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VII. Better Luck Next Time, Dude

Picture of Suga (my baby Yoongi ❤) who plays as Aki Stephenson ;)

Happy reading!

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"AHH! I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAKE!" I cried out as I jumped up from my bed and ended up falling off of it, butt first. I let out a curse as I massage my butt. Then the door of my bedroom suddenly swung open, revealing Van, who's eyes are wide open. His eyes wandered around my room and when they landed on me, he raised a brow at me.

"You slept on the floor?" I rolled my eyes at him as I push myself up and sat on my bed.

"I fell off of the bed, obviously." I said as I ran my hand through my hair a couple of times. I turned to him in question. "What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

He closed the door behind him and sat on the couch. "Well, the boys left for about half an hour ago to do their morning jog--"

"W-Wait, hold on. What morning jog?" I nervously asked. Oh no. Am I supposed to join them? I didn't know!

"They always jog in the morning, Karine. And don't worry, Kaline doesn't join them. She's such a lazy girl, all she does in the morning is sleeping." I released the breath I didn't know I was holding until then. That was close.

"If that's not what you're here for, then why are you here?"

He clasped his hands together before bringing up one hand behind his neck and scratching it. "Well, I forgot to tell you something last night..."

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "And what is that?"

He sighed deeply. "Silhouette Aces will be guesting in What's Hot 94.7 later at 3. It will be your first guesting as Kaline."

My jaw dropped. I know that I have to do things like this but I still haven't absorbed everything yet. And seriously? Why so soon?

I pursed my lips. "Great. I'm so happy. Maybe I should wear a floral dress today and put on a smile on my porcelain face." I said, sarcasm dripping out from my mouth. Van just rolled my eyes at him.

"Love the enthusiasm, Karine. Keep it up." He said as he stood up and opened the door.

"Don't worry, I will." And with that, he closed the door behind him and I can't help but collapse on my bed. Dear Lord. What have I gotten myself into? What has gotten into me that made me say yes to this whole switching thing?

After doing a quick shower and changing into some decent clothes (if you call sweatpants and a baggy shirt decent, but oh well), I went down to eat some breakfast. I followed the aroma of the bacon and it led me to the kitchen, where a blonde guy wearing an apron is cooking, his back turned to me. He's dancing and singing to Dawin's Dessert, the song blasting out from the speakers placed all over the house. I bit my lip, preventing a laugh from slipping out.

Just then, I heard the front door open and someone shouted, "We're home!" before the door closed again. After a few seconds, they entered the kitchen and looked at me. I just grinned at them before pointing at Kent. He's still oblivious to the people laughing at him.

He started swaying his hips side to side. "What'chu got, what'chu gotta do with the dess--FVCKING CARROT STICKS! DAMN!" He cried out and the spatula slipped from his grasp as he turned around and saw us there. He was obviously startled, his ears turning red. We all continued to laugh, some of us slapping their knees and some pressing their tummy, trying to lessen the pain because of laughing. I pressed harder against my tummy and brought a hand to my eyes, wiping the tears of joy from there. Kent just stood there, watching us laugh at him.

"That was priceless!" Lester cried out as he sling an arm over King, who's still holding on to the counter, laughing. He just nodded his head before trying to calm himself.

"Too bad I didn't take a video of your performance. Imagine the money that I'll be getting out of you." Aki frowned as he looked at his phone. I turned to all of them and as Van had said earlier, they went out for a jog. They're wearing hoodies, jogging shorts, and rubber shoes. Beads of sweat glistened their foreheads and their ears red.

"You'll be the white Jason Derulo if you get discovered, you know." I said with a smile, enjoying the sight of Kent flushing.

"S-Shut up! If you guys don't stop, you'll get no breakfast." We all fell silent after that. He grinned in victory before turning back to what he's cooking. The boys then went up to wash up and I made myself at home in the living room, plopping down on the basketball bean bag and opening the plasma TV.

After a few minutes of watching the season marathon of The Walking Dead, I felt someone plop down on the couch behind me but I just ignored the person and focused on what I'm watching. I bit my lip as I continuously tap my foot against the floor, watching as Maggie, Carl, and Lori run away from the walkers that got inside the prison. Then they entered a room and closed the door and placed Lori down on the floor to catch on her breath.

My eyes widened as Lori said that she's about to give birth. "But you'll die, you airhead. Carol's not with you, how are you going to give birth, huh?" I unconsciously said, my eyebrows scrunched up.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Kal. She wouldn't hear you from here." Lester said from behind me as he chuckled. I just glared at the TV and muttered, "They're so damn stupid." which made him laugh.

After a few minutes of watching Lori labor and push, I finally decided to curl up beside Lester. He just chuckled at me and hugged me close. All the blood is making me sick and grimace.

"Oh my God, she can't be dead..." I whispered as I saw Lori on the floor, lifeless, her blood all over her. Maggie cradled Judith, the baby, in her arms as she and Carl look at Lori. They all started walking away when Maggie spoke up. "We can't leave her here like that. And there are a lot of walkers outside. We wouldn't make it."

"But I promised Mom that I would protect Judith, that she would stay alive." Carl said as he patted Judith's foot. She responded with a yawn and Maggie and Carl smiled at her.

"Okay. Hold Judith. I have an idea." Maggie gave Judith to Carl and took out her knife.

"I'll do it." Carl gave Judith back to her and fished out his pistol and held his hat. Maggie gave her a look that says "Are you sure about this" and he just nodded before he walked away.

"Oh no. He shot his own mom?!" I cried out as I watch Carl walk away from the body of Lori. He just shot her in the head. Lester patted my head. "He has to. And he knows that."

"But I can't just shoot my mom like that, if I were him. Seeing your mom like that, almost lifeless, all I want to do is give my life to her if I could." I mumbled as I watched the advertisements flash on the TV.

"I think no one can do that in real life, Kal. Besides, it's just a TV show. Where the impossible becomes possible." He said as we both turned to the TV.

"Hey, lovebirds! Breakfast!" I heard Van yell from the dining area and Lester stood up before nudging me.

"Come on, couch potato. Stand up." I grunted as he continued pulling me up. With a groan, I let myself be lifted up and I landed on my feet before he steered the both of us to the dining area. Everyone is already seated, even Kent who was cooking earlier. I plopped down on the seat beside King and Lester sat on my right. Across me is Jio, who is looking directly at me. What surprised me is that when he smiled at me. Even though taken aback, I returned the gesture before Van spoke up about praying the grace before meal.

After praying, we all dug in, filling our plates with crispy bacon, sunny-side eggs, mushroom omelet, and garlic bread. While eating, we talked about the next album of Silhouette Aces, which doesn't have a title until now, the radio guesting later, my trip-turned-disaster to Japan, and other stuff. The atmosphere is very light and cheery, I almost forgot that I'm eating and talking with guys and not girls.

"Heka..." I looked up and saw King looking at me. His mouth is full of bacon and eggs and he's pointing his fork at my plate.

"Ke ay hab yo beyco?" We all laughed at him as he struggled to spit out the words correctly. He repeated it again and tidbits of food came out of his mouth, erupting ewws and yucks from all of us. He grinned sheepishly before making a peace sign.

"Sorry." He sheepishly said as he downed a glass of water. Then he pointed at my plate again. "Anyways, can I have your bacon? It looks like you're not going to eat it."

I just chuckled at him before nodding and pushing my plate towards him. "Go ahead, bacon monster. Suck it up." He grinned at me before eating the bacon in a blink.

"Now who wants to help me with the dishes?" After those words came out of Kent's mouth, all the boys suddenly stood up and muttered excuses before disappearing, leaving the both of us, Kent and I, gaping at them. I just smiled and shook my head at them. Lazyheads...

I turned to Kent with a smile and stood up. "Don't worry, Kent. I'll help you."

He just grinned at me before he started picking up the plates. I tried helping him with all the plates but he said that it's okay and that he can do it, but of course I didn't give up. With a sigh, he just told me to gather all the glasses and bring it to the kitchen.

"I'll do the washing and you'll do the wiping. Just get one white cloth from that cabinet behind you." He said as he started soaping the plates. I took one cloth from the cabinet and waited for Kent to hand me a plate.

Five minutes passed and we've finished almost half of the dishes. I tried switching with Kent but he's not having any of it. He just narrows his eyes at me before going back to the dishes. After several attempts, I just let it go and did my best in wiping them dry and clean. Then suddenly, Jio came striding in the kitchen. He's now wearing joggers and a loose gray shirt, his hair in a beanie. He looked at me and smiled before looking at Kent.

"Oi! Van's looking for you. He's at the rooftop." Kent turned around and nodded at him before showing his hands full of bubbles from the dishwashing liquid.

"Tell him to wait, that impatient jerk. I haven't done my maid duties, yet." He said that with an eye roll before spurting out some of the blue dishwashing liquid into the sponge and soaping a plate. Jio clicked his tongue before going behind of Kent and tapping his shoulder.

"Go now, Kent. It's fine. I'll go clean this up myself. Don't want you to be in trouble now, do we?" I said before putting down the cloth and getting the sponge from Kent. He looked at the both of us before sighing and rinsing the bubbles off of his hands.

"Fine. Make sure that everything is clean, okay?" We both mumbled a yes as he exited the room and attended to Van. Jio went to my right and picked up the cloth I was holding earlier and started wiping the ones I've rinsed already. We both worked in silence, the awkwardness thick in the air. At least that's what I feel. His words from last night still haven't gotten out of my mind.

Why would he say sorry to me--err, Kaline? Did something happened before she left? Is it the reason why she left? Why she's still missing? I mean, I'm not accusing Jio of anything, but I know Kaline better than anyone. She wouldn't just leave without a reason. She loves what she's doing so much and I'm sure that it's not because of Silhouette Aces that she left. It will never be because of the group, but it can be because of someone in the group. I snuck a glance at Jio. He seems like a nice and decent guy, both physically and from what Kaline had told me. What did Jio do that made Kaline leave? Or, what did Jio say that made Kaline leave?

"Kal..." I swallowed the lump in my throat before turning to Jio. He's looking at me while wiping the glass in his hand. Then after a few wipe, he set it down beside him and faced me.

"I-I just wanna say sorry. For everything. Really. I'm sorry." I put the sponge in its rack before facing him a little, my hip resting against the cold tiles of the counter. I looked at him, waiting for what he'll say next. Maybe he'll mention what he's saying sorry for. Or maybe what he did that he's supposed to be sorry for.

When he didn't say anything and just looked at me, I figured he wouldn't say anything if I won't say anything, too. I cleared my throat before popping some of the bubbles on my hand. "Uh, what are you exactly saying sorry for? As far as I can remember, you have more than one thing to be sorry for. Now, which one of all is it?" I said, trying to get it out of him. I figured that he's done a lot of things to Kaline because he used the word "everything" when he apologized last night and earlier. Let's just hope he'll say whatever it is.

He ran his hand through his hair, making the beanie fall but he caught it immediately before putting it back on. "I told you. Everything. As in, all of it. I'm truly sorry, Kal." Damn it, he didn't say it. I secretly bit my tongue, thinking of how I'll find out why he's saying sorry to Kaline.

"I don't expect you to forgive me or anything. Everything that I've done isn't really that adorable or nice or what but I just want you to accept my apology. I know that I'm one of your reasons why you left for Japan, and I just figured it out when Van said that you were missing. But you're here now, you came back. I wasn't even expecting you to come back anymore, but anyways, you don't know how glad I was when I saw you back at the resto, Kal. I really am glad that you came back." He said, holding my gaze. Aware of his gaze, I cleared my throat and washed my hands before wiping them dry on my sweatpants. Then I touched my hair self-consciously before turning back to him.

"If you were really glad that I came back, why didn't you approach me back then? Why didn't you welcome me? All you did was stare from a distance." I said, my voice slightly on edge. I'm getting frustrated. Frustrated not because he didn't welcome me back then but because I still don't know of why he's saying sorry.

"I was surprised. And fear got into me. What if you suddenly slapped me? Or threw a fit and started yelling a string of curses at me? We both know that nobody knew of what I did, of what we did, Kaline. Aish, I shouldn't have told you that--"

"Hey, is everything okay?" We both turned to Aki who just entered the room. I glanced at Jio before straightening up and shooting Aki a smile. "Yeah. Cool. Jio's just scolding me about the dishes."

Jio looked at me, surprised, and I gave him a look that says that he should just go along with it, to which he seem to get and he grinned at Aki. "Yeah, Kal doesn't know how to soap the dishes properly. I was just telling her how to do it."

It's evident in Aki's face that he didn't believe us, but even so, he just nodded before walking to the fridge and getting himself a canned juice. I let out a sigh before picking up the sponge again to resume what I was doing. I guess we'll continue our talk sometime and in somewhere more private. Aish. He almost said it if Aki didn't walk in at that time.

After I've rinsed the last fork, I washed my hands and wiped it clean before going up to my room and collapsing on the bed. Jio already admitted that he's one of the reasons why Kaline left, but what did he do that made her leave? I groaned before pressing a pillow against my face and screaming on it, releasing the weight in my chest.

Ten minutes passed and I suddenly felt hot and sticky that's why I pushed myself up and grabbed a bathrobe before going to the bathroom. I could use a bubble bath right now.

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"Kaline!"

With a huff, I pulled my hair up in a bun and ran downstairs. "Coming!"

Once downstairs, I rushed to the kitchen, where Van is. He's currently making smoothies with the blender and when he saw me, he pouted, as if pointing at somewhere or something. "Get the door. I ordered pizza and mojos. The money's on the coffee table in the living room." I nodded before grabbing the money and going to the door. With a sigh, I opened the door and my eyebrows furrowed at the person in front of me.

"Aren't you going to let me in? These are kinda heavy, you know." Kent cried out as he lifted up the plastic bags for me to see. I raised a brow at him when I saw tubs of Ben & Jerry. He followed my gaze and sighed. "Van told me to buy them. He told me you like these stuff. Now, can you let me in?"

"Where's the pizza? I thought it's here already." I said before stepping aside for Kent to come in. He pointed at his back. "Just behind me."

True to his words, the pizza guy was just behind him. Kent was just too tall that I couldn't see him from behind him. I gave him the money as he handed me our order before I closed the door and headed to the kitchen and placed the boxes on the counter. I watched Kent and Van as they struggled on keeping the lid of the blender on top of it. I just rolled my eyes at them before coming closer.

"Don't fill it up to its brim. Of course it wouldn't close if it's full." I said as I started walking away. "Call me if it's lunch already." I shouted back before running up the stairs. I stopped at the second floor to catch my breath. I shouldn't have ran.

"Kaline!"

I turned my head to the hallway and saw King. He grinned at me before pulling me to a room. "W-Where are we going?"

"We're playing snakes & ladders. Wanna join?" He said as he opened the door. Inside, the boys are sitting around on the floor, a snakes & ladders board in the middle of them. King tugged me towards the room and closed the door.

"Kaline's going to join!" He said before pulling me down to sit beside him. I turned to my other side and saw Aki grinning down at me. I returned the grin before looking at the board in front of me. My eyes widened as I saw the tokens that we're going to use for the game--Silhouette Aces figurines that kinda look like anime characters, with the big sparkling eyes and chubby cheeks. Lester's figurine is wearing a black muscle shirt and joggers and King's is wearing a black hoodie and pants. Aki's is wearing a dark blue sweater and ripped jeans while Jio's figurine is in a white shirt and sweatpants. Kaline's, on the other hand, though...

"Oh, look!" King said as he picked up Kaline's figurine. "You're so cute! But your eyes here, though, they're kind of like a cat's..." He said as he played with it together with his own figurine. Kaline's is wearing a black cropped top and ripped jeans, and King is right. Her eyes look like cat eyes because of the eyeliner. I grinned at King as he played with all the figurines like they were soldiers. He placed the figurines of Lester, Aki, his and I at his right and left Jio's at his left.

"Silhouette Squad, fire!" He cried out before moving the figurines as if they are shooting Jio the figurine, then threw the dice at it (I'm guessing the dice are the bullets of the guns of the Silhouette Squad. King is very resourceful, don't you think?).

"Hey! Why is my figurine not in the Silhouette Squad? Not fair!" Jio cried out as he saw the dice almost hit his figurine before picking it up and cradling it in his hands as if it's a baby. He stuck out his bottom lip and frowned at King, who's laughing evilly like a villain of a Disney movie.

"It's because you're lame! Only the awesome ones can be in the squad." He said before picking up all the figurines and lifting them up in the air.

"See? I told you I'm awesome." Lester said to Jio. He looked at him smugly before grinning at King. The latter just rolled his eyes at him and turned to Aki and I.

"I'm referring to the three of us, airhead. You're also lame. I just included you because it'll be weird to call a group of three people a squad. Don't get ahead of yourself." He said before settling down.

"Now, let's play snakes & ladders!"

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"HAHA! I got third, yeah!" I cried out as I placed my figurine beside Lester's and King's. I turned to the both of them and each gave them a high five before turning to Aki and Jio, who are still a few tiles away from the end. Aki is still seven tiles away while Jio is closer, with only four tiles away. Jio smiled smugly as Aki before rolling the dice.

"SO CLOOOSE! BUT STILL, SO FAAAAAR!" Aki sung as Jio stared at the dice in front of him. Staring back at him are three dots, two in the other and one in the other die. He's still frozen and in shock that's why Lester moved his figurine for him and gave the dice to Aki.

"Please, please, please..." Aki chanted silently as he shakes the dice inside his fist before rolling them. When the dice came to a stop, he shot up from his seat and did hip thrusts. Lester and King did the same and now they're dancing in front of Jio and I, doing hip thrusts and twerks. I just laughed at them before patting Jio's back. Aki got four dots in one die and three in the other, a total of seven dots.

"Well, better luck next time, dude."

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