Startled, Yohan slapped away the stranger’s hand only to realize that it was his stupid friend, Eddie, grinning at him while waggling his eyebrows playfully. He clearly couldn’t read the room. The pent-up frustration from earlier, exploded within him as Yohan glowered at his best friend, who audibly gulped before bolting out of the entrance. 

Growling in irritation and rage, Yohan raced after his friend who was now running for his life down the bustling streets, yelling at the author to calm down. Ignoring Eddie’s pleas, Yohan cornered him at the valet parking of one of the plazas. 

Gripping his friend’s jacket, the writer dragged him back to the hotel’s parking lot, not paying attention to the constant whispers and odd stares of passersby. Eddie covered his face in embarrassment and horror—aware of what they were thinking. Thanks to Yohan’s behavior, people were now thinking that they were a gay couple!

Stopping at Eddie’s parked car, the author smiled at his friend, an ominous aura emanating from him. “Drive. Me. Home. Now.”

“O-okay. Sure, no problem…” Eddie said, trying to not show his wariness as he climbed into his car. With a satisfied ‘hmph’ Yohan clambered into his friend’s car glaring at his friend as they started to pull out of the parking lot.

The car ride was silent, as Eddie tried his best to ignore Yohan’s brooding; why was he acting like a child? It wasn’t like anything bad happened by apologizing to the editor right…? Or… did Yohan somehow offend that editor?! Shit… why do I have such an ominous feeling that he might have messed up his apology…? Eddie inwardly sighed. Why was is it so easy for him to lose faith in his best friend? This was so sad…

“Hey Eddie.” Yohan called out calmly, tapping his hand on the armrest.

“… Yeah…?”

“Get ready for your anniversary.”

“A-anniversary? What anniversary?” Eddie asked, the corners of his mouth twitching into a nervous smile. He refused to look at Yohan, keeping his eyes on the bustling road.

“Your death anniversary.”

“My… My what?” Eddie nervously asked, glimpsing at Yohan who was still staring daggers at him. 

Yohan smiled creepily while gesturing with his thumb, a slicing motion of the neck. Eddie froze before he slowly turned his head forward. What did he do?! He was 100% going to get murdered today! Sharon, you better pay me back for my sacrifice! T^T, he thought as he raced down the streets, scared for his questionable near future.

~~~

Eddie grunted as his whole body trembled with pain. He struggled to keep his body upright as Yohan sat cross-legged on his best friend’s back, while happily munching on a fairly bitter matcha cupcake. Eddie’s face was nearing purple as he strained to keep himself upright on the carpeted floor of Yohan’s living room. Yohan laughed devilishly, finally getting off of his friend’s back. For the past thirty minutes, he had been forcing his best friend to work out—his revenge for Eddie’s betrayal.

Groaning in pain, Eddie planted himself on the soft carpet, sweaty from his intense workout. He glowered at Yohan who smiled smugly, his vengeful wrath now under wraps with the bribe Eddie had gotten him before they arrived at the townhouse. Yohan handed his friend a water bottle as he plopped himself down on the floor next to Eddie. 

Grunting, Eddie slowly sat up, moaning and groaning that he was dying from pain. Yohan rolled his eyes at the man’s exaggerated show that he was “dying”. Yohan kicked his friend off to the side, wanting him to shut up.

“Ow! Dude! Are you seriously still mad at me?!”

“Yeah. Well... it depends… Actually, fuck you, Eddie!”

“Wha—? What did I do?!” Eddie gasped; his eyebrows knitted into a baffled expression.

“Urghh. Because of you, I need to work with that editor now! I hate this!” Yohan complained, punching the carpet with such force that Eddie flinched away.

“… Sooo, things worked out then? You’re going to work with him? For how long?”

Yohan shot him a death glare before sighing, “… A year.”

“A year?! I thought he was just a temp, no?”

“… I don’t know anymore! Ugh, freakin’ Sharon and her stupid plans…” Yohan grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Well, what happened? Also, before you blame me any further, let me remind you that we’re even now, okay? No more of this… uh… tantrum?” he muttered the last bit, wary of Yohan’s darkened scowl.

“Even? Even for what?”

“… You destroyed any potential opportunity for me to date your sis—” Eddie couldn’t finish his sentence as Yohan threw a pillow at his best friend. 

Ugh, was he still that infatuated with his sister? She was nearing forty for pete’s sake! And married to a woman—wasn’t that enough for Eddie to forget his first love? Yohan paused as he groaned in frustration. Dang, he was totally a hypocrite—he had no right to say such a thing about Eddie when he couldn't even forget about her. 

Yohan sighed, grimacing as he turned to face Eddie, “Ew. Dude, you’re so gross. She’s eight years older than us! Besides, my sister could do better than get a man like you.”

“What?! Hey! For your information, all the Asian moms like me, okay?! They always tell me I’m the ideal son-in-law! Hmph! Also, Sharon is literally a girl version of me...” Eddie said with a satisfied and smug smile on his face. Unlike Yohan, Eddie’s friendly nature had earned him many fans over the years in his career as an emergency doctor.

“… That’s only because you’re a doctor. If only they knew how moronic you are, they'd have their daughters run away from you.” Yohan grimaced in distaste, shaking his head at Eddie’s immaturity. 

“Sooo, you won’t deny that Sharon isn’t a great choice either?” Eddie asked, waggling his eyebrows playfully, wanting to piss off the novelist for that diss.

“Nah. She’s better than you.” Yohan responded, cracking a smile at his friend’s crestfallen face.

“Bullsh—! Ahem, anyways, before we get sidetracked even further… What happened between you and the editor?”

“… Let’s just say I dug my own freakin’ grave. Fuck!” Yohan groaned, throwing a tantrum on the carpeted floor as Eddie just raised his eyebrows at the novelist.

“What do you mean?”

“… I basically told him that I won’t work with him unless he stays for a year at least…” Yohan mumbled, staring up at his ceiling, his vengeful anger flaring up again.

Why did he have to go babble about how he didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t going to work with him for at least a year?! He flailed around like a fish out of the water as Eddie just tsked at his best friend before gulping down some water. Hmm. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea for Yohan to have a new editor? This new person could help him be more social if anything. While Eddie pondered on the hopeful future of the author’s social life, he didn’t notice Yohan’s feet inching closer to him until the painful impact on Eddie’s… crotch.

Yowling in pain, Eddie rolled around the carpet, cursing his friend between cries of intense pain. Yohan stopped his tantrum, gaping in horror at his best friend. Rushing over to Eddie, he started to tap on his friend’s back as he continued to yelp in pain, grabbing Yohan’s messy blond hair in retaliation. Soon, the living room was in chaos as the two friends started to tumble and fight with each other. 

“You jerk, are you trying to kill off my future children?!” Eddie asked, head locking Yohan as the author flopped around, elbowing the doctor in his abdomen.

“I told you it was an accident and I already apologized, you idiot! Why’d you sit so close to me when I was rolling around, then?!”

“What?! You’re the one who—”

The two childhood friends continued their bicker, as Yohan’s phone buzzed in the background, forgotten in their pointless fight. It was a message from Andrew; the text read:

“I look forward to working with you, Mr. Yoo. 

Please use this number to contact me 

about any issues you may have with your story. –AN”

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**