The next morning, I was awoken by the sun. I had forgotten to shut my blinds when I had come home the night before. I silently cursed myself and pulled the pillow from under my head over my face, letting out a long, whining sound.

At least it was still summer break. I nuzzled my nose deeply into my pillow, before pushing it to the side and swinging my legs out of my bed, walking over to the window. The weather was already gorgeous, and as I thought about the date I had at 3,

I started running in place and threw my hands in the air. I was excited!

I hopped down the stairs and burst into the dining room, surprising Junmyeon, who was sitting at the table. When he saw me, he stopped in the movement, his mouth gaping open and the plain toast hanging in the air.

“Good morning!” I beamed and plopped down opposite of him.

He lowered the hand he held the slice of bread in and closed his mouth.

“What is it with you and being up so early lately?” he asked, his tone sounding suspicious. “Normally, nobody can get you out of your room before 12 when you're not in school.”

I shrugged and snagged the toast from his grip and shove it in my mouth.

“Maybe I want to spend some quality time with my brother since he's not home all the time?” I said, provoking him by raising one eyebrow.

“Speaking of not being at home” he started, straightening up and taking a sip from the mug in front of him. “I didn't hear you come home.”

“Well you know....” I started, quickly thinking of a way to explain my being late. “Hye and her boyfriend broke up again and she was crying a lot and-”

“Still don't want to hear about your friend's love life” he cut me off and I snorted.

“Then don't ask.”

I nibbled on my brother's breakfast and we sat in silence for a while. While he was reading his newspaper, I had some time to watch him closer.

All the seriousness from when he had dragged me home from the party was gone. He usually wasn't someone to be overly excited anyway, but that night- something had definitely been off. Today, though, he seemed as happy as he could be.

“Oppa, when we left the masquerade the other day, what was wrong with you?” I asked him, tilting my head to the side a little. He looked up, clearly thrown off by my sudden change of subject.

Before answering, he let out an unamused laugh.

“Remembered that, huh?” I tapped my temple with my index finger and eyed him.

“I'm an elephant. I don't forget.”

He sighed, folded the newspaper and put it away.

“It was nothing, really. I just got into an argument with Chanyeol about sports and-” He stopped talking when he saw my face.

“You do realize you're a really bad liar, hm? You and sports? You only care about your business. So, what was it really?”

Junmyeon started chewing on his lip and avoided eye contact. And – was he blushing?

“Kim Junmyeon! What are you hiding from me?” I said, a smirk forming on my lips.

“Nothing...” he mumbled. <