Sighing, Lucca leaned towards her desk. She rested her head against her hand as she finished the papers in front of her. The day had been running so slowly that she had no idea what time it even was anymore. Glancing up towards the clock on the wall of her office, she saw that it was actually 7:30. Eyes widened, she let out a loud groan. Did I really just completely miss them closing the office down…? She wondered, rubbing her eyes.

A soft knock on the door made her look up. “Are you still here?”

Looking up, Lucca blinked slightly. “Ah, Ajusshi, I lost track of time….”

“So I see….” He looked at the work that was on Lucca’s desk, and shook his head slightly. “Go home, you didn’t eat much for lunch because of the patients today.” He jerked his thumb towards the door.

“I’m fine.” Lucca waved her hand at him. “Raelyn is making me dinner tonight.” She laughed slightly, a smile passing over her face.

“Oh, you’re not going out with your little boyfriend tonight?”

Lucca huffed, frowning at her boss slightly. Her eyes narrowed at him, her face turning slightly red.

“Come on, there’s no reason to be embarrassed about it.” He laughed a little, leaning against the door. “There’s nothing wrong with being in a relationship.”

Lucca shook her head slightly, looking away from him and pushing all of her papers together. She stood up once they were all in a neat pile and turned around to grab her purse. As she walked towards the door, she smiled a little up at her boss. “I’m going home, I’ll see you in the morning.” She waved at him slightly, squeezing past him.

“Okay, goodnight Lucca. Be safe getting home.”

“I will.” Lucca waved at him again, making her way out of the building.

Outside, Lucca let out a breath. She hadn’t necessarily thought about JaeHwan as he boyfriend, but realized that it was definitely how it seemed. Shaking her head, she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and pushed her glasses up gently. Walking down the sidewalk towards the road, Lucca nearly missed the person that was running up to catch up to her.

Turning just slightly, she saw Hyuk slowing down so that he wouldn’t run right into her, a smile passing over his face. “Noona! I was scared I was going to miss you….”

“Hyukkie…. What are you doing here?” Lucca laughed a little, smiling as she looked at him.

“I just got out of study hall, and I wanted to go and eat with you tonight!” Hyuk smiled broadly, tipping his head cutely.

Lucca smiled, but then laughed a little awkwardly when she thought about dinner. “Oh…. Raelyn was going to be making dinner tonight…. But you can come to the house and eat with us~! I’ll take you home afterwards.”

“Oh….” Lucca could see that there was something that processed through Hyuk’s head, but she had no idea what it was. “Okay, we can do that…” he nodded slightly, his eyes flicking from Lucca towards the street and then back towards her again.

“Are you sure…?” Lucca tipped her head, looking at him. She could hear the slight unease in his voice, and it worried her.

His smile brightened up his face, his eyes meeting hers. “I’m sure. Come on then~….”

Opening the front door, Lucca smiled back at Hyuk. “Welcome to my home~” she waved her hand to let Hyuk into the living room.

Hyuk’s eyes widened as he looked around the house. Living in the little apartment he did, the house was enormous to him. “Oh my god….” He gasped slightly, his eyes bugging out of his head as he kicked his shoes off. “This…. This is your house?” He asked in surprise and amazement.

“Yeah….” Lucca shrugged a little, smiling slightly. “Moose?!” She called out, clapping her hands together.

“Moose?” Hyuk looked at Lucca, his eyebrows scrunching as he tried to figure out who she was calling to. A loud bark made Hyuk jump. He looked up to find a giant dog rushing down the stairs, his paws thundering on the steps. “Oh my God!” He yelped, running in the opposite direction and away from the dog.

Lucca, however, held her arms out to the dog. The huge beast of an animal jumped up, his paws landing on Lucca’s shoulders as he stood up on his hind legs. Lucca wrapped her arms around the dog, scratching his back as she laughed at him trying to her face. “Yah, Moose! No !” She laughed, pushing the dog off of her shoulders. Looking, she saw that Hyuk was pulled away and into the living room, his eyes wide as he looked at the huge animal. “This is my pet~ his name is Moose, but you really don’t need to be scared of him, he’s a good boy.” Lucca scratched the dog’s head, his huge tail thumping against the wall beside him.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a dog that big…..” Hyuk blinked in surprise, slowly moving towards the animal.

“Well, there’s a first for everything.” Lucca laughed a little patting Moose’s head before she started walking towards the hallway that was beside the staircase. “Raelyn??” She called out, looking towards the kitchen as well. Receiving no response, Lucca looked back at Hyuk. “I guess she’s not here yet….” She gestured towards the kitchen. “Want to find something to snack on until she gets here? And HakYeonnie isn’t going to wonder where you are, right?”

“No, don’t worry about it.” Hyuk waved his hand, smiling just barely. He looked down to find that Moose was now sitting in front of him, his big tail starting to swish back and forth just from the eye contact. “He’s actually kind of cute…. JaeHwan-Hyung is going to freak out when he sees him though….”

This statement made both of them laugh, but it also made Hyuk start thinking about everything all over again. “He’s met…Moose, was it? Already, hasn’t he?”

“I would assume so.” Lucca shrugged, laughing slightly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hyuk laughed a little, leaning down and patting Moose’s head.

Lucca shrugged, turning and starting towards the kitchen. “He was in the house when I met him, so I assume he met my dog.”

“Really…?” Hyuk’s mind was instantly sent reeling without Lucca realizing it. “You know, you’ve never actually told me, how did you guys meet?”

“You sound like a curious little kid.” Lucca teased, smiling back at Hyuk.

“Yah, I’m your best friend, I should be able to ask.” He crossed his arms, pouting at her slightly.

“I guess so.” Lucca laughed. “It’s not like it was some spectacular story. I had to work all day and night on New Years, so Raelyn went out drinking by herself, and then the next day I came home in the morning and he was here. Apparently they’re friends from before, but I never met him because he moved away in like seventh grade or something.”

“He moved away?” Hyuk’s eyebrows raised, his eyes widening a little.

“Yeah, in like seventh grade.”

“Why didn’t you meet him them?” Hyuk asked, tipping his head. He was trying so hard to get Lucca to see that there was something wrong, but it seemed like it was going over her head as she shrugged slightly.

“Raelyn and I weren’t exactly close when we were younger.” Lucca looked at Hyuk before holding up an orange. “Do you want one?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you for coming and having dinner with us, Hyukkie.” Lucca smiled as she pulled into the parking spot so he could go home.

Hyuk smiled at her. “Thanks for inviting me to your home cooked meal. It was really good!” Even though he was trying to be cheerful, Hyuk couldn’t help but feel that painful pit in his stomach.

“Do you want me to go up with you in case HakYeonnie’s freaking out?” Lucca asked as she glanced at the time. “It is kind of late.”

Hyuk instantly looked at the time. Seeing that it was 10:47 at night, he shook his head. “Oh, no.” He felt that pit in his stomach grow a little as he thought about the fact that JaeHwan was probably in the living room drunk again. Even though he wanted Lucca to know about everything, he didn’t want to expose that to her yet. “I’ll be alright. Thank you Noona~!” He smiled at her, quickly scrambling to get out of the car. Bowing and then waving, he shut the door.

Just so he didn’t let on to the fact that something was bothering him, Hyuk turned and made a playful heart out of his arms at Lucca. She visibly laughed, making a little heart with her hands to return to him. Smiling, Hyuk turned and adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. Running up the stairs, he glanced back to notice that Lucca was still sitting there. He realized she probably was not going to leave until he got inside, which was fine with him.

Getting to the door, he punched in the code and pushed it open. The door swung open, and Hyuk was almost surprised that there wasn’t anyone waiting to greet him. HakYeon knew that he had been with Lucca, so he probably hadn’t been too worried. HongBin was probably asleep, and Leo was probably locked away in  his bedroom again. No one had seen Ravi for a little over week, so Hyuk wasn’t really counting on him being there.

He was, however, met by the tell-tale signs that JaeHwan had been drinking again.

There was a glass tipped over on the table, a soju bottle sitting open and mostly empty beside it, and then there was JaeHwan, passed out on the couch. He was laying there with one arm thrown out and hanging off the couch, and his other was resting over his abdomen. He still had the clothes he wore to work on, the button up shirt popped open partially down his chest.

Hyuk sighed, shaking his head a little. “What kind of man are you…?” He walked over after dropping his backpack off by the door to his bedroom. Hitting JaeHwan’s arm, he stirred him so that he was at least somewhat conscious. “Come on, you shouldn’t sleep out here.”

“Leave me alone….” JaeHwan grumbled, turning towards the back of the couch.

“Yah, Hyung.” Hyuk hit him again. “You need to stop this….” He pulled on JaeHwan’s arm, tugging him away from the couch.

“Leave me alone, SangHyuk.” JaeHwan growled, his tone becoming a little more hostile.

Grunting, Hyuk glared at the elder. “What, are you hiding this from Lucca too? The fact that you’re a little drunk?” Shaking his head, Hyuk turned and snatched the soju bottle off of the table. He picked up the glass and headed towards the kitchen. Dropping both things off in their respective places, he headed back out to the living room.

Going back over to the couch, Hyuk pulled on JaeHwan’s arm again. “Come on, you can’t sleep in the living room. You’re in your work clothes.”

JaeHwan groaned again, trying to pull his arm away from Hyuk. Instead, Hyuk gave a harsh tug and pulled the elder up slightly. “Come on, JaeHwan-Hyung.” He wrapped the arm in his grasp over his shoulder, forcing the elder to stand up.

“Why can’t you just leave me to sleep…?” JaeHwan complained, resting more on the younger boy now that they were standing up.

Hyuk could only cringe at the stench of alcohol on the elder’s breath. “Could you imagine for a second what Lucca would have done if she had come up with me?” Hyuk sighed, shaking his head. “Stop lying to her, Hyung…. She really cares about you, whether she says it or not.”

JaeHwan scoffed, shaking his head. “I’m not lying to her….”

“It certainly seems like you’re hiding plenty from her.” Hyuk walked the stumbling elder down the hallway. Pushing open JaeHwan’s bedroom door, Hyuk forced him into his bedroom.

“I already planned on telling her everything.” JaeHwan waved Hyuk off as he planted himself into the bed.

“When?”

“Soon.” JaeHwan waved his hand. “Leave me alone…”

“Before, or after she finds out on her own…?” Hyuk shook his head a little. When he got no response and instead a little snore, Hyuk huffed. Shaking his head again, he turned away and headed out of the bedroom.