Twenty-Five

"What exactly were you trying to do?" Jaehyeon rolled onto his back and began laughing.

It was a funny scene to behold but I was laughing more out of embarrassment. "I don't know! How do these True even find these shots? I… I think I was trying to throw a few cool moves but Mingyu was judging me so hard that I gave up halfway and now it just looks like I'm flapping."

"Flapping! That's right." Jaehyeon imitated my arm gestures like in the video.

"Okay. Hyung, stop." I caught his arm with the hand not holding the phone. "I won't watch the rest with you if you're just going to laugh at me."

"Sorry. Let's watch." He lay on his side and propped his head up on his arm again. We were on my bed and I was also lying down. Hanseol had not yet gotten back after his work for the Mixtapes. He was probably on his way back. Yeojun was talking to his family on the phone and Mingyu was getting a post-dinner snack. He tended to do that on especially tiring days. Jaehyeon and I were also tired but we had not quite wanted to go to sleep yet. So, we decided to watch some of the stuff that our fans had posted on YouTube. It never ceased to surprise me how much content they got, especially when we thought they weren't looking.

"Oh. This is from the fan-sign." Jaehyeon perked up when the next clip began playing. "Mingyu bugging Hanseol till Hanseol got up and walked away."

"This fan. I liked her. She told Mingyu off for that." I pointed at the girl onscreen who was talking to Hanseol till Mingyu got him to walk away.

"Look at Yeojun's face when that happens." Jaehyeon said and we waited to see his reaction. Yeojun looked surprised at first but then laughed and gave the girl a high-five. Mingyu just sank into the chair in defeat before going after Hanseol and dragging him back.

"What were we doing?" I tried to recall. "I saw her scolding Mingyu and wanted to say something but… Oh! The girl who gave me that painting! I had gotten distracted."

"I hadn't even realised what was going on till Mingyu dragged Hanseol back." Jaehyeon said.

The next clip started playing. I immediately dropped my phone and looked away in embarrassment, covering my face with my hands. "Ah! What is this?!"

Jaehyeon laughed and picked up my phone. "What are you getting so embarrassed about now? You played along with it then."

"We were onstage! The adrenaline does that!" I turned back to watch the video. The fans were screaming. We were performing a song called 'Sunday' from our debut album Horizon. It wasn't an intense dance number and we had some freedom to move about onstage. Coming into the chorus, we had all walked around the stage and eventually, Jaehyeon and I had ended up together while singing. There was a high note that I had to hit. So, I had stopped walking and gotten myself ready for it. Just as I started singing, Jaehyeon had stepped up and hugged me from behind. I hit the note smoothly. After that, when I had stepped away, he had caught my arm and pulled me towards him, stepping up and holding my forehead to his. He had locked eyes with me, still holding my arm. Back then, I had continued singing, holding his gaze. When looking at it from another perspective, it was really hard to miss how close we were to each other physically, how he was holding my hand and how we were looking at each other. This wasn't the only clip of its kind either. There were plenty of our close-quarter clips but this one always got to me because, unlike in the other ones, Jaehyeon was visibly being a little forceful with the way that he had pulled me towards him. It had kicked up quite the storm among the shippers. "It had not felt so… intimate back then."

"I just did what I wanted to. You're really cool when you hit those high notes like you do. I was so moved!"

"Moved?" They all said that you looked ready to kiss me!

"Yes. And that lasted hardly for a few seconds. You ran away immediately after."

"Let's… not talk about that anymore." I turned my attention back to the phone's screen just as the next clip began playing.

"Ah. This. Isn't this Thailand?" Jaehyeon returned the phone to me and moved in closer to watch.

"Yes." I nodded. "Hanseol managed to keep such a straight face when eating that curry though. I don't know how he did that. Look at me. Look at me. I'm already in tears."

"Seriously. That was very spicy." Jaehyeon recalled. "Hanseol's spice tolerance just makes him seem all the more scary. Even Mingyu teared up. Yeojun just refused to eat more than two mouths. Even I did not eat much."

"It's funny to look back at it all now." I chuckled.

"I'm just glad that we have so many of our memories stored away here by True. I won't have to worry about losing the photos and videos that I have."

"Ah." The next clip began playing. "Football. Yeojun-" I began saying but got cut off and sat bolt upright when the lights went out after what sounded like a loud crash. Jaehyeon too let out a yelp in surprise.

"M-Mingyu?" I called out.

"Hyung." Mingyu called back. "I'm fine. Yeojun-ah!"

"I'm here!" Yeojun responded.

We tended to keep our curtains closed when we were at the dorm at night. Because of that, the power outage had caused everything to go pitch black. I could not see anything in front of me for a while and even when I could tell what was around me thanks to the light from my mobile's screen, I couldn't see beyond the room.

"Jeongwoo, could you pass your phone to me?" Jaehyeon asked and found my arm. "I need the light."

"Ah." I handed my phone over to him. "Mingy-ya! Jun-ah!" I called out again. "Use your phone lights. Don't walk around blind."

"I don't have it." Mingyu replied. "Left mine in the room."

"I literally JUST put it away." Yeojun followed.

Brilliant. "Alright. Don't move. We'll come and get you." I made a move to step out of bed. Just then, there was a sound indicating that something had fallen and the light in the room went off.

"Hyung?" I looked back in the general direction of Jaehyeon.

"Sorry, Jeongwoo!" He immediately said.

"…Was that my phone?"

"I-It slipped from my hand."

You have got to be kidding me. "Where did it go?"

"Um… Under the bed…?" He answered softly. "I'm really sorry."

Once my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I could make out at least the silhouettes of everything around me. Finding Jaehyeon, I moved closer, seeking out his hand. "Why is the generator not working? And what was that crash before the blackout?"

"I don't know. We don't usually have blackouts either."

"Hyung, is that you? Jeongwoo Hyung?" I heard Yeojun ask from the living room.

"I'm in my room. Hyung is here too." I responded.

"That's not- But I thought I just…" He said, softer this time.

"What did he just say?" Jaehyeon asked.

"I didn't hear properly." I frowned. "Jun-ah?"

"H-Hyung." His voice was a little shaky this time. "I think someone's here."

"What?" I felt my blood run cold. "Who…?"

"Jun, come here!" I'm not entirely sure what happened on their end after that but I panicked a bit. "Hyung." I tightened my hold on Jaehyeon's hand. "He said… someone's here… Who? Hyung."

"Calm down." Jaehyeon said rather gravely, not moving a muscle.

"Mingyu and Yeojun… We need to do so-" I couldn't complete what I was saying. All the composure that I had been forcing myself to keep left me in a loud cry when I felt something on my leg. I jumped from where I was sitting on the bed to beside Jaehyeon. I turned but saw nothing where I was expecting to see a person as Yeojun had said. I was certain that something touched me though.

"What? What?" Jaehyeon asked in panic. I heard Mingyu call out too.

"Aish… Fuck…" My heart was pounding. I was breathing fast too. I was scared. "Mingyu, don't come! Ah… Whoever is here too… don't come!"

"Jeongwoo?" Jaehyeon shook my shoulder, sounding on edge himself.

"Ah… Hyeong-ah…" So much for being the elder one and wanting to protect the other two! I was so scared that I was at the verge of tears. "Something… Someone touched- Ah! Don't come! I will punch you! I WILL punch you!"

"What the- Ah!" I heard Mingyu and Yeojun yell too.

Before I could ask them what was going on, I sensed some sort of movement behind Jaehyeon. I looked up and, this time, saw the clear silhouette of a person. He was standing right next to the bed- right next to us.

On reflex, I yelped and tried to grab Jaehyeon's arm too as I stumbled out of bed and ran out of the room but I couldn't drag him with me. Realising that, I stood by the door outside the room and looked in. "Hyung, get out of there."

"Ya, why?" Jaehyeon asked.

'Why'?! "This person-" I froze when I saw the person now moving to stand behind Jaehyeon. "Hyung…" I couldn't say anything more.

Don't touch him!

I had just about made up my mind to go back in and fight that bastard off and taken a step towards them when the lights came on again. That gave me another fright. Then, I saw who the person standing behind Jaehyeon was and sank to the floor in a crouch. "Ah! What is this?!"

It was Hanseol.

The intruder I was ready to punch was Kwan Hanseol.

It was a… It was a prank?!

"Jeongwoo." Jaehyeon laughed. Hanseol too was trembling in quiet laughter where he stood behind Jaehyeon. "Sorry."

Jaehyeon was in on this too?!

"Ah… No…" I turned away from them only to notice someone standing behind me, holding something big and black. I could not help the scream that I let out when I fell back onto my ass to get away. I clutched my T-shirt over my chest and let out heavy breaths when I realised that the second person was the cameraman and his camera.

And I had screamed right into it.

I rolled on the ground in immense relief and embarrassment.

"Jeongwoo Hyung?" Yeojun and Mingyu showed up in the living room, having stepped out of the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

"Were you two in on this too?" I asked, just lying on the ground on my back now.

"No, the cameraman scared us." Mingyu said.

"Then we saw the camera." Yeojun added.

They had at least figured out that it was a prank.

I covered my face with my hands. "I hate y'all so much right now…"

"Jeongwoo-ya." Hanseol and Jaehyeon came out of the bedroom. The former crouched next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"I could have died of a heart attack." I swatted his hand off of me. "I couldn't tell who you were. I really would have punched you. No. I should have punched you."

Jaehyeon chuckled and handed me my phone. "Were you going to come back for me?"

"I… am not talking to you." I took my phone back and sat up. He had clearly dropped something else. He was just trying to get rid of the light. "I am not talking to you."

"Come on. Someone on the inside had to know. It could have gotten ugly otherwise. It might not have worked otherwise either." Jaehyeon justified. "I feel bad too but, come on. It was an ingenious prank."

"Ingenious…" I glared at him and then Hanseol. "You used the master switch for the lights." The cameraman probably turned it on afterwards. "But what about the crash that we heard?"

"Sound effects." Hanseol shrugged.

"Unbelievable." I shook my head and stood up without taking any of the help offered. "You're both unbelievable. I'm just going to take a shower now and calm myself down. I'll decide whether to talk to you or not after that."

"He's pissed. He's really pissed, isn't he?" Hanseol looked at Jaehyeon.

"If he really doesn't talk to me after this, I'm blaming you." Jaehyeon returned.

"No, but… why would you do that?" Mingyu asked. "At home too… I was so scared that I was legit prepared to take a knife in hand."

The cameraman now looked worried.

"I really would have." Mingyu looked at the camera. "I'm really protective of my important people. I can be bold."

"Speaking of bold…" Jaehyeon turned to me. "You really were going to come back in for me, weren't you?" He smirked.

"O-Obviously. I couldn't just leave you there. What if Hanseol had been an actual intruder?"

"At least this proves just how much of a family we are." Jaehyeon ruffled up my hair. "I'll make it up to you sometime for this."

"We will make it up to all of you." Hanseol said.

"You owe us at least that much." Mingyu grumbled.

"I'll just go shower now." I turned to walk away but Hanseol stopped me this time. "Wait. Let's close."

"Uwah. He's really pissed." Yeojun chuckled.

I stood where I was and allowed Hanseol to wrap up.

"So, like I had told you earlier, other than YoonJae Hyung, no one here knew about this. I have to admit that it was fun."

"You and YoonJae Hyung are the only ones who had fun." Mingyu said.

"I'll probably have nightmares about being at home…" Yeojun added.

I reserved my comments.

"Ey. We're all here!" Jaehyeon slung an arm over Yeojun's shoulder. "You've got nothing to worry about. You have proof that we will protect you."

"I trust Jeongwoo Hyung." Yeojun shrugged.

"I do too." Mingyu seconded and came over to stand next to me. "Our other two Hyungs are untrustworthy."

"Now that's just mean." Jaehyeon furrowed his brows.

I smirked. Them losing the trust of our Dongsaengs was all the revenge I needed.

"Looks like we have some fixing to do here." Hanseol sighed. "I did know that this prank would have its own repercussions. Well, we'll fix that. Our younger members are a little sensitive that way."

"I had fun though." Jaehyeon shrugged. "I have absolutely no regrets."

"Next time, watch out. You might not be on the safe side." I said. Yes, that was a threat.

"Good luck with that." He laughed.

"Okay then. Let's wrap up. Our intruder prank was a huge success." Hanseol said. "I am not forgetting this for quite a while."

"Neither am I." Jaehyeon grinned.

"Nor are we." I rolled my eyes.

"Then, we'll see you again, True. Bye." Hanseol said.

"Don't do this at home." I gave a wave too, making the others crack up a bit.

"See you, True!" Yeojun said and Mingyu waved too.

"Bye!" Jaehyeon said.

Once the camera was off, we looked at each other.

"Hyung, that was mean. Very mean." Mingyu told Hanseol.

"This was my mission. I had to do it." He explained. "Your reactions were priceless though."

"I am really very moved." Jaehyeon gave me a hug. "You would have actually come back for me."

"I would have gone back for anyone." I grumbled but let him satisfy himself with the hug.

We thanked the cameraman and he left soon after collecting all the hidden cameras that had been left around the dorm without our even realising it.

One thing was certain- True were going to love this.