Hong CEO was standing in the middle of the recording studio talking animatedly to a younger, rather large, buff man. They shook hands and exchanged warm looks, it was obvious they had some type of close relationship—much like a father and son.

There were three other guys in the room, one sitting by the equipment ready to work the intricate machines, and the other two were just standing respectfully—and a little awkwardly—to the side, careful not to get in the way but also carefully studying their surroundings.

It was at that state that a knock was heard on the door, followed by light footsteps entering the dimly lit recording studio.

It was a younger girl dressed in a loose shirt that almost concealed the shorts she wore underneath—obvious signs that she was caught in the middle of practice—“You wanted to see me, Hong CEO?”

“Hyuna!” Hong greeted warmly, “We were all wondering when you’d get here”

She bowed respectfully, her sheepish grin just barely hidden by her long locks that fell over her profile, “Sorry for making you wait”

“Hyuna, long time no see” The buff man beside Hong CEO said, his voice a familiar deep tone that sent a jolt of nostalgia through her

Almost immediately, she shot straight up to confirm it was him—“Rain Sunbaenim!!”

Overcome with shock and excitement, she ran over to give him one of her signature big hugs. Even though she was no longer in JYP, she still had ties to the people she worked with there. Especially Rain, who was always a caring mentor and role model for the Wonder Girls, and for her even after she had officially withdrawn from the group.

He was particularly missed.

“You haven’t changed a bit” He managed to squeak out amidst her tightening squeeze on him, “I swear your hugs will kill someone one day, Hyuna”

She laughed as she released him, “And you’re supposed to be the sturdy action superstar”

“Unfortunately, you’re not a force I can deal with” He said jokingly, knowing that to some degree—it was probably true.

She slapped him on the arm, not sparing her strength “You haven’t been visiting in a while, too busy in America? How was filming?” the question she most wanted to know the answer to remained unasked; How were the girls?

“It went great; I think I’ll be visiting America more often now. The girls are trying to get into the market there, it isn’t easy”

He answered her unasked question anyway, knowing that it was probably lingering in her mind.

She nodded in agreement, “They’ll pull through, but I’m sure their fans here already miss them”

“Speaking of which, you look good Hyuna” He said genuinely as he looked at her, “It’s really great to see you doing so well”

She could only smile in response.

“Well, now that you guys are all caught up,” Hong CEO said, taking the opportunity to shift gears “Why don’t we get started on the project?”

It was then that Hyuna realized the two other guys standing on a corner and one of Cube’s most prominent producers, also endearingly referred to as Beast’s 7th member, Shinsadong Tiger sitting comfortably by the controls.

He grinned at her, waving in greeting. She returned the greeting just as silently.

“Let me introduce you,” Rain said, motioning for the two guys to come over. “I’m sure you heard about the group I was going to produce?”

Hyuna nodded, greeting the two boys as they drew close, their excitement hardly repressed from their expressions

“This is the leader, SeungHo” Rain said, pointing at the taller of the two, “And this one’s Joon”

Hyuna rested her eyes on Joon a little longer than intended, “Hey, you look…”

“Familiar, right?” Rain finished, “He was in the movie with me, I’m sure you watched it”

“I was going to say ‘you look a lot like Rain sunbae’, but thanks for the information”

“You didn’t watch my movie!?”

“What, You didn’t watch mine!”

“You don’t even have one!”

"Well, you wouldn't know because you never bother to even check the news!"

"Stop confusing me!"

Hyuna giggled furiously inside her head, Rain was still Rain-- as fun to mess with as ever

The boys chuckled, it was their first time seeing their boss look so childish and they enjoyed it. Maybe it was a good idea to tag along after all.

“Ok, kids” Hong CEO interrupted, “We have work to be done”

They all nodded, Hong CEO motioned for Rain to fill in Hyuna about the details.

****

Practice came and went a little quicker than usual for the boys and they now found themselves with extra free time on their hands—a rarity, they soon discovered.

Since it was the first meeting, it was not unusual for practice to run longer but today seemed an exception. Prepix had practically kicked them out after one quick lesson, DooJoon arguing that it was too short a time to fully grasp the choreography. Apparently, it was up to them to refine their own mistakes—Prepix was a busy man and only had so much time for a lesson.

That, and the fact that he was paid more per hour than any choreographer the company had previously hired. They were to make use of every minute they were with him to learn new routines. Or so they heard.

With the freed schedule, Kikwang and DooJoon wasted no time in the dorm, quickly stopping by only to change out of their sweaty practice clothes. They both made quick plans to meet with their college friends. Hyunseung, on the same route, chose to catch up on his college work instead, and Dongwoon, who didn’t even bother stopping by the dorm to change, went straight to his home in KangDong to visit his much missed mother.

Junhyung had decided to stay in the dorm—he had assumed the rest of the members would rush to get out, leaving him with a quiet, peaceful dorm where he can collect his thoughts and use the time to add more to his lyrics book. Apparently, he was wrong.

So here he was, sitting on the dining room table, notebook lying open before him and pen ready in his hand. And across from him, a bored Yoseob who apparently had nothing better to do than stare intently at Junhyung.

By no means an ideal working environment—‘a miscalculation’ Junhyung thought to himself as he considered Yoseob’s distracting presence. Junhyung was determined to ignore Yoseob and refused to give any reaction acknowledging his presence.

Yoseob, on the other hand, found it amusing to watch Junhyung’s expression slowly turn into a frown at the frustration of not being able to get much done. He fancied himself the member closest to Junhyung and prided the fact that he understood the older boy’s antics the best. But there was also something more weighing on his mind…

“Hyuna.”

As soon as the younger blonde muttered her name, Junhyung twitched. His eyes shot up to meet Yoseob’s, a questioning, yet startled, expression on his face—one not much different from what he had when Doojoon had mentioned her name earlier, Yoseob noticed.

“What now?” Junhyung asked, a little exasperated but trying to sound more annoyed than interested. Yoseob caught both in his tone.

“What, so your name’s Hyuna now?” Yoseob joked. Junhyung didn’t find it amusing, and soon he was back to his notebook and ignoring Yoseob.

Yoseob didn’t mind it so much, it wasn’t something new when it came to Junhyung. Instead, he continued to watch Junhyung curiously and as the latter concentrated on lyric-writing, he couldn’t help but wonder if indeed she was on his mind as his skillful hands made each loud on the aging notebook.

In all actuality, he hadn’t even planned to have stayed home this evening…

He thought back to when Sohyun had ambushed him earlier that morning. Practice ended early but he was the last to leave, as usual, because he had a few quirks of the choreography he was having trouble with. Out of nowhere, Sohyun had popped out from behind a wall and cornered him as soon as he stepped out of the dance studio. He wasn’t startled, already used to her antics, but what did startle him was everything she had related to him—namely, the relationship between Junhyung and Hyuna.

He had never thought much of the subject, after all, Junhyung was free to have relationships with anyone he chose, and he hadn’t thought it an intriguing subject when she talked about it initially.

“Why are you telling me all this?” He remembered asking her point blank, interrupting her midsentence when he decided the conversation was useless

“Because!” She had replied exasperatedly, “You’d prove the most useful!”

He was ready to ask what in the world he was ‘useful’ for but she got a call, probably from Jihyun about her whereabouts, forcing her to drop the conversation, “I’ll talk to you about it later, but for now just think about what I told you” she had said before running down the hallway.

He would’ve gone after her, only she had confused the hell out of his mind. And there he stood, for a good 10 minutes, confused but in deep thought. He couldn’t make out why she had told him all that. He was unsure of her intentions, but then again, with Sohyun nobody ever was.

If she had had this conversation with him any other time of day, he would probably have not thought twice about staying in the dorm. He knew he would’ve probably left to tag along with Doojoon and kikwang in their meet ups with old friends and fellow classmates (he had attended the same highschool as kikwang and knew much of the same crowds) because he was by all means a very social creature. And perhaps that was what allowed him to get so close to the recluse bad-boy nagger of the group.

More than that, there was something just so curious about the way Junhyung acted, now that he thought about it. He knew Junhyung had met a lot of girls before but Hyuna seemed different. Maybe because it was more of a sibling relationship, he didn’t know. All he was sure of was that their connection was decidedly more than just friends. But how much more?

Yoseob wanted to find out.

Suddenly, a thought struck him—“Hey, Junhyung”

This time, Junhyung didn’t even lift his head, “Hm?”

“Remember that time we had our last meeting as trainees? Right before our debut showcase?”

“Mhmm”

“You came in late…”

“…mm”

“With hyuna…”

“What exactly are you getting at?” Junhyung snapped, finally opening his mouth to say a few words

Yoseob pouted innocently at his outburst, “I was just wondering what she borrowed you for”

“Huh?” Junhyung looked confused

“Well,” Yosoeb continued, “She said she needed to borrow you for something, and I was just wondering what it was”

Junhyung remembered that day clearly now, “Oh.”

“So…?” Yoseob urged him on

“So what?”

“What did she borrow you for!?” It was Yoseob’s turn to raise his volume in frustration. Junhyung was being very roundabout.

“… why?”

Yoseob sighed, slapping his forehead in agitation. It was a good minute before he could respond, “I’m just curious about what she could’ve borrowed you for that took you so long and made you late for the meeting”

“Oh.” Junhyung looked thoughtful, trying to remember the events just prior to their showcase. He found it hard to come up with a right answer for what exactly he was borrowed for, and now that he thought about it, she hadn’t exactly asked him to do anything at all.

“She… just wanted to talk to me about something” He wasn’t lying, he had remembered her asking for a short talk after he got changed into his stage outfit

Yoseob raised his eyebrows questioningly, the answer was shady “Talk? About?”

“Just a question she had” One he realized she never asked. She had looked like she had something important weighing on her mind that he couldn’t refuse her invitation to talk. And that’s precisely all they did. Before he knew it, he was already running late for the meeting. He remembered her mentioning she had something to ask but it completely slipped his mind since his debut.

Yoseob was determined to get a sufficient answer from Junhyung, whether he had to drag it out or not.

Junhyung, on the other hand, would never admit to the fact that there was no real valid reason for him being late to the meeting.