They all knew Hanbin’s story by now so it was Bobby’s turn to tell his.

Bobby had an older brother who was currently living in the States with their parents. It was only Bobby who was left here in Korea all alone, in the care of his unmarried aunt, because they couldn’t afford to take him there anymore. His father no longer had the job that led them there and it was his mother who held them together managing a small restaurant in the town they lived in ia. His older brother, who was six years older than him, was only able to finish high school and did odd jobs to help them out.

They didn’t want to leave the life they had built in the US for almost a decade. It was their American dream and they knew life would only be harder if they went back to Korea.

But it was Bobby who was sent back, right when he finished sixth grade and his brother graduated from high school with no college to go to. Without a degree, his income would still be higher than if he was the one who had gone back to Korea. In the meantime, Bobby had the chance to study in Korea and get into a good university. With a degree in Korea, he would have a better chance at life than his brother would ever have in the States.

Hayi understood the hard decision Bobby’s parents had to make for him. Bobby understood now too, but when he started middle school here in Korea, back then, he didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why his parents had to send him away and leave him alone in a place that was familiar in a way yet also so unfamiliar at the same time.

He knew the language but was mocked for his accent. He’d gotten better over time of course but names usually stick with you forever and they still stung whenever they were called out to him.

The food only tasted like the ones his mother used to cook back home and it only reminded him of them and how much he missed them and hated them at the same time.

He knew how to speak politely and how to bow to his elders but he didn’t understand how one becomes a chingu and how another becomes a hyung or a noona or a sunbae, especially when everyone else was a year older than they actually were.

He would be in school from morning until the afternoon, and then be with a tutor during the evening. During Saturdays, he would be free to play basketball with some chingus in the morning but afternoon was another session with a different tutor. Sundays were dedicated to church service.

It was a time when Bobby turned to music in solitude. He enjoyed being able to go along to the raps that he could relate to, that spoke of his emotions, of feeling like an outsider to a place that was supposed to be his home. They were angry words and they toughened him up. They were what taught him how to deal with this world he had to face. And how did he deal with it?

By the time he came to Seungri High, he’d already tried his hand at composing his own raps and recording them himself. His idols were the underground stuff, not the bubblegum pop trash that usually came out of the radio and everyone else liked so much. But there in Seungri High, he met Hanbin who was the very opposite of everything he was.

He came from a rich family. His parents showered him with the kind of love Bobby could only wish for from his own. And most of all, he almost became one of the things that Bobby despised the most: a K-Pop idol.

But in more ways, they were actually similar to each other. Rap music was the only thing Hanbin could turn to, even though his parents tried to get him as far away from it as possible. It was where he was able let out his frustrations, through making and rapping his own songs.

When Bobby learned that Hanbin was also a rapper, he immediately stepped up to challenge him with a diss song uploaded through the Internet and shared through Social Networking Sites that was fast becoming popular that time.

Of course Hanbin had to accept the challenge. Nothing could make or break a rapper other than a rap battle. The students enjoyed being witnesses to this exchange of insults and cockiness.

Until Hanbin had to make a direct insult to Bobby’s mom that everything suddenly became physical.

Bobby had been so angry that he challenged Hanbin to come out to him and fight, or else he won’t be able to know what hit him when he leaves after school.

Hanbin wasn’t one to back down and readily faced him for a fight. They met at the rooftop of the school and were staring each other down, getting ready to take the first hit over the other.

But their class president, Lee Hojung, got there in time to stop them with Jinhwan—yes, the Kim Jinhwan that became a part of Bbooral Chinggus---following behind her. Jinhwan was Hojung’s closest oppa; they’d known each other since kindergarten. Hojung told Bobby and Hanbin that she’d get the two expelled from their school if they didn’t get over their stupidity. Why didn’t they just make great music together rather than do idiotic things like insult each other through their raps?

Nobody ever knew about what happened that day on that rooftop, except Bobby, Hanbin, Jinhwan and Hojung of course. All the students were surprised when the next day Bobby and Hanbin showed up to class without any signs of bruises or cuts and started acting more civil towards each other. The diss battles also stopped but that’s also when the rumors started, the most ridiculous of which that they were actually in love each other and had kissed and made up on the rooftop.

Jinhwan of course simply told his friends that their class president managed to stop them in time, but of course it blew up into that rumor of a girl they both liked being involved in their fight.

What happened after was that Bobby and Hanbin really did start making music together. Hojung turned out to have a great singing voice and all three of them would usually perform on festivals that nobody in their school went to. Hojung told them about how Jinhwan could also sing and was also a great dancer. Hanbin, who of course had learned dancing when he was training to become an idol, wanted to try out making choreography with Jinhwan. Bobby eventually started to like dancing too and that was how Bbooral Chinggus began.

“The real secret though,” Jinhwan said to them, “is that Bobby dated Hojung.”

“And Jinhwan-hyung had been jealous,” Bobby immediately countered.

Jinhwan just lowered his face with a smile on his lips, not denying the fact.

“You were jealous?” Junhwe asked him surprised.

“Well yeah, we’ve always been really close for as long as we’ve known each other,” Jinhwan said, running a hand through the piece of his hair that ran down his forehead. “I accepted it of course, but I didn’t realize that I really liked her until she was crying to me because of Bobby. It was the first time I really felt hate towards him at that time.”

“Hoho! Does our love triangle ring a bell to you?” Bobby teased Junhwe. Of course he just got a glare in return.

“Why did you stop dating?” Donghyuk asked Bobby, the corners of his lips turned down and his lower lip jutting out into a pout.

“It’s just what happens when you fall in love, you’ll know the feeling when you do,” Bobby answered, acting like some sort of expert on love. “Wait, have you had a girlfriend?”

“Actually yes,” Donghyuk answered shyly, his tongue slipping out between his teeth.

“What?” Bobby was flabbergasted.

“It was back in middle school,” Donghyuk admitted.

“Well technically you just started high school so you shouldn’t be saying back in middle school…” Hanbin corrected him.

“Ah you know what I mean.”

“Have you had a girlfriend?” Bobby pointed at Junwhe accusingly.

“No,” Junhwe frowned.

“What is this?” Bobby grabbed at his hair again. “I think I would have believe it more if Junhwe had said yes and Donghyuk no. You look so innocent!” He cried out, referring to Donghyuk.

“What do I look like, hyung?” Junhwe asked him, his frown deepening.

“You look,” Bobby searched for the word. “You look so alpha male!”

Junhwe was probably going to ask him what he meant by that but Yunhyeong interrupted him.

“Hey, how come you also think I haven’t dated before?!”

“No offense, hyung,” Bobby said sheepishly. “You’re goodlooking, but you’re kinda soft.”

“What soft?! Do you want me to show you my biceps?!” Yunhyeong stood up and started to flex his arms.

“Somebody stop him, please,” Hayi said, covering her eyes and laughing.

“Why?” Bobby asked her. “Are you shy? But you’ve seen me without my shirt on!”

Hayi blushed at that.

“I have abs too, just so you know,” Donghyuk also stood up, in the act of lifting up his shirt to show his six-packs. “So you won’t think I’m so innocent,  Bobby-hyung.”

“Ah stop that, Donghyuk-ah,” Jinhwan waved at him.

“So in short,” Hanbin started. “The only ones who hasn’t had any dating experience are me, Jinhwan-hyung and Junhwe.”

“Wait, you haven’t dated yet, hyung?” Donghyuk asked Jinhwan in surprise.

“Yeah,” Jinhwan admitted.

“He’s still hung up on Lee Hojung,” Bobby said, earning a punch on the arm.

“Really? What about you?” Donghyuk asked him.

“I don’t know actually,” Bobby answered. “She was still my first girlfriend after all.”

“Still dating here, if anyone wanted to know,” Yunhyeong inserted, raising his arm.

“No one wants to know, hyung,” Bobby told him. Yunhyeong made a gesture of hitting him.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend, Hayi?” Jinhwan asked.

Hayi looked at him, her eyes wide. “What, me? No…” She turned red again.

“So there’s four of us here who haven’t dated.” Jinhwan stated, shrugging his shoulders.

“Don’t you guys want to know who I’m dating?”

“Why do I feel like the answer’s going to end up into like the punchline of a joke?” Bobby asked them, trying to ignore Yunhyeong.

“Does anyone else have secrets that we shouldn’t be keeping from each other?” Jinhwan said loudly.

“Junhwe’s secret is one.” Bobby just wouldn’t stop.

“I told you---“

“I have one,” Donghyuk said, interrupting Junhwe. “This isn’t something you get to say outright when you first meet people…” he started.

Junhwe glanced at him, his face softer, less hardened than it usually was. This made Hayi wonder what secret Donghyuk was about the reveal.

“But this is something you’ll have to know sooner or later,” Donghyuk continued.  “When I was a child, eight years old, my father passed away from a car accident. Drunk driver…”

Hayi felt like a knife was pierced through her heart.

“I didn’t know that. I’m sorry,” Bobby said, looking towards Hanbin and Jinhwan, who both nodded, Yunhyeong following along. Everyone had turned serious.

Hayi looked towards Donghyuk sympathetically.

“Oh, only my classmates know,” Donghyuk said cheerfully while Junhwe nodded this time.  “Of course, they’re the first people I got to know here. Then I got to know you guys.”

“Is your mom doing okay? Do you have like an older brother?” Bobby empathized with him.

“My mom is great,” Donghyuk smile was so genuine that it warmed Hayi’s heart. “She’s amazing to have taken care of me and my younger sister all these years. I just hope to be able to give back to her once I graduate from uni and get a stable job.”

“You’re already on your way there, Donghyuk” Hanbin told him, head tilted to one side, one corner of his mouth lifted up into a smile. “Being class president and everything. Weren’t you top of your class back in middle school? I’m sure your mom is so proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Donghyuk appreciated the sincere words from the group’s leader.

“Okay, since you don’t want to know about my love life, I’ll tell you another secret of mine.” Everybody turned their attention to Yunhyeong. "I can't sleep without my stuffed elephant with me," he confessed.

"Pfft," Hanbin and Bobby both immediately covered their mouths while the rest tried to hold back their smiles.

"You think that's funny?" Yunhyeong mimed hitting the two on the head.

"No," Hanbin said, unable to control his laughter any longer. "It's cause I know someone else who's exactly like that."

"Who?" Junhwe asked curiously.

"Somebody else here has a stuffed elephant too?" Yunhyeong asked.

Hanbin came behind Bobby and pointed at him. "Bobby owns an anorexic stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear ha ha ha."

Bobby turned around and tackled Hanbin. 

"Arghhh, get off me!"

"Wait, anorexic Pooh bear what?" Donghyuk asked.

"Pooh just got so squished because I loved laying my head on him to sleep when I was a kid!" Bobby exclaimed in the middle of holding Hanbin in place in a death grip, standing behind him and keeping his two arms behind his back while Hanbin struggled to get free.

"And you still have this stuffed bear with you?" Junhwe also asked.

"Pooh is my most prized possession!" Bobby said in defense. "I'd rather lose all of the money in the world than lose my Pooh bear!"

After hearing Bobby's story, Hayi didn't have the heart to laugh at him because of this revealed fact. The Winnie the Pooh must be his most treasured remembrance of his childhood living in the States with his family. 

"By the way, Hayi hasn't told us her secret yet!" Bobby pointed to her, finally releasing Hanbin in the process.

"My secret?" She stared back at them, wide-eyed. "I don't have a secret."

"Eyyy, that's unfair." Bobby shook his head. "You've heard all our secrets so we should hear yours too."

"You're totally changing the topic from you to her." Hanbin slapped him on the shoulder.

"Am not!"

"I've already told you about how I could sing," Hayi said out loud.

"Whaat? That's the same as learning about Donghyuk playing the piano and also being able to dance, Yunhyeong wanting to be an actor and also be able to sing and dance. Which reminds me..." Bobby trailed off, thumb and index finger rubbing on his chin. "Junhwe, you're training at JYP... Are you getting trained to become a singer or a rapper?"

Junhwe answered with "I've tried rapping but they decided to put me in the vocals category."

"Really? You tried rapping??" Bobby's eyes got as big as it could get. "Can you try rapping now? Just for once?"

"I don't want to," Junhwe answered, two lines forming between his eyebrows and with a hint of a pout on his lips.

"Just once! A short one..."

"Aishhh, quit it, Bobby-hyung." Junhwe moved as if making a run for the door.

"I won't ask you about Lalice again, I promise!" Bobby ran after him as he finally made a beeline out the door, leaving the rest of them laughing hysterically.

"Anyone wanted to hear him sing though?" Jinhwan asked between chuckles.

"I've heard him sing," Hayi said with a smile. "Yesterday, when we met each other at vocal class. He sounds pretty good."

"Should we start putting together a singing performance now too?" Hanbin asked them as they laughed. "I mean, Bobby and I rap. Jinhwan-hyung, Yunhyeong-hyung, Junhwe sing. Maybe you can try it too, Donghyuk."

"You can also write the song," Donghyuk told him.

Everybody was in high spirits when they finally started dance practice that day. Even though it started with a little tension between Bobby and Junhwe, they all ended up learning a little more about each other that always helped in strengthening their teamwork as they practiced their choreography.

Hayi was also happy that she didn't have to share a secret of hers to them. Not that she had any secrets to keep in the first place.

Disclaimer: Lee Hojung was inspired from the real-life Korean model herself. She can be seen on the music video for K.Will's You Don't Know Love with EXO's Chanyeol. She is also actually the same age as Junhwe and Donghyuk but I made Lee Hojung here the same age as Hayi.