Changkyun.

            Changkyun didn’t like the girl who bumped into him. Not at all. He walked through the rain to the Starship Ent. building, his white shirt completely soaked. Great. From being late to school, having a bad day in general, now his torso was completely visible. Honestly, he could’ve done better without bumping into a random girl. The glass door swished behind him as they slowly went back into place, and Changkyun’s black sneakers squelched beneath him with every step he took. He honestly felt bad for the cleaners later on. If the CEO or any members of other sunbae groups saw him like this, they would surely scold him.

            Finally entering the elevator, he pressed the 11^th floor. Soft elevator music played as the door dinged and he entered the vicinity. He was already late to practice; the others would’ve started without him. Opening the room door, the powerful bass for All In seemed to reverberate around the walls. The rest of the 6 members were already in formation, dancing in perfect beat. They had only finished the choreography for the first chorus, as the actual audio still needed tweaking. They had 3 months to prepare until the music video came out, and they were planning to spend the first month perfecting the choreo. Minhyuk’s girlfriend, Myungri, was busy laughing with Seunghye, Jooheon’s girlfriend of a month. Both turned to wave to the maknae and Myungri’s eyebrows raised in question at the condition he was in.

                        Hyunwoo was first to notice him from the mirror. He stopped his movements and turned around to face Changkyun. “Yo! Where were you, man? We’ve been practicing like crazy.”

            Upon noticing the scowl on the teenager’s face, he stopped his greeting and instead pursed his lips and turned back to perfect his shoulder rolls. Kihyun and Hyungwon looked like they wanted to greet him too, but thought better of it. The rest of the members went to clap his back.

           “God!” Hoseok exclaimed, pulling his hand back to wipe it on his pants. “Changkyun, you’re wet!”

            No, Sherlock, Changkyun miserably thought. “I forgot my umbrella at the dorms.”

            Seunghye exchanged a worried look with Myungri. “I’ll get him a clean shirt at the dorms. Come on, Myungri.”

            “Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Jooheon asked. She nodded. Myungri sent a questioning look at Minhyuk, who waved her off with a grin. A sign to go ahead.

            Seunghye stood up, patting off imaginary dust from her lap. She held out a hand for Myungri, who took it gratefully and pulled herself up. “We have nothing better to do anyway.”

            With that, they both left the room. Kihyun instantly looked at Changkyun, mother instincts kicking in. He offered Changkyun his sweater while they waited for the girls. The maknae took it gratefully. His black messenger bag landed with a squelch as he threw it to the corner of the room.

            “Where’s Suhee-ssi?” Changkyun asked to no one in particular, pulling Kihyun’s Supreme sweater over his head. He’ll wash it later, as an apology for getting it wet. Their choreographer was nowhere to be seen.

            “I don’t know. Probably late.” Minhyuk replied, shrugging his shoulders. He looked at Hyunwoo for confirmation. “Hyung? Did Suhee-ssi text you?”

           Hyunwoo snapped out of his daze, finding that the rest of the members were looking at him. “What? Oh, yeah, she did. She told us to practice what we learned since she was too tired.”

           Changkyun nodded. Everyone knew Hyunwoo had a thing for their choreographer. From how he glanced at her when he thought she wasn’t looking (oh, but the members surely did - Hoseok would gag at times) to how jumpy and distant he was whenever she didn’t come to practice. Myungri and Seunghye would chat her up during breaks, about the leader a bit. Suhee herself would blush ever so slightly and wave it away, muttering that they were delusional.

          “Ah. So what are we waiting for?” Changkyun raised his brows. The others broke out into small smiles while Hyungwon pressed the play button on the stereo. Monsta X was already in action, ready for their next comeback.

          The door opened with a loud clang accompanied with a loud curse. Suhee walked in, rubbing her hand on the nape of her neck. Her long brown hair covered it, but she didn’t mind anyway. She had a sheepish smile on her face. “Sorry I’m late!”

         “Finally!” Kihyun muttered, rolling his eyes at the immediate lighting up of Hyunwoo’s face. Suhee put her hair into a ponytail, greeting the other members and the girls. Changkyun, freshly changed and dry sagged in relief. They had been doing the same 30 seconds for 2 hours straight.

         Clapping her hands, she went in front of the men (*cough* boys) and grinned. “Let’s get this started, yeah?”

            Changkyun rolled his eyes at Hyunwoo and Suhee acting all lovey-dovey and making doe-eyes at each other. His brow was furrowed though, and he was scolding her a bit. “Why were you late?”

            Suhee smiled sweetly. “I overslept, Shownu.” She winked. Suhee was the only one who called Hyunwoo by his stage name even out of cameras (and was the only one who could get away with it).

            Averting his gaze, Changkyun saw that Jooheon and Seunghye was even more romantic while Myungri was stumbling over her words over Minhyuk’s teasing. She was a cute girl, Myungri. To be honest, he saw all of them as older brothers and sisters. The rest of the monsta X were lounging by themselves, whining about how they didn’t have girlfriends.

            Bored, he opened his phone and checked Instagram. Technically, they weren’t supposed to have accounts other than the official ones, but rules are meant to be broken. Hopefully their manager wouldn’t find out. 

            Browsing pointlessly, he stumbled upon Narikei’s new picture. A smile lit up his face and he immediately liked it. It was a stunning; little trinkets spread everywhere, with fancy lights and effects centering on a book. ‘The Great Odyssey’, the title spoke out. Clicking on the captions, his gaze skimmed over the words.

‘I had to read this for class about 2 weeks ago. It was tiring, but I needed the grades, hehe. A friend of mine gave me this necklace on the side, which I think is super pretty. I probably won’t be wearing it outdoors, though. It’s too bold for me. I’m kind of a subtle girl. The lights I found on the old, abandoned cardboard boxes on Christmas. My mom and I don’t even celebrate it anymore, seeing as we’re too lazy. We just eat fancy food once in a while.’

Clicking on the comment option, he typed out his response. ‘Who knows, maybe the bold necklace will suit you.’

            “Practice, guys! Break’s over.” Standing up abruptly, Suhee clapped her hands, ushering the groaning guys to stand in positions. Clicking off his phone, he stood up as well. A loud ding sounded throughout the room, causing Wonho to raise his eyebrows.

            “Texting someone, maknae?”

            Changkyun’s gaze was confused as well. He slid the lock on this phone and looked at the notification.“I don’t know.”

            Clicking on the heart option at the bottom, he saw that someone had mentioned him, and that someone was the very person he admired. Narikei actually responded to him! His face lit up into a grin as he looked at the remark. This was a big thing, as usually the user doesn’t respond to any comments. Ever.

            ‘Maybe in the 7^th level of heaven. Not a chance.’ He smiled at the smart retort, but before he could reply, more comments flooded the section. He’d rack the whole thing to reply, but there was no time. Quickly returning to his position, Suhee set to turn on the music.

            “Who was it, Changkyun?” Jooheon asked. Changkyun shook his head.

            “No one important, hyung.”