Namyong took a step back as he watched the six members go over one last practice before lunch. They had come a long way after the unfortunate departure of their leader. Countless hours of going over the choreography really did pay off in the end, even with the boys completely exhausted afterwards.

“Okay, one last time. From the top.” He heard his assistant Mai shout from below the stage.

He noticed the way she crossed her arms, her focus completely on the boys. Mai’s talent as a dancer and choreographer weren’t the sole reasons she had been hired as his assistant. At first, he had been a little hesitant about the idea; not that she wasn’t talented, but the fact that she was a girl, a young woman, younger than half of 2PM even. Choreographing for 2PM meant that she’d be spending a lot of time with them, and him, and it wasn’t an easy task for someone that could be swayed by the male idols. But that was the thing. Mai wasn’t fazed at all. Namyong had to admit, she was even stricter than he was at times, which was surprising considering her age compared to the boys she directed her orders to. A tiny smile found his lips as he turned his attention back to the stage.

The beats of Tired of Waiting played as Junho danced a softer version of his solo, the other members moving to their places to follow suit. They looked odd in their sweaters and hats, but they were executing the moves just as they had practiced.

Although they held the same powerful stage presence, Namyong couldn’t help but notice that something was still missing. Their mind and body were in it but he knew not all of their heart was. It was understandable given the fact that the boys were still waiting for their leader, their hyung, to return but that didn’t mean that they weren’t to put their all into this performance. It was their first time being on stage again after the controversy, which made this comeback stage all the more important.

He could see they still had so much potential, so much more left to show their fans, to show themselves and to prove that they were still 2PM. With or without Park Jaebeom. It would’ve been much easier if Jaebeom was here, considering he was the best dancer of the group, Junho and Wooyoung tying as a close second. There was always something about the way the leader would hype up s, whether it was during practice or just before they got up on stage. They had lost that little spark Jaebeom would provide them with, but their determination was stronger than ever, even with that little piece of 2PM gone.

The string section instrumental began to pick up pace as they neared the end of the song. The boys lined up smoothly before transitioning into a pyramid formation. Junho slid between Taecyeon’s legs, placing himself in front of the human pyramid and sitting up on his knees before carrying out the various hand movements. The boys rolled forwards before walking to opposite ends of the stage leaving Wooyoung to perform the ending. Namyong and Mai let out a breath they did not know they were holding when Wooyoung landed perfectly on the ground. The two choreographers had worried the most about the ending as they did not want Wooyoung to become injured in any way. While the flip was not a complete back flip, it was still dangerous enough for anybody to get hurt.

“Good job guys.” Namyong applauded along with his assistant. “If you do what you did just now exactly on stage you’ll be great. Take a break guys and get ready. Take this time to just relax araso?” He made his way towards the boys on stage and patted them on the back for their hard work. Mai just gave a curt nod before walking out of the studio.

The boys gathered in the dressing room for lunch as the break room in the KBS studios were strictly for staff only. Their manager had ordered a few orders of jjajangmyun for the JYP staff and 2PM. Wooyoung and Taecyeon sat on the couch against the wall while Nichkhun and Junsu sat in the dressing chairs and the two maknaes, Junho and Chansung, sat on the stools placed in another corner.

Their coordinator was constantly moving around, checking for their stage outfits, talking with the make-up artist and stylists as she checked and double checked everything. Her job was more difficult than usual, as she had to accommodate for the change in set-up for six members rather than seven. The absence of Kass, her assistant for the day, was not helping.

“Coordi-noona, aren’t you gonna eat something?” Junsu asked.

“I’ll eat later, no time.” She took her phone out and dialed in a few numbers. “Where is she? … Oh, Kass, where are you? ...What?! …Well are you in the building? ...Fuu-ssi is here and she’s on her way up? ...Okay, well hurry up.” She hung up and placed her phone on one of the dressing tables.

Movement from outside caught Chansung’s eyes and he immediately shouted the first thing that came to mind.

“Renn-noona!” He had stood up and pointed at the door shouting, sending some of the contents in his mouth flying out.

Junho looked up as Nichkhun dodged the few flying bits.

“Chansung-ah, are you seeing things again?” the Thai asked with a smile

“No, it really was her! I’m not hallucinating!” the maknae exclaimed, still standing with his bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other.

“Yeah, you said that the last time you ‘saw’ her. Where was it? Practice room?” Taecyeon asked.

“Recording studio,” Junsu corrected.

“Don’t forget the cafeteria,” Wooyoung added.

“I’m serious. It really was Renn-noona. Go look yourself.” Just as Chansung pointed towards the door, Fuu entered the dressing room.

“Well, there’s one noona,” Nichkhun said. Chansung sighed before sitting back down and returning his attention back to his lunch.

Fuu had a slightly puzzled look on her face from Chansung’s outburst, but shrugged it off as she walked towards the empty space next to Nichkhun.

“There’s a box full of lunch beside Junho. Have you eaten?” Nichkhun was about to stand up when he felt a hand on his arm stopping him.

“I already ate before I came Ni… uh Khun. It’s fine.” She stuttered with the lack of formalities. He nodded with a small smile and sat back down. The coordinator noticed the slight blush on the younger girl’s cheeks and couldn’t help but smile.

“Young love,” she said to herself before returning to her crouched position on the floor. She pulled out the Heartbeat stage outfits from the box sitting by the door.

“Excuse me Coordi-ssi, Kass-ah said you needed help?” The coordinator stood up and dumped a pile of clothes onto her arms.

“Fuu-ssi you’re here. You didn’t happen to pass Kass on your way up here did you?” Fuu shook her head and the coordinator sighed. “Okay then. Hang these on that rack then would you?” She passed Fuu a box of hangers and pointed to the empty clothes rack beside Taecyeon and Wooyoung.

Fuu bowed, as much as she could with full hands as the older woman left the room, and the younger girl made her way to the other side. Taecyeon gave her a quick smile as he moved next to Wooyoung to make space for Fuu to put the clothes she was holding down onto the seat.

Once Fuu finished hanging up the outfits, she made her way over to the couch where Nichkhun now sat, beside Taecyeon. Having just come in, Mai soon joined them, and the two girls conversed in English with Taecyeon and Nichkhun. Fuu had become a lot more comfortable with Taecyeon and Nichkhun because of Kass’ antics, and she was glad for it. The younger girl however had yet to arrive, and Fuu also hoped that Renn would appear today; she hadn’t seen her unnie in a long time.

“Listen to my heartbeat. It’s beating for you. Listen to my heartbeat. It’s waiting for you.” A singing voice came out of nowhere, catching the attention of the occupants of the room. They all turned towards the door, spotting Kass singing and dancing the choreography of 2PM’s title song. After being present for all those hours of shooting the Heartbeat music video and rehearsals, the choreography had been permanently implanted into her brain.

“Kass-ah, why are you so late?” Junho called out to her, waving his hand and leading her to a stool next him and Chansung.

“Dongsaeng-ah, you’re in big trouble with Coordi-noona when she comes back,” Chansung hummed, earning a punch from the younger girl.

“You weren’t sleeping in the hallways again were you?” Taecyeon teased.

“Junsu-oppa, You’ve really improved!” Kass said, ignoring the various ongoing comments being thrown at her. She stood up and squished herself between Junsu and Wooyoung. “Wooyoung-oppa, I think you’re dance solo was really good too! I wish I could dance as well as you. You’re a natural!” Wooyoung turned his attention to her.

“I could say the same for you. You seem to have the Heartbeat choreo down,” he replied with a tiny smile. “Besides, I practiced a lot, Namyong-hyung helped me a lot too.” He hesitated. “And her over there...” He motioned to Mai who was seated beside Fuu. If the choreographer noticed, she pretended not to, her head sitting lazily on the palm of her hand.

Before Kass could reply she felt a pair of arms peel her away from her oppas and push her towards the dressing tables.

“Took you long enough to get here.” The coordinator’s tone was strict. She passed the younger girl a make up kit and gave her the templates of what the make up on the boys should look like. The atmosphere had suddenly turned professional as she asked Fuu to pass out the stage outfits to the members and told them to get changed.

After a length of time in the change rooms, Mai stood up from her seat on the couch and walked over, a slightly annoyed expression etched on her face.

“It doesn’t take you guys that long to change. Junho-ah, Taec, Khun. Hurry up, you guys need to go through hair treatment.” The aforementioned boys emerged as Mai approached the youngest to rearrange his black dress shirt. “Especially you. You take the longest with that curly head of yours,” she told Junho crossly, pushing him towards the stylists. Junho gave her a look before turning around and sitting into the chair.

As Mai went off to entertain the remaining boys, Kass was ordered to do the base as they were a hand short with make up. Taecyeon eyed the younger girl curiously as she stood in front of him with a brush.

“You do know what you’re doing, right?”

Kass poked his face with the brush, making him squint. “I am a girl,” she retorted.

“A very girly girl,” Junho corrected from his seat beside them.

Fuu giggled from her place beside the younger girl. If Kass hadn’t needed her brush, she would have thrown it at him. When she finished, Kass stepped aside to allow the make up artist to add the final touches, followed by the stylist to pin up Taecyeon’s hair.

Kass looked over to where the rest of the members stood, changed in their stage outfits. Mai and another woman were busying over their clothes; the stylist working on Junsu’s unique look as Mai helped Chansung with his tie. Wooyoung stood on the side, his black tie already tied and settled nicely on his black dress shirt. He looked up to see Kass watching him, and the girl’s face broke out into a cheery grin. He returned it with a smile, before turning his attention to Mai as she came over to fix his cuff.

“Mai-ah I got it.”

Mai looked up at him, questioning his statement. Wooyoung pulled gently pulled his hand away and fixed it as she watched him.

“Okay,” she replied simply, turning to help the stylist with Junsu’s sleeves.

Wooyoung didn’t have time to even debate the thought as the coordinator called the remaining three members over for hair and make up. The stylist noona pulled at his hair with a straightener, stlying it so it partially covered his right eye. As soon as she was done, Kass appeared in front of him with a grin, a make up brush poised in her hand.

As Wooyoung moved his eyes elsewhere to keep him from awkwardly staring, a grumbling noise brought his attention back to the girl. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chansung look over from his seat next to him.

Kass bit her lip as she looked away, embarrassed. “Seems like my tummy is talking to me,” she tried to say casually. Wooyoung chuckled under his breath as Chansung snorted, unable to contain his laughter. “Hey!” She leaned over and turned her brush, poking the maknae with the tip.

As Chansung playfully rubbed his shoulder, Wooyoung looked back over at the girl. “Didn’t you eat lunch?” he asked. Kass shook her head slowly. “I think there’s still a few bowls of jjajangmyun left in that box. Grab some when you’re free.” Kass smiled and nodded.

“Thanks,” she replied quietly, before doing one last sweep across Wooyoung’s face with the make up brush. “I’m done.”

Wooyoung was busied over for a few more minutes as his make up was touched up, then he was finished, standing up and moving out of his seat. Chansung was also done, and the younger boy joining his side as they stepped, and stopped. Mai had her arms crossed as she looked them up and down.

“What?”

“You do look like zombies,” Mai answered plainly, before turning around and leaving the rest of the conversation up in the air. Chansung raised his eyebrows as Wooyoung just shook his head. Kass suddenly appeared by his side, giving both boys a funny look.

“Guys, I think you need to go put your jackets on. Why are you still standing here?”

Kass called Junsu over and pushed both Wooyoung and Chansung forward. They were met by Fuu, who was holding one of the dark polka dotted jackets. The coordinator was fussing over Junho, and Taecyeon was standing out of the way, his jacket already on.

“Chansung, here.” Chansung turned as Fuu slipped the jacket into his arms. He shrugged for a better fit, and she reached up to fix his collar.

“There. Khun, do you need help?” She turned, finding Mai already with the older boy, her hands by his chest as she fixed his tie and arranged the black portion of his jacket. “Oh, nevermind,” she mumbled, gazing around the room. Wooyoung had slipped on his jacket by himself, and one of the stylist’s was concentrating on Junsu since he was wearing his outfit a little differently than the rest of s.

“2PM, you’re on in 10.” A studio director popped his head in to cue the boys.

A collective sigh was heard around the room. It was time.

Heartbeat Comeback Stage