“Who’s calling? Who’s calling?” JulSu asked KaHee, quickly grabbing the phone away from her due to her lack of action. She checked the caller ID. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Who is it?” KaHee asked this time.

“It’s DooJoon,” JulSu replied.

“Oh shoot, what do we do?”

“Nothing now,” JulSu said handing the phone back to KaHee. “It stopped ringing.”

“Ah, no it started ringing again!” KaHee said freaking out as she threw the phone back at JulSu.

“Why did you throw it at me?” JulSu exclaimed, barely catching the phone.

“I don’t know!” KaHee said flustered.

“Should I answer it?”

“No, don’t do it!”

“What if he leaves a voicemail?” JulSu asked.

“We have to listen to it first before letting RaeIn hear it, though. To make sure it’s okay.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” The phone stopped ringing again and JulSu checked the screen. “Okay, he didn’t leave a voicemail.”

“Do you think maybe we should have woken up Unni?” KaHee pondered.

“Well, it’s too late now. I wonder what he had to say… Oh shoot, now he texted!”

“Let me see!” KaHee said, grabbing the phone from JulSu.

“Wait… do you think we should be looking at it? Or should we show RaeIn later?”

“I already opened it,” KaHee replied, eyes scanning over the text message.

“What does it say?” JulSu asked, extremely curious.

“He said he wants to meet up with her,” KaHee said, sticking her tongue out in disgust as she handed the phone over for JulSu to see.

“I kind of don’t want RaeIn to talk to him,” JulSu admitted. “I’m still sort of angry at him for not showing up.”

“I don’t want her to talk to him either. Especially since he made it clear last night that he preferred SeKyung’s company,” KaHee agreed. The two made eye-contact for a bit, transmitting some sort of message to each other.

“Yeah, okay, we should reply to him,” KaHee said already pressing the reply button on RaeIn’s phone.

“I was thinking the same thing. What should we say?” But KaHee was already busy texting away. Finally she directed the screen at JulSu and showed off her handiwork.

——-

DongWoon looked intently at the words on the screen that DooJoon held up for him to read.

Please don’t call me or text me anymore.

I don’t want to talk to you.

“What does that mean?” DooJoon asked. “Did she just break up with me?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” DongWoon freaked out and grabbed the sides of his head as the leader jumped at him.

“Oh, man…” DooJoon said as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“Well, technically she never actually said ‘let’s break up’…” DongWoon said. He had DooJoon’s phone now and was rereading the text message.

“You’re right. You’re right! So since we’re still together, she has to talk to me eventually… right?”

“Yeah, of course,” DongWoon agreed.

Later that day, BEAST had to head over to the CUBE building for practice. The awkward tension was high between DooJoon and the members aside from DongWoon. DooJoon could already tell from the car-ride over how practice was going to be like. He tried to ease his mind by thinking about random things, but that led to random scenarios of what would happen once he finally saw RaeIn; what he could say, what he would do.

Once they reached the building, the members filed out of the van one by one. DooJoon walked near the back, letting the other members go first. DongWoon made sure to stay near him so that he wasn’t so lonely. Still, as they walked, DooJoon made sure to keep his head down.

“Oh, KaHee! JulSu! RaeIn!” KiKwang exclaimed, making DooJoon lift his head. The other members shifted a little uncomfortably, aware that DooJoon and RaeIn were within proximity of each other; however they greeted MAKIKO warmly. DooJoon wasn’t sure of how to feel since he wasn’t anticipating running into RaeIn so soon. Despite his random scenarios, he was not ready at all.

“Annyeong!” The BEAST members were standing somewhat in a line. RaeIn led the greeting, followed by JulSu, followed by KaHee. They bowed before the BEAST members as she passed them by.

“Annyeong!” the BEAST members returned the greeting, bowing back as well. RaeIn slowed down her greeting, feeling very nervous as she neared DooJoon. She was still a bit iffy because DooJoon had never contacted her. As she got closer to him, DooJoon felt anxious as well; he was anticipating whether or not she would greet him, especially after the text he received earlier. Finally, RaeIn reached DongWoon and bowed as she greeted him. Behind DongWoon was DooJoon and RaeIn froze. Hesitantly, she began her greeting.

“Annyeo—” RaeIn began, but JulSu and KaHee quickly pushed her to continue walking, leaving DooJoon with no greeting at all. DooJoon watched as they pushed her away, standing awkwardly as the rest of the members continued walking forward.

“Hyung, let’s go,” DongWoon said, pulling on DooJoon’s arm, forcing him to follow.

——-

JunHyung stared at his phone as he sat on his bed, cross-legged. His head was resting on his hand; his phone was resting on his pillow. He picked it up and scrolled down to a name, then shook his head as he changed his mind and put the phone back down. He laid himself back, resting his head on his arms that were crossed behind him and just stared at the ceiling for a bit. Then he growled a little and got up again and grabbed his phone.

Lee RaeIn.

His screen still displayed her information from his phone book. “I feel like I want to text her,” he thought. “But I don’t understand why.”

He squint his eyes in frustration and thought back to RaeIn’s party, remembering how she drunkenly confided in him. He then remembered DooJoon the day after, and how he obviously forgot RaeIn’s birthday. Suddenly, JunHyung felt very over-protective. “I wonder if she’s feeling better,” he thought. “Maybe I’ll call her.” He shook his head, changing his mind yet again. “Or maybe I won’t call her. I think I’ll text her. Yeah, that would be better.”

He pushed a bunch of buttons on his phone leading him to the “Create New Message” option. His fingers hovered over a couple keys then he sighed in frustration.

“Ah, what’s wrong with me?” he said out loud to himself. He looked at his phone again. “Whatever.”

Hey RaeIn-ah. It’s JunHyung.

He sent the text and threw the phone back onto his pillow, sighing to himself and running a hand over his face. He was surprised when his phone suddenly rang.

Oh, hi Oppa! What’s up?

JunHyung felt his face heat up as he read the text; he was still in shock at her fast reply.

Ah, nothing really. I was just bored.
What are you up to?

Now that he knew that RaeIn would answer, JunHyung felt anticipation for her next text. His phone rang. RaeIn wrote:

I’m just at the dorm, keke!

JunHyung could barely hold in his curiosity. The whole reason why he wanted to text RaeIn was to find out how she was doing after the whole DooJoon thing. He had noticed the awkward interaction between RaeIn and DooJoon when the two groups ran into each other earlier. He flashed back to the night of RaeIn’s party. RaeIn said it was her contacts, but JunHyung wasn’t stupid. Of course she was crying. However, he still felt that it would be weird to ask. So he didn’t.

JunHyung’s phone rang again, much to his surprise. He hadn’t even sent a reply yet.

It’s getting late, Oppa. I’ll be going to sleep now.
You should get some sleep, too! Good night  ^^~

JunHyung wasn’t expecting such a response from RaeIn. And she wished him a good night, too. JunHyung felt his face heating up. He quickly checked the time before replying. She was right about it getting late. It was already 2:30AM. He crawled under his covers and he couldn’t help but smile as he drifted off to sleep.

Thank you, good night.

——-

“Yeoboseyo?” RaeIn said absentmindedly answering her phone.

“RaeIn-ah.”

“JunHyung-oppa?” RaeIn recognized the voice. “I wasn’t expecting you to call.”

“I’m not bothering you, am I?” JunHyung asked.

“No, not at all, oppa,” RaeIn answered, laughing. JunHyung laughed as well, though a bit more awkwardly.

“So you’re sure you’re not busy right now?”

“Not busy at all!”

“Are you at your dorm?” JunHyung asked again.

“Yes, why?”

“Open the door,” JunHyung suddenly commanded. “I’m outside.”

Confused, RaeIn quickly grabbed a sweater and put it on as she headed to the front. With one hand holding her phone against her ear, she opened the door to find that JunHyung was telling the truth. In fact, he was standing outside with one hand in his pocket and the other still holding his phone to his ear as well. He had been staring down the hallway, but once he heard the door open, he turned to face RaeIn.

“Oh, JunHyung! You’re really here,” she said laughing.

“Why would I lie to you?” The way JunHyung replied caught RaeIn off guard, and she found herself flustered. Trying to play it off, she peeked down the hallway in the direction JunHyung was staring at before.

“Did you arrive by yourself?”

“Yeah,” JunHyung replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with one hand. With the other he brought something forward, offering it to RaeIn. He smiled a little awkwardly. “I brought you some apple juice.”

“Thank you,” RaeIn replied even more shocked now as she accepted the present. She immediately ripped out the straw and stuck it into the juice-box. “What is this for?”

“I just remembered you saying you liked apple juice so…” JunHyung trailed off. Realizing he was still standing at the doorway he continued, gesturing at himself. “Am I allowed to go inside?”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Yes, of course you are,” RaeIn exclaimed, taking a sip from the juice box.

She stepped aside and gestured for JunHyung to walk inside the room. RaeIn closed the door and quickly sat down on the couch, offering the spot next to her for JunHyung to sit. Once he did, he felt a tinge of awkwardness (or was it nervousness?) so he cleared his throat before speaking.

“Are JulSu or KaHee here?”

“No, it’s just me right now.” JunHyung coughed. RaeIn’s eyes grew wide as she remembered something. “Oh, Oppa guess what!”

“Hmm?”

“We finally got a filming schedule for our follow-up song MV!”

“Oh, that’s great!” JunHyung said, congratulating her.

“Yeah, that’s why they’re out; they’re getting fitted for their costumes.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, I’m already done,” RaeIn replied, smiling and throwing up a peace sign.

“Ah, I see.” He hesitated before speaking. “So how was your sleep?” He mentally slapped himself for being so awkward.

“It was fine,” RaeIn asked, not at all aware of JunHyung’s awkwardness. She sipped on her juice box and held it up in front of her face with a disappointed look. “Aw, I finished it.” She shrugged and placed the empty box on the table. JunHyung chuckled at her disappointment.

“So what made you decide to stop by?” RaeIn asked.

“No reason,” JunHyung said automatically. RaeIn kept looking at him, so eventually he caved and continued. “Actually… I was wondering how you were doing.”

“I’m doing fine, thanks,” RaeIn answered cheerfully, though a bit confused.

“I meant I was wondering how you were doing after the party,” JunHyung continued.

“Ah, I see,” RaeIn continued nonchalantly. “In that case, I’m… fine.”

“Do you remember what happened at your birthday party? Do you remember stuff that you told me?” JunHyung asked.

“A bit, I think,” RaeIn confessed, laughing a bit. “I didn’t say anything stupid, did I?”

“Not at all,” JunHyung said right away. After a fairly lengthy silence, JunHyung stood up. “Ah, I’m sorry I think I made it awkward. I’ll just leave first.”

“Oh! No!” RaeIn said. She laughed and continued. “I mean, you can leave if you want or if you’re busy. But I don’t think you made it awkward. Actually it’s very sweet of you to check up on me. Thank you.”

“Ah, it’s no problem.” JunHyung felt flustered this time and he sat back down on the couch.

“Unni, we’re back!” JunHyung and RaeIn got a bit of a shock as they looked towards the door at the maknae running into the living room. However, that could not amount at all to the shock that KaHee and JulSu felt once they were in the living room.

“Oh, hi Doo—JunHyung!” JulSu exclaimed. She nudged KaHee who was standing next to her, completely muted by her surprise at their guest.

“Annyeong, JunHyung-oppa!” KaHee quickly greeted, bowing.

“Excuse us. We don’t want to bother you guys…” JulSu quickly said, pulling on the maknae’s arm and dragging her into the kitchen. RaeIn and JunHyung exchanged confused looks, but shrugged it off as they continued their conversation.

Meanwhile in the kitchen…

“That… was not DooJoon-oppa!” JulSu whispered frantically.

“I know… I wonder what’s going on with RaeIn-unni and JunHyung-oppa,” KaHee mused. “They’re getting along so well lately. It’s very… odd. It’s been like this since Unni’s birthday.”

“You’re right,” JulSu agreed. After a beat she added, “This is your fault, KaHee! Why did you leave them alone? You just had to go to the High Kick party.”

“Hey, if I didn’t go I wouldn’t have seen DooJoon and SeKyung! It’s your fault, JulSu! It’s because you had to pass out!” The two girls looked at each other and sighed. After exchanging glances, they rushed back to the kitchen door and slowly opened it and peeked outside, hoping with all their lives that they wouldn’t get caught.

——-

JunHyung closed the door behind him once he entered the BEAST dorm.

“Oh, JunHyung you went out?” DooJoon asked as JunHyung walked inside. At this point the members had an unspoken agreement to avoid any awkward topics, i.e. RaeIn’s party and the events related.

“Yeah.”

“Where did you go?”

“MAKIKO dorm,” JunHyung replied nonchalantly, taking off his shoes and walking past the leader. His answer caught DooJoon off-guard.

“Did you see RaeIn?” DooJoon asked, a bit hesitant, knowingly treading on dangerous waters. JunHyung stopped walking a bit then answered with a simple, “Yeah.”

“Oh,” DooJoon replied. JunHyung started walking again, but DooJoon stopped him. “Wait! Is she still at the dorm right now? Do you think you could help me… talk to her?”

JunHyung felt overprotective again, a feeling that was getting too familiar to him. “Sorry, Hyung, she doesn’t want to see you. You’re on your own.” JunHyung continued to his room, quickly shutting the door behind him so DooJoon couldn’t follow.

“What am I thinking?” JunHyung said quietly to himself. He did not even know what he was feeling and why he was feeling this way. What was the worse that could happen if he helped DooJoon? The only consequence he could think of would be their making up. Yet JunHyung knew for sure that he definitely did not want DooJoon or RaeIn to talk any time soon.