I have to say. This ties with Ch. 6 The Chaser as my favorite chapter to write. So much action packed into this scene, all taking place on a Saturday night. Last time, Sungyeol went on a date with L and his sister, Hoya and Dongwoo both know about the secret relationship, and Sungyeol ended things with L. Where will this chapter take us?? It takes us to Hoya's apartment.  I didn't realize how many things I would put into this chapter. There are a lot of details that I feel like I still need to finish.

In that case, THIS IS NOW GOING TO 12 CHAPTERS!

Setting: Saturday night, Sunggyu's pool hall

It was exactly 1 week until the big competition between Eye Candy and Strawberry Fields. Saturday night brought clear skies, prompting many Woollim students to go out to shop, party, or hangout. For the boys of Eye Candy, Sunggyu called for a practice in his parents' pool hall. Closing up the place for the night, the band took a corner to set up their instruments and practice. The place was a bit small, so Sungjong was the only one who set his drums in the corner space. Sunggyu and L were sitting on a couch right next to Sungjong while Dongwoo sat on top of a nearby pool table, setting up his amp on top of it. The four of them had been practicing without much interaction with each other.

In that moment Eye Candy was practicing their song "Nothing's Over", one of the first songs that Sunggyu had ever written. Sunggyu sat on the couch bobbing his head, holding a pool stick as his microphone preparing to sing. Sungjong clacked his sticks 3 times to initiate the play, prompting L and Dongwoo to start their guitar solos. Dongwoo jumped up from the pool table and played his solo standing up, looking down and bobbing his head with each note played.

L looked uninterested in practicing with the band. When his solo started, L lightly plucked the strings of his bass and made no head movements to show he was into the music. In each song played his body stayed completely still except for his right hand playing the guitar. Sungjong and Sunggyu noticed L acting off and often playing the wrong notes during their practice. Music was the last thing on L's mind, and the only thing he could think about was Sungyeol. An image of Sungyeol abandoning him played over and over in L's mind, making him lose concentration with anything. He didn't eat a single thing during the day and was drained of any energy he once had. Nothing's over, nothing's over, what a lie. L scraped his bass without noticing and played an obvious wrong note, causing the feedback of his amp to screech in the hall. Sunggyu, Sungjong, and Dongwoo immediately stopped playing to cover their ears from the horrific echo. L continued to play notes on his bass, completely unphased by every sense around him.

"Ya-" Sunggyu dropped the pool stick on the floor and snatched the bass away from L. "This is the 10th time this happened today."

L stood up and hovered over Sunggyu. "Give me back my bass."

The leader stood up to look at him eye level. "You'll get it back when you get your act together and stop playing like ."

"Don't ever talk to me like that," L sniped. He had his white headphones hanging around his neck, and to dissuade himself from erupting at Sunggyu he rung them around his ears to cover them. L turned around rolling his eyes at his leader.

With much anger, Sunggyu grabbed L's headphones by the headband and swung them at the wall. The plastic headband cracked as it smashed into two halves.

L bit his tongue, grabbing Sunggyu's shirt and pulling him closer to him. After his end with Sungyeol, L didn't think that any of this would happen with his own friends. He was furious and felt like nothing could get any worse. "I can't believe you ing did that."

"Hey!" Sungjong stood up from his drum seat and pointed his drumsticks towards his hyungs. "We can't be acting like this right now. I know that we're all really nervous about the competition coming up, but we're a team. And we can't be treating each other like this."

Sunggyu brushed off anything that the maknae said as unimportant and grabbed L by his jacket. "Stop daydreaming and play seriously."

The maknae looked frantic, stepping forward to put his arm in between Sunggyu and L. Though Eye Candy often argued with each other about things like stage time and singing roles, their fights had never reached the extremity of their current practice. Sungjong was completely nervous about everything, his mouth drying up from seeing his hyungs angry at each other. "Dongwoo, can you do something!"

Dongwoo leaned against the pool table, looking at at the three of them entangled in an impending brawl. Dongwoo blinked and eyed Sungjong and Sunggyu, doing his best to shade his eyes from taking a look at L. The whole day Dongwoo avoided any eye contact or conversation with L, unsure of his feelings about his best friend's betrayal with Sungyeol. Everything that Dongwoo thought would happen was happening, and he knew that a fight like this would be inevitable. He was the only other person in Eye Candy that knew of Sungyeol and L's relationship and knew something happened the night before have caused L to snap. Sungyeol chose Strawberry Fields over Myungsoo. Dongwoo looked down at his guitar, not trying to stop their fight.

Sungjong sighed at Dongwoo's refusal to help the situation and took it upon himself to take a step in the middle and push his hyungs away from each other. "What, are we just going to give up now after everything we've been through? Is this all we have to say for ourselves? I'm embarrassed to even be here right now," Sungjong scolded. 

The 4 friends stayed silent. Sunggyu and L looked at each other, breathing heavily to try and calm down their anger for each other. Dongwoo continued to stay silent, paying attention to tuning his his guitar instead of his friends. Sunggyu sat back back down on the couch while L opted to continue standing with arms crossed. 

"I bet you Woohyun, Hoya, and Sungyeol are practicing till the break of dawn," Sungjong threatened.

Hearing their rivals' names sparked L and Dongwoo in different ways. Dongwoo finally lookup and blankly stared at Sungjong. He remembered Friday afternoon, when Sungyeol admitted that he was dating L, L's continuous lies to the band, and Hoya's final ultimatum. He his lips and closed his eyes, trying to suppress the mix of thoughts in his head. 

L eyes watered after hearing Sungyeol's name. He closed his eyes, his mind drowned with anger and heartbreak. He felt weak and that his body was no longer able to take any mental blow, prompting him to snap back. "Hoya is hosting a party right now and Kiwi Plateau is performing a set, but other than that if you call getting wasted practice then go ahead," L responded. He eyed all 3 members of his band with a blank gaze, knowing that he was truly letting down his band by acting this way but unable to control his feelings. "I'm gonna go home and hang out with my sister." L took his bass and walked towards his guitar case.

"Woah, we're not done practicing L," Sunggyu argued, standing up from his couch.

L finished packing up his instrument and strapped it around his shoulder. "Too bad." The heartbroken bass player walked out of the pool hall without saying another word, leaving his friends behind. As he pushed the door open, he closed his eyes to prevent tears falling down his face. On his exit, the door slammed right behind him and echoed through the closed pool hall.

"What the hell is his problem?" the leader asked, kicking the pool stick on the floor. He dug into his back pocket to take out a lollipop. Sunggyu unwrapped the lollipop and placed it in his mouth, throwing the plastic wrapper on the floor.

"What are we going to do now?" Sungjong complained, burying his hands in his face to hide his worries and confusion.

Dongwoo continued to stare blankly into space, trying to connect his most recent discovery with L's actions today. He felt like the band was on the verge breaking apart and it was all caused by a relationship. He tried to justify his friends actions for everything, not placing all the fault on him. So maybe they were dating, but there had to be something else going on. Right? Dongwoo remembered his lunch with Hoya when they were trying to piece every clue of the mystery together. L was being tutored by Sungyeol, he remembered. That is how they even met. That's how it all started. This is... this is all Sungyeol's fault. There is unfinished business. Dongwoo finally knew what he had to do and spoke for the first time that day. "We're going to Hoya's party."

Setting: Hoya's apartment

Taking one look into Hoya's apartment might confuse the average person into thinking his penthouse is one of the hottest clubs in Seoul instead of an actual home to live in. The space was huge and modernly decorated with black and white furniture against hardwood floors. The kitchen counters had bottles of beer lined up across and the kitchen sink was filled with bottles of different types of Korean, Japanese, Mexican, and American alcohols in a bath of ice. Neon lights and blacklights illuminated the apartment, each flash rhythmic with the song playing. At the front of the living room was a mini-stage of Strawberry Field's instruments, neatly placed right next to Hoya's DJ controller, which was propped up on a table. The stereo system was hooked up to the controller, which was currently playing a song from Sungyeol's MP3 player. The apartment was packed with Woollim High students looking for a good time dancing, drinking, hanging out, and looking for a person to spend the night with. Hoya's apartment was the place to be.

"Chug chug chug chug!" A crowd encircled around 3 people who were racing to chug down their beers, all of them chanting and raising their hands to cheer them on.

The first person finished their beer first and slammed the bottle on the ground, putting his hands up for the crowd to cheer for him. It was Sungyeol, who was differently dressed from his usual flower boy look. He wore a leather jacket with neon writing and a skull on the back, contrasting with white torn jeans. The 2nd place drinker was Hoya, who wore a white jacket with black patches and regular blue jeans. His outfit was highlighted with purple high tops, which he used to kick Sungyeol's bottle. The last person was Woohyun, who had already taken 4 shots before and was struggling to down his beer. He wore a white shirt and black jeans and his hair was uncharacteristically gelled to the side for a classic look. As they finished their beers, everyone around them cheered. 

Hoya smiled and put his arm around Sungyeol. "How are you feeling right now?"

Sungyeol shook his head and tried to get the ugly taste of beer out of his mouth. "That ," he declared. He blinked his eyes and tried to refocus his head after chugging 3 continuous beers. He put his arm around Hoya. "It , but I really needed it." After breaking things off with L, Sungyeol spent majority of his day in his bed looking up at his ceiling. The moment replayed in his head over and over as Sungyeol tried to rethink everything and see if there was another decision that he could have made to choose both him and his friends. He knew that he hurt L in the worst way possible and couldn't forgive himself for choosing his friends over him. The whole situation was a blur and Sungyeol didn't want to think about it, so he knew that alcohol would help him forget about everything.

"You made the best decision, I promise," Hoya assured, rubbing Sungyeol's shoulder to help him calm down.

"DJ Yeol, when are you going to play?" A girl around them asked, passing another beer to Sungyeol.

Sungyeol put his hands out to politely decline. "I'll be playing soon, I promise!"

Woohyun tapped on Hoya's shoulder. "Did you invite them?"

Strawberry Fields looked towards the front door and saw 3 people enter the apartment. Everyone at the party also looked in their direction to see who was there. Dongwoo, Sungjong, and Sunggyu both walked into Hoya's apartment making a very casual entrance. Upon entering some girls screamed as they saw the Eye Candy members walk in. They ran towards the door to greet them.

"Egumonina," Hoya groaned. Strawberry Fields walked side-by-side towards Eye Candy, gently pushing the people aside to make an easy path. Eye Candy noticed their rivals come and stopped in front of the door, pushing some of their fan girls aside to make way for their altercation. The 2 bands were finally face-to-face, each person making eye contact with the person right across. Some people by the door stayed quiet to see what would happen next. "I did not invite you nugus over to my place," Hoya declared.

Sunggyu took a step forward and took the lollipop out of his mouth. "We heard that your band was performing and just like you came to see us, we wanted to return the favor."

Woohyun took a step forward and snatched the lollipop out of Sunggyu's hand, leaning on Hoya's shoulder for balance. "Well you just missed it. We 15 minutes ago did set uh, perform and we're done for the night. I think that you leave hum, uh. Lollipop." Woohyun put Sunggyu's lollipop in his mouth.

Sungjong, Sunggyu, and Dongwoo glared at Woohyun as well as Sungyeol and Hoya, who side-eyed their drunken leader. Woohyun on the lollipop as Sunggyu watched in disgust, covering his mouth in shame for his rival. The Eye Candy members looked at each other, unsure of what they should say or do next.

Sungyeol looked at their band and noticed that someone was missing. Someone that he cared a lot about. The alcohol buzz he had started to wear off and he felt a little empty. "Where's your visual?"

Hoya and Dongwoo both looked at Sungyeol. They both knew why Sungyeol would ask and were the only 2 among their band who also knew about Sungyeol's secret. Hoya elbowed his friend to stop thinking about it. Dongwoo raised his eyebrow and didn't know how to respond to him.

"He's babysitting his sister," Sungjong tried to explain. "He's not coming."

Hoya crossed his arms while Sungyeol closed his eyes and his lips, knowing the real reason why L didn't come.

"Well, you guys should leave. Like, now. Or soon. But you know. Go!" Woohyun took a step forward to push Sunggyu in the chest but fell in between Sunggyu and Sungjong. At the last second, Sunggyu and Sungjong were able to catch both of Woohyun's arms and pull him up before he crashed to the floor. Woohyun just laughed.

"How much did this guy drink?!" Sungjong complained, struggling to lift the deadweight. It didn't help that Woohyun was purposefully trying to drop to the floor, but Sunggyu and Sungjong were both able to find the strength to lift him off his knees and throw him back to the other side. Hoya and Sungyeol almost stumbled to catch happy and inebriated Woohyun, placing their feet on the floor to carry their friend. 

"We've finished our performance, so you no longer have a reason to be at my home. I suggest you go, unless you want to take this outside," Hoya asserted, glaring at his rivals. He no longer had a reason to talk to him, so he swung Woohyun's arm around his shoulder to turn and carry him away. 

Sungyeol took Woohyun's other arm to help balance the weight. As he turned around, his eyes followed Eye Candy before his vision was completely off of them. It felt different not seeing L stand among them, and it felt different because he knew that it was his fault. He bit his lip and continued to walk away with Hoya and Woohyun. The three of them pushed through the crowd and disappeared within the people.

"You know, they're right. If they're not even performing anymore we don't really have a point in seeing them and scoping them out," Sunggyu said, patting both Sungjong and Dongwoo on the shoulder that it was their time to leave.

Dongwoo continued to glare at Sungyeol, who he knew was the cause of everything. For him, their trek to Hoya's apartment wasn't just to compare how they perform. It was a mission, and Dongwoo wasn't done with it. "I need to go to the bathroom." Dongwoo walked away from his friends and pushed through the crowd towards the hallway. He disappeared.

Sungjong jabbed Sunggyu in the shoulder. "If we're not going to leave for another 5 minutes, we might as well reap the benefits of free alcohol," he suggested.

Sunggyu shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not."

The 2 walked forward towards the kitchen to get some quick drinks, the maknae holding onto his hyung's shoulder so that he wouldn't get pushed away or lost in the crowd. Many people were dancing with each other, flailing their arms in the air to the music or trying to dance provocatively with the person next to them. Sunggyu and Sungjong were a little scared, some girls trying to grab them from behind and feel them. Sunggyu and Sungjong gently pushed them aside to avoid dancing.

"Yeah, I'm not drunk enough for this," Sunggyu announced.

They finally reached the kitchen after a long and sweaty journey in the crowd and saw the variety of alcohols available to their disposal. Their jaws dropped in awe at how many drinks were free for everyone. They stepped forward, running their fingers through each bottle of beer on the counter to drink. Sunggyu grabbed two bottles of Cass Lager and rammed each bottle on the edge of the counter, flicking off the bottle caps. A smooth vapor seeped out of the bottles, the smell inviting them to drink. Sunggyu passed a bottle to Sungjong. The 2 friends clicked beers when all of a sudden another hand joined in with a shot. Sunggyu and Sungjong looked to the side and saw that it was Woohyun.

"Are we gonna do cheers or what?!" Woohyun drunkenly yelled, leaning against Sungjong's shoulder.

"Hyung, get him off of me," Sungjong mouthed to Sunggyu in fear.

In an effort to save Sungjong, Sunggyu grabbed onto Woohyun's arm and linked it with his own to hold him up. The 3 of them drank their respective alcoholic drinks, Woohyun dropping the cup with his shot on the floor after he drank it. He leaned on Sunggyu's shoulder and smiled. "You were supposed to leave!" Woohyun tried to threaten his rivals, but the alcohol instead made his plea sound like a tease. Woohyun smiled.

Sungjong and Sunggyu looked at each other, unsure what they had gotten themselves into. "We're going to leave soon when Dongwoo comes back from the bathroom," Sungjong assured.

Sunggyu's face scrunched up. Woohyun's cheeks were so warm from the alcohol, his arm felt like it was burning. He started to sweat and didn't know how to politely shrug him off. He stayed completely silent and quietly sipped his own beer.

"That lollipop lemon was good, really," Woohyun drunkenly said.

Their moment was awkward. Sungjong looked at the label of his Cass to avoid looking at Woohyun. "Oh hey look, this beer is 120 calories," he remarked, trying to make conversation. He took another sip of his beer and that's when he noticed in the living room the stage of instruments where Strawberry Fields had performed earlier. He saw each member's instruments set on top of the stage, but the one thing that caught his eye was the DJ controller placed in the middle of the stage. Sungjong looked baffled that no one was using it, looking around to see if anyone was going to use it anytime soon. Only an MP3 player was plugged into it. Sungjong took a huge gulp of his beer to chug it down.

(((())))

Dongwoo walked down the apartment hallway and saw that Sungyeol was by himself walking towards the bathroom. Sungyeol leaned back to finish another beer before he arrived at the bathroom. Alright, this is my chance. Sungyeol lifted the beer to let any last drops fall on his tongue until he dropped the beer in front of the bathroom door. Dongwoo rushed forward stealthily and carefully inched behing Sungyeol. Suddenly he grabbed Sungyeol and swung him into the bathroom, any noise made was drowned by the booming loud music. Sungyeol's body slammed against the shower door as Dongwoo quickly closed the door and locked it. He used his hands to feel the wall and found the light switch, flicking it on to illuminate the bathroom. 

The surprise attack completely disoriented Sungyeol of everything. As the lights flashed on, Sungyeol struggled to to get his composure and lifted an arm to shield his eyes from the light. He blinked repeatedly to adjust to the light and once he felt better revealed his face. His vision was still blurry, so Sungyeol blinked several more times to finally focus his eyes on the person standing in front of him. When he finally locked the image of who was in front of him, Sungyeol jumped and stood his ground. The bathroom was small, so the both of them were only inches away from each other.

"Sungyeol," Dongwoo started, pushing his hand against the door to block Sungyeol from leaving.

"What the hell is going on?" Sungyeol asked, brushing some dust off his leather jacket. 

Both of them stayed silent momentarily, the tension and anticipation building up from what was going to happen next. They both looked fiercely at each other. Dongwoo looked at Sungyeol in the eye, his poker face not revealing much on what his next action would be. Sungyeol felt his palms shaking and felt like he had to prepare for any sudden movements Dongwoo put on him. 

"Sungyeol," Dongwoo repeated. "You need to get back with L."

"Look I don't know what's going on but if you lay a hand on me... wait," Sungyeol processed the words that Dongwoo just said. "You want me to what?"

"You need to get back with L," Dongwoo repeated, nodding to affirm that what he first said was correct.

Sungyeol was speechless. His jaw slowly dropped and his palms came to a standstill, his body completely paralyzed by what his rival had just said. He tried to talk, but nothing came out. His heart started to beat faster.

"I know you two broke up, and you just need to get back with him."

Sungyeol was skeptical. "How do you know that we were-"

Dongwoo put his hands out and shook them. "Does it really matter how I know?" He took a deep breath and put his hands on Sungyeol's shoulders.

"Hoya doesn't want-"

"I'll take care of Hoya. This is our little secret. Between our bands, we're the only two people who know about you and L."

Sungyeol tensed at first, trying to squirm out of his grasp but Dongwoo held onto him as tight as he could until he stopped moving. Sungyeol also took a deep breath. "Why are you doing this?"

Honestly, Dongwoo himself didn't know why he was doing this. He had no idea why he was trying to help his friend get back with the enemy. Everything came out of whim, as if Dongwoo didn't think much about anything before executing his plan. Thoughts about the state of both bands came to mind and how things are heating up because of their breakup, but at the end of it all Dongwoo only had one real reason why he wanted to put the two of them back together. "Because, Myungsoo isn't happy. And I know you're not either," Dongwoo responded.

Sungyeol's eyes started to water, and it didn't help that there was alcohol in his system. His heart started to beat faster and thoughts of his time with L flooded his mind, slowly regaining the life that he had lost when he broke L's heart. Even though he was in the presence of a rival band, he had never felt so comforted. Dongwoo's actions touched his heart so much, Sungyeol's emotions took over. He opened his arms wide and wrapped them around Dongwoo, resting his head on Dongwoo's shoulder for a hug. A single tear fell down Sungyeol's cheek. Dongwoo smiled and returned the hug, rubbing his hands on Sungyeol's back to make him feel better.

In the middle of their embrace, a loud boom from outside the bathroom vibrated the bathroom door followed by the sound of what was a deep bass. Both Sungyeol and Dongwoo let go in shock.

"What just happened?" Sungyeol questioned.

Dongwoo scrunched his face, trying to figure out what was going on outside. He unlocked the bathroom door and rammed it open for Sungyeol and Dongwoo to swiftly exit. No one was in the hallway and another loud bass sound echoed their surroundings followed by a repeated record scratch. 

"That's the turntable," Sungyeol realized, pushing Dongwoo to move out of the hallway so they could both see what was going on.

The party crowd screamed for a person at Hoya's DJ controller creating a mix of familiar songs. The song started off with the instrumental of f(x)'s "Hot Summer" and slowly incorporated the audio and beat of 4minute's "Mirror Mirror". The party started to heat up as everyone went crazy for the mix, dancing with each other and taking in more alcohol. It started to feel like a real club. The DJ combined both choruses together for an epic breakdown that had everyone screaming. Sungyeol and Dongwoo tiptoed to see who was taking over the stage. A guy sporting a white denim vest and having an angelic face looked very concentrated in mixing both girl group songs, nodding his head to each beat. 

"MAKE SOME NOISE!" he yelled, clapping his hands together. The crowd went wild.

Sungyeol and Dongwoo looked at each other then back at the DJ. "Sungjong?!" they both yelled in unison.

Hoya escaped a crowd of girls to see Woohyun linked with Sunggyu, sleeping on his shoulder while Sunggyu frowned drinking his beer. He looked at the corner of his eye and saw Sungjong playing on his controller. "Why are you guys still here?" Hoya yelled furiously.

"Believe me, I want to leave," Sunggyu promised, looking down at Woohyun who was snug on his arm. Sunggyu rolled his eyes. 

"Sungjong, you never disappoint," Dongwoo commented with a smile, nodding his head to the "Hot Summer"/"Mirror Mirror" collaboration.

Sungyeol looked at the crowd surrounding the stage and saw everyone jumping ecstatically for his beats. "He's so good!"  "I didn't know the maknae had so much skill." "He's a lot better than Sungyeol." After being Hoya's prime DJ for his parties, an inkling of jealousy started to fill Sungyeol's head. Him? That should be me. Sungyeol gently pushed Dongwoo to the side and walked towards the living room.

"Where are you going?!" Dongwoo yelled.

Sungyeol ignored Dongwoo's question and escaped into the crowd. His face looked determined as he pushed his way in the crowd to reach the stage. He had a lot more confidence than he had at the beginning of the party. Now fueled by Dongwoo's permission to make things up with L, Sungyeol felt like he could do anything. His pride was on the line for being considered the DJ of Woollim High, and he wasn't going to let a nugu show him up on his skill. He created a path to the front of the mini-stage and climbed up. Sungjong was concentrated on mixing the two songs but Sungyeol pushed him off to the side, abruptly ending the song.

The crowd went silent, but Sungyeol started off a new song. He played the insturumental VIXX's fast-paced song "Rock Ur Body", playing the intro of it for everyone. He scratched the turntable and slowed down the song instrumental, replaying the intro at a different pace. He pressed a few buttons on the pad and started to overlay the audio of EXO's "Growl" onto "Rock Ur Body". The song sounded smooth and once again the party grew loud, bobbing their heads and chanting "Lee Sungyeol" over and over.

Sunggyu, Woohyun, and Hoya looked up at the stage to see what had just happened. Woohyun drunkenly fistpumped the air while Hoya grinned. "And now here's the real DJ," Hoya snided.

Dongwoo watched from the side, smiling and shaking his head. "It's on," Dongwoo declared.

Sungjong regained his composure from being pushed by holding onto the side of the table. He looked up and saw the party going crazy, jumping and singing the lyrics of "Growl". Some girls drunkenly pushed forward to the front of the stage and yelled ual things at Sungyeol. Sungjong bit his tongue and raised an eyebrow. This guy isn't that good. Sungjong let Sungyeol play for another couple seconds until he used his to push Sungyeol out of the way. The music stopped abruptly again and the crowd cheered, excited for what was in store for their DJ battle. Sungjong looked down at the controller pressed a few buttons to start the song.

"Ey yo GG!" the song started, followed by the beat of G-Dragon's "Crayon".

The whole party cheered on as Sungjong started a collaboration of "Crayon" and "I Got a Boy". The cheers shifted, everyone now chanting "Lee Sungjong" instead of "Lee Sungyeol".

Dongwoo scratched his head and nodded, closing his eyes and dancing a little to the song.

"That's how you do it!" Sunggyu yelled, putting his arms up for Sungjong in Sungyeol's defeat. He had momentarily forgotten that Woohyun was hooked onto him, so when he cheered for his maknae he accidentally dropped the rival leader. Woohyun slammed to the floor unconscious. "What the hell!" Sunggyu and Hoya both bent over to try and help the drunken Woohyun up, but all the leader could do was point and laugh at Hoya and Woohyun.

"Get him to my room," Hoya demanded, motioning Sunggyu to help Woohyun to the hallway.

Sungyeol looked at the crowd and rolled his eyes, knowing he could do a lot better than that. He let Sungjong finish his chorus until he pushed him off the controller again. He put his hands together, plotting the best end to this DJ battle. He fixed the equalizer to make the bass stronger and looked through his MP3 player to find a T-ara song. Sungyeol saw the crowd anxiously await what he had in store and bit his lip, preparing to blow their minds away.

He tried to eye everyone in the crowd when he noticed someone leaning towards the back wall of the living room. Sungyeol saw a familiar face of someone in the back with his hair completely down, partially covering his eyes yet still giving a hypnotizing gaze. The person his lips, looking neither happy nor sad at what was happening. Sungyeol's heart skipped a beat. "Myungsoo," he said.

Sungjong heard Sungyeol say something and looked out in the same direction as Sungyeol's eyes. He couldn't see anything. Dongwoo also noticed him staring off into the distance and looked in his direction towards the back wall. He also didn't notice anything different in particular.

You're actually here. Sungyeol stood motionless, ignoring everything going on around him except for L. His mouth started to dry, nervous from seeing him again. The crowd started to grow quiet and weary of Sungyeol's silence. People raised their cameras and phones in the air, patiently waiting for DJ Sungyeol to start. Different thoughts of his time together with L raced through his mind. He closed his eyes, trying to feel the motion within himself.

He turned off his MP3 player and took a deep breath. Sungyeol started a completely different song using the DJ pad. He his lips, pressing an original beat on the DJ pad and repeating the same melody. An addicting melody. No one at the party recognized the song, but they nodded their heads to the infectious beat. After repeating beat several times, he changed the equalizers for the song to get louder, the song progressively building up to a peak. Sungyeol nodded his head and blankly smiled, looking at L in the crowd. Sungyeol brought his hands in the air as the beat played and clapped his hands to rile the crowd. Everyone started to fistpump in excitement and once again chanting "Lee Sungyeol". The build up was getting stronger and the neon lights in the apartment flashed every second. Finally Sungyeol stopped playing and the music stopped. He took at one last glimpse at L, who was developing a smile. Sungyeol finally had strength to finish his song.

"WOOOO!!!" Sungyeol yelled. That was when he jumped and dropped the beat. The bass echoed through the whole apartment. 

Everyone screamed, pushing towards the front of the stage to experience Sungyeol's presence. Dongwoo nodded his head, accepting that his beat was really good. Sungjong also clapped his hands, acknowledging his defeat.

Sungyeol fist pumped the air and grinned, everyone cheering on and L being in the audience. After the drop, Sungyeol made one last scratch to end his song in a crash. The bass boomed as he finished his final set. He stepped back from the controller and bowed. The party jumped up and down screaming for Sungyeol while Sungjong and Dongwoo politely applauded, the alcohol in their system preventing the rival band from doing anything else. Sungjong quietly walked off stage to find his band. His final performance was on a completely different level than Sungyeol had ever performed. His last song displayed so much emotion and feeling more than any other time he had ever DJed. The cheers continued.

Sungyeol looked up at the crowd and his smile turned into a frown. L was no longer standing there. Sungyeol blinked several times to make sure that L didn't leave, but he didn't see him anywhere. Sungyeol turned his MP3 player back on to play and jumped off stage, rushing towards the back of the living room and pushing people aside to try and get to him. He looked around frantically and saw that L wasn't there. He closed his eyes, thinking that maybe he was only seeing things. No, no, this can't be happening. Sungyeol ran towards the front door and pushed it open. Sungyeol was alone outside, running around trying to spot L. No luck. He rubbed his eyes, kneeling on the ground. "Was I seeing things?" Sungyeol yelled out, looking down on the concrete floor in disappointment. He stood silent and immobile, listening to the rustling of the wind outside Hoya's apartment.

Suddenly, Sungyeol heard a metal sound by the stairs. He closed his eyes to listen and heard the footsteps of someone running down the stairwell. His eyes glistened. Could that be? Sungyeol pushed himself off the floor and made it for the stairs, running down the steps to catch up to the person. It was the fastest he had ever gone down stairs, and once he almost made it to the first floor he jumped off the railing to land perfectly on the concrete floor. He ran forward to gain balance and looked around. Ahead of him was a person crossing the street. He sported a blue baseball tee and the same haircut as the person Sungyeol saw in the living room. "Kim Myungsoo!" Sungyeol screamed out.

L finished crossing the street and looked over his shoulder, spotting Sungyeol on the other side of the street with the side of his eyes. His heart started to beat faster and his eyes started to fill with tears. "No, I have to go!" He yelled out, turning back around to run.

Sungyeol took a deep breath and ran across the street, dodging moving cars to get to L. He didn't want to wait for the crosswalk to allow him to go because he didn't want to lose his eyes on L. He leaped forward to avoid the last car and chased after L, who was trying to get away from him. Sungyeol made another leap advance and extended his hand to grab onto L's shirt. L tried to inch away, but Sungyeol took a piece of fabric and stopped, pulling L back to a stop. L started to burst into tears.

"Sungyeol, let go of me, I have to go now," L cried, struggling to push his arm away.

"I'm not letting go anymore!" Sungyeol sobbed, turning L around to hold him by the shoulders. Tears started to flow down his face as he looked at L for the first time since he ended things. He touched foreheads and noses together, staring deeply into L's eyes. "I made a mistake. Everything I said yesterday was true, except for us having an expiration date. Because we don't. We never will. I let go of you once and I'm never doing it again." Sungyeol wiped tears from his face, splashing onto L's shirt. "It's only been a day, but it felt so empty knowing that we weren't together. I don't care about our friends. I really don't care. I just don't. I'm going to make it work with you. Like I said before you are worth every risk." With every emotion in his body, Sungyeol leaned over to embrace L. He held onto him tight as if his life depended on it, crying into L's shoulder.

L continued to cry, standing still as Sungyeol hugged him. It was the warmest hug he had ever received. He wanted to return the favor and hug him back. He wanted it more than anything in the world, but he couldn't. L closed his eyes as more tears gushed down, and he pushed Sungyeol away from him. He looked into Sungyeol's eyes, both of them sobbing uncontrollably. "I have to go now Sungyeol. I can't be here right now."

Sungyeol hugged himself, as if he was rejected by L. "Myungsoo," he called out his name tenderly.

L looked around and saw it was only the two of them outside, not a single car or other person in sight. His mouth wavered as he opened it, struggling to talk to Sungyeol. He closed his eyes and covered them with a hand, turning so that Sungyeol wouldn't look at him. L took one huge gulp and finally had the confidence to talk. "Dasom has cancer."

DJ Sungjong/DJ Sungyeol battle songs.

Sungjong: f(x) Hot Summer/4minute Mirror Mirror DJ Mashup

Sungyeol: EXO Growl/VIXX Rock Ur Body DJ Mashup

Sungjong: Girls Generation I Got a Boy/G-Dragon Crayon DJ Mashup

Sungyeol: Infinite One Great Step solo 1/3