Kokorana also motioned for Mark and Jackson to follow her out of the room. Kokorana lead all three down the hallway to an empty dance room that wasn’t in use. “You guys need to keep quiet about this. The only ones who know about this is Chaebin and I.” They nodded, entering the room. It was covered in banners and party decorations. 
“It’s not Rae's birthday.” Mark commented. 
Chaebin turned around and nodded, “Yea I know. This is a 'thank you' party for everything she’s done for us. Even before we were promised a debut, she has put endless hours into us and never takes a break. She believes in us and I want to show her that its all been worth it and that we'll fight even harder now.” Chaebin turned to Koko who was finishing setting up a few more decorations. “Do you think you could get the rest of the boys from Rae?” Koko nodded and headed back to the main dance room. 
As Kokorana returned she saw that, luckily enough, Rae had given the boys a quick break making it easier for her. Rae saw Koko return to the room and waved her over. “Can you take the boys to another room and have them prep for the mv? I wanted to speak with Jaebum and the others alone about possibly training with me.” 
Kokorana nodded excitedly, not expecting things to go so smoothly. She led the boys away and into the party room, explaining what was going on. The boys got excited and happy, talking about Rae's possible reactions. They mentioned how they talked about doing this, but didn’t know Chaebin had prepared everything on his own. They all helped finish setting up the last decorations and Chaebin looked over to K-Won. 
“I need you to go get Rae and tell her that I had an accident and I was injured.” K-Won nodded. Chaebin had chosen him because he had the best acting skills and would pull it off best. He ran out and down the hallway, fake tears already streaming down his face as he worked himself up. He knew he needed to make it seem as real as possible. He busted in the door and spoke as quickly as he could. “Rae, Chaebin twisted his ankle and fell and now he’s not responding!” Rae panicked, grabbing K-Won's arm and telling him to take her to Chaebin quickly. 
When K-Won opened the door, Rae was greeted by an explosion of confetti and a group hug attack from the boys. “Sorry.” K-Won whispered, before joining them in their group hug. 
“What is this?” she muttered. 
“It’s a thank you party for everything you done. It’s also to tell you well keep fighting and make you proud of us. I had Kokorana help too.” Chaebin said, smiling. 
Rae started to tear up, patting each of the boys on their heads and telling them how kind they were. She went over to Chaebin and pulled him into a hug rubbing her face into his shoulder. “Thank you, Chaebin. This is wonderful. You don’t realize how much this means to me. This party shouldn’t be just for me, though. You boys have always listened well and worked without stopping. You've worked through so many hard situations, and you’re all stronger because of it. I know your debut is going to be amazing.” Rae turned to Kokorana, tears still in her eyes. “You knew about this, and you managed to keep it a secret? That actually surprises me.” 
Kokorana grinned. “I can keep things from you sometimes.” Both Rae and Koko broke out into laughter. A small knock was heard and Jinyoung was standing in the doorway, a confused look across his face. “Go get the other, we can all celebrate.” 
Jinyoung shook his head. “I don’t want to interrupt what seems like a personal moment. Plus, I think we’re going to head out for the day. Thank you for inviting us. ” Jinyoung turned around and walked out.
After an hour of celebrating, Rae decided that they had taken a long enough break from practice. “Alright guys, this was fun, but we need to get back to work.” They boys were a bit sad, but understood and hastily made their way back to the practice room. Chaebin stayed behind, watching the others leave. He turned and looked at Rae, fidgeting his hands inside his pockets. He seemed anxious and was about to approach her when Jackson got to her first.
Jackson shuffled to Rae's side, nervously. “Hey, Rae, I need to talk to you.” 
Rae looked at Jackson and nodded "Yeah, whats up?" 
“Well, I wanted to start off by saying that I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting." 
Rae crossed her arms. “And?” She said, expectingly. 
“I like you. I've liked you since I laid eyes on you, and I was wondering if you would go on a date with me.” Rae was surprised by the sudden confession. She was about to respond when Chaebin suddenly exploded from across the room. 
“No way would she accept a confession like that. You're not even good enough for her.” Chaebin clenched his fist angrily. 
Kokorana was stunned, not knowing what to do. Jacksons started to get pissed off, moving toward Chaebin. Koko didn’t want a fight starting, so she tried to move toward him only to be held back by Mark. She looked back to see him shaking his head at her. She knew he wanted her to stay out of this. 
“Who do you think you are, saying that? You don't have a right to say whether I’m good enough for her or not. I think that's Rae's decision.” Jackson yelled back. 
Rae looked back between both boys, trying to think of something to say, but for the first time in a long time she didn’t know what to do. 
“Yeah I do. I’ve known Rae a lot longer then you and I’m closer to her then you’ll ever be.” Chaebin got closer to Jackson, he wanted to hit him but knew Rae wouldn’t want that. 
Stop it now Jacks.” Kokorana yelled. Mark gripped her arm tighter and tried to convince her to leave the room, but she wouldn’t leave. She didn’t want anyone getting hurt. Kokorana moved closer to Jackson, “Please Jackson.” she begged. Jackson was still glaring at Chaebin. He didn’t want to back down, but he knew that he couldn’t finish the fight here anyways. He grabbed Koko's hand and stormed out of the room, Mark following close behind, leaving Rae alone with Chaebin. Rae watched them leave and turned to Chaebin. “What was all that about?” Chaebin looked at the ground. He ran a hand angrily through his hair. "It just pissed me off, okay? I really don’t think he's good enough for you. You should be with someone who has always treated you well. Someone who knows you...” Chaebin stepped forward and took Rae's hand. "Knows you like I know you...Rae, I wanted to be the one to tell you I had feelings for you. I kept meaning to tell you, I’ve had feelings for you for a while, but I always felt ashamed because you were my producer. I don’t care about that now, though, because I can’t keep my feelings from growing." Rae was completely frozen, feeling somewhat trapped in the situation. She already had no idea what to say to Jackson about his sudden confession, and she was definitely unsure of what to say to Chaebin. She put her head down and closed her eyes, wondering if this could all be a dream or if maybe she could start the day over if she thought about it hard enough. The weight of it all was starting to get the better of her, and she could feel herself getting angry. She looked up to see Chaebin still holding her hand, staring at her with wide and concerned doe eyes. She pulled her hand back and turned away, unable to face him. "Hey, let’s not talk about this right now, we have too much to do today." Rae said.

Author notes 

My editor died a little on the inside.