Junhyung stared blankly at the kitchen wall; his insides felt oddly empty, kind of like a hollowed out coconut that had been thrown away into the sea. He barely noticed when his cell phone slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor.

I need some space.

The world-shattering text remained seared into his mind and an hour of self-reflection had yielded no answers to the current state of his relationship (or lack thereof—he still wasn't sure if the word 'space' implied some kind of permanence). He had met up with Hara just yesterday, and they had, in his opinion, enjoyed a lovely paparazzi-free date after work. As such, he was completely baffled as to what had driven her away.

The sound of the front door opening saved him from another oncoming bout of self pity. Dongwoon kicked off his shoes and ran a hand through his sopping hair.

"Hey hyung, what's for dinner?" Junhyung shrugged before turning back to stare morosely at the wall. 

"What's wrong?" Dongwoon flopped down and waved both hands across his face.

Perhaps it was his friend's worried eyes or the effect of being in his own company for the entire afternoon, but all his woes came bubbling to his lips like an irrepressible flood.

"Hara dumped me," he moaned, dropping his head in his hands. "She said she needed space which is just girl code for 'I'm too nice to tell you that I never want to see you again'."

Dongwoon patted him on the back and offered an encouraging smile. "Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"Why would she turn off her phone then?"

"Girls just like being dramatic, I suppose." Dongwoon all but dragged him out of his chair and onto his feet. "You, my friend, should take this golden opportunity to enjoy your temporary bachelorhood. C'mon, let's go out for dinner."

Maybe Dongwoon had a point. There was no sense moping around when his girlfriend obviously didn't want to be contacted. And so he slipped on his shoes and followed Dongwoon out the door.

***

"Why are we at Lotte Mart?" Junhyung muttered as he glanced around the crowded store. "Aren't you supposed to take me to a bar where I can drown my sorrows in alcohol?"

"And let you make a fool of yourself after the fourth bottle? Nope, I have a better idea in mind," said Dongwoon as he dropped a bottle of baby powder into the shopping cart. Junhyung followed, mystified, as they moved on to the stationary aisle, where the maknae took several packs of brightly-colored window markers.

After a good half hour, their shopping cart was overflowing with a selection of miscellaneous items. As they waited in line at the checkout, Dongwoon suddenly patted his pockets and looked at Junhyung with pleading eyes. "Hyung, I forgot my wallet. Can you cover for me this time?"

Junhyung let out an exasperated sigh. "Will you at least tell me what all this is for before I pay for it?"

"I'll tell you when we get to Headquarters."

"Wait, we're not going home? It's almost midnight."

Dongwoon flashed a mischievous smile. "The perfect time for a bit of dance practice, don't you think?"

***

It was the first time, Junhyung thought, that he had willingly dragged himself out of bed for something other than work. He had stayed up the night before to help Dongwoon with the preparations and wanted to be awake to observe the fruits of his labour.

The first yell sounded shortly after seven-thirty. The sound of the blow-dryer was cut off as the bathroom door was pulled open. Doojoon stuck his head out and Junhyung had to force down his laughter. Baby powder clung to their leader's damp hair like clumps of icing sugar.

"Thanks for sticking crap in the blow-dryer," Doojoon called out before slamming the door with a bang. "Very mature."

At eight, their lead dancer (and resident neat-freak) stomped into the kitchen with an expression of fury on his face.

"Fess up. Who messed with my closet?" Hyunseung snapped. "Socks are supposed to be in the top drawer, not the middle. And all my shirts were sorted by color before one of you came and ruined it."

"Chill out, hyung. It's not a big deal. Just reorganize everything yourself," Yoseob said with a yawn.

Hyunseung narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "It was you wasn't it?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

"You steal my snacks all the time, so what's stopping you from sneaking into my room and making a mess just for the hell of it?"

"I didn't go near your room last night and I haven't touched any of your snacks this whole year."

"Oh yeah?" Hyunseung flung open the cupboards and threw Yoseob a withering look. "Would you care to explain why there's only one bag of chips left when there were two just yesterday?"

"How the hell would I know?" Yoseob crossed his arms and glared back indignantly. "All I had was ramyeon for the past week."

And as the bickering continued, Dongwoon and Junhyung exchanged small smiles of satisfaction.  

***

The six of them were walking towards the dance studio for morning practice when Dongwoon suddenly piped up, "Hey, Kikwang. You seem...shorter today."

Kikwang stopped in his tracks and stared at him, horror dawning on his face. "But...but I'm wearing insoles."  

"Are you sure?" Junhyung watched as Kikwang hastily pulled off his sneakers. A moan of despair escaped his lips as he withdrew the shoelifts.

"Oh dear god. I can't believe I was walking around in public with only 2cm insoles. What happened to my 6cm ones...?"

His words trail off as they all shuffled into the studio. The mirrors were a mess of vibrant scribbles that spanned from floor to ceiling. A   

"Hey guys, come look!" Yoseob let out a laugh and read aloud. "'Manager Joonkun smells like piss.'"

It was at that moment that their manager chose to enter the studio. His cardigan is sprinkled with sparkles, no doubt from the bomb that Dongwoon had planted in his office the night before.  

"Junhyung, come here" Manager Joonkun said coldly.

Heart pounding, Junhyung walked forward and tried to look as innocent as he could. "What is it?"

Their manager pulled out a crinkled piece of paper. "This receipt shows that you used your credit card to purchase four packs of Crayola Washable Window Mega Markers last night at 11:41 p.m."

"Wait! I can explain-"

"Save it. I think we have all the evidence we need to conclude that you're the culprit behind-" he gestured to the graffitied mirrors "all this."

Junhyung was about to protest but quickly bit back his retort. There was no point bringing up Dongwoon, especially when the kid had such a spotless track record at the company.

"As punishment, you will clean up the mess you created and reflect on your behaviour. These mirrors better be spotless by this afternoon or you can say goodbye to this month's paycheque."  

***

Junhyung scrubbed furiously on the 'CEO Hong Seungsung is a piece of poop' scribbled in giant block letters across the centre mirror. It was Dongwoon's work, no doubt, as was the abstract rendition of male ia drawn below.

"It's too bad you got caught." Dongwoon walked towards him and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.

Junhyung shrugged as he squeezed water out of the wash cloth. "It's alright. It was fun while it lasted and it did get my mind of Hara for a while."

"That's the spirit." Dongwoon beamed at him before adding, "So you won't be mad if told you that I might have accidentally tipped Manager-hyung off about your Lotte Mart spree."

"You what?" The pieces slowly began to fall into place. Junhyung knew he couldn't have been stupid enough to leave the receipt out in the open. Dongwoon must have snitched it and left it out for their manager to find. He, Yong Junhyung, had just been framed.

"Oh by the way, could you give this back to Hara?" Dongwoon pulled out a familiar-looking phone with a pink, rhinestone-studded case. "She left it behind at Inkigayo yesterday."

Yesterday.

The realization hit him like a kick in the groin.

"That text. You were the one that sent it?" he spluttered, his words barely coherent from the overwhelming rage building within him. "You little piece of-" He lunged at Dongwoon, who danced out of reach with a gleeful smile. As Junhyung made to chase after him, he knocked over the bucket of soapy water and dived face-first into the floorboards a second later.

Dongwoon hooted with laughter before scurrying towards the door. "April Fool's, er!"

"I'm going to get you for this!" Junhyung hollered. He had exactly three-hundred-and-sixty-five days before it came again. He had ample time to plan out every step of Dongwoon's destruction and he was going to use it wisely.

Revenge, after all, is a dish best served cold.