“You’re not going to come in?” Soo Min asked as they were at the apartment building entrance.

“No, I should really go home… it’s not like I don’t want to see Jisoo and the others, it’s just…” Jeonghan shook his head, voice sounding tired.

“It’s okay, I get it.” She assured him, squeezing his hand that she was holding on the way there. “Go home and get some rest!” She gave him a sweet smile.

“Thanks.” He looked down at her. “Be sure to get some sleep, too.” He caressed her cheek. “Will you be coming over with breakfast again, tomorrow?”

“Sure, if you want me too!” She grinned.

“Of course… I always love seeing you before work.” He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her for a hug. “You always brighten my day.”

“So do you!” She hugged him tight.

“Just don’t jump on me again like you did this morning.” He chuckled, parting from the hug.

“I’m going to cannonball onto you! I’ll jump off of Mingyu’s shoulders!”

“Please don’t! That’s dangerous!” He pouted.

“I won’t, I’m afraid of heights anyway.” She assured him with a small laugh.

“Okay, then. I’ll see you in the morning.” He gave a soft smile.

“Yes! Look forward to it!” She beamed.

He leaned down and gave her a small kiss to her lips, a goodnight kiss. “Go in first.” He let go of her hand and gave her a small push towards the door.

“Okay… I love you!” She said with a blushing smile.

“I love you, too.” The smile on his face was huge. He was suddenly attacked with another tight hug by her.

“I don’t want you to go!” She whined.

“I don’t either.” He sighed, holding her tight… he didn’t think it’d be this hard to leave her, even though it wasn’t like this was the last time they’d see each other. They’ve been through a lot today, could you blame them?

“Stay over?!” She asked.

“No, I don’t think Jisoo would like that.” He laughed.

“Then take me home with you!”

“He still wouldn’t like that!” He continued to laugh.

“Gah, Leavanny just getting in the way.” She pouted as they parted from their hug once again.

“We’ll see each other in the morning, be patient.” He smiled, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

“Okay.” She sighed with a smile of her own. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you more.”

“I know I already said it, but… I love you!” She gave him another hug.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing it, don’t worry.” He chuckled. “I love you, too, Soo Min.” Once the embrace lasted more than a minute, he had to pry her off of himself. “Please go inside and get some sleep! I’ll see you in the morning.” He kissed her forehead.

“Okay, okay! Get home safely! Goodnight!” She grinned. “Sleep tight, don’t let the Caterpies bite!”

“I will.” He nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll let them bite Junhui instead.” He then gave a thumbs up making her laugh. The poor ahjumma!

With that, they finally parted after Soo Min headed inside first like he told her too. She mentioned he should text her to let her know he got home okay or she’ll worry. He promised he would.

When she got up to Jisoo’s apartment, she could already hear voices inside and already could tell that Seungcheol and the others were over again.

“You’re home!” Chan jumped up from his seat, rushing over to her.

“You three are still here?” She asked, looking to Seungcheol and Soonyoung.

“They were worried, so they stayed.” Jisoo answered with a weak smile. “We still don’t know what’s going on…”

“Sorry if we worried you guys… but things are okay now.” She smiled. “There was some drama at the cafe… Jeonghan’s ex managed to find her way there. It was a coincidence, a bad coincidence.” She quietly explained. Remembering everything from earlier was little hard, as it brought those feelings of anger and sadness back up.

The room fell silent at her small explanation. She soon thought maybe she should have just said the same thing as Jeonghan, it’s a long story…

“It’s late! We should all get some sleep.” She forced a smile.

They all nodded in agreement, they weren’t going to question her figuring she must be tired from today.

“Rest up, Pikachu.” Seungcheol gave a warm smile while patting her on the back when passing her. Soonyoung just gave her a supportive smile while patting her on the shoulder as Chan attacked her with another tight hug.

“Bye guys, see you tomorrow.” Soo Min waved to them across the hall before shutting the front door.

“You okay?” Jisoo asked as Soo Min was getting into her bed.

“Yeah?” She replied, tying her long hair back into a low ponytail and looked his way, slightly confused.

“About earlier… what you said about Jeonghan’s ex, you seemed pretty bothered?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I know you’re curious but… everything will be explained soon.” She gave him a weak smile.

“Right, sorry.” Jisoo nodded, giving an apologetic look. He was just worried about her after all.

“It’s okay.” She assured him, getting ready to turn her night lamp off. “We’ll talk tomorrow. For now, we sleep.”

“Good night.” Jisoo said in a more happier tone. “Sleep tight, don’t let the…”

“Caterpies bite!” She beamed before frowning. “Jeonghan said he was going to let all the Caterpies bite Junhui tonight… I hope he’ll be okay. Poor Chansey!” Jisoo laughed at her concerned tone.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s Chansey after all.” He said before she turned the light off. They both fell asleep soon after.

“Good morning, noona!” Chan exclaimed at the front door. He tackled Soo Min in a tight hug as Seungcheol and Soonyoung entered the apartment after.

“Good morning, Channie.” She giggled, returning his hug before having to pry him off, he was just like a koala hugging his favorite tree.

“He was worried about you all night.” Seungcheol mentioned to her quietly as the other two greeted Jisoo.

“Ah…” she frowned, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. It’s what friends do.” He assured her with a small smile.

“Thanks.” She managed to give a smile back before they both headed towards the table where breakfast was being placed onto the table with the help of Minghao and Soonyoung.

Their breakfast was kind of short, Chan did a lot of talking with Hansol and Minghao while Jisoo, Seungcheol and Soonyoung quietly ate, worried at the not so talkative Pikachu at the table. She was usually the one making conversations when Chan was too busy talking to their younger friends… but not today.

After they were done eating, Soo Min packed up some food to take to Jeonghan’s place. At the mere thought of seeing her new boyfriend, her mood started to get better. She had to stop her grinning when she noticed Jisoo and Seungcheol looking at her strange.

“You sure look happy.” Jisoo commented with a small laugh.

“Could she possibly be thinking of our dear friend Jeonghan?” Seungcheol teased.

“Yes, you caught me.” She laughed, nodding. “I’m gonna go see him now.” She added, taking the packed food off the counter.

“Let me carry that.” Seungcheol stepped forward to take it from her. “I was thinking about seeing him too, so let’s go together?”

“Yah, he’s not yours anymore, remember?!” Soo Min joked.

“I know that! You don’t have to remind me!” He played hurt. “But really. I want to see him before work, so I’ll go with you.” He said in a somewhat more serious tone.

“I want to go!” Chan suddenly butted in.

“Ah, maybe another time, son. Mom and dad need to talk, alone.” Seungcheol shook his head at the boy who only pouted at his father’s(friend’s) answer.

“Finally going to situate that child support?” Soo Min couldn’t help it, the long awaited return of the family joking shenanigans.

“Maybe!” Seungcheol laughed along with the others. “So let’s get going?”

“Sure.” She nodded. “I’ll be back later, okay?” She waved to the others. “Have fun and play nice!” She patted Chan on the head.

After they said their goodbyes, they were off.

The first part of the walk was quiet until Seungcheol started off some small talk.

“I didn’t notice that pokéball ring on your finger before… is it new?” He asked, sounding very curious.

“Oh…” she quickly looked at the ring on her left ring finger. “Y-Yes… it’s new.” She stuttered out her reply, making her suspicious.

“Where did you get it?”

“Uh…”

“...”

“...”

“No way…” Seungcheol stopped walking, making her nervous. “No way?!” It finally became clear to him after thinking about it long enough. Pikachu… Jeonghan’s Pikachu… pokéball…

“Y-Yes way.” She blushed at his now joyful expression.

“Really?!” He asked, wanting to be sure.

“Yeah, but… I wasn’t sure when to tell you guys after what happened yesterday… it only happened because of that drama though… which makes it bittersweet.” She gave a weak smile.

“Wow, I’m just… really happy for you and him!” All he could do was smile.

He became close to Jeonghan while the guy was still dating Mi Young, so he knew how heart broken his friend was when she cheated on him and they broke up. When any of the relationships after wouldn’t work out, he became worried that maybe Jeonghan would never find happiness again, all because of that one girl. Jeonghan had stopped trying… but then Pikachu came along.

“Thanks.” Soo Min smiled, feeling less nervous at his supportive comment. “I’m glad.”

“This calls for a major celebration! Of course, when you two tell the others… I won’t ruin it.” He quickly assured her that he wouldn’t tell anyone yet.

“Lots of food and noraebang, huh?” She giggled.

“Yes! And you’re singing a solo this time! Serenade him!” He chuckled.

“I can’t! Not in front of everyone like that!” She squeaked, hiding behind her hands.

“You’re so shy when it comes to him!” He laughed. “It’s so cute!”

“You can knock it off.” She pouted as they finally made it to the apartment complex their friends were staying at.  “We’re here.”

“Releasing the Pikachu!” Mingyu yelled in a whisper as he opened Jeonghan and Junhui’s shared room door. Junhui was already up like always, so it was just Jeonghan who was still sleeping. Won Woo held in his chuckle along with Seungcheol as they watched Soo Min run into the room and jump onto her sleeping boyfriend. Everyone in the apartment became aware of the two’s relationship as once again… Jeonghan gossiped a little to Junhui before bed last night.

They could hear Jeonghan groan at the sudden weight on his back as he had been sleeping belly first this time.

“Time to wake up!” She cheered, lying on him while shaking him awake. She was being annoying. There was a faint muffled laugh from him.

“Are you my new alarm o’ clock?” He asked, waking up.

“Yes! And you better wake up before I zap you!” She threatened in a cute tone.

Suddenly he got up, causing her to roll off of him. He turned around and landed on top of her, giving her a hug. The cute squeal and giggling coming from the two would warm anyone’s hearts. They looked so happy together!

“Oh my god.” Seungcheol blurted out by accident, causing Jeonghan to quickly look at the door. Everyone at the door scrambled to get away, as if they were just caught spying besides Junhui who stood there giving a bitter look.

“It’s too early for this!” He complained before leaving back to the kitchen.

“Bitter Ahjumma strikes again.” Soo Min chuckled.

“I heard that!” Junhui shouted from the kitchen.

Jeonghan and his roommates ate the breakfast Soo Min brought in a timely manner. She along with Seungcheol kept them company at the table while they ate since the two had ate before coming there.

“I’ll go get ready then.” Jeonghan said once he was done with his food.

“Hey, can I talk to you while you’re getting ready?” Seungcheol asked.

“Why?” Jeonghan asked, holding himself with a frown, implying Seungcheol was a ert.

“Like I’m going to watch you get changed! I just wanted to talk!” Seungcheol pouted.

“I know, I was just kidding!” Jeonghan laughed. “Sure, we can talk.” He added, motioning for him to follow him to his shared room. They left Soo Min at the table with Junhui and the Meanie couple.

“My wingman finally scored herself a man. I don’t think we can be called wingmen anymore.” Won Woo pointed out with a small laugh.

“I suppose we can’t!” She giggled. “We’ll just have to go by Mr. Won and Pikachu, now.”

“Mr. Won, can I borrow some money?” Junhui joked.

“No~!”

“That really happened?!” Seungcheol tried to keep his voice down after Jeonghan summed up what happened yesterday at Pledis Cafe.

“Yeah.” Jeonghan nodded, a dejected look on his face. “I feel so stupid… I shouldn’t have left her alone like that…”

“It wasn’t like you knew she’d do that, though.” Seungcheol frowned, he hated to see his friend look so down.

“Still… I should have told her to leave or something. She shouldn’t have had to go through that drama.”

“But in the end, because of that drama… you two are together now, right? It brought something good out of it by the end of the day.”

“It did.” Jeonghan’s smile slowly returned to his face.

“I’m happy for you, Jeonghan.” Seungcheol said, resting his hand on his friend’s shoulder as they were seated next to each other on his bed when they started talking.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me, my dear ex husband.” Jeonghan joked with a small laugh.

“Yeah, I support you! My dear ex wife!” He said back. “Now where’s that child support you owe me for the past 16 years?!”

“16 years?!”

“Chan wasn’t born yesterday!”

“Oh my god!” Jeonghan couldn’t stop laughing.

“Jeonghan looked happy when he left.” Soo Min spoke up as she and Seungcheol were walking to the mall.

“He did.” Seungcheol nodded with a smile. “I got a good laugh out of him with that child support comment.”

“Ah, you really brought it up?!” She chuckled, remembering she heard laughter when the two were in the room.

“Yeah, he got a good kick out of it!”

They had left their friends apartment shortly after Jeonghan left as Meanie had plans today while Junhui said he had a date with the TV as one of his favorite K-dramas was having a marathon this afternoon. Soo Min decided to hang out with Seungcheol for a bit before returning back to Jisoo’s apartment since she really hadn’t spent much time with her neighbor yet after all this time.

“That’s good.” Soo Min smiled, glad Jeonghan was in a good mood before going into work. “So… uh, Seungcheol?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you… could tell me a little about Mi Young? That is, if you know more than Jisoo or something? No one has told me much besides that she’s his ex and that she cheated on him.”

“I can tell you. It’s a bit of a touchy topic for Jeonghan to bring up on his own anyway.”

“Thanks.” She said as they entered the mall.

They headed to the food court to talk at a table, ordering some smoothies to drink while there. Seungcheol then began to explain how he became friends with Jeonghan and Jisoo. Jeonghan was already dating Mi Young when their friendship started. He went on to explain how the former couple looked so happy together, like they were really in love with each other until one day…

“She started complimenting me more and touching me where she shouldn’t since we were friends. You don’t touch your friend like that, right?” Seungcheol explained with an irritated expression. “I started to get suspicious of her. I brought it up to Jeonghan, but he was blinded by his love for her that he just brushed it off. I started to get worried… and then it finally happened. One night we decided to have a get together with the others after completing our exams that week, you know, a celebration dinner or something… Jeonghan invited Mi Young, but she said she couldn’t come, she was busy helping her parents with something, so we all believed it and went out to eat anyways. I remember how hurt he looked when he saw her with another guy at the restaurant we were going to. When she rejected the invitation to eat with us, he didn’t tell her where we were going yet… so she happened to be at the restaurant we went to.”

“Poor Jeonghan.” Soo Min frowned in response to his explanation “I can’t believe she’d hurt him like that… and think he’d forget a few years later…”

“She try to get back with him yesterday?” Seungcheol asked, not amused. He had only heard from Jeonghan that Mi Young fought with Soo Min before slapping her. He didn’t really elaborate on what was said since he was only just summing it up.

“Yeah, she pulled that cliché, ‘I missed you, did you miss me?’ crap. He said he didn’t want to talk to her, but she kept on insisting that they talk… and then she started talking to me and asked me if I thought he was being childish!”

“Are you serious?” Seungcheol scoffed. “She’s really something.”

“I got mad.” She frowned. “And so I ran my mouth and she didn’t like what I had to say and dumped her drink on me. I didn’t want to stoop to her level so I refrained from pouring my water on her!”

“You should have!”

“I know! I should’ve…” she sighed, feeling regretful, but only for a few seconds. She’d never really do something like that, it just… wasn’t her to be that kind of girl. “Because I didn’t fight back, she asked why I wasn’t coming back at her and I said she wasn’t worth it… then she slapped me.”

“Who slapped you?!” Suddenly she heard a familiar voice ask behind her. She turned around to see her sister and Ren standing there looking concerned.

“M-Min Hee?!” Soo Min stuttered out, surprised.

“I was about to text you to see if you wanted to meet here… what a coincidence!” She smiled weakly before noticing Seungcheol at the table. “Who is this?”

“Ah, this is Seungcheol. One of my friends and neighbor across from Jisoo’s apartment.” Soo Min introduced. Seungcheol stood up and bowed at both Min Hee and Ren.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” He smiled.

“Likewise.” Min Hee bowed back. “Can we join you?”

“Uh, sure!” Soo Min nodded quickly. “Oh wait… do you mind?” She looked at Seungcheol worried.

“I don’t mind.” He assured her with a small laugh. He heard from the others how she had a rocky relationship with her sister… this was good. Maybe Seungcheol would be providing some sort of support for her today.

“So what’s this talk about someone slapping you?!” Min Hee asked, clear worry laced in her tone. “I mean, it’s good to see you sis! But what you said worries me!”

“I know.” Soo Min chuckled. “Well…”

She went on to give a brief sum up about what she just told Seungcheol.

“Really?! Where is she?! I must talk with this girl…” Min Hee didn’t look too happy right now.

“There’s really no sense in wasting our time with her. I was told that she’s not allowed at the cafe… and Jeonghan made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to talk to her ever again…” Soo Min explained, hoping to calm her angry sister down. In a sense, she felt a little happy, seeing her sister get worked up about this. It meant she cared. She always cared, I was just too ignorant to see it…

“I’m so mad!” Min Hee huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her boyfriend Ren just laughed finding her expression cute.

“Maybe you need something sweet to calm you down?” He suggested.

“Oh, yeah, good idea!” Soo Min agreed. “Let’s go order you something!” She pulled her sister up out of her seat. “What would you like, Ren?” She asked quickly.

He gave his answer and the two sister’s headed off to stand in line. This would give them some alone time as siblings.

“You’re okay?” Min Hee asked her younger sister as they stood in line.

“Hmm?” She looked up. “Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry.” She assured her once realizing why she asked.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I will be.” Soo Min nodded. “It’s done and over with. I don’t think she should be bothering us again anytime soon…”

“If she does, please let me know!” Min Hee insisted.

“I will!” She smiled.

“The girls and I will teach her a lesson not to slap innocent girls!”

“Oh my… I can’t imagine her going up against Seoyun!” Soo Min felt worried suddenly.

“Damn, we’re going to have to keep this on the DL…” Min Hee frowned. In the heat of the moment, she was all for getting revenge for her little sister, but she knew once the other girls found out about what happened… they’d most likely show no mercy. Soo Min is like a little sister to them, they’d be furious to know someone dared lay a hand on her precious little face.

“That’d be best.” Soo Min nodded in agreement.

A moment of silence fell between them as the line slowly moved up. Min Hee let out a sigh before speaking again. “I’m sorry, Soo Min.”

“Eh? For?” The younger looked up at her.

“I don’t feel like I’ve been the best sister on the planet for you these past few years. I didn’t even realize what had been going on until you moved back to Seoul. When you didn’t say you were coming back… how you were avoiding me. I thought everything was okay… but I was just lying to myself, wasn’t I?” She gave a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Soo Min.”

“I’m sorry, too!” Soo Min replied quickly. “I should’ve… I should’ve said something. I should’ve talked to you, but instead I just pushed it aside and ignored it… and the problem only grew. It’s my fault, too! I’m sorry!” She apologized. “Honestly… for quite some time I’ve been jealous of you… and disliked you because everyone else kept comparing me to you while growing up.”

“Oh, Soo Min…” her sister frowned. So this was how she felt?

“Mom and dad always paid more attention to you despite all the achievements I got… some how you were always better than me and I hated it.” Soo Min stared down at her wallet in her hands. She was finally just letting it all out… she was finally telling her sister how she really felt. “All the comparisons and lack of interest in anything I did really got to me… so I started hating you. But I didn’t want to hate you… because you’re my sister and I’m suppose to be happy for you and love you!” By now, the tears were threatening to fall. “I feel so stupid that I let it all get to me… that I let it get that bad to where I hated my own sister. Siblings shouldn’t hate each other!”

Min Hee reached out to pull her sister into a hug in response. “No, they shouldn’t.”

“I’m really sorry…” Soo Min apologized again, wrapping her own arms around her sister to return the embrace.

“It’s okay… I’m glad you told me now. I’m sorry you felt like that all this time…” she said while gently her hair. “I never wanted you to feel that way… I had no idea, really. Our parents and I… we just never looked it at that way for the longest time… only now do we realize our mistake… I hope you could forgive us. It must have looked like it was favoritism… or that we didn’t care, but we did. You stayed behind in Busan with grandma because that was what you wanted. You looked happy so we let you stay with her because of that, even though we wanted you to come back with us.. we just didn’t say anything. After coming back to Seoul, mom and dad got busy with work and since it was senior year… we all just got busy. We couldn’t come see you during holidays because they had work and I was busy with my studies. I really wanted to come see you on Christmas at least, Ren even offered to take me since he wanted to see his grandmother too, but bad weather stopped us.”

“Then… why didn’t you call?” Soo Min asked with a small sniffle as she looked up at her.

“Uh… well…” Min Hee chuckled, sounding embarrassed. “Can you believe dad dropped his phone down a flight of stairs? Yeah… all his contacts were lost. He didn’t think to get it from mom, but she dropped her phone in the supermarket. When she realized she didn’t have it, it was too late, someone already took it.”

“But you had the number too, right?” Soo Min tilted her head, really confused at how both her parents managed to lose their grandmother’s contact number. Surely they had it written down somewhere?

“I lost my phone at Lotte World when Ren took me on a date there.” She let her head drop.

“No one ever wrote it down?”

“You know how it is these days, everyone relies on their phones!” She laughed but it died down quickly. “No… we’re a bunch of idiots.”

“Wow,” Soo Min tried to hold back a laugh. “You should learn to memorize numbers. Might come in handy one day?”

“I get it. We’re sorry.” Min Hee pouted at her sister’s slight teasing.

“It’s hard to believe… but when you really think about it, it’s something that would actually happen to you three.”

“Yah!”

“Hehe. Well… I’m glad we ran into each other today. I’m also glad we were able to talk this out.” Soo Min smiled, in a better mood now. “Let’s promise to always talk to each other when something is bothering us!”

“Yes, agreed!” Her sister nodded, a smile returning to her face. Soo Min tackled her with another hug making Min Hee smile. It was nice to have her sister back.

“And start writing things down on paper!”

“How has she been doing?” Ren asked Seungcheol once they were gone. He was referring to Soo Min just now.

“Pretty good.” Seungcheol replied. “Really good, despite that drama yesterday.”

“That’s good to hear.” Ren smiled, a little relieved. “I’m curious on how things are between her and that Jeonghan guy?”

“Oh, that.” A huge grin spread across Seungcheol’s face. “The finally got together.” Almost immediately he frowned and brought the palm of his hand to his forehead. “I wasn’t suppose to blurt that out!”

“That’s okay, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.” Ren chuckled.

“Please! I already promised I wouldn’t blab it to everyone!” Seungcheol pleaded. Ren nodded, assuring him when he noticed his face turn dark suddenly. “Uh?” He followed his stare that led to none other than, Mi Young.

“Oh, I love this mall!” She beamed. “So many handsome men!”

Chapter thirty-six~!

Yay! Seungcheol got some screen time in this chapter!

EVEN IF HE WAS PICKED ON… SORRY

Seungcheol: Ah, no… it’s okay….

Author-nim: Look! Your ex and son are here to congratulate you! ^_____^

Jeonghan: *forcing himself to clap for his ex* =.=

Chan: Hi, dad~! :D

Seungcheol: *Overwhelmed*

Soonyoung: Dude…

What even? Hahahahahaha

Sorry!

Here’s a long update! >____________< hope you liked it!

I’m gonna be busy this weekend since I have to get ready for school on Monday, so… I hate to say it but there might not be another update till next weekend, or when I have time. So please be patient! D:

Hope everyone enjoyed, thanks for reading! ^^

….

Chan: Dad, you were really great! I’m impressed! Star struck… in awe!

Jeonghan: *This child… is mine?*

Seungcheol: Really?! Thanks son! *Happy*