“Now it’s between MBLAQ with ‘This is War’ and TeenTop’s ‘Crazy’,” the MC called out. Everyone was tensed up just a little, wondering who would win Music Bank this week. Even if they didn’t want to, they raised their hopes up, every single last one of them. Despite the nervousness, they kept their faces from revealing their hope and nervousness.

‘I hope we win,’ they all thought. They knew, from countless times before, that they shouldn’t hope as much. They were always a little devastated when they weren’t called, but that didn’t stop them from hoping.

They watched the chart before them as the points added up. It stopped at 9642, and for a moment, they thought that MBLAQ would win it. The number on their side rose again, and as it did, the shock could not be hidden from their faces.

“And the winners are Teen Top!” The MCs and the members of MBLAQ congratulated them, and they were just left in shock. They were handed two bouquets of flowers, both of which were held by Ricky. He couldn’t let the shock escape his face as he just stood there, mouth agape. They were handed a microphone for their acceptance, and even though Daniel wanted to take the microphone, he just stood aside and let Chunji speak.

“Oh, wow,” he started. “This is a really great surprise for us. Thank you everyone for helping us get this far, and no doubt, we will continue to grow and show you a stronger side to us.” He bowed once again before giving the microphone to Daniel, knowing that he wanted to speak as well.

“We feel very honored to everyone. Thank you to all our fans for supporting us all this way as well as the staff that kept us going this entire time. Thank you to everyone, even the stylist noona that gave me this hair. Even though I may have not liked it at first, I think stylist noona played a great part for us as well as for our video. Thank you!” He stopped and looked around for a moment before speaking once more. “We will continue to grow and show a stronger side to us!” He then reached out and gave the microphone back to the MC.

As the other MC passed by, they all bowed in respect. As soon as the MC started to speak, MBLAQ came over and bowed to them in congratulations and respect as did various other groups.  They were ecstatic.

As the other groups left the stage, their song started to play. They were happy and a little awkward as they sang danced and around. They looked at each other, trying to decide who will make the first move. Daniel looked at them, but none of them moved, unsure if they should because of Chango’s injury, so he kneeled down first. The others followed suit still worried for their maknae, but he moved to try.

He was going to be the top tier, but he couldn’t do it the first time. He went to try again, but the cameras had turned off, so no one was able to witness their promised pyramid.

“Damn it,” breathed Changjo. He didn’t like the feeling of being the reason they couldn’t complete their promise to their Angels. Minsoo came over and patted his shoulder reassuringly, letting him know that it was okay. They smiled at each other before going backstage to their dressing room where their manager was waiting for them.

“Congratulations on the flawless performance and your first win!” He came up to the group and hugged them tight as they cheered and jumped. He brought out his bag that he had on the counter and handed each of them a phone. “As promised, first win gives you Cell Phones!” Everyone smiled and bowed in thanks as they accepted the gift. “Now go on and call your family!” Each member went to a different direction of the room to call home, well except Minsoo and Daniel who stayed closer together.

“Tell Grandma I’ll call her later,” Daniel whispered to Minsoo. He nodded.

“Tell Chin Ho I’ll talk to him later as well, and we’ll call Jun-Hee when we get home.” Daniel nodded before dialing his adoptive parents and Minsoo his mother.

As soon as everyone had their family on their lines, tears started flooding. They had been so happy before, but now they had tears pouring out and sobs echoed throughout the room.

“Ne, Umma. We won,” said Chunji into his phone. He was whipping away the tears and didn’t care if his eyeliner was smudging. He was too happy and only wished that his parents were with him to celebrate. “I wish you were here,” he sobbed.

“We won, Umma, Appa,” heaved L Joe, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” He wasn’t able to say anything else after he told them that they won. He held the phone close to his ear and held it tightly, wishing to hug his parents, but all he could do at the moment was say, “Thank you.”

“Appa, Umma. We won! It’s our first win!” Started Ricky with a smile and a laugh, but soon that laugh turned into tears as he spoke into his phone. “We won. I wish you were here. I wish you were here.” He broke down into sobs.

“Umma, it’s Changjo,” he started, but as soon as he heard her voice, he started to cry, yet he tried to smile. “We won today!” He tried his best to keep his tears at bay, but it was of no use. He just cried into the phone while his mother cooed at him, telling him to not cry and smile. She spoke of how proud she is and that she is going to treat him when he got home. “I love you, umma.”

“Appa?” Called out Daniel. After so many years of living with him, he feels like he is part of that family. He won’t call it a second home because he feels like it’s part of the home he has with Minsoo and his sister. When he heard his voice after so long, he let his tears fall without a sound and just smiled. “We did it.”

“Umma!” Called out Minsoo as his mother answered. “We won! We did it!” He cheered. He couldn’t help but cry as he heard his mother cheer through the phone. He could just imagine her in front of him, and he just wanted so badly to just become his mother’s child once again. “We’ll both call you later,” he whispered. “Don’t call her yet, I want to tell her,” he teased with a smile.

The whole room was filled with sniffling and soft whimpers as they finished their conversations. Minsoo grabbed Daniel and looped his arm around his shoulders as he walked towards the center, both grabbing the other members as they walked and bringing them into their arms. In the circle, it was Minsoo, Daniel, Changjo, Ricky, Chunji, and then L Joe. They all just held each other in their circle. Daniel and Minsoo prayed thanks in silence. Everyone just stood, comforting each other with smiles on their faces.

Changjo pat Daniel’s head lightly and Daniel in turn squeezed his arm gently. The small motion didn’t escape the eyes of one of the members though.