Chapter One: The Dressing Room

Yongguk closed his eyes as he listened to Seo Minyu moan his name into his ear. He had her propped up on him, with her legs around his waist and her back against the wall. Both of their shirts were still on, his pants were pulled down, and her skirt was pulled up. Yongguk had been having with the girl in a dressing room in the clothing store where she worked.

When they were finished, they fixed their clothes and their hair before walking out. Minyu eyed Yongguk warily and cleared . “Are you gonna call me later?”

Yongguk sighed because this always happened. He managed to charm a girl enough to get her to have with him, and afterwards she ended up wanting a relationship of some kind with him. Yongguk wasn’t the relationship type of guy. He had too many responsibilities and too many things to worry about to have a relationship. The only thing he wanted to do was have a little fun every now and again. Why couldn’t girls understand that?

Despite this, he nodded slightly at her, hoping she wouldn’t get her hopes up too much. “Yeah, I’ll call you tomorrow maybe. Thanks,” he gestured towards the dressing rooms and sent her a smirk.

This made Minyu blush, and she stared after Yongguk as he left the clothing store. She made sure her appearance didn’t look too messy before she switched the sign on the front door from ‘closed’ to ‘open’ again.

On his way out, Yongguk slid his phone from his pocket and dialed one of his close friend’s number. He walked along the sidewalk, tapping his fingers against the back of his phone while he waited for his friend to answer.

Finally, on the tenth ring, Junhong answered the phone. However, Yongguk could sense that he had called at a bad time because Junhong was whispering into the phone. “Hyung? What’s up?” He asked urgently.

“Why are you whispering, Junhong-ah?” He asked, not bothering to reply to his question yet.

It seemed odd that someone Yongguk’s age would be close friends with someone six years younger than him, but their friendship worked itself out in a weird way.

Before anyone else, Yongguk was friends with Junhong. Yongguk was 13 years old, and Junhong was only 7 years old. It was like Junhong was his shadow the way he followed him around. He met Junhong at a basketball court the day of his parents’ funeral. Yongguk had still been wearing the tuxedo that his uncle and aunt bought him.

Junhong had walked up to the older kid with a strange look on his face and asked, “Hyung, why are you wearing a suit while playing basketball?”

Yongguk did everything he could to get rid of the younger kid, but Junhong didn’t seem to want to leave Yongguk’s side. After a month of being followed around, Yongguk was becoming as attached to Junhong as Junhong was to him. It was through the dongsaeng that he met Jongup, Daehyun, and Youngjae. He met Himchan about a year later through school, which he later dropped out of.

Seemingly irritated, Junhong brought Yongguk out of his memory. “Hyung! Hello? Are you still there?” He was still whispering, but he must have been too loud because Yongguk could hear him getting scolded by someone. “Ah…Yongguk Hyung, I need to go. Tell me later!”

Yongguk didn’t bother to answer; he only ended the call with a grin. “I guess I’m on my own until later,” He said to himself before he saw one of his female friends pass by, waving to him. He waved back and smiled happily. “Or not!”

Himchan was quickly becoming exhausted after searching all over the neighborhood for Yongguk. He’d tried calling his cell phone several different times, and he even texted him. Himchan knew that this was Yongguk’s day off from work, and he knew that he’d be somewhere flirting with a girl.

Sending the third text to his friend, Himchan muttered to himself, “Why does he have to go off and flirt with different girls? Why doesn’t he even answer his phone?” He sighed, finally looking up to see where his feet had carried him.

He had walked into one of the clothing stores on the street without realizing it. He was about to turn and leave when one of the employees bowed to him nicely.

“Annyeonghaseyo! I’m Seo Minyu. Can I help you today, sir?” She asked. She wore a plaid button down shirt and a gray skirt that fit her figure nicely. Himchan didn’t want to seem rude, so he kept his eyes on her face.

“Aniyo, that’s okay,” He replied, smiling back to her. “I came in here by accident –“ Himchan stopped himself, taking another look at the employee. She was thin, pretty, and she had long hair. Just Yongguk’s type. “Actually, I was looking for my friend. Bang Yongguk. Do you know him?”

Himchan knew that she knew Yongguk as soon as her face turned red. He smiled to himself and shook his head slightly. Yongguk, how do you manage to charm all of these girls? He thought.

Seo Minyu pushed her hair behind her ear and gave Himchan a more genuine smile. “You know Yongguk Oppa? Ye, I know him. He was shopping in here not too long ago actually.”

Himchan raised an eyebrow and, before he could stop himself, blurted out, “Are you sure he was only shopping?”

He could tell that the outburst caught the employee by surprise too because her face became even redder than before. She put her hand on her cheek, and Himchan could see why she was Yongguk’s type. Something about her screamed innocence, but at the same time, her subtleness was…y. His eyes were lowering on her body until he quickly shook his head and told himself to stop having thoughts like that.

Minyu was able to redeem herself. She cleared quietly and forced the plastic smile back onto her face. “Of course he was only shopping, sir. But he left a while ago. Maybe you should go find him,” she suggested. What she really wanted was for him to leave after he embarrassed her like that.

Himchan took the hint and walked to the door after bowing to the woman. Walking, he wondered, what was I even looking for Yongguk for? …Oh! Youngjae! At the remembrance of one of his closest friends, Himchan took off running full speed.

Daehyun came down the stairs to his family’s living room. In the big house, there was only his parents and him, but they weren’t close at all, so the house seemed so much bigger. Daehyun could hear hushed voices, so he silently made his way to the door to listen in on the conversation.

He heard his mother’s trembling voice. “I can’t do this anymore! I’m scared to eat meals with my own son. It shouldn’t be like this!” The more she talked, the more hysterical she became.

Daehyun’s eyebrows furrowed when he heard his father’s response. And he knew immediately that it was about him. “Fine, fine. I know it’s not supposed to be like this. We could kick him out, so the house could be more peaceful.”

He was getting angry, but Daehyun didn’t want to prove his parents right. He didn’t want to be unstable or unfit as a son anymore. He’d done everything he could to become a great student in anger management, and he acted extra nice to his mother.

“No, no. I can’t kick my own child out like that,” his mother answered, to his relief. “But maybe we can convince him to leave.”
Without knowing about his presence right outside the door, his parents kept talking, agreeing, and making plans for Daehyun’s leaving.

He sighed and sat down in the hallway like that, pondering over who could take him in. He wouldn’t stay at the house where he wasn’t wanted. Daehyun held in the tears he felt at his parents’ harsh words.

Himchan ran into the hospital room after running four blocks to the hospital and up six flights of stairs to get to the room. He took one look at the body in the bed, the body that had doctors all around it, trying to fix its wounds. He took one look and whispered, “Yoo Youngjae.”