Mr. Cuddles
Without a Trace
Ricky cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, flailing his arms clumsily in the process. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let it out, focusing solely on the job he was destined to accomplish. Opening his right eye and biting his lips, he wound his arm back, and was prepared to throw it. The second he let go-
"YAH! DON'T MESS UP!" Chunji blared from the sidelines, earning a snort from Niel behind him.
The baseball swirved out of Ricky's hands, missing the aluminum cans completely, hitting the back wall instead. "Aw, come on hyung! I was so close!" He squatted and held the back of his head.
Changjo patted him on the back. "You'll be fine, it's only a game."
"A game? Make Chanhee hyung lose and then decide if it's a game or not!" Ricky argued with a scowl a across his face.
"Chanhee is really competitive." Byunghun whispered behind the back of his hand to Saejin, who nodded her head subtly in understanding.
Chunji hung his head. "Let's just get to the next booth, please." He waved, pointing to the neighboring booth which was the ring toss. Obeying, the group got in line behind families of the office fire victims.
The turn out was in fact, pretty good, considering it was for charity. Not only did the workers come, but so did the general public. Game tickets had sold out in under half an hour, and someone had to go buy more. That money would go towards reconstruction, and helping families become employed until that time came where they could return to work. That said, everything was going great as planned.
"Ooh! A gun!" Ricky's eyes sparkled at the next game and he reached for the fake rifle placed on the table.
"Not today, mister." Chunji held him back with the help of Changjo. "There will be no missing eyes today."
Ricky still squirmed. "That was one time! Come on! It was an accident!"
Saejin and Johye exchanged wide eyes and surprised looks.
"Y-yah, he doesn't mean it. It was a joke." Chunji defended at once, palms waving at them in defense.
"Take turns children." CAP ordered, crossing his arms first. "...by age. I'll go first." He quickly added and snagged the gun from under everyone's nose. He shot down seven ducks out of twenty.
"Thanks for setting the stage." Chunji snatched the gun, ready for his turn. He got thirteen, a record. "Thank you, thank you." He bowed, willingly giving it to Byunghun.
As he gave the ticket, he glanced at Saejin and finally caught her eye. He secretly sent her a wink, telling her that now was when they were going to start taking everyone down and winning.
Catching his drift, Saejin sent a wink back at him. But if it was only a signal, why did she find her cheeks becoming warm? It's just hot outside. She reasoned and shrugged it off.
When he was done, Byunghun had hit seventeen out of twenty, beating Chunji, who sighed and looked away to control the competitive fire rising in him.
On the other hand, Niel and Ricky were clapping and cheering. Saejin gave him a thumbs up and he walked towards her.
"Your turn. You better beat everyone else, you know." He told her while the next person stepped up to challenge.
Niel shot next. Well, he tried to. But he kept missing, getting only three. "What the hell? Is this thing not working or something?" He shook the gun, then passed it to Ricky while figuring out why the rifle chose to malfunction on his try.
Ricky got ten, and Changjo surprised all by getting fourteen.
"Your turn, Johye." They told the quiet girl who had been in the background the whole time.
She blinked at them and shook her head. "I'm not good at these games. It's fine. I'm tired anyway." She smiled sheepishly and turned to Saejin for help.
Saejin gave her a side smile and stepped up despite the protests for
Johye's turn.
Ricky stepped up next to her. "All right, what you gotta do is put the gun on your shoulder." He tapped his own. "Then look through one eye, and shoot. Then BAM!" He exaggerated. "Hopefully you get some down. But don't worry, we won't judge you since you're a girl." He encouraged.
Saejin sighed and nestled the rifle in the correct position. Boys. She thought. She ended up getting a whopping sixteen, claiming the second place spot.
"Better than I thought!" Byunghun nudged her shoulder.
She shrugged. "My dad hunts." She explained.
The gang moved from booth to booth, trying to win prizes and claim rankings amongst them all. But as according to plan, Byunghun and Saejin kept maintaining first and second places for most of the games including basketball, skeeball and balloon and darts, only loosing to Ricky during the duck pond game.
"I got it! This is my game!" Niel kissed his hand and held in way above his head, looking to the sky. "I will definitely beat everybody!"
"You gonna throw or what?" CAP interrupted his thoughts.
Niel nodded, defeated and took three throws, one landing around a jug. "Whoo! Consolation prize! Yes! What if I get like, a water gun or something? That would be so cool! I'd spray all you guys and-... What is this?" He held onto the cheap plastic ring the booth leader put in his hand. "It doesn't even fit!"
"Move, move." Byunghun pushed him out of the way, handing the vender the ticket. He took his turn and got all three rings around three white jugs, not quite reaching the red ones in the middle. He looked behind himself at his friends smugly. "Hold your applause, it's all in a day's work."
"Aye..." The group chorused at his confidence.
"Maybe if you got a red one, we might actually clap." Chunji held his thumbs up with a sarcastic smile.
"Hyung, I found a better game for you." Ricky led CAP to another stall. It was basically the same game but with hula hoops, and three bears instead of jugs. "Maybe you'll actually win."
"Ha ha, I'm dying." CAP rolled his eyes, but played anyway. In the end, he got all three hoops around the back bear, earning him a small, fluffy multicolored bear. When he went back to the rest, they all bent over in laughter.
Niel held onto Changjo for support. "Oh! It suits you!"
"More than expected!" Saejin added. Even Johye was chuckling in the background.
CAP sighed and kicked the air in front of them. "Shut up and let's eat." He muttered and turned to leave. They all followed him to the table like lost puppies.
"I hope the burgers are good." Saejin walked next to Johye and chatted until they got to the grill.
"What now?" Chunji wondered. "We've played all the games so we're just gonna sit around and eat for the rest of the time?"
Ricky started to snicker. "That's what you guys think, but I've sighed us up for the hide-and-seek-tag game! Yes, love me." He held out his arms as if expecting a hug.
"Yah, what the-?"
"Seriously?"
"That's so tiring!"
"Geez, sorry sports. I know I'm gonna win and all, but you can act like you wanna be good competition at least." Ricky pouted.
When everyone got their food and drinks, they went to get a table in the back corner.
Ricky took a bite of his food and groaned in satisfaction. "It's been a long time since we've eaten like this together peacefully. Even if it is a charity event."
"Feels nice." Byunghun nodded in agreement along with the rest of the boys.
"We should do this a lot more." Changjo took a sip of water.
"With our new additions!" Niel slung an arm around Johye sitting on the end next to him and smiling a Saejin across from her. The girls just smiled back, not wanting to ruin the guys' moment.
"Seriously, when was the last time?" Chunji tried to recall. "Two years ago on the mountain vacation? Ah, good times." He shook his head and dug in.
"Oh yeah!" Niel remembered too. "That was the trip we lost Changhyun!"
"ALMOST!" Ricky spoke up and clarified. "Almost lost Changhyun. You found me half an hour later."
Changjo snorted. "Please! More like five hours! You tried to hide yourself in a cave because you thought it was gonna rain. You watch too many dramas." He fought, getting everyone to laugh, while Ricky tried to protest.
"I'm gonna name it Mr. Cuddles." CAP voiced out randomly.
"What?" Niel was taken aback.
"Hyung, what are you on right now?" Chunji skeptically eyed him.
"My bear! I'm gonna name it Mr. Cuddles!" He held up the rainbow bear he won at the tossing game. "It's perfect because he's soft and all."
Byunghun raised his eyebrows at the foolish hyung. No one knew what went on in his brain. Ever. It was a mystery that would probably never be found out in a million years.
Just when they had gotten everything straightened out, it was time for the hide-and-seek-tag game that everyone had been oh so looking forward to.
"The winner will get a free lunch from the restaurant of their choice!" Mrs. Song announced through a microphone to everyone, which got them riled up. Well, most people.
"If we lose or get hurt, I blame you for everything." Chunji accusingly pointed to Ricky, who backed away and hid behind CAP who was still playing with 'Mr. Cuddles'.
Saejin chuckled and looked at Johye. "Well, this'll be fun."
...You guys like the chapter title? XD
Comments