Through the Back Door

11

"What is it with Chan calling me babygirl?" I asked as Hyunjin led me down the hall.

"Oh that..." The blondie paused. "I don't know if I should be saying this or not, but his sister-"

"He told me a bit about her on the way to the apartment," I explained. "I feel horrible for him."

Hyunjin sighed. "Yeah, I feel for him too. But since he told you I guess it's not a problem for me to share this: it was his nickname for her. He calls women he cares about by that; usually when he's tryna comfort them. Although he's also a bit of a flirt so you can never be too sure around him."

I bit my lip. "Chan cares about me? But he doesn't even know me!"

The ferret-faced boy chucked. "Believe it or not, we all care about you Hanbyul."

"But you don't-"

"You're right, none of us really know you personally other than Jeongin. That being said, we do know about you. And I'm sorry for what you've been through."

I winced. "What do you know?"

He hesitated, his eyes seemingly sad. "Let's just say I can relate to you the most out of everyone here."

I nodded, not wanting to press the tall blond any further. "It's because of him, isn't it?" I thought. "We're all suffering because of him."

"Anyways," Hyunjin continued, his expression back to its original cheery state "down this hallway is the... The dorms, I guess you could call them? Your room is right here!" He indicated a door adjacent to my right.

I tilted my head, staring at it. "I'm really going to be living with you guys, huh?"

Hyunjin patted my shoulder, chuckling. "It's not that bad here, I promise."

"Andwei! Hyung!" Someone shrieked a few doors down. "I don't want to!"

"Awe c'mon mate, it's not that much! You'll survive, I promise!" Another shouted, this time in English. I heard a hint of an Aussie accent.

I raised an eyebrow, looking towards the Hwang boy. "You were saying?"

Hyunjin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Don't worry about it too much."

"It's not that bad here, I promise!" I mimicked followed by rolling my eyes.

The ferret-faced boy huffed, crossing his arms. "For the record, I do not sound like that!"

"I swear if you don't stop I'm going to kick you!" The first voice yelled again.

"And on second thought, we should probably go check on them. That's coming from Chan and Minho hyungs' room."

I groaned as the two of us ran down the hall, wondering who was causing such a commotion. We stopped at the back end to a door on the left, which Hyunjin opened. "The hell is going on?" he half-shouted, walking into the room.

I followed him, amused at the sight in front of me. Changbin's face was contorted in a look of aggravation and concentration. He was clutching to the bottom of a bunk bed's frame like his life depended on it, his white t-shirt riding up and beginning to expose his stomach all the while his gray joggers were slowly falling down due to Chan attempting to drag him from the piece of furniture by the calves.

"C'mon Binnie," the red-head whined. "Let's just get this over with! We would've been done by now if you weren't so stubborn!" He tugged, making his friend's pants fall even lower.

"Ah shiro!" the strong-chinned boy complained. "I've done enough housework this week, why can't you get someone else to do it?!"

I snorted, looking towards Hyunjin. "Maybe it won't be so bad here after all."