There were a few scattered coughs as an awkward quietness surrounded the trainees. Haru, after catching Dahye’s contemptuous glare, averted further unsolicited eye contact with anybody else by lowering her head with embarrassment and hurriedly making her way through the girls standing by the doorway, leaving the members of iKON staring after her. Yoonhee and Eunbi stepped aside as Haru left, holding her breath in until she pushed opened the door to the bathroom.

In her own cubicle, Haru banged her head against the back of the door as she scolded herself repeatedly.

“Why are you always drawing unwanted attention to yourself? You idiot, you idiot… How could you walk up to him like that without even thinking about where you were? I must be out of my mind…” Haru muttered to herself shamefully, her head against the door.

When she had finished up, she flushed the toilet and unlocked the cubicle door to go wash her hands. As Haru opened the door to step out, she froze upon seeing Dahye leaning against the sinks in front of her patiently, looking down at her fingernails.

“When… did you come in?” Haru regained her composure and came up beside Dahye to wash her hands, not recalling hearing someone walk inside.

“Just after you did. You seemed to be too busy having a conversation with yourself,” Dahye responded plainly as she looked up from her nails and turned her head to look at Haru.

Haru tried her best to hide her cringe as she thought about Dahye listening to her kill her brain cells against the back of the cubicle door.

“It’s okay, I talk to myself too,” Dahye continued and Haru flashed her a meek smile. “But I’m not here to talk to myself. I’m here to talk to you,”

Haru let the water run over her hands, allowing the sound of the tap to fill the silence after Dahye’s words. Why does this feel like one of those high school dramas where a fight is about to go down in the girls toilets?

Haru turned off the tap and wiped her hands against her jumper, wishing she could just make a break for the door.

“What happened to Hanbin?”

Haru finally met Dahye’s eyes and she could immediately sense the concern in her voice. Sighing, she mentally apologized to Jinhwan for breaking their promise and replied, “He collapsed a couple of days ago and had been running a pretty bad fever. He was working himself too hard,”

Dahye drew in a long breath and blew it out, lifting her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation, “I knew it…”

“Does he do this to himself often?” Haru asked cautiously.

“Never this bad,” Dahye responded with another sigh. She faced Haru again before continuing, “Did he tell you?”

Haru shook her head, “No, Jinhwan told me… I wasn’t meant to tell anybody else about it actually…”

“Were you looking after him at their dorm?” Dahye’s question was direct and her gaze was firm.

Haru shuffled nervously on the spot and responded carefully, “Well… yes… I was. Jinhwan asked me to do him a favour because he had a lesson and I was free for the rest of the day. I didn’t want-”

“I’m surprised he didn’t kick you out the moment you walked in,” Dahye interrupted Haru. “Hanbin isn’t the type to let people help him when he’s unwell. Even if he were dying he’d say he’s fine and refuse to let s help him. But he let you help him.”

“W-well he tried to… He tried to go rehearse with a fever. I guess I’m just really forceful and stubborn,” Haru attempted to laugh it off, the tone of Dahye’s voice making her nervous. Her expression was dark as she searched Haru’s face with her eyes.

“Haru-sshi,” Dahye looked away from Haru. She crossed her legs as she leaned back against the sinks. “Do you have feelings for Hanbin?”

Haru tried to control her facial expression from contorting and she struggled to swallow the lump in . This is no time for hesitation Kim Haru! What are you doing? Speak!

“I… I-I, I uh… don’t understand Dahye… Why are you suddenly-” Haru’s tongue felt like stone as she stumbled over her words.

“Why are you avoiding the question?” Dahye was unforgivingly calm.

“He’s my friend,” Haru finally answered.

Dahye’s facial expressions remained still and completely neutral as she nodded, “I believe you. I’m willing to think that you’re just a nice person…”

Haru tried to ignore Dahye’s comment and bent down to pick up her backpack, pulling it over her shoulders.

“…It would really be a shame for us to heads again right?”

This time Haru stopped, turning to look at Dahye, who was still casually leaning against the sinks.

“I was wrong last time, I admit.” Dahye pushed herself off the sinks and stood up straight, looking directly at Haru. “And I think we overcame that hurdle, but I haven’t really made an effort around you. I really don’t want any more obstacles between us and the others, so for that sake, it would better for your friendship with Hanbin to remain as it is,” Her expression, though she was smiling, could not fully conceal the hostility that permeated the air.

Haru met Dahye’s eyes and after a short moment, responded as evenly as possible, “Unni… Are you, by any chance, threatening me?”

“Oh, are you threatened?” Dahye raised her eyebrows innocently as if she were surprised. “You really shouldn’t. You’re just friends with Hanbin right?”

Haru didn’t respond. She didn’t know how to. The atmosphere was stifling and utterly bizarre.

“Don’t look so stunned, Haru-ya. From now on, let’s be friends too,” Dahye widened her smile at Haru, which, coupled with the sudden informal talk, only made Haru more disturbed.

“See you at rehearsal!” Spinning around, Dahye pulled open the door of the bathroom to leave but stopped in her tracks when she saw Bobby leaning against the opposite wall of the corridor facing the bathroom.

Bobby jolted and stood up straight as Dahye remained in her spot, hand holding open the door of the bathroom. Haru watched as the two stared each other down in silence briefly, and noticed the tension between them. Dahye finally looked away, her hand leaving the bathroom door as she walked away without acknowledging Bobby. Haru caught the door before it fully shut and opened it again, stepping out of the bathroom to see Bobby staring after Dahye’s receding back, an inscrutable expression on his face.

“Bobby?” Haru tapped Bobby on the arm.

Bobby, snapping back to his senses, quickly turned to look at Haru. “Haru… Where are you going?”

“To rehearse by myself,” Haru pointed at the spare studio ahead and began making her way over.

Bobby followed Haru into the studio, standing awkwardly by the door as Haru began setting up the room.

“Is there something you need?” Haru looked up at Bobby curiously.

“Well… I just, wanted to know… How did you know about Hanbin?” Bobby finally spoke up.

By now Haru was completely sick of hearing that question, her mood still sour from her earlier encounter with Dahye. She sighed loudly and replied sharply, “Why is that such a big deal to everyone? It’s like I’m not allowed to be friends with Hanbin or something.”

Bobby was surprised by Haru’s brusque response and immediately apologized, “I’m sorry… for pissing you off,”

He turned to leave but Haru, already feeling guilty for snapping at Bobby, stopped him, “Ya, it’s fine. I’m sorry for being rude. I’m just in a bad mood.”

Bobby sat down beside Haru on the bench.

“I still didn’t get a chance to apologize about Tokyo-” He began.

“Bobby, please stop saying it’s your fault. Besides, the outcome wasn’t that bad… At least, for me anyway,” Haru responded and tried to smile at Bobby.

There was a short silence between the two of them before Bobby asked, a certain amount of trepidation in his voice, “What was Dahye talking to you about in the bathroom? I saw her follow you in. You guys were in there for awhile.”

Haru thought about telling Bobby what Dahye had said but remembered the discernible tension that seemed to spark between them and decided against it, “Nothing much. She was just asking after Hanbin as well… Hence why I’m sick of hearing the question.”

Bobby didn’t respond and continued to stare at his feet.

Haru thought about Bobby’s words on the Ferris wheel in Osaka and Hanbin’s vague words in Tokyo. She turned to face Bobby before hesitantly asking him, “Is there something going on between you and Dahye? You spoke to me about being hurt from previous relationships… I was just wondering-”

It was Bobby’s turn to cut Haru off as he looked up to meet Haru’s gaze, his famous lopsided smile on his face, “I was never in a relationship with Dahye. And we’re fine. Everything’s fine for now.”

“For now?” Haru questioned, not comforted by his response.

Bobby chuckled to himself and reached over to ruffle Haru’s bangs like he always did, “I know I told you about how I’m trying to avoid relationships because they always end badly. But actually, a lot of the time I don’t even make it that far. Falling first and alone hurts more.”

Haru looked back at him and then looked away as she tried to process his words.

“I’m scared,” He continued. “Because I think it’s happening again… And I don’t know how to stop it,”

Bobby’s eyes lingered over Haru, turning away before Haru could catch his gaze.

“I can help you,” Haru offered. “What can I do to help?”

Bobby stood up to leave. He opened the door of the studio and gave Haru a final smile before stepping out, “I don’t think you can.”

✼ ✼ ✼

11:43 PM. Haru unscrewed the top of the water bottle and collapsed on to the bench in her practice studio. It was the night before the July monthly assessment and Haru decided to go through the choreography on her own once more. Her stomach grumbled, making her realize it had been several hours since she ate. Picking up her wallet, Haru wiped the sweat from her face and decided to make a trip to the convenience store. Just as she was about to open the door, several knocks come from the other side.

Curiously, Haru turned the handle and opened the door to reveal Hanbin, his backpack on his back and a plastic bag in his hand. Over the past few days Haru was relieved to see Hanbin recover speedily, returning to rehearsals and classes. She kept an eye on him and was satisfied by the fact that he ate all his meals