The day had finally come and Na Ri was laying in bed wondering if she could feign a life threatening illness. The rest of the week had passed by too quickly for Na Ri's liking. Ever since she spilled the beans to JYP about why she hated Taeyong, she felt out of sorts. Suddenly the secret she had kept to herself for so many years was now itching to get out. She'd be in the middle of a conversation with Seulgi and suddenly have to stop herself from blurting it out or eating lunch with Johnny and have to bite her lip to not say anything. Needless to say, Wendy was suspicious, and when Wendy was suspicious there wasn't a secret that she couldn't find out, if she put her mind to it. So the night before Wendy cornered Na Ri in the bathroom; stealing her clothes, which she was in need of since she had just gotten out of the shower, and refusing to give them back till Na Ri told her what was up. Na Ri did so very reluctantly, leaving Wendy in shock. 

Na Ri hadn't seen or spoken to Taeyong since that evening at the dance studio, for that she was extremely grateful. She didn't want to accidently blurt out why she hated him if she did run into him; however, her window of avoidance had come and gone. It was the day of the competition and Na Ri was expected to be there, press pass and all, to cover his and SR15B's progress. She had half a mind to find Johnny and see if he would break her arm so she could get out of it... ok maybe not break her arm that was a little extreme even for her. Johnny had been acting odd recently as well, but she had been so caught up in her own secret problems that she didn't have time to question it. 

Groaning Na Ri rolled out of bed and onto the floor, landing with a loud thump. "I don't want to go!" She whined, her face pressed into the carpet, knowing deep down her whining was going to be fruitless.

"Na Ri get up this instant, we have a limited amount of time to make you look hot this morning." Wendy said, standing over her cousin with a look of determination on her face.

Wendy and Seulgi were both already awake, dressed, and ready to go and held no sympathy for Na Ri...or mercy. By the time Na Ri was fully awake she was dressed and Wendy was doing her hair while Seulgi worked on her make up. "Why do I need to look hot?" Na Ri questioned as Seulgi put the finishing gloss on her lips. "I'm there to work."

Wendy sighed as if that was a stupid question, "Just because you're there to work doesn't mean you can't look hot as while you're doing it."

Na Ri grumbled but didn't argue, there was nothing she could do about it now anyway. "What if I just didn't...go?" Na Ri drawled giving her cousin her best pout through the mirror.

Wendy remained unaffected however, "If you don't go you have me, Seulgi, Ten and Johnny to answer to since you're dragging us all along with you." She said pointing Na Ri's hairbrush at her threateningly.

"Seulgi would go anyway since Yuta's going to be there..." Na Ri said trying to defend herself. All it did was earn her a smack on the arm from her friend.

Despite all her protesting and grumbling Na Ri found herself an hour later surrounded by her friends with her press pass hanging around her neck. She looked at it dejectedly, she had been so excited when she first received it as a sophomore, a sign of her moving up and growing up.

Ten threw an arm over Na Ri's shoulder, "Come on babe, it can't be that bad. Just think, once this is over you're basically done with the story!"

Seulgi snickered, "But she won't be done with Taeyong. She's still got that bet going." She said elbowing him lightly.

A slow smile spread over Ten's features, "Oh trust me, I haven't forgotten."

Wendy caught Na Ri's eye and raised an eyebrow at her. After Na Ri had confessed to Wendy the night before while standing pressed against the cold shower wall with nothing but a towel protecting her, her cousin had graciously allowed Na Ri to get dressed before forcing her to the nearby coffee shop to talk.

"Ok. Spill. What do you mean you've known Taeyong since Elementary School" Wendy asked crossing her arms over her chest. 

Na Ri looked around nervously, a Friday night at a coffee shop on a college campus was a dangerous place to be holding this conversation. "Keep your voice down," She muttered leaning in closer to the table. "I mean that we went to the same school for several years before he eventually moved and transferred away. He doesn't remember obviously."

"And you mean to tell me that this.... is all because of something that happened in elementary school?" Wendy asked almost in disbelief. "Hon I knew you held a grudge, but damn! Remind me NEVER to piss you off."

"It wasn't... I mean... I never really meant it to get this far! When I saw him again I felt like I relived that day all over again, but I quickly realized he didn't remember or recognize me. I was just going to steer clear of him, but people got so upset because I didn't like him! Geez, it was like I committed a war crime against the school just because I wanted nothing to do with him! There were some girls who would actively search me out to ask me why I hated him. And the truth is I didn't exactly hate him at first when I saw him again... Yeah I was upset and I did hate him growing up, but I was just going to ignore him and move on, but nobody would let me! I started hating him all over again, for what had happened and for how everyone was treating me." Na Ri spilled feeling frustrated thinking about everything all over again.

Na Ri quickly looked away from Wendy, not wanting to dwell any longer on the subject or on Taeyong. "Why don't you guys go get our seats while I try to find-" Na Ri paused realizing she was going to finish that sentence with 'find Taeyong,' "the backstage area." She finished weakly.

"Sounds good to me! Johnny and I are going to go looking for food." Ten chirped moving away from Na Ri and now throwing his arm over the much taller boy.

"Why do I feel like that's the last thing on your mind right now," Johnny sighed as Ten began pulling him away from the group. 

The two boys disappeared into the crowd and Na Ri had the sneaking suspicion they wouldn't be seeing them again for the remainder of the event. Na Ri gave a quick goodbye to Seulgi and Wendy before heading off in the direction of the staging area for all the dancers. The competition had basically taken up all of campus with the main stage, the main event, in the school's auditorium. Plenty of pop-up stages and booths had been set up along the way; however, giving the school's inhabitants a good deal to do while they waited.

Na Ri found the staging area for the dancer's rather easily. It was well marked but what really gave it away was the Lucas and Mark duo standing by the entrance obviously looking for someone. Lucas spotted Na Ri first and quickly started jumping up and down and waving his arms in exaggerated fashion, drawing the attention of everyone around them. Na Ri wondered if she could get away with turning around and walking away. Unfortunately that wasn't an option because the two boys ran up to her before she could make up her mind. 

"Oh thank GOD!" Lucas exclaimed a look of relief on his face. It was odd to see the two boys not in sweatpants but rather in leather pants and fancy jackets with their hair meticulously styled.

"Hey guys, I was just coming to get a few quotes from you all before your first performance, also to wish you luck," Na Ri said giving them a smile. 

"Na Ri we need your help its an emergency!" Mark begged grabbing on to her arm, his eyes wide. 

Na Ri frowned, "What's wrong?" 

"It's Jisung! We can't find him anywhere!" Mark explained. "He told Chenle he was going to the bathroom but its been thirty minutes and we can't find him. Everyone's out searching now, we can't do this without him and if Taeyong and the rest don't get back soon we're going to miss the preliminaries." 

Na Ri felt her heart drop as he spoke. These boys had worked so hard for this and if they weren't able to perform it would break their heart, it would break Taeyong's heart. "I'll help you all look. What direction was he heading?" Na Ri asked. 

"The bathrooms are that way, but we already checked and he's not there or at any of the other bathrooms." Lucas spoke up.

"Ok, if I find him I'll call Taeyong," Na Ri nodded

"I'll let him know you're looking too," Mark said pulling out his phone. "Thank you Na Ri" 

Na Ri quickly began searching for the missing boy wondering what on earth could have happened. "Is he hiding or did he get held up by something..." Na Ri wondered out loud, trying to remember what should could about the boy. "Either way, he won't be out in the open..." Na Ri stepped off the main path away from the crowds of people and behind the booths. After a few minutes of searching, getting yelled at by a pair of students making out on a bench, almost running into Jaehyun who was searching frantically, and discovering someone throwing up by a dumpster Na Ri was almost ready to give up.

She was standing by one of the residence hall, pretty far from the center of all the activity checking the time, when she heard the sound of someone sniffling. Turning her head toward the sound she quietly made her way over to the side of the building. Looking around the corner Na Ri spotted the very boy she was looking for, sitting on the ground with his knees to his chest and his head bowed low. Sending a quick text to Taeyong telling him she had found his missing dancer and to get everyone back to the staging area, Na Ri stepped around the corner and slid down to sit next to Jisung.

"I would offer you a tissue but I'm afraid I don't have any," Na Ri said quietly drawing the attention of the young boy.

He looked surprised and and a tad bit guilty to see Na Ri sitting next to him, "Oh- um..." He looked down sniffing again. 

"So what's wrong?" Na Ri asked after a moment when he didn't say anything more, "Everyone's worried about you, you know."

The boy fiddled with his hands for a moment before speaking up, "I don't know, it's just- I'm scared. I don't want to mess up in front of everyone. I don't want to let everyone down... I don't want to let Taeyong down." 

Na Ri gave Jisung a small smile, "Can I let you in on a little secret?" She asked and when he nodded she continued, "No matter what happens today on that stage, you won't let anyone down, not the group, not the people watching and most certainly not Taeyong. No matter how well you do on that stage, what matters is that you do it together." 

"But we've worked so hard for this and my- and my parents said that I'm just wasting my time. That I need to focus on my school work and my college entrance exams. After this competition they don't want me to dance anymore." Jisung shared,more tears escaping the corner of his eyes, "I haven't been able to tell anyone, because... because I don't want this to go away."

Na Ri sighed and wrapped her arm around the boy's shoulders as he began to cry again. She let him cry for a few moments before speaking up, "I'm sorry Jisung. Parent's, most of the time, try to do what they think is best for their kids and their future and they don't realize that they might be hurting them instead. You should talk to Taeyong about it and see if he has any advice about what you should do. But for now... if you keep hiding away over here, you're going to miss your opportunity to even dance on this stage at all. I know you're scared, but if this might be your last time dancing with your friends. Don't you want to at least be able to say 'even if this was my last stage I'm glad to have the chance to dance on it with you all'?"

Jisung was quiet for a moment, the only sound being his sniffles as he slowly stopped crying, "Yeah... you're right.." He spoke up quietly. "I should go back.... but what am I going to say when they all ask why I left?" He asked turning his head to face her. 

"Just tell them you got lost on your way to the bathroom. I think a lot of them will just be glad you made it back in time so you all don't get disqualified." Na Ri replied giving him another smile, before standing up and brushing the back of her legs. Extending her hand down to the boy she said, "So, shall we go back together?"

Jisung tentatively took her hand and allowed her to help pull him to his feet, "Let's go." He said quietly.

Na Ri and Jisung made their way back to the staging area and to where the SR15B boys had set up, Na Ri saw Taeyong nervously biting his nails and tapping his foot as he waited for them to get back. As they got closer and they were spotted the boys all rushed over and surrounded the two of them.

"Oh my god! Jisung, dude where have you been we've been so worried!" Mark exclaimed throwing his arm around Jisung's head and pulling him in for a hug.

"I just got lost, I'm sorry guys." Jisung said meekly as the boys all fussed over him. 

Na Ri stepped away from the group watching them all dote on the youngest member of their team. As she watched she felt some one come up and stand next to her, "What really happened?" Taeyong asked quietly, watching the boys as well.

Na Ri sighed, "It will probably be better if he talks to you about it, but he really doesn't want to let you all down." 

Taeyong shook his head and lifted a hand to run it through his hair before remembering it had already been styled for the performance. "I'm just glad we're all here, together. Thank you," He said turning now to face Na Ri, "for finding him. You didn't have to go out of your way for us. I really can't tell you how much it means to us... to me that you would help us look."

Na Ri turned her head to meet Taeyong's gaze, any dismissal of his thanks she would have given dying on her lips as she looked at him. His eyes felt like a center of gravity, drawing her in. She felt her heart do something strange in her chest as she and Taeyong looked at each other, and for a second she wondered if Taeyong could hear it. "Of course," She forced herself to speak. Why was Taeyong standing so close to her again, why was he always wearing that damn cologne that she couldn't get out of her head.

Yuta was the one to finally break their gaze as he jogged over, "Taeyong! It's time!" He said, practically bouncing where he stood. "You should get to you seat Na Ri, you won't want to miss our performance!" He said smiling at her.

Na Ri smiled at Yuta, "Right, I'll get going. Good luck out there!" She gave a quick goodbye to the group, catching Taeyong's eye one last time, and giving him a small nod and smile, before leaving the staging area to go find her seat. 

An update! I struggled for a while but it's finally here! Also happy birthday to Taeyong! 

Much Love,

Ashton