“Leave your shoes in the rack right there”, Jisung told her. Pia was standing in the entrance to the boys new dorm. It was nothing like the old one. There was much more space for the nine of them to be comfortable. She took off her shoes and followed Jisung to the other side of the dorm. “This is Felix’s room”, he opened the door and peeked inside. Pia tried to look over his shoulder and stood on the tip of her toes. She couldn’t see anything, but Jisung suddenly turned around and bumped into her. She fell over with a thud. Jisung immediately bent down to help her out, “Sorry, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Thank you”, she grabbed his hand to stand up.

“Felix is asleep, so we just have to be quiet going in”, he told her. He held his index finger up to his lip as he turned the doorknob. They slowly entered the room and the overwhelming scent of guys that shared the room greeted Pia. It wasn’t a bad smell, but it was something new. She saw Felix curled up in his bed wrapped in covers. Jisung went over to his bedside and put his hand on his and Felix’s forehead. “Wow, he’s really burning up. Come here and check too.” Pia was a bit hesitant to touch someone as perfect as Felix. “Don’t worry he won’t bite and I’m pretty sure in this condition he’s too sick to move.”

She reasoned out with herself that he was a regular human being just like her and placed her hand on his forehead before quickly bringing it back again. “He’s burning up.”

“Right!”, he half yelled despite whispering.

“I’m gonna go get the thermometer to check his temperature properly. Can you stay here and keep an eye on him?”, Jisung asked.

Pia nodded and stood there while Jisung left the room to find a thermometer. Never had she imagined that the next time she would see Felix he would be suffering from a fever. It hurt her to see him like that. She tried to fix his pillows to be more comfortable while she waited for Jisung to get back. She also tried to adjust the blankets so that they weren’t all over the place. She fixed the ones by his feet, but the ones by his hands were tightly clenched in his hands. “One moment… it will be more comfortable this way”, she whispered to try to reassure the sleeping boy.

Felix opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry. He let go off the blanket so she hurriedly started to adjust them. “Hyung?”, he spoke in a groggy voice. “You’re finally here”, he grabbed Pia’s arm and she froze. “Your skin is so cool”, in comparison to his burning skin her skin felt like ice on his. He pulled her arm and she was now halfway on his bed. She tried to pull away from him in his delirious state, but he pulled the covers back over his body, “Don’t go hyung. It’s so hot, but your skin is making me feel better.”

Pia was now panicking. Where was Jisung with the thermometer?? She hadn’t intended to fall in this situation (literally), but he was holding her ever so gently and his skin was radiating heat onto hers. She looked up to see his bare face with his freckles showing in a way that no camera could ever capture. If Felix thought her skin was cool before she definitely felt like she was burning now.

Then, she heard someone open the door. In desperation she extended her hand and waved it as an SOS. The person lifted the blankets up and freed her from Felix’s grasp. Felix groaned and turned in his sleep. Pia breathed a sigh of relief and put the blankets back over him, “It took you long enough.” She turned to face the person who saved her. To her surprise instead of Jisung it was Woojin. “Eh, how are you here?”

“I got worried”, it wasn’t a complete lie, but he mostly came because the whole reason he invited Juliette was to see her. “So, uh how did that happen”

“Hm? Oh. I think he thought I was one of you guys”, she ran her hand through her hair that was a bit disheveled from being pulled down. “Thank you though”

“Oh yeah, I’ll scold him about it later”, Woojin teased and put his hands in his sweater pockets to stay warm. “What did you talk to Jisung about?”

“Mmmm he said for not being Korean my flow is good, but when I rap my diction has to be more aggressive and I have to own it. Actually, he said my problems were similar to Felix pre-debut.”

“Ah Jisung, has a really good ear because you sounded perfect to me”, he casually said, but it surprised her. Whenever they talked he always showered her with compliments.

“There’s always room for improvement”, Jisung said rounding the corner and entering the room with a tray of ginseng porridge and a cool towel. “When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago and luckily I did because Felix almost-”

Pia cut him off, “It’s fine. Here let me help.” she dragged over a chair for him to place the tray on.

“Thanks”, he sat it down then knelt by the chair. “Hey, Felix”, he shook him a little.

Felix turned and groaned, “What now?”

“Eat this it’ll make you feel better”, he held out the spoon.

“I’m not hungry. I’m cold”, he tried to pull the blankets up, but Woojin had come over to help and kept him from pulling it over his head.

“You have to. Here open”, he put the spoon in his mouth when Felix reluctantly opened his mouth.

Felix whined, “I don’t wanna eat anymore.”

“I know, but two more bites at least”, he encouraged him. Eventually, Felix complied just to get it over with and ate the last two bites. Pia picked up the towel and put it on his forehead. “That’ll help you cool down.”

Woojin had let go of the blanket and patted Felix, “Get well dude”

“Mmhmm thank you hyung”, he said letting out a soft breath.

They all quietly left the room closing the door a bit behind them. Woojin sighed, “He’s worse than I thought…”

“Yeah I wonder what he did to get so sick. He was fine yesterday”, Jisung added.

“You know sometimes it just sneaks up on people”, Pia inputted.

“Right… ugh Pia. I’m so sorry if I had known he was this sick then I would’ve went alone. Woojin can you take her back. You should still celebrate your debut right?”, Jisung said as they all headed towards the door.

“Don’t apologize. It’s fine, I wanted to make sure he was okay too”, she slid her shoes and now stood in the entrance with Woojin who was ready to go.

“Thanks for understanding”, Jisung ruffled her hair. Woojin made a face as he opened the door behind him now even more eager to leave. “Alright then don’t have too much fun without me.”

“No promises”, Woojin replied as he closed the door after Pia walked out. They walked down the stairs and Woojin jumped over the last step which had a weird rock that is easy to trip over. He turned to let Pia know about it, but she had already fell victim (no pun intended) and he instinctively reached out to catch her. “Are you okay?” he asked when she fell in his arms.

She breathed a sigh of relief now that she was properly standing on her feet again, “Yeah, I am thank you.” She looked back at the steps, “That wasn’t there when we walked in.”

“It was, but it has a history of only tripping people up while leaving. I meant to tell you before heading down”, he looked down at her since she was still in his arms.

She looked up at him staring into his sincere looking brown eyes. She backed away, “Well, let’s hope there isn’t anymore on the way back right?” He nodded and she awkwardly laughed as she threw her hands in her pocket not knowing what to do with them.

They walked silently for a while before Woojin finally asked, “So, were you a dancer before you were a trainee?”

“Huh?”

“The way you danced was a little different than everyone else. I was curious so I just thought I would ask.”

“Oh yeah, I did ballet”, she replied with a bit of dejection.

“Do you miss it?”

She sighed, “There’s a lot of things I miss you know, but I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones. I could have never had the opportunity to debut, and compared to others two years is a short time. I even have a group that supports each other and we’ve seen each other in our worst times.” They rounded a corner, “There it is.” The karaoke lights could now be seen shining a couple doors down. He watched her walk in the building and she held the door open, “Are you coming?”

He scratched the back of his head, “I forgot something back at the dorm. Go ahead without me.”

“Okay, I’ll let them know”

When the door closed behind her he headed back down the street. He quickly got back to their dorm and opened the door. “Jisung?”, he called out.

“Hyung?”, Jisung responded. “Why are you back? Where is Pia?”

“I walked her there already”, he kicked off his shoes and came inside.

“Okayyyy, but why are you back?”

“I got bored so I thought I would help you take care of Felix.”

“Aw, thanks so much for caring”, Jisung teased.

“Shut up”