(Ljoe POV)

I walked inside the room without much thought. 

That was my first mistake, I think.

The room was empty. Empty as in there were no racks of clothing, bags of shoes, make up…It was literally just another room of the cafe with one table. And seated at that table was Kim Myungsoo. 

Everyone told me that this was a recording for a new interview…was L the interviewer or something? He looked up at me and smiled. With a small wave, he cheerfully called out. "Ljoe! Annyeong!" I was a bit taken aback by his response. I hesitantly put on a smile, and waved back. "It's been a while, it's good to see you." I responded, casually looking back. The other members were at the entrance of the cafe, evil grins on their faces. I eyed Niel, wondering why the others weren't coming inside. 

Was this some sort of camera prank? 

Then, a group of boys emerged from the back part of the cafe. Still dazed and confused, I quickly bowed to them and stammered out a hello. I recognized Sunggyu hyung immediately, and soon distinguished them to be the boys of Infinite. What were they doing here? 

"Sorry, hyung. But this had to be done." Niel said, holding his head up high. All the boys cheered, and I stared dumbfounded at all of them. I still had no idea what was going on, or what he meant by 'it had to be done'. 

"We'll be back in a few hours, to check up on you two. Until then, adios!" And just like that, all of them left without another word. Even Chunji. He didn't look back at me once. It was only when they had all left that I was struck with the realization that I was going to be here. Alone. With L. Like a date? 

I walked back into the room, sitting down on the chair in front of him. He gave a sympathetic smile, and sipped his glass of water. "I'm sorry, this is a little awkward for you, isn't it?" L asked. I could only muster a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of my neck. L was a good friend--both of our groups were close. But we didn't exchange numbers or anything of that sort. We were friendly backstage at music shows when both our groups were promoting at the same time, but we didn't see each other outside of that. 

And, I still had no idea what was going on. 

L seemed to know though, he didn't look confused at all. 

*****

(Ricky POV) 

We left Ljoe hyung at the cafe, and departed into our own separate vans. Infinite was scheduled for a shoot or something, and Teen Top were allowed to go back to our dorm. 

"Do you think that Ljoe hyung is okay?" I asked the group, leaning back against my seat and looking out the car window. There was a slight drizzle, the sky completely cloudless and grey. Sort of a depressing setting for a fake set-up date. 

Chunji hyung snorted. Or at least, I thought it was Chunji hyung. And I could tell even before looking at him that he was scowling. "Yeah, I bet he's having just a grand old time with L." 

"L is fun! Their personalities match well, don't you think?" Niel hyung asked, looking expectantly at me. Adding fuel to the fire, typical Niel. "He looks a lot better nowadays, don't you think? It's the hair, probably. If Ljoe hyung had a type, L would be it!" I threw in as happily as I could. Niel stifled a laugh, pressing his lips together. "He's tall, too. Another good thing." CAP hyung added. 

Chunji hyung's face was expressionless. Yes, if you were wondering, we were all ganging up on him. It had to play out like this, so Chunji hyung would finally realize that he liked Ljoe hyung and would have the guts to confess to him. He would do it a lot quicker if he thought there was competition, right? 

I had to admit, I was surprised that Ljoe hyung didn't call any of us for the next five hours. I thought for sure he would breakdown and at least send us a text. But there was absolutely nothing. Not even Chunji got anything, and those two contacted each other as if it was a necessary part of living, as if it was their oxygen. He was the most disappointed at it. Chunji hyung was extremely moody for those five hours. He literally just laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. Sure, we expected something of this sort, but nothing that had the potential to ruin their existing friendship or whatever! 

"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" Changjo whispered to me, as we prepared fruit in the kitchen. I had no idea why we were whispering, since Chunji hyung was blasting American music through his earphones. I had walked in at one point to make sure he wasn't going to break down, but I found him peacefully, an arm draped over his eyes as the music viciously leaked out of his earbuds. 

"I'm sure Ljoe hyung will be fine, he'll survive." I joked with a smile, carefully slicing a peeled apple. Changjo playfully punched my arm. "Not Ljoe hyung, Chunji hyung. I think he's really bothered by it…it wasn't a good idea."

"Hey, it's fine! Ultimately, Chunji hyung will come to the realization that his lover for the rest of eternity is Ljoe hyung, we just needed to give him a strong push! Besides, once Ljoe hyung gets home, Chunji hyung will be back to his usual self, don't worry." 

Boy, was I wrong. 

Ljoe hyung came back. He came back glowing and beaming and grinning, like he had just won the lottery. Never have any of us seen him that happy. 

"D'you have fun?" CAP asked, as he flipped through various channels on TV. 

If Ljoe hyung was mad at the set up, he certainly didn't show it. "Where's Chunji?" 

Changjo and I shared glances with each other. I cleared my throat and looked away. "He's in his room. Your room." 

"Did something happen?" 

I just shook my head, pretending to be engrossed in the TV. 

*****

(Ljoe POV) 

I had a lot of fun with L, more fun that I thought I would have. He had such a different persona off camera, off the stage, when he wasn't ordered to be L. Kim Myungsoo was a much dorkier, cuter side of himself, and it was the first time I had witnessed it. He was hilarious, he made all sorts of bad puns and gags that made me laugh. It was a little awkward at first, but he was surprisingly good at breaking the ice. I was known for having a quiet, calm sort of personality around others, so I was surprised that he broke my shell so easily like that.

We just stayed at the cafe, and talked about all sorts of things. Our lives, our groups…tough times we had when we were training. Our families. Our friends. Our memories. Things were so easy and comfortable with L. It was my first time really opening up to anyone besides my members, and it felt like he truly understood, which was a blessing. At the end of the night, or rather, when I checked the time and realized I had spent almost six hours with L, I decided it was time to go home. 

He cutely asked for my phone number. Cutely, as in with aegyo. I saw that broadcast Infinite did on Weekly Idol, the most recent one, where they had to compete with each other on aegyo to get meat or something? That was the kind of aegyo L used. It was cute.

I admit, I missed Chunji. Chunji and I saw each other for a full 365 days every year, and it's been that way for the past…few years. We were always together, and on the off-chance we were away, we always kept in contact with each other. Every possible minute that could be used texting or talking, we used it. 

I walked into the room that we shared, to see that Chunji was on his bed, on his phone. The room was almost pitch black, even with the curtains drawn back. "Chunji, what are you doing in the dark?" I laughed, turning on the light. He just grunted as response, not taking his eyes away from the screen. I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowing. Was he mad at me? 

I don't remember doing anything wrong…

Confused, I closed the door to our room, and threw my jacket onto the floor. Whenever I put my clothes on the floor, Chunji would throw a fit, telling me to 'please keep our room clean for once'. This time, he didn't say anything. He looked up at me after he heard the thud of my jacket, but looked down at his phone afterwards. "Yah, what's wrong? Don't ignore me!" I said, pursing my lips up, and crossing my arms over my chest. 

It looked like he hadn't moved from this spot in a while. His white-dyed hair was in a blow-dried mess, baggy clothes completely covering his frame. His facial expression didn't look too good--he looked…angry. It was easy to tell when Chunji was angry. He got quiet, he ignored you, and his mouth did this weird thing--I can't really describe it, it sort of pressed into a line, kinda tilted slightly to the right. I hated when he was angry. I hated when he was in a bad mood. 

"Nothing. Tired. Have fun?" 

…Another sign that he was angry; short responses. Now I knew that there was definitely something up, that he wasn't telling me. I walked over to his bed and snatched his phone from his hand, throwing it onto my bed. He slightly pouted at the loss of his phone, and stared longingly at it. But I could tell that he was just trying to avoid my gaze. 

"Chanhee, would you please look at me?" 

It was a habit to use his real name when I was serious about something. It slipped out, without my conscious knowing, before I could really understand what I was saying. But even so, he ignored me, adjusting his shirt. 

I was starting to get a bit irritated. He couldn't just get mad at me for no reason. And if there was a reason, it would help to know. I hated fighting with him and I bet he knew very well of this fact, so I had no idea why he was trying to start something. 

"Ljoe, I'm not mad at you. I'm heading off to bed, it's late." Chunji replied flatly, slipping under his covers and turning his back towards me. I couldn't do anything but stare at his back, even more puzzled than before. I literally pulled apart the last few days in my mind, trying to figure out what the hell I did to make him so angry with me. It couldn't have been anything a few days ago, because we were fine. We were also fine this morning. It was after the set up date that he started acting weird. 

There was a brief few milliseconds I wasted, wondering if he could be jealous. But then, I remembered what L said. He had gotten a call from Sunggyu hyung three hours into the set up date, and he had explained everything to us. Both my and L's group had set us up. Sunggyu hyung didn't give a real answer as to why, he just said that it sounded like fun, and L and I were the most probable candidates for it, so it just happened. If both our groups set us up, then Chunji must have been a part of the planning, too. There was no way he was jealous. 

My head hurt. I didn't want to talk to him anymore, talking to him was like talking to a wall. He wouldn't tell me why he was upset, hell, he wouldn't even look at me. 

With a dragged out sigh, I walked out of the room to get ready for bed.

*****

(Chunji POV) 

Was I upset?

Without a doubt.

He came back six hours later. SIX. And within those six hours, I didn't get a single text. Nothing, to let me know that he was okay. Sure, I understand that it was for a blind date, or whatever. But was it really that hard to send something to me? 

And that little jerk--he comes back freaking glowing. I was miserable out of my mind missing him, trying to surf the web to pass time, hoping he would message me. He had such a great time with L that he had forgotten all about me for a quarter of the day. 

L. 

The name sickened me. Byunghun was mine, and…he just took him away. I hadn't expected the date to go on for long. L and Byunghun weren't even close friends, so what could they possibly have to talk about?

Apparently, six hours worth of stuff. 

He doesn't even know. He's clueless. If he knew at least a little bit of my heart, he wouldn't even dare ask what he did, or why I was upset with him. How could he not know? I mean, was I overreacting? Maybe I was getting angry over something I shouldn't be getting angry about. Byunghun and I weren't dating, and he seemed disgustingly happy after his stupid little date with L. I wished him all the goddamn happiness in the world. 

But the saddest thing about all of this…he'll never know. He'll never know that I'll always be here, in the sidelines, missing him and loving him. He won't ever care. People could take him away whenever they pleased, and I had no say in it. As usual, I was last on his priority list. It was stupid of me to even think that I was anywhere near the top of it...