That Feeling When

Chapter 15

If looks could kill, the driver would have been 24 feet under the ground. 4 pairs of eyes were glaring at him as he visibly shrunk back under their gazes. They had been singing for the past half an hour and having fun the whole time. But they did not forget what transpired earlier. Leah stepped out of the van and stared at the huge amusement park in awe. The atmosphere visibly lightens as Sunoo turned his attention towards. He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her along towards the entrance. The place was fairly empty. The boys did not need to wear masks and caps. Niki and Jungwon followed close behind the other two, joining in the picture Sunoo and Leah were taking. Jake and Sunghoon are smiling at the enthusiasm of the younger ones. Before Jay got out of the van, Heeseung went to the driver's side and knocked on the window, which the driver rolled down.

"I hope you don't insult our friend again. Purely for your own sake." Heeseung's smile deceiving the fact he was practically threatening the driver.

He walked away without waiting for a response. Jay narrowed his eyes at the driver as a closure and walked to the group in front of the entrance. The maknaes were taking goofy pictures of each other while they waited for the elders. Leah was currently surrounded by a ghost filter as she covered her face while laughing. After hearing the others approaching, she put on a normal face.

"Let's go in. One of you came with me to take the tickets." She addressed them.

Jay sent everyone to wait near the main entrance as he went with Leah to the ticket counter. There were two more people in front of them. When it was their turn, he watched as Leah spoke to the man in her language. Jay handed over the cash enough for eight people, which Leah took without any question. The man gave them a bunch of tickets and returned some money to them. Jay was surprised at this because he thought he had given just enough. He had learned how to manage Indian Rupee a few days ago and even saw the price on the internet.

"Jay, go ahead with the boys. I'll be there in a few." Leah told him.

Jay trusted Leah by herself, so he moved away but still stood a bit far to watch what else she was doing. Still perplexed by the change, he counted the money. 1200 rupees. Enough for one ticket. He counted the pile of tickets in his hands. Seven. He did not know whether to be angry or smile at Leah's tactics. Smart. He thought and did not argue when she came back to them.

They all walked through the security in a calm manner. But once they were out of it. Everyone went crazy. The maknae screamed with joy running in different directions. Niki was pulling Leah along with him. Jake, Sunghoon, and Heeseung went towards the food stall. Jay facepalmed in annoyance. In a few seconds, he saw Leah dragging Niki back to where he was standing. It was a funny sight to see since she was almost half his size. She pushed Niki into Jay and told them to wait there. She went to a stall near the entrance and bought 3 papers with her and stood beside a sulking Niki and a very happy Jay. Finally, he found someone who would aid him in handling these batshit crazy people.

Slowly, the three came back with food in their hands, and Sunoo and Jungwon too came back looking for them. when they arrived, Leah clapped her hands once.

"Even though you people are really irresponsible, thank you for coming back." She said. "Here are three maps of this park because this place is bigger than you think." Jay could not contain his excitement anymore.

"Okay, so we choose what rides we want to go to and pass by each one. Whichever ride has the highest members vote will be selected first." He explained.

"Aaah hyung, this isn't an en o clock episode! Why the rules?" Sunoo groaned but still agreed to vote.

So a list of rides was made, and the members hollered towards it. Leah walked instead of running like the others, content in just being there.

"I'd rather be lost in the lights, lost in the lights, I'm out of my mind..." she sang slowly while walking.

"You have a nice voice." She heard.

Sunghoon was walking right behind her.

"Thanks. You did not go with them." She asked.

"Don't feel like running." He said, shrugging.

Leah hummed while looking at the rest, now specks in the distance.

"How long have you been an engene?" he asked.

Leah gave it a thought.

"I'm not sure." She answered.

"I've seen people usually remember the first video of time they got into a group." Sunghoon raised an eyebrow.

"True. But I'm not sure because I think I was there at the beginning of it all."

"Iland?" Sunghoon asked.

"Yes. I knew your presence through all the notifications of new episodes. but Korean survival show just wasn't for me." Sunghoon nodded, urging for her to continue.

"I saw your debut, but I did not take notice of you people as enhypen. Just one person intrigued me enough to listen to your songs." She said truthfully.

"Heeseung?" he asked.

"No, guess again." she urged.

"Me?" he asked with a smile.

Leah laughed. "As much as I want to say yes, no."

"Ouch." Sunghoon put a hand on his chest.

"It was Jungwon." She said finally when Sunghoon looked lost.

"Jungwonie?" he asked, surprised. "Did he look that cute?"

"Not because of his cuteness. Because of his fangs at the end of the music video." She explained.

"Oh, that..." sunghoon furrowed his eyebrows. "You like those things?"

"I love those things." Leah expressed animatedly.

"I have fangs, too." He mumbled. "Real ones at that."

"I know Sunghoon. It's your distinct feature that makes you look like a real vampire." I cooed at him. "But you did not show them in your debut. I hope the stylist had done a better job back then, no offense. I would've become an engene immediately."

"You did not like our style?" Sunghoon looked a tad bit shocked.

Leah shook her head. "Your hair...Niki and Jungwon had the best hair. Heeseung's was the worst. But because he was the center, I never noticed anyone else. That way, I liked your music but did not know who you were. And I don't remember the exact time I became a fan. I saw the performance for Go Big or Go home at some point, and I realized what good styling can do for a person. Because everyone looked great." Leah finished.

Sunghoon's mouth formed an 'O' after understanding the reason. They were walking slowly now. Not really caring how far the rest were.

"The maknaes adore you, Leah." He said slowly after a minute, taking in every aspect of her expression.

"Makes me wonder why." Leah said thoughtfully. "Me and Niki did not speak much that day. Even less with Sunoo and Jungwon. So I was pleasantly surprised when they treated me with such care. As if we were friends for a long time." She smiled, remembering the car ride, and pushed aside the incident in the elevator.

Sunghoon chose to stay silent for a while until they could see the boys in front of the huge roller coaster like ride. Sunghoon stopped in his tracks and turned to Leah, who, in turn, gave her full attention to him.

"It's hard to make friends in Idol life. It is hard to keep contact with the old ones. When you don't make time for them, they slip away from your life." Sunghoon said in a low voice, looking at Leah in a soft manner. Leah understood it well and even related to it on a deeper level.

"When you have such a busy life, you jump at the chance of having a good friend, even if it's temporary. We all haven't been around a non-industry person for a long time. They see a chance for a normal friend in you. The way they've connected to you so eagerly and within a span of few hours is your proof to their adoration. I hope you will return their friendship for as long as possible." Sunghoon was serious. His gaze fixated onto the girl.

She looked at the boys laughing when the maknaes screamed in joy sitting on the ride. She smiled and looked back at sunghoon, whose gaze had stayed in their place.

"I hope so too."