"THE food is really good, Chan!" Mal complimented, making Felix nod happily. He flipped his hair in pride, knowing that he felt proud that his girlfriend was getting along with his friends.

"Thanks, Mal, but it's the only thing I can make," Chan replied, taking a spoonful of his ramen.

"It's true. We eat it three times a week or something, whenever it's his turn to cook."

They all giggled lightly as Chan threw a napkin at Han in a joking manner.

"Ugh. I missed you guys." Felix sighed, holding Mal's hand from under the table. Hyunjin looked up from his bowl and smiled.

"We missed you too, Lix." he paused for a moment, biting his lower lip. "I feel like we've been apart for so long, even if it only had been six months or something."

"It's been four months and six days."

"It's been five months since we sang on stage," Han spoke, a wave of depression filling his insides. Deep down, they all knew they wanted to get the adrenaline rush from singing and dancing in a stadium filled with thousands of people.

"Why don't we do it again, Chan? What's wrong with singing, just the four of us?" Felix asked. "Now that we've finally met each other again."

"There's nothing wrong with the idea itself, but we can't form a band with only four members." Chan took a bite of his ramen once again. "And, even if we can, we need a lot of money for choreography, costumes, and a place to rehearse in. In case none of you notice, we're already really broke. We can't even pay the rent. Sorry guys, but we just can't."

That made Mal think deeply for a moment, putting a small frown on her face. She wanted to help them, but she didn't know what to do, or more precisely where to start. Chan seemed to be done with the idea as well, so that made her more baffled than before.

"Fine."

That made the conversations die on the table for a good five minutes. Chan shook his head as he knew that his words upset his friends, but continued to eat in silence.

"By the way, Mal, do you think Han and Hyunjin can attend school with you guys? We need to stay undercover, and I think they're ready for their senior year."

Han turned to glance at Chan's neutral expression. "What, did you get sick of us already?"

"You know I can never get sick of you guys, but we need to act as normal as possible around here so nobody starts asking questions."

"Relax, Chan, he's joking."

The three turned to Mal, a questioning look on their handsome faces.

"Of course! I'll see what I can do."

Felix glanced at his friends, a look of dismay planted on his face. "Guys, please don't ask her to do things already."

Mal squeezed his hand from under the table. "Felix, it's fine. You all can ask for whatever you want. Plus, my mums are friends with the principal, so she can't say no anyway."

Felix nodded at her words, completely relieved. He knew that he wanted his friends at school instead of all the rich, popular kids making fun of him every time he passed by.

"Thanks, Mal." he muttered, making her nod happily as she earned a few 'Thank you!' coming from the members.

"Don't thank me, babe. You know I'll do anything for you, and you guys!"

They all smiled.

☂︎

It was already halfway through the conversations after the five finished their lunch. The three members decided to talk to the couple, Mal and Felix, about how it has been for the four months before.

"It was a very normal night. Or at least we thought so. It all happened after we released our single God's Menu..." Han began, "Chan went to buy groceries for the house and things like that, and it was a night followed by a holiday, so some of the members were busy drinking."

"Me, Felix, and Hyunjin went to bed since we didn't drink in the first place, and since our phones needed to charge, we left them downstairs."

Mal closed her eyes, her heart sinking. She already knew what happened next. Not because Felix had already told her, but because she could only imagine how it went that night. She didn't want to imagine the worst, that if the four members were here, right in front of her, then something bad must've happened to the other four members. She tried to push the thought out of her head.

"Then, later that night, I think one of them turned on a stove or something, being drunk and everything... The place caught fire."

Mal took a glance at her boyfriend, only to see him staring at his friends with a tearful expression. He held her hand and squeezed it tightly for support. The story traumatized the four of them. And she could do nothing to make it better for them.

"It all went by a blur. Felix woke up first and tried to go downstairs to alert the others, but the fire was blocking everything. Somebody from the neighbors saw the smoke and called the fire department. We separated from there."

Han wiped away a few tears at the memory.

"Our parents were on business trips. Chan and Felix's families were back in Australia, Hyunjin's parents were on a business trip to Japan, and mine were visiting a relative in China. We had no way to contact the management either because our phones were ruined in the fire."

"Since we had no way of contacting our manager, and all of our possessions were destroyed in the fire, we had no way to confirm our identities to get at least some money from the bank, and most of us were under 21 back then," Hyunjin explained in Korean. Mal nodded, squeezing Felix's hand tighter as tears began to stream down her face.

"Chan couldn't get past the identity thing and we were stuck with the little money we had in our pocket in a small motel until a mysterious letter came in the mail with plane tickets to the United States."

"We didn't have anything left. Nobody wanted to hire us after finding out that we didn't have a place to live in, only that small motel. So we had to go."

Felix wiped away his tears, then stood up to gather his friends in a group hug. He gestured for Mal to join them, and soon enough, the group members were hugging each other.

They were all finally together.

___________________________