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His vision blurred out and he felt what seemed to be the rocky texture of concrete beneath him. His hands loosened their grip, and the last thing he heard before he out was the sound of a house collapsing and the sounds of people crying.

...On a second note, he seemed to have heard someone call him a jerk, too.

Chapter 5:

"Reportedly last night, a house in Chungdamdong has collapsed, due to what seems like a 0.5 level earthquake. All of the other houses in the same neighborhood received no harm, but this newly built house is wrecked. How do you feel about this, Mr. Xi?" A reporter from SBS news asked.

She her microphone in front of Mr. Xi, and the cameras focused on him.

"I...I really don't know what to say about this. Our house was...was newly built after I saved up enough money to afford it, and we..we just moved in. I just can't process what happened within the last 12 hours." Mr. Xi said, eyes becoming moist. He then laughed. "I can't let this bring me down though, because I know I have a son to raise."

The reporter gave the camera a smile. "Well, I am sure that all of us are inspired by your positive attitude towards this event, and we wish you the best of luck in the future! I am reporter Lee Yeonhee and this is SBS news."

Mr. Xi switched off the TV. "Now why did I cry again?" He asked for the umpteenth time, irritated by his onscreen appearance.

Everyone was at Mr. Xi's restaurant, gathered around the tables. They had just finished watching the news report from yesterday and were still recovering from that out-of-mind experience. It’s not everyday that you can run out of a collapsing house on the brink of death, after all. Luhan and his dad had slept over last night, and his friends did too, to keep him company. They also had to watch over Kris, who was still resting, having been diagnosed with shock hours ago.

"I shouldn't have told Kris to help me get that box yesterday.." Luhan said sadly, biting his lip. "I almost made him die just to get me a few of mom's items..."

Mr. Xi patted Luhan on the back. "It's okay, Hannie. Things happen sometimes. Nothing's wrong with Kris now!"

Xiumin nodded, giving Luhan a squeeze and a reassuring smile. Luhan managed to smile back, thankful to still have his friends here to comfort him. If they weren't there yesterday or today, Luhan might have just broken down already. He knew most of his optimistic attitude had been because he was always backed up by his friends.

"Ugh...my head..." A groggy voice said behind them.

Luhan’s eyes widened as he saw Kris struggle to get up from his position on one of the couches. He immediately rushed towards him, frantic.

“Kris, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? The doctor said you had shock. Does your head hurt?” Luhan rushed all at once, helping Kris get into sitting position.

He urgently felt Kris up and down, from his head to his shoulders all the way down to his ankles, to assure himself Kris was okay.

“It’s a good thing you don’t have a concussion. I shouldn’t have told you to retrieve my mom’s stuff for me! It was heavy, wasn’t it? You almost DIED!!”

Kris groaned. “Xiumin, get over here and calm this kid down.”

He ruffled his messed up hair and ran his hands down his face, wiping the fatigue away. Kris’s bed attire was always the most good looking (as the others thought), and everyone stopped to just stare at him.

Kris glanced over at the group of kids standing there watching dumbfounded.

“YAH. What are you guys doing, standing there in a daze? I just came back from the dead, you know.” Kris commented, unconsciously pouting in discontent.

Kyungsoo and Tao coughed awkwardly, forcing their eyes to look anywhere except for Kris. Xiumin rushed over to pull Luhan away from Kris, and Kris smiled his rare morning smile, satisfied with the amount of sleep he got. Everyone was mesmerized once more. This time, even Xiumin couldn't resist. Mr. Xi was the only one laughing at the whole scenario, wondering if this was how the kids acted on a daily basis.

Suddenly, everything was interrupted by the ring of the phone by the reception desk. Tao and Xiumin snapped out of it, and Kyungsoo jumped up to get the phone.

“I got it, Mr. Xi!” He called from the front.

“Araso!” Mr. Xi replied.

He picked up the phone.

“Annyeonghaseyo, this is the ---------- restaurant. We are closed today, so I am sorry for the inco--Oh, you’re looking for...Ah...I see. You’re a....friend of Mr. Xi’s? Ah, yes....Please wait a moment.”

Kyungsoo covered the receiver of the phone.

“Mr. Xi! Someone who says he was your old comrade is on the phone and wants to speak with you!”

Luhan made a weird face after he heard Kyungsoo. “Appa, I’ve never heard of you meeting your old friends recently!”

Mr. Xi also made a perplexed look as he absorbed what Kyungsoo had just said. “I haven’t contacted any of them recently either...I better go see who it is.”

He rushed to the front desk of the restaurant.

“I’ll take it,” Mr. Xi said. “Thanks.”

Kyungsoo smiled. “No problem,” he said, before retreating to the back of the restaurant to join the others. Mr. Xi took the phone.

“Yoboseyo?” He asked.

He heard a gasp from the other line.

“O-omo, saesangie! Oh my god, it’s actually you, Ki Dong-ah!” The man exclaimed.

Mr. Xi still didn’t quite grasp the situation.

“Uhmm...excuse me, but who...are you?” He asked, unsure of himself.

There was a silence on the other line.

“Ah--forgive me for being impolite, I had thought you would’ve recognized my voice.” The man laughed over the other line. “I’m Soo Chang, Oh Soo Chang!”

Mr. Xi did a double take.

“S-soo...Soo Chang? Oh Soo Chang?!” He exclaimed loudly, equally as surprised as the people in the back who jumped at his loud voice. “I-it’s really you?”

~*~

“Who do you think that could be?” Chanyeol murmured, peeking at Luhan’s dad who had been on the phone and still is, for almost 45 minutes. “Even I can’t talk that long to one of you!”

Kai hit him on the shoulder. “Yah, it’s usually one of us that hangs up on you first because you get too hyper on one of your rants about Baekh--”

Chanyeol quickly muffled Kai’s mouth, shooting a grin at Kris. “I know, I know. I can’t get distracted by that group’s pretty flower boy. I get it.”

Kai flung Chanyeol’s hand off of his mouth and glared at him. Chanyeol, in turn, gave Kai a sheepish smile before secretly wiping his hand off on the side of his jeans. Xiumin gave Chanyeol a knowing glance, and Chanyeol rushed over to Xiumin.

“No one needs to know that I have a crush on Bacon.” Chanyeol muttered quietly, giving Xiumin a look. "You know he's from the other group."

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. No tattletaling and telling everyone here.” Xiumin said nonchalantly, out loud for everyone to hear.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened as Kyungsoo and Tao turned around to look at the two. He started waving his hands frantically in an “X” sign.

"Nothing, nothing! We are talking about absolutely nothing!"

Kris chuckled, shaking his head in disapproval.

“Xiumin, stop playing with the kid. He doesn’t know that you’re not the type of person to tattle such a small thing to everyone here” He said, resting his head on the table and staring at the scene before him.

“What about us?” Kai asked sharply, giving the two a look.

Chanyeol shrunk behind Luhan, who in return, dodged him, sensing danger emanating from Kai. Xiumin just rolled his eyes at Kai's behavior, ignoring the invisible daggers Kai was trying to send.

“You could’ve let me have some fun,” Xiumin pouted towards Kris. “Party pooper.”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrow at both Xiumin and Kris. He pursed his lips.

“Xiumin, every time we have been together, has there ever been a time where both you and Kris don’t get into some silly argument?” He asked seriously.

Xiumin pretended to give it some thought. He tapped his finger on his chin and waited. Then, straightforwardly, he replied.

“Nope!”

He grinned, and went over to sit next to an anxious Luhan, one who was still staring at his father. He immediately bounced up, though, as he saw his father hang up the phone and approach the back with a huge smile plastered on his face.

“What is it? Who was that? What happened? Why were you on the phone for so long?” Luhan asked all at once, dying of curiosity. He wanted to know why his dad seemed so elated, and who that person on the other side of the line really was.

“One thing at a time, Luhan. One thing at a time.” Mr. Xi said, patting Luhan’s shoulder. “But I’ll say the most important thing first.”

“What is it?” Tao asked immediately.

Kris silently laughed. Tao spoke only when he needed to, and this time, he was just plain curious. It was written all over his face. Mr. Xi broke out into a grin.

“My old friend from back then saw me on TV this morning and he said he called right away.” He explained.

Everyone nodded for him to go on.

“He knows what situation we’re in, and he insisted that he owes me from the deeds I did in the past...” Mr. Xi trailed off.

“So....what?” Luhan whined. “What are you trying to say?”

Mr. Xi smiled.

“He offered for us to stay at his house until we can find a new place to stay!”

Luhan gasped. “Really? Is that...okay?”

Mr. Xi nodded. “Don’t worry. He said it was fine. He also has a son that’s about your age. I think he goes to your high school too! You will be able to make a new friend, Hannie.”

Luhan giggled and hugged his dad.

“Appa, as always, you’re the best!”

Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Tao, Xiumin, and Kris immediately awwwww’ed all at once.

“It’s a daddy moment...” Xiumin cooed, instinctively walking over to Kris and giving him a bear hug.

Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Tao followed along and hugged each other tightly. So tightly, that Kris almost couldn’t breathe.

“G-guys..” Kris coughed out loud. “I b-barely recovered. You could...cut me...some slack, you know?” He coughed in between words.

Everyone let go momentarily to give Kris a glance. Then, they all looked at each other and shrugged.

“You look fine to me.” Xiumin commented.

Everyone hugged again.

Kris groaned.

“Why am I friends with these people again?”

Luhan, who had finished his moment with his dad, turned around to see all of his friends hugging each other. He smiled. He had a feeling that the moment he moved into his dad’s friend's house, everything would change. He would flip over a new leaf, and happily get along with their family’s son. Maybe even become friends!

However,

little did he know,

His whole world was about to get flipped over in a matter of seconds.

~*~

A/N:

So I rushed through this, instead of taking time to write it...because school started and everything’s been hectic lately, so I hope you don’t mind about the slightly late updates, hehe ^-^”” Anyhow, it’s really cutting close to Luhan moving to his appa’s friend’s house now!! I wonder what he’ll find out there...that can actually flip his world over in a matter of seconds...Hmmm...

Comments and votes appreciated for motivation! ^^

(I assure you, it wakes me up when I’m in school too. XD)