The next day started normally. We had practice in the morning and when we had a break I checked my phone. I was bored because there were no new messages or notifications, so I just searched random things online. Somehow I reached a video that was called "Peppermint busking Hongdae" and yesterday's date. It was almost an hour long, so it seems like it was the full performance. I checked the username that uploaded it - Banana Peeler. I chuckled at the name. Who the hell names himself like this?

Out of curiosity, I checked the user's profile as well. It looks like they signed up yesterday and this is the only video they uploaded. I wonder who it is..

"Girls! Come here!" I called the other girls.

"What is it?" Sey asked, approaching me.

"Someone uploaded a video of us from the busking!" I said happily.

"Really?" Eun Hee came over to us, excited. Yujin and Sumi joined as well.

"Do you want to watch?" I asked.

"Obviously!" Yujin exclaimed.

The girls sat down next to me and we started watching the video, concentrated.

"Isn't the angle too weird?" Eun Hee asked.

"It is. It's like the person who filmed it was way back and on the side." Sey said.

"But he filmed the video quite well.. I mean, he is catching all of us and part of the crowd." Yujin said.

"Filmed all of us? He filmed mainly Hyeri!" Sumi complained.

"It's because we pushed her to the front." Sey said. "Why don't you admit what really bothers you?" she glared at the youngest member.

"There is nothing like that." Sumi said innocently.

"Yeah, right." Eun Hee scoffed. "You are probably mad you didn't get enough screen time."

"That's not true!" Sumi exclaimed.

Eun Hee and Sumi continued to argue, and I decided to stop the video because I wasn't able to concentrate because of them. When the room was silent they looked at me, confused.

"You have to be quiet if you want to hear something from the video.." I explained and they nodded and stayed quiet. We continued monitoring the performance until our short break ended.

~

Yongguk checked the time in his phone - 7:30 in the morning. After the nightmare he had and the conversation with Himchan he couldn't fall asleep and he just kept tossing and turning in his bed. When he did get a few minutes of sleep, a crying Hyeri appeared in his mind and he opened his eyes, frustrated.

He looked at the bed next to his. Himchan was sleeping soundly, his body sprawled over the bed and his blanket tossed to the side.

"I'm sorry, Channie. I know I'm not being fair by keeping things to myself, but you know I'm not good at leaning on others.." Yongguk said quietly and covered Himchan before walking out of the room.

When he walked out of their dorm he already knew where he was heading. He took a cab to the familiar area that he hasn't visited for a while. He paid the driver and got out of the car. He walked to the familiar grave and stood in front of it, collecting his thoughts. The cemetery was empty, to Yongguk's relief. He was wearing a cap that hid his face, just in case he'll run into people, but he liked the silence and the privacy.

Yongguk bowed and knelt in front of the stone that had Hana's name engraved on it, along with her birth date and the date of her death.

"I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday.." he started his improvised speech. "I.. It was a hard day yesterday."

"You must be worried, right? I bet I look terrible right now.." he unconsciously adjusted his cap. "I'm sorry, I promise to look better in the next time I'll visit you."

A heavy sigh left Yongguk's lips. "I had a dream about you last night.. About the rooftop. It felt so real.." he stopped to stable his breath. "No matter how much I try to tell myself it wasn't my fault, I still blame myself for everything. I should have treated you better and pay more attention to your needs. I'm really sorry for everything." he wiped a tear that slid down his cheek. "But I think that this nightmare also helped me realize something.."

he took a deep breath before continuing. He wasn't sure how exactly he was supposed to do that, but he felt like he had to. "I think I'm finally ready to move on. You probably know that already, right? I bet you were watching me and kept shouting at me for acting like an idiot.." he shook his head at the thought.

"Her name is Hyeri and she is a rookie idol from my company. I know she might seem like a bad person sometimes and she can be hard to handle, but she makes me happy and I want to make her happy. She takes good care of me.. More than I take care of her, actually. She is kind-hearted and selfless, but she is also very sensitive. She just pretends to be tough. She is a crybaby that disguise herself as an ice princess so she won't get hurt. I think you would have gotten along well if you two met." he chuckled bitterly as the thought crossed his mind. If Hana was still alive he wouldn't have had the chance to date Hyeri and this whole conversation would be pointless.

"I.. Want to move on, but I messed up pretty badly and I hurt her. That's one of the reasons I look like at the moment.." he wiped another tear from his face.

"Enough with the depressing atmosphere.. I should probably tell you about happier things, like Sey. She is doing well. She debuted a week ago, in Hyeri's group. And she is Hyeri's best friend. Looks like I'm really destined to have Sey in my life one way or another.. I keep dating her best friend." he chcukled and this time it was genuine. "You know, Sey is dating. It's a secret, but she is dating Himchan. I know you barely met and you probably don't trust him, but he is a really good guy and he loves her. She even managed to make him less flirtatious.." Now Yongguk smiled, for the first time today. "I can promise you that he'll take good care of her because she is important to him, and they match well."

Yongguk sat there for more than an hour, talking about his life and about random things. He just had to get some things out of his system. When he was done he got up, dusting his clothes.

"Yongguk?"

~

Jongup was walking in one of the company's hallways towards his destination. He stood outside the office and knocked hesitantly on the door.

"Come in." the man inside said. Jongup entered the room and the man lifted his eyes from the papers he was reading. He was surprised to see Jongup there.

"What can I do for you, Jongup?" Jinu asked, smiling.

"Hmm.. I.. Wanted.. To ask.. You.. Something.." the shy boy stuttered.

"Sit down." Jinu gestured his hand to the empty chair in front of his desk.

"Thank you." Jongup said shyly and sat down.

"What is it?"

"Hmm.." Jongup wasn't sure how to start. "Do you remember the dance show I participated in?"

"Of course. You did great." Jinu smiled warmly.

"Well, they are doing a chuseok special and it's supposed to be a couple dance mission."

"And you want Hyeri to help you?" Jinu caught on quickly.

"Yes." Jongup shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You can ask every idol you want to help you, it doesn't have to be Hyeri." Jinu stated dryly.

"I.. Know.. That.." Jongup stuttered.

"So why Hyeri? There are a lot of female idols who dance well. And you can be original and choose a guy instead."

"If I choose Hyeri, wouldn't it help to promote the girls better?"

"Take Sumi."

"What's wrong with Hyeri?" Jongup tried not to show he is annoyed. That was not the answer he expected. "You know Hyeri dances better.."

"But Hyeri is busy and if she does this as well she will collapse." Jinu explained. "It's not that I want to sabotage you, I'm just worried about my idol."

"Can't you find a way for her to do it anyway?" Jongup tried again. "I will adopt to whatever schedule she has so it won't affect her other activities."

Jinu sighed, and it worried Jongup. "When is the filming for this thing?"

"In the beginning of September."

"Does your manager or the CEO know about it?"

"My manager knows, he told me that I need a permission from you. I'm not sure about the CEO.."

"I'll see what I can do but I can't promise anything yet. Don't inform the CEO for the time being and please think of a backup plan if it won't work out.."

"Yes, sir." Jongup said and got up, bowing.

"By the way.." Jinu said before Jongup left. "Hyeri is a good choice."

~

"Mr. and Mrs. Kwon." Yongguk greeted and bowed.

"Nice to see you again, Yongguk." Hana's mom smiled.

"Are you sick?" Mr. Kwon asked. "You don't look so good.."

"I'm fine, I'm just tired from practice.. We are having a comeback soon." Yongguk said. It wasn't a complete lie.. He is working hard for the comeback, which also affects his sleep, but he didn't want to tell them that he still blames himself for what happened.

"You know, I always follow your music." Mrs. Kwon said warmly.

"Thank you." Yongguk said shyly and bowed.

"Don't thank me, you deserve it."

"You probably want to visit Hana, right?" Yongguk asked after an awkward silence.

"Actually.. Since we ran into each other, can we talk?" Hana's dad asked.

"Of course."

~

"I'm so tired!" Yujin sat on the floor when we finished practice, gulping half of her water bottle at once.

"Gun exaggerated today." Sey said and sat down next to her.

"We are not robots, we get tired at some point.." Eun Hee complained as well.

"Don't complain, it's part of our job." I said and handed the girls a few more water bottles, sitting next to them.

"How are you handling this? How was working with Matt yesterday?" Sey asked me while opening one of the bottles.

"He is still an .." I sighed. "But I'll do everything to make us popular!" I smiled.

"Girls, somoene posted about us!" Sumi said excitedly while checking her phone.

"What did they wrote?" Yujin asked curiously.

"The person posting it said they were in the mall when we did the fansign and that they never saw a fansign this empty.." Sumi said bitterly. "They even added photos to show how empty it was."

"Let me see." I asked and she gave me her phone. I scanned the post. It was really bad, and the comments weren't any better.

1. [+358, -3] What is this? My dog can gather more people around him when he is just peeing.

2. [+298, -80] Pepperflop.

3. [+222, -49] They should stick to bathhouses..

4. [+183, -38] So pathetic. They are just hopeless..

5. [+176, -21] Looks like they won't last long..

6. [+150, -19] That proves that even if you have popular sunbaes you can still flop.

7. [+102, -32] Who are they?

8. [+99, -20] Terrible song, terrible name, terrible choice of members.. I feel bad for their leader, she is the only one that is talented in this group.

9. [+87, -2] Oh, look! AOA copycats! Looks like people don't like cheap imitations..

10. [+12, -59] Stop being mean to them, they just debuted. Do you think everyone was successful from the start?

"This is ridiculous." Sey said after reading the comments.

"It was Monday. Why would people go to the mall in the middle of the day? They have work and things to do." Yujin said, slightly annoyed.

"Just ignore it. They are idiots." I said, trying to cheer them up.

"Easy for you to say." Sumi muttered.

"What do you want from me? Do you think it's easy for me to read these comments? Because it's not, and it affects me more than it affects you, so shut up. I am trying to keep everything together so we won't fall apart, but you are just ruining everything with your crappy attitude and with your constant attempts to hurt me." I finally exploded. "I had enough of your bull, so if you don't have anything nice to say just shut the up!"

"You did not just talk to me like that.." Sumi glared at me, standing up furiously.

"Yes I did." I stood up as well so we'll be at the same level. She is not going to tower over me. "What are you going to do? Cry to Yongguk? Tell him to come and scold me? Go ahead." I mocked.

"As if." Sumi snorted. "You want Yongguk to come talk to you so you can whine and grab his attention."

"You are the whining one between both of us. And you can keep his attention all to yourself, I don't care."

"Well, too bad I'm going to solve things on my own, without him." she smirked and appraoched me, closing the distance between us.

"Why? Are you scared he'll actually be interested in me and not you?" I stayed in my place.

"He is mine, get over it."

"Gladly." I smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me.." I pushed Sumi out of the way and passed her, "I have somewhere to go."

I walked out of the room, leaving Sumi speechless.

"She did not just leave before me!" Sumi exclaimed.

"She did. Get over it." Sey said dryly and left the room.

"You are being too much." Eun Hee told Sumi and followed Sey.

"Sumi.." Yujin said softly. "Please try to be more considerate. Hyeri is a nice person, you just have to get to know her better." she said before leaving as well, leaving Sumi by herself.

"Idiots. They are all idiots." Sumi muttered and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. This is not going to stop her.

~

Yongguk sat in the coffee shop with Mr. and Mrs. Kwon. He held his hot drink in his hands, waiting for them to speak.

"Yongguk.." Hana's mom said softly.

"Yes, Mrs. Kwon?"

"Please stop visiting Hana."

"W.. What? Why?" Yongguk stuttered. It was not what he was expecting to hear.

"We don't hate you or anything, but it's time you move on."

"I am moving on."

"Not if you keep coming back here."

"But.." Yongguk insisted.

"No buts." Mrs. Kwon cut him off. "You are still blaming yourself, don't you?" she asked, her gaze softening.

"Yes." he admitted, fixating his gaze on the dark liquid in his mug.

"Yongguk.." Mr. Kwon finally spoke. "What my wife is trying to say is that you should stop coming so that you could really move on. We are not blaming you and you shouldn't blame yourself either. We know you loved her and we know how much she meant to you, so you don't have to keep coming here. It's okay to move on. We are worried that if you'll keep coming here you will be stuck in the past, and that's not what we want for you. You deserve to be happy."

"It was my fault." Yongguk mumbled, unconsciously tightening his grip around the mug in his hands. "It is my fault."

"Did you date since then?" Mrs. Kwon suddenly asked, changing the subject.

"Just recently.." Yongguk admitted, too scared to look at her.

"That's great." she smiled warmly. "It means you are trying to move on."

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

"What are you sorry about? We are happy about that!" Mr. Kwon said.

"You are?" Yongguk was surprised.

"Of course we are." Mrs. Kwon said, the smile still plastered on her face.

"Is she nice?" Mr. Kwon asked.

"Yes."

"That's great." Hana's dad smiled, and it seemed genuine.

"Then it's more of a reason for you to stop coming!" Hana's mom exclaimed. "Don't drag old relationships into new ones, it can ruin them."

"I'll remember that."

~

I walked to the gym to let some steam out. I usually dance, but right now maybe it'll be better to hit something. I aprroached the punching bag, hitting it with all my force. The bag moved and returned to his initial place and I added another blow.

"Take it easy.." I heard Himchan's voice behind me. "It's just a bag of sand, not a real person."

"I can still hit you instead." I muttered.

"Just hit the punching bag.." he said and stood behind it, holding it for me so it won't move.

"Are you imagining Sumi instead of it?" Himchan joked.

"What makes you think that?" I asked while kicking the punching bag.

"Just a hunch.."

"What do you want?" I asked impatiently. I don't want to talk about her and I had a feeling he had a purpose coming here.

"To talk." he left the bag and looked at me.

"Not interested." I answered dryly. "And if you mention his name I'll turn you into a panda."

"You two are just the same.." he sighed.

"Leave." I ordered.

"It's a public space and you don't own it, so you can't expel me." Himchan reasoned.

"Then I'm leaving."

~

"Hey.." Youngjae noticed Eun Hee on her way to the cafeteria.

"Hey.." she smiled shyly.

"Are you going to buy something?" he asked, pointing at the cafeteria's entrance.

"Lunch. How about you?"

"Let's eat together." Youngjae smiled and Eun Hee felt herself blush.

They settled in one of the tables in the cafeteria after buying their meals.

"How is your schedules today?" Youngjae asked while taking a bite from his food.

"Pretty calm compared to yesterday.. We have 'The Show' and besides that we have mainly practice."

"That's nice." Youngjae smiled. "So no outside activities?"

"I think we have a fansign tomorrow, but I'm not sure.." she said and poked her food.

"Why aren't you eating?" he asked, staring at her salad that was barely touched.

"Diet."

"Eat up." Youngjae brought Eun Hee's fork closer to , forcing her to open it and eat the vegetables.

"It will ruin my diet." she said after swallowing.

"Why did you buy it then?" he asked curiously.

"Because of the lettuce." she said innocently and pointed at her bowl, that was filled mainly with lettuce. "And I can only eat three spoons of it."

"Tell the dietitian to stop being petty." Youngjae said and poked Eun Hee's forehead. "It doesn't matter if you eat three spoons or the whole plate, it's just vegetables."

"But.."

"Eat up."

~

"Where were you?" Daehyun asked when Yongguk entered the practice room.

"I had some things to do." Yongguk shrugged.

"Is everything okay?" Himchan asked, eyeing Yongguk. He was gone before Himchan woke up, but he had an idea where Yongguk could have gone to.

"Everything is great." Yongguk smiled.

"Where is Youngjae?" Zelo asked after looking around the room. Beside Yongguk, Youngjae was the only one missing.

"Flirting.." Jongup said and pointed at the hallway, where Youngjae and Eun Hee were laughing.

"Looks like someone finally got the courage to talk to her.." Himchan commented, smirking.

"Wanna bet that he still didn't make a move on her?" Daehyun offered.

"No need to bet, it's obvious." Yongguk said while putting his hand on Daehyun's shoulder.

"I have an idea."

~

"I should go.." Eun Hee said shyly, looking at the tiled floor.

"Yeah, I have practice as well.." Youngjae shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Do you.." Eun Hee started talking.

"Are you.." Youngjae started talking at the same time. They both looked at each other embarrassed and flustered.

"Go first." Eun Hee said.

"Ladies first." Youngjae smiled and Eun Hee blushed.

"I was wondering.." Eun Hee played with her hair nervously. "If you have time, do you want to sing together? I mean, just for fun.. I think I can learn a lot from you and I want to improve." she lowered her gaze to the ground, too embarrassed to look at Youngjae and see his reaction.

"That will be great." Youngjae smiled and Eun Hee finally looked at him.

"Thank you." she smiled shyly.

"No problem."

"What did you wanted to say?" she asked curiously.

"Hmm.." Youngjae swallowed his saliva. "Remember our deal?"

"About Daehyun?"

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"I need you to act in front of Daehyun again."

~

"You are late for practice." Yongguk stated coldly when Youngjae entered the practice room. The other boys looked serious as well.

"S.. So.. Sorry." Youngjae stuttered. He didn't mean to be late, he just didn't notice that time went by.

"What were you doing?" Yongguk asked.

"I.. Had lunch." Youngjae was tensed. He hates getting scolded and he hates disappointing Yongguk and the other boys.

"Alone?"

"No."

"Did you ask her out?" Yongguk asked, finally letting a smirk appear on his face. Youngjae visibly relaxed.

"That wasn't it! We are just friends!" Youngjae exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah.. We all saw you flirting in the hallway." Himchan commented.

"We weren't flirting!" Youngjae insisted, but the boys didn't believe him.

"You know I don't have a problem with you dating, right? I want all of you to be happy." Yongguk said.

"I know, but there is no need for that because we are not dating."

"Yet." Daehyun added, earning a glare from Youngjae.

"But.." Yongguk continued talking and the boys turned their attention to him. "If any of you gets me in trouble with Hyeri you are dead meat."

"You don't need us in order to get in trouble with Hyeri, you are doing great on your own." Himchan teased and the boys laughed.

"Shut up because part of it is your fault."

"And I already paid for it." Himchan said and pointed at his bruised eye that hasn't healed yet.

"Sorry about that.." Yongguk mumbled, embarrassed, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Since everyone is here, how about we actually start practice?" Zelo asked and the boys agreed.

~

"Girls, I have something for you." Jinu said when he entered the room we were gathered at. Some staff members followed him, carrying five boxes.

"What is this?" Yujin asked, pointing at the boxes.

"Your gifts from the fansign yesterday, we forgot to give it to you when we reached your dorm last night."

The staff members put the boxes in front of us, each box in front of the member it belonged to. Mine was half filled, but I could notice a suspicious box inside of it immediately.

"What is this?" I asked, picking up the box that contained the lingerie set the ert gave me yesterday. I thought it was clear enough that I'm not interested in it..

"It was in your gift box, we just carried it." Jinu said.

"Get rid of it." I put the lingerie box on the table, pushing it towards Jinu.

"Alright."

Half an hour later, the short meeting ended and everyone started to disperse. Only Sumi and Jinu were left in the room.

"Can I have this?" Sumi asked, pointing at the box Hyeri left behind.

"Do you want it?" Jinu asked, surprised.

"I'll throw it away, I'm going there anyway.." Sumi said, smiling innocently.

"Alright." Jinu said and left the room, leaving Sumi with the infamous box.

"I think I'm going to have some fun with this.." Sumi smirked, moving her finger across the square shaped box.

~

Yongguk was going to get himself something to drink when he ran into a familiar figure he didn't want to meet. He ignored it, passing by that person without saying anything.

"I see that this company still hires gangsters.." Matt said when he noticed Yongguk. Yongguk clenched his fists but tried to stay composed. Getting into a fight with him won't help anyone, especially not Hyeri.

"I see that this company still hires idiots." Yongguk retorted, smiling.

"It's better being an idiot than being a gangster." Matt smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Yongguk asked impatiently.

"I guess your relationship with the whale is not good?" Matt laughed. "I thought she had already told you about it.."

"She is not a whale." Yongguk glared at Matt.

"Right now she is a mini whale because she lost some weight, but she is still fat." Matt stated. Yongguk tried hard to control himself, because he was close to exploding.

"If you mistreat her again.."

"You'll what? Punch me again?" Matt laughed. "If I remember correctly, you got in trouble because of it."

"Just leave her alone. She is sensitive."

"That's her problem, not mine." Matt shrugged. "She should know how to handle criticism."

Yongguk wanted to answer Matt, but his phone ringing stopped him from doing so. "I need to go." Yongguk said after looking at the screen, "But we are not done yet."

"I'll be waiting." Matt smiled and Yongguk left.

"Idiot." Matt mumbled and headed towards the practice room.

~

"Eun Hee." Daehyun called the younger female.

"Hey, Daehyun oppa." she smiled shyly.

"Are you busy?" Daehyun asked.

"No. I have a break."

"Can we talk?"

"Sure." Eun Hee smiled, althought she was confused as to why Daehyun will want to talk to her. It's quite rare for the two of them to meet by themselves..

"Lets' go." Daehyun smiled and led her to the playroom, that was empty at that time.

"Sit down." he gustured the sofa and Eun Hee sat carefully.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Eun Hee, do you like guys?" Daehyun went straight to the point. Eun Hee started to blush furiously.

"JUNG DAEHYUN!" Eun Hee raised her voice. "Be a gentleman!" she hit his shoulder.

"Sorry.." he trailed off. "I just wanted to know if you like someone."

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"Why are you beating around the bush?" he exclaimed.

"You are the one that beats around the bush all the time! What do you want?" Eun Hee started to get annoyed.

"It's about Youngjae." Daehyun admitted quietly.

"What about him?" Eun Hee asked. The mention of Youngjae's name calmed her down and made her curious and nervous at the same time.

"You like him, right?" Daehyun asked.

"Daehyun.." Eun Hee said sternly.

"Alright." Daehyun sighed. "He is a smart person but he is an idiot when it comes to relationships with girls."

"How is that related to me?"

"If you like him, you might have to make the first move if you want things to happen with him."

~

"Hello, mini whale." Matt greeted when I entered the practice room.

"Hey Matt." I tried to smile.

"I met your idiot boyfriend on the way here.." he commented while I put my stuff down.

"We are not dating anymore." I said, trying to show I didn't care.

"I figured, because he seems surprised to see me here."

"Good for him." I said dryly.

"You know, guys like obedient girls, ones that's easy to talk to and don't cause trouble. If you want your relationships to last, maybe you should tame yourself."

"Thanks for the relationship advice, but I don't need it."

"Your lose." he shrugged.

"Can we practice? That's why I'm here." I said impatienty.

"Sure. Start doing warmup."

Practice went as usual. I was practicing the exercise Matt showed me when there was a knock on the door. Moments after, Jinu entered the room, looking distracted.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"We have a problem. A big one."

Author's Note:

A fast update because I had a muse :)

I'm not going to describe each and every day and it's not going to be long like the previous day, so don't worry :P

I just need this day in order to close some loose strings from the day before :)

P.S - Did you hear the song Daehyun uploaded? What did you think of it? 

Thank you for reading, commenting, subscribing and upvoting!

Merry Christmas\Happy Hanukkah! <3

M.