#aliy

Yedam approaches the both of you, casually walking with his hands in his pants’ pocket.

“Nah, I was with some of the rest. I was coincidentally walking ahead of them and somehow reached here.”

“How did you know we were here? No one else knew of our date plans,” Junkyu prodded further. 

“What?” Yedam chuckled. “That’s crazy! I have zero idea that you’d both be here. I was passing by this area when I overheard a group of elder ladies gossiping about a lewd behaviour happening in the bedroom departments.”

Both you and Junkyu turned red upon hearing this. You squeezed Junkyu’s arm, silently panicking if anyone even recognised your boyfriend being the one involved with the ‘lewd behaviour’ in a public space.

“I mean, I was just curious on what they meant by lewd behaviour so I hurried to see if I could catch a glimpse,” Yedam shrugged as he explained further. “Imagine my surprise to see you being on top of Junkyu-hyung, Y/n!” he started laughing at this.

“H-hey! That’s not fair! How’d you even know it was us? It could’ve been any other couple you know,” you argued back.

“Oh come on, Y/n,” Yedam smirked. “Junkyu-hyung concealing his identity was already good enough, but what makes you think I can’t recognise you anywhere?”

You pout at this. He was right. And the reason you didn’t disguise yourself enough was because you were confident that no one would recognise you since you’re not a celebrity or anything. Besides, if you had been in full disguise alongside Junkyu, wouldn’t people sense that the both of you might be some sort of celebrity couple on a date?

And speaking of disguises…

“Hey wait a minute– you’re not in disguise Yedam,” you realised. You hurried over towards him to pull him behind Junkyu as well, hiding the both of you from the passing people.

“Yah…you both…I’m not some shield for you both to hide behind of, you know,” Junkyu stated, as he rubbed his temples.

“Oh. He’s right.” You said back. “Quick! Do something to conceal your identity!” you ordered Yedam, sounding like his manager now.

Yedam placed his hand on your head, patting it gently, “Aigoo. You worry too much, Y/n. Besides, I’m already in disguise, silly,”

You felt your eyebrow twitch at what he said. How can he call that a disguise?? The only difference he had than his usual appearance was that he had put on a pair of glasses on his face and he somehow pushed his hair back whilst wearing a black curved headband,

What makes him think no one would recognise him?? 

You shake your head at him, “Okay fine. If you say so.”

“Oh?” Suddenly you heard Junkyu say. “Hyunsuk-hyung, Junghwan,”

Yedam and you both peeked out your heads from behind Junkyu, noticing that Hyunsuk and Junghwan was making their way towards the three of you.

“Ah, so it was indeed you, Junkyu-aa” Hyunsuk smiled as he approached you all. “I thought that it looked like you, but I didn’t want to risk calling out your name,”

“Oh, hello hyung. What brings you here?”

“I was just accompanying Junghwan here to get himself a new study table. Somehow he needed a new one,” 

Junghwan nods and smiled as he looked around. “Oh? I thought you’re supposed to be on a date today, hyung. Where’s Y/n-noona?”

“Yeah, what brings you here? I…didn’t expect you both to be dating here,” Hyunsuk adds.

“Well…if you’re both looking for Yedam, he’s behind me with my date,” Junkyu points out with his thumb. He didn’t even bother to answer their questions, he just wanted to have them bring Yedam with them so he could resume his date with you.

Hyunsuk and Junghwan moved to see behind where Junkyu was standing, and surely enough, you and Yedam were crouched on the floor, discussing something with serious looks on both your faces, the both of you speaking in low voices at each other.

“Uhh, what are you both doing?” Hyunsuk asked, not understanding why the both of you were crouching behind Junkyu, whilst Junkyu himself simply stood there like a lamp post, not moving at all.

If anything, this scene was hilarious to Hyunsuk, but he manages to keep himself from laughing at what was going on in front of him.

“Shh Y/n is cutting me a deal right now,” Yedam said as he put a finger to his mouth to signal his hyung not to interrupt.

Hyunsuk shakes his head and ignores Yedam. “Come on Y/n, you’re wearing a skirt right now so I think it’s best if you don’t stay here crouching,” he said as he turns to you now.

“Oh, right. How inappropriate of me. Sorry,” you said as you hurriedly stood up.

Yedam too, stood up from his pose.

“Noona, hello!” Junghwan greeted you happily as soon as he sees you making eye contact with him.

“Oh, hi Junghwan,” you smiled. “And hello the rest of yous. I totally forgot to say hi, didn’t I?” you flash them an apologetic smile.

“It’s fine,” Hyunsuk smiles back at you. “So, you both shopping here?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t planned though. We kind of had an emergency so we switched up our date a little,” 

“Ahh I see,” Hyunsuk nods.

“What a coincidence, noona! I also needed to get a new study table, so I asked for Jihoon-hyung to accompany me here,” Junghwan beamed as he said this. “This must be fate, huh? Bumping into you here,”

You smiled at the maknae, feeling his good energy literally channeling towards all of you. Junghwan is such a good little brother, and he’s always so nice, you thought to yourself.

“Oh? Jihoon-hyung is here too?” Junkyu asked when he heard Junghwan mentioning his best friend’s name.

“Ah, oh no. He was supposed to be here but he’s got food poisoning so he called me to go with Junghwan instead.” Hyunsuk explained.

“Yeah. Hyunsuk-hyung was supposed to go to Lotte World with the rest but he went here with me instead,” Junghwan said apologetically, probably feeling bad for robbing his hyung from a fun trip with the others.

“Aw no, it’s okay. It’s not like I’ve never been there,” the leader chuckled as he pats the maknae’s head.

“Whoa. Everyone else went to Lotte World??” your eyes widened in amazement the moment Junghwan mentioned the theme park.

Yedam, Junghwan, Hyunsuk and Junkyu all exchanged glances with each other, noting that your eyes somehow sparkled when asking about the place.

“Wow, I heard they have really yummy desserts there, oh wow I really need to ask the rest to share me pictures later on,” you continued after Junghwan nods at your question earlier.

You were already whipping your phone out of your bag, ready to send spam texts to your friends. You haven’t been to Lotte World and you were hoping to go there one day so you wanted to really plan out what to do and where to eat and all that so that you could allocate how much to put aside for your spendings.

Yedam nudged Junkyu, silently mouthing to his hyung, “I told you she’s always wanted to go there,”

Junkyu lets out a sigh, making a mental note to just bring you there himself in the future. 

“Anyways,” Junkyu spoke up, gaining your attention as you looked up from your phone. “Did they all went to the theme park? Or was there anyone staying back with Jihoon-hyung?”

“Aww look at you worrying about Jihoon-hyung,” Yedam answered. “Nah, Doyoung and Mashiho-hyung stayed at home with him. The rest all went to Lotte though.”

“That’s good to hear,” Junkyu said in relief. It would be crazy to leave their leader all alone when he’s sick, he thought.

“Oh? But wait– I know I’m here to get a new study table, but why are you both here?” Junghwan pauses as he looks around. “And why are you both at the bedroom section??”

Hyunsuk too suddenly wondered out of curiosity. Both him and Junghwan waited for an answer from either you or Junkyu but before you could open your mouth to respond, Yedam jumped in to answer them instead.

“I don’t know much about why Y/n and Junkyu-hyung are here but I do have something juicy to show you both,” Yedam grinned as he pulls out his phone.

“Ah wait! Yedam, I thought we had a deal!” you whined.

“I’m sorry, but this is really important for me to show them,” he winked at you before pulling both the leader and maknae aside with him as he showed them the video he took of you and Junkyu on the bed earlier.

You sighed to yourself and turned to Junkyu. “Not fair. We had a really good deal too,” you mumbled beside your boyfriend.

Junkyu smiled as he pats your head. “What deal did you make?”

“Well– he offered to delete the video and not tell anyone about what we did if I come over to do chores at their dorm for a week,” you shrugged. “Well, he can kiss that deal goodbye now,”

Both you and Junyku heard the trio gasp and fuss over the video a few feet away from you both.

“Gasp! What the– wait, hold on, replay it again!”

“I know Y/n-noona is older than Junkyu-hyung but I would never imagine her to be this daring,”

“No, wait, let me zoom on them closer— see that?? Look at how she’s staring at him omg,”

You rolled your eyes at them even though you know they weren’t looking at you. This was why you wanted Yedam to delete the video. You know they would fuss over it like a flock of birds fussing over a piece of worm.

And in your defense, it’s not like what happened between you and Junkyu was THAT scandalous, you know?

“Hey, come on guys, don’t dwell on it that much. Nothing happened anyways. Y/n got pushed and accidentally fell on top of me, that’s all, really” Junyku tried to explain.

The three of them turned to look at the both of you, nodding to themselves and then approaching you both again.

“Well, if you say so. Y/n, I know we’re of the same age but let’s admit it– I’d never be brave enough to do what you did,” Hyunsuk jokes, grinning when he sees you pouting and glaring at him in response. 

“Eyyy let’s not embarrass Y/n-noona like this,” Junghwan said, defending you. Although he himself was still smiling cheekily at you and Junkyu.

“Okay guys, cut it out, Y/n is embarrassed enough,” Junkyu said, smiling a little because he was actually kind of enjoying your reaction at being teased.

“Okay, okay. We’ll move on.” Yedam said. “So? I’m assuming that one of you is looking for a bed then?”

“Yeah. We’re shopping for Y/n today. She had a bed emergency,”

“Aww, what happened to your bed, noona?”

“Well, the bed kind of broke so…” you answered.

You were about to explain that the bed was a freebie from the landlord since the day you moved into your place and it was already old by then so the bottom breaking was expected in your point of view but then Yedam and Junghwan were no longer listening in on your explanation the moment you mentioned about your bed breaking.

Yedam and Junghwan exchanged looks with one another before grinning at their Junkyu-hyung.

“Wow Junkyu-hyung. We didn’t expect Y/n’s bed to break that easily,” Yedam smirked.

“Wha–? Weren’t you both listening? Y/n just said that her bed was old–” 

Junkyu didn’t manage to finish his sentence since both the younger members had already dragged him to the side, dialing on their phones to call the other members to share with them the revelation they discovered about their Junkyu-hyung today.

You watched as the three of them fuss over about your broken bed, again, few feet away from you.

“Hm, they weren’t really listening to what I was saying, were they?” you sighed, crossing your arms.

“Well, you had them at the part where you mentioned your bed being broken,” Hyunsuk grinned at you.

“Yeah, but it broke because it was old. There’s nothing to make fun of about it. I mean, what else could they think would’ve made the bed broke—” you stopped yourself when you realised what the younger members could have thought of.

You couldn’t even finish your sentence as you paused, not moving an inch. You felt your cheeks heating up. They couldn’t have thought that the reason your bed broke was because you and Junkyu did that, no??

Hyunsuk noticed you tensing up and falling silent, to which he understood that you could’ve felt embarrassed of what you were about to say. He immediately wraps his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close to his side.

“Hey, hey now. They’re just teasing. You know how they are when it comes to Junkyu. Well, Junkyu and you. You both are their favourite couple to tease now. It’s not like they have any other couples to tease on, right?” Hyunsuk said.

You ease yourself into Hyunsuk’s hold, no longer tensed out about what the kids were teasing about.

‘’You’re right. I shouldn’t get too worked up about this,” you chuckled, your head looking down. 

“Exactly.” Hyunsuk smiled, his hand gently patting your head.

You lift your head up to look at him now, “Okay but just to be clear– Junkyu and I haven’t done anything like that, okay? I mean, we’re still new in this relationship too, so–”

“It’s okay, Y/n. And even if you guys did, you guys are a couple. It’s not like the rest of us have the right to tell you both what to do and not do,” 

You sighed. “I know. I just…” you shake your head. “Thanks for being so supportive, Hyunsuk. You’re such a sweet friend,” you smiled softly at him, as you rest your head against his shoulder.

Hyunsuk hummed in response to what you said, pulling you closer to him, his hand gently caressing your hair.

After 10 seconds of letting you lean against him, Hyunsuk gently taps your head, telling you to save your boyfriend now.

“That’s enough of our time together, Y/n. Your boyfriend probably needs saving now,” he chuckles as you lift your head from his shoulder. 

You looked over not far from the both of you, Junkyu, Yedam and Junghwan all still going over some kind of debate. You could clearly see how Yedam and Junghwan were enjoying their ganging up on Junkyu since Junkyu’s facial expressions showed him all exasperated from explaining that he wasn’t the reason your bed broke.

You turned to look at Hyunsuk, him doing the same to you. “Well, that was nice small talk, Hyunsuk. I’m glad we ran into each other today,” you smiled at him. “I’m gonna go save my man now,” 

You left Hyunsuk’s side and called out towards the younger boys, “Okay now, kiddos, Leave my boyfriend alone. He’s gonna be all traumatized if you guys keep teasing him like this,”

“Aww come on Y/n, why are you both denying it? We all know what went down between you two,” Yedam grinned, trying to drag you into his tease party.

“Nu uh, you’re not dragging me into this,” you shake your head. “Besides, don’t talk about this kind of stuff in front of Junghwan! He’s still a kid too, you know?”

“Noona, I’m a grown up too,” Junghwan pouted.

“But you’re our baby!” You argued back, to which Junkyu took advantage of hiding behind you, despite you being shorter than him.

“Aigoo, if only Jaehyuk-hyung and Jeongwoo hadn’t ended the video call with us earlier, we could’ve let them join in on making fun of you, Y/n” Yedam said.

“No way! You told them about my broken bed already??” You let out a sigh, “Oh my god, imagine how much clearing up I have to do now. Who else have you told this about, huh?”

Junkyu lowered down his stance and whispered in your ear to which you gasped out loud after hearing what he said. “Oh heck no, gimme your phone Yedam, it has too many evidence in there–”

Hyunsuk watches the four of you continue with all your teasing and bargains with one another, smiling to himself, feeling like a proud dad just watching over his kids fighting over a game.

He lifts his hand to shoulder, the one you leaned on earlier, letting his hand rest on it.

He was happy that he was able to talk to you casually, keeping you close to him like just now. He was also glad that he had the strength to ask you to leave his side and go back to your boyfriend because if he hadn’t done so…he knew he would’ve kept you close to him much longer and that would’ve been...wrong.

Hyunsuk takes in a deep breath, exhaling it all out, exhaling all his desire to want you be by his side alongside the breath he lets go of. 

Y/n…I love you so much…but I also love the fact that you’re so happy with Junkyu recently…Please, be happy always…okay?

Hyunsuk cleared his throat, still smiling as he approached the four of you now– “Okay everyone, that’s enough. Let’s get going already.”

***

IKEA (almost noon)

Junkyu and you walked side by side, hand in hand; casually strolling past the kids department now.

“How much further ‘til the checkout counters?” you asked the tall man beside you.

“Just a little more way down. We’re gonna pass through the giant shelves where they keep all the stocks and then a bit further than that we’ll reach the counters.”

“Ahh I see.” you looked around, scanning to see if there’s anything that might catch your eye.

You wanted to get something for the other boys as well, thinking that you haven’t given them anything throughout your friendship with them.

Not that they would require you to give them gifts though– you know that. But still, you’d like to at least give them something in return for their kindness to you all these while.

“Oh?” you stopped in your tracks when you saw the piled-up plushies in the corner. “Oh, there! Can we stop by there, Kyu?” you pointed out with your finger.

Junkyu looked over to where you were pointing at, grinning right after realising that despite your somewhat mature exterior, you still have some kiddy side inside you. 

“Sure, let’s.” he smiled at you.

As soon as the both of you were headed towards the plushies section, you both heard Junghwan calling out from behind– “Aw hey! They’re heading towards the plushies! I want to go see that section too,”

Both you and Junkyu turn around at the same time, instantly meeting eyes with the trio from earlier.

“Uhh, I thought you guys left earlier? What are you all doing here?” you asked.

“Yeah, are you all…following me and Y/n??”

“What? No, no! It was just a coincidence! We parted ways but somehow we ended up in this area, and coincidentally the both of you were walking in front of us so,” Hyunsuk explained, an apologetic look on his face.

You exchanged glances with Junkyu briefly before turning back to look at your friends. “Hmm. I guess we could all just walk together. Since we’re all here, you know?” you shrug.

“Yay! Let’s go look at the plushies, noona!” Junghwan cheered as he pulled you along with him, leaving his hyungs.

“But…we’re on a date…” Junkyu said quietly. 

Hyunsuk heard this, and so he walks up towards the younger boy and pats his back. “Sorry man, we’ll leave right after we get Junghwan’s stuff, aight?”

“Yeah, hyung. We didn’t mean to barge in on your date,” Yedam adds.

“No no, it’s fine. Let’s just head over to them. Y/n seems happy anyways,”Junkyu responds softly, a small smile forming on his lips as he watches you and Junghwan laughing together, picking up each one of the plushies and showing it to one another.

***

After running around and exploring each of the departments available at the place, the boys and you were already headed towards the checkout counters. 

Junghwan lined up behind you with his box of study table in his hands.

“You sure you don’t want to pay along with us, Hwannie? We can have the items delivered together,” you offered, as Junkyu helped you scan the barcode on the giant box of the bed frame you chose, along with the heavy roll of your mattress.

Junghwan shakes his head, “Nah, it’s fine noona. I’ll just do checkout on my own,”

“Okay then.” you turned to face Junkyu again, checking the self-checkout screen if all of the items have been scanned. 

“Hmm, are you sure these chocolates are enough for the boys? Maybe I should get them something else too?” you asked your boyfriend, worried that the rest of your Treasure friends would not be satisfied with what you got them.

“Aww they’ll be okay with whatever you get them, Y/n. Besides, the Ikea chocolates taste good too,” Junkyu assured you.

You narrowed your eyes at him. “I didn’t know you eat their chocolates too,”

“Yeah, you had some in your fridge, remember? I just took a piece to try it, and well, it’s not too bad,” he shrugs.

You gave his arm a light squeeze, “Hm. So you’re eating chocolates from my fridge now,”

Junkyu smiles at you, his head tilting as he stares at your face with a dreamy gaze.

You too, caught yourself hypnotized with his eyes, allowing yourself to stare back at him.

“Oh god, just hurry up will ya?” the both of you heard a voice groaning.

Both you and Junkyu snapped out of your trances and turned to see Yedam, beside Junghwan, his phone in his hand just like earlier today.

“Gosh Yedam, one of these days I might as well steal your phone from you,” you scowled at him.

Yedam grinned in return as he lowers his phone, “Heh. Come on Y/n, you know the both of you are our source of entertainment now, right?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Sure, sure,” you turn back to Junkyu, noticing that he has already made the payment with his card. 

“Oh? Junkyu, you didn’t have to pay for the whole thing–”

“I’m gonna go send the bed frame and mattress to the delivery counter, okay? I’ve already set the delivery to tonight by the way. So you can just hang on to the stuff we bought for the rest, okay?” he smiles as he says this.

“Ah, uh, sure,” you walked forward, gathering the chocolate bars and the plushy into your small shopping bag. 

“I’ll be right back,” Junkyu said, before leaning in to kiss you on your cheek.

You were taken aback by this, the fact that your boyfriend actually kissed you in public. 

You noticed Junkyu’s complexion turning red, as he backed away from you and pushed the trolley towards the delivery counter.

You raised your hand to your cheek, feeling his kiss still lingering on your skin.

“Noona, how do we pick the delivery date again?” Junghwan asked you, him facing the checkout screen.

You turn around and move closer to him and help him with the delivery details before he finally manages the payment on his own.

“Thanks noona,” he said after he’s settled with his purchase.

“You’re welcome. Aigoo our boy’s doing his own shopping. What a grown up you are, hwannie,” you couldn’t help but to coo at the young boy in front of you. 

“What are you saying, noona? Of course I’m a grown up too, like the rest of the hyungs,” he blushes, thinking that it’s ridiculous how much you baby him despite him being in high school already.

You shake your head at him and smiled, “Aigoo nooo don’t say that. Don’t grow up too fast,”

Junghwan pulls you close to him and wraps an arm around your shoulder. “Look at how tall I am compared to you, noona. How can you tell me not to grow up,” he giggles as he says this.

You were about to respond to Junghwan when you heard Yedam speaking up from behind the both of you. “Okay, okay. Break it up, you both. Junghwan better get his table to the delivery counter now. I see a line forming over there,” Yedam said as he points at the line of people, Junkyu too, standing in the line with his trolley in front of him.

“Ah. Yedam’s right. You should go, Junghwan,” you agreed.

“Okay. I’ll see you guys at the entrance outside?” Junghwan said before leaving with his box of study table in his hand.

“Oh! You know what, we forgot to tell Junkyu-hyung that we’ll all gather at the entrance,” Yedam said.

“Oh right! I’ll just text him—” you said as you reach for your phone in your bag but then Yedam had beat you to it.

“Nah, I don’t think Junkyu-hyung would check his phone when he’s lining up. I’ll go and let him know. The both of you just go ahead and wait outside at the entrance,” Yedam said to you and Hyunsuk, sounding more like an order rather than an offer actually.

“B-but—” you voiced out but Yedam was already walking away from you and Hyunsuk.

The both of you turned to look at each other. 

“Well…I guess we’ll just go to the entrance then?” Hyunsuk suggests.

“I guess.” you shrug. “Let’s go then,” 

He was already beginning to accept the fact that you’d never see him the way you see Junkyu, but seeing the both of you fight like that– even when the both of you were so new to the relationship?? It only made him feel like he deserves to be the one loving and treating you better.

Hyunsuk tries to shake the thought out of his head, not wanting to take his own friend’s lover away. 

Hyunsuk closes the door behind him, seeing Junkyu sitting on the end of your bed.

The younger boy’s eyes looked up at his leader’s figure standing near the door.

“Oh. I thought Y/n came back already,” Junkyu said.

Hyunsuk lets out a heavy sigh. “Junkyu…”

“Yes, I get it! I messed up again. Every single time. I tried hyung, I really did. But…it’s just so hard to understand her!” Junkyu huffs, tearing up at the thought of how he made you cry again this time around.

“Junkyu…don’t beat yourself too much about it. It’ll work out,” Hyunsuk assured him.

“How? I…I don’t want to lose her hyung! But she’s just…so confusing! We’ve fought about the same thing the whole day today and I’m already so tired out. What if this happens every other day? I don’t think I can put up with this–”

“Stop right there, Junkyu,” Hyunsuk interrupts, before Junkyu could say any more. He didn’t want Junkyu to back away from what he’s had with you already. 

That would break you, and Hyunsuk would never want to regret losing you to someone who wouldn’t fight to hold onto you.

Junkyu fell quiet, waiting for his hyung to continue his words.

“Listen. I don’t know what got you both into this huge fight but I can’t have you freaking out and sounding as if you’re done with this relationship already. Not like this. Y/n doesn’t deserve this. You know that too,”

“I can’t date someone who’s reluctant in admitting herself as mine, hyung. I’d admit being hers any time of the day– heck, if we go official one day, I’d be proud to let the world know that I have someone as amazing as her as my girlfriend,” Junkyu sighs.

Me too, I’d be proud as well, to have someone like Y/n as my girlfriend; was what Hyunsuk wanted to say, but he knew better than to push this onto his friend.

Instead, he took a moment to try to understand what he remembered from the fight he watched earlier on.

“Hmm…say Junkyu…” he began to say after giving it some thought.

“Yeah, hyung?”

“The fight the both of you had…about your relationship status…just to get clarification– when did the both of you start being a couple?”

“It was right after we all got back from Haenam,” Junkyu shrugs.

“Huh. And just when did you ask Y/n to be your girlfriend?”

“Huh?? What do you mean ‘ask’? It just happened that way. We started seeing each other in secret and then we did all those couple stuff, we said ‘i love you’ to each other– doesn’t that make us a couple enough already??” Junkyu asks, dumbfounded by his hyung’s question.

“Oh my god Kim Junkyu. Is that why you kept telling Y/n that you both are a couple, just because you’re doing coupley stuff?? You never asked her to be your girlfriend? Not even a gesture in asking her to be one??”

“Wait, what? I have to ask her??”

Hyunsuk facepalms himself. Obviously this is new to Junkyu, but he didn’t expect his friend to not know the basics at all. At least this was what he had learned from K-Dramas. 

“No, man! Dating and asking a girl to be your girlfriend are two separate things! I mean, sure, it seems the same to me too, but I’ve seen it in K-dramas back then. It’s like, you first date out to try and figure out if you’d both make a good couple or not and then if you want to take it to another level; much more serious– in which you claimed Y/n to be ‘yours’, you should’ve asked Y/n to be your girlfriend,” Hyunsuk explained.

Junkyu lets out a groan. “Whyyyy. Why do they make it so difficult like this,”

Hyunsuk shrugs. “Beats me. It doesn’t always have to be that way, but seeing Y/n making a big deal about all this just shows how much she expects your relationship with her to go through a certain process before she can confidently admit that the both of you are an official couple.”

“Maybe…maybe Y/n just wants assurance? She wants to know if you’re in it for real? Besides, you are a kpop star, you know? And she isn’t one. She’s probably just insecure that you’re just trying out this relationship thing with her but not wanting to commit to her,” Hyunsuk continued, trying to put up a reasoning for your reaction during the fight earlier today.

Junkyu pushes his hair to the back, letting out a long sigh. Maybe his Hyunsuk-hyung was right. You did ask him several times about the girlfriend status when the both of you discussed your relationship status the other day. You kept asking the same thing to him, almost as if you were dissatisfied with his answer of the both of you simply dating and being a couple which had meant literally the same in his book of knowledge.

Hyunsuk watched as his friend kept quiet, his expression showing he was thinking deeply about what he had advised.

Junkyu being quiet made Hyunsuk remember how he saw you cry in the kitchen just now. If it had been in a different situation, if he had it his way, he wanted to pull you into his arms and just cuddle you up close to him. He had wanted to wipe your tears off your pretty face, and whisper to you how everything would get better and that you didn’t deserve to cry over such a silly fight. 

But Hyunsuk respects both you and Junkyu. Which was also why he chose to confront Junkyu instead of going after you. 

Because he knew he could never confront you the same as he did to Junkyu. After all, he was still in love with you. 

If he had gone after you, he knew he would’ve made a bigger mistake in re-confessing his feelings to you– even worse; he could’ve asked you to leave Junkyu for him.

Hyunsuk shuddered at how selfish his thoughts were. He tried to push them away from his head when he noticed Junkyu raising his head to look at him now.

“Hey hyung…”

“Yeah Junkyu?”

“What…should I do now? I…really don’t want to lose Y/n,” Junkyu said, his voice slow.

“Well…you only have to do one simple thing, really,” 

***

Y/n’s Apartment (Kitchen)

After Hyunsuk and Jihoon had left to go after you and Junkyu, the kitchen was left with the remaining Treasure members, all a little lost on what they’re supposed to do right now.

Asahi and Jeongwoo were still by Junghwan’s side, comforting him as he thought he was the one that had made both you and Junkyu fight earlier.

“I don’t know if it’s really the Haenam air or anything else that’s made everyone act up this way,” Haruto sighs as he leans against one of the countertops.

“Hm? What do you mean by that?” Yedam asks.

“Didn’t any of y’all notice? After these hyungs came back from Haenam, they’ve all started behaving weirdly. I mean, even Yoshi-hyung noticed this,”

“Okay but in my defense I came back fine,” Jaehyuk defended himself as he raised both his hands.

Haruto shrugs, “Huh, you’re right. Only Jaehyuk-hyung seems to come back just the way he is. The rest? They’re all acting weird,”

“Really? I haven’t noticed much about Junkyu and Hyunsuk-hyung…” Doyoung wondered aloud.

“Maybe it’s ‘cause you both live in the same dorm with Hyunsuk and Junkyu-hyung so that’s why the rest of us barely noticed the change in their behaviours,” Mashiho joined on the conversation as he stirred the half-cooked vegetables in the pan even though he had switched off the fire before.

“Maybe…” Haruto responded.

“Did…Jihoon-hyung act differently after coming back from Haenam?” Yoshi asks this time.

“Well…” Mashiho stops stirring the veggies and turns to face the rest of the room as he tries to think of any weird incidents that might have happened in his dorm.

“I don’t think so? Jihoon-hyung seems fine, no? Sure, he’s all strange and funny in the dorms but nothing was out of the ordinary,” Jeongwoo answered.

“I guess. I haven’t seen Jihoon-hyung acting like how you guys described Junkyu and Hyunsuk-hyung. If anything, Jihoon-hyung came back quite normal like how Jaehyuk-hyung did I think,” Doyoung added.

“Well…there’s that too,” Mashiho suddenly said.

“That…?” Doyoung and Jeongwoo asked at the same time, both of them furrowing their eyebrows.

“I don’t know if this is weird but Jihoon-hyung played that Yoo Jae Ha song on repeat for two days in a row after he got back from Haenam,” Mashiho shrugs.

“Huh…well…I think that’s fairly normal? I’ve heard him play that song on repeat a couple times this year too. I think it’s in his regular playlist or something,” Jeongwoo says, as he shrugs as well.

“I guess so. I think I remember him playing that song on repeat too, even way before he went to Haenam. Heck, he does it like that on some days so I’m guessing it’s just his random Yoo Jae Ha moments?” Doyoung says, his arms crossed against his chest.

“Oh well, I guess then there’s nothing weird that’s happened in our dorms then,” Mashiho concludes.

“What about your dorm, Damie-hyung?” Doyoung asked as he turned to Yedam, who was standing not far from him.

“As you can see, Jaehyuk-hyung is the most normal person that came back from Haenam,” Yedam chuckled as he gestures towards Jaehyuk who was already smiling his whisker smile at the rest of them.

“See, that’s the thing. Did something happen in Haenam, hyung??” Haruto asks, his serious face staring at their hyung now.

“Don’t tell me it had something to do with that Dongyuk guy back in noona’s hometown,” Junghwan voiced out now as he remembered seeing a guy he didn’t know of when he was video-calling the hyungs back when you were all in Haenam.

“You mean, Dongyun?” Jaehyuk corrects him.

“Whatever, just as long as he didn’t cause all of these weirdness amongst our hyungs,” Junghwan huffs.

“Nah, I don’t think so. Well, to be honest, I did notice all the three hyungs acting kinda weird when I was in Haenam…There was that one time Hyunsuk and Jihoon-hyung came back from buying ice-cream but Hyunsuk-hyung was crying pretty badly,” Jaehyuk frowned to himself, thinking back on that particular day.

“Huh?? And you only thought of telling us this now??” Yedam asks.

“Hey– Jihoon-hyung told me Hyunsuk-hyung was crying because he dropped his ice-cream on the way back to Aunt Nari’s house– so technically I couldn’t have pushed further on this, can I?? Besides, that was the only vivid weird memory I had there. The whole time I was just having a good time,” Jaehyuk beams proudly thinking of the time he spent in your hometown.

Asahi smirks at this. “Yeah, I remember you singing about it the whole time as you were unpacking your luggage after you got back,”

“Eyy look at him, what kind of good time did you have over there to the point you’re the only one that came back normal,” Jeongwoo joined to tease the smiling hyung.

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t want to make you all jealous but–” he paused to stand up properly from his stance before continuing, “-- Aunt Nari was planning on making me Y/n’s future husband so–”

“EYYYYYYY,” the rest of the members in the kitchen stopped him from continuing his sentence.

“Look at this hyung, all delusional hahahaahah!” Jeongwoo laughs out loud.

Yedam too, shakes his head, “Good one, hyung. That really made us all laugh,” he laughed as well.

“Yeah, imagine competing with Junkyu-hyung!” Doyoung said as he laughed out loud along with everyone else in the room. 

***

Y/n and Treasure’s Apartment Block (Y/n’s floor)

Jihoon walked up slowly towards your figure that had been leaning against the rails at the end of your apartment floor.

It didn’t take him too long to find you, what with your dark pink cardigan being the only visible figure standing out at the end of your floor.

You heard footsteps approaching you, making you turn to see who it was.

Your teary eyes met Jihoon’s brown eyes that widened slightly at the sight of your crying face.

“Hey…” Jihoon said slowly as he stood on the spot next to you now.

“Not now, Jihoon. I’m in no mood to entertain your reckless teasings or naggings,” 

Jihoon rolled his eyes and placed his hand onto your head, to which you expected him to maybe bonk you like he usually does but to your surprise, he gently pats your head instead, making you grip your hands onto the rails tighter, hoping not to cry over his soft gesture towards you.

“How are you feeling right now?” He asks you, his tone gentle.

You blinked a couple times, letting the tears that were pooling your eyes flow down your cheeks before you wiped them off with the back of your hand. 

You sniffled and took a deep breath before responding to Jihoon. 

“I don’t know. I just…” you took another deep breath, “I’m just…so confused,” you finally said, your voice slightly whispering now.

Jihoon pulls his hand away from your head as he turns to face you, his back leaning against the rails as opposed to what you were doing.

Crossing his arms against his chest, he hummed slightly as he was thinking of what to say to you. It’s not like he’s ever comforted you before. He’s always been the one comforting and giving advice to Junkyu, which was why he was still surprised as to why Hyunsuk had chosen him to go after you.

You kept quiet as well, just staring ahead at the empty hallway across from where you’re standing. This time you had already stopped crying though, since you didn’t want to be a sobbing mess in front of Jihoon. As much as he’s being nice to you right now, you don’t trust him enough to not tease you if you start weeping again.

“What happened back there?,” Jihoon asks you suddenly.

“What do you mean what happened? You saw what happened,”

“Yeah but sometimes what you see isn’t entirely the whole story, you know,”

You huffed at what he said. Why does he have to sound so smart whenever he’s around you? 

“Well, Junkyu and I…we had a misunderstanding about our relationship status. That’s what happened,”

“Uhuh, sure,”

“I mean–” you continued, “Why is he so angry with me? It’s not like I’m not telling the truth. We are dating, we are a ‘couple’ he said, but why…why has he never addressed it properly in the first place?”

Jihoon stayed silent, wanting to let you vent first before he said anything.

“Why…has he never asked me to be his girlfriend…? Is he not serious with what we have? Why wouldn’t he…really tell me that he’s my boyfriend when we discussed it before this? He only started telling people I’m his girlfriend when Chani asked about it earlier too,”

“Am I…just a casualty? Maybe this is all just a mistake–”

Okay! Time to stop this girl from rambling nonsense! Jihoon immediately interrupts you, “Whoa, hold it there, princess. This is where I stop you from letting those negative insecurities you have from corrupting that pretty head of yours,”

You frowned at him.

“Aw come on, I said nice things about you, don’t give me that frown. The least you could do was smile at me when I said your head is pretty,” he grins playfully to which you respond with a deadpan frown still.

When Jihoon noticed that you weren’t gonna say anything further on since he had interrupted you, he took this as a chance to start speaking.

“You know, this fight that you both have? It’s such a small matter,”

You furrowed your eyebrows at what he said. It's as if he's trying to pick a fight with you; you thought. 

Jihoon held himself back from laughing when he noticed the confused frowning on your face. 

Jihoon continued, “It is! Why are you both making such a big deal about your relationship status? It's just a status you know? If you like each other, then that's good enough.” 

“Okay but I had that same thought, until people start asking if we are boyfriend or girlfriend and then the both of us would somehow end up giving different answers or well, we would fight over it,”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow at you.

“Okay fine, in this case, what happened in the kitchen earlier was me being the uncertain one in answering that stupid relationship status question,”

Jihoon chuckled at your confession. “See? You don’t need Junkyu to ask you to be his girlfriend, right? You know it yourself that he sees and treats you as one already,”

You turned around to lean against the rails as well just like how Jihoon was doing, crossing your arms against your chest.

“Gosh Jihoon, I feel sorry for your future girlfriend. She wouldn't be getting any girlfriend proposal from you I'm guessing,”

“Just worry about your relationship, silly girl. I'm not the one weeping over a mere relationship status,” 

You scowled at him, to which he smirks in response. 

“Fine, if you still think that this matter isn't small, just leave him then,” Jihoon said all of a sudden.

You were definitely surprised with what he said so you turned to look at him with your eyes wide.

Jihoon gives you a shrug as he stares back at you with a serious expression. “Do it. Leave him then. It's not like you considered yourself to be his girlfriend, right? Then it shouldn't be hard for you to back off from whatever you guys have.” 

You felt your lips quiver at what he said. The thought of losing Junkyu merely over this fight scares you. Is Jihoon crazy?? You wouldn't leave Junkyu over something so ridiculous, right??

Jihoon observes your reaction to what he said. He could tell that you were mortified by his words; to which he hoped you'd catch his hidden message of not letting something this small get in the way of you and Junkyu’s new-blooming love.

“Jihoon…w-what??” you stammered.

Jihoon leans in close to you, both of your faces centimeters apart, “Bet you couldn’t do it, can you?” he whispers.

You could feel your ears heat up just from how close he was leaning in towards your face, and the fact that you wanted to nag at this man that had suggested something so ridiculous.

“You’re right. I can’t leave him. I don’t want to,” you responded to his question firmly.

Jihoon stood up straight again, no longer breathing in your face. “Well then, there’s that. You both are together, a couple, regardless if it was official or not. See what I did there?” 

You shook your head, not getting what he was trying to say.

Jihoon rolled his eyes slightly at you. “Duhh, you couldn’t even ditch whatever you have with Junkyu because regardless of what basis your relationship is with him, there is something there, and you know it doesn’t matter what status you both share ‘cause by the end of it all– you both are in love with each other and wouldn’t back off from what you both have,” he explains.

You nod your head slowly, finally getting what he explained. Jihoon was right…why were you so worked up over whether Junkyu had asked you to be his girlfriend officially or not? The moments you both shared with each other…how he treats you…he was already portraying himself as a boyfriend to you. And that’s…good enough, no?

You let out a soft sigh, lifting your head to stare at the ceiling above as you leaned back against the rails behind you again.

Jihoon glanced over at you and did the same, his back leaning against the rails as well.

“Thanks Jihoon…” you said, your eyes still fixated on the plain white paint of the ceiling.

“You’re welcome, Y/n,”

The both of you kept quiet for a couple of minutes, both lost in your own respective thoughts.

And then suddenly you popped up a question for the tall guy beside you.

“Hey Jihoon, have you ever been in love? Or well, in a relationship?”

You waited for him to answer you but 2 minutes passed by and he was still quiet beside you. So you turned to look at him, his head still raised and staring up at the ceiling.

“Jihoon?” You called his name.

Jihoon lowered his head and turned to look at you. He looked like he had been thinking of something; you noticed.

“I-I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to answer, really. I was just wondering–”

“I have,” he answered shortly, interrupting you.

Your eyebrows raised upon hearing his response. “Y-you have?”

Jihoon’s gaze was no longer on you now, instead, he was staring down at his shoes.

“Yeah. In love, yes. In a relationship, no.”

“Oh,”

The both of you kept quiet again. You couldn’t help but feel the air around you feel solemn now. And to be honest, this was also a rare moment you have with Jihoon. 

Jihoon rarely speaks to you in a serious way, he’s always teasing and making fun of you so having him speak to you this way, somehow feels foreign. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but it’s just so new for you to have him act this way around you.

“You’ve been in love?” You braved yourself to ask further, not sure if he wanted to share more though.

You heard him chuckle under his breath as his gaze still stays on his shoes.

“Yeah. I have been in love.”

“O-oh…” 

Jihoon lifts his head to look at you, noticing the confused expression on your face. You looked like you were lost on your words, not sure on how you can talk to him further about this.

He raises his hand up to your head, bonking it gently, making you blink in more confusion as to why he did so.

“Of course I’ve been in love, silly. What, did you think I was a robot with no feelings or something?” he snickered.

Ah, Jihoon is back to being his teasy self; you noticed.

“Yeah, well. I don’t know you that well, and as far as I know, you could’ve been a person who doesn't have love for anyone out there,” you said matter-of-factly, to which Jihoon smirks in response.

“Hey, you have no idea how much love I can give if I were to be in a relationship with someone okay,” 

“Okay then, why didn’t you do so?”

“What?”

“You’ve been in love, no? Then why didn’t you ‘give your love’ to this said person?”

“Because, Y/n, not everyone is lucky enough to have what you and Junkyu have. You can be in love with a person but sometimes you know that it’s never gonna work out,”

“Wait, you mean…”

“I like this person a lot…but even from the start, I know, she’s just not meant for me. Besides, I already know that this wasn’t gonna work out for me and her, and being in a relationship isn’t on my top priority list,”

“Jihoon…I’m so sorry to hear that…” you extend your arm to pat his back gently, feeling somewhat sad for him.

“Don’t be. I’m good. Besides, all I had to do was get over her. And then, ‘poof’ she’s no longer significant to me,” he said proudly.

You stopped patting his back, hugging your arms to yourself again since you could feel the cold breeze blowing in towards the both of you now.

“Good for you. I’ll have you know, that girl will regret it a lot knowing that she didn’t get to be with such a talented and good-looking man like you,” you huffed.

Jihoon turns to look at you, a teasing smile on his face.

“What? Why are you suddenly grinning like that,” you furrowed your brows.

“Did I just hear you complimenting me?” he asks, leaning close to you, his face still grinning cheekily at you.

You rolled your eyes at him, avoiding his gaze on you. “Oh shut up, I didn’t say much about you. I was just stating the fact that whoever that had rejected your love will be living a very regretful life,”

“Ooohhh but you said I was talented and good-looking! What’s this, Y/n? I didn’t know you’d find me attractive all this while,” he nudges you by the elbow playfully now.

“Oh, cut it out Jihoon,” you said in annoyance but still you couldn’t help but smile at his teasing.

The both of you continued your usual playful banters with each other when suddenly you heard a faint voice calling your name from afar.

“Sshhh, did you hear that?” you shushed Jihoon just as he was about to make fun of your crying face when he found you earlier.

“Y/n! Don’t move!” you heard the voice shouting from the end of the hall, from where your apartment unit is located.

You could see someone running up towards both you and Jihoon’s direction.

“Oh wow, don’t run off now, Y/n. It looks like your prince is heading towards us,” Jihoon giggled when he noticed who it was running clumsily towards the both of you.

“Junkyu,” you breathed, when he finally reached your spot, him bending down as he tried to catch some air after making his dramatic run.

As soon as he reaches your spot, he immediately lowers himself to pick up the metal bowls that you had dropped earlier.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said as he dusts off the metal bowls one by one before picking them up.

“W-what? N-no! it wasn’t your fault anyways. I was just…” your voice trailed off as you turn around to sneak a peek at Junkyu who was still hiding behind the thrash container not far from where you were standing.

Junkyu met your eyes and shook his head at you, implying that he didn’t want Doyoung to know he was hiding back there.

You turned back around to face Doyoung just in time as he was getting back up from his stance to hand over the metal bowls to you.

You accepted them from his hands and thanked him.

“No biggie. Hey, are you okay? You seem…distracted,” he said, noticing that your eyes would once in a while look elsewhere.

“Oh, nothing! I was just…curious as to where the cats I fed had went to,” you chuckled nervously as you lied. You weren’t curious about the cats, you were worried about how long Junkyu had to be hiding behind the thrash container if you stayed here any longer with Doyoung.

“I see. You want me to help you find them? I can help you,” he responded. Doyoung was already taking steps towards where Junkyu was hiding and you couldn’t help but panic on your own.

Which was why you ended up tugging his arm and making yourself accidentally trip and hit your head against his back.

“Ow!” the both of you said at the same time.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—” you apologised, your hand rubbing your head from the minor accident.

“Gosh Y/n, when Jihoon-hyung always complained about you being hard-headed, I didn’t expect him to be literal about it,” he chuckled as he rubs his back.

“I’m so sorry Doyoung, I—wait, what?? Jihoon said what about me??”

“Aish that’s nothing to worry about! You know he likes to joke about these things,” he grinned as he places a hand on your head.

“He better be joking,” you mumbled under your breath.

Doyoung smiled politely at you and moves his hand away from your head now.

“Well, are we still looking for your cats or—”

“NO!” you interrupted him, not intending to raise your voice though. Your eyes widened as you realise how rude you might have acted towards the younger boy in front of you.

“I-I mean…no….it’s okay! I’m sure they’re all full after being fed,” you tried to smile at him to not make him sense your suspicious behaviour.  “So…what brings you down here?” you tried to change the subject.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot. I was looking for Junkyu-hyung. You don’t happen to see him around here…do you?”

“What?” you stifled a fake laugh. “No way! What would Junkyu be doing here? Yeah, no, I haven’t seen him,”

“I see. Bummer. I was hoping to find him here. We’re all having dinner soon and the other hyungs were looking for him.”

“Aw, that’s unfortunate,” you said, feeling kinda bad that you lied to him; to his other friends too at this point.

“It’s alright, I guess he’ll come back to the dorm soon,” he smiled. “Are you heading back to your place too?”

“Uhh, yeah…I guess…”

“Alright. I’ll walk you there.”

“Huh? Oh no, there’s no need to—”

“Nonsense. I’m not gonna let a pretty girl walk home alone Y/n,” he said matter-of-factly, a serious look on his face.

“O-okay..”

Doyoung bent down once again to tie the loose shoelace on his left foot and you hurriedly took this chance to turn and look at Junkyu.

“I’m sorry, I gotta go. Be careful, okay?” you mouthed at him, slightly sad that you had to leave him alone like that.

Junkyu nods at you and mouthed back “it’s okay. I’ll text you later”

The both of you exchanged apologetic smiles at each other, and then you turned back to Doyoung who just got back on his feet again.

“Sorry, my shoelaces were loose,”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” You smiled at him. “Are you ready to go up now?”

“Yeah. Let’s go,”

“Okay,”

You were about to walk ahead of Doyoung when he slowly catches up to you and places an arm around your shoulder. “Hey, slow down, Y/n. Wait for me, I thought we’re walking up together,”

“We are. I’m just a little faster than you,”

“Naw hey don’t say that,” he grins at you as he catches up with your pace, his arm still around you.

The both of you took few steps towards the direction of the main entrance of the building, both your figures getting smaller in Junkyu’s view now that the both of you have left the thrash spot.

Junkyu got out from his hiding space and sighs to himself. Why does he put himself through all this? Why does he hide the fact that he was spending time with you from his friends? Why was he hiding you? It’s not like his friends don’t know you. It’s not like the both of you are a couple…right? Then what was he so afraid of?

 *

Treasure’s Dorm (Dorm #1 / Night)

Doyoung entered the house only to be greeted by Junkyu who looked like he just arrived minutes before Doyoung did.

“Hyung.” Doyoung greets him with a smile as he makes his way towards their kitchen to meet the rest of their group (only members from Dorm 1 and 2 were gathered here tonight).

Junkyu nods at Doyoung, acknowledging the younger member’s greeting in return.

He watched as his friend entered the kitchen before he decides to join them all as well.

“Hey, Doyoung’s back! Did you find Junkyu?” Jihoon said as soon as he sees the younger boy come in.

“Hey, yeah—”

And just in time, Junkyu showed up near the kitchen’s doorframe.

“Ah, so where did you find him?” Hyunsuk asked this time.

“What? Oh, no, I didn’t find Junkyu-hyung. He was already here when I got back,” Doyoung said as he gestured towards his hyung who was standing not far behind him.

“What?? You were already here all this time Junkyu-aa??” Jihoon asked in disbelief. “You should’ve said so, why didn’t you say anything?”

Junkyu shrugs at his friends. “Everyone looked so busy, I didn’t want to interrupt on anything,”

“Eyyy no way! I told you I’m bringing dinner over tonight! There’s nothing to be interrupted anyways!” Jihoon snickered as he walked towards his best friend to hang his arm around his neck now.

“Heyyy too close, too close,” Junkyu pushed his best friend’s arm further away from him.

“Aw come on! You never reject Mashi if he does this to you,” Jihoon whined.

“That’s ‘cause he does it in a non-creepy way—unlike you,” he responded, still trying to get Jihoon’s arm away from his neck.

Jihoon grinned and continued his attempt in teasing his best friend.

Meanwhile, Hyunsuk and the rest were getting ready to plate up the foods that were served on the table into their own plates.

“Hey hyung, you said you were just gonna check if Junkyu-hyung was down at the main thrash container earlier, but what took you so long?” Haruto asked Doyoung as he picks on a piece of tuna gimbap with his chopstick.

“Oh? Oh, right! I bumped into Y/n just now.”

Suddenly, Hyunsuk, Jihoon and Junkyu stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

Doyoung felt eyes were on him, so he looked up from the table and noticed his hyungs staring at him.

“Uhh…are you all okay?”

“We’re all good, nothing to worry about!” Jihoon chuckled as he removed his arm from Junkyu and proceeds to head towards the table to grab his own food.

Mashiho noticed Junkyu still standing near the doorframe, so he called out to his hyung, “Junkyu-hyung! Come here, come and get some food here,”

Junkyu blinked a couple times and smiled gently at his friend. He heads towards the table and picks up a plate for himself.

“S-so…you met Y/n, huh?” Hyunsuk asks slowly and carefully, almost as if he was stepping on thin ice.

“Yeah,” Doyoung answered, his hands continuing to pick up more food for his plate again. “I think she was feeding the stray cats down there. I saw her there and she said she was heading back up so I thought I might as well walk her home,”

“Aww that’s so nice of you, Doyoung-ah!” Yoshi beamed proudly at his dongsaeng’s gentleman behaviour.

“Yeah, I mean—obviously I’m not gonna let a pretty girl like her walk back alone,” Doyoung snickered before biting on his gimbap.

This earned him looks from his hyungs again.

“O-oh. I see. That’s good. That’s nice of you,” Hyunsuk replied shortly.

Junkyu, who was seated next to Mashiho now, frowned at what the younger boy said. He remembered how he saw Doyoung wrapping an arm around your shoulder earlier tonight and he thought that it was wrong for him to feel jealous about it but hearing Doyoung talking about you this way—he couldn’t help but feel like most of the maknaes in his group were smitten over you.

Jeongwoo, who had been quiet the whole time as he was busy eating his delicious foods, finally opened his mouth to ask, “Junkyu-hyung, can you hand me over the sauce packet beside you,”

Junkyu didn’t hear him the first time because our dear koala friend here was too busy running up thoughts in his own head.

“Hyung?” Jeongwoo asked again.

The rest of them too, now, raised their heads to look at Junkyu who seemed to be frowning at his plate and munching on the piece of gimbap in his mouth.

“Junkyu-hyung? Is everything okay?” Doyoung asked, slightly worried at seeing his hyung’s expression.

Again, still, Junkyu wasn’t listening.

“Hey, hyung—”

“No, you can’t take her away from me!” Junkyu blurted out unintentionally, his eyes widening when he realised what came out of his mouth.

His eyes met Doyoung’s and immediately he felt his ears burning with embarrassment. Junkyu quickly got up from his chair, mumbling about going to his room before he left them all in the kitchen.

The whole gang at the table exchanged confused looks with one another.

“I…I didn’t know Junkyu-hyung favoured that sauce this much…I guess I shouldn’t have asked from him…” Jeongwoo said, feeling bad that he might have offended his hyung for asking for the sauce that was beside him.

Mashiho shakes his head and extends his arm to pat the second maknae’s back.

“It’s alright Jeongwoo-aa. You can have some of mine,” Jihoon said as he stands up to pass over his sauce packet towards the maknae. “I’ll go check on Junkyu for a bit,” he added before leaving the kitchen as well.

Haruto lets out a soft sigh, only audible for him and Yoshi since they were both seated closely together. “Gosh, the Haenam air really did something to these hyungs, didn’t it?”

Yoshi nods his head silently in response.

 *

Treasure’s Dorm (Dorm #1 / Junkyu’s Room)

Jihoon knocked on the door couple times before letting himself inside, closing the door behind him after entering.

Junkyu was seated on his bed—the scene looked almost familiar, Jihoon thought. Almost like the time Junkyu had lashed out about you—but this time he had lashed out randomly during dinner.

“So…” Jihoon sighs, “…what gives?”

Junkyu raised his head to look at his best friend. He looked troubled.

“I…I’m sorry…I don’t know what came over me…”

“Well you better start thinking straight Junkyu. I don’t want this to be a thing—you lashing out on your possessiveness when it comes to Y/n,”

“I know, I know. I just—Wait. How did you know I was thinking about Y/n??”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow, as if his best friend had just asked him something stupid.

“Oh, please,” Jihoon scoffed as he makes his way towards Junkyu’s gaming chair, pulling it to face Junkyu before he sits down in the comfy swivel item.

“No, you can’t take her away from me??” Jihoon continued, making Junkyu cover his face in embarrassment. “Obviously you were talking about Y/n. As far as I know, Y/n is the only person that’s been making you all flustered this year,”

“Hey…don’t blame her…” Junkyu responded softly. Though he secretly agrees with Jihoon. He hasn’t been this much affected by girls until he’s met you.

“I’m not, I really am not blaming her.” Jihoon paused. “But really, what gives? If you like her so much, just make her your girlfriend or something,”

“Hyung!”

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

Junkyu kept quiet. He looked down at his hands.

“Why not? You obviously like her, as she does towards you.”

“I know that…I’m in love with her…”

“Exactly. And you’re gonna be lashing out towards anyone talking fondly over her because you know that you don’t exactly have a hold on her,”

Junkyu tilts his head as he looks at his hyung. “A hold over her?”

“Duhh, you’re insecure about losing Y/n. That’s why you go crazy when another guy or well; in your case, when another member speaks fondly of Y/n. It’s because she’s not your girlfriend. And you’re not her boyfriend either.”

“How does that make any sense??” Junkyu asked, confused.

“I mean, if everyone knew that you guys are dating or well are a ‘couple’, don’t you think people would have been more in-lined with what they say or do towards Y/n? And don’t deny what I’m saying Junkyu, I saw how you stared daggers at Junghwan when he went to hug Y/n the other day at our practice room,” Jihoon huffed, his arms crossed now.

“I--,” Junkyu shakes his head. “I can’t help it! He had his arm around her waist for like, an hour!”

“Oh stop exaggerating, it was only for 10 minutes!”

“Fine!” Junkyu lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine…”

“Look, I’m not forcing you to marry Y/n or something, heck—if you don’t want to be her boyfriend I have no issue with that too—” Jihoon added, making Junkyu’s eyes widen in panic at the thought of not making you his girlfriend by now.

“…I’m just saying, you should think of how you want things to be between you and Y/n. You don’t want to lose her? Make her yours. You don’t want other guys hitting on her? Then be upfront about your feelings for her. You know we all love you, right? And we’d respect who you want to be with, regardless if any of us likes her too.”

Junkyu nods his head slowly in response to what Jihoon has said.

Jihoon sighs again, “Besides, we all know very well that by the end of the day, it’s you who she’s smitten by,” he smirks.

Junkyu smiled a little. “Thanks, hyung. I needed to hear all that.”

“You know me. I’m good at these things,” Jihoon bragged as he pats his own chest.

“Hey hyung…”

“Yeah?”

“What you said…. does this mean…Hyunsuk-hyung will be alright if I straight up tell him that Y/n and I are dating…?”

“Well…I think…by the end of it all, he just wants you and Y/n to be happy,” Jihoon smiles gently at his best friend.

Junkyu smiled wider this time. He was glad he has someone like his Jihoon-hyung as his best friend. He knew that he could always count on Jihoon to cheer him up, to tell him things he wants to hear.

“Right.” Jihoon said as he got up from the chair he had been comfortably sitting on. “Let’s head back out and join the rest for dinner, shall we?”

Junkyu nods and got up as well, “Okay,”

 *

Time skip to a couple of days later—Junkyu was insistent on letting his friends know that you and him were already dating—despite the fact that the only dates the both of you had were only at your apartment or the main thrash container outside your apartments’ building. That too, wasn’t what he intends to have with you forever; he couldn’t imagine never taking you out on real dates, that would’ve been horrible.

Alas, Junkyu never got around to telling his friends about you and him. It just never seemed like the right time. He couldn’t possibly spring this topic up when they’re all in practice. What if the management finds out about this? As much as he wants the whole world to know that he’s in love with you, he wants to take it slow too. Slow as in letting his group members know about it first before you know—the rest of the world knowing about this.

And so, Junkyu has brought up about his concerns to you when he had another cuddle/tv watching session with you one particular night, and you listened to him, thinking of a plan to help him ‘announce’ your relationship with him.

“But are we really a couple though?” you asked him that night.

Junkyu froze in his seat that night. He wondered why you would ask him that. Did you not want to be his girlfriend? Did you not want to commit being with him? Were you just dating him to keep your options open??

“W-what are you saying? Of course we are a couple. Look at what we’re doing right now. We’re cuddling and nuzzling our noses against each other’s shoulders. Is that not what couples do??” Junkyu answered back.

You let out a sigh. You get his point. Of course you’d only be doing these kind of activities with someone you truly liked. But Junkyu didn’t catch your main point. He never asked you to be his girlfriend. He only implied the idea of you being his girlfriend. And it didn’t seem official to you at all.

“No, you’re right…It’s just…” you kept quiet for a moment, making Junkyu sitting up straight now, his attention fully on you. “Your main concern is that you only want people to know we’re both dating, right? Because only then you can keep your jealousy in check,” you wondered aloud.

Junkyu nods at this—STILL missing the point that he still isn’t making any affirmations of being your boyfriend nor you being his girlfriend.

“I see,” you said before turning back to face the tv, a little disappointed with his answer. Maybe you shouldn’t be hoping for too much too soon, you thought.

 Which brings us to today—a Friday noon, the day when you finished work half-day. You had planned to invite over the Treasure boys for dinner later that night, to give them the souvenirs you had brought back from Haenam and well, as per Junkyu’s planning as well—he had told you that tonight would also be the night he would let them know that the both of you are dating.

Wowee some big night, huh?

And so, you were heading back from your office, and going back to your usual routine, you have decided to stop over at the convenience store opposite the YGE Building to get your usual Ramen Fridays commenced.

You were right in front of the convenience store’s entrance when you felt your phone buzzing in your bag.

You fished your phone out of your bag to see Junkyu texting you.

 Message(s) (Junkyu and Y/n):

Junkyu: Heyo :3

Y/n: yes junkyu-ssi?

Junkyu: What’s with the formality ☹ did I do something wrong?

Y/n: Nooooo silly. I was just messing with you. How was your photoshoot today?

Junkyu: It was horrible.

Y/n: Oh nooo. What happened bb? ;-;

Junkyu: You never sent me your selca ☹

Y/n: Wait what??

Junkyu: You said that you’d send me your selca this morning but you never sent it…

Y/n: Junkyu…we’re meeting up tonight for dinner, remember?? You don’t need my selca

Junkyu: But I miss seeing your face…

Y/n: Junkyu. We just met 2 nights ago.

Junkyu: Okay then…I guess I’ll just stare at the picture Jihoon sent to me that one time

Y/n: ??? Jihoon doesn’t have pictures of me

Junkyu: You’d be surprised to know what pictures he keeps in his phone y/n

Y/n:….

Y/n: WAIT KIM JUNKYU WHAT KIND OF PICTURES DOES JIHOON KEEP AND HOW MANY OF THEM ARE PICTURES OF ME

Y/n: Junkyu???

 You realise that Junkyu was no longer online so you assumed he had gone back to his photoshoot by now.

You sighed to yourself, wondering what Junkyu meant about Jihoon keeping pictures in his phone. Does Jihoon have a secret folder in his phone’s gallery where he keeps pictures of everyone and blackmails everyone with it?

If that’s the case…then maybe you should’ve asked Junkyu to steal Jihoon’s phone and delete the folder. That way, everyone will be able to live in peace. You shake your head as you enter the convenience store now, greeting back the young cashier when you heard his usual welcome greeting.

The store was empty, having only you and the cashier in it. Just the way you liked it to be.

You were walking towards the aisle that shelves the ramen bowls and cups and you took your time to think which one you felt like having this afternoon.

It was around 7-8 minutes of you just standing and staring at the ramen choices in front of you when you finally narrowed down your choices to 2 ramens—in which you held each bowl in your hand as you argued in your hand which one you liked better.

The shrimp broth ramen in your left hand; and the spicy cheese ramen in your right hand.

Shrimp and soupy or cheese and spicy?

Shrimp or cheese?

Red or pink?

Shrimp or cheese shrimp or cheese shrimp or cheese—

You didn’t realise this but you were already frowning on your own as you kept on holding onto the two ramen bowls in your hands, still not being able to brain which one was to be your lunch today.

That is until a voice popped up behind you—

“Seriously Y/n, just get the shrimp one already,” the voice said—making you jump a little on your feet and almost dropping both the ramen bowls from your hold.

You turned around to see a well-dressed man with his dark hair parted in the middle and styled just how you liked it best, the fringe resting voluminously on the side of his face, although half of his face which was from his nose to his chin was covered by a black face mask.

“What are you doing here??” you asked in hushed voice, not knowing if it was safe for you to say his name since he was all dressed up.

His eyes lit up as you could tell he was grinning underneath the mask he was wearing as if he was amused by your cautiousness.

“What do you mean what I’m doing here? Obviously I came over to see you. Especially since you won’t send me your selca,” you could hear him pouting now.

You rolled your eyes at him. “You didn’t respond to my text,”

“I was busy convincing manager-hyung and the rest that I needed to get something from this convenience store, it wasn’t easy you know,”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I remember you telling me about your Ramen Fridays routine. I always want to remember the things you like, you know,” he responds.

You tilt your head as you took in Junkyu’s half-face that you’re seeing right now. His skin was glowing, eyebrows neatly filled in with a darker shade of colour, his eyelids touched with very pale coral-ish colour. Now, Kim Junkyu himself was already such a fine man on his own—but you couldn’t help but think of him as pretty when he was made up like this.

He was wearing a dark blue denim jacket, a white shirt inside, his black jeans accentuating his long legs, fitting his tall, model-like height.

You suddenly felt his finger poking your cheek, waking you up from your intense gawking.

“Don’t stare at me like that for too long, I know I look good today,” he said, his eyes smiling at your flustered expression.

“Gosh, someone’s really confident today,” you smirked in response, trying to change the topic.

“Of course, I look good today,” he repeated, and you could hear the proudness in his voice.

But you look good every day. That’s what you wanted to say. But okay maybe you’ll just keep that to yourself since he didn’t look like he needed the ego boost from you—obviously.

You kept the spicy cheese ramen bowl back on the shelf and turned to Junkyu, “Are you getting anything?”

He shakes his head in response to you.

“Okay then, I’m gonna go pay this up, okay? You can take a seat there first,” you point out a finger at one of the tables located not too far from the cashier’s counter.

“Okay,” Junkyu said as he heads towards where you had pointed.

You approached the counter, smiling at the familiar cashier as you took out your wallet from your bag, waiting for the cashier to scan your ramen bowl.

“By the way miss, we’re having a 1 plus 1 promotion for items listed on the menu here,” the cashier points towards the menu that was on the counter.

“Oh? 1 plus 1?”

“Yes, you can get any 2 of the items in this menu and pay it for a single price,”

“Oh wow, that sounds like a nice deal,”

“It is! You should try the grapefruit sparkling drink, it’s really tasty!” the cashier offered.

“Sure, I’ll take those then,” you grinned.

“Okay! Hang on, I’ll get you the cold ones from the chiller, since it tastes better cold,” the cashier said as he slides out of the cashier compartment to get you the cold drinks.

“Ahh, t-thank you!” you thanked him, feeling bad that he had to go get the drinks for you when he could’ve informed you to go take it yourself instead.

“It’s no worries,” he called out from the chiller not far behind you.

You were pulling out more change from your wallet now, adding in the charge for the drinks as well when the cashier returned with two cold bottles of grapefruit sparkling juice for you.

“Here you go! So your total now is $13.”

You handed him the money and thanked him again for his wonderful service.

“No problem! I always see you going here almost every week, so it’s nice to be of your assistance,” he smiled as he bowed slightly at you.

“Ah, I didn’t know you noticed,” you smiled back at him.

“You look really pretty today too, by the way,” the cashier added.

“O-oh. Thanks I guess—”

“Jagiyaaaaaa what’s taking you so longggggg?” you heard another voice whining not far from you.

You turned your head to your left, and surely enough, Junkyu had taken his mask off, a pout evident on his face.

“U-uh, here’s your receipt miss, thank you and enjoy your meal!” the cashier hurriedly hands you the paper receipt, noting the way Junkyu was side-eyeing him and not wanting to get into trouble with the much handsomer man that was waiting for you.

You thanked the cashier again and made your way towards the table where Junkyu had been waiting for you.

“What was that for?? And since when do you call me ‘Jagiya’” you frowned at him.

“Why? Did you not like it when I make it obvious that we’re dating?” he asked you back, his forehead creasing now.

You sighed. “Nooo it’s not like that. But you’re acting strange today,”

Junkyu folds his arms against his chest. “I dressed up nicely today, I wore make up, and still I can’t have your attention fully on me,”

“Kim Junkyu, you only dolled up today because you had a photoshoot today,”

He kept quiet. Then he opened his mouth to say, “Okay but still!”

You shake your head at him and opened one of the grapefruit juice before handing it to him.

“Here, you can have this one.”

“Thank you,” he said as he grabs onto the bottle, taking a sip from it right after.

“Oh, I need to get some hot water for the ramen,” you suddenly remembered.

You were about to get up from your seat when Junkyu’s hand grabbed your arm, making you stop.

“I’ll get it for you!”

You blinked a couple times at him. “S-sure…Thank you…”

“No biggie,” he smiled his cute smile at you, making you blush.

You didn’t know this but the sole reason Junkyu was eager to get the hot water for you was because he saw the cashier going towards the hot water machine as well. He didn’t want you to carry on another conversation with the cashier and leaving him alone all over again like just now. Not when he’s still around.

When Junkyu came back, he placed your ramen bowl onto the table, the both of you staying quiet as you both waited for the ramen to soften.

But the quiet didn’t last long. You were the one who broke it first as you asked, “So, how long are you allowed to stay out here?”

“Around 30 minutes?”

“Ooohhh that’s not too bad,”

Junkyu nods at this. He watches as you peeked into the ramen bowl now, your hand holding onto a pair of chopsticks and mixing the seasoning into the bowl, the smell of the shrimp broth floating in the air around the both of you.

“So, what do want for dinner tonight?” you asked as you continued stirring the noodles, your eyes fixed on the bowl in front of you.

“Hm? For dinner?”

“The rest of the boys are coming over tonight, right? We’re…telling them about us…tonight?” you asked him, your head raised in his direction now.

Junkyu nods his head firmly. “Yup! And then I won’t have to worry about people flirting with you anymore,” he huffs.

You giggled at this. “You’re funny. No one’s flirting with me, Junkyu. Your friends won’t do that to me, you know that too,”

“I’ll see it when I believe it,” he said sarcastically, making you extend your hand to gently pinch his arm; the both of you smiling at each other right after.

And then suddenly, you both heard the convenience store’s doors opening, a person entering the store, footsteps all quick and in a rush, heading towards where you both are.

“AH HAH! I CAUGHT YOU BOTH RED HANDED!” the boy said, slightly panting, as if he had just run a marathon.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me…” Junkyu muttered to himself, although you could hear him.

“Okay, fine, you caught me,” you raised your hands, sighing. “What are you doing here anyways??”

You stopped in your tracks. You were standing right in front of the elevator in the lobby now.

You let out a sigh as you entered the opening doors, letting it shut slowly as you stared into space.

The both of you like each other, you and Junkyu. You both had several good times together in Haenam. Well, before that too of course.

But today…Junkyu was just being ice cold to you. What got into him?

He likes you, you like him. Nay, you’re both in love with each other. A stronger feeling towards each other—that’s what it is. But you both aren’t boyfriend or girlfriend.

Then what are we?

Just casually dating one another?

Friends who are in love with each other?

You stepped out of the elevator once it arrived on your floor, your thoughts still running wild on your status with Junkyu.

You let out a tiny gasp just as a random thought popped into your head.

What if…what if Junkyu was just treating you as a casualty?

You shook your head at the thought. That can’t be it, right? Junkyu doesn’t seem to be the type to fool around with girls…right?

Taking in a deep breath, you try to distract yourself from that tall friend of yours.

Alas—your thoughts on him went back into the back of your head as soon as you see a familiar figure standing outside your front door as you got closer to your home.

“Junkyu?” you asked, afraid that your eyes might be fooling you.

The tall, fair-skinned guy turned his head towards you, previously looking down at the phone in his hand.

His dark brown, bright orbs stared into yours as he watches you slowly approaching him now.

“What are you doing here?” You asked again.

“I just wanted to see you,” he shrugs, his spongey voice a little deeper from his serious tone.

“O-oh,”

You blinked several times, wondering what made him come all the way to your place.

“Are you just gonna stand there and not invite me in?” He asked this time, startling you from your thoughts.

“A-ah! Right! I uh, hold on, I’ll key in the passcode,” you stuttered now as you frantically head towards the pinned lock beside your front door.

You had your back facing Junkyu so while you were clumsily unlocking your front gate and door, you couldn’t see Junkyu trying to hold onto his smile as he watches you panic on your own.

And as soon as you entered your house, you hurriedly move aside to let Junkyu enter after you.

Junkyu was back to being expressionless the moment the both of you were facing each other again.

You don’t know why, but Junkyu acting all quiet and distant was somehow making you feel awkward.

What’s gotten into this guy? Why is he all cold today?? Geez, no one told you that a snowstorm was waiting for you when you got back from Haenam.

“Uhh, come, let’s sit in the living room,” you said as you led him there, even though you’re pretty sure he knows where your living room is; given that he’s been here before and the fact that it was obvious your living room was directly facing your front door’s entrance area.

You placed your bag onto the sofa in your living room, with Junkyu following behind you.

As soon as you turned back to face him, he was looking elsewhere.

You let out a sigh. Well damn, fine, you’ll do the talking then.

“I’ll get you something to drink,”

“So it’s just like that?” his voice stopped you before you could head towards the kitchen.

“What?” you asked, barely whispering since you were confused as f*ck on what he was talking about.

“So it’s just like that…? No hugs? No…’I missed you’, ‘How are you doing?’, or ‘Junkyu you look good today’?”

You were fully facing him now. His eyes stayed looking at his feet as he spoke.

“Huh. It’s like you forgot who you like over a day of being away from me. What, did you fall in love with Junghwan after he hugged you today?”, he continued bitterly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

You fold your arms across your chest, your lips pursing after listening to what he said.

Junkyu pouts at your lack of response towards him now so he decided to look up at you just to see if you were even looking at him while he was talking.

He was surprised to see you pursing your lips, a half-smile slowly forming on your face.

“Y-yah. I was being serious, why do you look like you’re about to laugh at what I said?”

This time, you smiled at him. Junkyu felt his heart flutter at seeing your pretty smile; like how it always does.

“Oh Junkyu,” you said as you shake your head at the confused, pouting guy.

“W-what? I’m mad at you, if you don’t notice by the way,” he added, though he was already a little flustered from your reaction.

You let out another sigh, this time your smile still on your face. You approached him immediately-- wraping your arms around his waist, and then resting the side of your head against his chest.

This time you could hear his heart beating fast.

“Y-yah. What are you d-doing?”

Junkyu was too stunned by your action, confused as well on why you were suddenly hugging him—not that he hated it though, it just caught him off guard.

“I miss you,” you said softly, making Junkyu’s ears heat up from your words of affection.

“How are you doing…?” you asked him. Slowly releasing your arms from him, you lift your head to look at him in the eye—keeping eye contact with him for a good 2 seconds before saying; “You look good today, Junkyu-aa,”

Junkyu was blushing hard from embarrassment and from how you were staring at him intently with your pretty brown eyes. You were repeating what he was complaining about.

He wanted you to say all these to him but the moment you did everything; all at once—he realised he couldn’t handle it. It was too much for him. You were making him insanely nervous from all the affection you’re giving him.

“Hm? I thought you wanted me to say all these?” you teased as you noticed him tensing up in front of you.

“Stop that! You’re just making fun of me!” He whined now; his cheeks still pink from your teasing. His eyes averted yours, not wanting you to charm him any further.

You took a step back from him, giving him his personal space back as you giggled, “Oh Junkyu. I didn’t know you’d be the jealous type,”

“I’m not jealous! I was just…” his voice faded. He looked to the side now, not knowing how to explain what he was feeling.

“Ahuh, sure,” you fold your arms against your chest, still smiling.

“You know, if you hadn’t come over acting all jealous like this…I would’ve had a change of heart from how cold you treated me today,” you continued.

This made Junkyu’s head snap back in your direction. “What? Why, is there someone else you like too? Is it Hyunsuk-hyung? No, wait--,” he gasped out loud, “ARE YOU REALLY CONSIDERING ON FALLING FOR JUNGHWAN INSTEAD OF ME NOW?”

Hearing Junkyu’s voice raising and seeing his nostrils flare from his ‘not jealous’ mode made you burst out laughing.

Junkyu was even more confused now that you’re laughing out loud at what he said. Was he a joke to you??? He didn’t say anything funny, did he??

“Junkyu, stop it!” you laughed. Your hand reached out to grab his, and you intertwine your fingers with him. “I like you, of course I do. In fact, I’m in love with you, you know that,”

“Hmph. Sure.” He said sulkily.

“I’m serious! Oh gosh, you’re really funny,” you giggled. “Stop being jealous of Junghwan, you know I care about him. He’s like my baby brother,”

Junkyu pulls his hand away from your hold. “Sure, as for now. Next thing—you’ll be crushing on his broad shoulders and veiny arms,”

You rolled eyes at him. “Kim Junkyu, look at me.”

Junkyu looks at your face again now, you’re no longer laughing or giggling like before.

“Have faith in me, in us. I like you, and you like me. Besides…” you tapped one side of his shoulder. “These shoulders are broad enough to my liking—so stop being jealous over anyone in your group, please?”

Junkyu pouts at you. Great now you’re making him promise not to be jealous over his friends. Okay but he could try…

“Fine, I promise,” he surrendered to your pleading eyes.

This made you smile again at him. “Okay there you go! Now, can we get over this sappy drama and get some drinks from the kitchen? I’m thirsty now,”

“Okay,” Junkyu nods at your idea. He followed you into your kitchen, slowly a smile formed on his lips. He was glad he decided to meet you up after work. At least he knows that you still liked him. In fact, he was hoping for you to like him and only him for a long, long time.

 *

Treasure’s Dorm #1 (Hyunsuk, Yoshi, Haruto and Junkyu)

After spending a good whole two hours at your place, Junkyu figured that his dormmates might be looking for him if he went out too long, so after spending some cuddling session with you as you both watched your TV and making commentaries throughout the film, Junkyu heavy-heartedly wished you good night and returned to his dorm which was 10 floors above yours.

Though he was sad he had to part with you—in which he wished he could spend more time with you; he reached his dorm with his heart feeling warm and fuzzy from being close with you all over again.

Junkyu entered his dorm, taking off his shoes and entering the living room when he saw Yoshi and Hyunsuk sitting on the floor.

It seems like Hyunsuk was working on a new Lego project, and Yoshi was helping him out.

“Oh? Welcome back, Junkyu!” Yoshi greeted him as he looked up from the pieces of lego on the floor.

Hyunsuk too, lifts his head to look at his friend that just got home.

“Oh? You’re home. Where were you?” the leader asked.

“Oh…nowhere…I uh, was just hanging at a friend’s,” Junkyu shrugged. He didn’t know why he lied. He could’ve just said he was over at your place, right?

But knowing how Hyunsuk feels about you, he felt like it wasn’t his place to hurt his own friend’s feelings.

“Ahh I see. Hey! Wanna see the new Lego build collection I bought? It’s crazy cool!” Hyunsuk said excitedly now.

“Uhh no thanks. I uh, I’m just gonna head to my room,” with that Junkyu bowed slightly towards his hyungs after he answered them swiftly.

He immediately left them, leaving them both confused with his response.

“Huh, he’s probably just tired,” Yoshi shrugs. “Quick, hyung! Hand me over that piece,”

“Maybe…” Hyunsuk wondered aloud as he hands over the piece Yoshi wanted. “Hey…who do you think was the person Junkyu hung out with, though?”

“I’m not sure either, hyung. Though it’s rare to see him hanging over at someone’s place—especially he’s the toughest person to leave his own room,”

 *

The next day.

You got into work the next day, all ready to receive tasks and just literally mull yourself over the piled-up paperwork on your desk.

A sigh escaped your lips as soon as you placed your bag on the edge of your desk—your hand pushing the heavy pile of files towards the other end of the table.

I’ve already switched positions, haven’t I? why are they still shoving these paperwork stuff onto your table though? Do they not have any other staff to help them out?

And to think you’ve been working in your new team for a month now. Sure, words spread fast about you being the only staff who was underqualified for your job but news about you being in a new team hasn’t been spread? Just how does news spread around here??

You shake your head as you pulled out the thin folder on top the paperwork pile on the left side of your desk now.

Some presentation notes that needed proofreading. Pfft. They could’ve done this themselves, no? You wouldn’t be complaining if it was still your job to handle all the paperwork for other staff like before, but now, you have other things to do.

You’re in the Comms’ Team! Your leader is Soomin! You should be handling matters regarding your company’s clients, not check on everyone else’s work like as if you’re their class teacher.

But then, as your mind nagged about all this, your hand still worked on the paper, underlining mistakes and writing down comments and corrections.

You were working pretty diligently too despite not wanting to do what you weren’t meant to do. In fact, you were working so hard at getting rid of the tall pile on your desk, you didn’t realise Soomin standing beside your chair, watching you for some time now.

You huffed out a heavy breath as you placed the completed paper on the rest of the completed pile on your right, your hand already getting ready to grab another one from your left when a voice startled you.

“Oh gosh, just how much longer do I have to wait for you notice me standing right here??” You heard Soomin groan, making you stop your movements.

“S-Soomin-unnie!”

“That’s right. Now you notice me,”

You smiled apologetically towards her. “I’m sorry, I was just so focused on getting these loads done—”

“What are those anyways? I don’t remember assigning anything to you yet,” her hand probed around the papers on your desk.

“Oh, uh, these are the materials and files I uh, usually proofread for the other staff before they use it,” you responded, your cheeks heating up as you realised once again that you should have reported yourself to Soomin first, asking her if she had any work up for you before you get to working on your own delayed tasks.

“Uhm I don’t think you should be doing it anymore,”

“What? No, no. I mean, I don’t think I do…but with me joining your team, who’s gonna work on these files then?”

“Duhh, they can just do it on their own. You’re not their backup system anymore, Y/n! Now come, head on over to my desk so I can assign you to something you’re supposed to be doing,”

“Ah, but—”

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Soomin insisted as she grabbed your wrist to help you out of your seat. You followed suit behind her soon, heading towards her desk not too far from yours.

“Oh and y/n, don’t worry about those pile on your desk. I’ll send out a memo to everyone to have them collect their files back. That’s not your job anymore, get it?” you heard your leader say in front of you, her voice firm and clear.

“O-okay, Soomin-ssi.”

 *

PEWA Groups (Meeting Room 1 / a while later)

“Okay so now that we’re clear on the clients you’ll be in charge of contacting for our next Comms Team merge workshop, I have another job for you,” Soomin said as she opened the door to the meeting room she had led you to, letting you enter first before her.

You complied and entered the room, her closing the door behind the both of you not long after.

You turned around to face her, wondering why she had brought you to the meeting room, when instead she could have just told you what your next task would be at her desk like before.

“You ready to hear this next task? Or is the first one too much already? I mean, I really don’t want to burden you too much,” Soomin asked, genuinely worried if she was putting too much on your shoulders when you just got back from a bad incident last week.

“I think I’ll be fine, unnie,” you smiled at her. “It’s okay, just tell me what it is,”

“Alrighty then. Here goes,” she takes a deep breath before continuing, “So I’ve kind of discussed this with Mr Bae and I think he was sort of worried if I gave this task to you—but! I’ll just run it by you quickly to see if you’re up for it, okay?”

You nod at her, curiosity increasing now that you notice your team leader looking nervous, as if she was gonna hand over to you a life-death task.

“Okay so uh, you know how you used to help tutor or should I say train some of our older staff back then? Yeah okay so since you’re in my team now, I wanted you to be in charge of our interns now—so you know, guide them, train them to do tasks alongside with you—”

“Oh, I didn’t know we take in interns? Huh, I must’ve missed out on this throughout the time I worked here,” you wondered aloud.

“Oh no! No, no. We only recently took in interns. In fact, we only have one so far…as of now,” she smiled nervously. “It’s sort of a new thing I suggested for our company, and since I was the one whom suggested it, Mr Bae thought it’s best if our team handles the new internship program we have,”

“Aww! That’s nice! That’s so nice of you unnie! You suggested for an internship program for our company,” you said in awe, feeling proud of your leader.

“Ahuh, yup, and well? Would you mind being in charge of the intern this time around?”

“Aw hey, no problem! You know I don’t mind. Besides, I’m pretty sure you have plenty on your plate too,” you extend your arm to pat your leader on her shoulder, assuring her that asking for your help was no biggie at all. In fact, if anything, your leader was the one who had helped you most especially after the incident you had at YGE.

“Whew, that’s a relief,” Soomin huffed out as she smiles at you. “Since you’ve agreed, I think your intern will be very happy too,”

“Yeah? Do I know—”

Your words hung in the air when you felt a pair of hands covering your eyes from behind you.

“Yay, Y/n! I’m so glad you agreed to be my supervisor!” the familiar voice said as you felt his presence standing closely behind you now.

 *

Treasure and Y/n’s Apartment Block (Night time)

Dorm #1

“Ayyyy we’re here! Bring out the hot stuff!” Jihoon exclaims as he entered through the front door along with his dorm members tagging behind him, all making loud noises as well.

Haruto shook his head as he watches his friends enter his dorm as if they were entering a party.

“Aigoo, what are you all being so loud for Jihoon-aa,” Hyunsuk nags at them all as soon as they all gathered in the living room.

“And why are you wearing shades in the house at night??” Hyunsuk pointed out when he noticed Jihoon wearing the sunglasses above his nose.

Haruto and Yoshi giggled when they noticed this too.

Jihoon takes off his shades and tosses it at Jeongwoo beside him, making the younger boy failing to catch it in time, the sunglasses falling to the floor.

Mashiho sighs as he watches the scene in front of him. “I’m just saying this—I have no idea why Jihoon-hyung is behaving this way today. He’s been acting weird ever since he got back from Haenam to be honest,”

“Hey hey—don’t disobey me. You’re part of my crew here,” Jihoon points at Mashiho.

Mashiho smirks and shrugs at his hyung.

“Huh, must be the Haenam air huh? Junkyu-hyung and Hyunsuk-hyung has been acting strange too lately,” Haruto points out, his arms crossed now.

“H-hey! I wasn’t acting weird!” Hyunsuk responds.

“No offense hyung but you stare into space a lot lately,” Yoshi said, adding to what Haruto has said regarding Hyunsuk.

Jihoon frowns at this. This was why he wanted to visit his hyung tonight. He had notice Hyunsuk being solemn ever since he’s seen you and Junkyu at that stupid potato field. Stupid potato field that they shouldn’t have gone to in the first place; he thought. He wanted to make sure his hyung was coping with his heartbreak fine, but clearly Hyunsuk hasn’t been okay. Even during practice, he seemed quiet and distant with them all.

“O-okay but I’m just tired from the trip that’s all. You kids shouldn’t worry about me too much,” Hyunsuk said to them, not wanting to burden his dongsaengs.

Jihoon lets out a sigh. “Sure, hyung. You’re ‘okay’.”

“Oh wait, where’s Junkyu-hyung?” Doyoung asks, finally opening his mouth when he noticed there was one member missing in the dorm.

“Oh, right. Junkyu offered to take out the thrash just now.” Hyunsuk answered.

“Huh, that’s weird. He’s been gone for a while now,” Haruto said.

“Nah, maybe the thrash shoot has a problem and he had to throw it outside the block,”

“What? No way. I just took out our thrash before we came over here. The thrash shoot on our floor is fine,” Doyoung chuckled at what Haruto said.

Hyunsuk furrowed his eyebrows. “What? He couldn’t have gotten lost, could he?? He’s done this plenty times.”

“Maybe he stopped by at the other dorm?” Mashiho assumes, noticing everyone looking worried in the living room. “He might have gone to visit Yedam and the rest, no?”

“Huh, maybe…”

“Ookay, let’s just heat up our dinner, shall we?” Yoshi suggested, making everyone turn their attention to him.

“Sure,” Hyunsuk smiled, although he couldn’t help but really wonder where his other introverted friend had gone to.

 *

Treasure and Y/n’s Apartment Block (Night time)

“Junkyu stop! I told you not to feed them again,” you whined for the third time. You were busy tending to a few cats on your own too and you couldn’t seem to stop Junkyu from over-feeding the rest that were with him.

Junkyu had initially left his dorm to throw their thrash out but he also kinda knew that it was the time you would usually go down to the main trash container outside their block to feed the stray cats there. You had told him so during one of your chats with him some time ago.

He was supposed to just throw his dorm’s thrash down the shoot on their floor but noooo he wanted to try his luck to see if he could bump into you.

And he was delighted that when he had approached the main trash container, you were crouched on the ground, softly talking to the cats and pouring out foods for them in small metal bowls lined up in front of you.

And here you both are—15 minutes later, both feeding the cats and making small talk as if you both haven’t seen each other the day before or as if you both hadn’t texted each other all day at all.

Junkyu looked up from the cats that were munching on the extra food he had given them, smiling his cute gummy smile at you. “I can’t help it, they’re so adorable!”

“Yes, but we don’t want them to over-eat and get sick too,” you nagged at him, to which he responded with a pout.

You shook your head, hating the fact that whenever he pouts at you, you would instantly stop nagging—only because you wanted to pinch his cheeks instead.

“Hey…have you had dinner?” you asked, now that your feeding session was done; with Junkyu’s help of course.

“Not yet. Jihoon-hyung said he was gonna bring food over so maybe I’ll eat with them later,”

“That’s nice,” you smiled.

“What’s next?” Junkyu asked, now that he was already standing on his feet.

You too, got up to stand as well.

“That’s it, really. We just feed them and then I’ll gather the bowls so I can bring them up to wash at my place,”

“Oh? Are you gonna head back now?”

“Yeah…I guess…” you answered him.

Junkyu lets out a soft sigh. He stepped up closer to you, his height looming over you. “I wish I could spend more time with you…” he said softly.

You giggled at this. “Gosh Junkyu, you make it seem like we’re in a long-distanced relationship,”

“But we are!” he groaned out loud. “We barely can go out and have normal dates, we can’t hold hands in public, we can’t even ki—” he stopped himself, his hand covering his mouth before he could complain any further.

He felt his cheeks and ears heating up. Did you hear him?? He almost said the word kiss.

The both of you haven’t had your first kiss with each other and here he was whining about it as if he had missed out on your kisses all this while.

When he finally locked eyes with you, he noticed you looking at him awkwardly, your body stiff and not moving. Damn it. You must have heard him.

Damn it, Y/n must think of me as a perv now; he groaned to himself.

What he doesn’t know is that, you were blushing to yourself too. You could tell that he had wanted to say the word ‘kiss’, and that made you shy because it reminded you of the time he had confessed to you and how close you both were to kissing each other—that was until you laughed in his face of course.

You pulled yourself out of your trance, clearing your throat and trying to think of a way to change the subject because obviously you couldn’t stand like a statue out in this chilly weather any longer.

“W-well, that’s it then. We just h-have to plan out a proper date then next time. So we can have more time together,” you stammered bravely, mentally noting that this probably sounds like you’re asking him out on date.

Junkyu nods his head profusely, his cheeks red but at the same time his heart beating fast from hearing you asking him out.

The both of you exchanged shy gazes, slowly smiling at each other.

“Wanna head up now?” he asked you softly, holding his hand out for you to hold.

“Okay,” you nod, your smile still beaming.

You were this close to grabbing his hand in yours when you heard a familiar voice making you freeze in your stance.

“Junkyu-hyung? Heyy hyung-aa! Are you out here??” the voice yelled from afar.

“Oh? Isn’t that Doyoung?” you asked, only noticing that Junkyu was already hiding behind one of the trash containers, completely out of plain sight—unless anyone was standing in the spot you were at.

“Junkyu?” you turned around to call out to him, confused as to why he was hiding.

“Oh? Y/n?? Is that you?” Doyoung’s voice appeared not far behind you now, startling you and making you drop the metal bowls in your hand to the concrete ground.

Chani shakes his head in response to your question. 

“No. You left me behind! I told you I was going to the restrooms, and when I got out, BAM you were gone!”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “But…you didn’t ask me to wait for you or anything–I mean, when we got off work, we were already heading down the stairs when you suddenly told me you had to use the restrooms. I– What was I supposed to make out of that??”

“That I wanted you to wait for me??” Chani stated obviously.

You could only shake your head this time around.

“--and imagine how i feel, after finally tracking you down, to find you sitting here and being all giggly with this dude!” he added, a hand pointing towards Junkyu now.

“Wow, hey, don’t get all cranky. You’re ruining our date,” Junkyu said, frowning.

“Wha–? Date??” Chani looks at Junkyu in disbelief. He turns his attention to you, hoping that you’d tell him Junkyu was just joking with him.

However the only response he got from you was just a sigh. 

It’s almost as if the universe didn’t want you to eat your ramyeon in peace.

“Okay Chani, what exactly do you need,” you asked the wide-eyed, curly haired fellow in front of you again.

Chani fell quiet. His eyes darted from you to Junkyu, and then from Junkyu to you again. He was trying to process what was going on here. Are the both of you really…dating?

Junkyu noticed the quiet boy’s eyes staring from you to him a couple of times, as if he’s just gotten pranked.

–In which Junkyu decided it’s best if he said something. “I don’t know what you’re so flabbergasted on the fact that we’re dating– you probably have a hard time believing this too– but I have one question for you,”

This made Chani turn his attention back towards Junkyu.

“How…did you know Y/n was here?”

“Well,” the younger boy shrugs. “When I left the office…I figured Y/n could’ve been on her way back home so I asked Soomin-ssi where she lived and well, as I was following the route she sent me, I passed by this store and noticed Y/n and you from the glass window out there and well–”

“You barged in here and started making a scene. Okay, we got it,” Junkyu interrupted him.

Chani scowled at the handsome and made-up boy in front of him. 

“So, what gives? Are you both really dating?” he asks, bitterness clear in his voice.

Junkyu and you exchanged brief looks with one another before looking back at Chani.

“Well…” you started to say.

“...yeah,” Junkyu finished your sentence for you.

“No way…” Chani said, his voice softer now.

“Chani…” you said.

Chani didn’t let you speak, instead he asked again, “So you’re Junkyu-hyung’s girlfriend now?”

Both Junkyu and you answered at the same time, “Yes” – “No”

There was a moment of silence after the both of you answered Chani’s question.

Junkyu and you immediately turned to look at each other, shock written on both of your faces.

“Ahah! I knew it! You guys were just messing around with me!” Chani said happily. “You guys are just probably trying out this ‘dating’ thing, right?”

“I- well,” you couldn’t answer him. Because now you’re even more confused as to what you and Junkyu are.

Chani smiles at you, “Don’t worry Y/n! If dating Junkyu-hyung doesn’t work out, I’m right here for you,” he beams as he reaches out his hand to pat your head.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to your…’date’ then,” the younger boy snickered before turning to leave. “I’ll see you next week then, Y/n!” he adds before walking away.

Junkyu and you kept quiet as the both of you watched Chani leave the store, his figure slowly disappearing out of sight as he went back towards the route he took earlier.

You looked down at the ramen bowl in front of you. You were so caught up with Chani that you had forgotten about your ramen.

Your hand reached for your chopsticks, wanting to get back to eating your probably-already-soggy ramyeon when Junkyu’s voice startled you–

“No…? You’re…not my girlfriend?” he asks, his voice barely audible, him sounding as if he was confused with his own question.

You placed your chopsticks down again. “Yes? I’m your girlfriend now?” you shot back at him.

You see, when Chani had asked if you were Junkyu’s girlfriend, you had answered ‘No’ whereas Junkyu had answered ‘Yes’.

This was confusing to you as it was to Junkyu, to be honest.

Because before this when the both of you had discussed your relationship status, Junkyu had never verbally addressed you as his girlfriend–not to mention ‘asking’ you to be his girlfriend. He was on the ‘dating’ train all the way– from what you know of.

And now, suddenly, in front of Chani, you are his girlfriend?? Did you miss out on something??

“What do you mean by ‘now’?? And what do you mean when you tell Chani that you're not my girlfriend??” Junkyu asked you, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“What? No, Junkyu, you’re the one that’s confusing me right now. I don’t understand what you want from me– from us,”

“No no, it’s clear to me that you want to appear single and available to Chani, don’t you? Besides, how is he still leeching onto you even after you have ended your course with our company??”

“He’s the new intern at my company that I told you about! I’m his supervisor! I told you this before,”

Junkyu scoffs, “No you didn’t. You were probably enjoying the attention he’s been giving you at work then huh,”

“Kim Junkyu, don’t you dare make assumptions. I remember vividly telling you about Chani being the new intern at my company,”

“No! All you said whenever you talked about the new intern was ‘the new intern’, ‘the intern’ ‘so today our intern brought us all coffee’-- if i had known you had been talking about Chani, I wouldn’t have spared an ear to listen to what he’s been doing at your company.”

You frowned hard at what he said. “Hey! I only left out his name in our conversations because the first time I mentioned his name when I told you I was assigned to be his supervisor, you told me you didn’t like hearing his name coming out of my mouth!”

“Oh so all you did was dismiss his name but you still talked about him all the time!”

“Oh, so I can’t talk about what I do at work and with whom I work with now??”

“I don’t mean that! I just–” Junkyu paused when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket.

He checked on the text messages his leaders had sent him.

“I gotta go…” he sighs, his voice soft. “I’ll just…I’ll see you tonight,” he said,not even sparing a  glance at you as he got up to leave.

You watched as he left, his back never even turned to say goodbye to you, or heck, to even smile at you.

Your head felt heavy all of a sudden. What was that all about? Have you and Junkyu got into a big fight? Are you both…going to break off whatever you both are having right now?

You swallowed the lump you felt in your throat. You tried to focus back on eating your ramyeon instead of thinking about what just happened, but you couldn’t help but feel sad as to how big of a fight you both had gotten into.

You opened the lid of your over-soaked ramyeon. A sigh escapes your lips. You don’t even feel like eating anymore.

***

Y/n’s Apartment (Nighttime)

Fast forward to the night itself, you were in the kitchen, heating up the casserole that you had prepared when you got back earlier in the afternoon.

The juicy smell of the roasted chicken casserole floated in the air, making you salivate at the thought of the delicious flavours about to hit your taste pallete later when the boys arrived.

‘Ding dong’

You heard the doorbell ring, just as you were placing the heated-up dish onto your dining table.

“Just a sec! I’ll be there soon!” you half-yelled, not sure if they could hear you though.

And well, maybe they didn’t hear you at all then because as you were on your way to the front door, the sound of your passcodes being entered into the system reached your ears.

And then the front door was opened, revealing Jihoon’s cheeky smile as he catches you with your hands on your hips the moment his head pops in the entrance of your home.

“Aigoo, is that really how you’re planning to greet your guests?” he teased, placing his hands on his hips as well to mock you.

“Whatever Park Jihoon, just hurry up and enter so the rest can come in too,” you rushed him.

Jihoon smiles as he hurries his steps towards where you’re standing, greeting his members to come inside now–as if it was his home instead of yours.

Now, you would’ve been nagging this tall boy beside you but your breath got caught when you saw Junkyu entering, his eyes avoiding yours.

You wanted him to at least say hi to you…

But maybe he’s still upset about the fight you both had earlier today.

You let out a quiet sigh and continued to greet the rest of the boys as they entered your home one by one, almost like they were doing a class visit; in which you couldn’t help but to snicker over.

Even Hyunsuk greeted you directly, giving you a brief hug as he passed by you, to which you breathed in relief that he was beginning to warm up to you again.

Ah but of course the rest of the younger boys huddled over you–

“Noona! How are youuuuu” Junghwan dragged his words as he wraps his arms around you, hugging you close to him.

“Aw come on Junghwan, don’t keep her all to yourself,” Yedam complained as he tried to make eye contact with you, wanting to greet you as well.

Junghwan pouts as he lets go of you, as you smile at the rest of the maknae line that are standing in front of you now.

“Alright alright, enough with the greetings. Let’s head to the kitchen!” you said.

You were halfway entering the kitchen when you stopped to look at all 12 of them again.

“Well, uhh maybe not all of you can exactly fit in here…it’ll be quite cramped,” 

“Pshh it’s fine Y/n. It’s not like we’re not used to crowded kitchens,” Haruto assured you.

“Fine.” you stepped one foot into the kitchen. “Oh, uhh, Junkyu? Could you lend me a hand?” 

You could feel your heart beating fast just by singling him out of the rest. You wanted him to stay by your side in the kitchen– only ‘cause it would be easier for the both of you to make the ‘announcement’ if you both were standing side by side, you thought.

“S-sure,” Junkyu responds as he makes his way through his friends to join you entering the kitchen ahead of the rest.

***

In the kitchen, the boys started helping you out– some just taking their chances at tasting every bit of the food you had prepared.

You and Junkyu were at the stovetop, both monitoring the potatoes and veggies that you were making final touches on, Jihoon and Hyunsuk were helping picking out the plates and cutleries for everyone, Asahi and Jeongwoo were busy choosing which drinks to serve out for dinner since they weren’t sure which drinks would suit tonight’s menu– it’s either the grape juice, cola or the sparking peach-flavoured drink that you seem to have too plenty of in the refrigerator.

Mashiho and Yoshi were watching over the dishes that you had already prepared prior to them arriving– not wanting anyone to poke at them since Mashiho had caught Junghwan dipping his finger into one of the sauces to have a quick taste of the food.

Yedam and Doyoung were leaning against the wall near the entrance of the kitchen, just casually chatting and waiting to see if anyone needed their help whereas Haruto and Jaehyuk were busy giggling with one another as they keep exchanging their phones in their hands to show each other the jokes and posts they find funny online.

To be honest it felt nice for you to have this kind of atmosphere in your home. It’s been a while since you had all 12 of them visiting anyways. This reminded you of the time when you all first met and hung out with each other.

You smiled to yourself as you stirred the simmering veggies in front of you.

Junkyu, who was closely beside you noticed you smiling and he elbowed you gently, making you turn your attention to him.

“Hey, what’s up?” you asked him.

“Nothing, you were smiling to yourself. I wanna know what made you smile like that too,”

“Oh? Oh, it’s nothing big. It’s just…i’m having a nice time right now…” you said softly, still smiling gently.

Junkyu wanted to pull you into his arms and hug you tightly close to him just seeing you being so soft right now but he couldn’t because everyone else was in the room with you both right now.

Oh screw it, he thought. If Junghwan can wrap his arms around you and not have the others complaining about it– he could too, no??

And so, Junkyu, braved himself to ignore the fact that the both of you weren’t alone like when he came over for his usual visits to your place– as he slowly slipped his arm around your waist and leaned down to nuzzle his nose against your head.

You were so used to his affectionate gestures when it was just you and him that you didn’t even realise you were responding to his action as you usually do, in which you leaned your head against his arm as he hums softly beside you.

The both of you sighed softly, feeling glad that the tension you both had over lunch had somehow melted away. It was…nice.

However, somehow, the room felt so cold all of a sudden, not to mention, the room sounded quiet– too quiet.

You shivered slightly, Junkyu’s arms still around your waist.

“Oof, why is it suddenly so chilly in here? Did someone turn the temperature down or something?” you asked Junkyu.

Junkyu shrugs, agreeing that he somehow felt chills all over too.

And then the both of you turned around.

And there it was– the whole group– staring at the both of you as if the both of you had just committed the worst crime ever in their books.

Your eyes scanned the whole room, noticing everyone gawking with their eyes wide and they all looked as if they wanted to say something but they were too speechless to say anything.

“Are…you guys…okay…?” you asked slowly, worried that they were possessed or something considering they kinda looked like they were.

“A-all right everyone! Nothing to see there! Hahah let’s just get back to what we’re doing!” Yedam finally said, although his voice was shaking when he said this.

Everyone else looked as if they just snapped out of their trances and slowly tried to resume what they were doing but Junghwan shook his head and marched towards you and Junkyu.

“N-noona! Y-you…” he began to say.

“Yes Junghwan?”

“J-Junkyu-hyung…you…?” he said as he turned to Junkyu now instead of you.

Both you and Junkyu looked at one another briefly, and then you both noticed Junkyu’s arm still around your waist– to which Junkyu immediately pulled his arms away from you.

“I-I uhh, I…” Junkyu stammered.

“Hyung…” Junghwan croaked, his voice slower now.

“A-aish! What’s with you all? Sure, this is the first time Junkyu-hyung has shown affection towards Y/n in front of us. So what?? Shouldn’t we be grateful that our Junkyu-hyung is more comfortable around Y/n now? I mean, we hug Y/n most of the time too,” Doyoung chimed in, confident that this was something normal going on.

“Hahaha you’re right, hyung! He’s right, Junkyu-hyung is just comfortable with y/n now,” Jeongwoo added, as he was getting back to opening the sparkling drink bottle in his hand.

“N-no. That’s not true…” Junkyu said, making everyone turn to look at him.

He looked at you briefly and you nod at him– letting him know that it’s alright for him to keep going.

“Actually, me and Y/n– we have something to tell you all…” he said as he turned back to face his friends.

“Y/n and I…we’re dating,” Junkyu said firmly.

The whole room fell quiet again. This time though, half of the Treasure members looked pleased to hear this, while the other half of them looked too shocked to even move all over again.

“W-what??” Doyoung asked in disbelief.

“Hahaha way to go hyung! I was just glad that Y/n wasn’t dating Chani. I almost thought they were a couple for a while now,” Mashiho chuckled.

Junkyu rolled his eyes at the mention of Chani’s name. You caught him doing this and you shake your head at his response.

“Now, now. Let’s not make snarky remarks about our friend, Chani,” you told them all, not wanting Chani to be dragged into this all over again. If anything, Chani can be a bit pushy and needy at times but all in all, he’s still your friend.

Junkyu pouts at what you said.

“Okay, okay! We get it, you’re both happy together, let’s not rub it in our faces!” Jihoon voices out as he smiles at the both of you. “Let’s just cheer for the happy couple, WOOH!” he claps his hands, making the rest join in on the clapping as well.

You smiled at all of them, grateful that they were all so supportive of this. They really are nice people…

Everyone was beginning to get back to what they were doing in the first place when you noticed Junghwan still standing not too far from you.

“Hey…you okay Hwannie?” you asked as you approached him after you turned the fire down on the stove.

“I’m fine…I’m just shocked.” he said, his eyes blinking a couple times as he stared down at his shoes.

“Aww hey, you’ll still be my favourite baby in the group. Even though I have another bigger baby to watch over now,” you snickered as you turned to look at Junkyu, to which Junkyu scrunched his nose in response to what you said.

“But you never said anything to me…I thought we were close, noona…” Junghwan said, his voice barely audible now.

Junkyu felt bad seeing his maknae all sullen so he approached the both of you to help cheer him up as well.

“We were having a hard time choosing when to tell you all, but hey, we’re just glad that we managed to share the good news with everyone now,” you replied Junghwan as you reached your hand out to gently pat his head.

“So are you and Junkyu-hyung a couple now then? Officially? You’re his girlfriend now?” Junghwan asks, his eyes looking into yours now.

“W-well–” you began to say but you stopped. 

Junkyu noticed you pausing your answer and he interrupts– “ you’ve got to be kidding me, Y/n,”

“What?” you turned to him. Your hand was no longer on Junghwan now. 

“Why is it so hard for you to admit it?? We are a couple, you are my girlfriend. What, are you trying to make yourself seem available to this poor kid here too??”

“Oh my god, Junkyu. What nonsense are you blabbing now?? Don’t drag Junghwan into this as well!”

“You’re the one who keeps pressing for us to let our friends know that we’re together! And yet every time when someone asks if you’re my girlfriend, you’d hesitate. Why? Did you want to say ‘No’ again this time?”

“Junkyu,” you frowned at him.

“I don’t get it. First, Chani, now, Junghwan? Do you even want to be with me?” Junkyu asks, his voice shaky now as he was getting emotional. What if you were having second thoughts of being with him?

“Junkyu! That’s not possible! Of course I want to be with you!” you said exasperatedly, sad that he would even think you wouldn’t want to be him. “I’m just– so confused! Because the whole time when we were discussing what and when to tell our friends about us, you kept on pressing on the term ‘dating’ and when I asked you a couple times if I was actually considered as your girlfriend, you’d just say ‘what difference does it make? We’re together now, we’re dating, that’s that’. How was I supposed to understand?? And then when I admit to Chani that we are indeed dating, but I wasn’t officially your girlfriend, you start acting all bitter about what I say!”

“G-guys, let’s not fight–” Hyunsuk tried to stop you both from bantering but Junkyu interrupted him to answer you back.

“Oh god Y/n, how else do you want me to spell it out then?? I am your boyfriend, you are my girlfriend. We are dating. We are a couple! That’s that,” he said frustratedly.

You shake your head, tears flowing down your cheeks now. “No. That’s not how it works, Junkyu. I–,” you swallowed the lump in your throat. “I need to get out of here. I can’t do this again,” you wiped the stray tear on your chin with the back of your hand.

You walked out of the kitchen, and Jaehyuk tried to reach out to you to stop you but Haruto stopped him, shaking his head and telling his hyung that they shouldn’t get involved with what’s going on.

Junkyu too, shakes his head and storms out of the kitchen to leave. Considering this was your house, he didn’t know where to head to though, and he clearly heard your front door shutting earlier so he assumed you went to cool off outside. He decided to just go to your room and wait to see if you’d come back inside again. 

What was happening? Why does everything keep messing up between the two of you?

***

In the kitchen, the rest of the boys were all too stunned to even move. Well, except for Mashiho as he walks up towards the stove to switch the fire off. Sure, his friends are fighting but that’s not reason enough to let the house catch on fire, he thought.

Junghwan was still standing in the same spot he had been in when both you and Junkyu started fighting in front of him.

Asahi and Jeongwoo both approached him and pulled him into their arms, giving him a group hug.

“Did I say something wrong? I’ve never seen noona that upset before…” he whispered to his hyungs as they stayed hugging him.

“No no, this is their fight. They’ll work it out on their own,” Jeongwoo assured the maknae. Junghwan nods gently in response to his hyung.

“Wow. I feel like I’ve just seen a real life K-drama fight scene,” Yoshi said, his hand patting his chest, finally being able to breathe well after holding it the whole time both you and Junkyu had been arguing before.

“This is crazy. One minute we were congratulating them, another minute they were already on the verge of breaking up or something,” Jihoon sighs out loud.

“This can’t happen.” Hyunsuk said as he shook his head. “We can’t leave them be like this,” 

“Huh? What are we supposed to do then, hyung?” Jihoon asks the leader.

“I need to talk some sense into Junkyu. He can’t leave Y/n like that. He needs to fix this,” Hyunsuk started walking towards the kitchen entrance before stopping to turn to Jihoon to say, “Jihoon, you go look for Y/n and talk to her. We need to fix them up. Neither of them deserve to be in this situation,”

“Me??” Jihoon asked back, surprised that Hyunsuk wanted him to talk to you. Usually he’d be the one to talk to Junkyu. Hyunsuk had already left the room so clearly he can’t back off now can he? 

Jihoon shrugs to himself as he steps out of the kitchen, only to see Jaehyuk leaning against the wall beside the entrance.

“Hyung…do you need me to come with you to talk to y/n?” he asks, his voice soft, lined with worry.

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll talk to her on my own,”