For the record. I don't condone smoking. Don't do it. It's gross and it's terrible for you. Definitely not something you want to be hooked on.

A large smile grew across Taesun’s face. It was a fairly recent memory, and it still made him quite happy to think about it.

“When I performed on the street.” He answered the question a moment after reading it.

“Hyung, you did that?” Hyunsoo asked, a look of envy on his face. Taesun nodded.

“Did you do it a lot? Why did you perform?” Heechul asked, trying to get more of an explanation from Taesun. Heechul had noticed that the group really didn’t know everyone all that well, and he thought it would be a good idea for them to get closer. When he was a trainee, friends were a blessing. Being a trainee can be tough, and friends really ease the suffering. Coincidentally enough, the game that Taemin had suggested would be perfect for getting the trainees more comfortable with each other.

Taesun adjusted the cap on his head before answering.

“I used to go and watch street performers all the time and I was really envious. They helped me realize that I wanted to do that as well…perform, that is. So before I auditioned I went out and did what they did.” He nodded, still smiling at the memory “It was really amazing. It was really fun”

“Wa. That’s so cool. Right Kymin?” Yeji urged, nudging the girl next to her. Kymin only nodded and gave Taesun a thumbs up.

“That is really cool Taesun.” Taemin added “I wanna hear the next question.”

Taesun tossed the ball to Hyeru, who caught it on a bounce.

“What is your biggest fear?”

Hyeru looked up at the group and blinked, a small ‘ah’ slipping past her lips. She really didn’t want to answer this question. She wasn’t one for sharing things like this.

“Ooh! I don’t think she is going to answer~.” Taemin grinned “Are you going to sing?”

Hyeru opened but shut it again, she really didn’t want to answer. She sighed and stood, rejecting the question.

“What do you want me to sing?” She asked, looking around the group. A few answers came up at once, naming a few songs.

“Sing the thing you love singing the most.” Heechul said, easily overruling all of the other suggestions.

Hyeru nodded and began singing, her voice was clear and she sang with skill. Taemin and Heechul were swaying to the unaccompanied song, and joined in the clapping when she was done.

“That was really good Hyeru-ssi” Yeji stated when she sat back down. Hyeru responded to her with a smile and a ‘thank you’.

“I’m going to throw it now.” Hyeru looked around the faces and threw the ball in Taemin and Heechul’s direction. Both boys reached out for the ball, but Heechul’s long arms gave him the advantage. He cheered a bit before looking down at the ball, reading the question aloud.

“Why would you choose to become a trainee when – “Heechul paused, reading the rest of the question to himself. He looked up, a strange expression on his face.

“Read it.” Kymin demanded, excited.

Heechul moved his eyes in the direction of Chan, who looked back at him curious. Taemin plucked the ball from Heechul’s hands.

“I’ll read it then.” He searched for the question and read it out loud. “Why would you choose to be a trainee when you have a son?” Taemin’s volume decreased as he read the question. He also looked up, his expression worried.

The group went silent. At first everyone looked at each other to try and figure out who wrote the question, but eventually their eyes landed on Chan. Chan closed his eyes and sighed. The question was clearly directed at him and everyone knew it. He even had an idea of who wrote it. Taesun had been eyeing and avoiding Joon and Chan since they met. Chan opened his eyes to find Yeji standing.

“Who wrote that? It’s really rude you know.” She had her hands on her hips and she looked quite angry. Chan didn’t say anything at first, he really didn’t want to get into this kind of conversation. He wanted to take Joon and completely avoid the, now, very tense atmosphere, but his blood began boiling. He hated this the most.

Kymin looked down at the ground, she didn’t like confrontation as it made her incredibly uncomfortable. She opted to just stay quiet and hope this situation would pass slowly.

Taemin reached up to touch his sisters arm.

“Yeji…don’t.” He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, but he didn’t want to see a fight break out.

“No.” Yeji pulled her arm away from Taemin and looked around at everyone “Seriously. Who asked this? Just own up to it.”

Taesun raised his hand.

“I wrote it.” He admitted “It wasn’t supposed to be rude, I really want to know. It just seems…..strange?”

Chan eyed Taesun. He was angry, but he wasn’t about to let it show. His best move at this point was to just leave. Chan pushed himself into a standing position. After a second of looking at Taesun he faced Heechul and Taemin.

Taking a deep breath Chan sang a few lines of a song that had been stuck in his head. He was actually quite a good singer, he just didn’t enjoy it that much. Anyway, those were the rules right? If you didn’t want to answer the question, you had to sing. That what he did.

When he finished singing he bowed to the group.

“It’s late. My son should be in bed right now. I’ll leave first.”

Chan crossed the floor, gathering Joon up in his arms and left.

The group stayed silent after Chan’s departure, some looked at the ground, others looked at Taesun. His eyes were latched on to Yeji who was still standing up and still looked quite angry. He didn’t want anything like this to happen. He really didn’t like arguments at all.

“I’m sorry.” Taesun apologized.

“I just….” He started to explain, but was stopped by Yeji’s disapproving look. “I’m sorry.” He repeated.

The room fell into silence again. Hyunsoo was trying to devise a way to leave with Taesun, but felt too uncomfortable to get up from his spot. Heechul cleared his throat.

“It’s late guys. It was really fun hanging out with you all, but I really should be leaving.” He stood up and brushed off his pants, Taemin following suit.

“I have a schedule in the morning. Bye Yeji.”

Yeji didn’t even blink, her gaze was still focused strongly on Taesun. Taemin sighed and followed Heechul out the door, he would talk to Yeji later anyway. Hyeru was next to stand and make an excuse to leave.

Yeji, Taesun, Hyunsoo, and Kymin were the last ones left in the room. Kymin stood, she couldn’t handle the tension anymore. It would be much easier to just take Yeji away from Taesun at least for tonight.

“Unnie. We should go.” Kymin wrapped her fingers around Yeji’s arm.

Yeji made a face but agreed to leave with her roommate. Now only Hyunsoo and Taesun were left sitting in the middle of the dance studio.

“Hyung…” Hyunsoo began.

“I already said I’m sorry.” Taesun cut him off standing. Hyunsoo immediately fell quiet.

“I already said that I didn’t mean it to be rude. I just wanted to know. Unless that girl is the kids mother, which she isn’t since I don’t see any resemblance whatsoever, he’s doing this by himself. He must be crazy!” Taesun began to rant.

“How could someone go through so much trouble? Why not just get a regular job? I just don’t get it. Isn’t it hard?”

Hyunsoo stood and made a face.

“I understand, hyung. It just…didn’t sound good.” Hyunsoo put a hand on Taesun’s shoulder. He shrugged off the hand almost as fast as it touched him.

“I’m going.” Taesun marched straight out of the dance room, leaving Hyunsoo to himself.

He walked through the hallways and straight out the company doors. It was late, the sky was nearly black and the streetlights were on. Taesun only paused a moment to look up at the sky, sighing. He turned and walked down the street, slipping his hands into his jean pockets.

He really hadn’t meant it to be mean. He really didn’t even have any negative thoughts either. He just didn’t understand why. He turned into the first convenience store he saw and bought a pack of cigarettes. It was rare that he smoked, but something urged him to buy that pack. He kept walking after leaving the store, lighting a cigarette with a match he had gotten when he bought the pack.

After walking for a bit Taesun simply sat. He moved himself to the wall of the building next to him and leaned his head back on the smooth sheet metal that made up the outside. He sighed again, a puff of smoke passing through his lips.

He actually looked up to Chan more after discovering he had a son. To try and be a single father as well as a trainee at the same time would have to take a lot of courage… and passion. Taesun couldn’t even imagine what it would be like, and even felt bad that Chan would be suffering so much. He had grown up in a moderately wealthy family, so while he had his own struggles he didn’t think it compared to what Chan must experience.

“You smoke now too?” A feminine voice interrupted his thoughts.

Again.

Don't smoke. Ha. I feel like it might be bad for me to be even mentioning cigarettes in this story.

Regardless. There might be a few updates today. I was originally just going to put all of this is one chapter but..... it would've been long.

Like really long (I usually post my chapters up when they reach about 1583 words.... roughly 4 pages.) so..... expect another update.

I'm trying to not have things move too quickly, but at the same time there are a lot of scenes that I want to write that can't happen for a while soooo... yeah. Ha