“Hey, come and take a picture with me,” Ten asked the Japanese boy who was busy with his own phone.

“We’ve taken millions of selfies already, Ten,” Yuta simply answered, not looking up from his phone.

Ten rolled his eyes at the older boy. “No, I haven’t,” he defended himself but Yuta still ignored him. “Come on, hyung!” he pressed. “I need to win this bet!” he cried and held up his phone, ready to take the picture.

“Bet?” Yuta asked, his interest finally sparked up by something. “What bet?” he asked, raising a brow at the Thai member but still had enough time to change his facial expression and do a pose just in time when Ten took the picture.

“Some of the members and I made a bet about taking selfies and sending them to Yujin!” Ten’s eyes lit up in excitement as he explained the bet to Yuta. “Whoever Yujin replies to first is the winner!” he said, taking a seat next to him.

“You have a bet like this going on?” he asked in an accusatory tone. “Wait, you have Yujin’s number?” Yuta’s face scrunched up in both confusion and shock at the same time.

“Of course I have my best friend’s number saved in my phone,” Jaehyun laughed proudly. “And because you were too busy with whatever you’re doing with your phone when we made the bet, hyung,” Jaehyun explained as he went in between Yuta and Ten.

“Besides, it’s too late for you to join, hyung,” he added teasingly.

Yuta frowned. “You’re in the bet too?”

“Me, Taeyong hyung, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Donghyuck,” Ten answered and busily typed on his phone: ‘Handsome Ten, cutie Jaehyun, and Yuta hyung!’

“Doyoung has her number too??” Yuta asked in disbelief as he looked over at Ten’s phone and read what he wrote. “Yah! Why don’t I have a description?” he asked in offense.

Ten laughed and leaned back away from the Japanese boy who was sending him daggers with his eyes. “I just don’t have words to describe you right now, hyung.”

“Wow, I’m actually quite surprised that you don’t have her number, hyung,” Jaehyun’s brows raised up in astonishment. “Even Taeyong hyung has her number and she still refuses to call him by his name!”

Yuta was speechless and avoided his eyes in embarrassment. “Well, I was just waiting for her to ask for mine,” he said smoothly, feeling like he dodged a bullet. ‘Damn it, all of them has her number except me?!’

“You must be joking, right?” Ten scoffed amusingly. “Yujin won’t be the first one to give her number away. She’s too shy to do something like that,” he said in a matter-of-factly.

Jaehyun crossed his arms at the Thai member, jealous at how he was able to befriend Yujin in such a short amount of time. “You’re really that close to know that about her, huh?” he asked that sounded like a statement.

Ten looked up from his phone and looked at Jaehyun with a cheeky smirk. “Pretty much.”

“Wait, so what’s in it for the winner?” Yuta asked curiously, still annoyed that he wasn’t on this bet and didn’t have Yujin’s number.

“The winner gets bragging rights for being Yujin’s favorite member,” Ten told him as his eyes lit up. “It’s nothing much, really, since we’re doing this just for fun,” Ten answered and shrugged his shoulders.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, amused that Ten sounded like he already won the ongoing bet. “Ten hyung, you must be so confident that she’ll reply to you first. Having bragging rights is a big deal if you ask me.”

“To be honest, I really feel like I’ll win this bet,” Ten nodded excitedly. “So, yeah. I am pretty confident that Yujin will send me a message first among all of us.”

Yuta clenched his fist out of jealousy. If he were a part of this bet, he thinks that he might actually win it.

“Has anyone received a reply from Yujin?” Taeyong suddenly asked, cutting their conversation. He asked loud enough for everyone to hear him since the members are all scattered around the room.

“Not yet!” Donghyuck answered, after taking a selfie with Winwin who was just beside him.

“Me too,” Winwin sighed in defeat.

“She hasn’t replied to me and Ten hyung!” Jaehyun turned at Taeyong’s direction and answered for him and Ten.

“She hasn’t replied to me too,” Doyoung answered from the hair and makeup station as he was getting his hair re-styled by Sooah for the ending part of the concert.

“Of course she won’t reply to you first, Doyoung,” Taeil laughed amusingly. “Between all of us members, you have the most awkward relationship with her!” he said from the couch that he was sitting on with Taeyong on the other side of the room. “But I respect your bravery for participating this bet that you’ll most likely lose at, sorry!”

Doyoung’s cheeks flared up in embarrassment. “Well, at least I’m making efforts to get closer to her through this bet!” he fought back, ignoring the members as they laughed at him.

“But I’m still super impressed at how Ten hyung and Yujin noona became so close after their first meeting!” Donghyuck said in awe as he stared at Ten. “Yah! How did you do it hyung! I’m curious!”

“That’s because I’m very likeable, that’s all,” he said proudly and smiled at them widely which the members playfully denied and scoffed at. “I’m not even sure myself how Yujin and I clicked and became fast friends after talking about the preparations for my Devils concept,” he told them truthfully. “After that, we were already comfortable around each other.”

“Yeah, too comfortable if you ask me,” Yuta mumbled under his breath since he once saw Ten have his arm around Yujin which she didn’t seem to mind at all.

“And I didn’t do something to make her feel so awkward with me,” Ten added and smirked knowingly at Doyoung which made the members follow his gaze.

“Wait, so how did you two get so awkward with again?” Mark asked Doyoung in genuine curiosity. “I wasn’t there when you guys were with Yujin noona.”

“Yeah, me too,” Donghyuck nodded. He was with Mark at that time and came late for the fitting. “Mark hyung and I were busy learning how to dance with a hoverboard,” he said exasperatedly.

Doyoung frowned, declining to answer the question. “I won’t tell you!”

“I know why!” Ten exclaimed, making Doyoung freeze on his chair. “When Doyoung and I met Yujin two days ago, he kept on asking her to change his stage outfit for the concert because he didn’t like the outfit Yujin prepared for him. He had six different outfit changes before finally deciding what to wear,” he explained animatedly. “Poor Yujin had to go through all that and he still ended up wearing the first outfit she gave her,” he laughed and ended his story.

“Poor Yujin,” Winwin faked a frown and joined the fun to tease Doyoung.

Taeyong gasped in exaggeration after hearing Ten’s story and seeing Winwin’s miserable expression. “Kim Dongyoung, you’re lucky I wasn’t there when you guys had your fitting with Yujin or else I might’ve just kicked your for giving her such a hard time.”

“I told you I was just kidding around with her!” Doyoung defended. “Based on your stories and encounters with her, I figured that I’ll get some kind of reaction from her when I kept on rejecting all of her ideas for my stage outfits,” he told them. “I didn’t expect her to go with the flow just because I said I didn’t like my outfit!”

“Plus, you call her Miss Yujin!” Taeil exclaimed and all of the members lost their minds because of it. “I think that’s why you’re so awkward with her. You’re way too formal, Doyoung.”

Doyoung’s face was now completely red from embarrassment. He wanted the ground to eat him up and escape from the situation. “I was just being respectful!” he told them but the members ignored him and continued laughing.

“Okay, boys, that’s enough teasing for today,” Hyein spoke up and the laughter among them quickly died down.

“Noona, why didn’t Yujin come with us anyway?” Taeyong asked curiously. They expected for Yujin to come with them to Japan for the weekend but she never showed up at the airport after they finished the schedule yesterday.

“Yeah, I wanted her to see Osaka since I’m from here,” Yuta added, upset that she wasn’t with them at his hometown.

“She won’t even have time to see Osaka since we’re just here for the concert,” Jaehyun stated the truth politely in order for him not to offend Yuta in any way.

Yuta sighed in defeat, knowing that Jaehyun was right. “Yeah, but still… I wanted her to see some of Osaka’s beauty and let her taste the food here.”

“She had to stay back and work on my costume and the crew member’s costumes too for Hit the Stage, right, noona?” Ten asked, feeling guilty that she had to stay back because of him.

Hyein noticed that the boys’ expressions turned gloomy just because the young stylist wasn’t there. She was amazed that Yujin’s absence had such an effect on them.

“Yujin couldn’t go because Hyein unnie wanted her to experience what it’s like to dress as many people that she has to, just like we did when you were still doing the Rookies stages,” Sooah said, speaking up to help Hyein make the boys understand why Yujin couldn’t be here.

Hyein smiled gratefully at Sooah. “That’s true. I’m going to give birth soon and that means I’ll be leaving you in Yujin and Sooah’s hands while I’m on my maternity leave,” she told them. “I know that I can entrust Sooah to you guys, but I’m not sure with Yujin just yet,” she said. “She has to learn and understand that being a stylist isn’t just dressing up people to make them look pretty. Yujin will be doing most of the work with only little help from Sooah since she will only be there to supervise and make the final decisions in my place. I want to challenge her and pressure her in any way that I can because it’s the best thing I can do to prepare her for the fashion industry that she pursued. Yujin still has a long way to go even though she’s been doing such an impressive job already.”

The boys thought about Hyein’s words and came to a conclusion that she was right but none of them voiced out some of their thoughts regarding about Hyein’s decision.

“Yujin’s just like you guys,” Junseo said, surprising everyone in the room that he was actually listening to the conversation. He didn’t actually give much attention to the young stylist but after having such a fuss about her not being here, he decided to finally speak his mind about the whole situation. “You boys have been training for years to become the artists that you dreamed to be, but Yujin never had the proper training to become a professional stylist just like Hyein and Sooah,” he said. “From what I heard from the meeting with her for the first time, she was just recommended to be a stylist because she looked good on her clothes from her blog, am I right, Hyein?” he asked and turned to Hyein which she nodded as confirmation. “In other words, she was doing it just for fun, but now that she’s decided to take on being a fashion stylist seriously, Hyein and Sooah are just looking out for her and give her the training that she’s never had and make her as good as them in such a short amount of time,” he said. “So don’t go feeling bad for Yujin because everything Hyein and Sooah is doing is for her own good.”

“Wow, that speech was pretty impressive, hyung,” Ten gasped in awe at their manager. It was a new side of him that they saw from him since Junseo was known as a man of few words.

“You guys don’t need to feel bad about her not being here,” she said optimistically when the boys’ expressions still looked gloomy. “Besides, Yujin did a fantastic job with your stage outfits for the concert! All of you look great!”

“I agree,” Donghyuck exclaimed happily because Yujin made him wear the most eye -catching outfit because of the brightly colored coat he wore. “Well, maybe except for Doyoung hyung,” he snickered.

“Yah! I said I was only joking!” Doyoung whined.

Finally, the tension in the room disappeared with everyone laughing again, all thanks to Donghyuck’s teasing.

“Standby in ten minutes!” a staff member announced and popped his head in their waiting room, signaling for them to get ready to go out for the finale.

“You heard him, boys,” Junseo said, standing up from his chair that was next to Sooah. “It’s time to go out and finish the first day of the concert,” he said and lead the way out.

“Right!” The boys of NCT, now prepared for the finale, stood up and followed their manager.

“Since we’re in my hometown, let’s make this extra fun!” Yuta cheered, excited that he was finally able to show the Japanese people a new version of him as an official member of SM Entertainment’s newly launched boy group. Together with the rest of the members, they graduated from their Rookie days and transformed to become Neo Culture Technology.

“Let’s do this!” Taeyong hollered, granting his best friend’s request. “NCT fighting!”

“Fighting!”

☆*:.｡.make you smile.｡.:*☆

“Finally, I’m home.”

Yujin entered her empty apartment, already late in the night. She just came back from the company after making some purchases for NCT 127’s stage outfits and put the pieces of clothing and accessories together ahead of time, and worked on the robes and outfits for Ten’s Devils concept.

She went straight to her room and looked for her phone charger which she accidentally left behind earlier when she left for school. She could have used Hyein’s extra charger in her office but she was just too preoccupied with the workload she had to do and just forgot about her dead phone for already about five hours now.

When her phone finally but couldn’t be used yet, she decided to take a warm shower first.

After taking a shower, Yujin changed into a comfortable, oversized t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. Once she laid down on her bed, she immediately felt her eyes close from exhaustion.

PING!

PING!

PING!

PING!

PING!

PING!

Yujin’s eyes shot wide open after hearing her phone ring continuously up to now. She groggily reached for her phone and was confused from the amount of messages she got from the boys.

“What on earth..?” she mumbled after unlocking her phone and saw the amount of photos the boys sent her. Yujin turned to her side as she opened their messages one by one, fighting her best to fight back the drowsiness that was consuming her.

TY Track🔥

“What’s this… he looks like he’s glaring at me… heol~ Hi, Mark… and he seems really close with Doyoung oppa...”

Doyoung🙇🏼

“Ah… even Doyoung oppa sent me selcas… Oh, Mark’s here again… I don’t know how to reply to these though, I think he hates me because I gave him crappy clothes.”

JungJae🍪

“Jaehyun looks great, as usual… Mark looks like a complete baby next to this child… he's pretty popular with his hyungs, huh...”

Haechannie🍳

“Kiyowo, Donghyuck-ah… really cute…”

Ten over Ten💯

“Ten’s really a selca king… and there’s Taeil oppa and Yuta too… did this silly mountain man even send me pictures?”

Handsome Ten, Cutie Jaehyun, and Yuta hyung😯✌️

Winwin🏆

“Winwin… is so… cu..te…”

After successfully opening all of the messages from the boys, Yujin’s eyes finally gave in to sleep with her phone in her hand. The rest of the unopened messages would have to wait until tomorrow.

☆*:.｡.make you smile.｡.:*☆

After going down the stage which they shared with their seniors, the members of NCT were still pumped up from finishing Day 1 of the SMTOWN Live in Osaka. Every time they ended a concert, all of them would be pumped with adrenaline as they thought about when they’ll have a concert of their own.

“We’ll have to work hard to achieve that concert we’re aiming for,” Taeyong said as they walked back to their dressing room.

“Yeah! NCT concert!” Winwin cheered. “I want to be with everyone on our concert!”

“I feel the same way,” Jaehyun smiled fondly as he thought about the bright future he hoped for ahead of them.

“You’re right,” Ten agreed. “With Johnny hyung, Hansol hyung, Kun, the minis, and just everyone!”

“I hope Yujin noona will still be with us on our own concert,” Mark said as he remembered their stylist, his voice full of hope when they returned to their dressing room.

“I have to be close with Yujin by then,” Doyoung said sheepishly.

Taeil slung his arm around Doyoung’s neck and smiled at him encouragingly. “You two will become friends, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, and we should continue being nice to Yujin noona so that she’ll stick by us until then!” Donghyuck joined in the conversation.

“Good job, boys!” Hyein congratulated them as soon as they stepped foot inside their waiting room. She clapped her hands gleefully. “The first day is a success, so let’s hope for the same thing tomorrow, ok?”

“Yes!” they answered and bowed gratefully to her, Sooah, and the other