YAY!!!! Another update. Again, it's slow. I'm so so so so sorry. I was updating my livejournal and tumblr, so I didn't have time to actually sit and write properly Plus, ASSIGNMENTS! Law ESSAY assignments. Miss the days when objective questions determined the results. Huhuhuh. T_T  It's all essays now. About land law and .

Anyway, enjoy this you guys. You won't hate Nichkhun here. Trust me.

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The boys prepared to meet Jin Young the next morning. They were nervous as hell and Junho made enough tea to soothe everyone down, but it was still nerve-wrecking. Nichkhun had it the worst. He needed to get his bearings right. His speech needed to hit the spot right on. No one had ever attempted this before, not even their sunbae group, Shinhwa. Last minute changes were definitely a no-no in the company.

"Ok, everyone ready?" Taecyeon asked aloud as he stepped into the living room.

Nichkhun took one last shaky deep breath and stared at himself in the mirror. The suit was perfect: all visible creases ironed out by Chansung earlier, and no buttons were missing. His hair was gelled back smoothly, revealing a good-looking face with fair complexion, rounded blue eyes and proportionate eyebrows. But the face wasn't smiling back as he hoped it would be. It simply looked nervous and scared.  

Taecyeon suddenly appeared in front of him. "Hey Khun, we're waiting for you."

"Oh...sorry. I'm done.' Nichkhun tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"I know you're nervous. We're nervous too. But we can do it. We're the only group in the whole company who rejected more songs from him than we actually accepted. I'm sure he'll be fine with this, just as long as we don't screw up on the real day."

The Thai smiled brightly then, giving his large dongsaeng a hug. "Thanks Taec."

They made their way to the highest floor in the building. Jin Young's secretary was talking to Nam Young, the boys' choreographer. He was quite pleased to see them. "It's been a while, boys." 

"Hyung! When did you come back from America?" Chansung asked, surprised to see him.

"Yesterday, actually. But I had a meeting with SM's director, so I couldn't see you guys. How was practice so far?"

"Great." Taecyeon said. "We might need to make a few minor changes to the last song, and we need your help to rearrange us. I'll let you in on the whole plan later, hyung. We have to ask for the president's permission first."

Nam Young nodded his head and asked the secretary to call Jin Young out. The president was surprised to see them standing outside their office, all fully dressed in suits and ties. "What's going on?" He asked, somehow sensing danger. He numbly glanced at Nam Young and the choreographer shrugged. 

"Hyung...we need to ask you something." Minjun spoke first, breaking the momentary silence. 

"In my office now." Jin Young ordered, before disappearing back into his office. All five boys followed him.

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"Screw and be screwed. That's all I can say. But I am not happy about this." Jin Young uttered, his eyebrows creasing into mild annoyance. But otherwise, he wasn't as angry as they thought he would be. Nichkhun managed to explain almost everything, and within thirty minutes, they saw the president's face gradually relaxing into his usual judgmental expression.

"You know we're good at keeping our professionalism." Minjun said, keeping a straight and serious face. "We won't screw up."

"I'm just letting you guys know. If things get messy, you're not the one answering to the stakeholders."

"We answer to the fans." Taecyeon chipped in. 

"The fans don't hire the group and pay for all your expenses. Anyway, this meeting is dismissed for now. I have an appointment in ten minutes." He told them to leave, which they willingly obliged with much relief, but not before he left one last reminder. "And DON'T mess up." 

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That night, while the boys were having dinner, Nichkhun's phone suddenly rang. He whipped it out and checked the caller. "Woo..." he muttered, instantly catching everyone's attention.

"He's calling you?" Taecyeon asked, a little amused.

"Yeah...oh my god, should I answer? What should I say?" Nichkhun felt a blush rushing up to his cheeks. He was extremely happy, but at the same time, he was nervous. What if he said something stupid and Wooyoung ended up hating him forever?

"Dude, just answer the call." Minjun said, forking another chicken onto his plate.

Nichkhun did just that and greeted, "Yeoboseyo?" with a big smile on his face.

"Hyung...."

It felt like the first day again. Whenever the Thai's voice greeted him from the other end, Wooyoung would always feel a weird loop in his stomach, and his heart would beat twice as fast. Babump babump babump babump....

He promised himself it wouldn't happen, but it seemed like that promise was shortlifted. Right now he was trying to keep a straight expression while his sister watched him closely.

"Hey Woo, what's up?" Nichkhun pursed his lips and curled his toes. Oh god, it felt so good talking to Woo, and Taec wasn't there to troll him. The big guy was now smirking at him over the mountain of chicken in the middle of their dining table. Nichkhun tried to ignore Taec's distracting eyebrows, which was wiggling some weird signals to him.

Wooyoung glanced at Junhwa and cleared his throat. She was edging closer to him every second, as if he didn't notice that. How obvious! And she looked suspicious. "Nothing. Just calling to say hi. How is everyone?"

"They're good." Nichkhun replied, a large goofy smile plastered on his face. "Are you calling just to check on them? I can put it on loudspeaker."

"Aniyo! You don't have to. I need to go for dinner soon. Just send my regards to them for me. So....uh....did you have dinner yet?" He wondered if Nichkhun had heard anything he said before he left. But the Thai didn't sound any different. Maybe he was really asleep.

"Yeah, we just finished dinner actually. Minjun-hyung bought lots of chicken for us. There's some leftovers, but I don't think we can keep it in the fridge too long." He swatted away the mindless zombies hanging around him, trying to get their message across to Woo. Taec was whispering dirty things into his ear, and Chansung was giggling like a baboon behind him. Minjun was grinning ear-to-ear, and Junho looked like he was up to something.

"Too bad then." Wooyoung said, honestly wishing he was with them right now. He missed having chicken for dinner. Just chicken. "I think my mom's making fish and kimchi tonight." He felt a light slap on his shoulder and quickly turned to face his sister. She was frowning at him, clearly not happy with the direction of this conversation. "Anyway, I need to tell you something. Are the others listening in right now?"

Nichkhun felt his heart thumping extra fast. He rushed to his bedroom and abruptly slammed the door against the zombie faces poking outside. Finally. Peace and quiet. "They're not now."

He heard a sound like a door getting slammed on the other end of the line and thought Wooyoung was also shutting his door against any likely intruders. Was he about to say something important? Nichkhun suddenly felt very nervous.

"Sorry." Wooyoung said. "My sister was poking around and I didn't want her to hear this."

"It's been a while since we talked...just the two of us, huh?" The Thai said, and there was a momentary silence on the other end. "Anyway, what do you need to tell me?"

Wooyoung took a deep breath and mustered all the courage he could find in him. Then very slowly, he muttered, "Khunnie...were you asleep yesterday morning?"

Nichkhun felt terribly shy then. Should he lie? Or just tell the truth? Would it change things? "No, I wasn't. Not completely. I was sort of drifting between two worlds. Why do you ask?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

The Thai took a deep breath and decided it was best not to lie. "Yes, Youngie.I heard everything."

Wooyoung's heart skipped a beat. Air wasn't going in properly, and his head felt dizzy. OH MY GOD, he KNEW! "I-I...see..."

"Hey....are you okay? Look, I'm sorry I lied and pretended to sleep. But honestly, I didn't know what to do then. I guess I wasn't sure because I had always been straight all my life, and to find out about this...well, it was shocking. I'm still a little shocked actually. But please don't take it the wrong way. I won't hate you for what you said. I'm actually glad you told me."

Fingers were crossed behind his back. If Nichkhun would just give him an answer right then and there, he would take the next flight and return to Seoul straightaway. He had been waiting such a long time for this. But if the Thai said nothing, then the six days will remain. Hopefully by then, Wooyoung would be able to get over his love towards the Thai.

"I'm sorry, Woo...I----"

Wooyoung didn't bother to wait. The instant he heard those words, his heart took a different loop and plunged straight down to his stomach. The call was ended abruptly, and Wooyoung fell on his knees, weeping silently in an empty room once more.

Back in Seoul, Nichkhun was genuinely shocked to find the call cut off before he could even complete his sentence. Taec barged in just in time to see him falling back against his mattress lifelessly. "What happened here?" He asked in English.

"He ended the call on me." Nichkhun said numbly, looking up at the ceiling while he tried to figure out what went wrong. Was it something he did? Or said?

"What did you say to him?" The big guy asked, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry because I had been so stupid for ignoring him all these years. I was about to tell him I love him. And he just cut the call..."

Taec went over to his best friend and gave Nichkhun's tummy a gentle rub. "Chill dude....I'll talk to him for you."

"No Taec....I think....I think we really need to make this concert plan work. It's the only hope I have left to win him back."

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A/N: Sorry for any typos or grammatical errors. I rushed this chapter.