“Are you ready?” Hongbin asked his sister who was pacing back and forth in the backstage.

“Am I?” she asked nervously, “I don't think I am, honestly.”

“Don't worry,” Hyuk smiled, “you'll be fine, we've been preparing for months for this day, everything will be alright.”

“But what if I make a mistake? What I do something I'm not supposed to do?”

“Than just bear with it and carry on the performance. Plus you can play classical pieces without the partition sheet because you know them by heart no matter how complicated there are. You're going to do well.”

“And probably even better than us,” Hyuk added to reassure her.

Byeol sent them a nervous smile and sat on a chair nearby. She checked her phone and saw she had received a message from her older brother who was telling her it was at the back of the room waiting for her to perform.

“Oh my God oppa is really here...” she sighed, “what am I going to do?”

“You know he would come, he has been talking about it for months now.”

“I don't think I can do it...” she stood up again, not being able to actually stop moving for more than one minute, “I don't think I can...”

Hongbin rolled his eyes and Hyuk chuckled, amused by her behavior. He somehow knew what had happened before because Hongbin had told him more than he was supposed to and Hyuk could understand her fears, but he had seen her play and sing a hundred times and he could tell she had absolutely no reasons to be worried.

The back door opened and Jaehwan entered, Yun following him closely.

“Yun,” Hongbin sighed, relieved, when he saw her, “please tell Byeol she doesn't have to worry.”

“She isn't worrying, is she? Why would she be? She is better than all of you reunited on one stage, except from my Jaehwan of course,” she sent her boyfriend a lovely grin and Jaehwan winked in answer, “she doesn't have to worry anyway, I'll stand close to the stage where she'll be able to see me.”

“And Taekwoon hyung will also be one the stage with her,” Hyuk smiled.

“Oh! That's right!” Yun chuckled, “they'll be together, what could go wrong?”

Hongbin shrugged and just hoped that indeed, everything would go fine like they had planned.

“Where is he, anyway?” Jaehwan asked.

“Who?”

“Taekwoon hyung, and Hakyeon hyung too, where are they? Have you seen them?”

“Not at all,” Hongbin answered.

“I swear if they cancel at the last time, I'll kick their asses and-”

“Jae,” Yun covered his mouth with her hand, “no cursing, please.”

He nodded and mumbled the end of his sentence which resulted in him receiving a punch in the shoulder.

“And Yoora sunbae, where is she?” Hyuk asked.

“Don't know...” Jaehwan frowned.

“We still have twenty minutes,” Hongbin tried to stay positive, “they'll come, we don't have to worry.”

They sat on the benches and chairs available and talked about nothing and everything at the same time while Yun kept checking the time to wait for the missing three to finally arrive. And in the meantime, Byeol was exchanging text messages with her older brother while sitting in a corner with her knees against her chest. At one moment, Yun wanted to talk to her but Hongbin told her it was better to just let Byeol alone otherwise she would panicked even more.

However, ten minutes before the beginning, Byeol realized on her own three persons were missing.

“Where are they?” she asked her friends, “Hakyeon sunbae and Taekwoon oppa, where are they?”

“We...we don't know,” Hongbin tried to smile to look a bit confident, “but they should be here soon.”

“There are only ten minutes left!” she said, “ten minutes! What are we going to do if they don't come?”

“Don't worry,” Yun pinched her cheek, “they'll come.”

“I'll come Taekwoon oppa.”

“No Byeol-”

She didn't listen to her brother and went back to the corner of the room. She quickly dialed her boyfriend's number and leaned against the wall while unconsciously biting on her nails until the moment he answered.

“Byeol?”

“Oppa!” she sighed, relieved, “where are you? We're waiting for you!”

“I'm on my way, don't worry,” he said with his usual shooting voice, “I should be here in three minutes.”

“Please hurry up.”

“Don't worry.”

“And do you also know where Hakyeon sunbae is?”

“And Im Yoora!” Yun shouted.

“Oh... yes, Yoora sunbae too, she isn't here yet.”

“I don't know where they are, we'll try to call them once I'm there, alright?”

“Alright.”

She hung up and sighed.

“He is on his way,” she told the others.

“You see,” Jaehwan shrugged off, “there's nothing to worry about.”

Four minutes and a half later, when he arrived, he bowed his head to great his friends but only hugged his girlfriend who was shaking and looking pale and scared. He kissed her forehead and smiled.

“You see, I'm there. You didn't have to worry.”

“But where are Hakyeon sunbae and Im Yoora then?” she asked with a trembling voice.

He pulled out his phone out of the pocket of his black blazer and first call Hakyeon. Because he didn't answer, he decided to call for Yoora but she didn't answer either. Though he tried not to look bothered, he nervously scratched the back of his neck and this simple motion betrayed him. Byeol sighed for the nth time and she ruffled her already messy hair.

“What if they don't come? What are we going to do?”

“Without Im Yoora we don't have a rapper,” Byeol heard Hyuk told Hongbin.

“Oh that's right! We don't have a rapper!”

“Well we can... we can just skip the part,” Taekwoon said, “it's not a big deal and-”

“We have a rapper,” Hongbin stood up and smiled, “I know one.”

“Who?” Byeol and Yun asked at the same time.

Hongbin made a phone call and two minutes later, Wonshik entered the room, looking all lost and curious at the same time.

“Wonshik?” Jaehwan crooked a brow.

“I promise you I don't know what's going on either,” the boy with a red cap on his head answered.

“Can you rap?” Jaehwan asked him.

“Do you know the songs?” Hyuk added.

“Do you think you'll be able to come with us on stage?” Byeol asked one last question.

“Well,” he simply said, “one stage is like any other stages, right? I can do it. Plus I know your songs, I had to listen to Taekwoon hyung singing it over and over again.”

“Then welcome among us,” Jaehwan smiled, “it's a bit late but better late than ever.”

Wonshik nodded and sat next to Yun.

“And aren't you supposed to start in... five minutes? Even a bit less?”

“Oh my God that's right!” Byeol said, panicked, “Hakyeon sunbae! He is the leader! He can't possibly not come!”

“L-let me call him again,” Taekwoon said.

He tried to call for Hakyeon twice but every times he would just reached the voicemail.

“Let's... let's think of solution,” Hongbin tried to remain calm, “there might be something we can do.”

“He has to come!” Byeol said, “he has to! He harassed me for weeks for me to join this group and now that I'm about to go on stage with him he can't possibly not come!!”

“Byeol-” Taekwoon sighed.

“Let's go to his place,” she cut him, “let's go to his place and let's drag him here.”

“But we are supposed to go on stage in less than five minutes!” Hyuk said with a trembling voice.

“You,” Byeol said with an authoritative voice to all of her friends in the room, “just go and tell the teachers that we're going to sing later while Taekwoon oppa and I are going at Hakyeon's sunbae.”

“Let's go,” he weakly smiled and walked toward the door.

“And what if he isn't at home?”

“We'll sing without him but I swear that the next time I'll see him I'll kick his ,” Byeol said and left the room, more furious and at the same time worried as ever.

The ride was silent but the atmosphere was quite tensed. Byeol couldn't stop fidgeting on the seat and Taekwoon was clutching the wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. Byeol didn't have to tell him the way since they arrived before she could even realized it. She jumped out of her boyfriend's car and he quickly followed her.

She gathered her courage to knock on the door and smiled at Taekwoon when she felt his arm around her waist.

When Mrs. Cha opened the door and saw them, she automatically smiled.

“Guys! How are you? What are you doing here? Come inside, it's cold outside!”

“I'm s-sorry, Mrs. Cha,” Byeol stuttered, feeling her cheeks burning, “we... we came to see if Hakyeon sunbae was perhaps here.”

“Oh, Hakyeon is indeed here. He is in his bedroom. Do you want to come and see him?”

“Yes, please.”

“Come in,” she smiled and let them entered.

They took their shoes off and Byeol asked Mrs. Cha if she could go up to see Hakyeon and Mrs. Cha obviously agreed, telling that Hakeyon's bedroom was the third room on the left once she had climbed the stairs. Byeol ventured upstairs and once she reached the room, she knocked on the door. Nobody answered, so she insisted a bit more until Hakyeon dared to finally open the door.

“Mom! What are you-”

“Sunbae,” Byeol cut him, “we need you.”

He blushed and frowned.

“Byeol... what are you doing here?” he asked, completely dumbfounded.

“I should be the one asking you this question,” she dared to say, feeling her confidence suddenly coming back, “why are you here instead of being at the school gymnasium?”

He opened his mouth to answer but didn't say anything. Instead he leaned against the door frame and folded his arms over his chest.

“I don't want to do it,” he admitted, “I can't really say why... but I just don't want to do it. So I'm sorry, but I'm not going to go.”

“You can't do this,” she said, “you can't possibly do this! Not now!”

“And why-”

“You are the leader of the group, sunbae!” she said with a harsher voice, yet she didn't scream either because she was scared his mom downstairs would heard her shouting at his son, “you are the leader! We need you to be one stage with us! You're the one who chose the pieces and you're the one who took care of our coordination and harmony, you're one of the main singers! People are waiting for you to sing! You can't just give up now and let us alone! We need you!”

“As if you especially cared,” he scoffed coldly and looked away.

“I do care! I especially do care! Probably more than the others actually!”

“And why, huh?”

“You wanted me to sing for you, right? That what you kept on telling me that six months ago! You wanted me to sing one song for you and now we even have to possibility to sing one song together! I'm part of your group, the one you created and I've accepted you as the leader! And plus, even if I'm really freaking out now, I really want to do it! But we can only do it with our leader! Who is you! My older brother is at the gymnasium waiting for us to go on stage and to sing and I shouldn't be telling you this but he really wants to thank you for managing to make me sing and play the piano in front of a crowd again! A-and... just come, please!!”

She didn't realize she had started crying but after she said this, she felt the weight she had on her shoulders suddenly faded a bit. The pressure and the stress were still remained, but she knew that the fear of not having their leader with them was now gone. She still didn't know if he would come or not, but at least, she had told him what was in her mind.

“Sunbae... please...”

He gulped and went back to his bedroom, closing the door. Byeol swept away her tears with the sleeve of her black cardigan and knocked on the door again, begging him to go out and come with her. He opened the door a few seconds later and she remarked he was now wearing a black hoodie and he had his shoes into his hands.

“I'm doing this for you,” he said.

“Thank you, sunbae,” she couldn't help smiling and even dared to hug him, “thank you.”

“Let's go now.”

She nodded and followed him downstairs. When Taekwoon saw him, his tensed shoulders visibly relaxed and Byeol stood near him while Hakyeon put on his shoes.

“You did it,” her boyfriend mumbled into her ears.

“I-I don't know how, but I did, yes.”

He kissed her temple and she did her best to stop the tears from ruining her make-up which Yun had spent one hour doing earlier in the evening. Before leaving the house, Byeol and Taekwoon thanked the beautiful Mrs. Cha for letting them enter her house, and she only told them to hurry if they wanted to sing and she gently pushed them outside.

The ride back to the gymnasium was silent but this time, Byeol wasn't as tensed as before because she had Hakyeon with her and that she wasn't planning on letting him go away, not before they had sing together with the whole group.

When they entered the backstage by the back door and when their friends saw Hakyeon, they all sighed, relieved and Jaehwan jumped on his best friend to ask where he was.

“Something came out at the last minute,” Hakyeon lied, “but it's fine now.”

“Good!” Jaehwan patted his shoulder, “good!”

Hongbin left to tell the teachers they were ready to sing now and came back in the following minutes.

“We can go, they are waiting for us,” he grinned.

“But... where is Yoora?” Hakyeon asked.

“Not here.”

“W-what? But how-”

“Wonshik is replacing her,” Hyuk told and Wonshik simply bowed his head to great the oldest boy, “don't worry he knows the songs.”

“Oh... alright. Let's go, then.”

As the leader, he went first and the other members followed him.

“Everything will be fine,” Taekwoon whispered in Byeol's ear, “you'll do great. And don't forget that I'm here with you.”

“Everything will be fine,” she tried to reassure herself, “you're with me.”

He winked and went on the left side of the stage to stand in front of a mic. Byeol, since she had been chosen as the pianist, sat on the comfortable seat and adjusted the mic so that both the music and her voice would be heard.

She was on the middle of the scene, Hakyeon, Hyuk and Hongbin at the right, and Taekwoon, Wonshik and Jaehwan on the left.

At the first row, among the other students, Byeol saw Yun who waved when she caught her best friend's gaze on her and at the back of the room stood her dear oldest brother who sent her a heart-warming smile.

“When you want Byeol,” Hakyeon told her, “don't worry and don't panic, just go whenever you want.”

The room was silent and she could feel all the other people's eyes on her. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out a few times to relax. She placed her fingers on the keyboard and slowly counted to three in her head.

When three came, she pressed the first key.

This is the longuest chapter ever ! I hope the length won't bother you too much. I thought of separating it into two parts but in the end I've decided to keep it into one long. 

Anyway I hope you liked it and liked what happened in this chapter since clearly, there are a lot of things going on. Please tell me in the comment what you think about it please, I would really appreciate it.

I won't say too much, I just want you to appreciate or not hat's going on.

Thank you for reading :)

xx

Mae