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The practice with Love-E had ended and Suyun was lying on the floor staring at her cellphone, trying to get in touch with Leo but he wasn’t answering his text. The door to the practice room opened but Suyun didn’t even flinch as a person stomped into the room and laid down right beside her.

“What’s up?” Mark asked and Suyun just grunted in response, not really willing to talk about her romantic problems with him. “Have you seen the articles written about you and Jackson?” Mark rolled onto his side, staring at Suyun’s face as she begrudgingly looked away from her phone. Although the two of them were from America they comfortably talked to each other in English and Korean. They figured that if they talked in English too much then they would mess up their Korean and if they spoke Korean too much then they would forget their English which was a problem for a lot of foreign idols in the kpop world.

“What articles?” She asked and Mark just took her phone and connected to the internet where he pulled up one of many articles that were titled like  ‘Got7’s Jackson and Love-E’s Suyun in a “Some” relationship?’.  Suyun just sighed as she looked over the article quickly, noting that the picture they used was from when Jackson’s team was eliminated from Kpop War and they were hugging and smiling at each other fondly. “Stuff like this is so stupid.” Suyun groaned and dropped her phone on her stomach, not wanting to read anything more about how people shipped her with one of her best friends.

“I know right…it’s not like you like anyone in Got7…” Mark laughed awkwardly and looked to Suyun who just rolled her eyes.

“No way! Jackson is like…my best friend. Jaebum is dating that one girl, Jinyoung is too mushy, BamBam and Yugyeom are like toddlers to me and Youngjae is too adorable to even consider as a man.” Suyun shivered at the idea of liking the guys. She had known them since she was a trainee and it felt as if she had grown up with them even if she did debut before them.

“What about me?” Mark lying on his side staring intensely at Suyun who was staring up into the lights on the ceiling as if trying to blind herself; Mark just wanted to get her attention but nothing he did ever seemed to be enough.

“You’re like a brother to me.” Suyun looked over to Mark and smiled softly. He couldn’t help but smile back, even though it was forced.

“A brother? Oh really?” Mark then reached over and started tickling her sides causing Suyun to squeal and roll around from laughter. It only lasted a few seconds before the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. The two of them looked over to who it was and Mark quickly jumped to his feet, embarrassed that he had been seen. “I..uh..better get going….see you later Suyun.” Mark quickly left the room, walking past the person who politely bowed to him as he left.

“Oh? How did you get in here? I didn’t know you were here yet.” Suyun looked up and saw Kangnam standing there in sweatpants and a sweater that was done all the way up so it hid his mouth.

“I passed a staff member on the way and they let me in…so you and Mark?” Kangnam asked walking over to Suyun and holding out his hands which Suyun easily took and he hoisted her to her feet. Suyun scoffed and walked over to the music system that was resting against the back wall of the dance studio.

“He’s a close friend, that’s all.” Suyun pulled up the music for Rocking by Teen Top. “Now let’s warm up or we are never going to get out of here.” She started stretching and Kangnam followed exactly that she did. They even did some stretches together which caused both of them to laugh because even though Kangnam was out of shape he was still much stronger than Suyun and the stretching ended up being Kangnam practically throwing her around the room.

When they actually did start dancing, Suyun realised just how much Kangnam needed help with his dancing. For some reason his feet just didn’t move the way he wanted them too which was a big deal especially with this dance. They finished around two in the morning and both of them were exhausted. With their sweaty backs resting against the mirror lined wall, they breathed heavily to try and get their pulse back to normal.

“I hate dancing!” Kangnam exclaimed loudly while flailing his arms in the air, his legs too sore to move. Suyun just laughed at him and pointed out that he was a kpop idol, technically, and this is what a majority of them did. “I will never make fun of a dance again.” Kangnam drew a cross over his heart and then wiped the sweat from his forehead. “How are you not exhausted all of the time? You’re in the middle of a comeback and you seem perfectly fine with dancing all of the time. How? Are you even human?”

“Of course I’m human!” Suyun lightly nudged his arm and the two chuckled.

“But seriously, how do you have so much energy all of the time?” Kangnam asked, their breathing slowly started going back to normal. Suyun just shrugged and forced herself to stand on her feet.

“I can’t afford to get tired.” She strolled over to the music system and shut it off, the practice room now filled with only the sound of their breathing and heavy footsteps. “I have too much responsibility to get tired or upset. I left my family in America at sixteen to come here and train to be a singer. Everything I had going for me there, my friends, my family, my education, I left it all to achieve my dream.” Suyun’s fingers ran over the buttons and nobs of the music system. Kangnam got onto his feet and slowly made his way over to her. “Now that I’m here I have the girls to take care of as well as myself. If I am lacking then they get scolded for my failings and I can’t let that happen. I don’t want any of my friends to fail and I will do everything in my power to see them succeed, even if that means they have to leave me behind.” Suyun turned around to see Kangnam standing right behind her. She didn’t expect him to be that close and it startled her a bit, causing her to back up against the machine. Kangnam placed his large hands on her shoulders and quickly leaned down and placed his lips against hers in a surprise kiss.

Suyun’s eyes flew open in surprise at Kangnam’s actions and she froze. A million questions ran through her mind as she tried to process what was happening. Adrenaline rushed through Suyun as she shoved Kangnam away from her and with tears in her eyes she quickly raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

“You jerk.” Suyun said to him before running out of the practice room in tears. She didn’t care that she left her cellphone or jacket behind; she just needed to get out of there. Suyun ran all the way to the elevator and when the silver doors opened she stepped inside.

“Suyun! Wait!” Kangnam was coming after her and Suyun was jabbing her finger on the ‘close’ button. The metals doors closed, cutting off Kangnam before he could reach her. Once she was securely hidden away in the elevator, Suyun sunk to the ground and started crying as she furiously wiped her lips on the back of her hand.

“Taekwoon oppa….I’m sorry….I’m sorry…Taekwoon oppa….oppa..” Suyun was crying and feeling like the worst person in the world. Even though she wasn’t the one to initiate the kiss, it didn’t matter. A boy other than Leo had kissed Suyun and she felt like a giant cheater. She wanted to tell him what happened but she was afraid that he would hate her. Suyun couldn’t even bear to look at herself in the reflection of the elevator and stared at the ground. She was a bad person and deserved to feel bad.  

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DARN YOU KANGNAM