Gabby promptly yanks Jongin away from the refrigerator and leads the guy towards the living room. “This is not your house, Kim.”

Jongin pouts but let himself be pushed into the couch, munching on an apple he managed to snag despite Gabby’s efforts. “Oh come on, Gabby! We haven’t seen each other in two and a half years and this is how you treat me? I thought you loved me?!”

Gabby raises a brow, “You set me up on a date with your cousin before we even get to catch up with each other after a long time. Serves you just right, don’t you think?”

“It was Luhan’s idea! And I was busy with school these past few weeks and even though I wanted to kidnap you and torture you for cutting ties with me, I couldn’t. You should be thankful!”

“Oh, so you study nowadays. A miracle. We should celebrate!” she mocks.

“Shut up!”

“Hey! I’m older than you!”

“So?”

“Why you little—“

“It’s nice to see you’re warming up to each other already.” Sehun drawled as he let himself into the house, throwing the assorted bag of chips he brought and promptly hit Jongin on the face.

“Why are you both here? I didn’t even invite you!” to say that Gabby is shocked is an understatement. Not that she’s not happy seeing her old friends, it’s just she wasn’t expecting them to drop by unannounced.

“We invited ourselves.” Jongin replied nonchalantly as he rummaged for a bag of chips he likes. “You forgot to pick up my favorite, Sehun.”

“I wasn’t planning to pick anything up for you in the first place.”

“You’re so mean!”

“And you’re a freeloader.”

“Hey! I treat you to bubble tea all the time!”

“You empty my fridge every time you come over that I have to get groceries two times a week.”

“You always buy the same flavor of ramen anyways.”

“At least I buy my own food.” Sehun sneers with a stoic face. “Freeloader.”

Jongin launched himself off the couch towards Sehun and then they’re scuffling and hitting each other with the throw pillows.

Gabby… well, she’s a little too overwhelmed seeing her old friends be the kids that they are. It’s been too long since the last time she had seen the both of them together. And she missed them, she missed this. The lighthearted taunts and sneers, the playful fights, the way these two always make it seem like the world stops for a while and that it’s okay to goof off and be a kid; that there’s no hurry to grow up and be caught in the world that had lost all of its innocence and youth.

If only the other person who completes this group is still around. Then everything would have been perfect.

Gabby didn’t even notice that she had been staring at Jongin and Sehun trying to suffocate each other with the pillows, a small longing smile on her lips. It’s only when Jongin looks her way and practically kick Sehun on the to stop their little act and walk over to her that she finally managed to get out of her stupor.

“Uh… are you okay?” Jongin tries to hide his concern with a smile. “You were spacing out.”

Gabby let herself smile a little, punching Jongin on the arm, “I was thinking how I should have caught that on camera for future blackmail.”

The look on Jongin’s face tells that he didn’t believe Gabby for even a second but he let it pass, his face adapting Sehun’s mocking poker face, “You’ve never been the brightest bulb, Gabby. No one’s surprised.”

That earned him a harder punch and had him running towards Sehun with a whimper.

“Why are you attacking me? She punched you!” Sehun groaned when Jongin started swatting him with a pillow.

“She may not look like it but she’s still a girl! I don’t attack girls that way!”

“I don’t need to know how you attack girls!” came Sehun’s scandalized yell followed by a war cry as he started throwing the pillows at Jongin.

“Stop messing up my living room, you jackasses!” Gabby yells at the top of her lungs.

Sehun and Jongin stopped for a second to stare at her… then they were running around again, pillows as weapons. There was nothing Gabby could really do but to stand there and gape at the two monkeys going wild.

“Whoa! What’s happening?”

“Luhan?” Gabby twirled and almost fell at how fast she turned to look at another intruder. “Why is everyone trespassing in here?!”

Luhan promptly ignores her and took out his phone to get footage of the squabble.

Gabby asked the heavens why her grandmother had to choose today to visit a friend at the hospital. If Nana was there, Jongin and Sehun wouldn’t be wreaking havoc in the living room which she will be forced to clean after for sure. She’s not entirely fond of the memories in which she had to do the same.

“Uh… why is world war 3 inside your living room?” came a feminine voice.

It was Anya, raising a brow at Sehun and Jongin. The three kids were with her, said three promptly jumping up and down and laughing at the comedic scene playing in front of them.

It took for the sound of glass breaking for Jongin and Sehun to finally stop in their tracks.

Oops. Trouble.

“Uh… you don’t suppose to have super glue here, do you?” Jongin gulps.

“Uh-oh. Jongin-hyung is in trouble.” Chanyeol whispered; the cackle evident in his voice.

“Really big trouble.” Tao agrees, nodding his head.

“I bet my chocolate candies, he’s going to get pummeled.” Baekhyun chortles silently.

Gabby took in the sight of one of Nana’s flower vases, now on the floor broken into pieces. Luckily it wasn’t one of the antiques; truth to be told Gabby is not really upset because it was one of those that one of the board members had given Nana as a gift on her birthday two years prior; good riddance really.

“Uhm… I’ll start cleaning up right now.” Sehun says and hastily went to get the broom, not before throwing the pillow he had on Jongin’s face of course.

Jongin glares at Sehun but didn’t say anything and started putting the pillows back on the couch, going as far as arranging them neatly. “I… I’m really sorry.” He tells Gabby meekly.

Gabby wants to tell Jongin off but she wasn’t really up to it. She was feeling nostalgic at the moment, the fond feeling she has for these kids so overwhelming that she couldn’t find herself getting even a bit annoyed.

Why did she even cut them off three years ago? She now realized how selfish it was, not to mention foolish too. She let go of this family she have because she let herself wallow and drown in the pain she had felt. And she had never felt as guilty as now.

“Its fine…” she heard herself say, smiling at Jongin’s surprise and hoping that her face wasn’t showing the clash of emotions she was feeling at the moment.

“You’re not secretly plotting my demise because I broke your granny’s vase, are you?” Jongin asked cautiously.

The suspicion in Jongin’s voice had Gabby smiling. “Nah… I’ll leave that to Nana.”

Jongin pales, “Please kill me now.”

Luhan bursts out laughing at the horror in Jongin’s face.

Just then Sehun came back to the living room, a sheepish look on his face. “Uh… I couldn’t find the broom. I forgot… this wasn’t our house.”

Luhan laughed even harder and had Sehun glaring at him. The younger blushed though when he noticed that Anya was trying to suppress her giggles.

Gabby grins evilly; now that’s interesting.

It took them a few minutes to restore order in the living room, Gabby glaring at Jongin and Sehun for good measure so they would not start another chaos. Luhan sniggered ‘whipped’ behind his hands, earning narrowed eyes as warning from the two but the lot of them settled on a video game that Sehun had somehow conjured up.

“I’m sorry if we are intruding, Gabby-ssi. The kids wanted to see you.” Anya bit her lips as she helped out with preparing some snacks for the rowdy lot in the living room.

“It’s fine. I didn’t have anything to do, really. I hate to admit that Luhan’s right, that I’m kind of actually putting too much time into work.”

“And I apologize for that too. Lulu could be too enthusiastic sometimes when he puts his mind to something.”

“I realized that.” Gabby smiles at the younger. “Anyways, I don’t want to pry or something but I’m kind of curious...”

“About what?”

“About you… and Sehun.”

Anya’s face promptly turned tomato red and Gabby giggles.

“W-what do you mean? There’s nothing—”

“Ah, so cute.” Gabby sighs. “Don’t fret, Anya, I’m just curious how you two met. I mean, Sehun is not someone who makes friends easily, and even though he’s a really great person when you get to know him, he’s a little too aloof and cold on the outside so it’s a feat keeping him around.”

“I know that. I’ve pointed that out to him too many times.” Anya agrees, the blush on her face subsiding. “But I don’t know… maybe it’s because the kids like him too much that he stays around. I mean, Baekhyun sasses all the time, Chanyeol is a handful, and Tao practically clings to him whenever he’s around, but Sehun takes it in a stride. Maybe that’s the reason why I like having him around.”

“Maybe that’s why you like him.”

“Yeah…-- what?! No! That’s not it!” Anya realized what she just agreed to and started flailing her hands in denial as her face turned red once more.

Gabby laughs and patted Anya on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, it’ll be our little secret!”

“But I don’t!” Anya whines.

“Don’t what? What secret?” Jongin smirks as he goes for the fridge.

“Nothing!”

“And even if there is, we won’t tell you.” Gabby asserted. “And what did I tell you about this not being your house, Kim Jongin?! Get away from the fridge!”

“Still not a good host, I see.” Jongin pouts but closed the refrigerator. He slumped on the counter next to Anya and nudged her with his shoulder, “What’s the secret, Anya? Come on, tell oppa.”

Anya furiously shakes her head, the pink on her cheeks getting even more pronounced. Jongin wasn’t letting up and continued nudging Anya. Until Sehun came to the kitchen too and promptly wedged himself in between the two and bumped Jongin away with his .

“Stop harassing people, you dolt.” Sehun hissed.

“You’re just jealous.” Jongin retorted with a sneer. “And please don’t give me the ‘shut-up-it’s-not-like-that-we’re-not-dating’ words again because I won’t be the first in this town to believe you.”

Gabby couldn’t hold back her giggles, not when Anya looked like she wants the ground to open and up and eat her that instant, and Sehun’s mouth closing and opening in disbelief. The latter promptly picked up a dirty rag that Anya had been using and threw it at Jongin’s face in retaliation.

“I’m going to kill you, Kim Jongin!”

“Yeah? Who will be your best man in your wedding day, then?” Jongin smirks as he avoids the rag.

“Anyone but you. I’d rather have Deer Eyes.”

“Ooh~… So there are wedding plans already? You were just denying that the two of you are together! Make up your mind, Oh Sehun!”

“Alright, that’s it! I’m going to gut you out and throw you to the Han River!”

Then Sehun was running after a laughing Jongin out of the kitchen; a few seconds later, the living room was in chaos once again.

“Ah, nothing really changes. At least not with those two.” Gabby sighs with a smile on her face.

But Anya seemed to be just as perceptive as Luhan, if not even more, seeing the melancholy in Gabby’s face.

“It’s about… him, isn’t it?” Anya started silently, as if she was talking about a really sensitive topic and she didn’t want to use the wrong words, “You… miss him...Zelo…”

There’s no use in denying things now. Ever since she came here to live with her grandmother and met all these people, all the things Gabby tried hard to forget just came rushing into her. She didn’t know if having the walls she built up for years crumble in just a few weeks is a good thing or a bad thing. She’s still at a loss how fast it is for the new people in her life to open up wounds that took her years to cover up. She didn’t know how to heal them so she opted to bandaging them too tightly until she’s numb. And now she’s slowly being exposed once more and she doesn’t know if the wounds would heal now or she’d be left bleeding again. Uncertainty is a really scary thing.

“You know, Gabby-ssi… sometimes, running away is necessary so we can continue living our lives.” Anya continued with a sympathetic smile, “But it doesn’t really heal us. It’s okay to get scared, and to break down. We will fall many times and hurt ourselves; that’s part of life. But the important thing is how we stand back up each time we fall.”

Gabby could feel the words land heavily on her heart, squeezing and squeezing until she can’t breathe properly. “…But what if the person that always helps you get back up… is taken away from you? How can you get up when your legs are cut off?”

Anya put a hand on Gabby’s shoulder, “No one is truly ever lost, Gabby-ssi. They stay in our minds, makes a permanent home in our hearts. Letting go doesn’t mean we forget about them but accepting that they can only be there for us in our memories. Those we lost would have wanted us to move on, just like what we would have wanted them if it was us who left… don’t you think?”

***

Daehyun slides a tall glass of warm choco-latte Gabby had cajoled him onto inventing just for her. “I heard you had a party at your place. You didn’t even invite me! I’m hurt.”

“Party? More like my house turned into a day-care center for a day.” Gabby scoffs.

“You still didn’t invite me.”

“You were working anyways.”

“I got the mornings off during Saturdays and the whole days on Sundays. So I’m going to let you know that I’m going to kidnap you tomorrow before you have another day-care session with your neighbors.” Daehyun stated as he drops himself on the seat opposite to Gabby.

“You’re getting permission to kidnap me from me; you’re not making any sense.” She laughs. “I’ve got something to do tomorrow so I can’t hang out with you. I’m sorry.”

The smile on Daehyun’s lips visibly dulled but he only looks mildly disappointed. It didn’t make Gabby feel any less guilty though even if it’s nobody’s fault that she had to go on another blind date thanks to Luhan. Daehyun had been a childhood friend, and even if they only get to meet during those short summer breaks that stopped when Gabby’s family moved, Daehyun still remain as one of few people that Gabby can call a true friend.

“Maybe we can hang out next week?” she tries to cheer him up. Thankfully it worked.

Daehyun’s smile returned, “Sure. What are you doing tomorrow anyways? It’s a Sunday; even your grandma forbids working on Sundays.”

“Luhan’s got me another date.” She replies, a little forlorn.

“Really? I thought you’ve managed to talk him out of his plans. Or at least threatened him out of it.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Gabby pouts indignantly.

Daehyun just laughs it out, “But really… why haven’t you discouraged him yet?”

Well, isn’t that a good question? She could put her foot down and say no; Luhan is practically someone she had just met after all, they were just neighbors. Why is she still agreeing to blind dating scheme?

“I… I don’t really know either.” She admits.

“Maybe you actually want to move on and just needed someone to make you do it?” Daehyun mused with a smile, though something in his eyes bellies the solemnity he was actually conveying, “Maybe you’ve been unconsciously waiting for someone to try and fix you.”

Was she?

Gabby gave Daehyun a confused look. Was she actually doing just that all this time?

He patted her head affectionately, still smiling kindly. “Don’t think about too much right now, Gabby. Just know that even if you try to push your friends away again, they won’t let you do it for the second time. We’ll always be here to help you stand up even if you don’t want us to. I may have not been there the first time, and I may not know much about what had really happened, but now that I’m here, I promise to be there when you call. You can’t get rid of me now even if you want to.”

A smile finds its way to Gabby’s’ lips. “You guys just want to stick around like sticky glues, don’t you?”

“Yep. We’re stickier that superglue.”

 “More like tattoos.” A familiar baritone cut in, Jongin. “Once you got them, they’re staying forever.”

Gabby lets out a yelp when Jongin promptly shoves himself beside her as Sehun sat beside Daehyun. “Try not to squish her, Hulk. She’s not actually replaceable.” He says.

Jongin ignores Sehun, giving Gabby’s drink a scrutinizing look before deciding that he doesn’t care if it wasn’t his and he’s just got to taste it. “Ugh, too sweet!” he blurts, making a disgusted face.

“Serves you right. I hope it gives you a lesson in not taking something that isn’t yours in the first place.” Gabby chastised.

“But you once said that’s what’s yours is mine!”

“You were the one who assumed that, Kim Jongin. I remember telling you otherwise.”

“He doesn’t remember something that does not benefit him.” Sehun pointed out.

“True.” Daehyun agreed with a nod.

“Hey! You didn’t even know me back then!”

“Well, I know you now.”

“I’ve changed!”

“Yeah, and the moon’s square now.” Sehun scoffs.

“I know I shouldn’t have befriended you.” Jongin narrows his eyes on Sehun.

“Well you did. Too bad. Remember what you just said about friends being like tattoos?”

“I’ll have you laser-removed!” Jongin scrunched up his face.

“You’re practically living off me. You’d sooner declare yourself gay for me rather than cut me off.”

“The heck! I’ve dated half of the girls in our class! In less than a month!” Jongin shrieks.

The look on Daehyun’s face is nothing but incredulous as the two continued bickering. “I admit I’ve seen this many times before but… had they always been like this ever since?”

A warm feeling seeps through Gabby’s chest as she nods, “Yeah… they’re still the same.”

***

“You two, go home already. I’ve had enough of your married-couple fights all day!” Gabby sighs.

Jongin and Sehun decided to walk her home when the shop was near closing time. Daehyun gave her a sympathetic look, knowing that she would be on a noisy and rowdy walk home. And Daehyun wasn’t wrong. Jongin and Sehun kept on squabbling the whole walk to the neighborhood.

“You used to be one to do just the same. You’ve got no say on this!” Jongin huffs, though there wasn’t any heat to his argument really.

“Well, I grew up. You two seemed to stay as the five year olds you were at sixteen.” She bit back.

“No wonder you’re such a bore now.” Sehun scoffs playfully.

“Oh my gosh! That sounds really funny coming from you! You’ve got the humor of a hungry alligator! You have no right to say that I’m a bore!” Gabby punched Sehun on his skinny arm, showing no remorse when the kid flinches and throws a dirty glare at her.

“At least I still know how to have fun!” Sehun rubs his arm.

“Hey! I went into a blind date because of your future brother-in-law! And I’m about to go to another one tomorrow! I still know how to have some fun, thank you very much!”

“I don’t think that Luhan forcing you to blind dates could be defined as fun, not even remotely. And for the record, Deer Eyes is not my future brother-in-law! He’s not even Anya’s brother in any way!”

“You know, I couldn’t help but notice that you never deny the marriage thingies when—“

“Shut up, Kim Jongin!” Sehun cuts in. “That wasn’t the point!”

“You never challenge that point of the conversations. So I would say it is safe to assume that you acknowledge them.” Jongin smirks.

“You know I hate to say this, but Jongin actually makes a good point.” Gabby muses, enjoying how Sehun’s face looks visibly red even under the dim street lights.

“Not you too, Gabby! Jongin’s ego is so bloated it’ll burst any moment now!” Sehun whines.

“Just saying…” Gabby shrugs playfully. “But really, kids, go home. My house is like 20 meters away. Between here and there, I think I’ll be fine.”

“We’ve already suffered your boringness until here, what difference does 20 meters make?” Sehun grumbles, clearly still ticked off at the duo’s teasing.

Gabby sensed the bite in Sehun’s tone. She feels guilty somewhat, a feeling she couldn’t help whenever she’s around him and Jongin and remembers what she did three years prior. And meeting them again after such an ugly fall-out on her side, she doesn’t want to burden them anymore in any way.

“Hey, you know we were just teasing you, right?” she sidled next to the youngest, nudging him playfully. “I do like Anya. And I don’t know why you two just won’t go and date when you both clearly like each other, but you know that I support whatever decisions you make, right?”

“Speak for yourself, Gabby.” Jongin says, ending up doubled over when Gabby planted her elbow on his solar plexus with a hiss.

Sehun smiles, though there was something in his eyes that tells Gabby he was a little lost too with what was happening between him and Anya. “I know… thanks.”

“So… you’ll let me plan your wedding, right?”

“GABBY!”

Gabby lets out a laugh that she never had for what seemed like a really long time. The warm feeling inside her heats her up better than the jacket she has on to fight the cold night. Things have changed, drastically in some, yet they are still the same…

Somewhere in the front lawn of the house across the street, two figures watch silently, one of them hovering in air, a warm look on his face.

“You know, Luhan-ssi, sometimes I hate whoever is up there that decided I had to let go of that.”

“Everything happens for a reason.” Luhan replies.

“I know… but I couldn’t help but to feel how unfair it is for me, for us, why I couldn’t keep being a part of that.” Zelo may be hollow and transparent; invisible to everyone but to people like Luhan, but it doesn’t mean that he feels nothing at all.

If anything, human feelings are even more pronounced in ghosts like him, because they are nothing but pure energies, beings born out of unsaid emotions that forces them to linger until such sentiments are passed through to the people they want them to understand.

“There are many things we have no answers for, Zelo. They just… happen. We could only hope for the best. It is when we close up our minds to positive possibilities that we unconsciously hurt people around us. It may be unfair most of the time, but there’s just those circumstances that we cannot change, things we should just accept. And hope for the better when we’re given the chance to do it again.”

“You think there’s a next life? That there’s still a chance it can still be the same? That I can still be the same?”

Luhan can hear the desperate hope in the ghost’s voice, but he can’t lie, can’t even give a false hope. That would be cruel when nothing in this world is ever clear; not when everything is as fleeting as the wind, when the only constant thing is change.

“I think… that everything has its place. Things will happen if they’re bound to. If we hope and wish enough, keep holding on, then we might just sway fate to change our destiny.”

a/n: i'm getting a hang of posting long chapters of utter nonsense, aren't i?? @_@ 

comments please!!! ^,^