Sunoo opens his eyes after hearing a faint noise of zombies growling from somewhere. His legs felt numb and his upper body is hurting.
His eyes first landed on the television playing a movie about zombie apocalypse. Slowly, a flashback from yesterday reminds him why his surrounding isn't familiar.
He have told the dorm manager that he can't come back until the storm will stop, and that he's staying with a friend for the mean time. He spends time with Riki, watching him tire himself by dancing until they both decided to watch horror movies.
Sunoo's stomach grumbles.
And they've fallen asleep in the middle of the movie without eating anything for dinner.
Sunoo tried to get up from awakwardly sitting in the couch, wondering how he have managed to sleep in such position, when he noticed Riki's head leaning on his shoulder.
Did they slept on the couch leaning on each other?
He leans back and tried stretching his legs in a way that he couldn't disturb Riki's sleep. How long will he wait until Riki finally wakes up?
Sunoo didn't even know if the storm have stopped already. The windows are all covered in thick curtains and the temperature inside is set to a warmer level, like it was just a normal weather.
It took another ten minutes when Riki finally moves his head off Sunoo's shoulder, but he was not yet awake. Sunoo takes the chance to stood up and stretch his whole body. His stomach grumbles again.
Sunoo walked towards the window and peeked through the curtains. The storm have finally calmed, and there were already workers cleaning the snows on the street.
He can finally go back to the dorms.
+++
Riki abruptly wokes up after hearing one murderous scream.
He looks around, feeling a little nervous. What if a murderer have entered the apartment? Jay will probably kill him twice when he found out, even though he's already got killed by the killer.
However, he found no other than Sunoo peeking from the kitchen.
Riki then hears a zombie growling coming from the speaker attached to the television. He sighed in relief, there was no murderer. It was just a zombie movie still playing on the television.
Riki first fixed his hair with his fingers before turning the television off. His whole body aching, but he feels rather energized. He have slept great even with such a bad position on the couch.
He then wonders where Sunoo have slept.
Isn't he such a bad home owner? He didn't even gave his visitor a proper place to sleep in.
He walked towards the window and peeked outside, the weather seemed calm and great already. The snow on the roads have already swept away.
“The breakfast is ready,” Sunoo speaks from the kitchen.
Riki shakes his head. He really failed as a host, he let his visitor cook. Riki goes to the kitchen, seeing the pot of ramyeon on the middle of the table with their bowls and utensils all ready.
“You don't have stocks of rice, no wonder you eat outside even in a bad weather,” Sunoo commented, already sitting on the other end of the table.
Riki didn't speak.
He just woke up—no, he was forced to wake up with a loud screaming sound. His mind still is cloudy with random morning thoughts.
“Can I ask something?” Sunoo speaks, out of the blue.
Riki only nodded as he sits in front on Sunoo, taking the fork in his hands.
“I'm really curious, how are you in a same group with those seniors?”
Riki looked at Sunoo, their gaze meeting.
“Jay,” Riki simply said.
No one knew about it, that he was an illegitimate sibling of Jay. Never once he was introduce to somebody as a member of Park's family. He was Nishimura Riki from birth up until now. He himself tells everyone who asked that he is a pure Japanese person, not half-Korean.
Even when he discovered about the truth, Riki remained a Nishimura. Only a few person knew about his identity, not even Hanbin and Taki.
“Jay?” Sunoo asked, confuse.
“I can't tell you more than that,” Riki said, “Unless you want to exchange information.”
+++
Sunoo watched how a smirk forms in Riki's lips. The arrogant look finally back on his eyes.
“Depends on what you wanted to know,” Sunoo said, looking away.
“Hm,” Riki hums, “In middle school, are you from that group who always perform on the street? That same group who is featured in one music video of a known idol group.”
Sunoo nodded, “I was.”
He was supposed to be the center in their performance for that music video, but Sunoo left the group before the filming starts. So, he was not included in it.
“But why did you stop?”
“It's just...” Sunoo said, “I realize dancing isn't for me,” Sunoo lied.
The rumor and bullying have something to do with him leaving the dance group. He trusted the members, but they are the first person who turned their back at him after the rumor spreads. They even participated in cyber attacks and crushed Sunoo's confidence the most.
“Why did you start dancing, in the first place?” Riki asked again.
“Yah, it's your third question already,” Sunoo said, snapping out of his thoughts.
Riki shrugged, “Not my fault you kept answering.”
“Did Jay introduced you to the other seniors?” Sunoo asked.
+++
“No, Heeseung did,” Riki said.
Heeseung and him are neighbors when he was still a kid. He was the kind neighbor who played with Riki whenever his Mom was out for work. He would walk Riki to school and wait for him every dismissal so they could walk home together.
“Then, why did you answered Jay earlier?” Sunoo confusely asked.
Riki remained silent, purposely eating to avoid answering the question.
When Heeseung entered highschool, he met Sunghoon. Sunghoon is the reason why Heeseung got casted to be a part of the school band, and Sunghoon also introduced Heeseung to Jake and Jay.
Riki was ten years old back then. His Mom was out for work and Heeseung brought him somewhere in the city, in Jay's house to be exact. They had fun playing xbox all day, until Jay's Mom interrupted them to deliver a snack.
Jay's Mom have stared at Riki for quite a while. Riki was confuse then, but now it all made sense. Jay's Mom's reaction is the same reaction Jay's Dad had when they accidentally crossed path on the big house, on the very same day.
Riki had no clue about it, and seeing Jay's parents interact in front of him made him feel jealous. He remembers coming back home and asking his Mom constantly about the whereabouts of his father. He wanted to meet him, too.
Riki was twelve when his Mom left to Japan, she left him at Jay's house. He didn't understand why, not until he turned fifteen. Jay is the first person to discover the truth and he fought about it with his parents. Riki accidentally heard their loud arguments, and Jay's parents had no choice but to tell them about everything.
That very same night, Riki left the mansion with Jay following him.
“Because, Jay...” Riki finally speaks.
Jay accepted him even after everything. He let him stay with them and never did once treated him like a mistake.
“He acts like the leader of this group, you know,” Riki said, smiling thereafter.
Riki will never be vocal about cringey things like appreciating his friends, although it is already visible through the sparkles in his eyes and the fond smile on his lips.
tengyu_