Chapter 25

"Ravi! Can you get up already?" Hongbin shouted. He had his hands on his waist and he waited for his lazy brother to wake up. "If you don't wake up, I'll show eomma your collection!" He threatened. And with that, Wonsik was quick to rise from the pile of blankets. He moaned as he did and he also complained about how annoying Hongbin was for always forcing him to wake up earlier than he intends. "You need to hurry up and get going! I'm meeting up with Hyukkie this morning so you better –"

"Is that it?" Wonsik scoffed and threw a pillow over to his brother's direction. Hongbin easily dodged, however, much to Wonsik's dismay. "Is that why you're waking me up? You wanna see your nerdy boyfriend? God, Bin, you don't need to drag me with you to see him! Grow up!" Hongbin picked up the pillow that his brother threw and tried to hit him back with it. And since Wonsik was still rubbing his eyes, he did not manage to move away. He groaned and allowed his body to fall back on his bed. "You two are still young... will always be young and I think that I'll grow old alone because of you two... I wanna get a girlfriend..."

"Just find that person at the end of your string already!" Hongbin cried, continually hitting the latter. "If you want to get one so bad then get one!"

"Easy for you to say. You've got all the girls flocking around you. And I don't want to hear you say that. I already..." His brother suddenly stopped talking. Wonsik did not continue what he was saying and started a whole new subject altogether – "I'm not going to school today. I wanna visit Leo-hyung to see how's he doing. Ever since that... Anyway... I think that you and your nerdy boyfriend should stop hunting down N-hyung. I mean, Leo-hyung gave up on him already..." Wonsik stood up from his bed.

"Who says that we're looking for him because of Leo-hyung? Hyuk and I wanted to see him so I can apologise properly and brag about my achievements," Hongbin explained.

"Such a petty reason," Wonsik snorted, "You are still young, aren't you, Hongbinnie? Let's face it. For someone who was abused during his childhood, wherever he is now, he is happier there. Why would he want to come back? To suffer more? I heard too that you weren't exactly nice to him so it's only understandable, right? Who even wants to hear someone who was mean to them brag?" He pulled the bathroom door open and grabbed his towel. "I'm gonna shower," Wonsik told his brother prior to shutting himself inside their shared bathroom.

"Petty reason?" Hongbin grumbled. "You are petty..." He tried to forget whatever it was that Wonsik told him and just combed his hair. After all, he did not want Sanghyuk to think badly of him.

It was another day for Jung Taekwoon. It had been years since he last saw his so-called 'lifelong friend' that he lost count of how long it had been. He stopped searching for N altogether when he figured that his efforts were futile – at least, that was to the knowledge of others. Ever since his lifelong friend disappeared, Lee Jaehwan replaced N's spot anyway. Jaehwan would always visit Leo and tell him the silliest things like, 'You should become a singer with me, hyung!' or 'Why don't you come with me? I will recommend you to my CEO and I'm sure that he will consider you!' All of which Leo ignored and disregarded because he would rather work his way up on his own (which he was already taking care of). It was but a mere dream that he had when he was young. Now that he was in university, he figured out that the world was not as small and easy as he initially thought; there were loads of obstacles on becoming a singer. So every time that Jaehwan would bother him, he would dismiss the latter's words and proceed on doing whatever he was already doing.

Leo reached out for his alarm clock that was on his bedside table with a groan. His favourite fur ball immediately climbed on his bed when she found that her owner was awake. Leo decided to name her 'Milk' because of her soft white fur. He initially intended that N would name her but since he was nowhere to be found following the day that he got her as a present, it all came down to Leo to name her especially since his mother was so persistent on having her named.

Milk pawed on her owner's face. It was something that she would always do whenever she would hear Leo's alarm go off. Leo was not really sure if she wants to wake him up or if she was just being 'friendly' as his mother called it. Milk was just a cute kitten back then and now, she was all grown up and had been shedding more hair than she did before. Leo did not mind either way since he had got nothing to do most of the time and vacuuming Milk's white fur would keep him busy.

Leo blinked his eyes open only to find Milk still pawing at his face. "Stop it..." He mumbled. "Stop it, Milk..." He picked up his cat and placed her on the carpeted floor to run off. Leo knew that she was expecting for her breakfast so he got up from bed to do just that.

Leo had gotten used to that kind of routine with Milk and whether he admits it out loud or not, she made him less hopeless and less miserable than he thought he would be. Maybe his mother was right, moving on was the best way since staying in the past did nothing good at all. That was why he stopped moping around. That was why he had forgotten how to say the name 'Cha Hakyeon' around anyone. Because just when Leo thought N would change, he lied again and Leo thought that he was stupid to believe him – to trust him. There was something about N's voice and his words – something that at the back of Leo's mind, he knew that what N said was farfetched. Running away together? Starting all over again? They were only high school students! Neither of them was even of the age to properly work. But he was convinced back then that they could make it, tha