Then, then, then

jiwon likes to watch tv a lot these days, that's why chanwoo is stuck in between him and junhoe on the couch. chanwoo is sitting up straight while junhoe has his legs sprawled over chanwoo's thighs. when he kicks junhoe awake, he grumbles and goes back to his room. that's why chanwoo is alone with jiwon in the living room, watching unpretty rapstar.

sua comes on and chanwoo doesn't want to look at her. she resembles her older brother a lot more than people let on and chanwoo just can't help himself but think back to yesteryear. 

that's why chanwoo walks out, ignoring jiwon's calls for him to come back. 

Then, then

the mobile device in his hands felt foreign, yet familiar all the same. it's golden case with the small bear at the corner made him smile. the lock screen is still the same, so is the home screen. he scrolls through his messages and is relieved that they're still unread. 

he phones his family like the other members, and tells them, "yes, i stood on a stage today as a part of ikon. it was amazing." after a five minute conversation with his mom and a two-minute conversation with his dad, he leans his head against donghyuk's shoulder and continues to scroll through his messages. 

hey dude, you should sleep.

chanwoo looks up and sure enough, he meets hanbin's eyes who is sitting at the front seat with their manager. chanwoo shakes his head and their leader mouths "bad boy" before looking away and slumping against his seat. he snorts and both thumbs are sliding across the screen.

in a while. hehe :) 

beside him, donghyuk shifts in his sleep and chanwoo has to retract his head. he leans on the other side, ear pressed against the window. he continues to scroll. 

congrats on your debut. 

chanwoo sighs and turns his phone off, leaving that particular message unreplied. he knows it's not right, and he knows what happened was supposedly history by now but even if he denies, he's still far from getting over it. even after all this time. the members should've known by know that their precious youngest member could really hold a grudge.

but chanwoo doesn't let them see who he really is. because if they saw how much ego he had, how much pride was in his head, they'd shun him too. it's safer for him to be like this, a clueless member that goes along with everything. 

he sighs again, deep and heavy. 

"chanwoo," the voice comes from behind him. his echoing footsteps suddenly stop but the hallway is far from quiet. there's music blasting from the practice room to his left and the door to it closes as a girl emerges into his line of sight and joins him in the hallway.

he frowns, eyebrows furrowing and forehead creasing and all that. "shouldn't you be calling me senior, now?" he doesn't look at her. it's hard to do so. especially when looking into her eyes, all he can see is moon bin. 

she snorts. "seriously? whatever," she places a hand on her hip and the look on her face is something chanwoo is actually acquainted with since he was young. it's the 'moon-sua-is-so-not-down-for-any-of-your-" face. 

he only sighs, because whatever she wants, she'll get. 

"my brother texted you, and you read it." she starts, and his frown only deepens. he had no time for this. any minute now, his phone will be ringing and hanbin would be yelling at the other side because chanwoo is late again. "why can't you just reply? a simple 'thanks' would've stopped him from whining to me. i can't shut him up, help a girl out here." 

chanwoo merely rolls his eyes. without another word, he turns his back towards her and begins walking away.

"hey! come on, i thought you liked me."

"what the -" he spares her a glance back before shaking his head and continuing to walk away. "i think the roles are switched. keep dreaming, sua." 

sure enough, when he arrives at the practice room, hanbin asks him why isn't he panting. because if he were running, he'd let him off easy. but chanwoo wasn't at all so hanbin makes him do the choreo alone at first. twice. 

Then

youtube was blocked from mainland china, which is why chanwoo thinks the look sua is giving him was totally out of place. he tries to reason with her, but sua's still a kid inside and she's even more stubborn than he remembered. he tries to walk past her but she steps to the side and blocks his way again.

"bobby and b.i both watched it, why -"

"god, i don't care. get out of my -"

chanwoo finds himself sitting down in the practice room for girl trainees. his back against the ceiling to floor mirror. sua by his side, pushing her knees closer to her chest as she acts like a giddy puppy while he watches her semi-final performance on unpretty rapstar. 

halfway through and chanwoo tries to listen, not watch. just listen. not even twenty seconds in, her brother's smiling, proud face was on the screen and it's weird. it's not uncomfortable, not really, just weird. the fact that he was there, cheering on for his own sister wasn't weird. it was the fact that the first time in months chanwoo has seen him, and moon bin was on the screen of his phone when he did. 

"so, how was it?"

he stands and sua scrambles up, following. "pretty catchy," he admits, dusting off his pants. 

"really?"

"yeah," he furrows his eyebrows, thinking of something more to say to get her off his shoulder for another week. "soohyun sang well, too. she looked pretty, err, you -"

sua's laugh echoes around the practice room. "don't let jinhwan hear you saying that or else -"

"listen, sua, i got to go."

she purses her lips and nods. "sure. hey, when you have time, tell bin to stop bother -"

he cuts her off. "you did good though," he's hesitant of what to do or say next. he doesn't want to hear about her brother anymore. patting her on the arm would be awkward, so he opts for a high-five instead. but his arm was like a robot's and not his own, and she didn't look too happy now, so that was awkward too. 

he turns around and heads for the door.

Now

stop bothering sua already, because she's bothering me too.
sent 12:05 

congrats on your debut, by the way.
draft saved 12:07 

yes, he didn't send the last message guys. just to clear that up.