Taeyong was sitting in a corner of NCT's prep room backstage, doing his best to pretend that he was most interested in his phone when in reality he couldn't help but send glowering glances towards Jaehyun across the room, every few seconds. In the week leading up to their Osaka performance for A-nation ‘18, he had noticed Jaehyun slowly distance himself from him yet again.

At first he hadn't noticed it, there had been the movie with Seungcheol and the others, then the flower show they had gone to and it was all so exciting, making new friends and trying out different coffee shops with them. It had been a rare week of laid back schedules and he had actually enjoyed himself immensely.

In fact, he had done nothing to piss off Jaehyun at all. He hadn't even said much to him. So, for Jaehyun to pointedly choose sitting with Johnny on the plane and then later, opt for Doyoung as a roommate was totally baseless. He had told himself that he wouldn't mope over this. No, two could play at this game of being aloof.

The only problem was that he just had a really weak resolve because only this morning, he had blurted, right in front of Jaehyun, to the waiter that Jaehyun liked grape juice instead of the apple juice that had been poured out for him. He wished he was as strong as him, so that he too could joke around with others while appearing totally nonchalant.

Like right now there Jae was, looking gorgeous with his fluffy lilac hair, laughing along with Haechan and Mark while not even looking towards him!? Taeyong didn't understand what came over Jaehyun every now and then. How was he supposed to know what Jae thought about him if he continued to be this way?

"Let's go, guys. We're next," Doyoung called out.

When they were standing on the wings, waiting for the go signal, Jaehyun spoke up, "How's Seungcheol, hyung?"

Taeyong frowned. Why ask about him at this moment, here of all places? "Wha-?"

The music started and before he knew they were already performing. He pushed the thought to the back of his head as he sang and danced, making a mental note to confront Jae later.

Later during the ment, Taeyong was rapping off all the Japanese he had learnt to thank the fans and converse with the other members. Jaehyun watched him talking animatedly and his heart clenched when he recognised that underneath all the excitement, Taeyong was heaving from exhaustion. It was probably a combination of the heat and his recurring knee injury. He had worried about this last night.

"Winwin-ah, could you make sure Taeyong hyung uses the heatpad before sleeping? I think his knee injury is acting up again."

Winwin nodded. "I'll do that but umm, Jae, why are you ignoring Taeyong hyung?"

"I'm not," he replied, defensively.

"Okay, I know it's none of my business but it's becoming really obvious. Even the fans are beginning to notice. He must be wondering what's up too."

Jaehyun scoffed. "I doubt. He has his Seungcheol. He's too busy to remember the rest of us."

Winwin tutted. "I thought you weren't the jealous type."

When he didn't say anything, Winwin patted his bac