whatcha staring at? | sunki

30

Small gasps and the bustle of padded feet was all that could be heard for the first ten minutes as the, previously trainees but now they've succeeded by a slight margin, band members looked around their spacious three-room studio apartment, inclusive of the living area. 

HYBE really didn't skimp on the gadgets and furnishing, it was a neat minimalist apartment washed in neutral colourings and accentuated with black furniture. The living area had a large screen and a comfortable L-shape sofa to seat all the members. The first room had two bunk beds and a walk-in closet while the second room had one bunk bed and one super single. Both rooms were en-suite, something that third (or older) generation groups could have only dreamed of. 

The members quickly found their respective beds allocated to them and put their belongings before padding back to the living area to meet their newly appointed manager. 

"I'll just repeat what Si-hyuk-nim had asked of you all earlier. There will be no schedule or training this week. Take this week to build on your group chemistry and get to fully understand and know each other. I won't take up anymore of your time. Enjoy this tteokbokki I got for everyone. One more thing, you absolutely cannot leave this level in the dormitory. The level is already equipped with a gym and sauna. Have a good rest," Their manager whose name they learnt is, Kang Yu Sung, left after bidding his farewell. 

The members ate silently, the unseeable but looming tensions escalating within the room. Everyone was on edge, especially since the other members knew something was up with Sunghoon, Sunoo and Niki. 

Heesung silently observed everyone in the room, Jungwon and Jake were making nervous eye contact with each other and well Jay was oblivious to everything.

Sunoo reached out with his chopsticks to get the last serving of tteokbokki before Jay quickly ate the tteok off of Sunoo's chopsticks. 

"Yah Hyung!" Sunoo whined and the other members' attention quickly fell upon the pair. 

"You see these chubby cheeks, you need to lose them Sunoo-ya, so I'm doing you a favour," Jay pinched Sunoo's cheeks while munching on the tteok he stole from Sunoo. 

"That's not going to do much is it?" Niki whistled slowly. 

A suffocating silence encapsulated the room. Sunoo fisted his palms under the table, his eyes slightly red. 

"Niki." A loud and clear warning from Heeseung to not say anything else resounded in the room. 

"I'm only saying the truth, can't deny that he is fat, he must have slept with the higher ups, how else would he have got onto the debut lineup–" 

"You fucking asshole!" Sunghoon growled, aiming his fist straight at Niki's jaw, the crack could be heard from miles away. 

Niki held his jaw but his eyes showed no remorse, "He's fucking you too? Oops–" 

"That son of a bitch!" Sunghoon lunged at the boy. 

He wasn't Niki. The Niki he knew loved Sunoo to bits and pieces. 

Fresh, hot tears streamed down Sunoo's cheeks as Jungwon pulled the crying boy into a warm hug, rubbing his back soothingly. Jay and Jake held Sunghoon back who was thrashing in their hold. 

Heeseung sat down eye-to-eye with Niki and shook him by the shoulder, "Niki, what's wrong with you? How could you say that about Sunoo?" 

Getting no response out Niki, Jungwon muttered, "Lock each of them in one of the two rooms, let's deal with this one by one starting with Sunoo hyung." 

Heeseung agreed and dragged Niki away. Jay and Jake pulled Sunghoon to another room. 

Sunoo's sobs slowly died down to sniffles. 

"Are you okay hyung?" 

–

this story's about to take a wild turn from my original planned storyline sit down for the ride

sorry to keep everyone waiting

L