The Next Day

Jade’s POV

I woke up with a start and sat up on my bed; only to see Haerin blasting her hair-dryer on at the dressing table.

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?” she asked with an innocent smile.

As she turned back to look at her reflection in the mirror, I scowled and groaned. Well wouldn’t you be mad if someone woke you up at 7:50 in the morning just after you had a looong day yesterday?

I fell back down and buried my face with my pillow.

“Jade?” I heard Eunmi’s voice. I pushed the pillow away to see her grinning at me. “You’re awake!”

I gave a so-so smile and finally sat up. Might as well get up already anyways.

“Rehearsal’s at ten, by the way. Just to remind you.” She said.

I nodded. “Thanks, Eunmi.” I smiled at her with sleepy eyes.

“Oh! I just remembered something.” She said. She skipped to grab something and came back, handing me a small pink box. “This came for you yesterday.”

I tilted my head. “Eh?”

“Last night someone knocked on our door and left this.” She said. I took it and examined the box. “See, it even has your name on it.” She pointed at the corner and I noticed it wrote Jade in big letters.

I was completely awake already once I noticed. “Who sent it?”

“No idea.” Eunmi shrugged. “They just left it at the door.”

The loud blow-drying sound from Haerin stopped, and I noticed her glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

“Never mind about it.” I said and stood up from bed.

“You’re not gonna find out who sent it?” Eunmi asked.

I took a deep breath in. “I, uh… should just get ready for rehearsals.” I said.

I changed into my clothes and grabbed my backpack. This time I gave no suspicions and rode along in the same van as the other dancers.

We arrived at the stadium later on and all the guys were already there. The crew team had started to work on the stage as the concert was just a few days away. The stage looked great and it was starting to come together amazingly.

A tap on my shoulder caught my attention. I wheeled around and found a smiling Sungmin standing right behind me.

“Morning, Jade!” he greeted; but my mind was focused on something else.

“Have you seen Heechul?” I asked numbly.

“First thing in the morning and the only person you think about is hyung.” He pouted.

“A-Aniyo!” I stammered. “I-I-I just need to find him to start our rehearsal.”

“He’s over there.” He pointed up the stage.

We walked up together and I saw Henry reciting a few things with Zhou Mi. From behind, I sneaked up quietly and jumped; giving him a back-hug.

“Morning, HenMunk!” I grinned.

“Hey, you’re here!” he smiled widely.

As he carried on with his discussion with the guys, I continued to cling onto him and listened on their plans for their Super Girl performance.

“Will there be fireworks?” I asked with a childish look in my eyes.

“Of course.” Sungmin smugged.

Once I spotted Heechul coming over, I jumped back down and let go of Henry.

“Heechul-ah.” I called, gesturing him to follow me.

He blinked and followed. “What is it?” he asked.

I ped my backpack and took out the pink box of chocolates and twirled it in front of his face.

“Recognize this?” I asked. His face suddenly turned pink just like the box.  

“U-Uh, I, uh-” he paused and started rubbing his neck. “How’d you find out it was me?”

“It’s pink and it’s white chocolate.” I said with one hand on my hip. “Isn’t that obvious enough? Plus, I recognize your handwriting from the Christmas note you gave me last year.”

He pursed his lips and played with his hands. “Are you still mad at me?” he asked.

“Depends on how the chocolate’s gonna taste like.” I smirked.

He started to smile and a slight chuckle was heard. I smiled back and we both sat down to eat.

“So,” I spoke as I tossed one piece of the chocolate into my mouth. “Ready to rehearse?”

His eyes widened. “Eh? B-But I thought… I mean, what about Haerin?” he asked.

I paused and breathed in. “I gave it a thought after yesterday.” I said. I turned to him and flailed my arms. “Who cares!”

He laughed at my reaction and tossed another piece of chocolate into his mouth.

“I’m not gonna let one evil person stop me.” I said.

He smiled and chuckled. “You really are something.”

The two of us walked towards the center of the stage and he began explaining the plans.

“Ok, so just remember. You’ll be entering on stage first before me.” Heechul said as he walked around the stage. “Oh, and you’ll be using the ground elevator, ok?” he pointed at a little spot on the ground where there was a slight trap door.

“Oh, ok then. Cool.” I nodded.

While the others were busy, me and Heechul continued on with our rehearsal. He tossed me the lyric sheet and I followed his steps along the stage.

There was only one problem.

As I followed his orders to move backwards to the beat of the song, my feet started to tremble down onto something, and without warning, “AHH!” I fell down on hard ground.

“Jade?” Heechul blinked, looking around to find me.

I groaned from underneath. “Down here!”

He moved towards the trap door and found me lying on my back.

“What’re you doing?” he asked.

I clenched my teeth. “What does it look like I’m doing? I fell down, you idiot!”

He tried to prevent his laugh.

“Shut up!!” I yelled at him.

I slowly stood up to brush my jeans. But at the corner of my eye, I spot someone near the controls from behind. Right there I noticed Haerin coming out.

No way. I thought. She purposely played with the controls and opened the trap door!

I groaned and clenched the lyric sheet in my hand.

“That girl is so gonna get it from me.” I swore.

As lunch time came and we all ate backstage with the food Manager Junghoon catered for everyone and the staff. But as Donghae was about to take a bit out of his meal…

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Everyone stopped and their eyes widened at the perching scream, followed by Haerin running out and screeching in high pitch.

“HOW THE HELL IS THERE A COCKROACH IN MY LUNCH?!” she yelled at the staff.

They all blinked and stared at her insane blabbing.

“I’m calling my manager about this!” she screamed at just about everyone and stomped furiously away.

A little laugh escaped from me as I ate my kimchi.

If she wants to play, then let’s.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next few days became a silent war for us. Things go haywire without each knowing who pranked who. Eunmi had no idea who switched Haerin’s toothpaste with shrimp paste (which Haerin is apparently allergic to), and who knows who switched my shoes and hid the other half.

Slowly, I crept out from the room and into Sungmin and Henry’s.

“This is getting ridiculous.” I sighed