Mino and Taehyun held hands lovingly as they made their way from the dorm towards the nearest food stand to get their dinner.

“I know a shorter route to the fish cake shop. This way, baby.” Taehyun grabbed Mino by his wrist and led him across the road towards a narrow and dark alley.

The lovers intertwined their fingers as they carefully made their way into the dark alley, guiding each other in the lightly lit area and simply talking about anything that crossed their minds.

“Do you remember those days when we walked through alleys like these on our way back home almost every night?” Mino asked.

“Of course!” Taehyun immediately answered, glancing at Mino. “I loved walking home with you because that was when we felt the safest being together. I still remembered how secured I felt every single time we held each other’s hands as we walk through that alley.”

“Those were the days where the only time we could hold hands without anyone seeing us. Even then, we got caught somehow.” Mino reminisced about their careful past where they could not do things that other couples do.

“Do you remember that night?” Mino suddenly asked Taehyun. “It was still vivid in my mind.”

 “Which… night?” Taehyun innocently asked, looking at Mino curiously.

“You don’t remember?” Mino asked with disappointment in his voice.

Taehyun looked up at Mino again with a question mark expression on his face. He wished he knew what Mino was referring to but even after looking at Mino, he didn’t know what Mino was talking about.

Without notice, Mino swiftly pulled Taehyun’s arm and pushed the younger onto the cold wall, trapping him between the wall and his arms. His actions were too fast that Taehyun did not have time to react. His heart started beating quickly as he gazed into Mino’s dark eyes.

“Ah” Taehyun suddenly remembered as he was tightly trapped against the wall. “Y… You mean that night where we had our first kis-”

Mino stared deep into Taehyun’s beautiful eyes and placed his finger on the younger’s lips, hushing Taehyun from uttering another word. “It’s okay if you don’t remember, baby. I’ll make you remember.” he whispered and broke out in a loving smile.

Mino let go of his grip on Taehyun’s wrists closed in the gap between them, cupping his hands on Taehyun’s soft cheeks. He gently caressed Taehyun’s cheeks while his eyes traced the beautiful silhouette of his lover, reflected from the light of the street lamps.

“Close your eyes, sweetheart.” Mino whispered as he approached Taehyun, drawing his lips in and aiming for his lover’s lips.

Taehyun carefully closed his eyes just as he was told and anticipated Mino’s lips, knowing what’s to come next. He could feel Mino’s hot breath against his face and his heart pounded erratically at the thought of Mino’s lips meeting his. Time stood still between the two lovers as they found themselves in the exact same situation four years ago, reminiscing the exact emotions and feelings they once had during their first kiss in the alley.

Mino’s lips gently brushed against Taehyun’s lips while his hands travelled from Taehyun’s cheeks and down to his hips. He pulled Taehyun’s slim figure closer to his, feeling each other’s rapid heartbeats beat in sync with one another.

Feeling Mino’s lips on his, Taehyun allowed Mino’s tongue to devour his own mouth as he shuts his eyes tightly from the adrenaline shooting right to his flushed face. It was a beautiful moment for the both of them and it was definitely something that they could not express with words. They were brought back to the days where they were young and innocent four years ago where all they had was each other and were simply contented being each other’s first loves.

Four years ago- the time where neither of them expected that things would turn out the way they had been and they would do anything to turn back time to change the situation if they could.  

But they were too young and naïve back then.

Mino explored Taehyun’s mouth with the feeling of lust and ecstasy. He hugged Taehyun even tighter as memories of their first kiss flashed through his head like as if it just happened yesterday. It was a beautiful moment that was relived once again after four years and both of them could never be more thankful to have met again under their current circumstance. Just when they thought that they would never meet each other again in a different country, their fate proved them otherwise. Who would have thought that the two who never discussed about their hidden passion in music meet each other through music in a different country?

This was definitely fate that had it all planned for the two of them.

As the lovers were slowly immersed in the heated moment in the quiet alley, Mino’s phone rang, distracting the lovers. He gently released Taehyun’s lips, creating a thin string of saliva between the lovers as they looked into each other’s passionate eyes and calmed their heartbeats.

“Let me get this call first.” Mino reached out to his phone from his back pocket and picked it up. Taehyun rested his head on Mino’s chest and he could feel Mino’s heartbeat and his chest pumping hard at the same time, trying to catch his breath. Mino simply placed his arm on Taehyun’s neck, hugging his lover close to his chest.

“Yes, hyung?” Mino asked as soon as he picked up the phone, breathing loudly into the phone.

“Why are you so out of breath?” Seunghoon asked following Mino’s question.

“We had to run at the traffic light. What’s up?”

“Listen carefully, Mino yah. The camera crew are here and they are looking for you two to film you guys buying dinner. Don’t get caught doing hanky panky things with Taehyun. Just act natural, like two friends who are simply buying dinner. Okay?” Seunghoon explained.

“Got it, hyung. Where are they now?” Mino asked.

“Some of them are installing the camera in our rooms and some of them are getting ready to leave to find you guys. Where are you now?”

“Okay, hyung. We are heading towards the intersection by the road. We’ll probably head to the friend rice shop to get Yoonie’s dinner first.”

“Got it. Remember not to be too close in front of the cameras and be careful.” Seunghoon adviced again and Mino simply thanked him before ending the call. He kept his phone and rested his head on Taehyun’s shoulders.

“Babe, we’ll have to go.” Mino pouted. “The camera crew are coming.” He gently rubbed Taehyun’s back.

“They’re filming us now?” Taehyun looked up at Mino in confusion.

“Yeah. Apparently they want to film us getting dinner and stuff.” Mino explained with a noticeable look of disappointment on his face. With feelings of regret that they could not spend more time together on their own, the two walked towards the end of the alley, which led them to the shops.

 

“The boys are heading to the fried rice shop first near the intersection. It’s just a 10 minutes’ walk from here so you should be able to spot them. You can follow the shelter from our dorm until the traffic light, it leads you there.” Seunghoon explained to the camera crew as soon as he put down the phone.

“Thank you, Seunghoon ah.” The camera crew who were already getting ready outside the house put on his shoes and made his way to the elevator with a couple of other cameramen.

“Babe, what should we do now that the cameras are coming back?” Mino asked Taehyun while waiting for their order to be packed. They had quickly gotten out of the alley and ordered the fried rice that Seungyoon had asked for.

“One thing I know for sure, we definitely can’t be spotted sleeping together.” Taehyun sighed.

“Tell me about it. I’m starting to miss the freedom we had already. We can’t even bathe together and get naughty anymore.” Mino teased.

“Get naughty?” Taehyun blushed, playfully hitting Mino with his elbow. “Why are we talking about this here?” Taehyun’s face was already getting red from Mino’s playful tease.

“You’re so cute, you know? You get all red like a new bride every time I tease you.” Mino pinched Taehyun’s nose and Taehyun reached out to tickle Mino which got Mino all defensive and squirmed in his seat.

“You can only blush for me, okay? No one else.” Mino got hold of Taehyun’s wrists to stop him from tickling him.

“Mino- sshi, Taehyun- sshi.” Suddenly a voice called out, abruptly stopping them while they were fooling around with each other. Mino quickly let go of Taehyun and they both stood up, only to realise that the camera crew had just reached the restaurant.

“Oh, hello.” They greeted the crew.

“Hello boys.” The camera crew greeted back. “We’re filming you while you’re getting dinner. Have you gotten your food?”

“We’re getting Seungyoon’s order here first then we’ll get Jinwoo and Hoon hyung’s orders after this.” Mino explained.

“Okay. We’ll start filming here, okay?” one of the camera directors asked.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”

Their order was called out as soon as the cameras stated rolling. Mino and Taehyun got up to collect their order and paid the cashier before leaving to get the other’s dinners. They chatted with each other naturally in front of the camera even when getting food for the other members. Mino and Taehyun naturally adapted to the filming atmosphere again, the feeling of being watched while they’re on their own.

“Hyung.” Taehyun called out to Mino who was paying attention to the other delicacies which had caught his attention.

“Yes, baby?” Mino answered mindlessly.

Taehyun widened his eyes in shock at Mino’s slip of tongue. He quickly pointed to the nearby shop to distract the camera crew, hoping that they did not hear what Mino had just called him.

“I mean Taehyunnie. Yes, what’s up?” Mino quickly corrected himself upon realising his mistake.

“Want to get some cloth?” Taehyun asked.

“For?”

“Remember those little display dolls we bought the other day with the others when shopping for our clothes? We wanted to do it together, remember?”

“Ah, those! Okay, sounds good!” Mino gave a thumbs up and approached the shop that Taehyun pointed to as a distraction technique, thankfully that shop sold the materials that they needed for their surprise project. He looked at a couple of cloths and commented on which was suitable for the members.

“Seungyoon has this pants.” Mino picked out a flowery cloth, earning a laugh from Taehyun who seemed to know which pants Mino was referring to. “Exactly the same.”

“We can get this grey one for Jinwoo hyung.” Taehyun pointed to a grey cloth, earning a loud laugh from Mino and from the cameramen as well. Of course, who couldn’t deny Jinwoo’s everlasting love for grey hoodies?

The two carefully picked out various cloths which suited the members’ styles and were satisfied with their purchase. They finished their errands by stopping by the fish cake shop to get Seunghoon’s dinner before deciding to purchase tteokbokki for the members to share.

“Dance for me, I’ll give you this as a service.” An elderly lady requested the two for a dance after they had tried her tteokbokki and danced excitedly to express their excitement. Without hesitation, the two happily danced and earned a free tteokbokki for them and the members. They happily walked back home with their dinner while chatting happily.

 

“We’re back!” they announced as soon as they opened the door.

“What took you guys so long!” Seunghoon rushed over to the food in their hands. “We almost died of hunger.”

“There were so many shops selling so much delicious food, we couldn’t decide which to buy.” Mino laughed. “I’ll set the table, you call the rest.” Mino and Taehyun transferred the food into bowls and plates while the members make their way out of their rooms.

“Hyung, are you feeling better?” Mino asked as soon as he realised that Jinwoo was already seated with them at the dinner table. Jinwoo simply nodded and picked up his chop sticks while the rest of the members settled in their respective seats.

“Thank you for the food.” The members thanked before digging into their dinner. As usual, their dinner time was full of chatter as they caught up with things and discussed about work. Dinner has always been like this, never a quiet time because there were just so much things to talk and laugh about. Even Jinwoo who was feeling down laughed at his younger brothers’ silly antics.

After filming the boys’ dinner time, the crew gave a couple of instructions to them about the filming details. They bid them goodbye shortly after, letting the boys know that they were done filming for the day and that they would be waiting in their studio the next day.

“We’ll film you two making the dolls for the members on another day, okay?” one of the crew whispered to Taehyun while they were leaving.

“Yes, we’ll let you know when we’re doing it.” Taehyun replied.

“Alright. Rest well boys. See you tomorrow.”

"So, did anything fun happen today?" Seunghoon who was taking a bottle of water from the fridge asked Mino who was alone in the kitchen. 

"Besides our battle at JYP this morning, nope." Mino replied. 

"Ay, I was there too for the battle okay. I mean, did anything happen while you were out on your dinner errands?" 

"Oh." Mino pretended to understand when in fact he already knew Seunghoon's motive. "Nothing much, we just kissed."

"Wah" Seunghoon gaped, mentally applauding the two lovers for their uncontrollable desire to make out even when they are in public.

"Hyung why do you need to know everything?" Mino mindlessly asked.

"Why? You don't like it?" Seunghoon suddenly sounded like he was offended by Mino's question. "You don't like it when I ask about my best friend's love life?" 

"Ah, hyung." Mino looked up at Seunghoon who was sighing. "You know that's not what I meant.”

"So, what did you two do?" Seunghoon suddenly beamed and looked curiously at his best friend. 

Mino laughed in absurdity. "Every chance you get, eh?" 

"Yes, because I'm curious like that." 

"Remember I told you that our first kiss was at the alley that we had to pass by on our way back to school?" 

"Uhuh?" 

"There was a similar alley somewhere here. It’s not exactly the same but it's just dark and we just got reminded of our first kiss." Mino explained. "Yeah that’s all." He clicked his fingers.

"So you two kissed in the dark alley? Woah that's my Song Mino" Seunghoon patted Mino's shoulders. "What else did you do?" He raised his eyebrows. 

"We didn't get to do anything because you called."

“At times like those you wished you didn’t have your phone with you, right?”

“You already knew the obvious yet you still asked?” Mino scoffed. “I wished you weren’t as nosey as you are now.”

“Yah, if I only minded my own business then no one would protect you two from dating openly.” Seunghoon snickered. “Forget it, I’m going to sleep now. We’ll have to get up early tomorrow for an important announcement by the president.” He pretended to sulk.

“Hyung.”

“What?” Seunghoon turned to look at his best friend.

“You know that I love you, right?” Mino smiled playfully, giving Seunghoon a heart with his fingers.

“Psh.” Seunghoon laughed. “You know that I know you don’t mean it, right? You only have Taehyun in your heart, dear friend.”

“Hyung!” Mino laughed in absurdity. “I don’t mean that!”

“Whatever, buddy. Are you going to bed yet?”

“Not yet. Taehyun’s bringing me up to the rooftop.”

“For?”

“I don’t know. Just to chat maybe. Or make out.” Mino joked. “There’s too much cameras around here.” He whispered, looking around the kitchen to make sure that there weren’t any nearby cameras that picked up their conversation.

“You two better not do anything like that outside if you don’t want to die by my hands.” Seunghoon raised his fist in front of Mino’s face.

“I was just kidding, hyung. Go to bed first, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay then, buddy. Don’t stay out too late” Seunghoon reminded, patting Mino’s shoulders.

“Night, hyung.”

 

After putting on a warm sweater, Taehyun came out of his room, signalling that he was ready.

“Let’s go get some night breeze, hyung.” Taehyun emphasised after noticing that Mino was sitting near one of the cameras placed in the living room.

“Okay.” Mino simply replied and put on his cap before leaving the house with the maknae.

After locking the door, Taehyun excitedly pulled Mino by his arm and climbed a couple of stairs up to the rooftop where he was excited about bringing Mino for the first time.

"Taa-daa~!” Taehyun proudly presented the landscape of the rooftop to Mino as soon as they opened the door.

“WOW” Mino gaped. “I never realised that the night view would look so pretty like this.” Mino was instantly captivated by view of the pretty lights from the buildings surrounding their apartment. “We can even see the company from here.” He exclaimed like an excited kid.

“This is the place that gives me strength when I’m down after a long day at work.” Taehyun explained. “But sometimes when I had a bad day at work and I need to free my mind, I wished that the company wouldn’t look so close from here.”

“In the past, I used to come up here every single day just to look at the sky because I thought maybe if you're looking at the sky at the same time then the sky might answer my prayers and allow us to meet." Taehyun sincerely explained, taking a seat on the bench and pulled Mino by his hand onto the bench. He shifted his body and sat close to the person that's so precious to him. 

"And you know what, baby?" Taehyun asked, looking at Mino who was looking at the wide sky with his fingers intertwined with Taehyun. 

"Mmhmm?" 

"Maybe the heavens were watching us from afar, that's why our prayers were answered.”

Mino closed his eyes and smiled, absorbing Taehyun's beautiful words and letting his feelings sink into the deep emotions that had him thinking about the painful past they once had.

"I look up at the sky and asked myself the same thing every night.” Mino took in a deep breath and expressed his feelings. “What was it that made you leave me, how you were doing while we’re apart, why didn't you ever tell me that you were going away and what wrong did I do for us to end up this way?”

“Every night I wished that I would wake up some days with you in front of me with all the answers I needed. And I guess God heard our prayers." Mino confessed, turning his head to his side and looked at his lover who was intently staring at him. 

"You don't know how happy I am right now to even be able to watch the stars with you and have such conversations like this. I thought I'd only be able to watch the stars with Yunhyongie." 

"You come up to the rooftop with him too?" Mino asked with a slight tinge of jealousy. He thought that he was the only one whom Taehyun would watch stars with, since it was something Taehyun only does with someone he was really close to. 

"Not here, but at the company. We have days where both teams practice together and we ended up sleeping at the practice room so both of us would just spend some time at the rooftop while the rest order some food and play in the studio.” 

"Are you guys really close?” Mino wondered. 

"Us as in with the other team? In the past we didn’t have Team A or Team B. We used to train together and we even lived in the same dorm once, before the lease expired and the president had to separate us because he was adding members to that team." Taehyun explained. 

"I'm not sure if I've told you before but I came in on the same day with Yunhyeong through our respective private auditions so at that time there were only Jiwon, Hanbin, Jinhwannie, Yoonie and Jinwoo hyung. Since we didn’t know anyone there, we decided to stick together and the other trainees looked like they were already so close to each together. For a while, I refused to open up to the rest but that boy helped me open up to the other members and our trainers. That’s how we gradually got closer."

"Then did you tell him about us during the period when we were separated?"  Mino asked. 

"I did, but I never mentioned your name. When I missed you, I would just talk to him about it and he always listened to my rants no matter how much I talk." Taehyun smiled, reminiscing the memories of his early days as a trainee. 

"Did he know we met again?”

"I haven’t told him that yet. Both our teams have been really busy these days so I haven’t really gotten the chance to talk to him privately. I promise that I’ll formally introduce you to him when we’re less busy, even though you two have introduced yourselves to each other before. We're really close but trust me we don't have any other feelings for each other." Taehyun explained his friendship between his closest buddy and made it clear that there was a line between the two of them to Mino.

"I’m glad to hear that. I totally had a wrong impression of you two since the day I saw you at the rooftop so I’ve been getting antsy whenever I see you two together. We should totally hang out together some days, I haven't gotten a chance to properly talk to him though." 

“We are really not in that kind of relationship.” Taehyun laughed, remembering that one time he forcefully pulled Yunhyeong for a kiss to make Mino jealous of them because of their ongoing tension at that moment. “We’re as close as you are with Hoon hyung. I used to have a wrong impression when you two bathed together too.”

Mino smiled and nodded, assured that Taehyun only has him in his heart and that was all that mattered to him.

"Talking about Hoon hyung, I want to tell you something." Taehyun suddenly confessed. It was something that he had kept to himself which he really wanted to let Mino know, when the time is right, that is. 

"Hoon hyung? What about him?" Mino asked, suddenly concerned at the mention of his best friend. 

"But promise me that you won't flip out or anything?" Taehyun carefully requested. 

"Okay, promise." Mino pledged not to react hastily at whatever Taehyun was going to say, raising 3 fingers and putting it by his heart. "Did he like, bully you or something? Behind my back?"

Taehyun let out a small laugh at Mino's silly assumption. Mino looked totally serious and curious, like as if they were discussing something really important. 

"He's too nice to be bullying me." Taehyun laughed again. 

"If he didn’t bully you then?" Mino asked again, impatient to know what Taehyun has to say about his best friend. 

"I already heard from Hoon hyung about your condition way before you told me when we bathed together." 

Mino went silent for a while, digesting the information Taehyun had just gave him and processing it in his head. He looked up at Taehyun who was looking at him with an uneasy expression. 

"He told you everything?” Mino asked softly with a vague expression on his face, not exactly conveying his exact feelings. “So you already knew about me before I told you?”

"I was curious so I asked him so don't get mad at him. If you want to get mad at him, get mad at me instead. I bugged him to tell me everything because I really wanted to know what you've been through after all these years we've been separated for so long. The times you bathed with him, the times you called me out in your sleep, the times where-"  Taehyun explained quickly like a bullet train, hoping that Mino wouldn’t get misunderstood with his best friend’s intentions.

"Shh." Mino placed his index finger on Taehyun's lips and turned the younger's body sideways to face him who was already facing Taehyun. "Look at me." 

Taehyun looked at Mino with a worried expression. He was worried at what Mino has to say about the situation. After all, it was him who came into Seunghoon’s room after Mino was asleep to find out about Mino’s condition without his knowledge.

"Thank you." Mino simply replied, wiping off the worry off the younger's face and using his fingers to force a smile out of the younger's confused face. "Thank you for telling me this." 

"Why? Wasn’t it supposed to be a secret you entrusted to your best friend that you didn't want anyone to know? So why thank you?" Taehyun asked, holding onto his lover's wrist while Mino cups his face. 

"Hoon hyung is someone I treasure so much in my life because he was there to witness me at my lowest moment and he was the only one who could put up with my indefinite attitude. Keeping this secret from anyone was a heavy task for him. I know that just from the look in his eyes." Mino disclosed. 

"And we really don't talk much about this issue because I once he kept asking me what was it about you that I kept seeing in my sleep and I just blew up without explaining it to him. I guess that's why we never talked about that incident anymore and since it was related to my biggest trauma in my life, we only talked briefly about it whenever necessary. Like when I need to get my condition checked and things like that.” He explained further.

“I’m thanking you because you’re probably the first person in 4 years to hear the heaviest secret he kept in his heart and he finally let it off his chest after keeping it buried on his own for years." 

Taehyun was speechless. The friendship between those two were commendable and it was evident for the fact that they protected each other's privacy while still giving the personal space they both needed. He hung his arms around Mino's neck and pulled the older into a hug. 

"I don't know what Hoon hyung told you exactly but I'm sure that you cried a lot that day, right? If I were the one telling the whole incident to you from the start to end, I would have cried buckets too." Mino pulled Taehyun in his arms and whispered into Taehyun's ears. "Ah Hoon hyung. What would I do without him."

Taehyun went silent in Mino’s arms. He has been contemplating for a long time as to when he would find the right time to reveal it to Mino. He realised that other than him who has been living with the painful memory of the trauma in his heart, Seunghoon was also bearing the same amount of pain as he was. Having no one to share his situation with all these years, he had kept his best friend’s secrets bottled up within him for the longest time, until he found the perfect person to tell it to-  Taehyun.

“Hoon hyung said the same thing too. He said that it was better for him to reveal it to me first instead of you, because you might not be strong enough to reveal it.”

Mino held Taehyun tighter in is arms, feeling comforted and warm that the person he loved the most was in his arms. He now understood the pain that Seunghoon had to go through on his own because of him and was glad that he always had Seunghoon by his side, even until now while they are pursuing their dreams together. It was definitely a blessing to have the two people whom he was thankful for living together with him and he couldn’t ask for anything less.

“I was glad that he told you. I am really beyond thankful for him.” Mino rested his head on Taehyun’s shoulders. Mino closed his eyes, unable to count the endless amount of blessing he’s received throughout his entire life. He sniffed at the thought of the wonderful people in his life and wiped the tears that were welling in his eyes.

“You’re crying?” Taehyun asked, not able to see his lover’s face.

“I was just thinking how regretful I would feel if I wasn’t given another chance to live till today. What if they didn’t find me that day?”

“You’re here now.” Taehyun comforted. “That’s all that matters, really.”

They rested in each other’s embrace for a while and comfortably soothed themselves in each other’s embrace before recovering from their current emotions. After talking for a while more, they left the rooftop and headed back home to recharge their exhausted bodies.

 

“Good morning.” Mino ran to his best friend and gave him a back hug while Seunghoon was drinking juice in the kitchen.

“Did something good happen last night? It’s been a while since you gave me a morning hug though.”

“Nah, nothing. I just want to give you a hug because I’m so thankful for you.” Mino whispered, still wrapping his arms around Seunghoon’s waist and rested his chin on Seunghoon’s shoulders.

“Something happened at the rooftop last night, right?” Seunghoon asked again, putting down his cup.

“Nothing happened. Let me stay like this for a while and transmit all my love to you.” Mino simply replied.

“You’re getting too cheesy these days. Must be the love floating in the air.” Seunghoon laughed.

“I think so.” Mino gently kissed his best friend’s shoulder. It was something he always do whenever he felt thankful for the people around him.

“Omo, I DIDN’T SEE THAT.” Jinwoo exclaimed at the shocking morning scene he saw in the kitchen between the two best friends.

“Hyung, you again?” Seunghoon teased. “Why are you always walking in on us?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see that and I’ll keep it a secret from Taehyun.” Jinwoo quickly muttered before immediately turning around.

“See what?” Mino quickly ran from Seunghoon towards Jinwoo and gave him a backhug, just like how he did with Seunghoon. “This?”

“Yah what if the camera sees this? What is Taehyun sees this?” Jinwoo was taken aback by Mino’s sudden action and tried to disengage from Mino’s playful hug.

“Hyung, have you not seen guys hugging each other?” Seunghoon asked Jinwoo as soon as Jinwoo managed to release himself from Mino.

“You guys are the first, I swear.”

“This is how we get close to each other, hyung. Giving each other morning hugs doesn’t necessarily mean you are dating.”

Jinwoo looked up at the two best friends who were giggling at Jinwoo’s morning antics, feeling embarrassed that he may have over reacted for a bit.

“After all, you guys came from overseas, so I can see why it’s normal for you.” Jinwoo fumbled through his hair in embarrassment and awkwardly walked out of the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?” Seungyoon who was coming out of the room asked Jinwoo who was hurrying back to the room.

“Those overseas guys are weird.” Jinwoo mumbled.

 

After the short morning chaos, the team quickly got themselves ready to go to the training centre for an important announcement by the president. Along the way, Seunghoon could not stop teasing Jinwoo about the situation in the morning and Mino was walking with Taehyun feeling light hearted.

They arrived at the headquarters and marked their video attendance as usual, together with the other team who were already there waiting for their turn. After they were done, they made their way to the practice room where the filming crew and the staffs were awaiting their presence as well as President Yang’s arrival.

After waiting for a while, the president finally arrived with his iPad in his hands, as usual.

“Anyone have any idea why you guys are gathered here again?” he asked as soon as he sat down. The trainees looked at each other and shook their heads in confusion.

“Remember that at the very beginning I told you that the reason why you guys are being filmed is because you will be in a survival battle? Those mini battles you boys have had all these while as trainees are just the beginning. This is the real deal.” He explained.

“You will have three battles; like what I have explained earlier on. I’ve explained to you earlier on how these battles work and the results will be determined by your fans and the judges. I’m not going in detail as I’ve talked about this a couple of times so if you’re unsure you may ask any one of the staffs or your teachers here.”  “Without wasting time, here are the details for your first battle- Team A you will interpret and rearrange Taeyang’s songs and Team B you will do the same for G-dragon’s songs. One song to sing and one song to dance to.” The president further explained.

“This is a battle of pride for both teams as well as your seniors Taeyang and G-dragon. They will personally guide you through this battle and bring you through every single practice amidst their busy schedules. The time now is 9.30am so you have plenty of time to have a good listen of the past songs that both your seniors have released and choose one that can match your team’s vocals well. Your Big Bang hyungs has a schedule this morning so they will only come in slightly after lunch time so have your songs chosen by then.” He went on to further explain on how the concept of the battles would be for the first round.

“You have about less than 2 weeks to prepare from now. Any questions? If there isn’t any then go back to the training centre. I’ll post up details on when I need to see the practice videos, so stay updated.” With that, he stood up and left the trainees who were at all feeling confused, thrilled and worried from the information they just got from the president. They realised that they would be working with YG’s greatest mentors, it feels like a dream come true for all eleven of them.

 

Back at the studio, Team A were gathering around the monitor to search for Taeyang’s songs to be used for the first battle. They listened to the list of songs he had released and evaluated them carefully, each giving their opinions on the songs they listened to.

“I think wedding dress would be interesting for us to sing and we can insert rap parts for Mino and Hoon hyung somewhere around this part.” Seungyoon paused at a certain mark and asked for the opinion of the members.

“Honestly I think wedding dress would be nicer if we use it for the dance segment? Since the beats are slow and I can come up with a couple of dance steps for those beats.” Seunghoon suggested, moving his arms around as he tries to choreograph on the spot according to the song that was currently playing. 

After finally deciding on the song that all of them finally agreed on, they tried to remake the song using their own rendition to fit the team’s colour. Of course, Seungyoon was the first one to grab his guitar and played a couple of chords according to the beats from the song they were working on.

While the rest were busy mashing up and remixing the songs, Seunghoon was the only one by the mirror and working on a couple of dance steps to match the tempo and rhythm of the song. Besides just rapping, Seunghoon has always had so much passion for dance and was thankful to be given the opportunity to choreograph dances for the team according to the mood and style he thinks suits the team best.

After a while, he called the other members to try out a choreograph he invented in less than an hour ago. He was indeed a genius choreographer and was a valuable asset to the team. They have decided on using Taeyang’s song ‘Wedding Dress’ and Seunghoon was already excited to show what he has worked on to complement the dance with the song.

“Watch and follow.” Seunghoon explained the dance steps through his movements and the other members were already following him as soon as he showed the dance to the members. He continued explaining the rest of the dance steps to the members while the rest followed suit.

After practicing a couple of times, the boys were getting restless and exhausted. Mino started to fool around and grabbed Taehyun’s cheeks since Taehyun was just in front of Mino for that particular dance step. Taehyun was flustered and immediately turned around to grab Mino’s while Mino pretended that nothing had happened. An eye for an eye, they say.

“Yah yah yah what are you two doing, grabbing each other’s in the middle of practice? Can you two please focus?” Seughoon slightly raised his voice.

“Ah hyung I just thought of this move. Maybe we can include grabbing in our choreography for our performance? I bet it’s going to be funny!” Mino lied.

Seunghoon looked at Mino and thought hard for a while, probably convinced that Mino’s impromptu idea could be of good use.

“Hmmm, maybe not for this choreography Mino ya. Our sunbaes will be the ones who will judge us so we need to be professional in our dance. Maybe when we debut in the future we can use this move to appeal to our fans? Like a fan service kind of move?” Seunghoon suggested, grinning wide dreaming of the day that they’ll all stand on stage performing in front of their fans.

 

It’s been a week since they officially started preparing for the first battle with their mentor, Taeyang who has been working closely together with them. Compared to when Taeyang first came in to start guiding them, they have now gotten a little closer with him after a week of being mentored by one of the greatest seniors in YG.

As usual, they practiced late into the night and were practicing over and over again for the dance steps which has been carefully choreographed by Seunghoon with Taeyang’s guidance and improvisation. Taeyang has been paying special attention to the dance steps in particular as he wants it to show the true essence of the song as well as to incorporate Team A’s unique colours into the dance and not wanting it to look just like any ordinary dance covers. He’s been dancing and sweating it out with the members from the time he steps into their practice studio to the time where he has to leave for his schedules.

“We’ll start again from the second verse where we start off by jumping then we get into our individual positions. 2, 2, 3, 4-“ Taeyang monitored the boys who were prepared to dance for that verse.

As soon as the song started playing, the boys jumped up high from the centre position as choreographed and scurried to their positions to make sure that they do not miss the timing of the verse they were dancing to.

“Ow, ow!” Suddenly Mino wailed in pain and the rest of the members immediately shifted their focus onto Mino who was already on the floor, holding onto his ankles and groaning in pain.

“Mino yah, what’s wrong?” Seunghoon asked his best friend whose face had already turned red from the excruciating pain from his ankles.

“I think it got twisted. It hurts, hyung.” Mino mumbled as he held onto his ankles tightly.

“First aid!” Seunghoon commanded to the rest of the members. “Do we have any in this room?”

“I don’t think we have any in the dance studio. I’ll go get the staff!” Taeyang rushed out of the dance studio and headed to the office to get one of the staffs.

Taehyun held onto Mino’s hands, worrying about his boyfriend and giving him strength even though it may not be of much help to Mino in easing the pain. He thought that maybe it could comfort him a little before his pain gets treated properly.

“Where are you hurt?” A staff rushed into the studio with the first aid box and assembled the necessary medications to treat the pain. “It’s swollen.” She informed after examining Mino’s ankles for a while.

“We’ll need to get you to the doctor.” She rectified his injury.

“At this time?” Seunghoon pointed to the time on the clock. It was fifteen minutes past 10pm and he wasn’t sure if there were any doctors which was still open at that time.

“We’ll bring him to the ER because the swell doesn’t look like a normal injury. Someone carry him on your back and bring him to the car. I’ll call your driver to drive you there.” She instructed and rushed out of the practice room while busily making a phone call. Without hesitation, Seunghoon carried Mino onto his back as instructed and followed the staff together with the other members to the van where other staffs attended to Mino’s injury to ease the pain.

Seunghoon loaded Mino who was still groaning in pain into the van where there were already staff members and security guards already gathered around their black van.

“We need one of you to follow him to the hospital.” The staff member instructed. “No cameras, please.” She pointed to the camera crew who were still filming the chaos from the dance studio to the carpark incident.

“We need to give our trainee his own private consultation with the doctor, I hope you understand.” She explained further to the camera crew who were seen switching off their filming equipment at her request. The crew nodded and returned to the dance studio where they would continue filming the rest of the members.

“So who’s following Mino?” the staff member asked again.

 “I’m following him.” Seunghoon raised his right hand.

“Me too!” Taehyun volunteered to follow Mino.

“We only need one person to follow. Taehyun, you stay and continue practice.” The staff member instructed for Taehyun to stay and hopped onto the van along with Seunghoon and injured Mino.

“I’ll text you.” Mino whispered to his lover. Taehyun simply nodded and smiled, assuring Mino that everything would be fine,

“We’ll be back.” Seunghoon rolled down the windows, informing the three remaining members who were standing by the van.

“We’ll see you two at home. Update us if there’s anything important.” Jinwoo gave a warm smile to his younger members and waved at them.

 

“Did you have a serious fall recently?” the doctor asked after examining the X-ray results.

“Recently as in last few hours? Not that I remember of.” Mino replied.

“What about last month or anytime this year? From the scan results, it showed that your injury was triggered by a very serious fall and it didn’t get treated properly that time.”

“I think about 2 months ago? I fell when I was backstage.” Mino recalled the incident where he had a serious sprain on his leg while looking for Taehyun who went missing after the press conference.

“I’m guessing that must be the cause of your fall. You may not have felt much pain after the fall because at that time the veins have not burst. Now that you have done various vigorous activities, your injury got worse hence leading to your current condition.” The doctor explained.

“I advise that you stop all activities that require you to use your ankles, including dancing, playing sports and things like that.”

“Dancing too? But I have a battle coming up in a few weeks.” Mino revealed, hoping that the doctor would give a favourable advice for his condition.

“Still no. Your injury needs at least a month to heal. You should have sought professional help right after the fall.” The doctor firmly stated.

Mino had no choice but to listen to the doctor’s words. The thought of not being able to participate for the first battle with the team dampened his spirits as the team had prepared so much with their mentor to perform in front of their seniors. He knew how much effort everyone has put in for the performance that has been meticulously planned and coordinated by their mentor.

After explaining in detail about his condition, the doctor walked out of his consultation room carrying a file of medical records following Mino whose legs were wrapped in white bandages and was limping as he approached Seunghoon and the staff.

“How was it?” Seunghoon and the staff member stood up as soon as Mino walked out.

“The tissues around his ankles are damaged so he has to rest for 3 weeks and come back regularly for follow up sessions to check on his condition. The injury seemed to be much more serious than it looks on the surface and since this was from a previous injury, his ankle will take a while to fully recover. If it worsens, he might have to do a surgery and this might bring about complications to him. He might not even be able to continue dancing and things like that.” The doctor explained what he had told Mino earlier on.

“Earlier injury?” Seunghoon asked, not quite understanding what the doctor meant.

“Apparently he had a fall about two months ago or something. It wasn’t treated properly at that time and he kept pressuring his ankles when he uses it to dance.” The doctor explained further.

“That time, backstage.” Mino simply informed to answer everyone’s curiosities.

“Ah, the press conference?” the staff member asked, earning a nod from Mino.

“If the injury was treated properly that time, it wouldn’t be this bad. But because it wasn’t treated properly, it got worse especially after pressure was being put onto the injury when he dances and things like that.” The doctor further explained. He went on to further advice on Mino’s condition and how s could play a part in aiding his recovery process.

After doing the payment and getting medication for Mino’s injury, Mino and Seunghoon got onto the van to be sent home straight from the hospital where the other members were already waiting after their practice was done for the day.

“Report for training as usual tomorrow. Mino, remember to get someone to help you when moving around at home. You can’t be as active as you usually are anymore, okay? At least for three weeks.” the staff reminded. The two simply nodded and thanked the staff who was sitting at the passenger seat.

As soon as Mino got home, the members crowded around the injured leader and were busy asking about his condition. They curiously asked all sorts of questions that they wanted to know of Mino’s condition even when Mino was taking the medications that was offered to him by Seunghoon.

“So how bad was the injury?” Jinwoo asked.

“Pretty bad. I can’t participate for the first battle.” Mino delivered the heart breaking news to s. The members expressed forms of regrets for their injured leader. It was their first official battle and it was regretful that they couldn’t perform what they have prepared together.

“You can’t even perform for a while?” Taehyun asked with concern.

“I can do the singing part but I’ll have to pass for the dance. Hopefully my ankles recover before the second battle.” Mino assured his team mates. “I’ll be fine, so you guys don’t worry about me, okay?”

The members gave encouraging words to Mino because they know how much as a leader, Mino wants the best for the team. It was unfortunate that they weren’t able to perform as 5 for the first battle, but this does not stop them from doing their best. They wanted to do their best for their leader.

“Go and rest up, Mino. You’ve had a long day today.” Seunghoon encouraged his friend.

“I’ll need to bathe first.”

“Oh, the doctor adviced you to bathe with someone around. Taehyun, do you want to bathe with him in the mean time?” Seunghoon recalled the doctor’s advice and openly asked Taehyun in front of the other members so that they do not find it weird seeing the lovers bathe together. Furthermore, it was for the better for the both of them. They needed an excuse for the two to keep bathing together in order to speed up Mino’s recovery process so using his ankle injury was a good excuse.

“Yeah, I think you should keep an eye on him.” Seungyoon agreed.

“I will, then.” Taehyun smiled. “Shall we bathe now? It’s getting late.”

“Let’s go.” Mino got up with the member’s assistance as Taehyun guided him to the toilet.

“Taehyun you know what to do, right?” Seunghoon asked.

“Yes, hyung. Don’t worry.”

 

After bathing, Mino and Seunghoon sat in the kitchen together over a couple of drinks after Mino mentioned that he had many conflicting thoughts about not being able to participate in the first battle. The others were already in their rooms, either working on music or practicing their lines for the song over and over again.

As the team’s leader, he felt strongly responsible for not being able to perform with the team and he probably would not be able to forgive himself if anything were to go wrong with the performance. Even though they all had their individual parts but with an injured leader, the team can’t function well.

“Look at it this way, chingu-yah. It’s only the first battle and we have two more battles to go. We may not be able to show them our full potential now but trust me, we will work super hard until the end and I believe in you. I believe that you will guide us to the top. I’m not saying this because I’m your best friend but because I know how much you’ve gotten attached to this team and how much you want to win this so much more than we do.”

Mino sighed even louder at Seunghoon’s advice. Seunghoon’s words has its truth to it but he still felt unsatisfied about bringing the team’s morale down. Now because of him, the entire choreography has to be altered to fill up the void that he left as the missing member.

“I didn’t realise the injury I attained while looking for Taehyun would be this bad. I was seriously so scared back then that all I could think of was him. Even when I fell and sprained my leg, I couldn’t feel anything, because I was really scared that I would lose him, hyung.” Mino confessed, sipping down the remaining beer in the can.

“I never thought it would be this serious either. You definitely seemed like you were fine after you were bandaged up so all of us thought that you were fine. Like seriously, you even took off the bandage that night, who would have thought the after effect would be this bad? The swell was so bad!” Seunghoon empathised, recalling the incident that happened backstage.

“The power of love, really…” Seunghoon laughed.

“It overpowers all physical injury, doesn’t it?” Mino totally agreed, earning another laughter from Seunghoon who took a sip from his can as well. “He’s really that precious to me.”

“Ah, I’m seriously glad that there aren’t any cameras installed in the kitchen. I can’t possibly have a heart to heart talk to you in our room right?” Mino snickered.

“Tell me about it. I always feel like we have to be careful of what we do even in our own home because there are always people watching us. Literally watching us.”

“Speaking of this, did I tell you that Taehyun and I were asked by the PD once for turning off the camera and spending the night together in the room? When they said they were watching us, they really weren’t kidding.”

“Really?” Seunghoon asked in shock, having heard the information for the first time. “This is a real reality show, wow. Then what did you tell them?”

“I came up with the most practical excuse I could think of.” Mino laughed. “I told them that we were working on-“

“That injury…. Was because you were looking for me? How come you’ve never told me?” Suddenly a soft voice from the kitchen entrance broke through the light atmosphere in the kitchen where the best friends were still happily chatting and giggling. They immediately turned their heads to the direction of the voice and there stood Taehyun who was looking earnestly at them with a subtle expression.

Seunghoon stood up in shock and Mino put down his drink at the thought of Taehyun listening to their conversation. That incident was something that only the best friends knew about and they weren’t planning on disclosing it to anyone, especially Taehyun. Mino didn’t want Taehyun to know how much he was hurting because the amount of love he has for him.

“I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll go in and work on altering the dance steps. Goodnight buddy.” He patted Mino’s shoulders and said goodnight to Taehyun too as he walked out of the kitchen.

 

 

A/N: It's the second last chapter and I'll post up the final chapter in a while. Stay tuned folks! <3