CHAPTER THIRTEEN:Lee Ho Won

They weren’t dancing. The absence of music gave it away. Only the faint sound of supposed loud noises could be heard from behind the door suggesting something was going on in the dance studio. Again the weird feeling that informed SungGyu something wasn’t right got stuck in his insides. He hated it because it was always correct. He just had to confirm it.

And just as he had thought, the younger members were fighting.

Close to the audio was Hoya pressing WooHyun against the mirrors. His hands were stuck to the older boy’s shirt neck; the dancer’s face was firm with an obvious pissed expression while the lead vocal’s face had a smudge smirk pasted on it, showing no fear whatsoever. WooHyun wasn’t even trying to release himself from the younger’s aggressive grip. Just his eyes proved how irritated he actually was at the dancer. Both males were completely ignoring DongWoo’s presence as he was trying his best to calm them down with some useless words. The youngest members weren't close to them. They simple receded themselves on the furthest corner. The youngest held a worried, almost uncomfortable, expression while the other kept his inexpressive façade. SungJong and MyungSoo knew it wasn’t right or safe to get into the older member's fights. Even if they felt the need to intervene and stop them they couldn't. They shouldn't. They had learnt it a pretty bad way... Whenever they fought, seriously or not, it was Hoya's and WooHyun's problem not theirs.

As soon as MyungSoo and the maknae caught sight of their leader their features changed. Unlike DongWoo, SungGyu was the right man to stop both troublemakers.

“You're such a there's no way you'll be able to hit—”

WooHyun’s smile got erased from his face as the younger Idol pushed him strongly against the mirror making a loud scaring noise accompained with a whine. SungGyu would've let them going on if it wasn't for the fact that they could end up seriously hurt and that they were supposed to be working. 

“Yah! Both of you! Stop it!”

SungGyu shouted surprising the three members that hadn’t notice him yet. DongWoo’s face mirrored the ones of the younger singers but the leader didn’t pay attention to it. SungGyu was looking intently at both troublemakers who weren’t moving at all from the other’s personal space. WooHyun who had a slight cool feeling about their fight now seemed like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Hoya on the other side kept his furious look. His hands were pressing tighter the older boy’s shirt. SungGyu didn’t want to imagine what could’ve happened if he had not arrived on time. He didn't have to. He had seen it way too many times before.

“Let go of him, HoWon.”

It wasn’t immediate but the dancer did as his leader asked not before pushing WooHyun against the mirror for a third time, this time it was just as a warning that wasn’t really appreciated. WooHyun snorted as he rolled his eyes. His hands busy fixing his shirt’s neck.  

It wasn’t the first time SungGyu had seen this scene. It had always been obvious the slightly delicate relationship WooHyun and HoWon shared. Unlike what other people thought for the past three years WooHyun and HoWon were the ones that fought the most in the group. WooHyun’s unabashed personality and Hoya’s serious self were complete opposites that had a difficult time standing the other. It was immediate the dislike for the other’s way of situations’ management. 

“I’m not here for an hour and you end up fighting each other?” SungGyu said with his imposing voice after Hoya took a seat on the floor far from the other members. 

None of the five boys answered. They all were trying to avoid their leader’s strong stare.

“We are about to have our comeback and you decide to waste our time with insignificant stuff? You were supposed to be practicing not playing around!” SungGyu wasn’t pleased with their attitudes. He was almost disappointed. “Nam WooHyun, Lee HoWon is this the example you should be giving to the kids? Are you sure you’re not teenagers anymore?! DongWoo, can’t you handle things when I’m not around? What if I get sick and you have to look over them? Are you gonna let them fight all they want?!” 

“I’m sorry, Hyung,” DongWoo’s voice was barely a whisper.

Infinite had fights. Real fights that made the group’s charming atmosphere dissolve in a matter seconds. Not everything was flowers and rainbows around the Infinite members. As years kept passing by the pressure kept growing and their fights kept on getting tougher. Being seven males it was pretty normal to constantly argue. They all had strong personalities that helped them survive in the entertainment industry but that was also the main reason why they had those intense fights. SungGyu being a male, knew they had to fight in order to overcome their differences and reach an agreement but he also knew they couldn’t last long or get out of hand. He knew he had to stop it before a severe damage was created. Not only in their images but their relationships were at risk when it came to their fights. WooHyun was fierce when it came to aggressive words. People outside Infinite couldn’t know about those struggling moments they actually had.  

“Mind telling me what happened?” SungGyu asked with a softer voice since the small but bothersome sensation was still in his throat. 

“We were practicing Speechless but we got a bit confused because of the changes and Hoya overreacted as if it was a big deal.”

Hoya snorted, his eyes piercing WooHyun’s. “It is a big deal. Our comeback is in less than two weeks and we haven’t reach perfection with the new dance. Each time it’s getting worse! How the hell are we going to dance in Inkigayo like this? They’re just gonna laugh at us.”

“We just have to pay more attention but you nagging at us won’t help us concentrate,” WooHyun shot back.

“You’re the one that’s distracting everyone. You don’t even know your own positions and you haven’t even bothered to fix the false steps you keep on doing.”

“Instead of watching my mistakes why don’t you pay attention to your own flaws? Unlike you, I don’t mess up my lines,” That sly smile WooHyun had always provoked the younger dancer.

“Really? I thought you got yelled out in the studio last week.”

“You bastard!”

“Yah!” SungGyu stopped them again. None of them ever missed a chance to keep on arguing. WooHyun could make the dancer lose his maturity in seconds.

“Hoya is right. We’re practicing like five hours a day if we’re lucky,” DongWoo looked down getting a nod from SungJong. “Now we don’t have enough time to practice, Hyung. If we don’t do something the difference will be way too obvious.”

“If we aren’t stuck in the dorms we’re doing a short interview or filming the reality,” MyungSoo scratched his neck.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if the Forever Sevens weren’t that intense.”

“Yes Hoya but they’re just trying to cheer us up. They mean no harm,” DongWoo defended their fans.

“Yes, they cheer us because of SungYeol’s scandal.”

“Whoa, days ago you were all worried asking questions every five freaking seconds about SungYeol and now you’re blaming him for our lacking?” WooHyun fought back the cold stare HoWon was giving him.

“I won’t bother answering you.”

WooHyun smirked. “You already did.”

“That’s enough,” SungGyu interrupted them for a third time managing to shut up their mouths.   

“Not only we have problems with our practice time but having Tasty behind our backs is a lot of pressure,” SungJong added. “Not to mention SungYeol’s absence.”

“Tasty did their comeback seven months ago and they’re still in the spotlight,” L sounded worried. He had nothing against the Jung twins but their presence in the entertainment environment made them feel nervous. “JungYeop-nim is completely engrossed with the duo even with them being his wildest group. We’re obviously being pushed aside.”

SungGyu cleared his throat before he leaned on the mirror wall completely understanding their worries since he too felt the same insecurities every now and then. “Kids, they aren’t our competence. How many times do I have to tell you that? We should be happy they’re doing great.”  

“No, Hyung, they became our competence the moment people started calling them Woollim’s new dancing machines,” Hoya couldn’t hide his discomfort. “Their synchronization is now perfect. They are a freaking mirror that’s taking our trademark away and we’re doing nothing to fight for it.”

“They are just two and twins. Get over it,” WooHyun stated proving he wasn’t that worried about the older twins. “And if it bothers you that much that they took your ‘dancing machine’ title you can go make a trio with them.”

“WooHyun.” 

SungGyu sometimes hated the fierce tongue the other main vocal had. It always left a big impact.

“This is why I can’t stand him!” HoWon raised his voice stressed and deeply hurt with WooHyun’s words and playful smirk. “I’m just worried about us and he only says whatever stupid comment that comes to his mind!”

“I just externalized what everyone was thinking!”

“Both of you. Stop this stupid fight! It’s taking you nowhere!” SungGyu was trying his best to control his voice since his throat ached but those two were testing his weak patience. They had the longest fights and the most delicate ones that always brought a migraine to his head. “We’re losing our practice time and if this dancing issue doesn’t get fixed I’ll be the one nagging you all. Now, get up and listen me for a second.”

“Do you have an announcement to make, Gyu-hyung?” SungJong was the first one to move closer to their leader.  

“Yeah, we have to finish earlier the dance practice since our singing practice got moved two hours before."

"How come? Are we going to review Wish Me Love and Speechless too?" DongWoo's voice sounded pretty merry. 

"No, the schedule its the same, just moved a bit cuz we're just supposed to film tonight the last episode of our reality. Now, this means we’ll have more time to practice and we’re going to take full advantage of it. And by taking advantage of it I mean we’re starting practice tomorrow at six.”

“At six?” MyungSoo repeated.

“Are you complaining?”

“No, Hyung.”

“That’s what I thought,” SungGyu’s straight eyes were difficult to look at. “Also the dance rehearsals will get harder since I was told we should practice not only the new one but the old choreography too for Speechless. We must be prepared since we don’t know exactly when SungYeol’s coming back.”

“Is he even coming back?” SungJong murmured getting a soft pat on the head. SungGyu was smiling at him warmly.

“Who knows?” SungGyu grinned as he looked at the other members. He was quite amused with their surprised expressions. “Now get in your positions for the second version of Speechless and we’re going to do it from the top without music. I want all of you to count in your heads.”

With quick feet they moved to their spots. SungGyu could see in the mirror’s reflection Hoya and WooHyun that were next to each other and their sour expressions gave away their inconformity. They still weren’t cool with each other and SungGyu knew they weren’t going to be for a while. Later he had to have a talk with each of them.

“Yah, don’t make me ask you to hug each other like kindergarten kids,” SungGyu called their attention before he counted to mark the rhythm.

Without them noticing the hours passed by. Some steps were finally polished and they were busy trying to connect the missing ones when JungRyul appeared to tell them they had to go back to the dorms and take a quick shower. When they were finally on their way to the set Geonam gave each of them their meals so they could eat in silence as he read them the questions and answers they had prepared for the final episode. WooHyun barely ate saying he always ended up dizzy when eating inside a car.

When SungGyu’s make up was finally done he left the dressing room and went to look for the already fixed members that were supposed to be in one of the small waiting rooms of the SBS building. It didn’t take him long to find them since their laughs were easy to detect.

“Don’t be so loud or we’ll get scolded.”

SungGyu grinned as he caught sight of the youngest members. He was happy to see them that cheerful and how could they not be after they received the newest information about SungYeol's evidence. They were so excited to know their choding was surely coming back to them. They could be Infinite once again. 

“We weren’t that loud,” SungJong said moving to the side so their leader could sit between him and L. Their black suits standing out among the pale room. 

“We weren’t. You were SungJong-ah,” Hoya said with his soft smile. Everyone laughed at the whine their maknae did. Bothering SungJong always made them laugh. 

SungGyu’s eyes carefully moved to HoWon who seemed in a better humour. He was still mad at WooHyun and they didn’t share a word after their fight was stopped but at least SungGyu believed Hoya wasn’t going to start a fight with the older singer in the middle of their recording. They weren’t idiots and it wasn’t the first time they recorded with unfinished fights. Apart from that it seemed their anger had lowered. But just to be sure he had to keep the younger donsaengs close to Hoya to distract the dancer. He and DongWoo could take care of WooHyun.

“It’s a shame we aren’t finishing the reality with SungYeol,” SungJong sighed looking from the corner of his eyes MyungSoo’s unmannered stretching.

“You can’t always depend on our king of realities,” SungGyu teased the youngest boy before he cleared his throat. “And everyone did a great job even with SungYeol’s absence so lets just wrap this up giving our best.”

SungJong and MyungSoo nodded at his words. Only Hoya looked at him curiously.

"What?"

“Hyung, what’s wrong with your voice?” HoWon suddenly asked getting an incredulous look from the leader. “I didn’t notice before but it’s slightly raspy.”

“It’s been like that since yesterday. Did you take some medicine?” MyungSoo said casually knowing it had to do with SungGyu’s night outside his bedroom.

“Yeah,” SungGyu said but it seemed he didn’t convince the dancer. “It’s really nothing so don’t worry about it, Hoya.”

The young man kept looking at him carefully before he smiled. “There’s a reason why we call you Grandpa-Gyu.”

“Ah, it’s not nice to have a weak leader.” L said shaking his head in a playful way.

“Yah, you really think I’ll get sick before our comeback?” SungGyu looked at their amused expressions before maknae caught his long sleeve and pulled in a demanding way.

“You better not,” SungJong glared at him playfully before snorting. The simple act made SungGyu burst out laughing. The other three boys quickly followed.