It took Myungsin a whole second to make sense of Sungyeol’s reply. And after she did, she felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. It wasn’t something someone would expect to hear. Because now that she had, Myungsin was sure a gigantic amount of weight fell upon her shoulders.

It wasn’t something she could just brush off or throw aside. She was worried. Heck, she couldn’t just pretend to look the other way while someone was struggling. It would only be right for Myungsin to fix this. Whatever 'this' may be.

Before Dongwoo knew it, he found his eyes darting from the couple by the door, to a stricken Sungyeol a few steps away from him. He stared in awe as Myungsin steadily tiptoed, pulling the tall boy into a firm hug. And Dongwoo was taken even more aback, when Sungyeol readily wrapped his arms around her. He nuzzled her soft hair, just as she whispered something into his ear.

Dongwoo felt like he was going to keel over and die. What was going on? Very much lost, he spun his head around only to find the whole studio frozen on the spot. Everyone was rudely ogling at the two kids, who were in each other’s embrace. His eyes then rested on the confounded Myungsoo, and the demeaningly gaping Sungjong. Nobody even pretended to be discreet for good manner’s sake.

Eventually, this astounding moment was respectively ruined when an idiot shouted. “Group hug!”

“The hell is ice-breaking?” Woohyun mumbled to himself after the fifth time he had heard it. Sungyeol and Myungsin was going to do some ice-breaking. That was what he’d heard. But what do you do when you ice-break? Woohyun knew it would be stupid to ask what it was. And it’d be even more stupid to start glancing around, saying that he didn’t see any ice. Luckily, he’d caught himself just before that could happen. It was a close call.

“Woohyun hyung, you look constipated.” A voice belonging to Sungjong interrupted his thoughts. He quickly turned his head around to find an amused maknae staring at him. Woohyun raised his eyebrows, attempting to look as indifferent as he could. “Now, you definitely are constipated.”

He wasn’t sure what it was that made him feel slightly different. Usually, it wouldn’t have started like this. He usually wasn’t the kind of person to immediately feel a pleasant feeling towards someone. Especially if it was for a girl.

Sunggyu would always keep his eyes on whoever stepped into their…milieu. A comfortable sphere he and the members had built to protect themselves. It was supposed to be a safe place. A place one can rest for a bit and let things go. That was what they had wordlessly agreed on.

And as the oldest, it’d only be natural for Sunggyu to transform himself into a hawk whenever and whichever person penetrated that sphere. But for some reason, he didn’t look at it as a kind of intrusion this time. It didn’t feel like a kind of intrusion. Could his instincts be wrong? Doubtful. Could he really trust this girl? Even though he had a feeling he could, he still wasn’t sure.

Myungsin. A human god, wasn't it? Even her name sounded friendly and harmless. But, was she really harmless? He barely knew the girl. And this was the first time seeing her in person. But Sunggyu was ready to trust her. He was ready.

He was sure it wasn’t because he felt desperate or tired of having to take responsibility for everything. Even if he was, Sunggyu wouldn’t be so unkind as to toss away his concerns for Sungyeol. But could he trust Myungsin to take care of Sungyeol? Would Myungsin even care about Sungyeol? He would have to see.

Sitting on the floor with her back resting against the wall, wasn’t the best position to be in. But the chairs were all taken and she was too lazy to go look for one. Plus, she was too polite to make a fuss about her hurting. Gods, she was barely eighteen and yet she sounded so much like an old granny.

Myungsin glanced around the studio absentmindedly, watching stylist unnies chatting at the tea table, Infinite hyungs interacting animatedly with each other, and the drama’s producer and director having conversations with her manager unnie and a man, who was most likely Sungyeol hyung’s manager.

It occurred to Myungsin half a second later that Sungyeol wasn’t in sight, and it made her unknowingly frown. Where was he? Quickly getting up and making her way towards the door, she looked around the room one last time. Still no Sungyeol. Outside the studio, Myungsin tried her best to walk quietly, not really comfortable with the echoes she was making with each step.

Out of habit, she made her way down the dull hallway that she was sure lead to the bathrooms. She let out a small cry of surprise when she turned a corner, almost bumping into a person walking in the opposite direction.

“In Korea, you keep to the right.” Sungyeol said lightly to the small girl he'd almost walked into.

“Sorry, I only just got my license.” Myungsin replied quietly and with a hint of a smile, to which he freely chuckled. They stared at each other a few seconds too long to consider normal, before the girl broke the silence. “Why are you wet?” The odd question made Sungyeol realise he still hadn’t found anything to dry his face and hands with. That was until Myungsin pull out a blue handkerchief.

“Uh, there weren’t any paper towels.” He answered, gratefully accepting the square cloth with a wet hand. “Thanks.” Myungsin slid her hands into her jeans’ pockets, chuckling at Sungyeol while he was in the process of drying himself.

They'd managed to walk back to the studio only to be greeted by almost every pairs of eyes. “Oh, there you are. Where were you two?” Director-hyung spoke, making his way towards him and Myungsin, who muttered ‘bathroom’. “Alright. Myungsin-ah, since you already studied the script, I want you to brief this boy on everything you happen to know. Is that fine with you?”

“Yes, yes. It’s fine, director-nim.” Myungsin responded with one of her cute smiles, to which the man couldn’t help but smile back.

“Great.” He said. “Off you go.”

A/N: something is coming up! what could it be?