stomach grumbled expectantly. Wasting no time, he sat on the chair and reached out for a bite, that is until a spatula whipped past his sight and embedded itself barely a centimeter infront of his fingers, causing his heart to almost stop.

                “Yah, Hyung!” JongUp exclaimed to the man with the apron on the counter. “I need my fingers for the maths test later!”

                The man on the counter merely squinted his eyes in disapproval. “Wash your hand first then, lazybum. You didn't even bathed yet, have you?”

                 The corner of JongUp’s mouth twitched as he was caught red-handed. Slowly retreating, he got up from his seat and smiled sheepishly to DaeHyun. “Oh yeah, I forgot… hehe…” He said before heading for the washroom. His stomach would have to wait a little longer then.

~~~

                Pulling on his laces, JongUp quickly tied a knot and tugged them into his not-so-clean white shoes. Then, he got up and adjusted his sling bag. He smiled to the man in black shirt and jeans leaning onto the door frame and said, “Thanks for the breakfast, hyung!”

                “No problem Uppie,” DaeHyun smiled back. Reaching out, he ruffled the younger’s hair, earning a glare from the said boy. “Good luck for the test later!”

                “Thanks again Hyung!” JongUp beamed at the encouragement before he waved and headed for school.

~~~

                The class was filled with chatters and complaints about the earlier test right when the teacher stepped out of the classroom. JongUp, the wallflower he is, merely sat in his seat and looked out the window by his seat. He really liked his seat. It was situated right in the middle of the row at the far right corner of the classroom, beside the window that has a view of the school’s basketball court, the bushes and fence beside the court separating the school from the outside world and the highway further out. Behind the highway was the suburbs where his house is situated at. Whenever he was bored or want to take his mind away for a while, he would gaze out to the view or just look at his schoolmates play ball.

                As he was gazing out the window, the familiar whining at his right caught his attention and he looked over.

                “Man, that math test was a killer!” JunHong complained as he dragged a chair and sat by JongUp’s table.

                “Killer? I thought it was okay though,” YoungJae joined them from his seat infront of JongUp. YoungJae cocked his head to his right in question.

                JongUp looked at his pink-haired friend playing with his mechanical pencil on the table, poking holes into his eraser. Indifferently, JongUp replied, “Well, I kind of stared at the paper most of the time…”

                JunHong looked up from his vandalism to look at the older. “Did you finish the paper?” He asked with wide, glistening eyes.

                “No, I did not,” JongUp replied as he looked at what his eraser had become- an abused little thing.

                JunHong suddenly exclaimed with glee, “HA! Me too hyung! I thought I was the only one!”

                JunHong raised his hands for a high5 with JongUp who returned the action. He then jumped merrily in his seat.

                “Hyung, you are the best!” He squealed and gave him the thumbs up. Swinging his legs, JunHong happily rocked his chair back and forth with a smile plastered on his face.

JongUp chuckled while Youngjae shook his head in disapproval. “You guys…” YoungJae sighed.

                “Oh, Oh,” JunHong suddenly called them. “You know my tomato plant in Matoville?” JunHong asked, not waiting for an answer. He rocked his chair faster in excitement as he took the attention of his hyungs. “I wish they were real, I mean they have grown so BIG-“

                The seconds after that went in a flash. One second, JunHong was talking about his big tomato in Matoville and flailing his arms to show how big it was. The next second, he was in JongUp’s hands, inches from the ground, and YoungJae had his hand covering his own mouth in shock.

                JunHong had rocked his chair too fast and far and as he flailed his hands, he lost control of his chair and fell backwards. He had shut his eyes tightly, expecting the impact but all he felt was an arm around him and a person’s sweet breath on his neck. He opened his eyes slowly to see JongUp’s face three inches away from his. As he looked into those small eyes, he felt his face burning up.

                “YAH!! You guys almost gave me a heart attack!” YoungJae reprimanded them, his eyebrow knitted together, as JongUp pulled JunHong and his chair upright. “JunHong you’d better thank JongUp for his quick actions!”

                JongUp sat back in his seat after helping his pink-haired friend. He eyed him to see if he was alright but he noticed he was quiet in his seat and was avoiding eye contact. Looking around, JongUp was glad that the incident had not attracted the class’ attention.

                “T-thanks hyung…” JunHong croaked in his seat.

                Laughing a bit at his friend’s weird voice, he replied, “No problem.”

                Right then, the geography teacher walked into the classroom. JongUp could literally pick out the relief on JunHong’s face as he stood up and ran to his seat at the back of the class. The class was in a rush for the next seconds as the students got back to their respective seats and prepared for the next lesson. The lesson started right after greeting the teacher and he dived right into the chapter on rivers.

                JongUp’s mind wondered instead of paying attention in the lesson because he knew he could count on YoungJae to fill in for him if he was unsure of anything. He knew Jun Hong would not be paying attention too. The smart guy and the playful guy. JongUp didn’t know how he met these two or how they eventually became friends. They were different from him, they stand out in class while he does not. Looking at the boy infront of him, he saw that YoungJae was in full attention to the teacher and his pen was in a quick, elegant dance in his hands as he took down notes in his notebook. JongUp then turned back to look at JunHong. He was expecting the tall kid to be sleeping or lazing around but he saw that he was actually paying attention to the teacher. Weird. Not getting bothered, JongUp lowered his head and let his eyes droop to get some shut eye, silently thanking his bangs that covered his eyes.

~~~

                The bell rang through the school’s corridors indicating the end of school. Students burst out from the classroom doors to get out of the building as soon as possible. Not among them was JongUp who was still in his seat slowly putting away his stuff. As usual, he would laze around until the mad rush of students leave the school. While waiting he took out his mp3 player and plugged in. About six songs later, YoungJae tapped his table, taking his attention. He looked up and saw that he had his bag on his back and JunHong beside him. He jerked his head to the door. JongUp got up and followed them out of school.

                “Ugh class was boring,” JunHong said as he stretched his free left arm up to the air while the other held his skate board.

                “I was actually surprised you were paying attention just now though, JunHong,” YoungJae said as he walked between JunHong and JongUp.

                “Yeah, that’s weird though, since when do you pay attention in class?” JongUp mused from YoungJae’s left.

                “N-no reason,” JunHong stammered.

                The other two just laughed it off and continued to walk. They lived at the same area so they walked home together which they had been doing so since they had became friends. On the way home, they would talk about anything and everything like they always do. To JongUp, these two boys were family, apart from Daehyun.

                The three of them walked under the highway and emerged into the suburbs filled with three to five stories tall buildings lined up along the roads.

                “Ah you guys, we have to do page 15 to 20 of geography workbook okay,” YoungJae reminded them both. “Just reminding.”

               “Yeah I know because I paid attention to that b-o-r-i-n-g class,” JunHong huffed. “JongUp though, I saw he was sleeping in class just now. JongUp ah, did you heard him?”

               Silence.

               “EHHHHHH. WHERE DID HE GO?!” JunHong shrieked when the both of them realized that JongUp vanished from YoungJae’s left.

               “He was here a second ago!” YoungJae exclaimed, equally shocked, as his hands outlined the torso that was supposed to be there animatedly.

               The both of them spun around trying to find the missing boy. However, he was still not in sight.

               “Must be the homework part. He always disappears at the miserable part,” YoungJae tried to reason out. Afterall, it was not the first time JongUp suddenly vanishes into thin air.

               “GAH, THIS HYUNG!” JunHong roared. “Come on YoungJae, let’s find him.”

               “What? Why?” YoungJae rattled as he was pulled on the arm by JunHong. “Don’t we always leave him when he disappears?”

               “Yeah but, I don’t have a good feeling, hyung,” JunHong replied, his voice troubled.

~~~

               JongUp quickened his steps as he walked the longer way home. A while ago he was laughing with YoungJae at JunHong but after that, he felt something amiss. From corner of his eyes, he saw a few man clad in black uniform on the roof of the buildings looking at them, even though it was for a second before they disappeared.

               He could hear the pursuers coming close to him. Although he was fearful, he was glad the pursuers were following him. He silently prayed that YoungJae and JunHong were on their way home, not bothered by his disappearance. Taking a deep breath, he quickened to a jog.

~~~

               “Ha.. JunHong ah, we have searched for him all over town. Can we just head home?” YoungJae panted as he tried to keep up with the pink-haired boy.

               “No hyung, we have to find him,” JunHong insisted. He searched across the road for any sign of JongUp.

               All of a sudden, JunHong’s hand was pulled and he stumbled into an alley, landing on his beside a big trash bin by the wall.

               Rubbing his he complained, “Owww, YoungJae wh-“ JunHong was cut by YoungJae’s hand over his mouth.

               YoungJae’s expression was full of urgency as he placed his pointer finger on his lips. He then pointed to what lied beyond the bin they were hiding behind. Still not understanding what was going on, YoungJae grabbed the back of JunHong’s head and pulled it to the side of the bin, letting him catch a glimpse of what lied ahead.

               In the dark alley between the two buildings, JongUp stood firm and rigid, surrounded by three men in black uniform and facing another man dressed similarly.