Hweseung lay curled up in a ball inside his room, thoughts buzzing – how can a human turn into a cat? How? Why? What did Seunghyub mean by ‘I better be prepared for stuff like that to happen?’ How can one prepare for something that one doesn’t know?

A knock on the door brought his mind back to the present. He uncurled himself from his position and sat up on the bed. “Come in,” Hweseung said.

Hun’s head popped through the opening, his features masked in uncertainty. “Hey, uhmm, can we talk?” he asked.

Hweseung nodded. Hun entered and let the door closed behind him. He remained rooted to the spot, looking at anywhere but at Hweseung. Hun took a deep breath then, “I’m sorry. I-uh, I should have told you about my – condition the first chance I got.”

A small smile formed on Hweseung’s lips, “I wouldn’t have believed you if I haven't seen it first hand,” he answered. “I- I mean,” it was his turn to take a deep breath. “ I need time to adjust is all,” Hweseung said.

“Uhm, you see- well, We thought it’s about time we told you the truth. Everyone’s gathered in the living room so… we’ll wait for you,” Hun replied before exiting the room in haste.

The moment Hweseung stepped into view, the hushed conversation stopped and the four other members of the band looked at him. Hweseung’s heart beat fast, he felt like he was being judged in an audition once again. Seunghyub approached him then, slowly – as one would approach a scared animal, Hweseung thought.

“First off, I want to say sorry. We should have told you about this earlier and prepared you,” Seunghyub started. His voice was a little shaky and he was waving his hands a lot.

“You know how we were in hiatus for 2 years, right?” he asked.

Hweseung nodded. He didn’t know what to say so he figured he’ll listen to everything first and then decide. His addition to the group isn't publicized yet so maybe he can negotiate with the company or something if this turns out to be dangerous.

“You see...” Seunghyub looked back at s but they all turned away and looked at random spots around the room. Their leader sighed and turned back to face Hweseung.

“Well, it happened one night, about a year ago or less, I think. Anyway, we were out drinking and commiserating our fate and I think we were heading back home then when we saw this little café with like a strange blue-orangey light,” Seunghyub started, getting that faraway look on his face.

“Kwangjin said we should stop by and try to sober ourselves before going home-“ Seunghyub continued.

“I did not. It was Jaehyun!” Kwangjin interrupted.

Seunghyub waved it off. “Well, we decided it was a great idea and so we entered the place and ordered our drinks and then we suddenly talked about superheroes and stuff like that and-“

“We’re talking about Harry Potter!” Jaehyun said.

Seunghyub sighed. “ANYWAY, our drinks came and we said we wish we have super powers or and the next day, well, Hun turned into a cat while we were having breakfast and Kwangjin broke the table in half in surprise." he ended.

Hweseung stared blankly at Seunghyub, “W-what?!”

Seunghyub nodded at Kwangjin and their bassist lifted the sofa with one hand without breaking a sweat. “He has super strength,” Hun said.

“He’s Superman,” Jaehyun quipped with a stupid grin on his face.

Hweseung stood there just staring at everyone. His mind is blank – blank!. He felt like this was all just a dream or a trick or a show to introduce him or something but the faces that stared back at him were serious (except for Jaehyun who was trying so hard not to break into a smile) and –

“I-I’m going out for a while,” Hweseung heard himself say.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The sun was setting and the few people were around were hurrying to their homes. Somehow, being out on the streets and walking around aimlessly brought him some sense of normalcy as he thought about everything that has just happened.

Turning into a cat and having super strength isn’t that bad, he thought. It might be fun in a way.

But still, this isn’t the type of thing that’ll do well in the media and for him to be involved in something like this just when he’s about to reach his dream of being a singer...

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Hweseung stood in front of the door, going over the little speech he had prepared while he was walking around. He figured that if he wanted to quit the group, they should be the first to know. He can deal with the company later. For now, he should just be honest and tell them he’s a little scared and that he wants out.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths – inhale, exhale, inhale, and exhale. He opened his eyes, feeling as ready as he could ever be then entered.

He could hear laughter coming from the kitchen, they’re preparing dinner, he thought and sure enough, when he turned the corner, the four other members of N.flying were going about the dinner table, setting up plates and utensils while the smell of something savoury filled the air.

“Hweseung-ah, come on. Let’s eat!” Jaehyun said as if nothing ever happened a few hours ago.

Okay then, Hweseung thought. I’ll tell them after dinner.

Dinner was fun although the tension was still in the air. Hweseung can feel their eyes on him when they thought he was busy eating, he can feel the tension underneath all the light stories and the laughter and he knew all it takes is one word for this sense of normalcy to come crashing down on them.

Dinner ended in a nice way and they all helped in cleaning up the table. While Hweseung was busy wiping the table, Kwangjin came up to him and told him he would stay with Seunghyub for the night. Hweseung nodded. After that, everyone disappeared into their rooms leaving him with the words he hadn’t gotten the chance to say.

It’s 1 am and sleep still evaded him.

Hweseung thought about the times he practised with N.flying before, how they always say his voice fits the rock genre and how he would be a perfect addition to the group. And whenever they say it, he plays it off but deep inside, he knew he wanted to be a part of the band. And now that he is, he's suddenly considering quitting.

Isn't that just sad? he thought

"I should give them another chance," he whispered to the room. Half of him was uncertain about the decision but another half told him it was the right thing to do.