Not Alone || Jung Jaehyun

Chapter 16 | "your fault"

"Why didn't you just tell us, Hyemi?" Taeyong said as he and Mark stepped closer to her.

"A-about what?"

"About Kyunghee and Iseul? About our dad? About any of it!"

"I-I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared you guys would hate me."

Mark and Taeyong froze, their expressions instantly falling as they stared back at her.

"Hyemi... we could never. You're out little sister, always." Mark said, pulling her into a hug. Taeyong wrapped his arms around them too.

"It doesn't matter what happened in the past, Hyemi, we love you. We're your older brothers, we're supposed to protect you from everything."

Hyemi couldn't help but cry as her brother's held her, all the stress of everything finally bubbling to the surface. They released her from the hug and Taeyong held her at arms length, wiping the tears from her face.

"Promise us right now, no more secrets. Whatever happens, we're family."

She nodded, blinking back the tears and hugging Taeyong again.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you from those girls. I can't believe all of that happened right under my nose."

"It's not your fault, there's no way you would've known about it."

"Well, hopefully they won't bother you anymore. I've also kicked them off the team."

"What?"

"No one messes with you, especially not my teammates."

"You didn't need to do that Taeyong, they're good dancers."

"Eh, whatever, we have enough members to fill the minimum 8-person roster without them. Plus, the whole team hates them now." He laughed out, throwing an arm around her and Mark. "Let's go out, it's been a while since the three of us have hung out. Boba on me?"

Mark and Hyemi shared a glance, excited smiles on their faces.

"Deal!"

- - -

Hyemi woke up early the next day, creeping past a sleeping Chaeyoung and making her way to school. She had gotten up at sunrise to go and get some extra practice in before their morning rehearsals. After Jaehyun's snappy attitude yesterday, she really didn't want to screw up.

Hyemi admired the beautiful campus as she walked through the quad. The grass was dewy and the birds were singing, it was the perfect day. Inside, the hallways were dead silent, no one was awake yet, or so she thought.

When she approached the practice room, she could see light flooding out from under the door. For a moment, she panicked, thinking that she had forgotten to close up the night before, but she relaxed a bit once she heard music.

Carefully she opened the door and peeked in to see Jaehyun rehearsing his solo. She crept into the room, not wanting to disturb his dancing. One of her favorite songs, Youth by Troye Sivan, was the song he selected to dance to.

The way he moved to his intricate choreography left her in awe. The dance was creative, unique, and difficult, everything a winning routine should be. She watched him dance with a smile on her face, in her eyes, he was amazing.

After watching the first roughly 30 seconds of the routine, Jaehyun stopped, letting out a frustrated groan as he watched himself in the mirror and going to shut off the music. He stared at his reflection, disappointment written all over his face, until his eyes eventually landed on Hyemi standing in the corner.