Chapter 21

L.Joe's POV

//Flashback//

It was a week before our debut, Hwayoung had come over to the practise studio, to monitor our dance practise. After we finished dancing she clapped her hands happily saying "Oppa, you've done really well, with this I bet the whole audience will become your fans." It made me feel really happy hearing that from her.
From the day we started our training, she was with us the whole way, at first she came to support Niel and help him pursue his dreams, but gradually she came to help us all out. Whenever one of us was in a slump or had troubles, she would always be there to listen and to help us overcome everything, even when things weren't going well for her whether it be because of school, or because of her health she would always put herself second and made us her first priority.
After we finished dancing we walked over towards the dinner table where she had laid out a big feast for us and started to eat whilst she walked up to us one by one to give us a towel.
She then came up to me, facing me she put a towel over my shoulders and helped me wipe my sweat off, embarrassed I instantly grabbed hold of her wrist and looked at her "I can do it." I said, before I knew it we locked eyes with each other and I could see her cheeks starting to go bright pink. She looked down embarrassed and said "Um....yeah....sorry....about that." She said shyly, before I could say anything else to her "Hwayoung-ah!" Niel called her. She instantly looked up in Niel's direction and said "Yeah, hang on." She removed my hand from her wrist and walked towards Niel.
To be honest I felt jealous, seeing Niel be so friendly with Hwayoung made me wish that I could have been the same with her, I knew that Niel was really close to Hwayoung, he knew things about her that I didn't, things that I wanted to know about guess it can't be helped, they are childhood friends.
Soon everyone had finished eating and it was back to practise, it was getting late though so manager hyung took Hwayoung home leaving us to practise. Pft as if, this just means a longer break time.
As soon as he left the building, all the members dropped the act and we instantly laid on the ground laughing. Niel who was lying next to me faced me and said "Hyung." I faced to him and asked "What is it?"
"I've been thinking."
"Oh no, not this again." I chuckled thinking he was worried about our debut stage.
"I'm gonna go for it." He said determined. "Go for wha-"
"I'm gonna confess to Hwayoung."
THUMP
"You...are?"
"What are you so surprised about? You know I've been wanting to confess to Hwayoung for ages~"
"Nothing, it's just I didn't think you'd make up your mind so soon."
"It's like you said hyung, you never know what's gonna happen in life, so you should always live to the fullest with no regrets." In that instant I felt great happiness and great sadness in my heart. I was happy for Niel and Hwayoung, the members and I have always known how well they get along together and I knew that Niel would treat her like a treasure. But I felt sad because I knew it meant I had to hide my feelings for Hwayoung and never let anyone know about it.
I smiled sadly at Niel and ruffled his hair "You go for it." As your hyung, for your happiness and Hwayoung's happiness, I'm willing to lock up the love I have for her.

A week had gone by quickly, what with endless dance practise and vocal lessons and music recording, it was finally time to debut. It was also time for Niel to confess his feeling to Hwayoung. We were all backstage getting ready for the time being I should concentrate on our debut stage. I felt a pat on my back, I turned around to see who it was "Don't be so tense, you'll be fine up there." It was Hwayoung, she gave me a reassuring smile. "Your right, we won't just be fine though. We'll be brilliant." I smiled at her, she blushed and turned pink, then Niel came from behind us and placed both his arms over our shoulders "What are you both talking about?"
"Nothing special, just maybe about how you might mess up and trip on the stage." I joked at him, Hwayoung giggled and Niel started to panic "E-ei hyung, don't put anymore pressure on me than there is already. Now tell me what were you two really talking about?"
"That's a secret, right~?" I winked at Hwayoung making her blush and laugh.
"That's right, it's a secret." She said back.
"Oi, don't leave me out of it." Niel sulked, me and Hwayoung just laughed at him.
It was time, we started to make our way on to the stage whilst Hwayoung stood backstage looking over us. I felt super nervous, there on the stage I feel the eyes of the audience on us Uwah there's so many people.
I looked back one last time at Hwayoung, she saw me and mouthed "Oppa fighting!" With both her fists clenched. Seeing her cheering us on made my nerves go down and helped me keep composed, let's do this.
The music started, we could feel the tension rising and the atmosphere pumping, we started to dance exactly as we have done so many times in practise, Niel started to sing alluring many of the audience, then soon it was my turn. I started to rap, I could feel the yes of the audience on me, I could see how amazed they were and it made me feel.....invincible. Soon the music ended but we could still hear the cheers throughout the hall. "TEEN TOP! TEEN TOP! TEEN TOP!" They chanted, we gave a final bow to the audience before leaving the stage.
We ran backstage where Hwayoung was waiting for us with towels and water bottles, "Noona did you see us? Did you see us?" Ricky asked excitedly.
"I sure did, the audience totally loved you all." She gave us her biggest smile.
"Well done everyone, we all did it! We are now officially known to the country as TEEN TOP!" CAP announced we all cheered and the staff members clapped their hands for us, patting our backs and congratulated us.