Sweat flew in all directions as her body whipped furiously in coordinated and exact, yet seductively smooth, moves. The determination in her eyes flared despite her flushed appearance. Before they knew it, it had already been over an hour of non-stop intense choreography. He admired her tenacity and couldn’t help but mystify over the fire blazing in her eyes.

Her love for the sport was evident. In her every move, in her every calculated step, her every though-out expression. It was dancing, and she was in her zone.

Not once had she asked twice about a move. Not once had she gone back and hesitate about a step. She was confident. She did, however, creatively put her own signature twist to every routine he had taught. And that, he appreciated.

Glancing at the wall behind him, iLL took note of the time and how long she managed to run for. She noticed his movement, “What, ready to give up?”

“Apparently so” He said, smiling at her

Her eyes were triumphant, “Hah!”

“Ok, breathe easy, we don’t want to burn out one of Cube’s finest talents”

“Who said I was burnt out?!” She defended, “I can still go!”

“No,” He said—she shot him an incredulous look, ready to protest, so he quickly explained—“You’re schedule’s full tomorrow.”

“Ah—“

“I’m told you’re to wake up at 6 in the morning? It’s best to have sufficient rest for days like those.”

“But—“

“No buts!” He said sternly, “I’d really love to have you to myself for a little longer,”—she quieted instantly—“but I am not going to be held responsible for your condition tomorrow”

She looked away again, not really wanting to read anything more into his words than necessary. She found the floor unusually interesting at times like these.

“I’m up here, missy” He said, noticing her habit

Taking a deep breath and puffing up her cheeks, she lifted her head and mumbled, “I still won”

He paused for a moment, “Uh…”

“Yah!! I won fair and square!!” She said loudly, suddenly jumpy again, “You’re the sissy who wanted to stop!”

He laughed at this, amused “I’m just joking!”

She bit her lip, pouting angrily, and slapped him across his arm, making sure to not spare her strength.

“Ouch!” He yelped, holding tight onto the part of his arm she hit. He knew it was already red, and probably reddening more by the second.

“Hmph!” She flipped her hair haughtily as she turned away from him, towards her belongings lying on the floor a few feet from them

“Ok, sorry, I was kidding” He said, chuckling as he reached for her arm to stop her from leaving right away

She turned to face him, her eyes squinting suspiciously

“Forgiven?” He asked, hopeful—she shook her head curtly—“Ok, hmmmm…”

She waited, wondering what he would come up with, but also liking that iLL didn’t seem any less human despite being such an icon to her. She wondered if her fans felt the same about her. She wondered if she would ever have such an impact and strong impression on anyone. She wished that one day she would.

“Whenever I finish an intense practice session,” He said, “I find that eating ice cream afterwards always helps”

She lit up at the word ‘ice cream’, “And…?” she encouraged

“Hyuna!”

Both of them turned their heads to the entrance, “Ah~! Junhyung, right?” iLL said, not forgetting their earlier session

“Yes.” He said curtly, eyeing iLL’s grasp on Hyuna’s arm. iLL released it slowly, Hyuna looking at him curiously as he did.

“Hyuna,” Junhyung called again, now walking to her bag and placing her stuff inside, “C’mon, let’s go”

She stepped towards him, “Er…” She wasn’t against the idea of leaving, but she was inquisitive of his appearance. She wanted to know why he was here, but didn’t want to ask it in a way that seemed like she didn’t appreciate him coming.

Sensing her hesitance, he added “Jihyun told me to get you,”

“Jihyun did?” it was iLL who asked

“Yes, she knows you’ll just tire yourself out if no one stopped you” Junhyung replied, looking at Hyuna

She nodded, taking the towel from Junhyung’s hand to wipe her face. “Jihyun’s so nice~” It was iLL again, it seemed like a commentary of Hyuna’s thoughts.

“She is” Hyuna said, smiling at the image of a welcoming Jihyun waiting for her at their dorm.

“Here,” Junhyung said as he handed Hyuna a bottle of water, swinging her bag around his back, “Let’s go”

She followed him out the dance room, looking back once to bow goodbye to iLL, “Thanks for today Oppa!”

“No,” He replied, “Thank you for today! Most impressive sponge I’ve seen so far!”

“Oppa!” She whined at his use of the word 'sponge', Junhyung looked impatient and restless behind her

“And don’t call me Oppa,” He continued, enjoying Junhyung’s apparent irritation, “It only makes me think I have a shot! You’re only 17 but I’m an old man now, Hyuna, just call me Ahjusshi!”

Before she could ask anything more, Junhyung had already dragged her down the hallway, towards the stairs that they took to exit the building from the back entrance. iLL couldn’t stop his giggles from erupting into the large empty room.

** ** **

“GUYSS!!!” Kikwang yelled as he burst into their dorm, “Guess what I heard!!”

Hyunseung and Yoseob looked up from the floor they were sitting on, unfazed by Kikwang’s sudden entrance. “What?” Hyunseung asked, sounding irritated

“Junhyung!!” Kikwang exasperated, waving his hands in the air vigorously at their apparent lack of interest, “I heard that Junhyung..!!! Junhyung and Hyuna…!!!”

“Oh wow~! Great revelation, Kwangie~!” Yoseob said, sarcastically feigning obsessive interest at Kikwang’s chopped up and unfinished sentences

“I’m serious!!” Kikwang replied, “I heard that they…!!”

“Well, yeah” Hyunseung sighed, “You heard it from us, you idiot!”

“Oh…” Kikwang said, pausing to think for a second, “That’s right…” He remembered the call he got from Hyunseung just minutes ago.

He laughed sheepishly, scratching his head. At that moment, Doojoon came limping into their dorm, huffing loudly “Kwangie!! What the hell?!”

Kikwang turned to look innocently at their leader, “Hm?”

“Did you have to run so fast?! You just left me there!”

“Oh, sorry~!” Kikwang laughed again, his loud, cheery laugh filling the entire dorm “I got too excited~”

“Speak of which, what’s all the buzz?”

“Oh, you know” Yoseob replied, “the usual, rumors and scandals in the cube~” he said, imitating Junhyung’s rapping style

“Don’t tell me,” Doojoon walked to sit on the sofa behind Yoseob, Kikwang and Hyunseung, “it’s not Jihyun and me again, is it?”

“Oh please, that’s so last month” Hyunseung muttered, rolling his eyes

Doojoon thought for a moment, “Hong CEO’s got another mistress?”

Kikwang looked shocked, “Mistress?!”

“Doojoon, shutup, you know Kikwang will actually believe stuff like that!” Hyunseung complained as Yoseob sniggered, “And what do you mean ‘another’? Jeez”

“It’s Junhyung and Hyuna this time, Hyung” Yoseob said, standing up to jump on the couch next to Doojoon

“But this time, it actually seems like it’s got some truth to it” Hyunseung added, “Unlike some random made up rumor…” He glanced at Doojoon

“Mmm” Doojoon pursed his lips, choosing to ignore Hyunseung’s added comment. He liked to think that there was something, anything, even if it wasn’t present anymore, that went on between him and Jihyun. He was even ready to admit he was smitten.

“But, Hyuna? Really?” Kikwang asked, still letting the information digest, “Is it gonna be ok? It’s Junhyung we’re talking about”

“Yeah, but they’ve been friends awhile, so they have history” Hyunseung argued

“I wouldn’t call a barely-6-month friendship, history” Doojoon said, crossing his arms

** ** **

“That’s not even the point here,” Jihyun reasoned, “How many girls has he been with, already?”

“Yoseob said you can’t count them with your teeth,” Sohyun said, nodding in agreement

“That’s just cuz Yoseob lost most of his teeth, they’re like half fake from all the candy he’s been stuffing” Jiyoon said, chuckling at her own joke

“Guys, why don’t you just leave them alone?” Gayoon said, putting in her thoughts and earning surprised looks from the rest—“Impossible!” they said

Gayoon sighed, “Look, if they go out, they go out. But if they don’t, you guys are just gonna add unnecessary tension and awkwardness to their already great friendship.”

She eyed Jihyun as she said this, but Jihyun just sat motionlessly, looking thoughtful. “Just let them develop on their own. They won’t need us if they wanna end up together”

Jiyoon nodded, looking like a child who got scolded. Sohyun simply stood up and left to enter her room and Jihyun still sat thoughtfully on their couch.

“Let them be, Ok?” Gayoon warned one last time. Jihyun shrugged indifferently before getting up to leave, “Where are you going?”

“Just around, I’ll be back”

“Don’t stay out too late”

“It’s me, Gayoon” Jihyun said, smiling “No need to worry”

** ** **

They paced down hallway after hallway in silence, her lagging slightly behind him, trying to catch up to his hasty pace—It was his attempt to hide his irritated expression from her. He knew she would notice, and then she would ask what was wrong, and he hadn’t yet come up with an answer to that question.

“Junhyung, wait up!” She yelled, making him pause to finally look behind him. She was quite a distance away, he hadn’t noticed how fast he had been going. He sighed and looked away, waiting as he heard her steps near him.

She rested a palm on his shoulder for support as she tried to catch her breath, her other hand pressed over her stomach as she bent down slightly. “You’re going too fast” she said, although out of breath, she managed to laugh slightly as she said it.

“Is your stomach okay?” He asked, noticing her hand pressing her stomach. Guilt slowly tugged at him.

“I’m fine,” She giggled, letting go of his shoulder “Exhaustion from the practice just finally sunk in”

“Oh…Sorry..” He mumbled. Her hand, hanging freely, lightly brushed against his, making him notice how close they were.

Slowly, he clasped his hand around hers before walking again, this time at a much slower pace, “We’ll walk together then”

“Gee, so considerate of you” She joked sarcastically, her eyes drifting to their connected hands. She knew he was probably making sure she wouldn’t fall down or faint.

“You’re welcome” He replied, a smirk tugging at the ends of his lips.

“Ah!” Hyuna gasped, “Guess what!”

“Mm?” He mumbled, only glancing back at her briefly

“Guess!!” She whined, swinging her arm vigorously, causing his arm to shake along with hers. When he was still quiet, she bumped her whole arm against his several times, using her weight.

“Fine, fine!” He said, giving up, “Ahhh….” He tried to organize his thoughts, racking his brain for something—anything.

“Thinking time~~~ Stop!” She chirped, “Your answer?”

“I don’t know, you tripped on another step in public again?”

She slapped him across his arm with her free hand, “Uh, no. That was you, thank you very much”

He flinched slightly, touching the part of his arm that she slapped. It still stung and he knew it was going to for awhile. He shot her a quick glare at her lack of constraint, his face relaxing when he saw the wide grin on hers.

“So anyway,” She continued, “actually, today Rain visited the studio”

“That’s nice” He said. He knew she was close to Rain, there was even a day when all she talked about was how good he was to her when she was still in JYPE, “And?”

“He brought some guys from that new group he was producing, Mblaq I think”

“Seungho’s group?” Junhyung said, a little surprised. Seungho was a good friend to him and the rest of the Beast members were fairly acquainted with some of Rain’s trainees since they sometimes shared training rooms.

“Oh, you know him?” Hyuna asked, remembering that name pop up in the conversation, “He’s the leader”

“Is he, now?” He smiled, “Interesting.”

“So yeah,” She didn’t want the conversation trailing too far away from her news “Rain asked for my contribution to their first album, and his first production” She said proudly, swinging her arm excitedly again. He didn’t mind that his arm swung with hers this time.

“Even though it was just a small part, I’m really happy I had the opportunity, so of course I couldn’t say no” She added, her smile getting wider and wider as the previous exhaustion got pushed to the back of her mind

He was happy for her. He knew how much it meant to her, and he even felt somewhat like a proud parent. “Wow, Rain? That’s great to hear”

“Yup!” She said happily

He didn’t want to ruin the celebratory mood but he finally remembered why he was there in the first place. He thought for a bit about how he was going to go about it, and as he did, they had already reached the back exit of the building. As she pulled her hoodie on to fight against the cold air, he decided to say it.

“Hyuna,” He started, “have you… heard anything from anyone lately?”

She stared at him curiously, “What?”

“I mean, have you heard anything… about me… today?”

“Uhm,” She thought for a moment, “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Well,” He didn’t know how to phrase it right, “If you do, just know, it’s… just… don’t pay any attention to it”

She chuckled at the silliness of it, “Sure thing!”

“I’m not kidding!” He said, looking indignant

“You’re also not making sense”

He sighed, “I know it doesn’t make sense now, but just… just keep it in mind”

“I’ll try” She said, knowing that senseless things like these usually slip her mind first thing

“And also,” He said, “About last night…”

She frowned, trying to remember what happened the previous night. When she finally did, the silence between them took on a new tension. Her previous frustration and anger at him had evaporated when she woke up that morning, mostly due to the fact that she simply didn’t remember.

And apparently, he did.

“I’m sorry” He muttered, “It was late, I was cranky.”

She smiled, “I know”

“But,” He added, “Thanks for showing up, it helped clear my head a little”

“Yeah, someone had to slap some sense into you, locking yourself up like that ever night”

“Hey,” He warned, “Don’t push it”

She chuckled again, enjoying his sincere apology and taking advantage of this sensitive side that he rarely showed.

Before they knew it, they had already reached her dorm building. “Don’t forget” He said, referring to his earlier advice, yet still knowing she’d forget about it in the morning

“Um, sure” She said, walking forward towards the entrance of her building. She turned back to wave him goodbye one last time before running inside to the elevator.

Smiling at her silliness, he turned around to walk towards his own dorm, just a few buildings away. He convinced himself that if the rumors ever get to her, she would remember what he said.

When he reached his dorm, the sun had already set and he found everyone gathered closely on the living room floor. They turned towards him the moment he clicked the door shut behind him.

“What…?” He said, irritated at their probing looks

“Hyung!” Dongwoon yelled, “Is that Hyuna’s Bag?!”

“Huh? No—“ Junhyung quickly slung the backpack off his shoulder to look at it, and sure enough it was hers, “Uh…”

“It is!” Dongwoon continued accusingly, “I bought her that for her birthday last year, you can’t fool me!”

Junhyung slapped his forehead, “I forgot to give it back, damnit”

Hyunseung stood up and pulled Junhyung into their little circle, pushing him down onto a spot on the floor beside Yoseob.

“Ugh!” Junhyung complained, taking one look at Yoseob and immediately knowing what he was in for, “You guys are unbelievable!”

“Can’t blame us~!” Yoseob said cutely, wrapping an arm around Junhyung’s as if to trap him there

Junhyung sighed harshly, “I’m tired”

“That’s not important right now” Kikwang said, smiling wide

“Yup,” Doojoon added, “We have a lot to discuss, Junhyungie~”

** ** **

When Hyuna arrived at her dorm, she found it almost empty, save for Sohyun, who she discovered lying lifelessly on her bed in their room. She jumped on the bed and squeezed herself beside Sohyun, in an attempt to wake her.

Sohyun only groaned in annoyance, until she heard Hyuna’s low, husky giggle. “Hyuna?”

Hyuna lifted Sohyun’s blanket and shifted inside, snuggly fitting beside Sohyun. “Wassup baby?” She flirted, in english, causing Sohyun to burst out laughing

“Hyuna, where in the world did you learn that?”

“Gina~” Hyuna replied, smiling. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah…”

“Just tired?”

“Mm”

It fell silent again. Hyuna s her arms around Sohyun, hugging the younger one close, “Goodnight, Sohyunie”

“Hyuna… your bed…”

“I wanna sleep here tonight, my bed’s by the window, it gets cold”

“We can move it…”

“I’d rather not”

“Fine…”

It wasn’t unusual for Hyuna to squeeze into Sohyun’s bed. She often did when she felt lonely, or sometimes to console Sohyun when she wasn’t feeling well. It was their way of supporting each other; they were also the closest of friends within the group. In some sense, they were the sisters they wished they always had.

“Oh, by the way” Hyuna muttered, in lazy excitement, after a few minutes, “I just recorded for Rain sunbae’s group. He wanted me to help with his first production”

“I don’t care” Sohyun replied sleepily

Hyuna laughed quietly, understanding the younger one’s low-tension moodiness.

Her thoughts drifted to her conversation with Junhyung as she fell deeper into sleep. She muddled his words over in her head, hoping she would be able to remember them when the morning came.

Faintly, she head the main door open and click close. Reassured that the other girls were back, she finally drifted into deep slumber.

** ** **

“She’s so cute~!”

“I know, right?!”

“And you met her??”

“Yep!”

“Damnit! I should’ve tagged along!”

“That’s what you get for being so lazy…. And stinky!”

“Hey, my hygiene has nothing to do with this”

The light was on in Mblaq’s dorm, particularly in Joon, Sanghyun, and Mir’s shared room. Seungho and GO were watching television in the living room, while Sanghyun was sleeping on the top bunk in his room with the other two boys.

Mir and Joon were furiously whispering in excited conversation, being careful not to be too loud to wake up Sanghyun.

“But man…. So she sings in our debut minialbum?”

“Yep, but just one track, and it’s the one we’re promoting”

“No way!! So she gets to perform with us on stage?!”

“I don’t know, but I hope so!”

“Ok, fanboys” Seungho said as he walked into their room, “It’s bedtime! We got another early day tomorrow!”

They nodded as they got into their beds, Seungho clicking their lights shut and closing their door quietly as he made his way to his own room.

The younger ones continued to mutter quietly to each other, looking forward to the time they get to grace the stage in their much anticipated Debut. Dreaming of having a girl on stage on every performance they had. Hoping they would get to meet again.

“Night hyung” Mir yawned sleepily

“Night” Joon said, rolling over to his back and closing his eyes.