When her professor had changed her newspaper assignment Na Ri thought she was going to go ballistic. This now meant more time spent with the bane of her existence, more leg work, and more writing. She was ticked. Yeri, the girl who sat next to her in the meetings, kept throwing her concerned looks as Na Ri aggressively bounced her leg up and down and tapped her pencil against her notebook. Na Ri kept her opinions to herself however, knowing that the professor had the final say in the matter. That didn't mean that Seulgi, Ten, and Johnny were able to escape her groanings though which she shared with them that evening over dinner. 

"Can I not have one day of peace?? Just one day is all I ask of the world." Na Ri moaned slumping down in her chair. Seulgi rolled her eyes as she took a bite of her pizza. The first article was due that weekend and Na Ri only had a few days to finish. "I have to go to their practice again tomorrow, which means I have to see him again. Then I have to spend the whole next day writing about him. It never ends!" 

"Neither do your complaints about it." Ten grumbled out loud. Na Ri gave him a dirty look. "I'm just saying you spend so much energy complaining about him that you make it worse on yourself." Ten continued. Johnny stayed quiet but nodded along to what Ten was saying.

Seulgi patted Na Ri on the head. "If we didn't know you better, it would sound like your obsessed with the boy." Na Ri gagged theatrically. "I'm just saying you've been talking about Taeyong for thirty minutes and you have yet to notice that NCT 127 updated today." 

Na Ri sat bolt up in her chair. "Why didn't you say something sooner!" She cried drawing a few weird looks from some of the people a few tables over. "Where's my phone!" She said searching her pockets before pulling it out of her bag which was slung over the back of her chair. She quickly went to NCT 127's profile to see that they had, in fact, updated. Squealing quietly to herself she began scanning through the photos.

Ten munched on one of his slices thoughtfully. "Why do you think he's anonymous? I mean if it were me I would want to be taking credit and getting all the popularity and the ladies that come with it." Johnny who had been taking a sip of his drink began to choke. 

Seulgi scoffed. "Well one, that's pretty presumptuous of you to think any girl would be falling all over you-"

"Just because I'm not as gorgeous as Yuta is in your eyes does not mean-" 

"TEN!! I DON'T- I HAVE NO IDEA- WHAT ARE-" Seulgi sputtered at a loss for words, her cheeks changing color 

Na Ri looked over at Ten. "The anonymity is part of the charm idiot. It adds a layer of intrigue, mystic. Plus it put's the emphasis more on his photos than on him. We love a humble king."

"What if its a girl" Ten shot back

"Then we love a humble queen, but I'm choosing to believe its a man unless proven otherwise."

Johnny who had finally stopped coughing spoke up, "You guys ever think that maybe he's anonymous cause he doesn't want the fame or want to be known as 127?"

Na Ri furrowed her brow not even bothering to loo over at Johnny, "Why would anyone not want to be associated with such great photos. That's just silly." Johnny just rolled his eyes and went back to his cheesy bread.  

"You think he's ever going to reveal his identity?" Ten asked looking over the table at Na Ri's phone. 

"I don't know, but once I'm done with these stupid Taeyong articles I'm going to put all of my effort into discovering his identity." Na Ri said firmly. 

"What about exams and finals?" Seulgi asked, who had finished pouting and rejoined the conversation

"I am going to put 75% of my effort into discovering his identity." Na Ri repeated just as firmly.

"Didn't you say last week that you were behind on updating some of your blogs?" Ten added innocently.

"I am going to put 50% of my effort into discovering his identity."

"I'm pretty sure she also said that she would help you with one of your upcoming show topics" Johnny pointed out to Seulgi, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.  

Na Ri huffed in annoyance, "I am going to put 30% of my effort into discovering his identity."

"Also we can't forget about-"

"Oh be quiet already..." Na Ri interrupted rolling her eyes. "Either way, once I'm done with this I vow to discover who he is. I don't even know what I'll do with the information once I do, but UPON MY HONOR I NEED TO KNOW" 

"I wish you the best of luck on your fruitless journey." Seulgi said raising her glass to Na Ri.

"Na Ri has honor?" Ten asked looking at Johnny which quickly sent him ducking out of the way as Na Ri tried to hit him with a piece of cheesy bread.

"Hey don't waste food!" Johhny cried.

The next morning Na Ri woke to a missed call and voicemail from her mother. "Hi honey! I know you're probably still asleep, but I wanted to remind you that your cousin will be coming to visit you next week. I shouldn't have to remind you that she's your responsibilty while she's there so I expect to here great updates about your time together. Remember to go to sleep early, and stay out of trouble. Tell Ten and Seulgi hello for me and that I can't wait for them to come visit over winter break. Love you baby!"

Na Ri groaned at the realisation that she had completely forgot that Wendy would be coming. Looking around at her and Seulgi's cluttered dorm room, the other ocuppant already having left for her classes, she wondered how on earth they were going to fit three girls there for more than a week. Shooting her mom a text back letting her know she got the message she went about the rest of her day. 

That evening Seulgi and Na Ri left campus and walked the few blocks to SR15B's dance studio. Na Ri hadn't told anyone that she would be bringing Seulgi with her. She wanted it to be a surprise for Yuta, plus she wasn't in the mood to text Taeyong. Not that she was ever in the mood to text Taeyong. When they arrived everyone was already there warming up, and it was much less chaotic than the first time Na Ri had stepped through the doors, but not by much.

She spotted Taeyong over by their music station, his back facing them. Testing the limits of her memory she began pointing out the boys and telling Seulgi who they were. Lucas was laying on the ground spread eagle, not looking particularly interested in stretching unlike Jaehyun and Jisung. Renjun, Chenle, and Sicheng seemed to be having a heated debate in Chinese, one that was gradually getting louder. Although it seemed that Renjun and Chenle were the ones arguing with Sicheng watching as a mediator. He didn't seem particularly interested in butting in. Mark was the first to notice them and quickly dragged Donghyuck over with him. 

"Hey Na Ri, welcome back." He said giving her a small smile. "Who's this?" He asked his eyes flickering over for a brief second to Seulgi. 

"This is Seulgi, my best friend. She wanted to come see Yuta dance." Na Ri replied which earned her a quick punch to the shoulder. 

"Na Ri!!" She admonished looking around to see if Yuta had heard, which he was too busy stretching with Jaehyun and hadn't even noticed them yet. 

"Seulgi....Oh yeah, Yuta's mentioned you before." Donghyuck mentioned offhandedly. 

"He has?" Seulgi asked her eyes widening in suprise, her eyes darting over to the boy in question. 

Na Ri giggled and nudged her friend. "Looking a little excited there are we?"

"Is this the girl you were telling me about?" Donghyuck asked turning to Mark who had his arm over his friends shoulder.

Mark quickly turned red and started laughing nervously. "N-no...what are you talking about? I didn't..." 

Donghyuck looked at Mark bewildered. "What am I talking about? What are YOU talking about? You came back the other day gushing about-"

Mark quickly interrupted him, "Oh THAT ...uh. No that was uh, well uh....oh look it's Taeyong."

Taeyong had spotted them from across the room and had come over, much to Mark's relief. "Oh hey Seulgi! What are you doing here?" He asked looking suprised to see her. 

"Well Na Ri has been talking about this for like, ever and I was curious so I decided to tag along." Seulgi said shrugging.  

Na Ri scoffed to herself, "Liar." to which Seulgi sent her a glare.

"Well we're glad you came! You'll have to tell us what you think after practice. Have you talked to Yuta yet? He's around here somewhere..." Taeyong said looking around. When he spotted him on the other side of the room he called out to him. "HEY YUTA! LOOK WHO'S HERE!!" He yelled pointing to Seulgi, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Seulgi turned a shade of pink and gave a small wave to everyone, most of who were wondering who on earth she was. Yuta's face lit up with a smile as he walked over. "She came to see our practice," Taeyong shared with him once he had joined them. 

Yuta rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh awesome...I hope you like it. We've put a lot of work into it." 

Seulgi gave him a shy smile, "I'm sure I will." Na Ri caught the eyes of Donghyuck who pretened to gag and roll his eyes, to which Na Ri had stifle a laugh. 

"We're about to get started, so why don't you go ahead and take a seat up front." Taeyong said moving closer to Na Ri and putting a hand on her elbow to direct her towards the front where the mirror was. Na Ri was suddenly very aware of her elbow and even though she was wearing a long sleeve sweater it felt like it was on fire. She had half a mind to jerk away from him, but considering she was in, what she saw as, enemy territory she decided against it and let him lead her over to the chair. Seulgi followed behind. Another chair was quickly pulled up to the front for Seulgi and the two girls took a seat. Like last time Taeyong quickly rounded up the boys into their formation before starting the music and hurrying to his spot. It was the same dance Na Ri had seen before, but it was just as mesmerizing to watch. Looking over at Seulgi, Na Ri saw that she was smiling from ear to ear, her eyes tracking Yuta as he moved fluidly through the dance and across the floor. 

When they finished the dance, Taeyong quickly moved to the front and faced the boys. "Mark what's up with you today, that was sloppier than usual?" Taeyong addressed the high schooler who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. 

Donghyuck spoke up, "That's probably because-" Mark moved faster than lightening covering Donghyuck's mouth. 

"Sorry Taeyong. I guess I wasn't as warmed up as I thought." Mark answered his face turning red, acting like he wasn't being totally suspicious with his hand over Donghyuck's mouth like that. The latter must have his hand cause Mark quickly retracted it with a loud "Ewww gross!" before wiping it on his pants.

Taeyong didn't look particularly convinced but just told them to get set again, before going through the dance again. And again. And again. By the end of the night Na Ri felt like she could have gotten up to preform with them she had seen the dance so much. For whatever reason, Taeyong wasn't happy with their performance, to the point where he had stopped dancing with them and was just watching from the front with an eagle eye pointing out what was wrong. "Sicheng that's the wrong foot. Lucas lower your arm a few centimeters. Taeil you're a beat behind again." Na Ri could tell Taeyong was getting more frustrated as the evening went on. "Guys stop! Come on the count is 1, 2, 3 and 4. Not 1, 2, 3, 4 and!" 

She had a feeling they would have been there all night and into the next morning if Taeyong had his way, but eventually Jaehyun stepped forward, breathing heavily with sweat dripping down his face. "Taeyong I think we should end practice for the night, we can come back early tomorrow and get this all worked out then." 

Taeyong looked like he wanted to object with a 'let's just do it one more time,' but after quickly looking around to see all the boys spread out on the floor looking half dead he relented. "Ok, let's meet back here at 10 in the morning." He sighed running his hand through his hair. The only response he received was a thumbs up from Taeil and some sort of loud groan of affirmation from Lucas. Taeyong looked surprised and then a little guilty when he turned and saw that Na Ri and Seulgi were still there. "Oh I'm sorry guys, I got so caught up in practice that I forgot you all were here." He admitted sheepishly. Na Ri noticed that his ears turned red when he was embarrassed. 

"It's ok!" Seulgi responded getting up off the floor, about three hours in she had lain down and begun scrolling through twitter. "It was really interesting to see, I've never watched something like this before."

"Was it really that bad?" Na Ri asked. "Like the dance looked amazing, I couldn't see all those things you were pointing out." 

Taeyong grimaced. "I mean we're not bad, the dance is actually pretty solid, but it's not perfect. If we're going to perform at World of Dance it has to be perfect."

Seulgi and Na Ri left shortly after that. Taeyong didn't walk back with them, to the relief of Na Ri, telling them he needed to talk with some of the older dancers. Seulgi slung her arm around Na Ri's shoulder's "Well that was the longest night of my life." She declared as they walked back. "But getting to see Yuta dance was worth it so..."

Na Ri grinned at her. "So when are you going to make your move, or are you going to make your move?" She asked. 

Seulgi shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I'm just worried about what will happen if I do. I would hate to lose his friendship if he didn't feel the same way." Na Ri rolled her eyes at her friends obliviousness. "You have to promise not to tell Johnny or Ten I told you this. I don't want them to make fun of me."

"Don't worry I won't tell them. Us girls have to stick together." Na Ri replied. "Oh that reminds me! Wendy is coming next week to stay with us. I told you about that right?" 

"Uhhh, I think so. Does this mean we have to clean our room?" Seulgi questioned. 

"Unfortunately. Also my mom says hi and that she can't wait for your visit over winter break."

"Why is your mom like the sweetest person, and how come none of that sweetness was passed down to you?" Seulgi asked. 

Na Ri gave her a light shove and laughed. "I'm pretty sure the reason my mom doesn't have a hateful bone in her body is cause she passed it all down to me."

Seulgi nodded, "Now that makes complete sense."

NaReally: Just turned in the first article to my editor!!!

NaReally: ♪ ~Woah, we're half way there​​​​​​~♪

NaReally: ♪ ~Woah, LIVIN' ON A PRAYER~♪ 

NaReally: ♪ ~Take my hand, WE'LL MAKE IT I SWEAR~♪

JohnnyBoi: Wow...we are so proud of you...

Tenoutof10: lmao

NaReally: Johnny shut up and let me enjoy this moment of victory

DJPringle: Have you told them Wendy is coming yet

JohnnyBoi: Whomst

Tenoutof10: WENDY?!?! YOUR COUSIN WENDY????

Tenoutof10: MY PARTNER IN CRIME???

Tenoutof10: THE EVIL TO MY KENEVIL???

Tenoutof10: THE ONLY ONE TO APPRECIATE MY ARTISTIC GENIUS???

JohnnyBoi: Whomst?

NaReally: She's coming next week

NaReally: Johnny you haven't met her yet, she's my cousin

DJPringle: She's cooler than Na Ri

NaReally: Excuse??

JohnnyBoi: That doesn't take a lot

NaReally: I see it's Bully-Na-Ri-Hours in the chat.

Tenoutof10: I'm pretty sure it's always Bully-Na-Ri-Hours 

This chapter is long overdue. University has been kicking my with homework, plus my hours at work have kept me from writing. When I did write I was on that struggle bus. Was really unhappy with the second half of this chapter, but I think it came together. Hopefully I will be able to find more time to write, but we shall see. At first I wanted to make this chapter longer to make up for it, but ultimately I thought you guys would like to actually read the chapter then wait around forever. Please bear with me as I try to survive college.

Much Love,

Ashton​​​​​​​