Section One: [C h a n] Smile

"Ooh, 'I Smile'! Day6," Jeongin clapped. Jeongin adjusted himself on the couch next to Minho. Woojin moved up to the microphone, adjusting himself. Chan got the button as Changbin and Jisung sat by the auditory monitor.

"Ready?" Chan asked, smiling. Woojin nodded, and Chan pressed the button. His voice was as lovely as ever; smooth as honey, soft and gliding effortlessly into the higher notes. Jeongin sat admiring Woojin's voice as Minho closed his eyes. Chan's heart fluttered as the soothingness of Woojin's voice, just like the first time he saw Woojin singing at the cafe that one night. Jisung was mouthing the lyrics and Changbin was watching the monitor carefully.

Woojin stopped after the first chorus, and Chan pressed the button immediately. "Great job! That was wonderful."

Smiling, Woojin sat back down on the sofa. Changbin prepared the audio with a few clicks, and the group listened to the recording. Chan looked over at Woojin, the satisfaction present on Woojin's face. Woojin had never gotten a proper recording, and Chan was honored to be the first one to ask. Chan grinned at the thought of being able to own and listen to the recording whenever he pleased because it was in his database now.

"Minho~" Jisung started. "Do you want to rap?"

Minho moved up from the sofa slowly. He was trying to remember some of the lyrics of the track that he enjoyed dancing to, but it was just a huge jumble.

Jisung noticed Minho's expression, lost in thought. "If you don't have any verses on you, you can just try out one of my verses from a 3RACHA track." Minho nodded. He hadn't heard any of the tracks yet, so Jisung decided to play one of his verses first. The verse that he played was from "NXT 2 U" in the first mixtape. Minho was thinking of a choreography as he listened to Jisung's verse. He admired the lyricality of Jisung's rap, and it was easier to make slightly more graceful choreography instead of the sharp and flowing movements that he usually made. 

"Here's a transcript of the lyrics." Jisung handed Minho his notebook, flipped open to an earlier page, as Chan and Changbin moved over to the side of the auditory monitor. Minho skimmed it quickly before Chan prepared to press the button.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Chan pressed the button. The few seconds of rest came before Minho began to rap the verse. His voice was more gentle, and it suited the genre blend of the track. Jisung had a brisk thought of rapping along with Minho sometime. Maybe they can feature him in a track sometime. Jisung really, really liked Minho's rapping tone. And he liked Minho's voice. And his choreography. And him. Jisung choked on air and moved his head to the side as Minho finished up the verse, and Chan pressed the button shortly after. He formatted the audio in a similar fashion that Changbin had earlier before playing it back for the group. 

Woojin turned to Jeongin. "Wanna try, Jeongin?" Woojin was the only one that knew that Jeongin liked to sing in the trot genre, but he pretended not to know for the meanwhile. "Sing or rap?"

"I'll sing," Jeongin stood up, tilting his head towards Woojin. 

Chan opened up another new audio file on his computer. "Any song preference? If you don't, I have some songs that you can try out here if you want."

"No, I have a song preference." Jeongin paused before telling Chan, trying to build up the suspense. "Park Hyunbin's 'So Hot!'." He moved up to the computer as Minho sat back down on the couch next to Woojin. 

Chan smiled softly. "Trot, huh?" He set his hand on top of the button, pressing it and giving Jeongin a thumbs up. Jeongin was bubbly, his voice coming out boldly. 

A few minutes later when Chan layered the audio, he played it out loud. 

"I guess it's a wrap!" Changbin nodded as Jeongin, Minho, and Woojin stood up. 

"Sorry, but Jeongin and I need to leave. I need to help him study for his math test on Monday," Woojin declared. 

Minho picked up his bag. "I have to head back to the annex. I'm preparing a choreography." His voice trailed off a tiny bit as he made eye contact with Jisung. 

"Ok. See you guys. Leave safely!" Chan waved as the three walked out the front door. Jisung immediately flopped back onto the sofa, taking out one of his cheeseball containers. 

Chan walked back over the monitor and poked Changbin's shoulder. "Ah, Changbin. I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah?" Changbin followed Chan to the other room of the studio, leaving Jisung eating cheeseballs in peace.

"I heard your recording. It's really well-written, but I just wanted to ask about the lyrics. Is that what's really going on inside of your head. Precious things... like- are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure? I'm always here if you need someone to talk to about it."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks Chan. I don't know what I would do without you." Chan leaned over to hug Changbin before they walked back into the studio. 

Section Two: [F e l i x] Iced Coffee and an Invite

Chan and Woojin were working a shift at the cafe around 4 pm that Saturday. Felix decided to stop by because he wanted an iced coffee anyway. 

"Oh, hey Felix!" Woojin waved, as he poured to ground coffee beans into a container.

"Hi, Woojin!"

Chan walked to the register from the back area of the cafe. "Hi, Felix! And hi, Changbin!" Felix turned to see Changbin, taking a seat next to Felix. A convenient coincidence.

"You guys came together?" Chan asked, smiling and nudging Felix's shoulder. 

"No- It's just, uh, coincidence," Felix stuttered as he looked at Changbin. Changbin was in a flannel and a hat, a simple outfit, yet to Felix it looked so good on him. 

"Where did you come from today?" Changbin questioned Felix, casually.

"I just came from a four-hour lesson with Mr. Sohn. You?"

"Studio. Second mixtape release tomorrow. Ah, Felix, I meant to ask you. We have a performance again at the Ugly Junction tomorrow night. We will perform "힘이 돼 ", produced by Jisung, my solo track "If", and Jisung's solo track "I See". We are going against two other rap teams, so I was wondering if you wanted to come and support us. You can invite your other friends too. I'm pretty sure Chan told me that Woojin, Minho, and Jeongin are going already."

Felix grinned. "Yeah! I'll totally be there. I'll invite Seungmin and Hyunjin. You know Seungmin, but not Hyunjin." Changbin nodded. Now he was looking forward to rapping in front of Felix again, and he was prepared to impress. Felix's phone shook on the table, and Felix quickly picked it up. His mom was calling.

"Hello, mom?" Felix answered. 

"Where are you? Are you with that Changbin guy again to study and work on projects? Are you done with your lesson?" Felix rolled his eyes from being bombarded with questions as Changbin grabbed the phone from Felix's hands.

"Yes, this is Changbin.....yeah, he did....... yup....... oh, okay....... yes, I am available.......... we will be right there."

Felix tilted his head as Changbin handed him his phone. "She invited me over to your house. She wants to meet me and she offered for us to study there because she thinks that Saturday nights would get a little busy." 

"Oh, okay," Felix said as they stood up. Felix caught a bit of Woojin and Chan waving in his peripheral vision before he walked out the cafe door with Changbin.

Section Three: [C h a n g b i n] Felix's Abode

"Welcome, Changbin!" Felix's mother greeted. She had changed into something neater, and her voice was in a strained "happy" tone. Felix looked around his house. He had noticed that his mother had cleaned up, just to give the appearance that Felix's residence was a happy, clean, and homely environment. Felix sighed because none of this was true. 

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lee." Changbin shook Mrs. Lee's hand as he looked around. Felix's father had left to see Felix's sisters out of Seoul, so Felix's mother was just alone in the house when Felix was out of the house practically all the time now. Felix always had to make up lame excuses that he was going to his lesson with Mr. Sohn, to school to pick up applications for the school's student government (which Felix never had the guts to actually do, but he just told his mother so that she would be proud), and then to the library to study, which he did much less than half the time. 

"You guys can head to the study room. I'll get your textbooks upstairs and then I'll prepare you guys some food," she smiled, her smile also extremely strained. Changbin followed Felix into a study room, which was also cleaned by Felix's mother prior to them arriving. Felix's mother headed upstairs into Felix's room. 

"Your mother is really nice. Why are you so scared of her?" Changbin questioned, looking around the study room which now seemed like a grand palace rather than a place Felix knew as hell. 

"It's a facade. A very, very thick facade. She is nothing like that when she talks to me directly. Don't believe her kindness," Felix looked down as he took out his school supplies from his backpack in the corner of the room before taking a seat next to Changbin. Changbin didn't have his backpack, but he had two lyric books and a pencil case in his bag, which could maybe pass for school supplies, he took them out. 

"This is a nice place to write lyrics."

"Agreed."

Changbin wrote in his notebook, looking up periodically at Felix. Felix couldn't tell whether or not Changbin knew that Felix realized it, but he continued organizing his agenda anyway. 

"You have really pretty eyes," Changbin stated softly.

Felix felt his cheeks flush. "Thank you." They continued writing and organizing. 

"Is your mom still really strict about what you do and listen to?" Changbin whispered.

"Yeah. I feel as though she'll always be like that." 

"I can't imagine what it's like without rap at home. Without parents who are neutral about what you want to do. I still want to- no, I will make your parents accepting of what you want to do."

"Really? It's really- difficult. I mean, no matter what I do, my parents want to know. I'm too afraid to confront them about the topic of rapping."

"I will help you. I promise." Changbin almost hugged Felix before remembering that Felix's mother could come in at any moment, so he just placed his arm on Felix's back and leaned his head towards Felix. 

"Lee Yong Bok!" Changbin watched as Felix winced at the use of his Korean name. Felix's mother was standing sternly at the door, and she seemed to have given up on her kind facade. He watched nervously as Felix's mother dropped the textbooks on the floor with a loud thud. She slowly pulled out a reflective object from her pocket, which Felix couldn't see clearly at first. It was.... no, couldn't be a mirror.... not a metal container.... a CD?

Mrs. Lee took small steps across the room, up to Felix. "Please. Please tell me that this is a classical CD." Felix eyed the CD. It was the 3RACHA first unfinished mixtape CD that he had received before, and he just remembered that he never gave it back to any member of the trio. Changbin inhaled and held it as his grip on Felix's back tightened. Felix's mother walked towards the CD player by the collections of classical CDs that Felix would play during meals, much to Felix's agony, and she slipped the CD in. It seemed like ten years passed before she hit the button with her fingers. 

A steady beat.

Three voices rapping on the track.

One of the voices, distinctly familiar. 

One of the voices, Felix's mother had noticed that the voice belonged to someone she had just met.

One of the voices, rough and punctuating.

One of the voices, belonging to the boy that sat next to Felix right now.

Mrs. Lee recognized Changbin's voice.