Chapter 5

3rd Person POV

"Wake up! We need to get ready to go to the salon in thirty minutes, kids!" Kuhn stood in the middle of the hallway, shouting his lungs out, just like he does every morning.

"If only they could wake up on their own, damn slackers..." 

In the three shared rooms, the other members gradually came to life. It was a mess of bed head hair, bad morning breath and half lidded eyes, where everyone couldn't even tell Sunyoul from Kogyeol. Zombie-like creatures made their way one by one to the bathrooms, getting ready in probably the most sluggish way possible. Knowing that they would get their hair washed, make up done and dressed up at their designated salon, many of the members didn't exactly bother to fully get ready.

Wooshin followed the rest of his fellow members to the two vans, just as he did any other day, squeezing into his usual seat. But today, something was different...

"Hwanhee! Stop it!" Xiao's giggling voice pierced through the early morning silence, drawing everyone's attention towards him.

Hwanhee and Xiao were practically sitting on top of each other, with Xiao on Hwanhee's lap, while Hwanhee slyly tickled Xiao's stomach. Wide grins decorated the two maknaes' faces, and out of place laughter filled the air, spreading positivity throughout the van. All the members present couldn't help but smile at the adorable display, all except for one of course.

Wooshin was never the jealous type, but perhaps he would have to make an exception for a specific teenage boy. 

He felt his ears reddening in anger, while his palms unconsciously clenched tightly into fists and his lips were pursed to the point of disappearing. He caught himself in the midst of his odd behavior, questioning the origin of such feelings.

"I couldn't be jealous! That's just ridiculous! What is there to be jealous of? Xiao doesn't belong to me, and he's Hwanhee's best friend... Although I really do feel like insisting that his hand on his INNER THIGH is completely unnecessary." Wooshin's mind clouded with messy, loud thoughts.

Wooshin looked on at the two laughing boys, a sad smile replacing his tired expression. 

Why couldn't he be Xiao's best friend? Why couldn't Xiao like HIM more?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and the more he wished he could be someone else. 

But thoughts had to wait, because it was 6 in the morning and sleep was essential to a good performance. Lost in his thoughts, Wooshin fell fast asleep, dreaming of a fantasy where he and Xiao could be together...

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"Visual hyung! Wake up! We're here!" The owner of the husky voice came into view as Wooshin's eyes cleared of sleepiness.

Hwanhee's bright smile greeted him as Wooshin sat up straight, looking around him with his groggy vision. The rest of the members had already alighted their respective vans, yawning and stretching. Wooshin glared at Hwanhee in as subtle a manner as possible, before hopping of the van and shaking off the lethargic feeling lingering in his body.

Hwanhee swore he saw Wooshin shoot him a death stare, but brushed it off as normal anger towards the person who wakes him. He closed the the van's door behind him and rushed off to find his beloved best friend, completely unaware of the jealous Wooshin glaring holes into his back.

The group was directed to their seats in their regular salon and the assistants got to work straight away, washing and blow drying their hair before the stylists were ready to get started. Wooshin lied down at the hair washing station, stating up at the ceiling absentmindedly. The feeling of the assistant stylist's fingers lathering his red hair up in hair-dye friendly shampoo was distant in his wondering mind.

A frown was permanently lodged into his eyebrows, only briefly relieved by the comforting massage a violet-haired girl was giving him while working hair treatment through his fluffy Crimson locks. The workers at the salon normally didn't give the members massages, so the fact that she was giving him one may or may not be because of his clearly agitated expression. Although Wooshin plotting a certain husky voiced maknae's death, he looked up into his stylist's eyes and gave her a silent thank you.

The stylist glanced around the room, noting that no one was within their earshot, before smiling back and asking,

"What's got you so worked up, Wooshin sshi? You always sleep through salon sessions."

Wooshin was oh so tempted to pour his soul out to the kind hearted girl who very kindly gave him extra service, but he pulled himself back. Idols' hair stylists were notorious for spilling gossip or secrets to the press, whether they were told by the idols themselves or they had seen a certain incident in action. Wooshin had to be cautious, for even a singular scandal could cause the group to fall apart.

He thought carefully for a second before giving a standard and boring answer.

"It's nothing. It's just that our schedule is quite packed these days and we're not getting much sleep lately."

The stylist hummed as she rinsed his hair of the treatment, pulling out a salon towel to dry his hair. Wooshin was smothered by fluffy blue material as she dried his hair and then walked him over to the styling station in front of the mirrors.

Wooshin immediately noticed out of the corner of his eye - not that he's paying that much attention - that Xiao and Hwanhee were next to each other getting their hair curled and styled. And once again, it flustered him slightly that they were having what seemed to be the most interesting conversation ever, since loud boisterous laughter could be heard from his side of the salon.

His relaxed mood from the head massage quickly turned sour again, and he reverted his thoughts back to the bitterness of rejection. 

Wooshin always felt like he and Xiao were close, in a typical dongsaeng and hyung kind of way, ever since the group's final line up had started practicing for debut together. He had always been satisfied with their current relationship, but after his heart decided to whack him upside the head with a frying pan one day and decided for him that he liked Xiao in a way he had never imagined, he wasn't so sure. Granted, he knew that nothing would come out of what ever fantasy he had thought up in his dirty minded head, and he could never confess to his adorable dongsaeng. Even if Up10tion were to become established and 'safe' in a sense that the company would thank them for bringing money in by letting them have more freedom, Wooshin knew that actually dating Xiao was far from reality.

And that's even if they became successful at all.

A young man with blonde hair came over to him with a curling wand and a comb in hand, and Wooshin had to stop spying on Xiao and Hwanhee through the mirror. He focused his attention the stylist, who he had never seen in the salon before. Although he spent most of his time there asleep, he was sure that he would have taken note of someone so attractive.

The stylist looked to be about a couple of years older than him at most, basically not much of a difference. He had rather filled out cheeks, and yet a defined jawline, which Wooshin found incredibly puzzling. His slim, nimble fingers ran through his hair deftly, and his tongue stuck out of his mouth slightly in concentration. And to be specific about his hair color, it was a ashy type of blonde, almost white and with lavender undertones. In other words, Wooshin thought he was ethereally handsome.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer."

Wooshin jumped in surprise, almost causing the hot hair tool to burn said attractive person he was staring at. It was more so the deep tone he had more than the overused pick up line(is it considered one?)that shocked Wooshin, and Wooshin pointed out in his head that it did not match such a pretty face whatsoever.

"I'm Taehyung, if you were wondering, which you probably weren't. Just transferred from another salon in Gangnam, if you were wondering why you never saw me before, which you probably also weren't."

Wooshin was a little stunned at the string of words that flowed from the god like creature's mouth, to which he just looked his reflection in the eye.

"I-I'm-"

"Your name is Wooshin, yes I know and yes I'm nosy like that."

Wooshin had no words. Did the guy just admit to stalking the group and likely other clients before attending to them?

"Your confused face is really quite cute."

Wooshin felt his cheeks heat up at the compliment, while realizing that he had said a total of three letters to the guy while he on the other hand had already spewed at least fifty.

"It's not that I think you're irresistibly handsome," of course he did who was he kidding, Wooshin thought, and Taehyung scoffed at the remark,"but it's that you're unfamiliar, so I guess you were right about me wondering who you are."

At this point, half of Wooshin's hair was curled into barely there waves.

"Oh sure, if that's what you want to say to yourself. By the way, why do you keep looking at cotton candy and his friend over there?"

Wooshin knew who he was talking about, obviously, but...

"Cotton candy?"

"Oh oops, I'm not supposed to give hints! Um, promise you won't tell, but your PD-nim told me to dye Xiao's hair cotton candy pink for the next comeback."

Wooshin let his imagination run wild and he couldn't help but squeal at the thought.

"Just as I figured, you like the guy don't you?" 

Wooshin choked on his saliva. This Taehyung guy was already knee deep in his secrets and he's known him for ten minutes. 

"Wha-what are saying-"

"Yeah you can deny it but I ain't gonna believe it."

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Wooshin had a rather fascinating conversation with Taehyung until his hair and makeup was all done, whom he found out had an obsession with lollipops(how did that fact come out in their talk) and he miraculously ended up forgetting his jealousy about the Xiaohee couple. He found himself becoming more curious about Taehyung's wonderful hair and make up skills and how he came to acquire them, compared to just thirty or so minutes ago when he was constantly thinking about what Xiao kept laughing at.

While he wouldn't say he had formed a crush on Taehyung, he could, however, say that getting his number before parting ways did not upset him in the least.

Wooshin rejoined s as they were rushed into the vans again, this time to head to another music show filming. This time he made sure to sit next to Jinhoo, whom he knew had an endless reservoir of love for him. Maybe then he wouldn't start to notice Xiao's smile exploding with fireworks at the back of the vehicle.

As soon as he sat down, Jinhoo leant his head on his shoulder in an attempt to get some rest before the filming while also trying not to ruin the meticulously done makeup on his face. On a regular day, Wooshin would have playfully pushed his head off, but he was tired of being ignored by his hopelessly unaware crush, so this time he naturally rested his head on top of Jinhoo's. It was a rather comfortable position considering their environment, and the two fell asleep before too long.

Had Wooshin been awake, perhaps he would have seen Xiao's puzzled and troubled face.