The sun had barely risen over the city of Seoul, the tranquility of the early morning still present amongst the streets where kids and teenagers were the only ones gracing the walkways, dragging their heavy feet and bags to school. In an apartment, located in a pretty fancy and luxurious building - just one of the many apartment complexes that can be found littered across the capital of South Korea, the clock hung high in Donghae’s room read 6.29am; the owner of said clock still bundled within the warm grey covers on the huge king-sized bed. Exactly a minute later, an alarm went off on Donghae’s phone beckoning its owner to get out of bed and head to the gym for his daily workout. Yes, Donghae makes it a point to head to the gym almost daily, Monday – Saturday in fact, at 7am if his schedule allows. This is of course, on top of any other exercise he does as a hobby like basketball, golf, soccer etc. It’s no wonder Eunhyuk, or Hyukjae as everyone rather knows him as (despite Eunhyuk being his actual celebrity name!), always teases Donghae that he’s actually an athlete and not an idol/singer.

Donghae groaned as he stirred, slowly waking up from his deep slumber. He sat up in bed and was immediately hit by a huge wave of dizziness resulting in him promptly plonking back down and squeezing his eyes shut in hopes that his bedroom stops spinning. He stretched his muscles and he could feel his entire body aching as if he had just completed a triathlon. “The late nights at the studio the past few weeks must be catching up to me,” Donghae thought to himself. He opened his eyes again, feeling grateful that at least his surroundings are now stationary, and wanted to get up and head to the gym as usual but ultimately, could not muster up the strength to do so. “I’ll just lie down for another 5 minutes….”, Donghae muttered and closed his eyes, falling back into the deep abyss of sleep immediately.

The next time Donghae woke up, it was to his phone ringing again. This time though, it was not an alarm but an incoming call from his manager, telling the idol that he’d be reaching his apartment complex in half an hour to take him to the stylists’ place to get his hair and make-up done for his schedule of the day. After his manager had hung up, Donghae looked at the time on his phone. His eyes widened in shock when he realized it was already 10.30am. “Whatever happened to just another 5 minutes?”, he thought while getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom for a quick shower before his manager shows up. Despite still feeling the body aches, the light pounding in his head, and the overall exhaustion, Donghae got picked up by his manager and was whisked away to the stylists.

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Donghae was now sitting in the waiting room with Shindong, their shoot for Idol Challenge Another Class having just ended. “Are you okay, Donghae? You seemed a little off during the shoot,” Shindong enquired gently after observing how lethargic Donghae was during the short breaks between filming although the smaller-sized idol seemed a little better when the cameras were actually rolling. But now that the shoot is done, Shindong could clearly see how tired Donghae really looks. “I’m fine, hyung. Just a little tired. You know how it’s like whenever it’s comeback preparations,” Donghae replied with a weak smile.

“That’s true. Still, don’t push yourself too hard. We are not that 19/20-year-old kids we were when we debuted you know,” said Shindong with a chuckle. Just then, their respective managers came into the waiting room and said that they could leave if they’re ready. Both idols said a quick goodbye to each another before following their own managers to their cars.  

Once safely buckled in the car, Donghae’s manager asked, “Are you okay, Donghae? I noticed you didn’t eat much of the sandwich I got you. Was it not to your liking today?”

Donghae, who had been about to nod off, gave a slight smile to his manager through the rearview mirror and said, “I’m fine, hyung. Just a little tired. Wasn’t too hungry since I didn’t get to go to the gym this morning.” His manager just smiled and nodded. Donghae had indeed been given his favorite bacon and eggs sandwich (with extra scrambled eggs for the protein!) before filming had started. He would usually wolf it down in 5 minutes, but he could not even bring himself to take a bite today due to the discomfort he was feeling. He did end up taking 2 small bites just as a way to thank his manager for making the effort. With the pounding in Donghae’s head getting worse and the aches he’s feeling throughout his body growing more prominent even without moving a muscle, Donghae dozed off to the car’s smooth cruising and the soft music playing from the car’s speakers.

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“Hey Donghae, we are here,” Donghae woke up to his manager nudging