BAD DECISIONS

The day before

I felt as if I was chewing bricks. My noddles becomes hard to digest as Noah speaks before me "I'm serious! We haven't been hanging out much lately so I don't think it's a bad idea at all."

Slurping a bit of the noodles, my words are hard to decipher as I say "But you suck at karaoke!"

Noah's brows jump at my outburst. He rolls his eyes over at me, making sure that I noticed before retorting with "I hope you choke!"

My eyes are filled with water as I choked- just as Noah wished. Sticking my middle finger up in his direction, Noah laughs at that as I take my last bite of noodles.

By the time we make it to the karaoke room, Noah is already hyped to support me. He grabs the control in one hand as he uses his phone to research what are some good break up songs.

Feathers by Sabrina Carpenter comes up almost immediately. He plays the song once from his phone, getting the rhythm and the second time it's played, he sings along- gesturing for me to join him.

And so I did.

Noah managed to get a list to songs and for almost forty five minutes, we were singing out loud how much better our world is without a lover.

How much better it is to be single.

To be free.

Truth be told, not once did Heeseung leave my mind. I couldn't push the thought of him away. I promised Noah to take the few months that the guys and I have been apart to actually get over him but I couldn't.

Noah saw right through me. Apart from Kazuha, Noah was my only other person I grew very close to. Noah was like the brother I never had.

Noah knew how I felt about Heeseung and he wasn't willing to see me lose my sanity falling for some guy who's in love with another woman. I couldn't count the amount of times he tried to get the groups name or address out of me- claiming that he just wanted to talk to them.

I couldn't even begin to imagine the way he would freak out if he found out about my agreement with them.

I wanted so badly to confide in him and have him comfort me but in this moment, I knew that wasn't possible.

"I'm really liking this one!" Noah's words snap me back to reality as he bobs his head to Feathers for a third time. Noah brings the microphone up to his mouth, parting his lips to sing as my smile grew wider.

Just as I bring my microphone up to my lips, the vibration of my phone catches me off guard. My eyes are wide as Jungwon's number is displayed on my screen, snapping my head over in Noah's direction- I barely managed to let out an excuse as I exit the room.

"I need to use the restroom." Noah nods at my words, belting out lyrics as he sways from side to side.

As soon as I make it outside, the cold air hits me in one go and it's only then I realized that I forgot my jacket inside. My phone begins vibrating for a second time and almost immediately, I take the call.

"Hello~" Jungwon's voice is gentle on the other end of the call as he greets me. Returning his greeting, he asks "Are you busy?"

Nodding- as if he could see me, I barely manage to say "I'm not at home right now- is something the matter?"

Jungwon is quick to respond with "Oh! I was just calling to go over the agreement. We managed to have worked out a plan and would love for you to take a look at it. That way you can decide if you're okay with that or if there should be any changes."

"We will be returning tomorrow-" he pauses for as second and before he could've continued, I say "Can you send me it in a text? I'll respond when I have a bit of free time-"

Before I could've completed my statement, I hear Noah's voice beside me "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

My eyes are wide as I frantically end the call. Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I grab his hand as I attempt to pull him inside. Noah narrows his eye at my behavior, going along with me as his suspicion grew.

•••

Heeseung's palms are clammy as beads of sweat trickles from his forehead. He's gasping for air as he takes a look at the guys beside him and then at the crowd before them.

Their ending ment comes around and they begin speaking one by one. Sunghoon holds his microphone up to his mouth, parting his lips, he speaks "Engene~" he calls out "Lately, I've been having a very hard time. I-" Sunghoon struggles to speak as tears rush to the brim of his eyes.

Sunghoon couldn't bring himself to say anything else as he slumps to his knees, bowing before the boys before him. Their eyebrows shot up at his actions and immediately, they approach him.

Jay moves quickly, falling beside him as he hugs the younger. Sunghoon is quick to hug him back and at that, no words were needed- they understood each other perfectly.

By the time they make it off the stage, Sunghoon and Jay are stuck together. Jungwon couldn't help but to smile at the two, he nudges at Heeseung's shoulder as he lets out "Finally, things are going back to normal!"

Heeseung mirrors his expression, a smile on his face as he nods over at Jungwon and before he could've said anything, their manager speaks "Dinner is on me tonight" as he holds the company card high.

The atmosphere felt lighter- considering that they've just finished up with the two months of touring but Heeseung couldn't shake the uneasiness that had his stomach churning.

Even though he was excited to see Y/n, he couldn't help but to ask himself 'What if she doesn't have feelings for me anymore?"

That thought alone scared him.