Third POV

    It had only been a day since a ban was announced to the boys regarding their three friends, and they and their manager sat in complete silence in the waiting room, none of them uttering a single word. This was something new for their manager because even when they were dead tired, they were never this quiet..this lost. Jackson was busy scrolling through something on his phone while Mark had his earphones in and was lying back, eyes closed, Jinyoung had a book propped open in his lap but hadn't turned a page the whole time, Youngjae was blankly staring at the screen of his phone not playing any game (shockingly), JB also had a book in his lap with earphones plugged in his ears but he seemed to be paying no attention to either, and the maknaes were asleep in their chairs. 

    "Is everything alright?" manager-hyung asked, looking at them all one by one. Jackson leaned his head on Mark's shoulder and Jaebum pulled out his ear phone.

    "We are okay. Just a little tired." Jinyoung answered pulling Yugyeom's head to rest on his lap. Youngjae pulled his feet up curling them under his body and sitting sideways on the chair curled up on Mark's other side half away asleep. Still unsure the manager nodded knowing they would be back to themselves in no time. The flight was soon called and everyone picked up their hand bags getting ready to board. The flight was mostly spent sleeping or in Jackson and Mark's case checking their phones every now and then. BamBam was half laying on his favourite brother as Jackson patted his head which was on his lap. Mark and Youngjae were cuddled up and Yugyeom was curled up in his seat, asleep as well, between an equally asleep JB and Jinyoung. The manager was sitting next to BamBam and Mark and Youngjae had managed to get the row with two seats. The silence for once seemed peaceful yet still confusing to the manager, not knowing the cause to bring everyone, especially Jackson's, mood down so quickly. Sighing, he also closed his eyes, allowing sleep to take over him. 

    It seemed cheesy to say this but Jackson felt empty inside. The entire time from the airport to the hotel and later even to the concert, Jackson's mood had stayed down in the dumps. He didn't feel like joking or his jokes lacked their usual humor, he stared at the screen of his phone for hours and the tiniest of sounds from the gadget had him jumping to his feet. It did not go unnoticed by s that he kept his phone with him more now and was at many times caught texting. 

    "Who are you texting?" Jinyoung asked one day, making Jackson's head whip up. 

    "Maria," Jackson casually shrugged, getting back to his phone. Jinyoungand Jb shared a look while Mark slid next to Jackson prompting him to do a video call or face time. Jackson let out a surprised noise when this phone began ringing. Mark stole one of his earphones as the younger accepted the call. 

    "Hey guys," Maria said waving at the camera. Jackson and Mark waved back.

   "What's up?" She asked.

   "We're at the recording room. Waiting for our turn."

   "Oh. How's the album coming up?" Jackson turned the camera to show Yugyeom recording in the booth. Youngjae and Jaebum busy writing, Jinyoung waved at camera while BamBam was asleep next to him.

   "In any case, are you doing okay?" Maria began, but stopped talking when Jackson suddenly stood up and began to make his way out the door, successfully plugging the other earphone out of Mark's ear and into his own, ignoring the Mark and Jinyoung as they yelled after him, but didn't follow.

   Jackson walked and reached an empty hallway until he decided to raise the phone and keep talking to Maria, who was surprised at the sudden action. 

   "What was that all about?" Maria cocked her head to side, raising an eyebrow.

   "Nothing really," Jackson shrugged carelessly, "They can talk to you separately if they want, but I didn't want them butting in right now."

   "You're pretty down because of this, huh," Maria reflected in a low voice, "Please don't be." 

Jackson didn't reply for a while, contemplating on how to answer. He finally sighed and replied, messing up his hair in frustration, "Geez, I can't not be annoyed at this, Maria. It was a false rumor anyway, and now we have this goddamn ban. I mean, you've gotta be kidding--"

"Calm down," Maria interrupted, worried, "Don't say stupid stuff like that. You know the public, it'll be forgotten in such a short while so just... let's be patient," she smiled sneakily, adding, "Together. What do you say, tough guy?"

Jackson smiled at her, then winked, "Sure. But you gotta promise to text me, at least, regularly. I'd rather that than nothing at all, okay?"

"Of course," Maria grinned brightly, "I see how you are, and further, I'll cut off my pinky if I don't keep the promise."

Jaebum and Youngjae sat in their dorm's living room together, silently writing lyrics and composing songs. 

It was late night and JB couldn't sleep, many things stressing on his mind. So he decided to write lyrics, something he would usually do to free the built up tension. It was helpful that Youngjae was awake too, as he always slept late due to playing games late into the night. But this night, Youngjae wasn't sitting in front of the couch, eyes trained on the big screen. Instead, he himself was deeply engrossed, writing away in a notebook. 

He didn't notice JB until he came and sat next to him on the couch. 

"You couldn't sleep, hyung?" Youngjae asked, looking up from his writing. 

"Yeah, thought I'd write some lyrics," JB shrugged, then asked curiously, "What are you doing though, Youngjae?"

"I didn't feel like playing anything right now, so I tried composing new songs," Youngjae answered, grinning, then after a short pause, announced, "I'll go show these to Lilly tomorrow! She really appreciates new music!" 

"Hey, Youngjae," JB replied quickly, "Have you forgotten? You can't meet Lilly or anyone else... we're on a ban remember?"

Youngjae's face quickly fell, his tone suddenly getting frustrated as he answered, "That's rights isn't it... damn, I forgot." 

"We're gonna have to live with it, Youngjae," JB calmly told him, "ItI'll be over soon anyway, so don't take any stress. You text her anyway, Don't you?"

Youngjae looked surprised, "How'd you know?" 

JB chuckled, "Were you keeping it a secret? Come on, we all know already."

"Ah..." Youngjae sighed, "She told me to keep it a secret. Guess I really was too obvious..."

"Don't worry, we'll keep it a secret."

In truth, Eva weighed on JB's mind a lot more than she should have. He was unbelievably worried about her, her well-being and her thoughts right now. Maybe it was because she put others before herself, like him, or maybe because they were similar in thought processes, but lately she wouldn't get off his mind. 

Maybe it was the awkward texts they shared once or twice a day, where he'd leave her hanging on an answer, unknowing of what to say. He didn't know what it was.

Youngjae began to scribble in his notebook again, and broke JB out of his thoughts. 

Sighing, he began to write lyrics. Halfway through, he glanced at Youngjae to find him grinning at his phone. Youngjae had texted Lilly the lyrics he had composed and her praise was enough to lift his mood for a while. It was no secret that he missed her. He had stopped playing as many games as he used to and spent more time composing than playing games. If you looked closely enough at the lyrics, they somehow talked about a girl who had captured his interest. These feelings were new for Youngjae but what he could surely say was that he did feel something more than a friend for Lilly but was not sure exactly how strong it was. 

"Get some sleep," JB muttered, patting Youngjae's back as he got up, closing his notebook. Youngjae chuckled, as he nodded, quickly typing away. Just as he settled down for bed, his phone beeped with a text. The screen flashed Eva's face and unconsciously a small smile settled on his face. She had texted him a picture of a huge box of fried chicken with a caption: 'Inspiration for your next song. Isn't it heavenly?' 

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. It was times like this he began to hate the ban a lot like Jackson and Youngjae but being their leader knew his responsibilities, and had to set an example, even if it meant ignoring whatever this was what he was feeling. And it was only fair to say that the picture did become his inspiration for a song, however not in a way Eva might have thought.