“How’s the weather for you?

For some reason it seems like it’ll be a clear morning tomorrow.”

- Clear Day, Cloudy Day, Lunafly

-

     Seah goes back and forth between denial and curiosity towards Jongin, and she needs to regularly, harshly remind herself that Jongin is going home next week, after the competition.

     I’ll just enjoy the remaining time with him.

     The next days after their outing, Seah never asks Jongin again to go together again or some sorts of that kind, to prevent herself from liking him more, but it tortures her more to just stay at home all the time. She keeps enduring it, and tries to suppress her feelings as well.

     When did the last time I’m feeling like this?

     Seah is lifelessly watching TV one day, home alone, when her door opens. It’s her mother.

     “Mom…”

     “Hello, dear. I’m just dropping by to take some clothes and stuff, and I’ll immediately go back. Here, I’m bringing food for dinner, that should be more than enough for three people.” she puts a big bag on the dining table. “How are our guests?”

     “They’re fine.” Seah answers plainly.

     “After their competition, you should go to Incheon, okay? Pay a visit to your grandparents.”

     “I will, I’ll accompany you there.”

     “Good girl.” Seah’s mother smiles as she rushes to her bedroom. “How’s the kid that Baekhyun brought? He’s not a bad kid, right?”

     “Of course not.” Seah stares into space. “He’s a nice boy.” …and a very charming one.

     “What is he participating on? Is he singing too?”

     “No, he’s a dancer.” …a very good one.

     “Well, good then. Have you introduced yourself to him?”

     “Of course Mom, we’re friends now.” …oh Mom, stop.

     Her mother comes out from her bedroom carrying a traveling bag, and heads straight to the door again. “I’m leaving again, okay, Seah? I can’t make the neighbor watch over your grandparents for too long… The ahjumma must have things to do at home.”

     Seah nods and watches as her mother disappear. She lies down on the sofa, and looks at the grey sky outside through her window.

     I’m being unnecessarily sensitive over anything related to Jongin.

-

     That night, Seah, Jongin and Baekhyun are all sitting on the dining table, eating their dinner.

     “I’m full.” Baekhyun glumly puts down his chopsticks.

     “Oppa, are you sick?” Seah notices his slightly pale face, and his unfinished meal.

     “I felt dizzy since this morning, I’ll just go to bed earlier.” he says as he stands up.

     “Are you nervous for this Saturday?” Jongin asks.

     “May—wait, I can’t be like this. I’m a veteran. You should be the one who’s nervous.” Baekhyun points to Jongin comically. “Still, I’m going to bed. Good night.”

     Seah and Jongin laugh slowly. That leaves the two of them alone, and Seah has lost any desire to open up a conversation with Jongin.

     In case I would come to like you more instead… I better stay silent.

     “Seah, do you have any plans for tomorrow?”

     Oh no. “Currently… No. Why?”

     “Do you want to watch our practice? You have just seen one dance, and you said you wanted to see it live. How about tomorrow you come to our practice room?”

     “Oh, that would be great.” Seah answers. I can’t refuse this one.

     “Good, let’s go together tomorrow.” Jongin smiles, and Seah feels weak again.

     Don’t give me that blinding smile…

-

     Seah can already hear the loud music when she and Jongin gets out from the elevator of the building he practices in, and gets inside. There are only six people in total, all male, except for one girl who is sitting near the mirror wall of the room. The other five guys are all standing near her.

     “Hey, Jongin-ah.” the girl greets from the floor. “Oh, who is this?”

     Seah smiles to her, but a thought passes in her head. Is this girl Jongin’s partner in the couple dance? Who else can that be?

     “This is Song Seah, Baekhyun sunbae’s cousin.” Jongin introduces me to the others. They all get attentive on the mention of Baekhyun.

      I guess my cousin is pretty popular, Seah thinks. They all offer Seah a seat beside the girl, whose name is Seulgi, as they’re going to start the group dance practice. Seah watches their moves in awe, and when it ends, Seah takes the opportunity to have a talk with Seulgi.

     “I heard from Jongin that he’s going to perform three dances, what are they?”

     “Yes, it is true.” Seulgi answers. “The dance you watched just now, a solo dance, and sync dance.”

     Seah has strongly anticipated the word ‘couple dance’ and immediately turns her head to Seulgi when she said the other thing. “Sync dance?”

     “Yes, synchronized dance, between two people. Jongin is going to do it with Sehun, that kid there—“ Seulgi points to a sour-faced boy whose hair is dyed blonde between the guys. “—yep, three dances.”

     “Ah… Sync dance…” Seah nods slowly.

     Seah tries hard not to smile, but she feels deflated at the same time. Why am I feeling so relieved? I can’t feel relieved. You used to be jealous, and now that you learned it’s not the couple dance you think, you’re glad that he’s not doing it with a girl.

     Jongin is getting into formation to practice again, and throws a tiny smile to Seah.

     It means you still like him, stupid.

-

     Seah and Jongin’s team had dinner together, and Seah feels sleepy on the subway home. Jongin pats her head twice. “Are you sick?”

     “No.” Seah instantly answers. “Speaking of sick, you can’t get sick. Saturday is two days away.”

     Jongin smiles. “Yes, I won’t. You shouldn’t be as well, you’re going with us to the competition too right?”

     Seah turns her head. “Going with you there?”

     “Why? Do you already have plans for Saturday?”

     “Well… No… Yeah, I’m going with you and oppa.”

     Jongin approvingly nods. Seah looks at his happy expression, and can’t help but smile.

     Invite me properly, you little kid.

-

     The D-day comes, and Seah basically acts as their mother for a day for the preparation. The competition takes place in an entertainment company building in Cheongdamdong, and they took a taxi there. The singing competition starts the earliest, and Seah and Jongin watch in the audience seat as Baekhyun takes the stage.

     This is not the first time for Seah to watch Baekhyun compete, but she’s always amazed by her cousin. His powerful vocals shine among the other competitors, but there are also competitors who match his level.

     This is really national level, Seah thinks to herself. She turns her head to see Jongin beside her, and notices his stiff expression.

     “Nervous?” Seah asks. Jongin lets out a silent laugh.

     The singing part finishes, and as the band competition takes place, the solo dance competition participants may go into the waiting room now. Seah has prepared to find Baekhyun and wait with him, but Jongin holds her back.

     “Can you go with me?”

     “Huh?”

     Seah follows Jongin to the waiting room, and his nervousness is very apparent.

     “Where are your friends?”

     “They’re practicing upstairs, but since I’m the only one who enters the solo competition, they only gave me a video call a moment ago, telling me to hurry up and go.” Jongin laughs.

     “Ah…”

     “You can go to the audience seat after I go to the stage, after this I’ll go to my friends anyway.”

     “Okay, but of course I’ll stay with you for now.” Seah fixes Jongin’s outfit. “You can do it.”

     “Thank you.” Jongin can’t stay still on his chair, and gives her a weary smile. “Thank you.”

     The competitors take turns to pick a random number, and Jongin gets the first turn to perform. He takes a deep breath repeatedly while looking at the small paper with ‘1’ on it. Seah puts a hand on his shoulder, and tries to comfort him.

     “Number 1 to perform, number 1 to win.” Seah smiles to him. “Fighting.”

     After some more time of waiting, the solo dance competition will officially begin, and the MC says from the stage for the first contestant to prepare. Jongin gets up from his seat, and manages his breathing again.

     “What if this entertainment company doesn’t let you go home and lock you up as a trainee after you win this?” Seah says as she fixes Jongin’s outfit for the last time. Jongin just chuckles, and takes another deep breath.

     “I’m going.” Jongin grins.

     Seah gives him a quick hug, not too tight, not too awkward. She pats both of his shoulders for the last time. “Go.”

     Jongin smiles again, and his back disappears behind the waiting room door.

     This is the start for him, and the end for me.

-

     Seah waits anxiously for Jongin to perform, and her heart jumps a little when the song she used to hear in Jongin’s practice starts playing.

     Jongin did well, as expected, and seeing him on stage only adds up to Seah’s amazement to him. He made no mistakes, and finished the stage neatly. Seah wants to go find him again, but remembers his words that he’s going straight to practice again. In the end she looks for Baekhyun and joins him for lunch.

     “Where were you when Jongin performed? I’m near the exit door.” Baekhyun asks her on lunch.

     “Front line.” Seah smiles to herself. “He did well, didn’t he?”

     “Of course.” Baekhyun answers. “I also did well too, right?”

     “The best.” Seah raises her thumbs.

     They come inside again to watch the rest of dance competitions, and Seah leaves Baekhyun to get nearer seat to the stage. Jongin does just as well in the group dance and sync dance, and Seah can tell he’s going to win.

     The announcement is going to be held at night, and Seah hasn’t met Jongin again since his last stage. She waits alone between all the audiences, because Baekhyun needs to stay with his team too.

     Baekhyun wins first place on solo and duet competition, and third on band performance where he acts as the vocalist. The announcement for dance competition is placed on the very end of the event, and Seah thumps her chest uneasily. This feels torturous.

     Jongin places third on sync and group dance, and wins second place on solo dance ‘by a small margin with the first place’, the MC says. The winner is a tall, skinny man with something which seems like a blindfold around his neck. Seah didn’t watch his performance, did he dance with that on?

     Seah waits for her winners to come down from the stage, and Baekhyun wraps her in a big hug in a flash.

     “As expected from a veteran.” Seah laughs as she hugs him. “Congratulations, oppa.”

     Jongin appears near them, and Baekhyun moves to hug him now, attacking him with playful praises. Jongin can almost lift Baekhyun’s body in their hug, and Seah looks at them while smiling.

     Baekhyun lets Jongin go, and before Seah can say “Congratulations.”, Seah’s vision goes dark because Jongin covers her in his hug, way too enthusiastically and tightly. Again, Seah can smell his fragrance, the pleasant mix of perfume and sweat. Seah smiles on his chest, and pats his back with her free hands.

     “Hey, she can’t breathe.” Baekhyun warns Jongin, and he releases Seah with a happy laugh.

     “Congratulations.” Seah can finally say it properly. “You should be the first though…”

     “I still feel great.” Jongin does some little jumps. “But next year, I will be the first.”

     Seah tags along to their celebratory dinner, and goes home with taxi again. She feels super tired on the way home, and warns the two boys to tell her if they’ve reached home, in case she falls asleep.

     She wakes up facing the ceiling of the apartment’s elevator, and her body jolts in horror. She’s apparently in Jongin’s arms, and he’s calmly carrying her like he did before. “Oh, you woke up?”

     “I can walk… Thank you.”

     “He insisted on not waking you up.” Baekhyun says as Seah sets her feet on the ground. Seah’s face turns red amidst her post-waking up confusion, and she can only thank Jongin again. They arrive at Seah’s home, and she looks at Jongin’s back in front of her longingly.

     Tomorrow would be the last day…

     Her sleepiness is all gone, and she goes to her room after barely telling Baekhyun and Jongin good night.

-

     Sunday afternoon, Seah treats Baekhyun and Jongin to a meal before they get on their train, and Seah watches them eating with a pout. “Can’t you stay a little longer?” she doesn’t even know to whom that question is directed to.

     “We’ll meet on Lunar New Year anyway.” Baekhyun waves his hand. “We’ll meet at the grandparents’ later, okay.”

     Seah nods. She turns to Jongin.

     “Thank you for everything. I’ll call you when I come to Seoul next time.” Jongin smiles widely. “We’re friends, right?”

     That last sentence hits Seah in two different ways, but she decides to emphasize the good way to herself. “Yes.” she smiles back to him. “I’ll also call you, if I come to visit your town.”

     “You should be calling me first!” Baekhyun protests. Seah sticks out her tongue.

     “Later, go home safely.” Seah tells them.

     “It’s only two hours away, we’ll be home before it gets dark.” Baekhyun brushes her worries off. “You’re finished? Let’s go.”

     They finish eating, and go together from the restaurant to the station next to it. Baekhyun goes to buy drinks first, and Seah and Jongin go together to the entrance.

     “You also should… Call me when you arrive home.” Seah carefully says it.

     “Sure.” Jongin answers, thinking nothing of it. Looking at his expression, Seah smiles, knowing going no further with her feelings is the correct way.

     “Thank you for everything.”

     “What are you talking about? Thank you for everything these past two weeks.” Jongin gets even.

     Seah nods, and spots Baekhyun from afar coming to their direction. She tries to feel the steps they take to seem slow-motioned, but smiles to herself after realizing it’s meaningless.

     Thank you for the memories.

-

“Even if we want to go to different places,

Let’s walk together for a moment right now.”

-

Please also check out the sequel/spin-off of this story, titled On Sunny Days featuring Sehun as the lead! :)