The next morning Sungyeol had woken up first. He listened to the muffled sound of Sunggyu’s alarm for a few seconds before opening his eyes and removing his arms from around Woohyun. He rubbed his eyes and sat up in the bed slowly, trying to not wake up the person next to him. Sungyeol could still hear Sunggyu’s alarm and he was a bit surprised that Sunggyu hadn’t turned it off yet. He remembered that there were many times that he would have to turn it off and wake up the leader by himself, but since that stupid night, Sungyeol hadn’t done that. Sungyeol knew that Myungsoo wouldn’t be able to do that, since the younger could sleep through a hurricane, so he worried a bit. It seemed like Sunggyu had actually depended on Sungyeol for something, no matter how little it was. It bothered Sungyeol, but it gave him a soft flutter in his heart as well.

            Finally annoyed by the alarm he turned his body so that his feet touched the ground and moved the blanket off of his lap. He stood up and tucked Woohyun in a bit before walking to his old room. He looked around the still dark room and wondered how Woohyun could stay in a room with no windows. He sighed after checking his phone.

            It’s still dark, even when the sun should be making its way up.

            He opened the door to his room and moved towards Sunggyu’s bed to turn off the alarm. Once he turned it off, he went to sit on his own bed. It was clean and the blankets were perfectly in place. It had been a few days since he’s been on his bed, so nothing was that messy. He wondered who had made his bed though, since Sungyeol didn’t usually make his bed after waking up.

            Sitting there in the quiet room, all he could hear were the soft sounds of Sunggyu and Myungsoo breathing. He glanced at his phone and knew that they would all have to wake up soon to go to the salon. Sungyeol also knew that he had to make up with the leader soon, because it was hindering their group dynamics. He sighed and got up off his bed. He had about thirty minutes before the group had to wake up so he walked over to Sunggyu’s bed and softly shook the leader’s shoulders.

            The leader removed his earphones after waking up to Sungyeol shaking his shoulder. He glanced down at his phone, wondering why the alarm didn’t wake him, but after looking at the time, he realized that Sungyeol had turned it off for him, like he always did.

He looked back at Sungyeol and knowing that they still had a bit of time before they had to wake up the other members, he wondered why Sungyeol had woken him up. Sungyeol stared at him and when their eyes met, Sungyeol looked down and cleared his throat softly.

            “Sunggyu, we should talk.”

            Sunggyu immediately nodded. He looked behind Sungyeol and saw Myungsoo shuffling around in his bed. He glanced back at Sungyeol, who was looking at the visual as well.

            “Let’s go into the living room,” he suggested.

            The two members walked quietly into the living, shutting the door to their room on the way. They knew that Myungsoo could sleep through their conversation, but sometimes Myungsoo woke up early because of their constant early schedules.

            Sungyeol sat on the floor in front of the couch, and Sunggyu went to peek into Sungjong, Dongwoo, and Hoya’s rooms to make sure they were all asleep. After closing their doors as well, Sunggyu joined Sungyeol on the floor and sat in front of him. Sunggyu stared at Sungyeol while the younger stared at the ground. They were both silent, and neither of them really knew what to say, or how to start the conversation. Sunggyu sighed, knowing that they didn’t have much time left.

            “Sungyeol, are we going to talk about what happened that night?”

            Sungyeol looked up to see the leader staring at him, and he was very glad that there was a space between the two, and that they were not sitting next to each other. He was fairly close to Sungyeol, considering that they had to be quiet, but they were not touching, and Sungyeol was grateful for that.

            “Yeah,” he said softly, “but I don’t know what to say.”

            “Can you tell me why you k-kissed me?”

            Sungyeol widened his eyes. He wasn’t expecting Sunggyu to get straight to the point.

            He brought his knees up closer to him and wrapped his arms around them.

            “I-I don’t know.”

            There was a long silence after that. Neither of them knew what to say, but they both wanted to work this out. Sungyeol looked up at Sunggyu and saw the stressed look on his face. It wasn’t good for Sunggyu to be stressed, especially since they still had their Man In Love promotions to finish, and Sunggyu still had his second solo album to record and prepare for as well. He didn’t need this petty little problem to bother him as well.

            It’s not like I hold a very important place in his mind anyway. He probably just doesn’t like how this affecting the group’s performances, Sungyeol thought.

            He took a deep breath before starting to speak again.

            “S-Sunggyu, I wasn’t thinking that day. I’m really sorry for being such a brat during the practices and for not respecting your leadership role properly. I’m sorry for starving myself and for letting that get out. I’m sorry for yelling at you and ignoring you since that night. I’m sorry that I—“

            “Sungyeol, do you like me?”

            Sungyeol’s breath got caught in his throat. He started to cough a bit, before trying to calm down and answer. He felt his heart beat faster, and he didn’t dare look into the leader’s eyes.

            “W-What?”

            Sunggyu leaned closer to the younger, whose hand was started to shake a bit.

            “Sungyeol…do you have feelings for me?”

            His voice was soft and deep, and Sungyeol felt like he was losing his sanity. Sunggyu was too close, his voice was too soothing, and Sungyeol felt like his heart was going to bust out of his chest. He tried to avoid looking at Sunggyu, but Sunggyu moved closer to him instead and held onto Sungyeol’s shoulders.

            “Can you look at me?” Sunggyu whispered.

            Sungyeol looked up and saw Sunggyu’s face in front of him.

            “S-Sunggyu,” he stuttered.

            “Do you like me?” Sunggyu repeated.

            Sungyeol squinted his eyes closed, worried about what Sunggyu’s reaction would be if he were to tell the truth. He nodded, and Sungyeol could feel his heart palpitate even faster than it had ever before.

            Sungyeol felt Sunggyu’s hands move off of his shoulders and heard him sigh.

            I ruined everything, Sungyeol thought, he probably can’t even look at me right now.

            Suddenly he heard Sunggyu’s voice again, and the next thing he felt were Sunggyu’s lips on his.