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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter thirty-four ─── ʚĭɞ

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It was a rare occurence for the boys to be woken up by noise from next door, but ever since the time they had been invited over to listen to the demo of 'Get It', that was the first thing they heard as each morning went by.

Neither Seojun, Hyunwoo, Kenji or Daehwan particularly blamed the girls for wanting to get used to the vibe and feel of their debut song - the month leading up to their debut was incredibly busy, particularly the first two weeks.

A couple nights before, Hyunwoo had been enlisted to help them clear the living room. The sofas had been pushed as far back as possible, as with the rest of the furniture. This created a space big enough for them to practise the newly learned choreography.

Which they were admittedly rather stressed about. Learning lyrics and choreography so that it was memorised seemed to be similar in theory but in reality, it was completely different. For some, lyrics were easier than choreography and others vice versa.

For Miyeon, who had stared at the lyrics over and over whilst producing it, was much more focused on learning the choreographyy. Which was why, before the four of them were scheduled to go and record the promotional b-side, she had woken up even earlier than usual.

Her phone was already connected to her earphones as she disappeared to get her bottle of water from her room, but when she got back, not only was it disconnected, but the case was being fiddled with by Seojun, who had apparently come in through the door in her absence.

"Morning!" Miyeon approached the boy with a cheerful tone, able to tell it was him despite the fact his back was facing towards her. "If I woke you up-"

"You didn't." Seojun replied, his voice a complete contrast to hers. Even though he didn't really have that sunny demeanour that Miyeon pushed in order to hide anything that was wrong, he usually made some sort of an effort.

But this morning, he didn't.

"Is everything alright?" Miyeon didn't move from where she was stood behind him, trying to urge herself to take a couple more steps forward and sit beside him. But she remained stationary, heart pounding. Seojun didn't reply.

"I haven't seen you in a few days, so we haven't been able to talk." Her voice wobbled, and the Han boy could tell that she knew nothing was right about him being there; she knew that there was something wrong. "Did something happen?"

"I.. have a few things to confess." Seojun looked back at her, unable to hide the evidence of clear lack of sleep and the feeling of guilt. "But maybe we can go for a walk? I don't want people to hear."

Miyeon didn't mention that the other three girls were all asleep and instead pulled her coat on and followed him outside. He noticed it wasn't the leather jacket of his she often wore in cold weather, but a coat that he had seen Chanmi wear on a few occasions.

It seemed that she also had an inkling of what he was about to tell her.

They settled on a bench a few streets away from the dorm building, overlooking the midsize park that was usually the locations of an excerise they did outside of the practise room. Given the fact that the sun was only just about to rise, it was pretty quiet as well.

"What happened?" Miyeon's tone was as even as ever, and held the same understanding quality that it always did. He couldn't help but wonder if she would be the same in a few minutes.

"The night of your debut photoshoot I decided to meet up with Jugyeong." Seojun began. It had been a a few days since the events had taken place, but with Miyeon's busy schedule there was never an appropriate time to tell her. But in the break between situations enabled him to truly think about how he was going to tell her. And he decided on being open and tell her everything.

She deserved that at the very least. No beating around the bush, or brushing over certain details. Miyeon deserved to hear everything. She had waited so long for him, and now he had to tell her everything that had transpired since the phonecall with Suho.

"There was more people there than I expected.. and Jugyeong was drunk. Sooa got me to take her home." Seojun swallowed. "We almost kissed that night, but I would never - not while she was wasted."

He glanced at her, wondering she would say anything. Miyeon just nodded, her knees pulled up to her chest and resting her side against the back of the bench. Her elbow was rested on the edge, gaze focused on a car across the road behind them. She was biting her nails - she never did that.

"I stayed over at her house.. then the night after I waited for her to get back from her schedule with Chen." The name of the already debuted idol brought an even more bitter twist on the table: the both of them knew that she had a crush on Seojun and had been trying to get him to go out with her for a long while.

Chen had even gone to the lengths of harassing Jugyeong, Miyeon and even the three other female trainees in VIVID to try and get his number. Luckily, all five of them could stand their ground.

"Did she do anything stupid again?" Miyeon asked, her first words spoken since sitting on that bench something that wasn't even about the main topic. It was almost like she was delaying the news that she knew was inevitably coming.

"She tried to.. I cut her off again." Seojun replied briefly. This wasn't the main focus. "Then, I took Jugyeong out to dinner and I told her my feelings for her."

"Congratulations." The Hwang girl's tone was surprisingly lively for what he had just said. "It been almost two years in the running and you finally did it." Finally, she stopped biting her nails and let her arm drop into the space behind the bench, turning to look at him. "I'm proud of you."

Seojun stared, trying to search for something else in her expression. He knew her well enough to know that she would be genuinely proud of him, but their conversations had never been this awkward since before her year in New York and a short period of time after it.

He had claimed to hate her, trying to cover up the deep rooted feelings for her that he had been so guilty about since Seyeon died. And then he had fallen in love with her all over again - but it wasn't just her, it was Jugyeong as well.

"Seojun, I really am." Miyeon repeated. "So, how did she react?"