Saturday Night, Week 14

Performing Arts Center

After the show, a small crowd gathered at the backstage entrance of the auditorium to wait for the acting students to come out.

Changsub blinked sleepily in the cold as he waited with everyone else for Chorong and Eunji. He'd been up now for about 36 hours and the lack of sleep was getting to him.

He closed his eyes briefly to alleviate the heaviness of his eyelids but suddenly felt his nose being pinched

"What the hell…"

It was Namjoo.

"Oppa you can't fall asleep standing up." Namjoo scolded.

Changsub scowled and swatted her hand away.

"Watch me." He grumbled.

The others laughed.

"Don't worry Changsub-ah they'll be out soon." Eunkwang said.

Sure enough the door opened and students began to flood out.

The girls craned their necks impatiently searching the faces of the acting students until finally Bomi squealed.

"There they are!!!"

Changsub looked up as Chorong and Eunji appeared and felt his drowsiness fade slightly.

He opened his mouth to call Chorong's name but the other girls were already running to mob her and Eunji with hugs.

Hyunsik chuckled beside him.

"This what you had in mind when you pulled that all-nighter last night?" Hyunsik asked.

"Mmm." Changsub replied noncommittally.

Chorong caught his eye from the middle of the girls' group hug and flashed him an apologetic smile.

Changsub grinned back at Chorong.

"Unnie you were so good!!" Bomi squeezed Chorong tightly around the middle and kissed her cheek.

"Feeling like a third wheel?" Eunkwang asked Changsub, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Pssh no." Changsub scoffed.

Eunkwang laughed.

"Ah Changsub-ah…we might be their boyfriends but they'll always be doing their girl thing. Don't worry I got you."

Eunkwang looked towards the girls.

"Bomi-ya! Stop hogging your wife and come back over here so we can congratulate them too!"

Bomi stuck out her tongue at Eunkwang.

"Okay okay we're coming." She said.

The girls made their way over and Chorong ran to Changsub.

"Changsub-ah, I'm so glad you made it." She said.

"I promised didn't I?" Changsub said, pulling her into a hug.

"You were amazing up there." He said softly.

Chorong smiled and hugged him back.

"Thanks for coming..."

"It was worth the all-nighter." He smirked.

"Oh geez I still can't believe you did that." Chorong said.

"I can't either." Hyunsik said. "You don't even want to know how many caffeine pills…"

"Shut it Hyunsik-ah." Changsub hissed.

"Caffeine pills??" Chorong asked.

"Just a couple…okay maybe a few." Changsub said.

Chorong gave him a scolding look.

"Don't even think about staying up late tonight. You're going straight to sleep after this." She said.

Eunji looked between them.

"Look at you two acting like an old married couple already." She said, causing everyone else to laugh.

Just then Sungjae appeared from the backstage door.

Chorong spotted him and waved.

"Sungjae-ya! Come meet my friends." 

Sungjae shuffled over to stand by Chorong.

He smiled nervously at Eunji and Changsub who nodded at him.

"Everyone, this is Sungjae." Chorong said.

There was an awkward round of introductions. Sungjae bowed politely to each of them until it reached Namjoo.

"Yook Sungjae, long time no see. You remember me right?" Namjoo said, holding out her hand.

Sungjae's eyes flickered with recognition. He broke eye contact and bowed quickly.

Namjoo blinked twice then smiled and withdrew her hand.

"Still a weirdo I see." She said.

Changsub observed the odd exchange curiously. There must've been some kind of history but he didn't want to ask.

After a moment of awkward silence Eunkwang spoke.

"So…" He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "We should celebrate. Who's down for food?"

"Oh yes let's get food I'm starving." Bomi said.

"Aren't you always." Eunji rolled her eyes.

Changsub checked his phone.

"How long are we gonna be out?" He yawned.

"You're not going out, you're going to sleep." Chorong said firmly.

"But I've already been up for so long already a few more hours won't hurt." Changsub said.

Chorong sighed.

"Changsub-ah you need sleep. Your eyes are red."

"She's right you know. Your eye bags are pretty bad too." Hayoung said, giving Changsub a worried look.

Hyunsik took a closer look at Changsub's face and chuckled.

"Dude you look like you're going to drop dead any second and I'm definitely not carrying you back up to the dorm if you pass out."

Changsub sighed in defeat.

"Okay fine." He said.

"Want me to walk with you to the dorm?" Chorong asked.

Changsub shook his head.

"No, you go have fun."

Chorong hugged him.

"Thanks for coming tonight. Get some sleep okay?"

"I will." Changsub said.

"Oh hurry up I'm hungry." Bomi whined.

"Aigoo my poor girl needs food." Eunkwang said. He pulled out his keys and swung them around his finger. "We should go before she eats us all alive."

"Yah!" Bomi wildly tried to whack him as the others laughed.

The group left Changsub and Sungjae and started walking in the direction of the parking lot.

Chorong turned to wave goodbye to Changsub and noticed Sungjae hanging back.

"Sungjae-ya, do you want to come with us?" Chorong asked.

"Umm…No I'm okay." Sungjae replied.

"Okay, well you can go back to the dorms with Changsubbie then." She said.

"Wait what…?" Changsub said looking at her incredulously.

Chorong waved again and left with the others.

Changsub watched them go then turned to Sungjae who was twiddling his fingers.

"What are you looking so fidgety for? I'm not going to bite." Changsub said.

Sungjae stopped his twiddling.

"Sorry." He said.

Changsub sighed.

"Let's go back to the dorms." He said as he started walking.

Sungjae nodded and followed him.

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A/N (ahhhh I have to write fasterrr) lol sorry the concert marathon livestream set me back a bit but it was so nostalgic watching all the concerts back to back I miss OT7 so much.