Exchange Squared~Yanone

六

After a chaotic time at the mall, Yanan walked into the now empty house. He set down the few shopping bags he had and checked the time. It was almost 6. Yanan quickly grabbed his laptop from his backpack and sat down on the couch. He opened the video chat application and logged on. He could see Junhui's profile icon pop up so he clicked on it to join the chat. When the connection was established, Yanan saw Junhui's smiling face with Minghao sitting beside him.

"YANANNIE! YOU MADE IT!" Jun cheered as soon as he saw the other.

"Hi Junnie! Hi Hao! How have you guys been?"

"Nothing's changed really. But we should be asking you that." Minghao replied.

"Asking who?" Jiacheng asked as his connection was established.

"And asking what?" Zhennan added when he appeared on the screen.

"How Yanan's been doing with his project." Junhui explained.

"Ohhhh." Jiacheng and Zhennan chorused.

"Well, I met his parents, his parents had to leave for a business trip, his friends are chaotic, and he lives in a ginormous house." Yanan reported as if he was counting off a list.

"Can we see the house?" Minghao asked.

"Um yeah sure."

Yanan picked up the computer and turned it around so the camera was looking out towards the living room. He walked around the house giving general names of the rooms while his friends commented occasionally. He ended up going outside in the front to show the front view of the house and went to the backyard to show the generous amount of space there was. When he sat back down on the living room couch, his friends were in awe.

"This boy must be so rich!" Jiacheng exclaimed.

"Even looking at the couch you're sitting on is different." Zhennan said.

"It's kinda lonely being the only one in the house though..." Yanan sighed.

"Do you think Changgu has to deal with the loneliness often?" Jun asked tilting his head.

"I mean... to be honest I never really thought about it but I guess it would make sense... the money's got to come from somewhere." Yanan shrugged.

"What about his friends? You said they were chaotic?" Minghao asked.

"Well yeah. Pretty much normal for any friend group but they were quite chaotic. Today, we went to the mall after school and this guy, Hui, didn't even get to drive his own car!" Yanan giggled. "Not to mention that they totally exposed one of their friend's crush on a boy when I just met them."

"So they're as close as brothers." Zhennan laughed.

"Yeah. Just like us." Jiacheng winked.

"Does that mean we're exposing some crushes?" Minghao teased.

"Let's spill some tea." Junhui said.

"I have some." Yanan declared. "Did you guys know that Minghao likes Jun and... wait for it... Jun likes Minghao and... GASP tHey'RE daTiNG?!?!"

"OH MY GOD!!!" Jiacheng and Zhennan exclaimed.

The group blinked at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"But seriously, does anyone have any tea to spill?" Zhennan asked wiping his tears of laughter away.

"No not at the moment... it's kinda hard to find some relevant tea when we all live so far from each other." Jiacheng said.

"...true." Minghao nodded.

"But hey, we manage to keep in touch and that's pretty amazing." Junhui pointed out.

"Wow. How sentimental." Yanan stated in a monotone voice making the group burst into laughter again.

They talked for a few hours before they all collectively agreed that they had homework to do (or in Junhao's case, lounging around to do) and said their goodbyes. They promised to do another video call in the next few days and decided to establish the specifics in their group chat another day.

Yanan closed his laptop and moved his stuff into his temporary room before sitting down at his desk. Pulling out a few textbooks and notebooks, he put in his earbuds and began working. He worked for a few hours before he finally finished the last assignment he needed to complete and shoved everything back into his backpack. Looking at the clock on the wall, he sighed before getting up to take a shower and get ready for bed. To be frank, Yanan was kinda bored. What was the point of a big house if there are barely any people in it? It seemed so empty. He thought back to what Jun had said about Changgu often feeling this way. Maybe this popular boy was lonely?

Changgu had just finished his homework and was now making dinner. Well more like scanning a menu to see what he wanted to order for dinner. He was suddenly in the mood for some chicken and he knew for sure he wouldn't be able to make it himself.

"This seems like a good place." Changgu mumbled to himself. "Let's just go with it."

Once the order was placed, he decided to go take a shower and change into comfortable clothes while he waited. When all of that was done, he sat on the couch with a blanket and surfed the tv. He ended up watching a drama that he had already watched but there's no harm in watching it again.

When the food arrived, Changgu set everything down on the coffee table before getting comfortable again satisfied with how he spent his day. Although it wasn't the most eventful, it was quite productive. Although he found it weird that being the only one in the apartment didn't feel nearly as lonely as being alone in his own house. Don't get him wrong, Changgu was accustomed to being the only person in the house but the pangs of loneliness would still hit him when he was home. But here... it didn't feel like that. Maybe it was because the apartment didn't have nearly as much space as his house did and was a lot cozier. Whatever it was Changgu liked it. But he couldn't help but think about Yanan. The tall quiet boy who undoubtedly at some point during these two weeks would be left alone in the giant house. And quite frankly, Changgu hoped he didn't feel too lonely. He hoped he didn't feel how he typically feels.

Little did he know the boy was already feeling that way.

And although both started having concerns for the other, no one would've expected that the lonely feeling would be what would bring them closer later.

>>>>>>>>>>

A/N: I can't wait for PENTAGON's comeback! It sucks that Yanan won't be promoting with them but I'm glad he's putting his health as a priority. Also, the album will have Round 2 I'm excited to see what they'll diss about this time lmao.

~Admin Jin