Surprise , surprise !

"Ho-jin, let's get you to your room and go to sleep. Why are you heading to Ji-hun's room?" Kaoru asked his little brother when he caught him sneaking quietly across the corridor.

"Hyung, I want to sleep with Ji-hun hyung today. Please hyung! I promise we will not play video games; we'll sleep peacefully." Ho-jin said, requesting his brother's permission.

"But -" Before he could have spoken anything, Dae Jung also appeared in the hallway, with his pillow in hand. Realising what was going on, he put on a sweet smile and asked "Hyung, can I please sleep in Ji-hun's room? Please, and we will not spend the night watching dramas; I promise we will go to sleep."

Kaoru knew that he couldn't tame these sweet little beasts because he loved them too much to deny them anything. But he still pretended to consider their requests for a moment and then said, relenting, "Okay, I will let you sleep in Ji-hun's room today. But hurry, and don't let hyungs know about this."

"We won't!" They exclaimed in unison, putting their plan in jeopardy without even realising it. Kaoru was left shaking his head out of hopelessness on their behalf, as the two went to Ji-hun's room, where they saw Hyeon already seated across Ji-hun. The two were engrossed in some conversation; Hyeon was probably asking him something or explaining something to him, they couldn't hear him clearly because of the distance.

Suddenly, Dae Jung came up with an idea. He pushed Ho-jin in front of the door to grab Hyeon's attention, while Ho-jin was looking at him with surprise, holding the pain of betrayal in his eyes. Dae Jung also tripped on him, making it appear convincing to his hyung that they had fallen for real, hoping to fool him successfully. Hyeon looked at those idiots with disbelief, and screamed "Come in, and you don't need to act pitiful when you don't know how to act!"

Dae Jung stood up, his face red with embarrassment, knowing that he had been caught badly, while Ho-jin stood up, wailing because of the pain from falling down twice in a row, as well as the betrayal from Dae Jung. But he let the second one slide, out of his love for his hyung and dashed into the room. "Hyung, are you reading him a bedtime story?"

Hyeon looked at him incredulously, wondering how this boy could be 23 years old. He asked, "Are you sure you are an adult and have graduated from college, because the more I observe you, the more I doubt it!"

Dae Jung took this conversation as an opportunity to put his cards on the table "Hyung, we are here for a sleepover with Ji-hun, as he was scared of the nightmares earlier…" He trailed off as the look of surprise dawned on Ji-hun's face at his words.

"Nightmares? Again? Why don't I remember anything…" Ji-hun asked himself and the others in the room, while Hyeon was glaring at Dae Jung, indicating to him to stop and shut his mouth before he could spill anything further. Ji-hun had finally asked the question which he had been trying to hide from him, Hyeon slammed his hand on his own face, feeling an intense rush of frustration towards DJ.

He exhaled loudly and then spoke calmly, trying to keep his voice casual "Oh no, Ji-hun! Dae Jung just needs an excuse to sleep with you and watch dramas till late night, so he is making up stories to plead his case. You sleep here with Ho-jin, and I will take care of him." Saying this, he stood up and started dragging Dae Jung by the ear, leaving Ji-hun confused and Ho-jin was smiling, thinking 'This is what you get for cheating your own teammate!'

Ho-jin turned to Ji-hun, knowing that everyone wanted to hide the recent events from him because of what had happened in the past. 'But he didn't want to hide anything from his brother, as he knew that he was not as weak as everybody was assuming him to be. Rather, he was stronger than everybody else for having survived everything without any support; there were just some remaining scars, which would be healed with due time!'

"Hyung, can I ask you a question?'" He asked, hopping into his bed and covering himself up to the chin with a blanket.

"Anytime Ho-jin, and you know this!" Ji-hun replied with a big smile.

"Is there really someone you are seeing? You were talking about some girl in your sleep." Ji-hun looked at Ho-jin, puzzled.

'After listening to their conversation earlier, he had assumed that the others knew about the girl as well. Only now did he realise how zoned out of reality he had been. He was adept at remembering faces, and he hadn't come across that face even once in his life; so the only explanation was that it must all be in his subconscious! Was she even real, or had his loneliness just made her up after whatever he had gone through? But wait, if it was indeed his loneliness that was making up characters, wasn't it supposed to have happened at a time he had been at his lowest? At this point he was pretty much stable, everything was back on track- then why now?'

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"Aman!" Nitya shouted with joy, recognizing the person on the other side of the call. She then continued "I really hate you, and you should know that I will hate you forever! How could you return without meeting me, and without even saying goodbye? I am so mad at you!"

"Oh my God, easy girl! And how do you always recognise everyone by their voices; this was supposed to be a prank to scare you!"

"Because I am a master at recognising voices and you know this for a fact. Now don't try to change the topic- how dare you?"

"This is the reason I ask you to reconsider your career choices, but you never listen to me! Anyway, I will come back to meet you very soon, it just happened that I had to return home in a hurry."

"Is everything alright?" Nitya asked with concern.

"Yes yes! Don't worry about me, and tell me your plans about visiting Austria instead. I will take you to every place I love, and every library here!"

"Wow! Boy, you really do know how to make my anger vanish and make me normal again, huh?"

"Of course, I am your friend; and friends are supposed to know this, aren't they?"

"Hundred and ten percent true, they are supposed to know this in order to save their own skins!" She was still talking to her friend, when she received another call notification with 'Dada' flashing on the screen.

"I am so dead! Aman, will definitely call you later. I need to go right now, I am already extremely late for college today, bye bye!"

Aman disconnected the call, saying goodbye and smiling like a fool. He knew that his friend won't remember to call him back. This was probably the only bad habit of hers, but she was his friend and one of the most precious people he had ever met, and he would not let her get hurt.

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Nitya picked the call and started speaking, without giving Mehul a chance to complain, "Dada! Give me ten minutes, please. I will be ready within ten minutes, please. I am sorry, I overslept."

"It's okay, Nitya. I am waiting downstairs with Surbhi, come fast and have your breakfast. Tomorrow onwards I will be here for your breakfast, lunch and dinner as well. It means that if you are not moving in with me, I will be staying here for the next seventeen days instead."

He disconnected the call right after mentioning the news of his coming over for the entirety of the next fortnight. He had dropped the bomb directly onto the core, and left his sister to recover from the shock.

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