Doyoung was still feeling a bit annoyed about his new hair colour. When the stylist first showed him the sample photos of the purplish ash hair color he thought it looked cool and y so he agreed without a second thought. But now that he got it himself his head looked like a freaking blueberry. No matter how many times s and other staff members tried to convince him that he looked handsome with it he still felt a little bit insecure. He decided to avoid all mirrors for the time being for the sake of his mental sanity.

It was getting closer to the comeback period and they were all having very busy schedules these days. Waking up at 4 a.m and heading to the practice room half asleep, practicing until 8 and voice training, variety programs, then heading back to the studio and practicing until mid-night, he was almost half dead when he hit the bed. Sometimes he doesn’t even remember how he got to his bed from their company car. He just wanted it all to pass quickly.

For about in 2 weeks he had not seen Nikki. Either he did not dream or he was too exhausted to remember. Honestly he kind of missed her presence. Nikki has become somewhat close to him over the past month. After her whole eavesdropping incident she apologized to Doyoung wholeheartedly and Doyoung saw the sincerity in her words so he decided to leave it at that. Honestly he was not even mad at her for that. He just felt a little awkward because even if he got used to Nikkis presence in his life she was still a stranger to him. And not to mention that she is a fan of them. He did not want to be misunderstood.

After that they became more comfortable with each other and Doyoung actually looked forward to seeing her. He found out that Nikki was actually a normal 20 year old girl who was struggling through her college life. No matter how close they became Doyoung could not still find it in him to spill all his insecurities and concerns to her like she did, but he loved listening to her ramblings. She had a lot to complain about like how her professors only knew how to give projects and how they not even keep their eyes open while they present them, or about how her best friend was the biggest troublemaker in the world and how her roommate was a total nerdy loser for still liking Harry Potter over Avengers. The way how she always looked very frustrated scrunching her nose with a big pout on has become a very endearing sight for Doyoung. Without him knowing a small smile was appearing on his lips every time he saw her like that.

With all the things that’s happening in his life Nikki was a good distraction for him. You could say she was a small resting point in his fast forwarding life. These days without that moment of freedom beside him, he felt exceptionally restless. Every small thing made him annoyed like the way how Heachan would drag his slippers across the floor instead of walking properly or how Yuta would play video games until early morning making weird noises. But he knew more than to just vent his anger and frustration out on s. Everyone was having a hard time. It was not fair for him to act out. He had to be strong and hold it in for he had younger members who looked up to him.

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

The days went by slowly for Nikki. As exams were over she had a lot of leisure time in her hands but oddly she felt no excitement nor any kind of happy feeling about it. After the sudden coffee date with Jason that day things kind of changed between them. Jason was such a gentleman that Nikki almost felt uncomfortable being with him. Not in a bad way though. If anything Nikki fell even deeper for him. But at the same time she felt her insecurities building up inside her.

With all those bad feelings haunting inside her she felt so exhausted. It was like there was no energy left in her body. That’s why she decided to turn down Julies offer to go to amusement park with their friends and decided to just sleep in. If it was any other day she would have never done it because that kind of occasion was very rare for them but she really had no energy to be excited about all the crazy rides. Maybe she was coming down with a fever or something.

The last 2 weeks passed in a daze for her. No time to sleep properly, spending almost until midnight in the library, skipping meals. Exam time was a nightmare to every student, specially to an average girl like her. Now that it was over, it suddenly hit her that she was missing the boys all this time. She knew that she did not dream every night but this was the first time they didn’t see each other for so long. She was worried about him cause the last time she saw him he looked very exhausted. She knew that comeback period was a very hard time for idols but seeing them practicing so hard made her realize that idol life was not the happy easy life they saw from outside.

Nikki lied on her bed wearing her worn out white t-shirt and pink shorts waiting for sleep to come. She had so many things in her head but more than anything she wanted to see Doyoung again. She was not sure when she will see him again or if she will ever see him again. But right now she knew she needed a good long sleep to forget all those depressing thoughts. So she switched off the lights and started reading a fanfic from her phone to make her eyes tired so that sleep will come sooner.

It happened sooner than she expected. She was back in the corner of the all so familiar practice room. Surprisingly no one else was there. The room was all empty and even some of the lights were turned out making the room look a little scary. But that cannot happen because she always showed up where Doyoung was. So he had to be somewhere near. She had no time to think as Doyoung walked out from a door in the corner of the room with a towel hanging around his neck. He looked so surprised to see her there before his lips curved up into a big smile showing his gums making him look more like a bunny. Nikki could not help but give him a big hearty smile as well. Seeing him again made her realize she missed him more than she thought. Doyoung sprinted towards her excitedly.

“Woah... I thought it was over but look whose back again!!”

He said reaching his hand towards her shoulder. His feather like touch made her all tingly inside.

“Long time no see mister… How have you been?”

She said smiling playfully.

“I’d say good but I literally lived inside this room for the past 2 weeks so…. Not very good” A pitiful laugh left his lips. Now that he was closer she could see his big eye bags and the glint in his eyes were not there anymore. He looked like he became 10 years older. For some reason Nikki felt like apologizing even if it has nothing to do with her. She wanted to give him a big warm hug and say that he was doing great but it felt wrong at the same time . So she tried to change the subject.

“What are you doing here alone? Isn’t it like midnight here?”

“Taeyong hyung and Mark went to the recording room and I’m waiting for them. We finished practice a little early today”

He said walking back to his belongings in the corner. He put his towel away and grabbed a bottle of water and chugged down almost half of it in one go. When he saw that Nikki was still staring at her with pitiful eyes he gave her a lopsided smile making her giggle a little. It all felt too natural and too comfortable for them now. Doyoung strolled back towards Nikki and plopped down on the floor behind her leaning his back on the mirror. He looked up at Nikki and patted the space beside him making a small gesture with his head. Nikki stared at him for a second before seating herself beside him. Few minutes passed in silence. They kept staring at their reflections on the mirror. Doyoung leaned a little towards her bumping their shoulders together. Nikki felt her lips curving upwards involuntarily.

“Hmmm….. This must be the first time in weeks that I’m seating in one place for more than 3 minutes.”

Doyoung said slumping down a little. Nikki did not know what to say to that. She just hummed sympathetically reaching her hand up to pat his head twice. Doyoung gave her a little smile and placed his head on her shoulder making himself comfortable. Nikki patted his head a few more times before sighing loudly.

“Its hard right? I can only imagine..” Doyoung could feel the pout in her voice as she said that.

“Yeah… Actually we should be used to it by now but still its…… hard. There were even more hard times before.”

When Nikki made no response Doyoung kept on going.

“We cant actually complain. I mean we have to practice hard for it to be perfect. Its just something that we should get over with. Aftermath is what’s important.”

Nikki kept humming understandingly. He was right. There are things in life that should be done no matter how hard it is. That’s just how life is. It was the same for practicing and also exams.

“Ah I forgot! How was your exam? Its over right” Doyoung said lifting his head to look at her. Now it was Nikkis time to complain. She started with a big sigh.

“Well it was not a disaster. I think I did good, but that paper was ridiculous. Most of the questions were from next semester. I mean how are we supposed to know about Pointers yet. We only learned up to Functions and that too about only half of it. We complained to the faculty head but she’s gonna cover it up somehow. That’s what she always does, that old witch!!!”

Doyoung was having a big amused smile in his face. Nikki felt her cheeks turn red in embarrassment. She was doing it again. She had no control of when it comes complaining about someone. Maybe its because she had no one else to talk like this. Sure she had Julie and maybe even Katie, but with them, she really had no chance to talk. Julie was just too energetic that Nikki can only stare at her when she started talking. She does not even need to breath so it was useless trying to talk with her. And Katie was the total opposite. She only talked when she wanted to. All the other times when Nikki tried to talk with her she just plainly ignore her. It was not because Katie was rude but because she lacked socializing skills. She was a total loner and she liked it that way.

On the other hand Doyoung was a good listener. He was not the type to talk much unless hes excited about something. So Nikki unintentionally poured her whole heart out in front of him. With Doyoung she was free to say anything and everything. But when she saw the amusement and the questioning look in Doyoungs face, she started to regret it.

“Sorry I…. talk.. too much” She said dropping her head trying to hide her reddening cheeks.

“No no its okay... I just… I missed that. You and your babbling...”

Doyoung said trying to stop smiling. If Nikki was blushing before now she was a fully ripped tomato. It was not everyday Doyoung saying cheeky stuff. Doyoung was more into brushing things away with a sarcastic comment. It was fare for Nikki to blush.

“Its like I found my long lost pet again”

Nikki wanted to slap herself in the head for blushing earlier. Doyoung laughed out loud at his own joke. Nikki pouted at him for making fun of her but it also turned into a wide grin and soon they were both laughing loud. Few seconds passed and they fell in to a comfortable silence.

“So… Your posters. You did the photo shoot right? Show it to me.”

Nikki asked excitedly. Doyoung groaned and put his head on the mirror behind him.

“Nope. I told you before. You cant look at them yet. What if you leak it.” He said trying to look serious.

“Oh please… How am I supposed to leak it. Its just a photo. Don’t be a spoiled brat and show me. I bet you are the funniest one.”

Nikki said smirking. She knew its gonna work cause no matter what Doyoung wont ignore her mocking comments about his photos.

“Hah…. Yeah right, keep betting then cause it'll be your loss. Get me my phone. Its charging” Doyoung was too easy for his own good. Nikki could only chuckle under her breath as she walk towards the practice room door to get his phone from the charger. She was just infront of the door when Doyoung called her hurriedly making her look behind her.

“Don’t look at the lock screen okay? I only asked you to bring it.”

“Pfft.. Why? Is it your girlfriends’ photo?”

She could not even turn back properly when it happened. Taeyong was just infront of her. She could only gasp loudly when Taeyong walked forward, right through her. It felt like a lightning struck her. Every cell in her body felt like freezing. It was a feeling that she could not explain with words. It was painful and breathtaking like someone picking her flesh with hundreds of needles.

“HYUNG!!!!!”

She could hear Doyoungs voice behind her but it sounded like miles away from her. Taeyong stood frozen behind her for a few seconds before turning around in a flash staring at the blank space behind him with wide eyes. Few seconds passed before Taeyongs voice resonated through the empty room.

“What the hell was that?”