"I thought I reminded you not to be late!"

      "Okay, sorry! Now will you please let go of me?!"

      He finally loosens his grasp on my arm but runs ahead of me.

     I trail behind him but he scoots round the corner at the speed of sound and disappears. My eyes dart around the area, puzzled. Where could he have escaped to?

     When suddenly, a hand yanks me to the side and into a closet. My heart skips a beat as I gasped for air. I started to calm down when I noticed the familiar messy, black hair in front of me.

     "Wait. Did you bring the matches?"

     "Shoot. Oh man, they're gonna kill me."

     "Aishh, you can't do anything right, can you?" Wonwoo remarks as he pulls a match box out of his pocket and wiggles it in front of my face, a smug expression plastered across his face.

     "Okay, enough, I get it. Yeesh," I say, snatching the match box out of his hands. "Wait what about the flour and silly string?"

      "Oh. OH," Wonwoo's smirk was replaced with sheer horror. "I must have hid them in the other closet. Shoot, let me go get it."

     I stop Wonwoo just as he placed his hand on the door of the closet. "Stop!" I exclaim in a soft whisper. "Woozi and Seungkwan are probably on the way here already.

     "Relax, I got this. Besides, they pushed back the surprise to 8."

      "Wait. What. You mean you made a fuss about me being late and forgetting the matches but YOU FORGOT THE FLOUR AND SILLY STRING AND THE SURPRISE STARTS AT 8?!"

     "It's always good to be early?" Wonwoo reasons as he spurts out of the closet. I scoff at his pathetic attempt at an excuse and follow after him.

     When suddenly, we heard footsteps.

     "Hello? Anyone here?"

     The janitor.

     We forgot they lock up the practice rooms at 7.

     Wonwoo's face was blenched in trepidation and my pupils dilated as consternation descended upon me.Our eyebrows shot to our hairline as we gawked in wide-eyed terror. Wonwoo propelled forward at a throbbing pace while I scampered speedily like a whirlpool, not as elegantly as I wanted to may I add, into the next closet.

     The closet was so tiny and narrow that there was no room to move around. Needless to say, Wonwoo had it much worse with his remarkable height and long limbs.

    My eyes landed on a tiny moving figure and my eyes faltered with fear. Just before I could scream, Wonwoo slaps his hans over my mouth, shutting me up efficiently. As much as I tried to calm down, the erratic thumping of my heart just drove me into a deeper panic as my eyes remained fixated on the 8-limbed creature just a few inches away from me.

      Wonwoo mouthed to me to keep my mouth shut so I took a deep breath and shut my eyes tightly, my fists clenched.

     After a while, Wonwoo dropped his hand from my face and declared that the janitor was gone.

     "Yah, why are your eyes shut so tightly?"

     I shook my head stubbornly.

     "The spider's dead. I killed it a while ago."

     I open one eye and then the other.

     "Thanks. I hate insects."

     "A spider isn't an insect."

     "Shut up."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

     "Yah! Wake up!"

      I feel a tap on my shoulder and lift my heavy eyelids. I open my eyes and take in all that's around me. I make an attempt to stand up straight despite the weight that was on my shoulder. It's then that I realise I wasn't the only one sleeping.

      "Wonwoo, you too."

     My vision was still a little blurry but I could make out the black hair resting on my shoulder.

     Wonwoo grumbles dreamily and lazily snuggles into the crook of my neck. I could hear his slow, steady heartbeat, an indication that he was still asleep.

     Mingyu merely grabbed Wonwoo's head and pushed him off me.

      "What? Huh? Oh, it's you," Wonwoo mumbles, the drowsy scent of slumber still enveloping him. He stretches his arms and lets out a much needed yawn. "What time is it?" he asks as he runs his fingers through his hair.

     I can't help but admire his messy hair.

      Mingyu clicks his fingers in front of my face to get my attention back, "7:30. Minghao, Jun and Seokmin are setting up the surprise. Come help."

       I hop out of the closet and scurry into the practice room.

      "Ah Reum, could you put up the 'Happy Birthday' banner? I don't really trust those 2," asked Seokmin, pointing to Minghao and Jun who were currently tangled in ribbons. I don't blame Seokmin.

     I take the banner from Seokmin and grabbed a stool and some tape. I turn to the side to see Wonwoo standing on a stool and holding onto the other end of the banner. I don't say anything and continue taping down the banner. I take a step back on my stool to check that the banner was upright. Unfortunately, me being the klutz that I am, my foot misses the stool and the next thing I know, I am flying through the air before landing ungracefully in someone's arms.

     Oomph!

     "You alright, there?"

     My eyes flutter open and meet another pair of brown ones. Mingyu lowers me onto the ground and offers a sheepish giggle before losing it completely. I glare up at him with a frown as he bursts out laughing, thinking it to be hilarious.

     "Don't worry, nobody else saw," Mingyu winks teasingly, ruffling my hair.

     "You should've watched your step," Wonwoo remarks monotonously, hopping off his stool.

     "Mingyu come on, we need to standby outside," Vernon calls from outside.

     "Don't trip on anything else while I'm gone," Mingyu sends a smirk my way before heading towards Vernon.

*~*~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~*

     "What?! So now you're saying it's my fault? You were the one who refused to practise!"

     My head up at Woozi's voice. It's time. Wonwoo and I stand upright and open our bags of flour and cans of silly string.

      "Of course it's your fault! I told you it was a bad song choice!" Seungkwan snaps back.

     "Stop, that's enough!" Jeonghan intervenes.

      "You guys are seriously gonna fight over this?" Joshua adds.

     "Are you guys fighting again?" Dino shouts over the noise.

     "What is it this time?" Seungcheol tries to take control of the situation.

     "Yah! What's going on?"

     Hoshi. His exclamation is followed by a loud thump.

     "Where are the keys?" Mingyu asks frantically.

     "I left them at the dorm!" Vernon replies just as frantically.

      I crack the closet doors open a little to sneak a peek at the ruckus they were making. I miss the edge of the closet and almost fall forward, exposing Wonwoo and I and ruining the surprise.

     But I didn't.

      Because right before I could fall, Wonwoo wraps an arm around my waist and lays me on his chest with his other hand on my mouth. I freeze and all I could feel was the steady rise and fall of his chest.

     Until we make eye contact, that is.

     The rise and fall of his chest was steady no more and he hastily pushes me off him.

      "You should've watched your step."

       I'm not sure if my eyes were just playing tricks on me but he seemed like he was blushing.

       I don't know, though; the closet was pretty dark.

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>>Irah<<
Hey, it meee:) I really hope you guys have been enjoying 'Life As A Trainee'! The holidays are finally here so I should have more time to write the next chapters;) Thanks for sticking with me;)