Backstage | Kwon Soonyoung

13.

A/N Sorry for the long break but I'm back! Let's pick the pace back up from now on ;)

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The cityscape seemed to mock the empty feeling in her chest as Mina took a bus to work the next morning. Joggers running on their way with their dogs, school children chatting excitedly as they walked to school and people heading to work, having her lunch box delivered by her husband. They were all happy. Except for Mina.

Mina felt surprisingly empty as she let her headphones cover her head, blasting on some music. She could see it now, everywhere she went, she saw Soonyoung's face. From billboards to the song playing on the phone of the girl sitting next to her, Mina realised the kind of man Hoshi truly was.

Of course, she had looked him up. Hoshi of Seventeen, a charismatic man, age 24, the leader of the performance team. It made sense, his excitement for dance when they had talked in the car back then. His love for his work showed every time she watched one of his music videos. How could she have not noticed? How could she have been so oblivious?

Hoshi was a handsome man with unmistakable features. From the way he walked to the way he smiled, everything about him appeared celebrity-like. She'd simply been a fool for not recognising him earlier and an even bigger fool for thinking she could be with someone like that.

"Yoon PD-nim!"

Mina looked up to see the receptionist that had called after her as she was trying to pass the front gates of the building. Mina stopped and headed to her, "What is it?"

"Someone left this for you this morning." The receptionist spoke, handing Mina car keys and a coffee cup.

One look the tiger charm attached to the car keys and she knew who it was. Hoshi had left them there after Mina had walked away from him and the conversation last night. Since they had been driving her car all the way through, he'd silently returned the keys and left. Mina thanked the receptionist for both the items and headed upstairs.

Clocking in the morning, Mina couldn't help but feel slightly anxious at the silent treatment. She had wanted it, she had demanded it but the lack of a message, call or any sort of communication from Hoshi still made her nervous. Had she gone too far? Had she pushed him to a place beyond return?

There wasn't much to return to in the first place. With only a few days worth of memories to hold them together, Mina wasn't sure Hoshi would want to leverage any more effort on her. Sighing, Mina got back to the one thing she knew best, her work.

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"Hoshi, are you alright?" Seungcheol asked as he watched his member practice the choreography without a break.

The man, in turn, shook his head no. He was unusually silent today and it worried Seungcheol. Nudging Seungkwan by the shoulder, Seungcheol dispatched the other two members to go an find out the problem. As far as Seungcheol knew, the filming had ended well and Hoshi had even gone out after it with Mina to someplace. Had that been the problem then? Hoshi had returned late after all.

"What's bothering you, hyung?" Dokyeom asked as he and Seungkwan joined a heavily panting Hoshi.

Hoshi frowned sitting down, "Its nothing big actually." He spoke, taking a sip of water, "But I can't focus at all. No matter how many times I do this, I just can't get a hold of this choreography."

Soonyoung's day had begun with frustration. He had barely gotten enough sleep with the thoughts from last night keeping him up and when the alarm had rung, the little sleep he had gotten disappeared. The alarm sound was annoying and he had poured out a little too much toothpaste on his brush. His breakfast missed salt and he didn't bother adding it because everything, everything about the day was just slightly off. And now, as the members gathered to practice individually, Hoshi who would usually have no problem memorising choreographies was stuck at the same point over and over again.

"Let's take today off, hyung." Seungkwan spoke realising that any more practice and Hoshi was likely to destroy than benefit, "Do you want to get something to eat?"

But Soonyoung shook his head no. "I'm starting a diet from today."

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