Chapter 9

Recommended song: Friends (by Anne-Marie and Marshemello)

After sending Yunhyeong home and get him all settled in his bed, Hanbin sent Chanwoo a text, asking him to return home immediately and to tell the others that practice was called off. Under dim lighting, Yunhyeong's sleeping face still shone. It was the same glow Hanbin fell in love with years ago during one of their car rides to the studio, when Yunhyeong took a nap beside him in the car. Observing Yunhyeong was one of Hanbin's favourite habits- it always let Hanbin know Yunhyeong better and make Hanbin admire him more. Now, loving and protecting Yunhyeong seemed to be actions done out of Hanbin's instinct.

A series of soft knocks on the door pulled Hanbin out of his train of thoughts.

'Chanwoo ah, come in,' said Hanbin with a soft voice.

The door opened, revealing a tall figure poking his head in through the opening of the door.

'Hanbin hyung, is everything alright between you and Yunhyeong hyung now?' asked Chanwoo chirpily.

'Let's talk outside,' replied Hanbin.

Hanbin tucked Yunhyeong in, gave him a light peck on the cheek and his heels, heading out of the room to join Chanwoo in the living room.

'Chanwoo, there's so much that has happened just now and you have to tell me about what information you've gathered about that night,' said Hanbin, plopping himself down on the sofa.

Hanbin told Chanwoo everything that had happened between him and Yunhyeong after leaving the practice room, without missing an details.

'Actually, I have noticed something strange about Yunhyeong hyung these days. He's always been the weaker type cuz he's so skinny, but then he never felt lightheaded regularly before. During dance practices, he kept telling me that he wasn't feeling well and sometimes he asked Jinhwan hyung to shorten or cancel the practices,' said Chanwoo, when Hanbin expressed his concern towards Yunhyeong's health.

'He told me that it was because of a cold you caught last week, but it does strike me as weird that he's been missing a lot of practices these days. Before today, I thought that it might just be that he wanted to avoid me, but after what I saw just now, it had to be his health problems,' added Hanbin.

'It couldn't be his cold cuz he had been having this problem before umm... that happened. You might not have noticed before since Yunhyeong hyung told me not to inform you of his condition because he didn't want his problems to add to your stress and you were constantly working,' explained Chanwoo, with hints of discontent.

'No wonder why he wanted to break it off with me. I'm such a loser. We have to get him to the doctor tomorrow and get a diagnosis,' replied Hanbin while hitting his fist against the coffee table in frustration.

'Hanbin hyung, there's something I have to ask you and please answer be honestly. I promise I won't tell anyone especially Yunhyeong hyung about it,' said Chanwoo.

'Ask away,' replied Hanbin, as if he knew what was coming for him.

'Has Jinhwan hyung ever expressed any interest in you, hyung?' asked Chanwoo, gauging Hanbin's reaction.

Hanbin knew that this question was bound to come up one day, either from Chanwoo or Donghyuk, who were the most observant within the group. Way back from the debut days, even before Yunhyeong and June joined them, Jinhwan had already been making advancements towards Hanbin. Hanbin, who was young and inexperienced in love, saw those actions as friendly gestures and began to grow even more fondly of Jinhwan, who he saw as an older brother. Jinhwan always took care of Hanbin and favouritised him over Bobby despite the fact that both of them were Jinhwan's dongsaengs. As there were no signs of resistance on Hanbin's part, Jinhwan saw it as a signal to take things further with Hanbin. He was even more affectionate towards Hanbin and flirted with him every now and then. Of course, Hanbin saw them as playful and innocent remarks until June joined them and asked them if they were a couple. It finally dawned on Hanbin that the dynamic between him and Jinhwan were way beyond what friends have between them. At that point, Hanbin was still sure that he was straight, since Yunhyeong was still training as an actor trainee at that time, and decided to draw the line between him and Jinhwan. Hanbin avoided Jinhwan's hugs and unnecessary body contact, trying to keep a distance with him. Jinhwan was definitely upset at Hanbin's change in attitude towards him, yet he did not know how to confront Hanbin about it. A few months went on with Hanbin avoiding Jinhwan and Jinhwan sulking over it. However, one day, Jinhwan was triggered and went up to Hanbin to vent his frustration. It was the day when Yunhyeong was sent by President Yang to their group to train. Hanbin was still convinced that he was as straight as a pole, yet he was not able to take his eyes off of Yunhyeong or stop commenting on how good-looking Yunhyeong was. After getting to know Yunhyeong, Hanbin even started raving about how nice Yunhyeong was, to Jinhwan and Bobby. Bobby agreed with Hanbin on certain descriptions of Yunhyeong, yet Jinhwan only kept mum and shot daggers at Hanbin's shy face. Later that day, after Bobby, June, and Yunhyeong had left, Jinhwan dragged Hanbin to an empty practice room and confessed to Hanbin that he loved him, obviously fuelled with jealousy. Hanbin was shook and could only muster a heartfelt apology as his answer to Jinhwan's sudden confession. They then agreed not to talk about it ever again as Jinhwan promised to bury his feelings. This was something both of them would not want to mention nor hear about again.

'How do you know about it? And, what does this have to do with me and Jaewon?' asked Hanbin, with his eyes widened in shock.

'Well, it's a long and unbelievable story. I'm not entirely sure about it, but these are all my speculations. Do you remember the wigs we bought for shooting the music video for 'Beautiful'? All of us should have returned our wigs to the styling team since there was no reason to keep them, but Jinhwan hyung did not return his. Yesterday, when I figured out who could have done so many things and had the motive to do so, I went into Jinhwan hyung's room and rummaged through his things. I found his wig, which was all wavy and had a fringe, in the top drawer of his nightstand. Then, I found a dress and a pair of wedges hid underneath his bed. I remember that you told me Jaewon hyung talked to a girl who he thought was Jisoo and had black hair. Jinhwan hyung is the only one who is around 160cm with heels on, making him Jisoo's height. Moreover, Jaewon hyung was possibly hammered that day, saw Jinhwan hyung dressed as a girl, and thought that he was Jisoo since their names are pretty similar. Also, Jaewon hyung would not have been able to tell what hair colour the girl was since the club was very dark. That's why he thought Jinhwan hyung's hair was black instead of light brown. And, that day, all of us except for Jinhwan and Bobby hyung, who went to the States, went out for dinner and a film, so only Jinhwan hyung could have gone out without us noticing. Didn't you say that Jinhwan hyung caught you and Jaewon arguing? He was probably there because he wanted to check on you guys to see if anything happened. Now, I have another question for you. Were the marks on you and Jaewon on the same body parts and looked the same?' explained Chanwoo eloquently.

'Umm...yes, the marks looked strangely different,' answered Hanbin, still shocked by the sudden relevation.

'I don't if this was going to cheer you up or gross you out any further. But I can say that nothing happened between you and Jaewon that day since the marks were all left by Jinhwan hyung. So, generally speaking, he plotted this whole thing. Whether or not, he did anything more to you is for you to find out,' continued Chanwoo.

'Well, I thought it was very weird since I didn't feel anything down there when I woke up. That means I didn't cheat on Yunhyeongie!' said Hanbin, happily.

'Hanbin hyung, I'm not prying but you've gotta tell Yunhyeong hyung about your drug problem and get off drugs for your own good. You know, Yunhyeong hyung thinks that you are sick of him because you have been ghosting and avoiding to sleep with him at night. I know that you were probably in your studio taking pills, but I couldn't bring myself to tell your secret to Yunhyeong hyung. Me and June thought that you were going to quit soon, but it doesn't seem so. Please quit doing it. We're worried about you,' said Chanwoo sympathetically.

'I'm sorry for doing all that. I'll go get professional help after this is all settled and I'll tell Yunhyeong about it. He deserves to know about it. With Jinhwan hyung's situation, I know exactly what to do,' said Hanbin, gritting his teeth.

'Please don't do anything reckless. I'll be around. If you need me, just come to my room to get me. Now I'll go check up on Yunhyeong hyung' replied Chanwoo.

'Chawoo yah, gomawo. Can you take care of Yunhyeongie and update me with his situation while I'm gone dealing with Jinhwan?' said Hanbin with gratitude.

'Of course, I'll get June as well since he's quite worried about Yunhyeong hyung,' answered Chanwoo.

'Oh and can you tell June that I'm sorry for accusing him?' asked Hanbin, while getting through the doorway.

'Sure,' said Chanwoo, praying that Hanbin would be sensible, in his head.