Chapter 9- Settling It 
 

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“How’s everyone feeling?” Haneul asks. It was the afternoon and she currently stood in the lobby of the apartment building. The cast members and the VJs sitting around the room. “So today is the big day. Today is competition day. Anyone thinks they’re ready?” she asks.

The question was met with a bunch of groans as the answer. Haneul lets out a small laugh. “Come on all, have faith.” she says. “You all have practiced hard. I know you all will do great.” she adds. “Now, the bus is here. They’ll be taking us to our stage for this evening. The others should already be there when we make it.”

“Once we get there, you all will be able to talk with your partners for a minute before those participating will have to go get changed into their outfits for the competition. To make it more special, the members not competing helped chose the outfits for their teams.” Haneul says. “So, ready everyone. Let’s go.” she says with a clap.

With that the group stands up, picking up their bags. Making their way out the building, the group piles into the bus that was waiting outside. Once everyone was sitting, the bus pulls off. Stacy turns to Keya, who set next to her. “So, do you think you’re ready?” she asks. Keya sighs and shakes her head.

“Not really. I feel like I’m going to mess up. We both know how I am when it comes to me being in front of crowds.” Keya says. Stacy gives her a small smile. “Hopefully you can find a way to not freeze up. I know you’ll do good.” she says. Keya smiles back at her. “Thanks. I’m waiting to see you and Kyuhyun dance. I know it’s going to be interesting.”

“Oh my, guys look!” Carine shouts as the bus slows down. The others turn toward her to see her looking out the window. Those who were already on the same side of the bus as her gasp as they look out the window. Keya and Stacy, along with the others that sat on the other side, all stand up and move to see out the window.

Outside was a crowd of people. “That line is all the way down the street.” Charles says. “Are they all here to watch the competition?” he asks. Haneul nods. “Yes, these are the winners of our drawing.” she states. Propping open the window next to her, Haneul sticks her head out the window. “Welcome all! Thanks for coming!” she shouts.

A roaring cheer was her reply as the people in line recognized her. Smiling, Haneul waves to them before pulling herself back into the bus. She then turns to the cast members and VJs. “Okay all, we are here.” she says as the bus stops in front of the entrance. “Remember have fun and you’ll do fine.”

Picking up their bags, the group follows her off the bus. As they step off the bus, they are greeted by cheers from the line of fans. Waving to them, the good follows Haneul into the building. “I spotted a sign with my name on it. It feels weird to have fans.” Xiong says as they walk down the hall. The others nod in agreement.

Reaching the double door to the gym, the group walks through them. Their idol groups already stood in the center of the gym, talking amongst themselves. “Good afternoon all!” Haneul greets. “Are you all ready?” she asks leading the others over. The idols respond with cheers. “There you go, that’s the response I wanted.  Teach your temporary members to try to think positive.” she says as the cast members and VJs join the idols.

“Yeah, our response was groans.” Yasmin says. “But hey, at least one half of the groups is excited. I think that’s all you really need. We just have to make sure to not bring them down too.” she adds making the others laugh.

“Okay now, we’re going to have you all go to the rooms that you used for practice. You can store your bags in those rooms.” Haneul says. “From there, you’ll get changed into your outfits for the competition. During that time, down here, the instructors will be joining me. We’ll be letting the fans in. We’ll play a few games with them until it’s time for the competition to start. So any of you who’s not part of the partnered teams, feel free to come down ahead of time to join us.” she says.

“Now, a crew member will come by to inform you all on which of the dressing rooms you’ll need to go to. There will also be TVs set up in the rooms for you all if you want to watch the others performances while waiting.” Haneul adds. She then claps her hands together. “That is all for now. You all can proceed up to your practice rooms.” she says dismissing them.

Making their way to the doors, the group files into the hall. Instead of an empty hall like when going to practice, the hall was now packed with equipment and people. Greeting those they walk pass, the group heads to their practice rooms.

After sitting their bags down, it wasn’t long before those participating were ushered out the rooms and to the dressing rooms.

 

~~

“Looking sharp.” Daehyun says. The boys were currently sitting around their practice room, Himchan and Yongguk having just come back from changing. Yongguk wore a black suit with a white undershirt that had the top button undone. Himchan wore a similar suit, except instead of a black jacket, he had on a black vest.

“Nervous yet?” Jongup asks from his spot on the couch next to Zelo. Yongguk and Himchan shrug. “A little, it’s a bit different from how we usually perform. So have to face this with a slightly different mindset.” Yongguk says. Himchan nods in agreement. “But we’ve been practicing hard so I’m sure it’ll pay off.” he says.

“How was it in Room 2?” Youngjae asks. The three of Team 2 looks at him. “Not bad, Suyun’s really great to have around. She tried to stay cheerful through the all training.” Zelo says. The other two nods. “Yeah, but dancing is not her strong point. So it took her a bit to catch on.” Jongup says.

“But the real question is…” Himchan starts looking at Daehyun and Youngjae before looking at Yongguk. “What been going on in this room with Team 1?” he asks. Yongguk nonchalantly shrugs as he looks off to the side. Himchan raises a brow before looking back to Daehyun and Youngjae who laughs.

“Oh, you guys have been missing it all.” Youngjae says. “Our leader has been over here hypnotizing Keya.” he says. The others blink. “Hypnotizing? What do you mean by that?” Zelo asks. Daehyun looks around at the others. “You know we’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to show you guys this video even though we live together.” he states. “But anyways, Leader here has grown possessive.” he adds.

“Possessive over Keya?” Jongup asks. Daehyun and Youngjae nods. At this the other three turn and look at Yongguk who was now sitting on the couch that was put in the room. “Oh ho, I have to see this. I’m guessing you guys have the video on your phones.” Himchan says turning back to Daehyun and Youngjae. Youngjae nods as he pulls his phone out his pocket.

“I’m telling you guys, he shocked all three of us with this spark. And scared the hell out of us when he yelled.” Daehyun says as Youngjae presses buttons on his phone. Yongguk watches as the others huddle around Youngjae to look at his phone. “Is me showing interest in someone this interesting?” he asks. The other five nod in unison making Yongguk shake his head.

A second later, the room was filled with the sound of the audio from Youngjae’s phone. The room stayed in silence as the video plays though. After the video ends, the five standing look around at each other. Stepping back, Himchan turns and looks at their leader. “Wait... Yongguk, are you se-” Before Himchan could finish his question, the room’s door flies open.

“Guys! Guess what?!” Keya shouts as she runs into the room, holding one of the filming cameras, immediately shutting the door behind her and leaning against it. The guys turn toward her to answer only to stop in their tracks. When the six just stare at her in silence, Keya looks around at them with a raised brow. “What? What’s wrong?” she asks looking around her before looking back at the others.

“Ah, nothing. Just, you look really beautiful in that dress. It really suits you.” Zelo states. Keya smiles, a light blush going across her face. “Thank you Brother. You guys picked out amazing dresses.” she says. “I don’t wear dresses a lot, but this is one that I was willing to put on.” she states. The dress she wore was a shoulder-less long dress. The top half was gold with a silver overlay design that made it shimmer, while the bottom half, starting at the hip on her left side and swinging down on the top of her right thigh was black. Sleeves started mid forearm, down to her wrist. The dress stopped in the middle of her lower leg and had a spilt that went down her left side, the silver design outlining the split.

“Looking even more beautiful than you usually do.” the group turns to Yongguk who was still sitting in the chair. A smile on his face as he looks down at his phone. Feeling her face heat up, Keya lowers her eyes to the ground as she adjusts her glasses. Spotting the camera in her other hand, Keya remembers why she ran into the room in the first place. “Oh, guys! Guess what?” she asks holding up the camera.

“It’s that Suyun’s?” Jongup asks. Keya nods as she walks over to them. “Yeah, I was filming her before I took off running.” she says. The boys raise a brow at her. “Why?” Himchan asks. Keya shrugs. “Because she started chasing Me.” she answers. Youngjae tilts his head. “Keya, what did you do?” he asks.

Keya shakes her head. “I didn’t do anything.” she says. When the boys give her skeptical looks, Keya holds her free hand up in front of her. “No legit.” she says. “Since I don’t really like make-up, they didn’t put a lot on me. Because of that I was the first done, so I picked up the camera. First I was filming Yasmin and Stacy then I went to film Suyun and Carine.” she says. “But Suyun is still nervous when the camera is directly on her.”

“And you started messing with her.” Yongguk states. A sheepish smile appears on her face making the others shake their heads. “I couldn’t help it!” she states. “Guy, legit! She looks like she just walked out of a manga.” she says holding out the camera. “Look, look.” Shaking his head, Youngjae takes the camera from her.

“I’m just saying she could be an idol.” Keya says. Zelo looks at her. “Because she’s pretty?” he asks. Keya shakes her head. “No, though she would be a great model…” Keya starts. “But because of her voice. While she’s bad at dancing, she’s amazing at singing.” she states. “She just prefers to stay behind the camera. Though it can’t be helped on this show. She’s going to overcome it one way or another.”

“Oh wow.” Daehyun whispers as he looks at the video screen. The other four boys around him also look at the screen. “I know right!” Keya says. “I mean she’s already naturally beautiful. But add a bit of make-up and now she looks like a princess from out of a manga.” she states. “Almost lowered my self-esteem.” she adds.

Himchan lets out a small laugh as he looks at her. “Almost?” he asks. Keya nods. “It’s always best to know when to choose your battles. Mentally or physically. I know I’m not ugly. But I also know that I’m not as amazingly gorgeous as this.” she says pointing at Suyun on the screen. “But it’s still nice to hear someone say that you’re beautiful and/or gorgeous.” she says.

“You’re blushing.” Daehyun says looking at her. “Remembering already?” he asks. Covering her face with one hand, Keya pushes Daehyun with the other one. “Yah, no one asked you.” she says making him laugh. Daehyun smiles. “Aw, are you mad because Team Bang is in the lead?” he asks pinching her cheek.

Keya lightly slaps his hand away. “Let’s go Daehyun. Right now. Come at me bro.” she says making Daehyun laugh harder. Youngjae shakes his head. “Hey now, no fighting. One of you actually has to participate in this competition.” he says. “And I’m pretty sure none of us other three want to wear a dress and dance with Yongguk while you two box it out.” he adds jokily.

Daehyun looks at Keya. “So then after the competition?” he asks holding out his hand. Keya nods. “We practiced really hard for this competition, can’t let that go to waste.” she says shaking his hand. “In the parking lot at midnight, we’ll have our match. Fans can watch.” she adds making the others laugh.

“You are crazy.” Jongup says. Keya shrugs. “Yeah I know.” she says. Zelo tilts his head. “Where is Suyun?” he asks. Keya shrugs. “I’m wondering that too.” she states. “I know she came out the room after me. But I didn’t look back once I turned the counter. With the halls being crowded, you can’t look back unless you want to run into someone.” she states.

“Maybe she’s planning payback on you.” Himchan says. Keya holds her hands up in defense. “But I didn’t do anything.” she says. “Plus Suyun doesn’t have anything on me to even help with revenge.” she says. Youngjae looks at her. “But didn’t you say Stacy in the dressing room?” he asks. Keya stops and blinks. “Ah, crap.” she whispers.

The sound of someone knocking on the door makes them all turn. “Maybe that’s her.” Yongguk says. Keya scrunches up her nose. “Why would she knock?” she asks. Daehyun looks at her. “So that she can get you to answer the door?” he says. Keya looks around at them. “Don’t one of you want to answer it?” she asks.

The others shake their heads and hold their hands up in front of them. “Nope that is all you.” Jongup says. “Go on.” Keya sticks her tongue out at him. She then sighs as she turns toward the door. “Yah, Suyun, if that’s you, you know I wasn’t making fun of you right?” she asks loudly as she moves closer to the door. Getting no answer, Keya sighs as she stops in front of the door. Taking hold of the knob, she opens the door. “Suyun, you’re just legit too pretty for me not to show oth-”

Keya stops mid-sentence catching the others attention. “Keya? What is it?” Himchan asks. Not getting an answer from her, the boys move to see what was going on. “Jungsuk?” Daehyun calls out, expressing everyone’s surprise. Keya clears . “Hello… Did you need something?” she asks the man in front of her. Jungsuk nods greetings to the boys before looks to Keya. “Yes, I would like to talk to you.” he states.

Keya raises a brow. “Well, I don’t care. So bye.” she says turning and walking back to the others. Jungsuk steps into the room after her. “Wait, would you please at least listen to me?” he asks. The boys watch as the frown on Keya’s face deepens. Youngjae looks at Jungsuk. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.” he says.

“Keya” Yongguk calls to her. Keya looks at him before taking a deep breath. Letting out the breath, she turns back toward Jungsuk. “Actually you know what…” she says walking back toward him. “I’ll listen to what you have to say. Settle this all. What would you like to talk to me about today?” she asks.

Jungsuk lets out a breath. “I’m sure you already can guess that I want to talk to you about the incident that happened.” he says. Keya nods. “Figures. So what’s on your mind?” she asks.

“Well because of this whole situation, I sat down and had a talk with my company.”

“Yeah, heard that they cut back on your activities because of it.”

“Yes, we believed that that would be for the best right now.”

“Okay?”

“Well, I’ve had time to reflect on what happened.”

“We’re coming up to the real point of this all.”

“I would like to say sorry.”

“And there we go.”

 

Jungsuk nods with a sigh. “Yes, that’s the reason I’m here. I want to say I’m sorry.” he says. “I reflected a lot because of this. My manager even made me watch the video of what happened just so that I can understand how rude it was of me. And I completely agree. I was clearly in the wrong for what I said and I understand why you reacted the way you did. I put shame not only on me but on my company too. I now know that I should think about how what I say could make others feel and that I shouldn’t prejudge others.”

 

Keya nods. “Okay, thanks.” she says. The next minute pasts over the room in silence. When Jungsuk doesn’t move, Keya tilts her head. “Did you have something else to say?” she asks. Jungsuk slowly shakes his head. “No… But…what’s your response?” he asks. Keya blinks. “I said thanks.”

 

“That’s all?” Jungsuk asks. Keya raises a brow. “Don’t tell me you except something more than that from Me.” she says. Jungsuk nods. “Ah, yeah, I do. I just gave you a long speech about how wrong I was.” he says. “An ‘I forgive you.’ would be nice.” he says. Keya lets out a small laugh. “Okay, bro, let me tell you, this is not a drama on TV or a kid’s storybook. Sorry doesn’t solve everything.” she says. “I mean I appreciate that you finally came to apologize face to face. But only after your company and manager told you to and took away most of your activities.”

 

“So what? At least you still got an apology.” Jungsuk says. Keya stops and stares at him. “Excuse me?” she asks. “At least I still got an apology? Yeah one that I can tell you didn’t mean because of the way that you’re acting now.” Keya says. Jungsuk sighs. “Look I took time out of my schedule to come here and apologize. So just accept it and I can leave.” he says.

 

“Oh my… you are not even right now.” Keya says giving a dry laugh. “You are here to get me to forgive you, but this is the way you want to act just because I won’t?” she asks. “You’re already lucky enough that I listened to what you had to say in the first place. And that I even acknowledged your apology, so just deal with it.”

 

“Stop being so freaking uptight about this.” Jungsuk says. “I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s been prejudice toward you before. Just let it go.” he adds. “I wasted time to come here to talk to you only for you to act like a-”

 

Jungsuk immediately stops when Keya takes a step forward, glaring. “No please continue.” Keya says raising a fist. “Because the moment you say the word I think you’re going to say is the moment that my fist will hit your face and knock the daylight out of you.” she growls. Jungsuk glares back at her and opens his mouth to say something.

 

“Okay, this ends now.” A deep voice calls stopping Jungsuk from whatever he was going to say. A second later Keya feels a hand circle around her wrist lowering her balled fist. An arm then circles around her waist, pulling her backwards until her back was pressed against a broad chest. Keya takes a deep breath, relaxing in her dance partner’s hold.

 

“You know, if I wait to see if you two will settle this right, it won’t happen.” Yongguk says to Keya. “So I will settle this here and now.” he adds before looking over Keya’s head at Jungsuk. “Jungsuk, we appreciate the apology. But remember that forgiveness comes within time.” he states to which Jungsuk nods.  “And you did take time out of your busy schedule to come here, so we appreciate that too. At least you tried.” he says.

 

“But as I said, we need to settle this now, because this arguing it pointless. It solves nothing, am I correct?” Yongguk asks. Jungsuk nods. “Yes, I agree. The more we argue the worse the situation gets.” he states. Yongguk smiles. “See, smart man. You understand. Good, this should be easy since we understand each other. Now only thing I need from you is you to do this simple request that I have to settle this all.”

 

Jungsuk tilts his head. “Okay, sure. Anything to help settle this situation and put it behind us.” he says. Yongguk nods. “Glad to have you agree to it.” he says. “Now only thing I need you to do is leave my Keya alone.” Yongguk states. Keya feels a chill go down her spine at the switch of tones in his voice and his grip around her waist tightens a little.

 

“You see, this doesn’t sit right with me.” Yongguk says. “You already know that she’s temporary a part of this group. So, of course as leader of this group, I don’t like disrespect toward my members. But this situation currently hit a different level. When you do something stupid relating toward her, I can’t sit down, comfort, and talk it out with her because we’re currently busy and don’t have enough downtime or solo time.”

 

“But what I can do, is tell you to stay away from her.” Yongguk states. “If you like her and just acting like a kid just to get her attention; you should have just said so. But currently, I’m telling you now to back off. She’s with me and I would prefer her to not be distracted by others when she’s with me. So it all boiling down to, if you mess with her, you mess with me.”

 

“Do you really want to mess with me?” Yongguk asks. Jungsuk immediately shakes his head. “Good, that means we’re still on the same page. Thank you for coming and visiting. We appreciate it. Have a nice day.” he states. Jungsuk gives a small nod. “Sorry for bothering you all. Have a nice day.” he says before turning and quickly walking out the room.

 

The room fills with silence as he leaves. Releasing his hold on her, Yongguk moves to stand in front of Keya. She was currently using the hand that was free to cover . “You’re okay right?” Yongguk softly asks. Keya nods. “Yeah, thank you.” she whispers.

 

“Oh holy hell.” Himchan says after another moment of silence as he looks at the pair. “What in the world just happened?” he asks. The other four boys look at him. “Holy hell?” Daehyun asked. “Keya is rubbing off on you.” he states. “But this is what we were talking about. This is going past just being interested in someone.”

 

“Hey guys, you’ll never believe who I just passed in the hallway.” The group turns to see Suyun walk into the room. She was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress that flared out at the bottom. The bottom of the frills was lined black. It had a black flower pattern that went along the collar and curved across the front and back of the dress. On one arm was a sleeve that started on the upper part of her and flowed down to her wrist, the edge of it also black. On the other arm was a black wristband that connected to one of the frills at the bottom of the dress.

 

“Wow.” Himchan says. Keya raises her hands in the air. “See I told you so!” she says. Daehyun lets out a laugh and looks at Suyun. “You seen Jungsuk right?” he asks. Suyun nods. “Oh, so he did come here?” she asks. The others nod. “Yeah and Yongguk scared him off.” Jongup states. Suyun raises a brow. “Huh? I’ll ask for more info on that in just a second.” she says. She then moves over to Keya and Yongguk. “You’re okay right?” she asks.

 

Keya nods and gives her a small smile. “Yeah I’m good. Don’t worry.” she says. “But since you’re here…” she starts. Placing a hand on Suyun’s shoulder, she turns her toward the others. “See? Looks like she just stepped out a manga or something.” she states. Suyun looks at her. “Keya you’re over exaggerating. Stop that.” she says. Keya looks at the others. “Do you guys think I’m over exaggerating?” she asks. The boys shake their heads. “See, they agree with me.”

 

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And there's Chapter 9. Thanks for reading.