However, the interviewer doesn’t ask about them. He doesn’t ask about the rings, and Sungyeol doubts that the interviewer even noticed them. As he practiced the dance for ‘Man in Love’ with the rest of the members, his thoughts always went back to that interview. They didn’t even ask him many questions. The only time that he got to talk during the entire interview was when Sunggyu purposely handed the microphone to him, nudging him on the elbow to say something. He saw the worried look on Sunggyu’s face. The fans would’ve been worried if Sungyeol didn’t talk for an entire interview. He was supposed to be the loud and talkative one anyway. If he didn’t talk then something was too obviously wrong. Wouldn’t Infinite’s fans worry?

            Maybe they wouldn’t have been so disappointed. I have like three fans anyway.

            The thought repeated through his head the entire time they were practicing, and Sungyeol saw nothing but the mirror, himself, and disappointment.

            The sweat ran down his forehead, and a towel was thrown at his face. Sungyeol sluggishly caught it, along with the water bottle that followed it. He glanced back at Woohyun, who had thrown them, and nodded his thanks. He felt a small smile form on his face, and it grew into a grin as he saw Woohyun’s reaction, because sensing the terrible mood Sungyeol was in, Woohyun was incredibly happy to be the one to make Sungyeol smile.

            Sungyeol opened the water bottle and took a sip of the much needed water.

            At least they care about me here.

***

            Hoya told Woohyun to eat more.

            “You know, I don’t understand how you can eat so little and still move around so much. You’re getting too skinny. It’s not healthy.”

            Woohyun ignored the comment and continued to sip on his water.

            What does Hoya know anyway?

            Water doesn’t have calories, but Woohyun was still thinking of going out later that night to go to the gym. There was something probably wrong with what he was doing, and there was nothing wrong with what Hoya was doing, but Woohyun wasn’t going to give up something once he liked it, and not eating, despite the mental torture, was something he liked.

            Dongwoo nudged him with his elbow, and Woohyun turned to see Dongwoo holding a piece of beef between his chopsticks, his hand under it to make sure it doesn’t drop. He held it out for Woohyun to eat. He smiled and turned back to the rest of the members when Woohyun reluctantly opened his mouth to eat the beef, and he didn’t even notice Woohyun’s slight grimace as he started to chew on the food that he didn’t want in his mouth.

            Woohyun chewed excruciatingly slow, hoping that the members would see that he was still eating and not offer him any more food. He didn’t want to eat more. He didn’t want to gain the weight that would bring his ugly chubby cheeks back. He liked having hollow cheeks. He looked nice. Everyone complimented him and automatically assumed he had abs, which he work ever so hard for. It was a never-ending cycle, and he’d like to keep it that way. He didn’t want to gain weight, because if he did, that’s all anyone would ever talk about, and if anyone was going to talk about him, it better be positive things, because some people could hear it.

            After their late night dinner was over, the members went home and headed off to bed.

            Except for Woohyun, who snuck into the bathroom and threw up the piece of beef Dongwoo had fed him.

***

            Myungsoo and Sungyeol sat next to each other in their room. Sunggyu was out talking to the CEO about something and had left the two to talk amongst themselves. He knew that they wouldn’t sleep without him. Myungsoo and Sungyeol together at night always meant a late night talk, and there was no way that either of them would pass up the moment to rant about something stupid or to just talk.

            Myungsoo was glad that they had the room to themselves, even if it was just for a little while. He crawled onto Sungyeol’s bed and sat next to him. He noticed that Sungyeol had been a little quiet since the interview, and being his best friend, Myungsoo knew what was bothering him.

            During the interview, Sungyeol had mentioned that since their 10 month break, they had Infinite H and Sunggyu promote, so they were still popular when they came back. Myungsoo was pretty happy to hear Sungyeol talking again, since he was so quiet during the press conference. He wished he was sitting next to Sungyeol during this interview though, because things didn’t go the way he knew Sungyeol would’ve wanted. The interviewer had asked who it was that had nothing to do during those 10 months, knowing very well that it was Sungyeol. Sungyeol immediately apologized for bragging about his own group members, saying that because he was just jealous of them and that he wanted to talk about their promotions, but that was something that he didn’t even tell the other members besides Myungsoo. That interviewer had no right to pry into their lives that deeply. He took down Sungyeol’s pride.

            Myungsoo had really wanted to sit next to Sungyeol, but they had sat him next to Sungjong, far away from Sungyeol. He wanted to have been able to hold his hand or hug him in the middle of the interview. He wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault that he had no schedule for 10 months. It was everyone else’s loss. Nevertheless, it was the only question that they asked of him, and it was about him not having schedules. Didn’t that stupid interviewer care about Sungyeol’s feelings at all?

            Myungsoo watched Sungyeol as the elder looked out the window. Myungsoo heard him sigh, and he leaned closer to Sungyeol. He took his hand in his and started to play with it again, only this time, the rings weren’t there. Myungsoo’s eyebrows furrowed.

            “Sungyeol, where are all your rings?”

            Sungyeol sighed again. It was a sound that Myungsoo didn’t like very much.

            “No one cares about them. Why should I keep wearing them?”

            Myungsoo sat up straight and moved in front of Sungyeol, causing the latter to turn away from the window and look at Myungsoo. There was no way that he was going to let this interview bring Sungyeol down.

            “Hey…” he started hesitantly, “I cared about them… I liked them, and if you like them, you should keep wearing them. It doesn’t matter what people think, alright? You, of all people, should know that.”

            Sungyeol scoffed softly. The lovely words coming out of Myungsoo’s mouth didn’t do much to comfort him, but he could still appreciate the effort.

“Maybe it’s because of the rings that I didn’t get scheduled for anything.”

            Myungsoo moved back against the wall next to Sungyeol and sighed himself. Sungyeol always tried to make a joke out of everything, and although he loved the elder, sometimes it just frustrated him so much.

            Why couldn’t he just admit that it hurts? Why can’t he talk to me about his troubles like he used to?

            “Sungyeol, that interviewer was way out of line, you know that right?”

            Sungyeol turned away from the stars again to look at Myungsoo.

            “Of course, Myunggie. I’m not even sad about that.”

            “Don’t lie to me Sungyeol. We’re supposed to be best friends.”

            “That’s what we are.”

            “Then why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

            “There’s nothing wrong.”

            “You’re the biggest liar ever, Yeol.”

            Myungsoo huffed and pouted, making Sungyeol turn to look at him and chuckle softly. Myungsoo always made the most effort in trying to find out what was bothering Sungyeol and it was times like this that he really appreciated it.

            Myungsoo managed to make Sungyeol smile his actual smile and not just another fake one. He was proud of himself, but still wanted to comfort Sungyeol somehow. Sungyeol just wouldn’t understand if Myungsoo were to tell him that he thought Sungyeol was actual, literal, perfection—that the interviewer was stupid, that the script was stupid, and that Sungyeol deserved way better. He couldn’t do any of that, because knowing himself, he would probably get carried away and ruin him entire friendship with Sungyeol. No matter how much he liked Sungyeol, he would hate it if Sungyeol started to avoid him because of a stupid confession.

            Sungyeol then leaned over Myungsoo and grabbed a ring from the table.

            “Here,” he said, putting on the ring that Myungsoo had given him, “I’ll only wear this ring, since it’s a ring from the only person that cares, okay?”

            Sungyeol tried to smile happily again, but realized that he was really tired. He was happy to see Myungsoo beam at him when he mentioned his ring and smiled a small smile, genuine, but small. He then scooted over to pull the covers up and lie down. It was times like this that Sungyeol was really glad to have a friend like Myungsoo.

            “Yeol?”

            “Yeah?” Sungyeol said, lying down on his pillow.

            “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

            Myungsoo knew that on nights like this, Sungyeol would want company. It’s just that Sungyeol had too much pride to ask. He had too much pride to say that he was hurting and that he needed someone to hug him to sleep, like Myungsoo would do.

            Sungyeol looked over at Myungsoo with half-closed eyes. Myungsoo could tell he was glad that he had asked this.

            “Sure,” Sungyeol muttered, pulling the blanket up a bit so Myungsoo could slide in.

            Myungsoo proceeded to move under the blanket next to him and hug Sungyeol. He felt the elder stiffen up, but after a few seconds, Sungyeol relaxed into Myungsoo’s arms.

            “Sungyeol…you know I’ll always love you right?”

            He felt Sungyeol chuckle a little in his arms. “Of course, Myunggie, that’s why we’ll be friends forever.”

            Sungyeol smiled as he was reminded that he still had people that love him and care about him. The interviewer disappears from his mind, and he actually felt at peace.

            Myungsoo tightened his hold on Sungyeol slightly, coming in closer to feel Sungyeol’s warmth. He glanced at the ceiling that reflected the stars from outside the window. He glanced back at Sungyeol’s face, half covered in the dark and half bathed in the moonlight.

             “Yeah…” he whispered, after watching Sungyeol fall asleep, “Friends…”