“Hey, Hoya, who do you like the most in Infinite?” Woohyun asked as he stood in front of an ice cream stand impatiently. “It’s Dongwoo, right? You’re always with him.”

They, meaning Woohyun, Hoya, Sungjong and Sungyeol, were hanging out in the city, having fun however they wanted. Sungjong had lost in a rock-paper-scissors game, so he had to buy ice cream for everyone. While he was busy counting his money, the three remaining boys were talking amongst themselves.

“Not really,” Hoya shook his head slightly. “We’re both dancers and rappers, so it’s only natural for us to spend a lot of time together. But my favorite member in Infinite is Sungjong.”

Woohyun and Sungyeol looked at the youngest member of the band and both shrugged their shoulders.

“What’s so good about him?” Sungyeol snickered. “Though, I don’t mind being treated with ice cream.”

Woohyun let out a muffled laugh and hit Sungyeol’s shoulder playfully, forcing the boy to laugh with him. Hoya looked at them like they were from some other planet.

He didn’t think of Sungjong like that. To him, Sungjong was a really good friend. He could always talk to him during hardships. And Sungjong always made him smile when he wasn’t in the right mood. He was thankful to the younger boy. But those fools couldn’t understand his feelings.

But he couldn’t say that Dongwoo meant nothing to him. Dongwoo was just as precious as Sungjong, but he couldn’t say it to them, right? It wouldn’t take a minute for Sungyeol or Woohyun to think that he actually ‘loves’ the other rapper, when he actually doesn’t. Dongwoo is his best friend. And Hoya was pretty sure he was straight.

“Here’s the ice cream,” Sungjong said as he handed out everyone’s ice cream and lowered his head. “I’m so short on money.”

Sungyeol blinked when he realized that their maknae didn’t have an ice cream cone in his hands. He then looked at Woohyun, but the male just shrugged his shoulders, mouthing out ‘no money’.

Hoya quickly took out his wallet and was about to step towards the ice cream stand, but Sungyeol did it faster than him. The rapper took a step back and watched the other male buy ice cream for their youngest boy. He could barely believe his eyes. Just when he thought they didn’t like Sungjong…

“There you go,” Sungyeol said as he turned around and gave Sungjong his ice cream. “You could have just said that you didn’t have that much money. Then we wouldn’t force you to buy us things, Jonggie.”

“I would,” Woohyun laughed, but stopped when he received a nudge from Hoya.

Sungjong took the ice cream and thanked Sungyeol with a pretty smile. Sungyeol almost blushed at the youngest boy’s thankful expression. He was more used to teasing him than making him happy.

They started eating their ice cream without saying anything else and when they were almost done with it, Sungjong raised his finger midair.

“Hey, where’s Myungsoo? I thought he was going to come with us,” he asked, biting onto his lower lip in thought.

“Manager told him to stay. He said he had to talk to him about something. You know, he’s the band’s visual, he probably was doing something wrong,” Woohyun explained with full mouth of ice cream.

Sungjong nodded his head and his melting ice cream. He didn’t notice how his gaze fell on Sungyeol, but the other boy was looking straight at him and his cheeks were dyed in a light shade of pink. Maknae almost choked on his ice cream and Woohyun laughed at him.

“Don’t rush to eat, geez,” Hoya snickered and patted the younger boy’s shoulder.

When Sungjong raised his head again, Sungyeol’s eyes were already fixed on something else. He thought it was only his imagination. The boy only bought him ice cream, what would he blush about? That’s nonsense. The boy decided to just shrug it off.

“Okay, where should we go next?” Woohyun asked once he was finished with his food.

He looked at everyone, questioning their gazes, but nobody replied to his question. He then raised his eyebrows, demanding for an answer and Sungyeol fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Let’s go home.”

The boys looked at him like he was out of his mind.

“Why?” Hoya asked, surprised by his decision to go home. “What’s there for us?”

“I just want to go home and that’s all,” Sungyeol waved his hand in front of his face and laughed awkwardly.

“Then go alone,” Woohyun threw him a weird look and turned around. “C’mon, guys, let’s go somewhere else.”

Sungjong, who was quietly observing the scene, decided to in the conversation.

“I suggest we leave Woohyun alone here and go home together.”

In instant, Hoya and Sungyeol raised their hands in approval and Woohyun’s jaw almost reached the ground. Did they really plan to leave him all alone?

“Don’t dare to!” he shouted, grabbing Hoya’s shoulders and shaking him. “That’s not nice!”

The rapper only shrugged off Woohyun’s hands and stepped forward like Woohyun wasn’t even there with them.

“Let’s go, guys.”

Sungjong and Sungyeol instantly followed him with huge smiles plastered onto their faces. Hoya had one, too. And Woohyun felt like he had just been betrayed by his own friends.

He raised a finger warningly and shook it to the boys’ backs.

“FINE! GO. I’ll remember this!” Woohyun shouted angrily and turned away from them, walking to the opposite direction, which led deeper into the city. He didn’t want to come back just yet. Fresh air relaxed his mind, going back to practice was just insane.

-          -

Myungsoo walked into the practice room where their manager was already waiting for him. He was told to come here, but he didn’t know the reason yet, so he was really anxious. What if he had done something wrong? Infinite’s visual had to be perfect, Myungsoo couldn’t afford to break that picture.

“Oh, you’re here,” the manager nodded and motioned for him to sit on one of the chairs in the room. Myungsoo did as he was told and waited for his manager to start speaking.

“You probably know why I asked you to come here, right?”

Myungsoo shook his head lightly and moved his head to the side. “Why?”

“It’s about that dance competition. I want you to dance in it alone,” he said and Myungsoo’s blood froze in his veins. They were planning to let Dongwoo dance together with Hoya! But he couldn’t object his manager without hearing his reasons first. So he tried to stay as calm as possible.

“Why… me?”

“Main dancers are so last season, we need something new,” his manager said nonchalantly, not taking notice how Myungsoo’s expression changed from his usual poker face into something sour.

“It also could be your chance to improve your movements and all that,” he continued.

And he was about to say more, but Myungsoo interrupted him.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“You will?” the manager smiled happily and patted the boy’s shoulder. “Good! Then it’s decided. I’ll go make everything official.”

And with that he left Myungsoo alone in the practice room. The lonesome boy reclined his head and gave out a melancholic sigh.

So what if they wanted to let Dongwoo and Hoya dance? So what if he was going against them? He wanted to improve, too. And this was his perfect chance. He couldn’t let it slip from his grasp. After all, they wouldn’t hate him forever. Staying angry for a few days… He could bear with that. It was for the sake of his improvement.