“Please welcome INFINITE to the stage!” The MC rumbled in a loud voice. That was the cue for ‘The Chaser’ to start playing. The seven idols walked, or rather, strutted out to the stage. They automatically began to dance perfectly in sync. The audience screamed and shouted, girls frantically waving their hands in an attempt to feel closer to the boys.

Hoya had practiced this dance so many times that he didn’t even have to concentrate or be aware of what he was doing on stage. It was by instinct now. He had always been the dancing machine of the group, a title that he was quite proud of. Dancing was a passion he found that he loved once he started training. Hoya was a natural; dancing was like second nature to him.

Even as he worked a sweat on stage and kept his persona cool and complacent, he allowed himself to replay the events of the horrid night he experienced.

She was literally glued to his side the entire night. Hoya scowled slightly at the thoughts, then reminded himself to not show his emotions while the camera was on him.

He knew he should be worrying about more important things in life. He should be focusing solely on getting another acting project, Infinite, and sending money back to his parents in Busan. He should be thinking about his priorities, not the fact that his childhood best friend was chasing after one of his group mates and Hoya didn’t even stand the chance now.

He couldn’t compete with Myungsoo. Myungsoo was L. Myungsoo was the visual. Myungsoo was better looking. Myungsoo was nicer to most girls, while Hoya brushed them off like the he could be sometimes. Hoya loved Myungsoo as a brother.

But he loved Eunji more.

Eunji gazed up at the screen mounted near the entrance to the stage. She could feel the crowd chanting louder and louder as Infinite neared the ending of their performance. She stood alone, as the rest of A Pink was recovering from their own in the dressing room. Eunji was wearing a little red dress that didn’t leave much for the imagination. She rubbed his arms to warm up, moving to near a heater.

Infinite rushed backstage, still high off the pumping adrenaline each of them felt after a concert performance. She bounced on her heels impatiently. All Eunji wanted to do was congratulate him.

“Oppa!” She called out. The members turned their heads at the sound of her husky voice. Hoya’s head snapped up. Although he was extremely tired from the concert, he felt his feet making his way towards her. He stumbled into her arms, enveloping her lithe body in a hug. She froze in surprise. Eunji wriggled out of his grip.

“Ew, you’re so sweaty. You’re gross!” Eunji whined, successfully pushing him away. She then turned to Myungsoo, who was wiping his forehead with a towel.

Eunji grabbed his towel, patting his face for him. Hoya turned away, trying to keep his expression indifferent. Sunggyu and Dongwoo sensed the tension in the air. Sunggyu glanced at Chorong standing several feet away. They made eye contact and Sunggyu wanted nothing more than to just talk to her. He wanted to have the pleasure of being in her company just once more.

Dongwoo cocked his head at Myungsoo and Eunji. She couldn’t be more obvious about her schoolgirl crush on him. Hoya looked so uncomfortable though…

Something was definitely up.

“Hey, Woohyun. Can I talk to you for a minute?” Dongwoo pulled the older member aside. Woohyun looked like a zombie, even with the caked-on concealer under his eyes. He figured it was because of his latest girl, namely Chorong.

Dongwoo sighed. Some of them were acting strange lately. “Are you okay?”

Woohyun didn’t even give the typical “I’m fine,” but instead closed his eyes. “Honestly, no.”

“Is this because of Chorong? Dude, get over it already. She’s probably over it too by now. Just talk to her, man. You look like you haven’t been getting sleep over something as petty as this.”

Dongwoo rolled his eyes. Lovesick Woohyun was getting annoying.

“I’m scared…” The normally confident Woohyun looked scared.

“God damn it Namu, just go over there. She’s standing right there.” Dongwoo literally pushed Woohyun to where Chorong was texting.

“He’s all yours, Ms. Park.” Dongwoo gave a little bow, having no doubt that they would make up and stop these stupid games they play.

Chorong turned bright red, her heart pounding wildly. Woohyun felt the same. His mouth was agape and he went blank.

“Uh… Hi.” He greeted her lamely.

“Hi, Woohyun. Nice performance, I watched a little of it.” Instead of her usual sarcastic and snarky comments, she was cordial.

Chorong missed him a lot. She would never admit it, but going a mere day without Nam Woohyun made her crazy.

Woohyun just couldn’t say it. He was awful at apologizing. What if she didn’t accept his apology? What if he couldn’t talk to her ever again? He couldn’t even imagine that.

“I’m so sorry.” Woohyun blurted out of nowhere. He finally said it.

“Woohyun, what are you-“ Chorong started, but he cut her off again with his choppy, nervous sentences.

“I’m sorry. There. I said it. I’m sorry.” Woohyun shook. God, how he hated saying sorry. There was something about the two words that made him freak out.

“B-b-b-ut you never say sorry to anyone.” Chorong knew about this fun fact of his, so thus she was thoroughly surprised. Her heart soared.

She put a finger to his lips. “It’s okay, Woohyun. Don’t worry about it, you don’t have to be sorry anymore.” Chorong smiled.

Woohyun laughed out of relief. “That was ridiculously dumb, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s only expected from the dumbest boy on earth, Nam Woohyun.” She countered playfully.

“Hey! I may be dumb, but I am not a boy! I am a man. Look at yourself though, you’re a little girl.” Woohyun stuck his tongue out. Chorong crossed her arms.

“That’s more like it, Namu.”

Woohyun and Chorong: complete. Onto the next problem, Hoya…

“Hyung.” Dongwoo appeared behind his closest friend in the group that night. Hoya was sitting on his bed, absentmindedly playing with the apps on his phone. Sungjong wasn’t in bed yet, as he was too busy with video games in the living room.

“What’s up?” Hoya’s eyes didn’t even look up to address Dongwoo. Dongwoo plopped down on the maknae’s bed.

“How’s Eunji?” Hoya’s thumb stopped scrolling. He still didn’t look at Dongwoo.

“Again, why are you asking about her? We talked about her yesterday, didn’t we?” Hoya replied cooly.

Damn, he’s good at this. One could consider Hoya was ‘mysterious’ member in their group. He never expressed his true feelings openly with anyone. He was hard to get through to, as he avoiding talking about his personal life at all costs.

“I don’t know, I was just thinking of how pretty she looked on stage today.” Dongwoo smirked devilishly. Hoya showed the first sign of cracking. He set down his phone.

Bingo.

“Yeah, she sure did.” He wearily said. Dongwoo cocked his head to one side.

“So how do you feel about her massive, blatant crush on Myungsoo?” Dongwoo jumped into the next topic of discussion headfirst.

Hoya’s jaw clenched. He had the most patience with Dongwoo, but now he was becoming pissed off. “Why are you asking about that all of a sudden? Go find something else to do instead of engaging in talk about Eunji. I don’t see why you’re so fascinated about it.” Hoya resumed playing with his phone.

“No, but I can see that you’re fascinated with her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nevermind.” Dongwoo felt a tinge of regret in approaching him, since he had never really pushed Hoya this far before. It was nearly impossible to get him to open up. Dongwoo would never understand why Hoya purposely created this distance between himself and s.

“Go to sleep, Dongwoo. You’re saying odd things. It’s best if you just let it go.” Hoya stood up suddenly, placing a reassuring hand on Dongwoo’s shoulder.

Before Dongwoo could trudge out of his room in defeat, he looked at Hoya. “Just remember that you can talk to me about anything and when you do, I will help you with whatever you need. Don’t forget that, Howon.” Dongwoo was serious, especially since he addressed him as ‘Howon.’ He didn’t like how Hoya bottled up his feelings and inner thoughts; it was unhealthy and turned out to be self-destructive.

“Goodnight, hyung.” Hoya closed the door after him.

Dongwoo lingered by the shut door for a moment. He could faintly hear Hoya sigh and climb into bed. The light emitting from the room disappeared.

He was on to something. He didn’t know yet, but he knew it had to do with Eunji. She was the reason he was acting especially quiet lately. If his gut feeling was right, then Dongwoo had the perfect plan.

They didn’t call him a wingman for nothing, after all.