Competition
Predicted Accident
Onew lay asleep, leaning his head against the wall within 15 minutes of finally consuming the painkillers. After the drug finally took effect, he drifted off to sleep without the constant pain keeping him awake. The other members, together with Chun-bin, continued their practice, with the trainer facilitating them. Practice managed to run smoother now that Key was actually putting all his concentration on his movements, and the other members were less distracted about Onew's well-being. They practiced for hours, taking small breaks in between before continuing again. It was almost frightening how much they perspired from the workout. Even all the bottles of water that Onew had accidentally bought was not enough to supply them. Despite the huge amounts of effort they put in, and the extensive hours they clocked, they only managed to clear off 3 of their more important hits - Noona Nomu Yeppo, Lucifer and Stranger - before their manager came for them.
"Sorry seonsaeng-nim, the boys need to catch some dinner before their next schedule," the manager informed.
"Dinner?" Key asked, surprised. He looked up to the clock at the back of the room. "It's already 5?!" he exclaimed, wiping the back of his palm across his forehead.
"Alright. All of you gather around for a moment," the trainer announced, cutting the music short. The members obeyed and dragged themselves over to the front of the room.
"Chun-bin, you are staying with me, you don't have any other schedules so I'll run through the other dances with you briefly so that training can be smoother tomorrow. The rest of you, good work today. Jonghyun, keep a lookout for Onew. Minho, whatever is keeping your relationship with Onew strained, make up. Apologize if you must. Your teamwork at this point is the most important. Key, you too; apologize to him. I want all of you to keep looking out for one another, I won't take anyone breaking down in here again. Tomorrow we will run through what we did today once, and then we will move on to Sherlock - both the normal version and the remixed version - and then Dream Girl. If time permits, we will backtrack to the older hits - Ring Ding Dong and Juliette. I doubt you will be going to Japan for promotions anytime soon, so I'll leave the Japanese hits towards the back. If there are no questions left, someone can wake Onew up and you can go," the trainer concluded. The members thanked him courteously.
"Hyung, wake up, we're moving," Key shook Onew lightly with a hushed tone. Onew jolted awake immediately.
"Sorry!" He exclaimed, shocked, as he took in all the members' faces in front of him.
"We're leaving, hyung," Minho repeated Key's statement now that the leader was awake. He extended a hand for him to take. Onew was hesitant for a moment before clamping his palm over the other's and pulled himself up carefully.
"Why didn't you wake me up? I should have at least participated a little... I mean I'm already not doing much, but the least I should have done was watch and take in the dances..."
"It's okay, hyung. You drew the plans out, I'm sure you know the formations better than any of us," Jonghyun added with a small smile.
“It’s just not fair to the rest of you; I’m not the only one injured here,” Onew grabbed his crutches and mounted himself upon them.
“It’s okay, hyung. Come on, let’s go,” Key grabbed Onew’s bag and slung it over his shoulder. They went up to the manager together and once in the halls, Jonghyun and Onew followed behind the manager; while Minho and Key were at the back pointing fingers at who should apologize first, and how to go about to do it. Every time someone wanted to say something, the other would give an urgent sideway look at Onew and a quick glare at the other. They ended up mouthing all their words, looking like fishes out of water. By the time they sat on around a foldable table with packets of food on it, they still had not reached a decision.
“I’m going to the restroom,” Key announced, shooting Minho a look to follow him.
“Uh... I’ll go with you!” Minho chimed with fake enthusiasm. Jonghyun and Onew shot both of them puzzled looks before Minho ran after Key.
“This is stupid, let’s just do it together, okay?” Key concluded after the whole trip of trying to find excuses for why the other should apologize first.
“Tell me your plan,” Minho folded his arms in front of him and leaned against the wall.
“Surprise party,” Key answered. Minho paused for a long moment, looking deeply into Key’s eyes to see if he was serious.
“You’re in the mood to party?” he finally asked in a mutter. Key pressed his lips into a tight line, his eyes dropped to the floor.
“Well... I just thought that if we wanted to make up to him, we should at least make him a little... less stressed out, and also show him that we appreciate him. That’s all I’ve got. Do you have any other plans?” Key went beside Minho, leaning against the wall so that he wouldn’t have to look into Minho’s expressions and interrogating eyes.
“How about stop being such s?” Minho sighed. “No, I’ve got nothing as well.”
“Reversal role?” Key thought aloud.
“Forget it, he wouldn’t allow it.”
“Presents?”
“The fans give him truckloads full of them.”
“Argh! Minho! You’re not helping at all!” Key screamed in exasperation
“Guys, what’s taking you so long?” Jonghyun entered the bathroom with a skeptical expression.
“He’s rejecting all my apology ideas!” Key shirked pointing accusingly at Minho.
“They were stupid!” Minho retorted.
“Stop, Stop!” Jonghyun raised both his palms open in front of him. “Let me get this straight. Key, you have come up with multiple ideas for apologizing; and you, Minho, think that they wouldn’t work out.” Key and Minho nodded.
“Easy,” Jonghyun clapped his palms together. “Make a bet with each other. Whoever makes the best apology wins and gets to make a request from the other.”
“Fine! Whoever does the best apology wins! If I win, you, Kim Kibum, are going to buy me tickets to a soccer game and convince manager-hyung to let me off that day” Minho smirked.
“Oh, aren’t you cheap, Minho. Look forward to getting me the next season’s accessories,” Key retorted.
“Alright, the date line is... 1 month from now. The rules are that none of you are allowed to skip out on trainings to do your preparations, arasso?” Jonghyun ordered.
“You’re going down, Kibum,” Minho gave the other a thumbs down.
“Watch me,” Key smirked sticking out his tongue. "I'm the Almighty Key."
A (sort of) happy chapter so that your tears can take a rest :x.
I'm so sorry for not updating for so long and then giving a short chapter like this. It's mid-terms examinations for me now and I'm bombarded with things to study. I'm supposed to be studying now as well but I kind of lost my motivation to at the moment. I've already finished 2 exams and one more is coming up of friday and another on Monday and then next wednesday. Gahh... so much to study T_T.
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