“Cherry!”

“Eggs!”

“Cherry!”

“Eggs!”

The alternating voices chanting from the main rooms of the apartment slowly wake Jong Kook. He blinks his eyes groggily. They feel sandy, a result of getting no more than an hour or two of sleep. After standing over Charity silently for longer than was even at the edge of the realm of normal, he’d slid into bed beside her. At first, he laid awake with his mind racing at his earlier realization, but came to terms with that more quickly than he understood. After that, he just couldn’t fall asleep, certain she’d get up and leave sometime in the night.

He did eventually drift off, though, at least enough to be so rudely awakened now. He moves to reach for his phone to check for the time.

“Oh?,” he says, finding the movement blocked. To his surprise, Charity is still curled up against his side. She had moved around a lot through the night, clearly a restless sleeper, but had settled up against him sometime around dawn. He assumes he fell asleep shortly after that.

She starts to stir as the demand for eggs grows louder and more insistent, and he reflexively tightens his arm around her, pulling her close. He turns from his back to his side so they’re face to face, and tucks her head into his chest.

“Mmph,” he hears from under his chin, and he grips her more firmly.

“Five more minutes,” he says sleepily, allowing his eyes to fall shut again.

“Mmph!,” more insistent this time, and he wraps his arms around her head.

“Shh,” he tells her.

She wrestles her head loose and he braces himself. They stare at each other for a moment, nose to nose.

“The boys want eggs.”

He blinks at her, taken aback, then gathers himself and wraps his arms around her head again.

“They’re adults. Let them get their own eggs.”

She pops out again. “Hey! My Joongki and Kwang Soo want eggs!” She wriggles and worms herself down the bed, out of the loop of his arms. “I’m going to make them eggs.” She stands and grabs her jeans from the floor where he’d tossed them the previous night before crawling into bed himself. Pulling them on, she says, “You want eggs? I know you love my… eggs.” She gives him an over exaggerated wink and he laughs, flopping onto his back on the bed.

“What’s with you this morning?,” he can’t help asking.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re here, for one thing.”

“I live here.”

“You don’t stay over.”

“This is my house, I’m staying over regardless, remember?”

“You know what I mean.”

She sighs and ties up her hair with a ponytail holder from around her wrist. “Don’t try to make everything into a thing, Kim Jong Kook-ssi. Quit thinking so much.”

“I thought we agreed on oppa.” He mimics her tone from their chat after the club. She snatches a pillow from the floor and whips it at his head.

“That’ll be the day,” she snorts.

“Seriously, though,” he starts, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Just a little longer, right?,” she interrupts.

“What?”

“One more day. You’re doing this tomorrow. Just one more day.” She looks at him pointedly, then turns and pulls his bedroom door open. He can hear Joongki exclaim as she exits his room instead of coming down the stairs, and she shuts the door behind her.

He flops back to the bed, turning over what she just said. One more day? Realization slowly dawns on him with a combination of glee and dread. One more day to spend with Charity, then tomorrow, the rest of his life.

Her head suddenly pops back around the doorframe.

“Get up! Eggs!”

When Jong Kook exits his room 15 minutes later, Kwang Soo and Joongki are seated at the island counter in the kitchen, and Charity is in her usual place near the stove, cooking. Both men turn their heads as Jong Kook approaches, and chorus, “Morning, hyung.”

“Good morning,” he replies, rounding the counter to stand near Charity. She looks up at him.

“Hungry?,” she asks.

He nods, watching her cook. He scoots a bit closer, leaning his hip against hers. Joongki narrows his eyes at the two of them.

“So,” Joongki says. “This is happening?”

“What?,” Charity asks, looking over her shoulder at him.

Joonki points back and forth between her and Jong Kook. “This. This is happening?”

“No,” Charity says, turning back to the stove, just as Jong Kook slides his arm around her waist.

“Yes,” he speaks over her. She gives him an incredulous look. He pulls her closer and leans down to touch his forehead to hers. “You said one more day.”

“Yeah, I meant like, we’d have one more time.”

Joongki sputters on his orange juice. “One more time?,” he exclaims, wiping his chin with his hand. Kwang Soo sighs and drops his head to the counter. “One more time, as in, it’s happened before?”

Charity shrugs and Jong Kook blushes, though he doesn’t look away from Joongki. Joongki stares right back, eyebrows almost to his hairline.

“I guess it has been too long since I’ve been by, huh.”

Charity points her spatula at him and nods. “Get out some plates, you faithless jerk. Where have you been that you can’t even stop by to see me once in awhile, huh?”

“I don’t really know if I’m ready to change the subject just yet,” he says grudgingly, heading to a cabinet to grab four plates. As he passes Kwang Soo, he leans down and whispers loudly, “Who is corrupting who here?”

Kwang Soo just groans into his folded arms.

In a couple of minutes, the two younger men are on their stools, digging into their reakfasts, while Jong Kook and Charity lean back against the counter with their own plates. Jong Kook finishes his quickly and sets his plate in the sink. He grabs Charity gently by the shoulders and moves her away from the counter, sliding himself into her place and leaning her back against him. Kwang Soo and Joongki watch with interest.

“So this is happening,” Kwang Soo says resignedly.

“No,” Charity says, but Jong Kook speaks over her again.

“Yes.” He wraps his arms around her waist and rests his chin on her shoulder. He can feel her sigh.

“This is not what I meant by one more day.”

“You didn’t clarify.”

“I’m clarifying now!”

“It’s too late to change the terms of the deal. This is how I want to spend my one more day.”

Joongki raises a hand as if waiting to be called on. Jong Kook nods at him magnanimously.

“I have no idea what’s going on here,” he says, “and I’m not really sure I want to know what my noona and my hyung have been up to.” He gives a mock shudder. “But I also only have one free day, and I was thinking we could maybe go play soccer?”

Kwang Soo agrees around a mouthful of eggs. “It’s a nice day.”

Jong Kook nods. “Yes, let’s. Charity, you’ll come watch, right?”

“I don’t really --”

“It’s my one more day!,” he whines, rocking her back and forth with his arms around her waist, cajoling.

Despite herself, she laughs softly.

“Fine, I’ll watch you boys play soccer. I’ve got to get a shower and do a couple of things here first, though. Why don’t you get yourselves together and go before it gets too hot, and text me directions?”

The four agree on their plans for the day and Charity heads upstairs. The three men remain in the kitchen.

As soon as they hear the bedroom door close, Joongki and Kwang Soo spin on their stools to stare at Jong Kook.

“I like her,” he says simply with a shrug.

Kwang Soo’s mouth drops in an O and Joongki just smiles.

“That’s good, hyung. She’s a nice person. Does sh