Please listen while reading: Reply by Kim Sunggyu ft Park Yoonha

Jihoon pulled the edge of the gray beanie over his eyes and sighed in frustration before taking off the beanie completely and throwing it across the room. It hits the wall and lands on the floor with two soft thuds. He tugs at his hair and slumps onto the keyboard. “What could I do to make this sound better?” he wonders aloud striking a couple of chords on the piano without much aim. Jihoon glances around the room and notices the mess of music scores all over the floor and taped to the walls. He decides that it’s about time he cleaned up and organized everything; maybe then, he’d have better inspiration.

Why am I always filled with regret?
Always repeating the same mistakes…

As he’s holding the papers, he shuffled around to find his box of paperclips – the one that Seungcheol had purchased from a nearby Hello Kitty stationary shop a while ago. His hyung had barged into his studio one day and shoved a small pink dotted box in his hands. “Take these,” Seungcheol pointed towards the box, “and fix that,” he chuckles as he gestured towards the piles of papers scattered over the table. It took Jihoon a moment to fully understand the situation and when he did, he stood up from his swivel chair and proceeded to scold the leader for entering the room without first knocking and also buying useless items like paperclips and that the messiness of his room is the source of his creativity. Seungcheol only smiled softly, reached out to take the box of paper clips and set it down somewhere, and took the shorter boy by the shoulders and lead him out of the room to a couch in the lounge. The memory became fuzzy there, but Jihoon had somehow fallen asleep and when he woke up, his music studio was completely organized and fresh.

Jihoon cringed at the memory.

At last, he found the paperclips stashed on the middle shelf of his bookshelf right next to a photo of the 13 boys during their trainee days. He smiled fondly.

I want to tell you thank you and I’m sorry,
But I only say that I’m lonely, that I’m struggling.

It was 5:42 in the morning and the building was basically empty save for Jihoon. ‘The kids are probably still sleeping,’ Jihoon thought as he made his way down the stairs past the dance practice room. He needed to get back to the dorm, shower, and return to the studio as soon as possible to work on the new piece before their vocal lessons start. He slid his hands into the pockets of his sweater and picked up the pace. As soon as he stepped outside, he realized that it was raining, not pouring, just a light shower. He clicked his tongue and glanced around. It would be impossible to get back to the dorm without getting at least a little bit wet.

“Augh whatever…” he huffs and steps out into the open, the droplets of rain decorating his pink hair. A little more than half way, he sees a familiar silhouette turn around the street corner. ‘Hyung?’ he hesitates a little before continuing. As he nears the figure, he is able to surely recognize that it was, indeed, Seungcheol with a clear umbrella in his hand.

Simultaneously, Seungcheol calls out to the boy with a half-surprised tone, “Jihoon-ah! What are you doing out here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Jihoon replies softly as they meet, finally under the protection of the umbrella.

“Well, I was going to go find you at the studio, because when I woke up, it was raining outside, and I knew that you stayed overnight and you never have an umbrella. But then I found you here,” Seungcheol finishes with a mumble.

Jihoon hums in response and shivers. Seungcheol seems to notice this and uses his free hand to pull the pink haired boy closer to him as they head back to the dorm together. Jihoon doesn’t realize it, but he’s smiling and his heart feels at peace.

Everything changed and is changing,
But I’ll hold onto my heart for you.
I’ll care for you more than anyone.

When they reach the dorm, the two hurry inside to feel the warmth from the heater. Seungcheol quietly wraps up the umbrella and sets it near the door, while Jihoon heads to the room he shares with the rest of the vocal line. Jihoon silently opens the door and enters the room to grab some clean clothes. Unbeknownst to him, Seungkwan was already awake. As Jihoon was picking out his outfit for the day, the younger crept up behind him and slipped his arms around the former’s sides. Jihoon in a breath of air and shakily let it out before bringing a hand up to his chest to calm himself down. He’s about to turn around to hit Seungkwan over the head when the latter rest the side of his face on the shorter boy’s back.

Jihoon relaxed and smiled lightly to himself, ‘This kid…’ He slowly turned around and gently led Seungkwan back to bed, whispering that he should sleep a little bit longer. As Jihoon leaves the room with a fresh pair of sweatpants and t-shirt, he hears Seungkwan mumble something about the irony of his hyung putting him to bed when Jihoon is the one who always has trouble waking up.

The pink haired boy carefully shuts the door and turns to head to the restroom. On his way there, he passes the living room area, where the rappers are sprawled all over the floor. ‘What a mess,’ Jihoon chuckles to himself. Then, the