Forty-Three

"Hanseol-ah." I knocked on Hanseol's door and stood in the doorway. The man himself was seated at his computer system. He turned to me and took off his headphones when I called.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Just like that." I shrugged. "What're you up to?"

"Giving our songs a listen." He turned his revolving chair towards me and smirked. "Ya. I had thought that you would be better but you're just as lost without Hyung as Hyung is without you."

"What can I do? He's a meddlesome enough guy to make the room feel empty when he's not around." I admitted. It was the last day of Jaehyeon's current modelling job and the team had gone for drinks and dinner. Changmin was also busy so I couldn't bother him. I had found myself alone in my room with nothing much to do.

"Both of you are just…" Hanseol shook his head in exasperation. "But you wouldn't be JaeWoo if you weren't like this."

JaeWoo was what True called our ship; Jaehyeon and Jeongwoo – JaeWoo. "Oh, please."

He chuckled and motioned towards his bed. "Do you want to come in?"

"Thanks, but you're working. I'll go check on our Dongsaengs too." I shook my head and looked towards Mingyu's and Yeojun's room. "It's rather quiet in there."

"It is weird for it to be so quiet." He cracked up a bit. "You sound like a hostel warden on rounds. Well, I'm working on All Hands on Deck right now and I'll probably watch some TV afterwards."

"I… didn't need the full report." I laughed along.

"You can come back and bother me if those two end up kicking you out." He turned back to the computer screen.

"Okay." I spun on my heels and went to the room shared by our younger members. Knocking on the door, I entered to find Mingyu on his bed reading a book that he had received from a fan during a fan sign event and Yeojun on his bed playing a game on his phone. "This is why it's so quiet in here?"

"Ah, Hyung." Yeojun put his phone down and Mingyu looked up from his book. "What brings you here for a visit?"

"Wha… Is it so weird if I come by to visit?" Even Hanseol said it felt like I was doing rounds…

"Sort of, yes." Mingyu nodded. "Usually, you would either be talking to Changmin Sunbae or be with Jaehyeon Hyung on YouTube right about now if we weren't working."

"Really?" I had never realised. "I do hang out with you though…"

"You have set times for everything, if you aren't aware." Mingyu laughed.

"Never mind that. Hyung, come here." Yeojun beckoned me over to him. "I found a new game."

That was how a normal welcome to the room was supposed to look like.

"Which game?" He moved in to give me space on his bed when I approached him.

"Watch." He said in excitement as he showed me what looked like a horror RPG.

"Is that supposed to be a ghost?" I asked, unimpressed by the supposedly gnarly figure on the screen.

"I know, right? The ghosts look funny but the story is actually pretty good. If you ignore the ghosts' appearances, you'll see that the graphics are good."

He sure seemed to be enjoying it.

Two days had already passed sine the stone-throwing incident. It had been inevitable but True had heard about it. They were very vociferous about our safety. DayBreak had released a statement about doing everything they could to look into the incident but as far as I knew, no one had any ideas about who that person could have been.

At least Yeojun seemed to be doing okay.

"Tell me about it." I settled in on his bed next to him. "And let me play too."

"Yup. After I finish this level, we can start from the beginning. The ones already played get saved."

"That's okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. You can play. I'll watch."

"Is it really that good?" Mingyu enquired.

"You can continue reading." Yeojun responded uninterestedly.

"Oh, come on! Don't be so childish!" Mingyu dropped the book onto his chest and whined. "Jun-ah."

"What is this about?" I asked, looking between the two of them in surprise at the genuine bitterness that I felt. "Are you two fighting?"

"Hyung, you know how long I've been wanting to read this book, right?" Mingyu sat up and held the book titled 'White Summer Lily'. "It's in English and I've been progressing very slow."

"Yeah." I nodded, remembering how much he had been mentioning the book off-late. "Why? Yeojun doesn't want you to read?" I looked at Yeojun, amused at how the were behaving like kids.

Our Maknae pouted. "It's rare to get so much time like this. There's a movie that Hyung had promised to watch with me."

"But I'm not in the mod for a movie right now." Mingyu furrowed his brows.

"Yeah. Okay. So, you read." Yeojun waved him off and pulled me towards himself by my collar. "I need only Jeongwoo Hyung."

"Ya!" I sat up properly. "So, this is why it was so quiet in here. You were fighting!"

"It's not a fight." Yeojun stated.

"Hyung!" Mingyu looked at me in defeat.

I couldn't help laughing. "Mingyu-ya, you can read your book. Leave this kid to me." I messed Yeojun's hair up. "Let's give our Leader-nim a break, shall we?"

"I'm not… a kid." Yeojun pouted and handed e his phone. "Here. I lost."

"So, are we good?" Mingyu asked Yeojun.

"Just because Hyung's here." Yeojun replied and urged me to start playing. "Fast."

I gave in. Mingyu seemed more at ease when Yeojun spared him a glance. He then went back to reading his book.

"Why would you pick a fight like that?" I asked Yeojun softly.

"I was bored." He replied. "And I really had wanted to watch the movie."

"Do you want to watch it with me?" I offered.

He glanced at me in contemplation, as if tempted to agree but then shook his head. "I've promised to watch it with Mingyu Hyung."

"Okay." I turned my attention to the phone, getting ready to play. "Tell me how this is done."

Yeojun explained the gameplay to me. We had all eaten dinner a while back so I decided to stay with Yeojun till I felt sleepy.

-----------------------------

Keying in the passcode and silently cursing whoever thought of putting them on the doors in the first place, the oldest member of S.T.A.Y, Yoon Jaehyeon, pushed open the front door of the dorm and stumbled in, shutting the door behind him.

"You're back." Kwan Hanseol looked over from where he sat on the couch watching TV. Lying on the couch next to his was Woo Mingyu who was reading a book. "Welcome home, Hyung."

Jaehyeon stared at them for a bit and blinked. "Where are the other two?"

"Asleep." Mingyu chuckled and pointed towards the shut door of the room that he shared with Yeojun. "Our room."

"Both of them?"

"Yes. They were playing some game together for a while and then they talked themselves to sleep." Mingyu continued reading his book, having left the room so that he could switch off the lights and let the other two sleep.

"You're drunk, aren't you?" Hanseol eyed Jaehyeon. "You look drunk, Hyung."

Jaehyeon merely grunted. "I'm sleepy. You both go to sleep."

Hanseol and Mingyu looked at each other and began laughing. "Why should we go to sleep if you're the one who's sleepy? You go sleep."

"Is that so?" Jaehyeon trudged along towards his room, half obediently and half absent-mindedly. He stopped his dragging feet outside his room and stood there for a moment instead of going in though. Hanseol and Mingyu were watching him in absolute amusement, waiting to see what he would do next. Jaehyeon then towards the shut bedroom door as if having made up his mind. "I need Jeongwoo."

"He's definitely drunk." Hanseol commented as his eyes followed their Hyung till he opened the door and disappeared into it. "Geez… What is with those two?"

"Let them be." Mingyu returned to his book, not surprised but just as fed up with the bond the two roommates shared as Hanseol way. Maybe he was even a little jealous. He felt guilty when he remembered his earlier fight with Yeojun. He probably should have watched the movie with him.

Jaehyeon stood next to Yeojun's bed and looked down at the two members who were sleeping so peacefully in that single bed. He almost did not want to disturb him but he needed his roommate back.

"Jeongwoo-ya." Jaehyeon called softly and carefully moved Yeojun's arm and leg off the 21-year-old vocalist. Yeojun had stirred because of the disturbance but had turned onto his side and settled right back into sleep after that. "Jeongwoo."

"Mn. Hyung?" Jeongwoo breathed heavily and blinked before straining to keep his eyes on Jaehyeon's face.

"Yes. It's me." Jaehyeon lifted the other man's arm over his shoulder and brought him to sit up on the bed properly. "It's crammed here. Come to our room."

"Ah… I fell asleep??" He rubbed his right eye and grumbled but then did not move. His eyes weren't open any longer.

He was sitting and sleeping.

Jaehyeon smiled endearingly at the sight, then took his arms over his shoulders after turning his back to Jeongwoo and pulled him off the bed and onto his back, supporting him using his hands under his knees after adjusting him. He had not woken up even then. He was just dead weight on Jaehyeon's back.

"Whoa. Hyung, careful." Hanseol said on seeing Jaehyeon carrying Jeongwoo out of the room on his back. "You're drunk. Don't go drop him somewhere."

Jaehyeon scowled at Hanseol who laughed at that reaction. It was Jeongwoo, after all. Jaehyeon would never be anything but careful with him.

He grunted a bit when he reached Jeongwoo's bed. Pausing for no reason at all, he finally turned around and, as slowly as he could, dropped Jeongwoo back onto his bed. The other man groaned and rolled onto his back, blinking his eyes open again.