Lin and I entered the practice room of the boys and they all smiled when they saw us.

“Hakyeon, we heard the interview. You were great!” I hugged my cousin and felt so proud of him.

“Yes, you were all really great.” Lin said and smiled at Ken who winked at her.

I looked around and noticed that Leo was missing. Where was he? I tried not to look too curious but somehow I had a bad feeling. I didn’t know why but I couldn’t stop it.

“Where’s Leo?” I heard myself saying before even thinking a single second about it. The boys and also Lin looked surprised but my cousin gave me the answer:

“He’s showing an old friend around.” He explained and I nodded. Was she here?

Right in that moment the door of the practice room was opened and Leo entered the room together with Minah on his side. Both of them were laughing and looked really happy. Did he ever laugh like that when he was alone with me?

“Oh..hello, Sun.” Minah immediately went to me and kissed me on my cheeks again.

“Woah, you know each other?” Ravi sounded surprised now and also the other boys (especially my cousin) looked at us now. , how should I explain this now?

“We met Minah yesterday..” Leo explained and obviously they were satisfied with his answer now.

“Hey..we have to practice now!” My cousin suddenly said and the boys nodded. Minah, Lin and I stood there for a while then Minah pulled a package of cigarettes out of her bag.

“I’m going outside. Wanna join me?” She smiled at us and Lin shook her head. I didn’t know why but I nodded and we left the practice room together. Lin gave me a worried look but I tried to ignore it. Maybe this was a good time to get closer with Minah. It doesn’t matter if I like her or not..she’s is important to Leo so I should try to get along with her. We went outside and she took a deep breath from her cigarette.

“Are they dating?” I heard her voice all of a sudden.

“Who?”

“Your friend and Ken. She looks at him in this special way.” She didn’t look me in the eyes and just blew the smoke into the air. Why did she want to know this.

“No, they are not dating.” I told her. This conversation didn’t go the way I expected. How should I get closer with her?

“But you and Taekwoon are dating, right?” She smiled at me and blew the smoke into my face which made me cough.

“Well..uhm..yeah. Why are you asking?” What the hell was she up to?

“I was just wondering because..uhh..nevermind..” There it was again…this fake smile. I got curious.

“No, tell me.”

“No, no, it’s ok, don’t worry.” She continued her fake smile and blew the smoke into the air. How should I get closer with her? I didn’t want to get close with her but she is important to Leo. He knows her for a long time.

“You know Taekwoon for a long time, right?” I tried to start a conversation and I was surprised when she started to tell me.

“Oh yeah, I know him since he was a trainee here.” She made a hand movement which defined ‘here’ as the Jellyfish building. “I was his vocal trainer. He was so eager all the time and practiced really hard. We became really good friends and then..” She stopped and smiled.

“And then..?” Did I really want to hear it?

“We started dating.” She answered my question and looked at me. My mouth felt try and I felt uncomfortable now. What was that feeling? She was his ex girlfriend..he kissed her, he…I didn’t want to imagine this.

“But then I had to break up with him.” Her voice sounded sad now.

“You went to America..” I continued her sentence and she looked surprised.

“Taekwoon told me about it.” I tried to sound confident.

“Yes..I got a job there. The distance was just too big. It was the best for both of us to end this relationship.” She looked up at the sky now. “But it’s the past..now he has a nice girlfriend by his side.” She smiled at me and I tried to smile back. She threw her cigarette away and I started to walk back into the building. At first she followed me but then she stopped and I turned around.

“Just go back to VIXX. I just decided to smoke one more cigarette.” Her fake smile confused me, but then I shrugged and went back to the boys.

The practice room was almost empty. Ravi, Ken and Lin were sitting on the floor playing the Ting Ting game and laughed a lot. They smiled when they noticed me and Lin stood up and hugged me.

“Ah, she was gone for like 15 minutes and you have to hug her?” Ravi laughed and Ken hit him on his arm.

“I missed her.” Lin made a sad aegyo face and then hugged me really tight.

“He’s practicing in the piano room.” She whispered in my ear and now I understood why she wanted to hug me. Lin was really the best friend in the world. I let the three of them continue playing their game and hurried to get to Leo. At least we would have a few minutes alone, I thought. The door to the room was half opened again and heard him singing. I listened:

Whenever I’m alone and sad
And my mood is really bad
You’re the one who makes me smile
Only with those butterflies

The music suddenly stopped. He noticed me. I entered the room.

“I know..there’s a mirror on the side. You saw me.” He smiled at me and I closed the door.

“A new song?” I asked and he nodded. “Can you sing it for me?” He stood up and came into my direction. He stopped in front of me and put one hand on my cheek.

“Another time.” He whispered and pushed his soft lips against mine. He embraced me and my knees got weak. His lips were so steady while mine were just trembling. His tongue invaded my mouth and my knees just gave up know. Luckily Leo held me and stopped the kiss. His smile looked so precious.

“I wonder what would happen if I did more..” He whispered and my mouth fell open. “Just a joke..wanna learn to play piano?” He didn’t wait for an answer and pulled me with him. We sat down and he put his hands on the instrument. He started to play a soft melody.

“Wow..that was beautiful..” I admitted when he stopped. I put my hands on the piano and tried to play a few notes but it sounded horrible. I heard him giggling next to me.

“You have to put your hands like this.” He touched my hands and showed me how to play. He was so close to me and my heart started beating so fast again.

“So, you and Minah got along?” He suddenly asked and I looked in his face. His eyes were shining and it was obvious that he wanted us to like each other.

“Yes..she is nice..she told me a little bit about you and her.” I smiled at him. I didn’t want the moment with him to end. I wanted to spend more time with him, I thought.

“Can we go somewhere after the practice?” I asked him with a smile. He took a deep breath.

“I don’t have time, I’m sorry.” He explained. Why? “Minah and I are going to have dinner at our old restaurant today. We always went there when I was a trainee.”

Why did my heart hurt so much right now? It was obvious that they wanted to be alone. Should I be jealous? Was there a reason for me to be jealous? They were friends..old friends..I could trust him.

“Oh, no problem.” I told him but he didn’t look satisfied with my answer. Faster than I thought he kissed me again and put his hand on my leg. This feeling..his tongue, his soft lips…his hand on my leg. I wanted more of him..please don’t stop it, I thought and totally enjoyed it.

*Cough* We immediately stopped kissing and looked shocked at the door. Minah was standing there and looked at us in a way I couldn’t describe.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you.” She giggled. “Taekwoon, it’s time to go.” She pointed at her watch and Leo stood up.

“Sorry, I forgot the time.” He smiled at me and I blushed. He blew a kiss on my forehead and then we all left the room. Minah kissed me on my cheeks for good bye and then she and Leo left the building. I watched them walking away and then decided to go back to Ken, Ravi and Lin.

They were still playing the Ting Ting game and I joined them. They didn’t want to practice and had more fun with playing this game now, they explained to us and we had a lot of fun but my thoughts were the whole time with Leo and Minah. At some point Ravi and Ken left the room to get us something to drink and now I had time to tell Lin everything.

“Hmm..be careful around her. I can’t stand her.” She told me and I looked confused.

“I don’t know why. It’s just a feeling that she’s got something in mind. Be careful around her and keep an eye on Leo. But don’t worry about today. Trust Leo..they are just having dinner.” She hugged me and I nodded on her shoulder.

“How about you and Ken?” I asked her then and she blushed.

“Nothing new. But he is so handsome and cute. I really like him.” She started to tell me with shining eyes.

The boys came back with our drinks now and we continued the game. My phone vibrated then and I pulled it out. It was a message from an unknown number. I opened the message and then my mouth fell open because I couldn’t believe what I just read…