After dinner, Myungsoo and Sungyeol had walked over to the practice room together, telling the other members that they’d be back before it got too dark. Sunggyu made sure to mention that they really should be back soon, because there was something that he and Sungyeol had to announce to all of the members. Sunggyu had quickly glanced at Sungyeol and smiled, much to Myungsoo’s chagrin. It made him want to throw up.

            On the short walk to the practice room, it took all Myungsoo had to not take Sungyeol’s hand and run away to somewhere far away from the dorm—far away from Sunggyu. He knew exactly what the announcement was going to be about, and he definitely didn’t want to hear it—especially not from Sungyeol’s mouth. He didn’t want to believe that the person he’s had his eyes on for years was with the leader. What made Kim Sunggyu so special? What made the leader better than him?

            As he glanced at Sungyeol’s elated face a couple of times while walking, he felt a heavy feeling in his chest. Perhaps he was feeling a little guilty for taking the elder away from the leader, but then Sungyeol smiled at him and he suddenly didn’t feel bad anymore.

After settling down in their practice room, Sungyeol asked, “So, what did you want to tell me, Myung?”

            Myungsoo didn’t answer Sungyeol’s question for a while. The two simply sat in front of each other on the wooden floor, Sungyeol drawing designs on the ground with his finger, waiting patiently for the younger’s answer. He knew that Myungsoo would say what he wanted to when he wanted to say it.

            The visual sighed, deciding not to wait it out any longer.

            “Sungyeol—“

            “Hold on, Myung,” the elder interrupted,” I feel my phone vibrating; I think our manager’s calling. I’ll just let him know that I’m with you and that we’re in the practice room, ok?”

            The younger sighed again and nodded, gesturing with his hand for Sungyeol to go ahead and take the phone call.

            The elder stood up, and Myungsoo did the same, wondering if the elder was going to leave the room to pick up the call. Fortunately for Myungsoo, Sungyeol stayed in the room and practically stayed in the same place that he was when he was sitting.

            It was, in fact, the manager, as Sungyeol slyly let him know with a silly look as he picked up the phone. Myungsoo continued to watch the elder’s face as he answered the call. He stared as Sungyeol’s face went from a normal look to a confused look and to a surprised one, one that clearly showed that he was definitely caught off guard.

            “A-Are you serious? Really? Me—Lee Sungyeol—are you sure?” he sputtered out.

            Listening to the conversation, the visual became more and more interested in what was going on. He leaned in closer to Sungyeol, mouthing ‘what did he say?’ to the elder, to which Sungyeol put his finger in front of his mouth, telling Myungsoo to be quiet for a moment—that he’d tell him right after the phone call ended.

            “T-Thank you so much. You won’t regret it!” Sungyeol chirped.

            He hung up the phone and let out a huge breath. He stared at the device in his hands, still astonished before he looked up at Myungsoo and grinned widely.

            Myungsoo couldn’t take the silence anymore and he walked forward, closer to Sungyeol.       

            “Come on, I’m dying of curiosity over here! What happened? What was the phone call about?”

            Sungyeol smiled at the younger’s actions. He felt like his heart was running at 100 miles an hour. He couldn’t believe what he was going to say.

            “Myungsoo,” he breathed out, “I’m going to be in a movie—as the main character.”

            “Sungyeol, t-that’s great news!” the younger beamed, “Yeol, I knew this was going to happen!”

            He immediately came even closer to the elder to wrap his arms around him in a gigantic hug. He was seriously so happy for the elder, and Sungyeol smelled so good that Myungsoo never wanted to let him go. He kept his arms around the elder, rocking the two back and forth on their feet. He didn’t even care that he wasn’t going to be able to confess tonight. With Sungyeol’s news, there was no way that Sunggyu was going to tell everyone that they were dating, much to Myungsoo’s distaste. Once Sunggyu finds out about this news, Myungsoo knew that the elder was going to act like a big hero and tell Sungyeol that they could tell the members their news another time—that Sungyeol’s acting news was much more important.

            And it definitely was.

            When the younger finally let go of the other, both members had calmed down from their high, and Sungyeol’s happy facial expression had suddenly changed. Myungsoo noticed immediately that the elder’s smile had changed to a sullen look on his visage and put his hand on the other’s shoulder.

            “Is something wrong?”

            Sungyeol looked down, not wanting to look at Myungsoo anymore. He started to feel guilty for accepting the offer so quickly. He didn’t even think of the consequences of him choosing to do the movie.

            “Y-yeah,” he whispered.

            Worried, the younger leaned closer to Sungyeol.

            “What’s wrong? Is it about the movie? Weren’t you just super happy about it a second ago?” 

            The taller nodded slowly.

            “Myung, it’s not about getting the part…I just remembered where our manager said that the movie was going to be filmed.”

            Myungsoo immediately sympathized with the younger. He remembered when he had to film his first drama in Japan, and he remembered hating being so far away from s. He didn’t like being so out of their daily talks, and after just a week of filming every day, moving back and forth from Japan and Korea, it already felt like the group was getting along so well without him. Despite his high self-esteem, it had hurt, listening to the members’ inside jokes and not knowing what they were talking about just because he was gone for two days.

            “How far do you have to go? Japan? China? Sungyeol, I swear if you say Busan I’m going to hit you, because you know I had to go all the way to Japan for a couple of weeks,” he teased, trying to make light of the subject.

            Sungyeol chuckled a little, but the younger could tell that it was forced.

            “Sungyeol,” he called out, trying to the get the elder’s attention.

            “Where is filming going to be held at?” he asked again.

            The elder’s face had never looked so conflicted than it did now, and Myungsoo was suddenly afraid of his answer. He no longer wanted the elder to answer, and he was so close to just covering his ears with his hands because he just knew that it couldn’t possibly be true.

            “Myung, it’s going to be held in California. They want me there for seven months.”

            Myungsoo’s jaw dropped, and the realization of what Sungyeol just said had sunk in. His face scrunched up and there was a look on his face that the elder had never seen from the younger before.

            No, no, no, no, no, no.

            All of a sudden, Myungsoo roughly pushed Sungyeol away, causing the taller to fall to the ground, and he ran out of the room.   

            “Myung? Myungsoo!” he called out, getting up and running after him.

            “Myungsoo, where are you going?!”