Okay. This chapter is gonna be different. Instead of the usual MIA/NIKKI POV, I am writing it from a third person POV. Hope it won’t be confusing.

September 30, 2015

It was past 8 in the morning. Jackson groaned to the sound of the alarm clock, feeling tired and sluggish. Dazed, he grabbed his phone from under the pillows and turned it off with one eye open. A deep breath escaped from his mouth. Another day. He then brushed up his blonde hair using his fingers and started checking on his Instagram notifications, looking at the fan-taken photos and videos from the showcase the previous night.

And then it hit him again.

She really didn’t show up. He thought to himself.

He remembered sleeping on the bedroom floor with Bambam the previous night but Bambam was no longer in the room. Everyone must have already been preparing for the day’s schedule.

“Hyung!” Bambam appeared from the bedroom door after a few minutes.

“Ya. What time did we even sleep last night? My head still feels heavy.” Jackson crankily asked.

Bambam chuckled. “Hyung. It’s not like we usually get enough sleep either. Can’t you remember why your head feels heavier than usual?”

“What are you talking about?” Jackson asked with creased eyebrows and lazily dragged himself out of the sheets.

Bambam motioned his head towards the empty bottles of beer lying at the foot of the comforter. The bedroom looked like a storage room filled with clothes, foot wears, and accessories with just enough space for one to two persons to sleep. The double-deck bed was even fully occupied with all sorts of stuff so they end up sleeping on the floor these days.

“I drank all of that?! Maldo andwae!” Jackson reacted unbelievably.

“Hyung, that’s not even the whole picture yet.”

“Museun soriya?”

“Check your Kakaotalk.” Bambam was already on the verge of laughing out loud.

---

Nikki played the video for more than 20 times already since it was sent to her at the break of dawn. The sun was shining directly at her through the train’s glass window as they headed back southwest for work. Mia was sleeping… or pretending to be sleeping. JB’s unfathomable expression still lingered in her head. It called for danger or at the very least, retreat.  It spoke of something she has been very afraid of hearing for the longest time.

Nikki continued watching the video that was sent to her by Bambam using Jackson’s phone. It showed Jackson drunk talking although it was no different at all to sober Jackson since Jackson has always been the person who speaks his mind.

“How could she…?”

“I told her to come, right?”

“Mwoga museoweo?!”

“Why do I feel like talking tonight?”

“You always talk a lot, hyung!” Bambam’s laugh could be heard clearly in the video.

“I honestly think I looked so cool earlier…”

“I was expecting…”

“Did I expect too much?”

“I am definitely not drunk talking…”

“Mwohanya?  Are you recording me right now?”

“Ya. I’m still sane.” He was slapping his own face.

“Stop drinking, hyung.” Bambam kept on telling him to stop drinking but all he did was laugh and film Jackson.

“I’m not drinking because I feel disappointed or something. Neomu haengbokhaeseo geurae. I’m just so happy. We just had our showcase! Woooo!”

“Ya. Jackson, jaya dwae! Jaebum hyung will jinjja kill you. Jugole? Geunyang sleep, ok? Sleep. S-L-E-E-P.” Nikki was pretty sure it was Junior’s voice but he was not shown in the video.

“Nikki ttaemuniji?” Junior was now asking Bambam if it was because of Nikki.

“Ama… na jinjja molla hyung.” Bambam replied, playing dumb.

“Amuteon, jigeum yeonaega jinjja andwae.” Jinyoung said, telling them it’s impossible to date at the moment.

“Pogihaesseoyo?” Bambam asked Jinyoung if he has given up.

“Mwoga?”

“On Nikki noona.”

“Jackson likes her more than I do. Anyways, it’s not yet the right time to date.”

“Ya. Jinjja stop. Why are we talking about Nikki?”

“Gwaenchanha, chinguya. I won’t judge you.” Jinyoung said, the sound of his voice almost laughing. The door shut closed afterwards.

“Why am I being like this?”

“It’s been more than a month since I last saw her…” He sounded definitely sober.

“I thought I wouldn’t mind not seeing her…”

“I sound like a hopeless romantic right now, right?” He was laughing at himself.

“Eung. Deurama cheoreom. Like in the dramas, hyung.” Bambam laughed.

“But doesn’t she miss me?”

“She probably does.” Bambam tried to keep the conversation going.

“Are you filming me right now so you can send this to her when I pass out?”

Bambam erupted in laughter. “You’re really smart, hyung!”

“I know, right? I should’ve been smart enough not to expect that she would come tonight, right?”

“I badly wanted to see her.”

“Even just for a minute.”

“Even just from a distance.”

“Is it that hard?”

“Ya. Bambam. Make sure you send this video to her so she would feel guilty about not showing up, okay?”

Bambam laughed hysterically. “You’re really something, hyung.”

“I miss her.” Jackson sounded so serious that Bambam decided to just listen and be quiet.

“I miss talking to her, hearing about her day.”

“I miss her voice.”

“I miss the sound of her laugh.”

“I miss her eyes.”

“I miss knowing she would just be around.”

“I in miss everything I sound so crazy right now!”

“If Mark and Mia could date, why can’t we even meet up?”

“Hyung, you badly want to date right now?!”

“We still can’t date right now because of the dating ban. But she said she could wait.”

“She did?”

“Yes… When we were walking along the Han River.”

“Wow. This is the first time I’m hearing this.”

“We even kissed.”

“What?!”

“Okay. I’m not filming this one anymore. We need to talk.”

---

Mark joined JB, Youngjae, and Yugyeom