Just like Jeonghan had guessed, the almost kiss between him and Seungcheol was the perfect distraction for him whenever he was being scolded by someone from Pledis. It had been a little over a week since the incident and Jeonghan could not stop thinking about those last few moments he had shared with Seungcheol in the other's bedroom. What would have happened if Woozi had not walked in on them? Would they have kissed? Would they have gotten together? Or would Seungcheol have pulled back at the last second? Did the other even want to kiss him? These were the questions that plagued his mind. When Jeonghan thought back, he could still remember the feeling of Seungcheol's breath on his skin. What it felt like to be in his arms. All of the nerves and the butterflies and that small bit of hope that the moment had brought. Everything put together caused a warm feeling to course through Jeonghan's body and the singer couldn't stop himself from replaying every second over and over again in his head whenever he got he chance to.

Over the past week, Jeonghan found little time to actually travel to Daegu to visit Seungcheol due to the increase in activities in his schedule. Now Pledis was always making the members do Vlives and insta-lives during random hours of the day, sometimes even occupying their break times. Usually they never complained about interacting with their fans more, but now it was getting to the point where all of their free time was spent in front of a camera which meant that there was no time to actually be themselves. Jeonghan was getting sick of it and which brought him to tonight where he decided to get away from it all and left without letting anyone know as he went to visit his family. 

He made sure to turn off his phone so that he wouldn't be bothered by anyone from the company and then he got on the first bus he saw and waited until he was finally home. 

He was greeted by his mother and his little sister and they both welcomed him with warm hugs. His mother had sat him down and practically fed him a feast while his sister sat next to him and told him all about how she had been during the last couple of months. Apparently his little sister was experiencing her first love as she was crushing on one of her classmates and Jeonghan had joked that he would have to meet this boy to see if he was worthy of his little sister's affections. Jeonghan's mother agreed with a laugh and then asked if Jeonghan had found anyone that had stolen his heart.

Jeonghan immediately blushed and tried to deny it but his mother gave him a knowing smile until he finally caved and told her. At first he was afraid that his mother wouldn't accept his new feelings towards his leader, seeing as she had always talked about him settling down with a nice girl, but he received a plea sent surprise when his mother jumped up in joy and rushed to hug him again.

"Oh, I've liked that Seungcheol boy since the moment I saw him! He looks so sweet and gentle but I know how well he takes care of you. Oh, I bet you two are just the cutest when you're together! Jeonghan, why didn't you tell me sooner? And why have I never received any pictures of you two together?! I mean I know you'd have to keep it a secret given your jobs but you could at least tell your mother something. These things are important to me!" His mother said in joy.

"Does this mean I can start calling Seungcheol brother-in-law?" His sister chimed in.

"Mom...we're not even together."

"Oh good! It would be weird to think my future brother-in-law is hot." His little sister joked and which earned her a playful glare from Jeonghan.

"I doesn't matter if you're not officially together right now, your mothers knows best and I know you two will end up together eventually. You just need to confess to him first!"

"Mom!! I can't confess to him!" Jeonghan whined

"And why not? I'm sure he likes you back."

"What?" Jeonghan asked with a skeptical look.

"I watch enough videos online. I see the way he looks at you. He's in love. Trust me."

"You do realize that's all fanservice right?"

"You can't fake a look like that, Hannie."

"Actually-"

"And I know that he saved your life a few months back...doing crazy things like that, without even thinking, only strong feelings like love can make someone do that."

"...it wasn't just me he saved. Dokyeommie was there too."

"Jeonghan...why are you trying to convince yourself that there's no chance of Seungcheol liking you back? I think deep down you know it's more than likely that he returns your feelings."

"Ugh...even if you're right, I can't confess now! He's still recovering at home. It's not the right time!"

"I never know my son could be so foolish...Hannie, there is never a right time when it comes to love. It's a feeling that develops when you least expect it to and if you want it bad enough then you have to take the risk. I know that's easier said than done and it can be scary, but if it was meant to be then everything else will fall into place." Jeonghan's mother said and she was pleased when it looked like her son was letting her words sink in. "Now, if you're finished eating then I want you to clear the table and then you're going to join me in the living room and you're going to watch this new drama with me and your sister."

And that was how Jeonghan spent the rest of his day. Curled up on the couch at his home with his mother and his little sister, marathoning through some new drama until it became too late and Jeonghan knew he had to return to the dorm.

When he finally reached the dorm later that night, Jeonghan hoped that he would just be able to sneak in without facing anyone and go straight to bed, but of course that was too much to ask for. Instead, as soon as he walked into the living room, he was met with several of his members waiting for him on the couch.

"Hyung! Where have you been?" Seungkwan asked with urgency.

"Calm down Seungkwannie, I was just went out for a bit to clear my head. Why? Is anything wrong?"

"Check your phone! We all tried to call you several times during the day but you never picked up!" 

Jeonghan looked confused for a second but then remembered that he had turned off the device so that he wouldn't have to deal with any calls from the company. It was irresponsible now that he thought about it but at the time he didn't care. But now looking at his phone and seeing all of the missed calls and unanswered text messages, he knew he had made a mistake. "Oh." was all he could say in response.

"Yeah...Oh." Jun said in a bitter tone.

"What's wrong with you?" Jeonghan asked the Chinese member, not liking his tone.

"What's wrong with me is that while you were gone god knows where, we were all called in for a meeting at Pledis this afternoon only to be yelled at left, right and center. And to make matters worse, our dear CEO didn't believe the excuses you gave and demanded to know where you were. Obviously we had no idea so we tried to call you and you not answering your phone just made it even more suspicious. Do you know the that we had to hear because of you? Me and Joshua the most because after you, we're the oldest!" Jun yelled. For a second Jeonghan thought he was done, but then the other opened his mouth again to reveal the real reason as to why the members were all angry and scared. "He questioned our teamwork! He even threatened to put us through those damn missions again like he did on SEVENTEEN Project!"

Jeonghan was shocked into silence, definitely not expecting to hear that. 

"And while we were hearing all of that, where were you? Everyone knows you've been sneaking off but we've just been too nice to question you about it!" 

"Hey, Jun....Calm down man. You know Jeonghan isn't to blame for any of this." Joshua stepped in, not wanting a fight to break out. "This is probably just another tactic to push us to work harder. We all know how our company is and they must be pissed because we've held off our comeback for so long."

"And what if it's not? What if we have to go through all of that again?" Seungkwan asked.

"Hey, Seungkwan...don't think like that." Vernon said, trying to comfort the other by rubbing his back. "Josh is probably right. I don't think they'd actually do that to us again. We've more than proved our worth and they're just trying to push us into having that comeback."

"When will we have our comeback? I know we promised each other that we would wait for Seungcheol but I don't know how much more of this I can take." Dino said to no one in particular but then he turned towards Woozi, knowing that the other had been the last one to visit their leader.

Woozi sighed knowing that the rest wouldn't like his answer. "When I last went to Daegu, I spoke with Seungcheol about him returning and he thinks that he should be back after a year or so..."

"A whole year?" Dokyeom asked.

"Yeah....there's still a long way for him to go before he'll be ready to perform on stage safely."

"But...A year will pass in no time guys." Jeonghan said, attempting to lift their spirits. "And we all know how Seungcheol is and he'll probably be back before then."

"But hyung, what if-" Dokyeom tried but Jeonghan cut him off with a stern look.

"No buts! Are you doubting our leader?" They all shook their head. "Good. Now I want all of you to forget about whatever the company may have told you and focus on getting a good night's rest....and smile! My dongsaengs should always be happy!" Jeonghan said and they decided to take his advice and head to bed. However, before Jun could walk away, Jeonghan grabbed his arm and asked where Minghao and Hoshi were since he noticed that those two were missing from the dorm.

"They're still in the practice rooms. Minghao was asked to stay back and Hoshi refused to leave without him. Our manager said that he'd bring them back when they were done but that was hours ago."

"Alright, I'll stay up until they return, you try and get some sleep okay?" Jeonghan said while gently rubbing the younger's back.

"Okay."

"And Jun...I'm really sorry if you got into any trouble on my behalf. I'm supposed to be taking care of you guys in Seungcheol's place and I haven't been doing a very good job at that, have I?"

"It's okay Jeonghan....You're trying your best given everything you're having to deal with, I mean we've all had to try to adjust without Seungcheol being around but I can't even imagine how his absence has affected you...Today I just received a fraction of what you probably go through on a daily as the current oldest member and I don't know how you or anyone in 95line deals with it. And not to mention how crappy you must feel about Seungcheol's entire situation given your newfound feelings for him. And then Ara came into the picture and you have to worry about her trying to steal Cheol away from you...from us. Me lashing out on you, on top of everything that you're dealing with wasn't fair. I guess I just misdirected my anger towards you and that was wrong of me....I'm sorry."

Jeonghan chuckled because Jun had nothing to be sorry for and yet here he was apologizing to Jeonghan for being stressed. s really were too precious. "Let's just say we're both really sorry and move past this."

"Sure." Jun said with a smile and then made his way to his shared room.

After everyone had left the living room, Jeonghan sighed as he took a seat on the couch and he allowed himself to rest his eyes as he waited for the two dancers to come back home. However, he only got about 5 minutes of silence before he felt the couch deep on one side and when he opened his eyes he saw Joshua sitting next to him with an expecting look.

"Shua, I thought I told everyone to go to bed."

"And you're forgetting that I'm a part of 95line which means that I don't have to listen to you." Joshua replied cheekily which caused them both to chuckle.

"What do you want Shua?"

"Where were you today? Actually, where have you been sneaking off to these past couple of weeks? Honestly."

"I...I went to see my family." Jeonghan said, not looking at his friend's face when he told the truth.

You've been sneaking out to see your folks? Jeonghan, why didn't you at least tell us that? We wouldn't have minded."

"No...today was the first time I've seen them in a while. Most of the time I spend the entire day out it's because I'm visiting Seungcheol."

"You mean like last week when you went grocery shopping and somehow you came home with Woozi and Bumzu hyung?"

"Yeah." Jeonghan answered, feeling the guilt again.

"I see...Did you have fun while you were there?"

"Shua, I don't think that really matters right now. We've got bigger things to worry about and here you are asking me if I had a good time with my crush."

"Did you? Have a good time, I mean." And when Jeonghan didn't answer, Joshua pressed on. "Oh, you did! Spill! What happened?"

"Shua! Did you not hear what I just said? We have-"

"More important things to worry about. I know. But right now I could use some good news and I think we both could use the distraction."

Jeonghan looked at the other like he had just asked him something ridiculous but the other looked so sincere that Jeonghan couldn't turn down his suggestion. So he recounted his day, starting from when he had arrived at Seungcheol's house and all the way to them almost sharing a kiss.

"No way! Woozi seriously walked in on you two?"

"You're making it sound like something actually happened. Woozi walked in before we could even kiss." Jeonghan pouted, still blaming Woozi for ruining what could have been.

"That's hilarious! I bet you and Cheol were both red in the face." Joshua teased and Jeonghan could only cover his face with both of his hands.

"Shua...do you think Cheol could like me?"

"Um...he already does?"

"No....I mean do you think he could ever like me more than just a friend?"

Joshua didn't answer for a moment and Jeonghan began to get nervous, but when he looked at his friend, he saw a smile on the other's face. "I think you'll never know unless you ask him yourself."

"You mean like...confess to him?" Jeonghan asked.

"Well duh! Don't tell me you weren't planning to confess to him."

" I was. When the time was right....but now with everything going on...starting a relationship now, or even risking our friendship, it would be too much to handle. It's just not the right time."

"Well that's a lame excuse. There is never a right time for love, Jeonghan. It just happens and if you want to be happy then you should act on it."

"It's funny, my mom said the same thing."

"I knew I always liked your mother. Great minds think alike." Joshua joked and the two continued to talk about happier things such as love and family to pass the time until they finally heard the door being opened and Minghao came in with Hoshi right behind him.

When the two were fully inside, Jeonghan was on his feet within seconds to welcome Minghao and Hoshi back home and the sight that Jeonghan was met with upset him more than he thought it would. They were both exhausted and Minghao came in with a cough that looked like it was hurting him.

"Minghao...are you sick?" Jeonghan asked as he felt the other's forehead, checking for any signs of a fever. "You both look dead! How could they make you stay there for that long?"

"It's fine hyung. We just need to shower and then sleep and we'll be fine tomorrow." Minghao said, although Jeonghan didn't believe him when the younger broke out into another fit of coughs.

"Hoshi, take Minghao and both of you have a nice hot shower. I'll leave some medicine on the counter and I want you to make sure Minghao takes it before he goes to sleep."

"Yes, hyung." Hoshi said and then he led his younger member into the bathroom to do just as he was told.

Jeonghan then stood their in the middle of the living room rubbing his forehead and thinking what to do.

"Hey, Jeonghan...you should probably get some sleep too." Joshua said.

"I know Shua...I'll go soon. I just need to think about some things."

"If it's about any of this...don't worry too much. I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"You really think so?"

"Of course...just don't stay up too late okay?"

"Okay." Jeonghan replied. He then said goodnight to his friend and then sat back down on the couch, biting his nails as a million thoughts ran through his head. Jeonghan really didn't like the state his two younger members had come home in and he was now worried more than ever about all of their well-beings. Seungcheol was already injured due to his lack of care for himself and Jeonghan didn't need any more of the Seventeen members neglecting their own health just because they wanted to avoid being yelled at further by their stupid management. The treatment towards them was beginning to get out of hand and Jeonghan couldn't help the feeling that if this went on then something worse would happen. 

 

 

And it slowly was getting worse. Over the next couple of weeks the members were over worked to the point of exhaustion and a few of them had kept quiet about it, resulting in them collapsing and Minghao and Mingyu had to spend a night in the hospital to receive IV drips. Seungkwan was being strictly watched when it came to his diet and to the poor boy was barely allowed to have a substantial meal. The others were also getting called out on more and more things and Jeonghan couldn't bare to watch any of it. 

Jeonghan wanted to try and fix things himself and when one afternoon he was suddenly called in for a meeting with the CEO alone, he thought that he would finally have a chance to tell his boss about his concerns and maybe ask for him to stop with the constant mistreatment towards Seventeen. However, when he was standing in front of the large doors leading into his boss's office he had to admit that he was nervous and a little scared but he tried his best to push it all aside as he found the courage to knock on the door. When there was no reply the first time, he knocked again and had to wait several minutes before he was finally given permission to enter.

"Jeonghan....I'm surprised to see you actually made it....I would have thought you would be sneaking off to Daegu like you have been for the past month." The CEO of Pledis had said as soon as the singer had entered the room. Jeonghan didn't even know how to respond so he stayed standing still by the door. "Please, have a seat." The man said while signing some final papers before giving his full attention to the singer.

Jeonghan did as he was told and waited for the man to speak again.

"So, do you know why I called you in here?"

"No sir." Jeonghan answered respectfully.

"I called you in here because I'm concerned about your progress. You haven't been doing as well as the other members in terms of improvement and I wanted to hear from you why that is."

"It could be from the stress..." Jeonghan said in a small voice.

"Excuse me?"

"Sir, with all due respect....I'd like to ask you to go easier on me and my members. There has been a lot of stress put on us for the last few months and I think it's really starting to take a toll on us as a group." Jeonghan replied, shocked at his sudden rush of courage.

"You think I'm being too hard on you all?" The man asked, using a tone that was almost daring Jeonghan to answer back.

"Yes...I feel as though this company is not taking into consideration our own health and that you're overworking us." Jeonghan said, feeling better about himself for finally telling his boss what was on his mind.

"...Overworking?"

"Yes sir."

"And tell me Jeonghan....how am I treating you all any differently from when you were all trainees? You think that just because you all have been a group for almost 2 years that you deserve special treatment? That I can let you all slack off?"

Jeonghan didn't know how to reply and the man saw that as a go ahead to continue on.

"Don't get so cocky just because you've won a few awards. Your group isn't big enough in the industry yet for you to be talking to me like this....doubting my judgment and questioning my orders. Everything I make you boys do is to make sure you're the best. You represent me and my company and I will not accept anything less than perfection."

"But sir-"

"Do you think you're perfect Jeonghan? Do you think you're even close to being good?"

Jeonghan stayed silent, suddenly feeling even smaller than he had when he had first entered the office.

"You're not. Your singing is mediocre at best and you're lucky that you have Dokyeom and Seungkwan to cover you on notes that you can never reach."

"Sir, I know I'm not the best sing-"

"And yet you don't do anything to try and improve yourself. None of you do unless I give the push...Instead you all think this is all fun and games but when it comes down to working hard to achieve the company goals, you all complain about how we treat you. You should be grateful that I haven't given up on you, especially since you all foolishly refuse to have a comeback without Seungcheol present."

"We are sir." Jeonghan said in a small voice. "We are more than grateful for the opportunity you've given us, as well as the leniency you've shown us with our decision to hold off the date...I just thought I could ask you to be a little more mindful of our well-beings too."

"I could be tougher, Jeonghan." The CEO warned. "...but since you had the courage to come all the way here just to talk to me about your concerns, I will take them into consideration."

At this Jeonghan's head shot up, thinking that maybe the man would taken his worries into account.

"I will continue to watch you all and see how you progress and by the end of the month, I will determine each member's worth. If I am pleased with what I see, then I will consider lessening what I ask of you, but if I'm not then I will act accordingly...that may be by putting you all through more missions like in your predebut days, increasing activities on your schedules....or I may even decide to sign some of you up for the new season of Produce 101."

"Sir...what do you mean you'll sign us up for Produce 101? I thought that show was for trainees only."

"Actually, I, along with a few other companies, have decided that we will enter a few that have already debuted in groups. I've already sent in the names of the members in Nu'est and there's still time for me to enter in a few more. What do you think Jeonghan? I think there are a few members in Seventeen that would do marvelous on the show. Not Vernon, he has already disgraced me on 'Show me the Money'....but someone like little Chan would go far...maybe even make it to the finals."

"Sir...if you did that then that would be an entire year that one of the members would be promoting under a different group."

"Well I guess that's something that you all should try to prevent from happening by working harder."

"Sir!"

"What did you think would come out of this little conversation when you first walked in here? You came into my office, disrupting my work, thinking that you could disrespect me the way that you have and now you raise your voice to me? Are you trying to act like a leader in Seungcheol's place? Do you perhaps feel guilty about being the reason why Seungcheol is currently on leave so you're trying to make up for that? Because you are doing a terrible job. You're not a leader and you never will be. You're barely even cut out to be an idol."

"....sir." Was all Jeonghan could say.

"You may leave now, Jeonghan....and come back to me when you are more than just a pretty face."

Jeonghan left the office after that, swearing to himself that he wouldn't show any emotion until he was outside the doors. And when he was finally alone in the hallway, Jeonghan sank to his knees, not knowing how to feel after the entire conversation but refusing to cry about it since it was his own stupidity that had gotten him and s into this new mess. He had gone in there to try and make things better but he had done the exact opposite and instead added yet another worry on everyone's shoulders. He wondered about how he was going to face s and tell them of how he may have made things exponentially worse for them, however when he did tell them, they were nothing but supportive towards him. They had told him not to worry and that what he was told was most likely an empty threat and that even if they were true, that they had what it took to impress everyone in the building. 

The members did their best to console Jeonghan, touched that he had attempted to talk to the their boss and reassured him that even if he didn't get the company to treat them better that they still appreciated his efforts. But all of that reassuring somehow made Jeonghan feel even worse.

Jeonghan truly felt useless and pathetic and he wondered how Seungcheol ever dealt with any of this, seeing first hand just how hard it was to deal with the higher ups. He would always watch the leader walk up to the Pledis building ready to fight for s and he would always walk out accomplishing what he had wanted to do. He was a true leader, always watching out for Seventeen and Jeonghan had never appreciated him more as a leader than he did now. And that just made him miss the other all the more. He missed the way he felt like a brother and father for the younger members. He missed the way he was a friend to both him and Joshua. He missed his smile that reassured him that things were going to be okay. He missed his laugh that let him believe that he could be happy too. He missed his arms that made him feel safe and secure...like nothing and no one could touch him. And most of all, he missed the way Seungcheol made him feel when it was just the two of them. He wanted all of that again, almost desperately and he was feeling so down after what he had heard from their CEO that Jeonghan felt ready to break. 

He had tried his best on his own and that had not worked at all. It was stupid of him now that he thought about it. He was so worried about stepping up as the current oldest that he thought he needed to do it on his own and he had let others convince him to keep Seungcheol out of the loop. But that wasn't acting like a leader at all because a leader would know when to ask for help. And that was exactly what Jeonghan needed to do. Whether he wanted to or not, Jeonghan knew that he needed to ask for Seungcheol's help, because if he didn't then he feared that one of his other precious members would receive the same harsh words that he had received today, and that their spirits would be crushed just like his was in that very moment. 

 

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A/N: Sooooo I wanted to update this last night but I could not get this chapter to come out right. I literally had to rewrite it like 3 times and I'm still not too happy with it. Idk why but I feel like it could be better but if I try to fix it again then I may go crazy lol Anyway, here it is (and I apologize if it's crap...like I'm so sorry lol)

But!!! I survived hell week!!! And no more exams means that I can spend more time on my fics!!! Yayyyy LOL

Also, thank you all so much for the responses that I got for the last update. It was more than I ever expected and I almost cried from happiness. My readers are seriously the best and I promise to try harder to give you all something better than this crappy update lol (Also thank you to everyone that checked out "The Bet"!! Again, I was super excited to see how many of you guys had subscribed and commented, that seriously made my day).

And yeah, that is all for now. I'll be working on "The Bet" next so the next update for this fic may take a little longer. Just please have some patience with me and I will try to get it up as soon as possible ^.^