"Here, I saved this for you," Hyori held out a bag of cookies for Chen. When Chen didn't approach her, she frowned. "What's wrong? You wanted my homemade cookies, right? I saved them for you! Yours is a lot more than the others."

Chen's heart gave a leap. "Really?"

Hyori rolled her eyes. "Yes. Here, take them!"

Chen beamed as he took the bag from her. "Thanks!" He immediately popped a cookie into his mouth. "It's delicious!" He chewed enthusiastically.

Within minutes, the cookies were almost gone, except for one. Chen took it and went up to Hyori. "Noona, here," he placed the cookie near . Surprised, Hyori opened and let Chen feed her. He smiled.

"So are you gonna tell me why you have a bunch of girls chasing after you?" Hyori grinned.

Chen suddenly looked shifty. "I .."

"You performed, didn't you? You performed for the teacher's day concert. You and Luhan," Hyori guessed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" Chen blurted. "It's just that, we had to sing and I don't know if my singing's good enough for you so I didn't tell you because I don't want to disappoint-" the rest of his words were muffled when Hyori hugged him.

"Pabo, you know I'll always be proud of you. How could you let everyone else hear your voice before me?" She pouted.

"Mianhae," he looked really apologetic. Hyori grinned.

"Looks like you and Luhan are popular with the girls!"

Chen frowned. "I don't want to be popular with the girls. They scare me!"

"Don't I scare you?"

"I'm used to you."

Hyori lightly punched Chen's shoulder. Then, she sat on his bed, her necklace glittering. Chen, who had temporarily forgotten what he saw just now, glanced at her necklace and his heart sank. Hyori noticed his change of expression. "What's up? You've been acting weird since I dropped by."

"Ask hyung," Chen said jerkily, sitting on top of his study table. Hyori looked confused.

"Hyung? Oh .. You mean Zico?"

Chen didn't answer her. Instead, he became interested in his legs, swinging them back and forth. Before Hyori could ask what Zico did, he opened his mouth.

"I saw you two hugging!"

Hyori's mouth formed an 'o'. Then, she laughed weakly. "I hugged Xiumin too."

Chen blinked. 

"Xiumin's my best friend. And I owe Zico for the prom incident," she smiled. "I don't like them in that sense."

Chen felt embarrassed. He wanted to tell her how Zico had looked up at this very window, locked eyes with Chen and smirked, as if he did that on purpose, to let him know that he was hugging her. But he didn't.

"Chen, are you alright?" Hyori asked, worried.

Chen smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm tired, noona. I think I'll head off to bed early."

Hyori nodded and got up. "I'll get going then. Seeya." She smiled before leaving. When the door closed behind her, Chen ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. What was this feeling?

*

"Chen, you're not performing up to your usual standards. Are you alright?" Young Deuk asked while they were on their break.

"I'm fine," Chen said, unsmiling. Young Deuk frowned.

"If GD hyung was still here and sees you like this, he will smile at you and tell you to control your expression, because that's how a professional works."

Chen wanted to retort that he's not a professional, but it wasn't a wise thing to do. He thought over Young Deuk's words and felt ashamed of himself. He knew Young Deuk meant it in a good way.

"I'm sorry, I'll improve on controlling my emotions," Chen humbly said. Young Deuk smiled. "Don't mix up your personal problems with curricular."

With that, he clapped his hands for attention. "Let's go through one more round of practice before we call it a day!"

"Bye ssem!"

"See you!"

Chen was the last to leave. As he was getting his stuff, Young Deuk approached him. "Can you help me lock the door? I'm running late for practice," he said apologetically. Chen nodded and took the keys from him.

He looked at the now empty dance studio. It seemed tempting to sing and dance alone to let out his feelings. Anyway the keys were in his hands. Should he?

Unconsciously, his hands rested on his phone and almost in a dreamlike state, he scrolled through his playlist to find the song he and Luhan would be performing. He did some vocal warmup and cleared his throat before playing the song.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he sang his parts. Although it was a short song, he liked it very much. He was too engrossed in singing till he didn't realise that someone had appeared from the back door.

Suddenly, he heard applause. Startled, Chen looked in the mirror and his face turned stony. He turned.

"Annyeong. You might want to lock the back door first," Zico smirked.

"What are you doing here?"

Zico pretended to look offended. "Dropping formalities with me? As far as I can recall, I'm definitely older than you."

Chen was about to retort again, when Young Deuk's words swam in his head. Control your expression. Chen sighed and took a deep breath.

"Mianhae," he mumbled. Zico grinned.

"It's perfectly understandable. I sense you're holding a grudge against me." That's right, Chen thought. But he didn't say it out. "What are you doing here, hyung?" He repeated.

"To watch your progress, of course! Hyori said you and some other kid were picked for a singing competition. Not bad," Zico grinned again, flexing his body in front of the mirror. "I told you I'd make you into the top of the group after I leave. Looks like I was right."

Chen had nothing to say about his cockiness. He desperately wanted Zico to leave but he's not even budging.

"Say," Zico suddenly spoke, causing Chen to flinch, "let me treat you for dinner."

Chen looked at him warily. Zico chuckled. "Aw come on, I have a lot to ask you and I bet you're dying to ask me something, aren't you?"

Chen thought over it. It's true that he wanted to ask Zico about Hyori ..

"Okay," he agreed.

*

As an author, I get confused too with what I'm writing haha! And I have the tendency to forget little but crucial details in my previous chapters :P

Thank you for commenting and keep on doing so! ^^