The whole way back to her apartment Nikki was walking on cloud nine. She could not believe her long term crush finally asked her out just like that. The image of Jason rubbing the back of his neck shyly played on her mind repeatedly making her laugh out loud in the middle of the sidewalk like some maniac. Jason has always been the handsome, talented, smart, all-rounder guy that she adored from afar. She never once even imagined herself to be going on a date with him. This whole thing happened too suddenly for her. For the first time in about a month, she entered her apartment with a smile on her face and a little skip in her steps. Katie stared at her with squinted eyes for a few seconds. She was immune to Nikkis sudden change of behavior as they were living together for about 6 months now. She shaked her head a little and continued her way back to her room on her banana milk straw. Nikki slumped back on the living room couch humming loudly. Suddenly her phone started ringing. She jumped up at the sound and picked the phone up like her life depends on it.

“My Darling Friend Nikki…. Tell me you are still alive?” Julie chirped loudly through the speaker so loudly that Nikki had to put the phone back to keep her eardrums from blasting. She giggled softly.

“I’m not sure Julieee…. Maybe I’m dead. I cant feel my legs.” They both laughed at how stupid it sounded. Nikki wiggled around to find a comfortable position on the couch.

“Yah really what was that? He even walked you back to the bus stop. OMG!!”

“I know right. Hes so sweeeeeeet…. He said hed pick me up at the dorm. AAAHHHH…. What am I gonna wear tomorrow??”

“Calm down girl, Don’t wear too fancy cloths, He’d think you are too eager. How about that yellow frock you wore to NEO CITY, It looked so pretty on you..”

“Really? Okay then. I’ll wear it.”

“Speaking of NEO CITY, You are gonna get yourself a boyfriend, What about Taeyong oppa? Are you gonna ditch him? You traitor…”

“Yah.. What Boyfriend? We are just going to have some coffee... ”

“Ayyyyyy keep saying that to a wall, I’m hanging up, I don’t wanna be friends with a traitor like you”. With that Julie hung up on her. Julie can be so dramatic sometimes. Nikki let out a contended sigh and dragged herself to her room to get a shower and freshen up before starting on her presentation.

*******************

Nikki yawned loudly drowning another coffee in two big gulps. She was about 5 minutes away from finishing the presentation. Her leg muscles were sore from sitting on the floor for too long. It was almost mid night now. She sprawled on the floor like a star fish ignoring the crushing sound came from the pop corn pieces behind her back. Her eyes were dropping dramatically blurring the sight of her worn out ceiling fan.

She opened her eyes to the loud familiar music playing in the background. White bright light greeted her making her squint her eyes. She was in a practice room. In fact NCT practice room. In front of her, 9 god like men covered in sweat were dancing with graceful strong movements making her stomach tingle. opened and eyes became watery. She was in NCT dance practice room. This was the dream of all NCTzens. At that moment she was sure she saved the world in her past life to be blessed with such a beautiful sight. It was Doyoungs part. He came forward eyes training on his own image on the mirror. He looked so different from before. His thin t-shirt fitted to his torso with sweat, his bangs sticking to his forehead, chest heaving up and down forcefully: Overall he looked exhausted yet determined. All of them looked exhausted. Nikki wondered how long they have been practicing. Suddenly Doyoung stopped all his movements, eyes training on Nikkis crouching form in the corner of the room, his eyes widening ever so slightly for a second before looking around to scan the faces of others. Nikki gave a small awkward smile and waved a little. Doyoung had a questioning look on his face. Taeyong noticed his lack of movements and walked over to the stereo set to pause the music.

“Doyoung-ah, you okay?” Taeyong asked panting in between. The others dropped down to the floor spreading their long legs in all directions panting loudly.

“Eh?” Doyoung looked around with a confused look. “Ahhh…. Yeah I’m okay… guess I've reached my limit” Doyoung said looking at Nikkis direction giving a small nod of acknowledgement.

“Okay then lets take a small break. We'll wrap it up after one more round okay?” Taeyong said looking around with a guilty look. He looked so exhausted. Groaning sounds came all around the room. Nikki was still in a daze looking at the gods greatest creations with stars in her eyes.

“Hey when did you get here?” Nikki jumped up gasping loudly at the whispering Doyoung beside her ear. He was sitting right next to her leaning towards her ears. She could feel the warmth radiating from his sweaty yet perfect body making her heart beat faster. She took some deep breaths to calm her racing heart before whispering back.

“Just now”. He slumped back taking a few big gulps from his water bottle. Nikki stared at him fascinated by the bobbing of his adams apple. She involuntarily let out a small ‘wow’. Doyoung gave her a questioning look mouthing “whaat?”

“Nothing… You look so good drinking water.” She said in a hushed voice giving him a cheeky smile. Doyoung looked taken aback by her sudden compliment. He cleared his throat looking straight ahead a little flustered.

“You don’t have to whisper. They cant hear you”

“Ahh right. Haha” Suddenly it felt a little awkward. Right then Nikki saw Taeil walk in their direction carrying a small hand fan with him. Doyoung was facing the other direction reaching for his phone. Nikki gave out a loud squeak squeezing her eyes shut as Taeil was about to plop down on top of her.

“Doyoung-ah.. We have vocal trai…….” Taeils words were cut short by doyoungs loud voice making him freeze on the spot.

“STOOOPP….” Suddenly everyone was looking at him. The whole room went silent. Taeil straightened back a little hesitantly.

“What?” Doyoung looked around with big eyes scratching his neck thinking of something to say.

“I… its uhh.. I mean.. theres um..” He stuttered looking around helplessly.

“cockroach” Nikki whispered loudly.

“Ahh right there was a cockroach... Yeah... There was a little cockroach here.” He said in a hurry nodding his head in a stupid way.

“Really? Uh okay then.. Thanks” Taeil said giving him a suspicious look. Yuta snorted loudly from across the room. “You and your cockroaches..”

Doyoung heaved a long relieved sigh as everyone went back to their own business. Taeil looked at the floor beneath Nikki for a second too long and walked back to his previous position beside Haechan. If anyone thought Doyoung was acting strange, they were too tired to voice it out. Doyoung turned towards Nikki opening his mouth to say something but cut himself off as his phone started vibrating on the floor beside him. He sighed and picked the phone up. Something flashed infront of his eyes. He stood up hurriedly and walked out the practice room without looking at anything else. From the corner of her eyes Nikki saw the other members exchanging looks. It all felt a little weird for her like something was off.

“There he goes again..” Yuta said sounding annoyed.

“Yuta..” Taeyong warned. Yuta gave a look that said ‘did I say something wrong’. Taeyong sighed lying down on the floor and covering his eyes with his arm. Nikkis head was screaming at her saying ‘follow him’, but she knew it would be so wrong if she eavesdrop on his call. She was having a war inside her mind and in the end, curiosity got the best of her. She stood up walking towards the door slowly. As she closed on towards the door she heard the faint sound of Doyoungs voice coming through the door. He sounded a little frustrated.

“….didnt ask you to explain yourself, did I? I just don’t understand why you did that?” Nikki hesitated to walk through the door, but she could not hear clearly standing behind the door. The curiosity was killing her as she heard Doyoung pacing back and forth angrily.

“I don’t care okay? I told you I've already forgot everything, what do you want from me?”

‘Why does he sound so angry? Who is he talking to? It cant be his family, then is it a girl? Kim Doyoung talking to a girl like that? If it really is a girl then what’s their relationship?’ If someone was standing near Nikki, they would have heard the sound of wheels rotating in her head. She knew it was wrong but she started feeling a little excited.

“Please……. I know…… sorry too…. stop...  long ago?” Doyoungs voice turned soft suddenly. Nikki could not hear half of what he said. She pressed herself to the doorframe to hear more clearly. She could not hear anything, just plain silence.

Suddenly the door opened making her collide with Doyoungs chest with a soft thud. She looked up slowly with big round eyes. Doyoung was looking down at her with a unreadable expression. “I….” She was back in her room sprawled on her floor. She kept staring at her ceiling for about 5 minutes breathing deeply. Her heart was beating like crazy. Her mind was running everywhere. 'What have l done?' She always bickered with other fans saying that they were disrupting the privacy of idols. Wasn’t she doing the same thing? She felt so nasty. She wriggled her limbs around frustrated at herself whisper screaming.

“I am the worst fan ever”

**************

The next morning she walked through the campus gates deep in thought. Last night she did not got to have a good sleep as she was scared that she’ll have to face Doyoung again after their last awkward meeting. She felt ashamed of herself. Fortunately they haven't seen each other yet after that incident. So she still has time to mentally prepare herself. 

From distant Nikki heard someone calling out her name. She looked around herself but no one was there. ‘Maybe I heard wrong’ She thought to herself and turned back around to continue her walk.

“Nikki……”

The noise came again. This time she was sure she heard it right. She looked around at every corner carefully. Someone was definitely playing with her. Nikki huffed loudly and started walking back hurriedly. She would not fall for that again.

“Yah Nikki… Look up idiot”

It was Julie, leaning on the railing of the rooftop carrying a huge board saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI!!!”. All her friends ware standing behind Julie smiling widely at her. Nikki opened and closed trying to say something but nothing came out. 

“Happy Birthday Buddy….”