“Y/N’s in her practice space,” Boah mentioned as she fixed the pile of paperwork on her desk after their session together finished.

“Okay.”

“Are you going to visit her today?”

“No, I can’t. I’m busy.”

“Sure seemed to have more than enough time for her beforehand,” she pointed out, and Kihyun reached for his bag, shouldering it and got up.

“Don’t now.”

“Alright,” Boah said with a loud sigh, getting up and stepping in front of the exit, folding her arms across her chest. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Yoo Kihyun, you are a horrible liar, you know. I’ve been helping you since pre-debut. Don’t give me these broody teenager vibes. I thought I was done with them years ago.”

“Ask Y/N then.”

“I did. And you know what? She’s completely shut down. Given her usual approach, I’m now not enjoying being left in the dark. Did you both have a singer’s spat?”

“It has nothing to do with our singing,” he admitted, and Boah’s shoulders relaxed.

Of course, she’d be worried about them both that way.

Kihyun was still reeling from the incident from last week. And since he hadn’t saved your number, he hadn’t been able to talk his feelings out with you either. It had been a long week stewing over it all. Even with Minhyuk’s prying nature into his evident mood, he hadn’t felt like talking about it to others.

Because there was a clear reason you were keeping Kihyun in the dark by getting defensive.

Looking up at his teacher finally, he searched Boah’s expression. She shook her head pre-emptively. “I’m not getting into this.”

“Here you were trying to find out details.”

“Only because out of the pair of you, I know you’re more likely to talk than she is.”

“I don’t want to get into it if you’re not going to tell me what you know.”

“Client confidentiality, Kihyun,” Boah muttered, and Kihyun grew resigned again. Groaning, Boah clasped a hand to her temples, rubbing them slowly before looking at him. “I’m not sure what you both argued about, but if Y/N’s being secretive to you, then there’s a big reason to that. Her life took an unexpected turn six years ago. She’s lucky to be here.”

“What do you mean. Did she get sick?!”

“No—I shouldn’t be telling you any of this!” she moaned, slumping back in her chair.

Sitting back down also, Kihyun leaned forward. “Tell me something so I can understand.”

“She was in an accident. That’s all I’m saying without her consent.”

“Does it still affect her?” he questioned, and Boah nodded. “Physically?”

“Daily, Kihyun.”

“That’s why she doesn’t want to be a singer,” he breathed, and Boah sat still for a moment.

“She desperately wants to be a singer. Every day she’s in here after work, trying to become the best singer she can ever be.”

“Then why did she turn me down?! I was—”

“She’s been rejected already, Kihyun.”

“How?!” he implored, getting agitated. “I don’t get how?! That voice is amazing. Even you say so, and for years, all you told me was that I was decent enough!”

“She physically cannot do what would be needed. The best she can get is paying gigs in restaurants or aged care facilities. And even then, depending on the outfit choice, she’s unable to,” Boah offered sadly, and Kihyun slammed his hand down on the desk in front of him, making Boah jump in fright.

“That’s not good enough!”

“Calm down.”

“Why are you so relaxed?! We could angle her as a ballad singer. Then she doesn’t need to dance.”

“Tried that route.”

“I’m really not seeing the obstacle here! I can’t stand this!”

“Because you haven’t seen it,” a new voice mentioned softly, and Kihyun spun around, his eyes growing wide at you standing there.

Boah edged towards you. “H-how much did you—”

“I guess you’ll be curious forever if I don’t shut you down right now, huh?”

“Y/N, you don’t have to put yourself into an uncomfortable situation to let Kihyun know why,” Boah told you, but you didn’t break eye contact with the man, Kihyun staring back at you just as intensely.

Shutting the door behind you, you swallowed roughly and then reached for the bottom of the hoodie you wore. Pulling it slowly over your head, you let it slip to the ground, watching Kihyun’s eyes round further, and his mouth dropped without knowing it.

You smiled bitterly. “So now you know.”

“Does it hurt?” he whispered, after following your sudden departure from the studio and into your practice space, getting inside before you could lock the door. His phone began to vibrate in his bag, and you both stared at it, Kihyun eventually reaching in and silencing it immediately.

You gasped. “Your manager will be looking for you.”

“I don’t care right now. I asked you something more important.”

Lowering your focus to your exposed arms, you nodded. “It hurts right now.”

“Does it hurt when you sing?”

“Sometimes. But it hurts more when I don’t,” you confessed, and Kihyun stepped closer, his hand lifting towards your fragile-looking skin, stopping just before he touched you.

“Here?”

“No. Here.” Pointing to your heart as tears welled in your eyes, Kihyun swallowed roughly, blinking back his rising emotions quickly.

He didn’t want you to think he pitied you.

“You’re so strong.”

“Am I? I hide away from everyone in this room. I hardly face anything these days.”

“You’re still trying your best,” he told you firmly, and you finally looked up at him, the moment supercharged between you.

You nodded distantly eventually. “That’s what the doctors said. Just to try and get through life as best as I can. You’re doing great, Y/N. Am I? It’s so infuriating.”

“Boah said you tried to audition. Was it before or after this?” he questioned cautiously, and you smiled sadly.

“You can say it properly, Kihyun. I was in a fire. My left side is worse than my right.”

“Your left side? You mean it’s more than just on your arms?” he asked, his gaze lowering to the rest of your body.

You reached for your pants’ waistband. “Should I take it all off?”

“No! No. I mean, no, it’s okay. Gosh. I just don’t know what to say.”

“That’s exactly why I hide it. I guess it’s a blessing from the shoulders up that I’m completely normal looking. When you didn’t know, you didn’t have any problems talking to me.”

“I’m not going to stop,” he reaffirmed, and you were taken aback, staring at him to decipher what he meant. Kihyun smiled softly. “You’re you. Okay, so I’m really overwhelmed right now. And feeling like an absolute for how much I pushed you before—”

“You pushed me because you believe in me.”

“I still do.”

“Yeah but now you’re retracting that push because I’m scarred from the hottest flames I’ve ever experienced.”

He shook his head. “I’d push for you even knowing this.”

“Really?” you asked, unconvinced.

“I would. If you want it, I’d push for you to get there. No matter what it takes.”

You sighed. “A shame I’m never going to stop being damaged goods. I couldn’t handle that life. Most of my burns were only second-degree ones, but it hasn’t been easy to heal from. Some fabrics bother my skin, so I can’t wear whatever I’d have to as a singer, and I can’t really go around showing all this either. People just stare at my blotchy, discoloured skin. Every audition I went to, I was asked to take off my baggy clothes so they could get a feel for my body shape. Even if I was skinnier, no one would take on a burn’s victim. Unless they were cruel and wanted to use my story to propel me into the public eye using pity tactics for sales.”

“I couldn’t let anyone do that to you.”

You laughed. “What are you? My big bad protective idol bodyguard or something?”

Kihyun grinned. “I could be if you want me to be. And my members too. We’d show everyone what the monster part in our name really means.”

“Oh, God. The imagery,” you replied with a scrunch to your nose, shaking your head. “No thanks.”

“What did you think of?” he mused, and you leaned away from his close proximity and shook your head again. “Ah, damn Changkyun and that line he used about us in that interview.”

“You remember that? After countless interviews?”

Kihyun shrugged. “Best to keep tabs of what people might hold against you.”

“The fans like it, I’m sure.”

“Are you a fan?”

You stepped back again, your cheeks flaming. “Listen, you’re really all over the place right now.”

“Sue me for being overwhelmed.”

“Thank you for not acting like I’m a freak,” you suddenly stated, looking back at him, the amusement gone from your gaze. “I appreciate it.”

“You’re you, Y/N,” he told you again, gently reaching out to smooth down your hair and cup your head in his palm. “It’s hard for someone like me to meet people who get me. Whilst we’re still new friends, I value you a great deal.”

“Such a charmer with your words,” you muttered, and Kihyun chuckled.

“I am kind of good at it, huh?”

“Just a little,” you agreed with a smile.

“I’m probably going to be in heaps of trouble by now,” Kihyun said with a cringe, lowering his hand from your head. “I better go appease my manager and make up for stalling the schedule. But… are we good?”

“Good, how?”

“No longer arguing? We can go back to singing together next week?” he asked nervously, and you nodded.

“You better come prepared to belt out some notes with me. We need to catch up on the session we missed today.”

“You know me. Always ready to sing with you,” he offered, watching your smile grow shy. He liked that he could still do that to you.

“Go before I have an even guiltier conscience of ruining your schedule.”

“You haven’t ruined anything, Y/N. But before I go…” He trailed off, pulling his phone out and cleared all the messages and missed calls from his notifications. Opening up his contacts, he then held the device out to you. “Can we be like normal friends and exchange numbers? It kind of bothered me that I couldn’t contact you about how I left things last time.”

“Same,” you confessed, reaching out and punching in your number before handing it back. Kihyun pressed call, and your phone started to vibrate on the table.

He grinned. “I’ll message you later?”

“Tell me what your punishment is,” you mused, waving him off, and Kihyun stepped out of your practice room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Holding his phone over his heart for a moment, he regathered his emotions before walking calmly down to the waiting room.

He hadn’t seen Joonhyung thunderous often. At least, not because of him anyway. However, he had seen it before and didn’t like seeing it now. “I swear I have a genuine reason for why I broke every rule in the idol-manager handbook right now.”

“You better. And you need to explain to the others too. You’re holding up practice right now.”

I had to do 100 push-ups.

Watching as the read ticket appeared, Kihyun leaned towards his phone and lost focus on the mirrors he was cleaning.

Is that all? I thought they’d withhold dinner too.

Chuckling, Kihyun hurried to reply with that he hadn’t eaten yet because he was in charge of cleaning the studio too.

“She better be worth it,” a voice mentioned, and Kihyun frowned at Minhyuk’s comment. “What? All I’m saying is you’re never this late if you can help it. And you scold Hyungwon when he’s only ten minutes late.”

“I was on time today too,” the member in question stated from across the studio, and Kihyun groaned.

“It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Do tell us what we’re thinking,” Hyunwoo offered with a smile, and Kihyun shook his head.

“She’s a singer.”

“Ohhh! How high does she make your falsetto go?” Jooheon teased, and Kihyun folded his arms across his chest in annoyance.

“You met her at vocal training?” Changkyun surmised, and Kihyun nodded.

“She’s a friend. A very talented friend.”

“What’s her name? I’ll look her up,” Minhyuk asked curiously, holding up his phone.

“You won’t find her like that,” Kihyun answered with a sigh, looking at s. “Guys, what should I do? I envisioned being able to sing with Y/N on stage, at least just once. But it’s not going to be a reality.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he started with another sigh, looking at your cheerful response to his message, his mind thinking back to when you pulled off your hoodie earlier. “It will hurt her to.”