chapter 2

"Who are you?"

"Do Hyunwoo."

"Eh? Are you a new guy too?"

"Yup. Can I come in?" the lanky boy gestured at all the boxes outside.

"Oh, yeah sure. I'll help you with that." Junghwa took three boxes and put them away neatly in a corner as Hyunwoo made his way in and plopped on the bed beside Junghwa's.

Hyunwoo and Junghwa opened up the boxes with their names on it to find their personal belongings that they had brought along with them. Junghwa watched Hyunwoo as he opened his box and pull out a small container of sweets and a bigger container with slices of cake in it.

"You want some?" Hyunwoo asked Junghwa cheerfully as he popped a sweet into his mouth.

"Sure." 

Gummy bears? How old is he?

Throwing some gummy bears into his mouth, Hyunwoo looked at Junghwa, "I never actually got your name, you know."

"Oh, right." Junghwa turned around to face Hyunwoo. "I'm Kim Junghwa, and I'm turning 20 in two months." Junghwa stuck his hand out for a handshake as he threw in another two gummy bears.

"Oh! So you're my hyung," Hyunwoo grinned. "I'm currently 18," he said as he shook Junghwa's hand. 

He's.. 18?! He looks 16 to me.

As the two males sorted out the other boxes, there was another knock on the door and some giggles. Hyunwoo looked at Junghwa curiously as he nudged his elder to open the door. Junghwa sighed as he got up and opened the door to find two girls, both in brown hair in the maid uniform that he'd seen the females in the mansion wearing. 

"I'm just going to assume that both of you are the new maids, so come in."

The two girls hurried in and settled down opposite the two boys as they sat in silence.

"What are your names?" Hyunwoo asked curiously.

"I'm Kang Hyerin, and she's Kim Miyoung!" 

"More like, Kim You-young," Hyunwoo blurted out and started laughing at his own joke as Junghwa and Hyerin started chuckling as well, and Miyoung couldn't help but giggle at the stupid pun.

"Your stuff is over there, there's no rush to unpack because there's still two more of us that haven't arrived yet, so take your time." Junghwa pointed to the stack of boxes that lay beside Hyerin's bed. As the two girls started unpacking, the other two males were exploring around their new room, entering the bathrooms to inspect what was inside. 

"Even the toilet is huge!" Hyunwoo exclaimed. "Marble tiles, a shower and they even managed to fit a bathtub in here! The sink looks so clean, and even the toilet bowl looks great!" Junghwa was inspecting the bathtub. 

There's not a single speck of dust on this.. It looks like this room was made just for us.

"Eh? What's this? Tro... jan..? Trojan? Doo..rex? Durex?" Hyunwoo asked curiously as he lifted up a small, squarish packet with what looked like a rubber ring in the middle of the packet.

"Put that down!!" Junghwa shouted as he grabbed the packet from Hyunwoo's hand and opened the drawer to throw it back in, but to his horror when he opened the drawer, there were at least half a dozen more of the same packets in different colours.

"What the ?"

The shout brought much attention, and the two girls came rushing in. "What happened?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Junghwa yelled as he quickly shoved the packet back into the drawer. The girls looked at Junghwa suspiciously and left the toilet as Junghwa closed the door behind them.

"Hyung? What were those?"

Junghwa looked at Hyunwoo incredulously, as if he's asking what was an apple.

"Do you really not know?" Junghwa ruffled through the back of his hair as Hyunwoo nodded sheepishly.

"Uh.. well.. you know when people have but they don't want kids?" Hyunwoo nodded. "Yeah -- us guys can wear this over our junior during so that the girls don't get pregnant," Junghwa explained awkwardly. "People usually refer to them as condoms," he added.

"Show me how to wear it, hyung?" Hyunwoo grinned as Junghwa turned bright red.

"No! Go away."

Outside, the two girls continued unpacking after leaving the toilet.

"Hey, Miyoung," Hyerin nudged the younger as Miyoung looked up.

"Do you think Junghwa is cute?"

"E-eh? Where did that come from?" Miyoung was taken aback by the question as she cocked her eyebrows.

"Just asking."

"He's okay.. I think."

"What about Hyunwoo?"

"Why are you asking me these kind of questions, unnie?" Miyoung blushed red as the elder laughed.

"I'm just wondering!"

"Well, Hyunwoo is more on the cute side, while Junghwa is more on the hot side. I mean, look at the tattoos on Junghwa's knuckles. I bet he has more on his body," Miyoung admitted sheepishly as Hyerin laughed again. "I think so too, unnie," Hyerin grinned.

Miyoung felt more at ease after the questions that Hyerin shot. Yes, she's rather wary and untrusting of new people, but Hyerin was different. Or rather, everyone here was different. 

After four years, it felt like she had a family again.