The practices seem fine. At least that’s what Hanbin thinks.

Sure enough, YG’s surprise visit has stunned both teams as they record their performances to send the video to the president himself after perfecting everything. They’re given insults and criticisms, but Hanbin reminds himself not take it personally but instead take it as an opportunity to improve even more.

He can’t let his team members see him fall down.

Not a chance.

While Bobby’s the center of filming (he’s Skyping his mother right now, and the world undeniably wants a little bit of drama), Hanbin takes this opportunity and doesn’t waste a second to call her. He lies down on one of the chairs and dials her number.

“Hello!”

“Hi,” replies Hanbin, feeling shy all of a sudden. Sitting across Hanbin on the ground, Jinhwan narrows his eyes (as if it couldn’t be smaller than it already was) at the younger, the corners of his lips tilting up.

Hanbin waves him off.

Shyly, Hanbin turns to his right, his back on Jinhwan hyung. “How are you?” he asks quietly. He can hear the other members coming in after grabbing a few snacks and drinks from the cafeteria. He thinks he heard Donghyuk—or was it Junhwae?—ask Jinhwan hyung along with the lines of is he talking to her again. He doesn’t hear the latter’s reply.

“I’m fine.” He hears her cough from the end of the line.

He frowns. “You don’t sound fine. Are you sick?”

“It’s just a small cold. It’s nothing compared to what you guys have been through.”

“Just a small cold?” He scoffs in disbelief. “Are you serious? You could die from that! Go home and rest. You’ve overworked yourself so don’t make me come and get you home myself!” He doesn’t realize he was raising his voice until he heard Jinhwan laughing—whipped.

Hanbin glares at him.

“Tempting.” She laughs. “But yes, I’ll go home. Like in an hour or something-”

“—no, no, no! Not in an hour—”

“—I just have to finish this—”

“—Lee Hayi, you listen to me—”

“—I promise!” She raises her tone of voice a little just to get his attention. Defeated, he merely lets out a sigh. “I promise I’ll go home after this. I just need to finalize the lyrics and the arrangement then I’ll send them to President YG and then I’ll go home—happy?”

A smile sprawls on his face. “Ecstatic. Call me when you’re about to go home, when you’re on your way home and when you get home safely.”

“I will but you’ll be busy practicing then.”

“Well, if that happens then,” he purses his lips, “just text me or something.”

She giggles. “Okay, father.”

“I’m not your father!”

“Bye.”

“Miss you.”

He hangs up and turns around, only to be greeted by the other four with smug smiles on their faces.

“Whipped! Whipped! Whipped!”—they all howl in unison.

An hour later, they sit on air as punishment. Poor Bobby, was even innocent but got punished, too.

“We’ll be going to Jeju-do tomorrow,” Hanbin announces excitedly, his eyes glowing even when it’s dark inside his room. He makes sure he doesn’t talk too loud because Bobby’s asleep, and he really doesn’t need another pair of ears listening to their conversation.

Hayi chuckles. “Really? That’s great! Bring me some souvenir when you get back.”

“Or you could come with us,” he replies cheekily, smirking even when he knew she couldn’t see it anyway.

“Yeah, and put your career at risk? No thanks.”

“Oh, come on.” He turns to the side, curling into a fetus position. “I wouldn’t mind telling the entire world about how much you mean to me and what you are to me. The only thing that’s holding me back is you. I don’t want to force you to do things you don’t wanna do.”

“No, you don’t get it. Imagine if you tell the world, you’re not the only who’ll be affected but the other members as well. I don’t want to be the reason for your disbandment, Hanbin. I know how much you want to debut.”

He frowns. “You know, sometimes I wish you and I were normal. So we could go on dates, talk on the phone for hours, and meet up somewhere without being followed. Then, perhaps, I could even ask you… officially.”

She doesn’t answer, and it’s okay. Maybe silence is what they both need at the moment.

They both stay like that for a couple of minutes. Only the sound of their even breathing can be heard.

“That would be nice, Hanbin. That would be really nice.”

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im gonna post a chapter soon enough! hihi