Miserable

Jongin's POV

Idol Star Athletics Championships 2013

Totally regretting it now.

Why?

Why did I do that?

I rummaged my dirty blond hair and let out a huge sigh. Why on earth did I volunteer to take Yeol's place? Why oh why? I thought I was doing the brotherly thing for a fellow member, helping out a brother in need. I thought it was the right thing to do.

Now?

Not so much.

Yeol had injured his back.

And that injury was completely his own fault. So why was I suffering the consequences? Yeol, well, anyone knows that he was not exactly the best dancer. He couldn't dance, there, I've said it. Which was most of the difficult dance move were planted right in his part of the song. Take 'Growl' for an example. The whole twisting our bodies off the ground part was placed strategically in his part. All so he didn't need to dance that part. In 'Wolf', he rapped through the part where we had to get on the ground and duck-walk. Bottom line was, he can't dance. When we had to practice for the Chinese version of 'Growl', we couldn't put it off anymore. He just had no choice but to dance that move as well since he was no longer the one rapping in that part. And guess who got hurt?

Yup.

Yeol.

He didn't flip his body fast enough so that his hands could brave for his descent and ended up landing on his back. The spund that followed his crash was beyond scary. Like a bone-cracking, deafening crunch. Nothing was broken, thank goodness. But the doctor advised him to take it easy for the next couple of days. And the Idol Championship had to be in those couple of days. So here I was, under the hot burning sun, having volunteered to help a brother in need. As if my skin wasn't dark enough, I could literally feel the tinge of the sun boring down on me. But that was not the worst part.

No.

There was something much MUCH worse about me being here.

Kyungie was NOT here.

I wasn't even the lineup to attend this event! It was Kris, Tao, Luhan, Sehun, Suho, Xiumin and YEOL! I mean, last year's idol championship was a total Baekyeol fest! I had the entire dorm to just Kyungie and me so likewise, I was supposed to have an off day with Kyungie! Why on earth did I volunteer was still unknown to me. And as if volunteering and giving up my day with Kyungie wasn't enough, Yeol just had to give me one more burden.

"Don't tell Baek."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Glancing over to Baek now, what I saw was a happy kid. Well, a happy pregnant kid. What he was even doing at the gameswith a baby in his belly was even more baffling. Kyungie should have taken his place. Then I probably wouldn’t be so miserable. This was all wrong. But anyways, it was evident that Baek hadn't a clue that Yeol was nursing an injured back in the dorms at this very moment. He didn't even seem to questioning the reason behind the change in lineup. It kind of reminded me of the fight that I had with Kyungie over a similar problem of me not relying on him. I didn't think Baek would be too happy to find out later on about Yeol's back injury. But who was I to dictate? Beside I had enough on my plate being here ALONE without my dearest Kyungie.

Kyungie.

I missed him like crazy. I think I was starting to feel a little lonely and depressed. Not that I didn't enjoy the company of the other members. I just wasn't in the mood to do anything but sulk and curse at Yeol. I knew what Kyungie would doing right now. Probably tending to the twins. I missed the twins too... WHAT WAS I DOING HERE?!

Sitting alone in the middle of a freaking empty field.

That was what I was doing.

Thinking about Kyungie and playing scissors paper stone with my own hand. Yes. Without Kyungie. Without my boys. To make matters worse, manager hyung confiscated my phone, knowing full well that I would spend the entire filming on the phone with Kyungie. Sometimes I sat alone. Sometimes I sat with the members. But alone, I was. I tried to mingle around but eventually I gave up and lay down on the warm grass. Closing my eyes, I wished for sleep so that time would fly right past me. But this just had to be the worst day of my life. The very moment I felt myself drifting off into blissful slumber, I felt a tap on my shoulder and a light tug on my jacket. "Jongin, you're up for archery." Suho hyung's voice dragged me out of my almost slumber as Luhan hyung pulled me up. Grabbing my bow and archer, I squinted my eyes open and shuddered at the invasive bright sunlight. Sighing, I slowly made my way to the archer section. Sleep was still dragging my eyelids down but I wasn't here to win. Nah, that's Kris job. He had been practicing. I had not. Like I said, I was here just to fill up the numbers and replace Yeol. As I lifted the bow, I shot the arrow, completely stress-free and at ease. And then I was back to being completely alone.

I was miserable.

Completely miserable.

But on the way back to the field, I saw Baek looking at his phone and talking to someone. How come he got to bring his phone in?! That wasn't fair!

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Baekhyun's POV

Looking at the umbrella in my hands, my mind could only think about the time when Yeol went out of his way to shelter me from the rain during our Wolf promotion days. It was a simple gesture but one that meant so much to me. Funny how we had evolved as a couple. In the past I would hardly have minded having a schedule without him. Being in the Korean music industry, it was inevitable that we had to promote separately. But today, something felt off. Maybe because it was the idol championships, maybe our relationship had changed I don't know. But what I did know was that I missed having Yeol here with me, especially when last year's championship marked a couple of our most significant moments.

The sun was moving higher up in the sky so I started to open up the umbrella for some shade. I might have pushed the mechanism a little too hard, flipping open the umbrella until the concave section was facing the sky. Looking around to check who had just witnessed me do something incredibly dumb, I locked eyes with Xiumin hyung. I couldn't help but laugh to hide my embarrassment. As I slowly corrected the umbrella, a sigh escaped my lips, betraying my true feelings. I was just thinking about how Yeol had sheltered me once. Maybe I was more sheltered than I thought. Maybe I did rely on Yeol a lot more than I thought. Sitting under the huge umbrella, I stared down at the umbrella handle.

I wasn’t sad or anything, just feeling a little empty.

Just then I felt some vibrating in my pocket. My phone! We weren't supposed to bring our phones in according to manager hyung's orders but I had special privileges because I was pregnant. You know, in case of an emergency, I had my phone with me. Sneaking away from the other members, I glanced at the blinking screen. Yeol. Video call. How did he know that I was just thinking of him? My heart swelled with anticipation and my hands fumbled with the touch screen because of my eagerness. When his face appeared on my screen, I could just burst from happiness. I hadn't realized that I missed him that much.

"Yeol?"

"Hi there, sweetheart. How is it there? Are you drinking enough water? Stay out of the sun, we can't have you dehydrated. Are you under the shade?"

"Fine. Yes. Yes." Smiling, I nodded enthusiastically. "I wish you were here though." I pouted slightly. "Why didn't you come?"

"I had to prepare for another recording!" The answer came too quick and sounded somewhat rehearsed but I didn't put much thought to it. "Enough about me. Are you having fun?"

Before I could answer, a dark face crept up beside me and shouted, "Hi Yeol! Ahem ahem. I would like to speak to my Kyungie." I stared at him bewildered for intruding in my call but Yeol acted even more suspiciously! He laughed nervously before agreeing and calling Kyungsoo. Why was he letting Jongin just barge in into our conversation?! But I knew Jongin didn't have his phone. Plus anyone could easily tell that he was totally miserable without Kyungsoo. So the four of us proceeded to have a double couple video call, or it was more like Kyungsoo and Jongin exchanging sickeningly sweet words while Yeol and I tried hard not to puke. I mean, how many times did they have to say that they missed each other?

But after the call ended, something nagged at the back of my mind.

Yeol didn’t have any other special schedule in the near future.

What was he preparing for?

Why didn’t he come today?

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Jongin's POV

Closing ceremony of ISAC 2013

How long was this going to take?

I just wanted to get home to Kyungie. Couldn’t they speed things up a little? My mind was obviously not on whatever the speaker was saying at the moment, then, all of the sudden, a loud boom resounded near me and a gust of smoke and confetti flew out from a machine a couple of feet away from me. I literally jumped. What the hell? As if my day could get any worse. I aimed an air kick at that stupid machine, cursing it under my breath for giving me such a start. Seriously, my patience with this whole event was already running so thin. I was in such a foul mood that I hardly gave much attention to the fans.

Welcome to my sad sad life.

Finally.

It was over.

And guess what was waiting for me backstage!

Kyungie’s…..

Sunny10 can!

My mood completely changed a drastic 180 degrees. Pathetic, I know, to be happy over that, but I literally screamed and ran to grab his can first before other members could. I must be seriously deprived of Kyungie at the moment to be so happy over a can drink.

Getting out of the stadium was another test of my patience. There was a massive jam with all the idols trying to get out and all the fans trying to follow. I couldn’t even sit still in my seat, wanting so badly to just jump off the van and run all the way back to the dorm. Of course, that wasn’t feasible but I was extremely tempted to as the van crawled at a snail’s pace. While I bounced impatiently in my seat, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Whipping around, I came face to face with Baek who was frowning slightly.

“Jongin? Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. He was probably curious about something relating to his pregnancy.

“Why did you come today? You are replacing Yeollie, right? Why did you?” His puppy eyeys stared straight at me and I felt my walls of defense falling. He had the right to know. He should know. I mean, if Kyungie had hurt his bad, I would want him to tell me, I would want to know.

But I didn’t have the right to tell him. If I hurt my back, would I tell Kyungie? Probably, but I could understand where Yeol was coming from. Sighs, how on earth did I get into this?

“Have you asked him?”

“He said he had something to prepare. But I’m not sure he was telling me the truth.”

“Maybe you should talk to him about it.”

“You know something, don’t you?”

“Well, I’m not in the position to tell you anything.”

To which, he just nodded and continued to stare out the window.

Sighs.

I smell trouble brewing in the future.

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Kyungsoo's POV

That night Jongin came back from the Idol Championships, he complained about how lonely he felt there without me. I couldn’t say that I was as miserable as he was when I had the twins with me at home but I was pretty miserable myself without him. After he showered (or should I say, after we showered together), we went to look up some fan-taken pictures of him during the championships, I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked so sulky and miserable and lonely that it was hilarious. He didn’t find it the least amusing, of course.

“Why didn’t you play with the other members? You look like such a loner, Jongin ah!”

“I did a couple of times. But I just wasn’t in the mood. I was supposed to enjoy a nice lovely day with you and instead I had to spend it without you in the hot blistering heat.”

“Aw, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Trust me, it was.”

For the next two recordings in Show Champion and M!Countdown, Jongin stuck really close to me. He was being extremely clingy, not that I minded. On the contrary, I loved it. One day was way too long to be away from him for me as well. Now, like before, his hand was ALWAYS on me, either on my shoulder or holding my hand. Even when I lifted the mic to my mouth to say a few words, his hand never left mine. His touch was comforting and familiar, something that I could no longer live without.

But he wasn’t the only clingy one.

Baek had taken to clinging on to me as well. When we were crowned #1 on Show Champion, Baek was the only one standing between me and Jongin. Bending forward and peering to the other end of the stage at a particular tall giant, his body pressed close to mine although it was obvious where his mind was. Then he straigtened and clasped his hands on the bend of my arm. Even then, his eyes automatically returned back to that special someone.

“Do you know why Yeol didn’t go for the idol championships yesterday?” he whispered in my ears.

I did.

And I told him.

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A/N: I guess I have some explaining to do >< So.... the past week was my first week at work! Some of you may know that I recently graduated from university and so I had just embarked on my career! I have had many temporary summer jobs in the past but this was my first ever job as a permanent staff! So that is very nerve-wrecking >< The past week had been training and the amount of information they are feeding me is just insane! I look like this 99% of the time...

So I won't be able to update as often as I used to. Even my weekends aren't free anymore :( I have to study to get my accreditations to be a chartered accountant (One would think that a university degree would be sufficient but no...) I still write when i communte to work but It takes longer to complete a chapter so ya... don't kill me when I don't update hahaha... Love you guys! ^^

I'll reply comments when I can find the time...

but for now, peektures~~

BAEKYEOL

Poor Yeollie looked so tired...