Never in Daehyun’s life had he been so regretful. He wanted to simply go back in time to the day he had learnt he was going to tour with the seniors so he could tell Youngjae straight away of what was coming. But he didn’t have the power to turn back time and was stuck in the present. His bags were already packed for his leave the next day and there wasn’t anything he could do since everyone else in the dorm was busy packing their own things.

Daehyun had gone online a couple times to check if Youngjae was there but as expected he wasn’t. In fact Youngjae didn’t even bother to reply to any of his text messages or phone calls. In the end, Daehyun figured it was best he just gave up and gave him space. He probably needed the time to cool off or do whatever Youngjae had to do. But there wasn’t much he could say other than ‘sorry’ which he was sure Youngjae was sick of hearing. Perhaps it was best if the two of them had some time apart but it didn’t stop Daehyun from feeling sick at the fact that he was going to leave Youngjae on such bad terms.

Daehyun stared blankly at the screen of his laptop as he scrolled through his Tumblr dash. He thought back to a time and place he had first encountered Youngjae. Reflexively a smile crept across his lips but it quickly vanished when he trailed a finger over them. He still hadn’t figured out if that kiss was real or if it was all just a dream. In that morning, Youngjae didn’t act any different. He seemed perfectly fine, minus the numerous complains on how his body felt stiff after sleeping on the floor. But Daehyun was certain that if Youngjae had in fact kissed him, he would have behaved differently in the morning. Nothing changed with Youngjae. He acted as he always did, bubbly and light.

The thought of not knowing if it was real or not was frustrating, he just wanted to know but it wasn’t as if he could simply call Youngjae and ask him, especially when he was so cross at him. Again Daehyun was reminded of his own stupidity and he mentally smashed his own head against a brick wall. Why was he so stupid? He should have told Youngjae when he found out the news.

His mistake left him with nothing but dread and regret.

There was a knock on his door and Junhong peered into his room, “Hey Daehyun, I’m running to the store, is there anything you need?”

“It’s almost midnight,” Daehyun pointed out a-matter-of-factly.

“Yeah,” Junhong replied as he added quickly, “I wanna stretch my legs, you can come with me if you want. You’ve been in your room ever since we came back from dance practice; you probably need a good stretch too.”

Daehyun knew that Junhong was asking him indirectly ‘no one else wants to come with me so can you?’ but he would never ask Daehyun so forwardly like that, it simply wasn't in his nature. Daehyun looked over at him and over at his already packed bags. The walk would do him good.  Fresh air might be what he needed to clear his head.  

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed with a slight smile, “I’ll come with you.”

Daehyun had allowed Junhong to do most of the talking as their made their way to the corner store. Despite it being so late he seemed to be just overflowing with energy, probably due to the fact that they were about to leave the city for the first time. He watched Junhong speak passionately with his hands until he was caught as Junhong stared back at him.

“Hmmm?” Daehyun said dumbly.

“I asked if you wanted to have a stage name if you're to debut,” Junhong repeated enthusiastically, not knowing that Daehyun wasn’t really listening to him throughout most of his speech.

“Oh, um I don’t know,” he replied honestly, he hadn’t given the idea much thought, “Probably not.”

“I want to be called Zelo,” Junhong pointed out, “Zelo sounds cool don’t you think?”

Daehyun laughed lightly, “Yeah it is.”

“Are you okay Daehyun?” Junhong asked, “You look like you’re not really listening. What’s wrong? Are you nervous about leaving tomorrow?”

Daehyun merely blinked at him.

“I’m a bit nervous about tomorrow. It’s the first time I’m going to be on a plane without my parents. We’ve come a long way haven’t we? It’s only been a couple months…well for me it’s been a couple months. I think it’s only been a few weeks for you but I think you’ve caught up really well,” Junhong smiled.

“It’ll be okay tomorrow. The other trainees will make sure you’re alright. If not, I’ll make sure you’re okay and beat everyone else if they don’t,” Daehyun said lightly.

Junhong burst into laughter, “I’ll be okay tomorrow then. I got nothing to worry about if you’re looking out for me. But what about you? Will you be okay tomorrow?”

Daehyun looked over at Junhong and could see the concern flooding his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be alright. But you know when you walk away from someone after argument or after you did something stupid to make someone else mad?”

“That’s me and my brother all the time,” Junhong explained, “I think he’s still mad at me for taking his skateboard without asking.”

“Yeah, someone is mad at me and it’s my fault. I feel REALLY bad about leaving like this but I don’t really have much of a choice.”

Junhong scratched his chin absentmindedly, “Is this someone a friend?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be okay then,” Junhong replied confidently, “They’ll just need some time to get over it. Like my brother and me always fight but in the end we’re okay with each other. You just gotta be patient, that’s all.”

Daehyun gave Junhong a glance, surprised that those words had escaped his lips. He had always assumed that Junhong or Zelo or whatever he wanted to be known as was simply just a kid. But apparently Junhong wasn’t like the other people his age.