10th✯

Two weeks. 

It has been two weeks since Jeonghan disappeared and I was starting to worry than being mad. What if he really ran away? I was starting to act like someone who suffered a death of someone; I wasn't in my right mind or acting to my similar ways. 

Mom and Dad understood what I was going through—well, if they really understood. The police weren't a huge help because it seems like they hadn't found any crucial evidence to this missing case. I sometimes like to think they were slacking off or attending something more important than my missing brother. 

If only the police were like Choi Dalpo from the drama Pinocchio. He was better in finding crucial clues than the police would ever be. It was too bad that's just a drama. At least Choi Dalpo's handsomeness existed in real life. 

Sanha The Annoying Butt: are you doing fine these days? you seem out of everything lately 

I finally changed his contact name on my phone from the name he saved before to Sanha The Annoying Butt. He texts me every now and then but often, I didn't reply to them because I didn't see that being part of this contract of a show. 

But today, I was generous enough to reply: i'm fine. 

Sanha The Annoying Butt: that's a lie, yoon aerim.

I groaned and texted back: why do you even care?

Sanha The Annoying Butt: you know the answer to that very well, so why do you keep asking? do you need me to remind you every time?

Hissing under my breath, I threw the phone on my bed and sat down on the floor next to it, lifting my legs close to my chest in the dark and continued to curse under my breath. It wasn't what I usually do, but these days, I felt like I was becoming someone I usually wasn't. 

I glared at the floor, at my closet, at the ceiling. At that very moment, I was just really mad and I despised everyone and everything. 

My phone beeped and I picked it up, hoping it would be a message from Jeonghan but no, it wasn't. It was just a message from Sanha again. 

Sanha The Annoying Butt: i'm coming over. 

Three little words and I instantly stood up, my eyes wandering around my room with worry. He wouldn't really come up here to my apartment, would he? 

Without waiting for some magical door bell to ring, I immediately grabbed my jacket and rushed out of the apartment, dismissing my mom and dad calling after me with a confused Daeul in Mom's hand. I feel bad for Daeul having to go through these things at such a young age. I just hoped he wouldn't remember this once he's older. 

Downstairs in my apartment's lobby, I was glad enough to know that Sanha wasn't here at all. There were no signs of him to tell me he wasn't going to visit me or my parents and create on big mess.

When I finally concluded he wasn't coming, a pair of hands then looped around me, giving me a sudden surprise hug out of nowhere. Close to having a heart attack, I immediately turned around and saw Sanha grinning at me with his braces showing. 

"Sanha!" I accidentally blurted out loudly. Slapping both hands over my mouth, I cautiously looked around, hoping my parents weren't anywhere around. Luckily, they decided to stay in the apartment. 

"Wae? Missed me so you just had to call my name out?" Sanha teased, ruffling my hair. 

Often, I wondered how Sanha was able to easily lift my mood up. He makes me forget the reasons why I was sad and I was grateful for that. Smiling a little, I denied, "No."

"No need to lie, Yoon Aerim. I already know by heart," Sanha said, patting me on the head ever so slightly. "Want to go out and buy some ice creams?"

Since spring finally came around, the weather wasn't the cold and hard to handle winter. It more of a sweet honey breeze encircling around everyone, at the same time, it was slightly hot. Spring was my favourite season among the four because of all the beautiful flowers that bloom. 

"Yeah," I answered, "I'd like that."

We arrived at the convenient store not too long after, and Sanha rummaged inside the freezers, trying to pick the best ice cream they sold. After minutes of fumbling, he settled for a chocolate flavoured ice cream. I was still in the process of picking one. 

"Are you done picking one?" asked Sanha, holding his ice cream in its packaging as he waited for me. "My ice cream might melt before you're able to pick yours."

I gave him a glare and nudged him. "Don't you know it takes time to decide what ice cream I really want? It's not that easy."

Sanha didn't say anything in reply but only smiled at me, as if to admire how I was so concentrated in picking out an ice cream from the freezer. 

More chills. 

In the end, I settled for a chocolate mint ice cream. There were so many delicious-looking ice cream I couldn't even settled for one. I almost bought five but reminded myself that I didn't have enough money for that. I only brought 3, 000 won with me. 

Sanha brought the ice creams to the counter and was about to pay for everything when I immediately handed my share of money. "I'll pay for my own ice cream, thanks."

"I should—"

Before Sanha could protest, the cashier already took my money and some of Sanha's and added up everything to total it up. Once it was done, we received our change from him as well as our ice creams. While Sanha was still standing there, staring at me like I committed a crime, I grabbed my ice cream and opened the wrapping of it to start munching away the cold treat. 

Noticing Sanha still hadn't opened his ice cream, I asked him with a mouthful of delicious cold and minty ice cream, "Wae? Don't want to eat it? I could always eat it for yo—"

"No! It's mine!" Sanha said, instantly opening up his ice cream. That didn't mean he stopped staring at me. 

"Do you want to tell me something or are you just going to continue staring at me like that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"I was supposed to pay your ice cream. That's the main reason why I wanted to bring you out to get ice creams."

"Boo hoo," I replied, faking a sad face. "It's too late now, Sanha. Plus, why would I let you pay for the ice cream? I should take the share of buying my own ice cream. Maybe next time when I need the ice cream, you can pay for it. Okay?"

Sanha just continued pouting like a whiny baby. "But next time's too long!"

I ended up chuckling lightly and gave him a light pat on his shoulder. "Think of it as... saving a penny for a rainy day. You can do that, can't you?"

Sanha looked up to meet my eyes and gave me a smile. "I like the sound of that."

Sometimes I wondered if he really was older than me. "Good. Because I'm saving that penny for an extra rainy day."

✯ ~ ✯ ~ ✯

Sanha was taking a nap somewhere in the entertainment—I didn't know where, the entire place was huge—and I decided to sit idly by the huge window in the practice room. My legs were being hugged closely to my chest as I stared out of the town below me with dazzling, golden lights. 

Light footsteps were then heard, startling me for a second and resulted in a chuckle escaping from whoever just walked in's lips. "Did I scare you?"

I turned around and found Rocky slowly approaching me on the black leather couch with his inviting smile. "Sort of. Don't do that, especially when I'm alone in a dark practice room."

"Then why'd you switch the lights off? People could use that as an advantage," Rocky knowingly told me. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

"I'm sorry then," I said in a playful voice, keeping a smile on my face as I continued to look out of the window. 

I was gradually trying to tell myself to just wait for Jeonghan to return, even if I didn't know whether it was possible at this rate. It's been two weeks and five days, but I had to be patient. Maybe he was just thinking things over. 

Rocky noticed my saddened expression and worriedly asked, "You doing okay?"

Catching his eyes in a blank matter, I only nodded obliviously. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm doing okay."

"Did something happen between you and Sanha?"

 I couldn't help but notice the tone in his voice. There was something there I couldn't quite pin out, but it was obvious in a way. 

Laughing a little, I replied, "No."

"Anything else happened?" he continued asking. 

Well, yes, something did happen, but I wasn't ready to tell him that. Smiling it off like it was really nothing, I said, "No, nothing."

"That's not convincing," Rocky said with a frown. 

I let out a slight sigh escape my lips. "Can you believe this lie for once?"

Rocky stared at me for a few more seconds and it scared me a little. I wondered what was going on inside his mind. Was he judging me from my lie? Was he assuming what was wrong with my life right now and tried to take a guess?

But the least expected thing happened—he pulled me into a hug. 

"Rocky, what are you..."

"It's okay. Everyone goes through everything they don't want to. They are often not left with a choice on that. If you're trying to fight the invisible monsters alone, I hope you realize you shouldn't do it yourself. Even if I don't know or understand what you're going through, I'll be here for you. Think of me as, like, a backup in your fight," Rocky said. 

I was going to tell him it was nothing, like usual, but the warmth of his hug was really getting to me and in the end, I ended up lightly sobbing into his jacket as the thoughts of Jeonghan leaving unexpectedly came rushing back without giving me a second time to breathe. 

"That's right," Rocky quietly said, giving my back soft pats, "just let it out. Let whatever needs to be out, out."

"I... I'm sorry," I then said, breaking the warm hug apart. 

Rocky met my eyes again and asked me, "What are you sorry about?"

I pointed at his jacket that was now stained wet from the tears that just poured out of my eyes like some water faucet. "It's all wet now because of me. Do you want me to bring it home to wash it for you? It's my fault anyway."

Rocky only let out a smile, reassuring me, "It's okay, Aerim. It's not a big of a deal, you know? It's just my jacket. It will dry."

Biting my lower lip, I asked him once more for confirmation. 

Rocky only let out a low chuckle. "You sure ask things often. If you want to wash it for me, then..." At that moment, Rocky removed the jacket he was wearing from his body and handed it to me. "Here. I bet you wanted to sniff it in secret like some pervert stalker."

I grabbed the jacket only to throw it at his face, screaming, "Yah! I'm not some crazy pervert stalker of yours! Aish, Minhyukie—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Rocky said, stopping me before I could continue talking. He wiggled his forefinger in front of my face and smile. "You can't call my name like that. You're supposed to call me oppa."

"I don't want to anymore. Something changed my mind," I replied, crossing my hands over my head. "More like someone."

Rocky faked a pained face and threw his hand over his heart, groaning like some old man, "Why, Aerim? After all I've done for you?"

"Actually, what have you done for me?" I asked him, raising both eyebrows, wondering what delusional world Rocky was living in. "Last time I checked, there wasn't much."

"You're underestimating me, Yoon Aerim. I've done so many things! You just never realize them," Rocky protested back. "For one," Rocky lifted his jacket up, "my jacket got wet because I let you cried in it."

"That's one thing."

"Oh? You need more?" Rocky asked, grinning. "You must like me a lot because you want me to do more things for you."

"Please," I said, rolling my eyes at him and his goofy gestures. 

"It must be true," Rocky insisted, laughing. 

"Hey, now that I realize it, you actually didn't tease me about being Sanha's girlfriend. What an achievement," I said, giving Rocky a good pat on the back.

Although, Rocky was showing a different type of reaction by staying silent, as if he fell into a deep thought or a daze. 

Concerned, I slightly shook his shoulder and called him, "Rocky? Rocky, are you okay?"

Rocky snapped out of his thoughts and met my eyes, but he still looked like he was in a daze. "Huh? What? Did you say something?"

I frowned, displeased with him suddenly falling into a daze. "Rocky, what's up? You fell into a sudden daze. Did I say something wrong?"

"Wrong?" Rocky laughed loudly, almost hysterically. "You're delusional to think you said something wrong. I just suddenly remembered something when I looked out of the window. It sent deja vu down my spine."

As convincing as his words sounded, I wasn't sure whether to actually believe in them or not. I've lied and told a lot of convincing words enough to know whether or not there's something behind the words you've used. 

"Okay," I said, letting it drop nevertheless. It wasn't like I could find out what's on his mind. I wasn't some girl with the ability to read minds. "But if something's wrong, don't bother to tell me, okay?"

Funny, I should listen to my advises sometimes because it seems like I'm not doing the same. No wonder Rocky was looking at me oddly. 

"You expect me to tell you what's wrong when you don't even tell me yours?" Rocky asked, bewildered. "You're a funny girl, Aerim."

"That's because my problem is more on a personal level," I mumbled under my breath. Catching Rocky's eyes, I gave him a small smile and said, "We're not close enough for me to tell you yet."

"This is not close?" Rocky ruffled my hair multiple of times and raised his eyebrow. "If this is called not close, what is this supposed to be?"

"We're close," I concluded. After a while, I added, "But not close enough for me to tell you what's wrong. I guess I'm still not comfortable around you yet."

"After all these times we've been together." Rocky was frowning like a whining little kid who didn't get his yogurt drink. "This is how you repay me, Aerim?"

"Technically, we haven't been hanging out a lot lately. Especially after I was forgiven by you guys because of my outburst that day," I pointed out. "This is, like, the first after three weeks."

"We do talk, in case you forgot. In the middle of your break from filming and after, we talk," Rocky reminded me, shaking his head, disappointed I forgot. "You're so forgetful, Aerim."

"Talking isn't much!" I protested, folding my hands over my chest. "We have to hang out and go to other places that isn't in the entertainment for the fun of it. We're always in the same place, don't you know?"

"Like?" 

I thought about it. "Anywhere. The supermarket, the mall, the convenient store, the cinema, the coffee shop—even if I hate coffee."

Rocky stopped me there. "You hate coffee? MJ hyung will kill you if he ever heard about that."

"He's not here," I said back. I looked at the direction of the door, just in case. "Yup, he's not there. I'm not dead yet."

Rocky was on about something else, though. "Okay, fine. This coming Saturday, you, me, amusement park. How does that sound? Better than this old entertainment, right?"

"Is it okay for you to be seen with me, though? After all, you're still Rocky from Astro," I told him, wondering if it was safe from any of his fans. 

"It'll be fine as long as I have a mask on and a cap," he assured me with a smile. But that smile didn't last long because seconds later, it turned into a grin as he leaned closer in. "Unless you'll miss this handsome face of mine."

"You and Sanha are the same with your confidence," I told him, poking his forehead to push it backwards. "It's bigger than my love for hot chocolate. And my love for hot chocolate is pretty big."

"Don't forget he's my little brother. Of course we'd inherit the same trait!" Rocky told me proudly with a cheesy smile. 

Their closeness was something to take note of. Rocky's eyes instantly changed when he talked about Sanha. They became more caring, more lovable and soft. I wasn't sure if it would be easy to mimic something as admirable as their close relationship. 

Also, the way Rocky and the other members called each other brothers instead of friends was something to love and smile over. They didn't see each other as some people part of a contract—like I shamelessly did—they actually saw them as family. 

"So, are you free this Saturday for us to hangout?" Rocky then snapped me out of my admiration for their relationship. 

"I'll check my schedule but I'm pretty sure I'm free," I answered. 

"Great! This is going to be fun! It'll be the first time I'll be going to an amusement park after debuting," Rocky openly told me.

I giggled lightly at his adorable gestures of my buddy here. "You're such a kid, Rocky. And I'm honored to be the first person to accompany you on your first amusement park visit after debuting."

"The honor is all mine," Rocky said with a huge grin on his face as he threw a wink at my direction before laughing. 

"That was smooth, Rocky," I teased. 

"Admit it, it was great."

"Nope."

"You like it."

"Nah, try again."

"You—" Rocky was about to say more but the door flung open, revealing the light from the hallway. It crawled into the very dark practice room. 

After the sun went down and the darkness took over, Rocky and I still didn't bothered to switch the lights on. We were happy enough to have the darkness surround us, along with the lights from the streets and stores we could see from the window, below us. 

"Rocky hyung? Aerim? What are you two doing here?"

I guess suddenly entering a dark room and finding two people sitting there, talking, would have startled someone. Or question our presence to why we were both in a dark room alone. 

"Hi," I greeted the person standing by the door. 

Sanha was still confused to why we were both here so he asked again, "What are you two doing here?"

"I was originally here," I told him. Pointing at Rocky, I also told him, "He just decided to accompany me the whole time."

"Why are the lights off?" Sanha asked, deciding to do a good deed and switch them on. 

"Ack, my eyes!" I immediately said, covering them when the lights were on. Staying in the dark for one hour or so sure did something to me. "They're so bright! I... I-I think I'm blind!"

"She's over exaggerating," Rocky told Sanha. 

"I can see that," Sanha replied. 

Opening one eye at them, I frowned. "You two aren't fun. Jaemi obseo! No fu—"

"Hush now, darling, you're wasting your breath," Sanha said, completely cutting me off by pinching both my lips against each other with his thumb and index finger. 

Alarmed, I slapped his hand away. Even when it seems like Rocky and Sanha acted alike, there was always this one fact Sanha possessed while Rocky didn't—skin ship. 

At almost every chance he got, Sanha would touch me out of no where, whilst Rocky wouldn't. Rocky would touch me every now and then but his skin ships were minimal, compared to Sanha's. 

Sanha found my defense amusing and laughed at me. "Adorable."

Rocky cleared his throat then stood up. "Seems like I'm third wheeling here. I better go."

"Hey, don't leave. Don't be a stranger, hyung," Sanha told him, holding him back. 

I found the fact Sanha's taller than Rocky hilarious for some reason but had to suppress my laugh to avoid their attention going to me. 

Rocky grinned in reply. "I can see you want her all to yourself right now."

Sanha rolled his eyes playfully as he immediately grabbed onto Rocky's forearm, preventing him from walking out. "Seriously, hyung, don't leave. Just stay with us. I'm sure Aerim would want that as much as I do."

When their eyes and attention directed towards me, I immediately nodded. "Stay with us, Rocky. No need to classify yourself as a third wheel. When we're off-screen, Sanha and I are just friends."

Not to mention cousins, I added in my head. 

"Well, if you insist," Rocky said, taking his seat back on the couch. 

We just continued talking about the silliest thing we could come up with non-stop and that was when I felt my phone vibrate with a message seen in my notifications. My only guesses were it was either Mom or Dad.

Although, the last thing I expected to receive was a message from an unknown number with the content: we're coming for you, soon. each and every one of you.

~Author's Notes~

Oh my gosh, how long has it been since I updated? School's busier than I remembered with all the projects and homeworks, aish first year, whaiiii T^T 

It's Friday, which means no school (in my country, Friday is when we don't have sch, instead, we have sch on Saturday but holiday on Sunday, soooo yeah :3) and so I found time to update hehe

Anyway, hoped you enjoyed this chapter of mine! :))) Thanks for 200 votes, Kimichies! MUAAAAH <33

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung