fourteen

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

the next day felt like a new leaf had turned over, and starting again with sunghoon lifted a weight off of sunoo's shoulders. he woke up with a skip in his step and a smile he couldn't wipe away. heeseung had asked him that morning if he was okay because it was so unusual.

"i'm fine," sunoo had said. "really fine."

heeseung simply shrugged it off, too busy with trying to get ready for the meeting the group had with their boss that morning. they weren't sure what his news was, but they were all hoping it wasn't anything too drastic.

"ready to go?" heeseung asked sunoo around twenty minutes later, already standing by the front door.

sunoo emerges from his room, phone in hand. "yep! all ready now."

heeseung opens the door, allowing sunoo to exit first. as he does so, he picks up on a whiff of what smells like..peaches? is he wearing cologne? heeseung thought internally.

the boys met up at the area the van would pull up to, ready to escort them to their boss's office. the first thing sunoo's eyes search for wasn't too hard to be found, since it was a pair of eyes already staring right back at him. sunoo's face lights up as he makes his way over to sunghoon, who's expression seems just as happy.

heeseung cocks an eyebrow as he approaches the boys, too, finding his place next to jay as they wait for the van to be ready. "dude, is it just me, or did the vibe completely switch overnight?"

jay nods. "oh, it definitely did. after sunghoon stormed out yesterday and sunoo followed after him. must've cleared the air."

"well, whatever it is, i'm glad the group is back to normal. no more weird tension."

"yeah, sexual tension," jay adds under his breath, smirking to himself.

at last, their van pulls up and the six boys scurry inside. this time, jay scores shotgun. after everyone piles in, jungwon is left outside, staring back at the building.

"dude, are you getting in?" jay asks out the passenger seat window.

"where's ni-ki?" jungwon answers back with concern.

"he's already there, won," sunghoon says, using his right hand to hold the door open for jungwon. "he's staff, remember? now come in."

jungwon shakes his head, feeling a bit embarrassed by forgetting that ni-ki isn't a member of the group. he isn't entirely sure why he was even wondering about where he was...

on the ride to the building, sunoo stared out the window, the sun shining in his eyes. he droops them a little.

"are you still sleepy?" sunghoon's gentle voice whispers to him.

whipping his head around to face him, sunoo blushes. "just a little."

sunghoon doesn't say anything, instead choosing to lightly press sunoo's head atop his shoulder. he bites his lip to suppress a grin, proud of his romantic move. sunoo, on the other hand, simply melts into the touch, unconsciously scooting closer into sunghoon's side.

heeseung, jay, and jake all sit in the farthest row of the van, flabbergasted by the sight.

"i swear, those two are so confusing," jake says. he then peers over to jungwon, who seems to be looking out the window longingly. "and so is he."

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

the boss's door is opened, awaiting enhypen's arrival. his usual set up of five chairs turned into six that sat before his desk. sunoo's first official meeting in boss's office.

as all the boys enter the room, sunghoon holds sunoo back by the wrist. "remember, we can't make anything seem obvious. we can't have the boss be onto us."

sunoo rubs a hand on sunghoon's arm reassuringly. he can hear the worry in sunghoon's tone and it saddens him, even though he knows it's what they have to do.

eventually, all six boys were sat in front of the boss, ready for his announcement. sunoo and sunghoon purposely sit on opposite ends, unbeknownst to the boss and their group mates as to why.

"boys, the team and i have collectively decided to release one of the tracks from your new album early as a single. you'll be performing it live next week on a music show as well. details for which show and when are coming soon."

"woah, that was fast," jungwon mumbles to himself. the other five are pretty shocked, too.

"the single will be paradoxxx invasion," the boss continues. "since you've recorded it already, it's just a matter of finishing your choreography and perfecting it. you're all free to go to rehearsal now."

all six collectively bow, thanking their boss before dismissing themselves. their rehearsal room wasn't too far away, but the lot walks in a lingering silence, still fairly stunned by the news. sunoo has to admit, though, he's pretty thrilled to have his first live performance as a part of enhypen.

sunghoon notices sunoo's faint smile on their walk to the rehearsal room. once they all arrive, and the boss is out of sight, he approaches him. "what's on your mind?"

sunoo grabs a water bottle from the table near the door, not bothering to question how it got there. "i know releasing this single and performing it only next week is so sudden, but i can't help feeling excited about it."

sunghoon ruffles sunoo's hair adoringly. "you're so cute," he mutters.

"did i miss five chapters?" a voice sounds from behind them. the two spin around to find a very confused (yet intrigued) nishimura riki before them. his arms are crossed and a smirk tugs at his lips.

ni-ki is sunoo's best friend in the entire world. if there is someone who can read him like a book, it's ni-ki...and sunoo can practically hear what ni-ki was thinking in his mind. shit, he totally knows, sunoo thinks.

"i'm assuming you brought these waters?" sunghoon decides to say, changing the conversation by pointing at the water bottle sunoo still clutches in his hands.

"what kind of choreographer would i be if i let my little dancers die of thirst?" ni-ki replies, playing along with the subject change he could tell the two are so desperate to make. 

it's fine, though. ni-ki will just bug sunoo about it later.

"we doing this thing or what?" jungwon calls from the middle of the room, already stretching his arms.

now, ni-ki's attention flutters elsewhere. "hey, what's the rush, wonie? don't you wanna spend time with me?" he asks, now standing next to the leader.

jungwon rolls his eyes. "if our spending time consists of learning choreo, then sure."

ni-ki shakes his head in disappointment. "always so hard to get."

"eh, not really," lee heeseung butts in, menacingly. he comes out of nowhere, but the two now focus on him. "unless you count asking where you were this morning and sadly staring out the window of the van playing hard to get."

the once pearly white skin of yang jungwon now resembles that of a tomato once heeseung's words hit. ni-ki's eyes light up with hope, shock, and maybe a little adoration. he grasps jungwon's wrist. "is it true? were you worried about me, leader?" he asks, teasingly, yet honestly at the same time.

jungwon yanks his wrist back, avoiding all eye contact. "no, it's not true. i-i mean, i did ask where you were, but i wasn't staring sadly out the window. i was just..tired, obviously."

ni-ki is having a field day.

"okay, let's start practice!" jake announces, having just returned from the restroom, oblivious to anything that had just occurred.

the boys gather near the center to face ni-ki. before they start, jake catches jungwon in the reflection of the mirrored wall in front of them. "damn, won. did you start practicing already? your face is all red!"

a chorus of laughter erupts, jungwon pouting like a child and jake blinking in confusion.

it's gonna be an interesting week.