Ocean

♬ 37 ♬

"I'm sorry, girls... I promise I'll cheer for you from behind the screen" she said in tears with her luggage next to her in front of our new dorm.
"Cherrie unnie" us maknae line said crying and hugging her.
"Please, promise me to work hard, ok? I'm rooting for all of you" she said.
"Take care of yourself back in England. Ok, Chae? Don't you dare get sick or I'll personally go and hit you, if you do" Sehyeol said hugging her this time.

"Oh shut up, Hyeol"
"Promise us you'll be back soon! You have to be in the crowd on our debut day!"
"I promise, Nimi. I promise"
"I'm sorry, Chae... We didn't take care of you enough as the oldest of the groups" Nayeon said.
"Eunwoo unnie, Nayeon unnie, you did more than enough and I'm so thankful for you and what you did in the past 4 years" Cherrie started.

"I'm the one sorry for leaving this close to reaching our dream..."
We did one last group hug before she went out and took her taxi to the airport.
Yes, in the end, Cherrie decided to leave the company and go back to UK and finish her studies. She said she'll take on a business major so she can apply for a job in our company once she graduates and comes back here.

♬

It was the 30th of August already and many things happened these past months, and today alone. We moved dorms 3 months ago, the new company was launched and introduced to the public, Yeona became the CEO, we signed the new contracts and we got confirmed for the debut today. The same day Cherrie told us she'll leave for good. A lot of things happened just in one day and I needed to stay alone for a while.

To clear up my mind, I went to the rooftop of our building and tried calling Riki. He didn't answer,

I guess he's already sleeping.

So I tried calling Jay as well. It took him a while to reply but he eventually did.
"Jay..."
"Hey Dae"
"How's quarantine?"

"Oh I'm doing well-" he then started coughing heavily.
"Jay? Is everything good?" I panicked so I switched the call to FaceTime.
"What happened?!"
"Thing is, half of the boys and I ended up being positive to covid..."
"What?! And why didn't you tell me?!"
"We're fine, Dae. Don't worry"
"Who of you?"

"Jake was the first one, then today, Jungwon, Sunghoon, Heeseung hyung and I"
"Oh gosh... Riki and Sunoo?"
"As of now, they haven't shown any symptoms yet"
"And you? What are your symptoms?"
"I just had fever the other day and coughing here and there. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. We'll get out of this soon" he said smiling.

"Gosh I want to hug you. I really need one right now"
"What happened? You seem down. Like really down"
"First of all, as you know, we signed the new contracts last week. Well, today they confirmed our debut. It'll be next year, in the second half!"
"WOAH! REALLY?!"
"DON'T SHOUT! You have neighbors in that facility!"

"I'm so happy for you, Dae!"
"I'm happy too" I said smiling bitterly.
"Then what's that?"
"Thing is... Chae unnie left... For good"
"Oh..."
"I respect her decision and I wish all the best for her. But having all these pieces of information all in the same day it's a bit too much"
"If only I could, I'd run there to you in this instant"

"Shut up. Rest instead! You're sick, don't you even try to think of sneaking out, ok?"
"I'm not that stupid, you know? It's against the law, dummy"
"I really miss you"
"Me too, me too"
"I've been thinking of something"
"What?"
"We've known about our feelings since February. We've never been official, yet we act like a couple already..."

"Should we make it official?" "Yeah... The reason why I've brought this up might seem stupid to you though..."
"Which is?" He said raising an eyebrow.
"The other day, some female trainees were talking about you guys and many of them pointed out how one of them would be a perfect match for you. And she was super pretty and very talented..."

"Aw Is my Daeyangie worried I'd choose some random girl instead of her, Hm?"
"See, I knew you'd do this"
"What an idiot you are, I'd never choose anyone else. If now you feel ready for a label ,then sure, let's do this. Mark this day Love, 31st August 2021"
"I love you, dumbass"
"Love you too"

"You should go and rest. It's already past midnight"
"You too, you said you'll start shooting something from tomorrow. I mean this morning"
"Oh yeah... They've installed cameras already while we were out. I don't know how to feel about those though"
"Won't those be off when you'll sleep?"

"I think so, but don't call me during the day then"
"Noted babe"
"Ew what's with the pet names already?"
"Oh cmon, I've waited for a long to call you that!"
"Ok ok! I'll go now. Good night,
Jjong"
"Goodnight, Dae"