The Bus Ride Home |SKZ 9th member

5

Leeknow gives me a bear hug before we exit the stage and sit down for evaluation. We sit on the far right away from everyone, our eyes fixed on Chan and the members. As Chan begins to speak my leg starts bouncing from the anxiety. What if I didn't do well? What if I sucked? Leeknow speaks but I cant listen, my thoughts are ringing through my head too loud to ignore. I feel his hand on my knee and I stop bouncing and look at him. "You did great Hyejin." He says with a genuine smile on his face with hidden concern in his eyes. I take a moment to look over the boys features, soft hair, deep eyes, handsome nose, plump lips.
This man is more than anyone could ever imagine. I sneak out of my thoughts and smile at the boy infront of me, pulling him in for a hug. He rubs his hands up and down my back. "You're the best Leeknow." He chuckles into my neck and contiues rubbing my back. "Hey, you two!" I release Leeknow from the hug and look at Chan with Leeknow doing the same. Chan points two fingers at me and Leeknow and back to himself. "Im watching you." We laugh and he continues with the placements of each group. "The winners are Andie and Hyejin." He pauses and looks at me smiling. "Or should I say two time winner?" I smile wide at the boy and he sends a reassuring wink before speaking again. "Now for eliminations." He sighs before continuing. "We will be eliminating all groups until there is one left." "We will be making that group based off of previous winners and higher-placers." Chan speaks again. "The staying group members are Andie, Hyejin, Heesung, Sunoo, Joshua, Vernon, and Alex." He pauses, letting the feeling settle in. "You may all go to the cafeteria." I stand up and Leeknow stands right after, turning me to him and patting me on my head before giving me a forehead kiss. "Good job Hye." I nod and smile at the boy. "Same to you Min." He smiles and walks away to join his members on the stage. I blink and get pounced on by a tall boy. "WE DID IT!" I fall on the floor with the boy still on me, I sit up and he lays in my lap. "We did it Hye!" He cups my face and shakes my head. The feeling sets in, "oh shit, we did do it." I deadpan and he drops his hands to his sides, giving me a done look. "You just realized that?" I nod and we laugh. "Alright," he stands up and bends down, picking me up and throwing me on his shoulder. "Time to snack!" We laugh and he begins to walk. We make it to the cafeteria and he puts me down standing on a chair. "Hey you're as tall as me now!" I tilt my head and cock my eyebrow. "Sorry." He says quickly and we both burst out laughing. He grabs me and spins me around in the air, "I cant believe we made it this far!" I giggle and he sets me down on the floor. "Me neither, this is so surreal!" We sit down and Straykids walk in. They line up next to each other and smile. Chan smiles widely and speaks into the microphone. "Congratulations everyone, you should be proud to make it this far." Me and Alex look at each other and he gives me a friendly wink. I look around the cafeteria at all the empty tables, once filled with a bunch of kids with beaming potential. Its a little sad yet exiting. We've made it so far. Hyunjin comes up to us and wraps his arms around my waist swaying left and right. "You did great Princess!" My eyes widen and I laugh, wrapping my arms around his neck and swaying with him. Chan speaks in the microphone again, grabbing our attention and making Hyunjin back-hug me with his chin on my shoulder so we can both see. "You 7 each need to pick a member for your last dance performance tomorrow before missions and the photoshoot." I look up at Hyunjin and he smiles at me signaling me to watch Chan. "Please come up." I walk up with Hyunjin and he goes to his members. "Andie, who do you chose?" Chan says and she responds "Hyunjin." Hyunjin goes and stands next to her. "Chan" Alex says "Changbin." "Jeongin" "Han" "Seungmin" "Felix" I say finally. Felix smiles at me and stands behind me. "You may go make choreography!" Felix interlocks our hands and we walk outside. "Let me show you something." I nod and we smile, talking whilst heading outside. We make it outside and we walk to a pond. He looks down at my legs, taking note that im wearing a skirt. "Do you want to look for the tiny fish?" He asks like a baby trying to make a friend. I melt under his cute look and smile at him before taking off my shoes and socks and grabbing his hand, dragging us both into the shallow waters. "I think I see one!" He yells and I run to him, watching the fish swim away. "You scared it!" He pouts and I giggle at the cute boy, "not fair." He crosses his arms and I rub his back. "Im sorry Lix." "Lix?" I nod and he smiles. "Thats cute but I'm still going to get pay back." I raise and eyebrow and cross my arms. "Oh are you?" He runs his toung across the inside of his cheek and bends down quickly, splashing water at me. I gasp and my mouth drops to the floor. "Felix!" He chuckles and I roll up my sleeves, "oh thats it." I give him a mischievous smirk and we start splashing each other. I stop to catch my breath and he takes the advantage. Running up to me and taking me in his arms, falling into the water. We sit up and I'm in his lap. We laugh and stay in the water, already too soaked to care. "You better be the new member." He says exasperatingly, I chuckle and we hear the sound of the alarm we put on his phone. "We have one hour left, we should work on choreo." I nod and he helps me up. We walk through the pond hand in hand back to the surface and turn off his alarm before going back inside still soaking wet. He opens the door and walks straight into Leeknow "Woah what happened to you?" He asks making me and Felix look at each other and start laughing. "Long story." I let out between laughs. "Alright you two get to work." We nod and head to my room.