A pang of guilt struck Jihoon, loads of it. He knew everyone was scared of getting on his bad side but this was the leader for crying out loud. Why should the leader be scared of him? He found an empty can on his path, kicking it furiously, hitting a near wall and bounced back to his forehead. 

Karma.

He touched the new-formed bump on his head to check for blood but it only made him spilled out multiple unpleasent words. He was about punch the wall when he looked up.

Oh.

Jihoon had been wandering around to where ever his feet would take him. Who would have thought he would end up in front of the practice studio? He knew he would, eventually. Everytime he tried to clear his mind, that was where he would show up. For Jihoon, that was where his heart is.

He could not help but to chuckle to himself. It was their and of course his day off and he was technically going to work to clear his mind.

Composing, it is then.

Jihoon had his own workplace for his aid to compose and write songs. The room was equipped with a keyboard, monitor, microphone, and everything any composer would basically need. Although the room was said to be small by the other members, it was comfortable enough for him to do his work. It was perfect. Authorization on the room was set up by their president as no one was allowed to enter the said room other than Jihoon himself because apparently he mentioned about wanting Jihoon to get inspired without other members bothering his concentration.

Jihoon had nothing to argue anyway, he always wanted some alone time at least.

Let's just say bathing time was not a private thing anymore and he needed his 'me time'.

His studio was at the end of the hall so he needed to pass their dance studio with those big mirrors covering the walls. He heard squeaking noises coming from the dance studio as he walked. He knew the sound did not come from his shoes. He wanted that to stop. It was bugging him. Jihoon was no scaredy cat so he went to inspect whatever it was to be shocked by his own image showing on the big mirrors. 

The apple hair. 

He had been waking on the streets with that. His eyes widen as he imagined the humiliation, oh the horror. He could feel his face heating up, from the rage, the embarrassment, everything! As he got closer to one of the big mirrors, he saw his face being decorated with shades of red, plus a blue-black swell. His karma payment, right.

Jihoon let a big sigh out as he positioned himself with a gap less than a strand of hair between the mirror and himself. He examined his injury as he let a loud wince. He really needed to get some ice for that but he was not in the mood to do anything unless he got rid of the band that holds the hair together first. How can he forget to remove it before leaving the dorm? When he was washing up?

He mentally cursed again for the umpteenth time as he slipped the band away and threw it with a force.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw something moving.

As he turned around, he saw himself. Of course, what did you think, a room covered with mirrors? His eyes must have been playing tricks with him. He could see marks of messy red scribbles being badly erased on the mirror behind him.

Yes, his eyes must have been playing tricks on him. The scribbles were not suppose to be there. 

"Unlocked the friggin' door damn it!"

Someone was in his studio, with the door locked from the inside and when it was locked from the inside, only the person inside could unlock it. Jihoon used to love the security feature. When the other members tried to guess the codes of his studio door, he was already prepared to not let them in.

One day, a familiar tone was heard, meaning someone guessed it correctly but of course the door would not open. Unfortunately, he never knew who was the person but his private space was never been bothered so he did not care less. Now, he hated the feature. That same person must have been in the room.

He kicked and punched the poor door with all his might. After a few strong pushes, he could feel his shoulders aching, not to mention the fact that he was beyond starving, he had no energy left. He threw one last punch to the door and plopped down, leaning on the said door, panting.

"You...idiot" Jihoon mumbled, he was dissing himself, with a smirk on his face. It was not other than Seungcheol, he was in there. When Jihoon left the dorm, every one was present except for Seungcheol. 

It had to be Seungcheol.

After having some moments of stabilising his breaths, he gave a few soft knocks to the door.

"Seungcheol, open the door. I know it's you" as he calmly spoke, turning his sitting position facing the door.

A click was heard, indicating the door being unlocked and the creaking sound of the door slowly opening, reveiling the head of the leader.

"You are not suppose to be here" Seungcheol said, unamused by the fact Jihoon is here, in the studio, on their day-off!

"Right. Well, look who's talking" Jihoon retorted.

"I was saving myself, from you!"

"Why should you? I've said nothing"

"But it wasn't my faul- wait what?"

Seungcheol was ready to defend for himself when he heard Jihoon was not gonna kill him for the morning chaos he caused. He slyly smiled at the sitting boy, opening the door as wide as possible.

"You're going soft on me. Lee Jihoon is going soft, awhh~"

Seungcheol sat down in front of Jihoon, ruffling the-already-messy-pink hair.

"I'm not go soft on you because you're you" 

Jihoon struggled to keep the prying hand off his head.

"Not gonna get soft, my foot. You're cute, you know that, right?" 

Seungcheol beamed his widest grin to boy opposite him, as Jihoon lowered his head. Seungcheol swore he saw Jihoon's ears turned red.

"Shut up" Jihoon got up inside his little studio, slammed the door, accidentally shoving Seungcheol on the process.

"That was SO UNNESSECARY, JI!" Seungcheol was glad though, Jihoon was back to be his-cold-blooded-self and he was okay with it.

Jihoon had been inside his studio, writing and throwing balls of papers at random corners. He could not bother to look away from his notes when he got inspired. He would deal with the aftereffects later.

As Jihoon wrote his last words in his worn-out lyric book, he couldn't help to smile. Finally.

By the looks of overly bright hallway welcoming him as he opens the door of his little comfort room, he concluded it was already nightime. He reached out to his pocket pants for his phone, expecting exploding notifications from the members. That was when he remembered he threw the phone on his unmade bed after receiving that horrible photo of himself and never to touch it afterwards. 

Jeonghan's gonna throw a fit. Oh wait.

Seungcheol knew he was here all day. He would have told the others. Ahh, what a relief. Jeonghan's overprotective mother mode always cause Jihoon headaches so he always made mental notes to inform his whereabouts to Jeonghan via message at least. That's that.

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.

It was the annoying sound again coming from the dance studio. Jihoon was on the verge of screaming. As a singer-songwriter, his sensitivity towards sound was no joke but this did not apply for when he closed his eyes. lol loooool

"Seungcheol?"

Jihoon was standing at the entrance with his arm crossed, eyeing a now frozen leader, with a red marker on his hand, writing on the mirrors...?

"It's not what it looks like!" Seungcheol quickly rubbed every evidence with his already red palms, leaving spreads of scarlet slashes on the mirror.

"Then explain"

Jihoon walked closer to inspect the smudged writtings, only to be stopped by Seungcheol's clammy red hands on his face. Just great.

"Oh my god Jihoon it was AN ACCIDENT I SWEAR-"

Jihoon put his hands, clamming on Seungcheol's yapping mouth. His brain was processing the fact that Seungcheol was here, which meant Jeonghan would be pacing like a mad man at home by now.

This is not happening.

He would be trapped under that hyung's arms for a few weeks before he could be free again. 

"Before I went berzerk, tell me something"

"Uhhhh" Seungcheol's lips were still in Jihoon's grasp.

"Have you return to the dorm yet?"

Seungcheol shook his head. A loud growl was heard afterwards, he still tried to smile under the constrain of his mouth. It proofed that he was here ever since Jihoon got there as well. Okay.

"You texted me! So you must've brought your phone!"

A nod. Yes!

Jihoon released his hold from Seungcheol, asking for his phone only to receive a dorky grin from the latter. Not what he asked for. Then, he got the sign.

Seungcheol's phone was dead. He did not have the chargers. Neither did Jihoon. What a day.

Jihoon ran his hands through his hair. His eyes was as wide as a deer on a headlight, pacing from one point from another, reciting incoherent words.

Seungcheol knew Jihoon too well to not notice, the petite figure was busy spitting out profanities. Everyone would know.

"Jeonghan's gonna kill us akjxjdnd no he'd kill me! (@*#, you're the leader you'd get away dkdnjd"

Seungcheol could not heard some words but he got the key points of where it was going. And the fact Jihoon was literally letting all his worries out was overwhelmed too. 

The Lee Jihoon everyone knew keeps everything in. Always.

In between of what Jihoon was complaining, he caught the word 'tired' and 'frustrated' a lot. And some curse words too, but that was irrelevant here.

Jihoon stopped his tracks right in front of the latter. His signature death glare was all over Seungcheol's face. A moment of silent came afterwards, with Seungcheol breaking the tension.

"Are you done?"

"Almost" Jihoon grabbed Seungcheol's palms, shoving roughly on the owner's face, leaving red marks just like the ones on his face.

"I like it when you're open with me. Being cold doesn't fit you"

"Because I'm small? Go to hell"

"Annnnd sassy Lee Jihoon is back. Oh well" 

Jihoon could not help but to chuckle at the remark. Seungcheol always know how to pull the best out of him. He was very much thankful for him. 

And the fact Seungcheol helped with the aid of his forgotten bruise quietly after the snarky comment. Yes, he was lucky to have Seungcheol as his friend.

Best friend.

"Do you think we'll gonna get grounded? You know...Jeonghan"

They were walking home, hand in hand because Seungcheol said his hands were cold from running under water too much to get rid of the red marks.Serve him right. But Jihoon did not mind. It was okay, once in a while.

"I'm the leader so I know I won't" That idiot.

"Thanks a lot" Jihoon rolled his eyes, trying to pry his hands away buy of course- Seungcheol had a strong grip. 

"So,"  Jihoon looked up to Seungcheol "what were you writing? We have whiteboards, if you haven't noticed"

"Nothing. Just what's in my mind. Rap stuff, you know"

Little did they know, a piece of Lee Jihoon's name was left, semi-erased with the sentence ending with 'please don't kill me' and the remaining red long slashed was left uncleaned.

At their dorm, on the other hand, everyone was already sleeping soundly, conserving energy for tomorrow's events. Jihoon was worried for nothing.

Author note:

Part 2! I made a few twerks mainly for grammars and typos. I hope there's none anymore. I'm really exhausted ahahahaha (not a good excuse gosh)

Please comment and subscribe, bunnies! And thankyou for reading~~ :D

-Eireilkosuke