Jisung had been ignoring Chan the moment he felt the older's steady breathing from the back of his head. He knew Chan was trying to get his attention, yet the more he tried, the more anxious Jisung became. Chan's breath felt so hot against his skin and it's stressing him out.

He had no choice.

Turning his body, Jisung stared at him from the top of his head, down to his body, until his eyes met the latter's groin.

"That's an ugly pattern you have down there." Jisung pointed at Chan's covered manhood. Blue patterns surrounding his red Louis Vuitton pajama pants that didn't suit his top. What intrigued him the most was that the patterns looked like freaking Sharingan.

The older's cheeks flushed madly upon hearing Jisung's statement. He immediately covered his groin, although there's nothing to be covered. Well, there's obviously something to be covered, but it's already covered. He's not naked after all. Unless...

Jisung took a breath of silence. "You're lucky I am mentally stable or else I'd lost my shit." He clapped his hands twice, then Eunwoo came out of nowhere with a box of aromatics. "That one," he pointed at one of the scented candle, "coconut and lime."

Setting up the best atmosphere, Eunwoo lit up the coconut and lime scented candle amongst the tension. On a mere second, sweet, sour fragrance danced into their nostrils. The smell of humanity teasingly grazed their senses, as Eunwoo slowly changed position so he could massage Jisung's shoulders.

Chan broke the silence. "Love this smell."

Jisung let out the rich madam's chuckle. "Coconut and lime," he explained, "this fresh, vibrant scent is guaranteed to energise the body and the mind and put a positive spin on any day."

"You're so good at advertising, you might get hired at this point," Eunwoo teased.

"Oh, cry me a table!"

Chan sweated a little. "Actually it's cry me—"

"I paid more attention to my boyfriend's ass than chemistry." Those words accidentally escaped from the blonde's mouth.

"Uh, what?"

"I promised someone to always be honest, yet I'm not supposed to be saying this to you." He face-palmed himself before blaming the candle. "I'm so good at fucking things up, I might start a business."

"Jisung." Chan finally raised himself, earning a curious look from both Jisung and Eunwoo. It took Jisung a while to stay focused ever since his man period attacked him this morning.

The younger didn't expect himself to be so annoying, yet he found himself in this situation; being in the same room with Chan, supposedly spending quality time with him whereas he could've spent the rest of the day with Jumin; bathing underneath the sunlight with Elizabeth the 3rd on his lap. Too bad summer hasn't show its peak yet.

Chan stared at him wide-eyed. "Let's surprise Woojin." The younger could see the sparkle reflecting on his eyes.

"Huh... uh, what?"

"Snap out of it." He snapped harder than Chungha and Thanos combined. "Are you even listening?" Both hands squished Jisung's cheeks in attempt to wake him. "Hey, are you here?"

He pulled the older's hands away. "Physically? Yes. Mentally? I'm in a renaissance panting a silk dress, staring wistfully into the distance." Having Chan's eyes pierced into his retina, the mentioned boy turned timid. "Sorry, it's just you're being very absurd right now."

"Absurd?" he questioned out of curiosity.

"Are you saying I would say yes to your request on sacrificing my family holiday to execute your egotistical plan on helping Woojin-hyung when we can just wait until this holiday is over?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Shit."

Jisung had no idea what drove him to say that, yet he stupidly agreed to Chan's plan which he regretted soon after. Unfortunately, he's too late. Chan had already gotten both of their father's agreement as he dragged Jisung and his personal driver to Wonho's residence.

"Do you need anything else?" asked Mr. Ryu (Chan's driver).

"Hit the gas," Chan simply ordered. Mr. Ryu complied at once. Jisung took Chan's arm and squeezed it tightly as if his life depends on it due to the increasing speed.

"Fuck! This is a terrible idea. I regret everything." He dramatically cried when Mr. Ryu made a quick turn at an intersection.

"No, listen." He peeled the blonde's hand away from his arm. "Your dad and my dad are actually unable to have a vacation because..." he hesitated for a bit, "I unintentionally heard my dad's talking about business stuff that's suppose to be happening now with your father as well."

Jisung rolled his eyes. "So?"

Chan continued, "So, I believe fate brought us here..."

"No, you dragged me," he denied.

"Kinda," he said, "if we don't get Woojin back right now, we will never get the chance to persuade him forever. We can't wait any longer."

"Why are you saying this now?"

Closing his eyes, Chan contemplated for a second. He already guessed that Jisung wouldn't buy his excuse, thus he prepared himself for the worst reaction.

"It's my Peter tingle." Good one Chaddy, he mentally praised himself.

Silence.

"The fuck?"

A mental hand slapped Chan's brain in embarrassment. "You know... the hunch. Come on, everyone has that moment where one just can't stop over thinking about a single aspect that keeps boggling into your mind like a parasite."

"Christopherina-chan, I am concerned."

Chan was getting restless. He felt like he needs to prove a point. No, more like he has to. This was the time where Chan realized that he's not good with words.

"Have you ever feel like something bad is going to happen? Can you sense it, though it's just you?"

Those words hits too close to home for Jisung's liking. His mind traveled back to the day when Chan told him that he probably saw his mother. Of course, he realized that's a mere probability. However, he couldn't possibly erase the thought of his mother being alive somewhere. Somewhere close.

It's a silly presumption, or so he thought at first. Nevertheless, he had a hunch. Something—no, someone warned him to take Chan's guess into consideration. Someone told him bad things would happen if that person Chan was talking about was indeed his mother.

That someone was Jisung.

He sensed trouble, although he was constantly accompanied with his beautiful mother on his sleep. Beautiful, happy memories played on his head again. A pleasant dream he wished to experience forever.

Guilt rushed through him whenever he considered he was happy enough.

Hunch. It was hunch. When you could sense the outcome of an occurrence without logical explanation by any chance, yet it's almost always proven to be correct. Jisung knew that very well.

"Will Woojin-hyung be okay?"

"Yes," Chan assured him. "Everything will be alright."

The younger tilted his head. "How can you be so confident about that?"

Chan answered, "Because sometimes when things get tough, denial is all we have."

To be frank, Jisung was expecting different answers such as, "you can't achieve anything without confidence," or, "to achieve is to believe." Nevertheless, he was pleased enough with the answer.

He was happy enough.

┉┉

"When will you come home, Auntie? I really miss you." Minho smiled to his phone while his three cats were sleeping peacefully on his lap.

"I promise I'll come today, so you better clean the house and cook something for me, okay."

"Sheesh, too much work," he joked. "Ah, finally I get to hug someone. You don't know how lonely I am without my Jisung-ie. He must be having a good time with his family."

"Kids these days are so whipped for each other," she said, chuckling. "I really miss my teenage years. Being horny 365 days a year was the greatest thing ever."

Minho pouted. "I'm not those kids these days, I'm eighteen."

"No, you are Lee Minho." She chuckled. "By the way my I'm running out of batteries. See you later!"

"Bye." He ended the call. For a moment, he had the will to clean his house. For a moment. Not anymore.

Minho decided ditch the housework to pet his cats.

"How much money do you think the Han's spend on monthly groceries?" he asked his sleeping cats which didn't seem to budge one bit. Hence he took this opportunity to continue rambling.

"I wonder how expensive is Sung-ie's underwear. Is it more expensive than my kidney?"

Again, the cats stayed silent as expected. He would probably leave the house, sprinkle his backyard with salt, then burn the neighborhood to ashes if the cats start talking.

Minho sighed. "Should I kidnap his underwear?" he asked the cats, "no, I will get caught in two seconds. I should just stick to the safe option, which is to lower his pants and peek a little when he's not paying attention."

A sudden heat rushed through his body and to his face.

"No, that's pornography." He slapped his face twice. "I need his consent. Ah, I think I'm at the horny 365 days a year stage."

On the spur of the moment, a knock was heard on his door. Minho had a panic attack due to the fact that his house was still a mess and there's no food on the table. Still, he managed to put up a genuine smile because it's a happy day.

His legs jumped, hands stretching to pick up the key. The moment the door opened, his smile dropped.

"Chunhua?"

At first, he tried to suppressed his emotions, but the look on Chunhua face was screaming at him to not joke around. Somehow he felt a tiny smidge of guilt, remembering that he had just had a conversation with his sleeping cats. Whatever that is, it has piqued Minho's curious nature and he wondered if she was just having a rough day or she's always this intense?

Pushing the cat toys away, he prepared the couch for both of them to sit. Chunhua sat beside him, fingers curled, her thumbs sticking out, rubbing one another anxiously. Her legs jumped on the spot restlessly, whereas Minho could only stare in confusion, waiting for her to talk.

"I had a fight with Hyunjin." She looked at Minho's eyes, embarrassed. "Sorry. I know it's childish, but can I stay here for a bit? It's... it's kinda awkward there."

"Sure thing." He prepared a cup of warm tea for her. "What happened?"

"Thank you." She gulped the contents a little to quickly, resulting a burning sensation on her tongue. "You know... the typical siblings fight. I know we'll be okay tomorrow, but not now."

"I see." Throughout his life, he never experienced the typical siblings fight. He didn't know the stupid little fights that would only last for a day. However, he's somewhat familiar with that based on people's story-telling habit.

"Chunhua, I've been really wanting to say this." Chunhua's head perked up upon hearing her name being called.

"What is it?"

Minho scratched his head awkwardly. "Why did you lie? The day when you transfered to our school, a little birdie told me that you said you came to Korea three days ago." He crossed his hands, legs up on his own table. "Why did you lie?"

Chunhua finally loosened up as she let out a loud laughter. "I just wanna sound foreign. Trust me, I don't have any ulterior motive behind that."

Minho smiled.

"Finally you're smiling." Happiness spreads like virus. "Jiwoo is lucky to have you."

"Jisung is also lucky to have you."

"No, I'm lucky to have him."

"Aw, you two are so cheesy. Are you on your horny 365 days a year stage?" she teased the older.

"Oh God, being horny 365 days a year is really a thing." He lied his back onto the couch, horny as ever, but not horny for Chunhua.

Chunhua's really glad to come here. "I miss you." Life hadn't been easy for her. She truly missed Minho. "It's not easy to adapt as someone's adoptive sister. Honestly, everything is like a train wreck now."

"You're right," he agreed. "Growing up is tougher than I thought it would've been."

"Yeah... I miss the old days." She sighed. Her mind flew back to the times where she first met Minho. For her, reminiscing was kind of a hobby she could never escape from. "Those days when I was still with you were all very wonderful. I miss them. I miss you too."

Minho went silent for a while. He agreed. Loneliness is indeed a pain in the ass.

"The saddest thing when you miss something is that you know there's nothing to be done." His words stabbed her sharper than knives. No, it's in fact closer to a double edged sword. "You have lost. That's why you feel incomplete."

I have someone I miss as well, therefore I have lost. I've lost time.

┉┉