A/N: I just thought I would give everyone a character check-up, since several of the minor OCs have not made an appearance for a very long time. The girl named Dahee is one of the OC members of the training girl group. She supposedly dubs for Woolim’s Yoo Jia in terms of image, although in this story, Dahee is actually a 1991-er, older than Jia.

I have a lot more I wanna say, but I'll wait until the end of the chapter, so you all can at least finally have an update in like, a month 8-)

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Sungjong felt extremely proud of himself for having picked out many of Hyera’s favorite snacks. For just one moment, he dared to doubt if Hyera had told him that the snacks he brought were her favorite just to please him, but he quickly pushed that thought away from his mind, deciding to maintain his pride while he still could.

"I haven't had any kind of date in such a long time," Hyera chatted munching on a cookie, sitting with her legs crossed across from Sungjong in the spacious practice room.

"You mean you used to go on dates a lot?!" Sungjong exclaimed, sipping from a can of soda.

"What? No! Not a lot, but occasionally. I'm sure you've met with a few girls before you became a trainee," replied Hyera.

Sungjong felt his ears heating up, as he said, "no... I've never had any serious dates, just group outings with friends who were girls. You recall how I mistook my crush on you like some kind of haunting. I clearly have zero experience with dating, with girls."

Hyera did not respond immediately, but munched on a few cookies, rolling around in her head the time it had taken for Sungjong to become comfortable with her. For them to become friends, and then, this. Sungjong kept insisting that he had acted the way he had at their first encounter, because he had liked her since then. Hyera asked herself if she had liked him too. The real answer was no. she would never have been there, sitting across from Sungjong at that moment, if he hadn't asked her for help, as he'd called it back then. But after she had said yes to him, things seemed to have changed. And the quickening of her heartbeat when Sungjong was near her, that was real, now.

"That was a risky way to start off, how you basically told me you couldn't stand me," said Hyera finally, a hint of laughter in her voice, "I wouldn't recommend using that same method again."

Sungjong laughed out loud at the comment, although how she had casually mentioned the possibility of an end in their own relationship caught in his stomach momentarily.

"Only you, Hyera-yah," mumbled Sungjong, smiling affectionately.

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean??" Hyera refuted. A small blush crept up in her cheekbones, but she ignored it, trying to make it seem as if she was much occupied in picking out which snack to munch on next. She really didn’t know what Sungjong meant, but she liked for it to mean that Sungjong would never like a girl like Hyera again. It was a selfish desire Hyera wanted to keep deep in her mind.

“So, this morning…” Sungjong began, pulling out his phone from his pocket, “I looked up on the Internet what kind of conversations to have in a first date…”

“You what!?” Hyera blurted, her eyes widening and regarding Sungjong with adoring disbelief.

She then began to laugh, a nice and clear laugh which filled the practice room, but not too loudly, just pleasant enough for the ears. Sungjong stopped pulling up the list he had found online just for a moment, to enjoy that laugh, and to glance at Hyera and her tickled expression.

“Well then? What did you find?” inquired Hyera, the laughter fading but still lingering in her words.

Sungjong’s face was reddening, from an overabundance of heat rushing to his head. He hadn’t thought for one second when he had searched through his Internet on his phone that morning, that he was being comical in any way. In one aspect, he liked that he was making Hyera laugh already. However, in another aspect, he was embarrassed with his inexperience, with his unnatural preparation of online conversation topics he had stored on his phone. Still, he had liked what he found through the Internet. And he really wanted to know those things about Hyera. So he would give it a shot. “Okay, first question on the list. What blood type are you?” Sungjong asked.

With a goofy, endearing curve to her lips, Hyera answered, “Type O.”

“Really? You’re type O? I’m type A! But Type O people and Type A people normally don’t get along well with each other!” Sungjong exclaimed.

Hyera ensued with another fit of laughter.  “Hahaha, oh no! That means we’re not compatible Sungjong-ah!” she remarked.

“No, that’s just blood types! That doesn’t even matter that much anyway,” said Sungjong, waving his hand, “Well we’re both Roosters in the Zodiac, and according to sources, two roosters make a fairly good match.”

“Oh, now we’re looking at Zodiacs, huh?” added Hyera. She sipped her drink, the laughter never leaving her smiling lips now. She was clearly enjoying Sungjong’s clumsy questioning montage.

“Yes. Roosters, people who are born in the year 1993. Roosters tend to be bossy in a relationship, and are advised to partner with people who are tough-skinned, or those who are capable of seeing past a tough exterior into a softer interior.” Sungjong read from his phone.

Hyera nodded a few times. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m a pretty bossy girl,” she said.

“Roosters are most compatible with an Ox or Snake. Hyera-yah, according to this, you would be most compatible with Sunggyu hyung,” Sungjong teased, although more inwardly he faintly wished that there weren’t any Snakes like Sunggyu in Infinite, so that Hyera could just be most compatible with him.

Hyera placed a finger on her chin. “Wait, isn’t Sunggyu oppa a pretty bossy type too?” she asked.

Sungjong nodded heatedly, sticking his tongue out to indicate his distaste for the leader’s sometimes too bossiness. While Hyera chuckled at that, Sungjong continued, “Oh, now this makes a lot of sense. Both you and I are least compatible with a Goat or Rabbit. That means we should both stay away from Woohyun hyung, Hoya hyung, and Sungyeol hyung. They’re all Goats.”

Hyera, letting out another round of her melodic laughter, said, “Awww, but Hoya sunbae is so nice to us trainee girls, Sungjong-ah!” Sungjong wondered momentarily whether her laughing voice matched her magical singing voice. He decided he would maybe ask her to sing, later in the night.

Grinning playfully, he replied, “Alright, Hoya hyung is okay. I like him too. But stay away from Woohyun hyung and Sungyeol hyung.”

“Oh wait! Dahee unnie is a Goat too!” Hyera cried, eyes widening lightheartedly.

“Haha, I guess I’m never going to have a chance with Dahee noona then,” Sungjong concluded, grinning mischievously at Hyera.

“Yah, what did you just say!?” said Hyera, crossing her arms.

The two chuckled and snickered like children as Hyera playfully forced Sungjong to agree, that he and Dahee were not very compatible. They also both joking vowed to keep their distance from the two unlikeable Goat members of Infinite, Woohyun and Sungyeol. It was agreed, though, that Hyera and Dahee had gotten along fine before they knew about their incompatibility, which made the newly acquired information void.

“So, Lee Sungjong, now that you’ve finished with the researched conversation starters from the Internet, what are we going to talk about now?” Hyera asked, leaning back on her two hands in her cross-legged position.

“Huh? I haven’t finished with my list from the Internet yet! It’s a pretty long list,” Sungjong replied, showing Hyera his phone screen filled with words.

“Oh! Well then maybe it should be my turn to ask some questions,” said Hyera, putting out her right hand, asking Sungjong to give her his phone.

“Uhhh, I don’t know about this!” Sungjong exclaimed, but he handed Hyera the phone. He reached down and grabbed some snacks to eat while Hyera read through the list Sungjong made.

With a malicious grin on her face, Hyera finally raised her head from the phone screen, her gaze landing directly on Sungjong, her brown eyes sparkling under the dim light. “Lee Sungjong, what is your favorite color?” She asked.

“Yellow,” Sungjong answered truthfully, regarding Hyera carefully. He couldn’t remember what number the favorite color had been in his list. He felt like Hyera had skipped a few and moved on to the topics she liked.

“Oh really? I like yellow too,” Hyera remarked, “What about your favorite female idol group?”

“What? That’s not on the list!”

“It is now,” said Hyera, an air of triumph clearly visible in her curved lips, the deep brown in her pupils. She tilted her head slightly, demanding an answer from Sungjong.

Sungjong let out a sigh, then took a sip of his drink. He didn’t know what kind of answer Hyera was expecting to hear. He knew if he said anything along the lines of Woolim’s girl group trainees, he would immediately be accused of lying. He wondered if he should be boisterous and say that he liked all girl groups, but that didn’t seem too great an idea either. Finally, Sungjong just stuttered, “Ss… SNSD.”

“Really?” said Hyera, raising one of her eyebrows. She now straightened her legs out in front of her, leaning back more on her hands. Sungjong couldn’t read from her expression what she thought about his answer.

“I see,” she said, when she stopped regarding Sungjong so mysteriously and spoke again.

“You know Hyera-yah, I should get to ask you the same thing too…” Sungjong mumbled, unsure whether he was screwing up or not.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right,” Hyera answered simply, having turned her attention back to Sungjong’s phone again.

Sungjong waited for Hyera to speak again, chewing on some chips quietly. After a few minutes, Hyera said, “I U-Kiss, if you really wanted to know.” Sungjong was slightly taken back that Hyera had given him an answer. And he was glad. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any jealousy, just relief, that she had told him honestly. He hoped his own answer had had a similar effect on Hyera.

“Um, thanks for letting me know. I like the U-Kiss sunbaenims too, although probably not like you,” he remarked.

Hyera chuckled simply. “Well, that wasn’t as fun of a question as I thought it’d be. Let’s go back to your list. What is your favorite song by Infinite? Haha, was that a question you made up yourself?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sungjong replied, having forgotten that he had recorded some of his own personal questions on the bottom of the list. “Do you still want me to answer that?”

“Yes.”

Again, Sungjong decided to answer in complete honesty. He felt as if he was taking out a portion of his inner thoughts and laying them out for Hyera to examine. But it wasn’t absolutely a bad feeling. “I’ve always liked BTD. But it’s more significant to me now, because it was the first song I helped you with. And I’m not just saying that for you or anything, I really mean it, that BTD is as special to me as you, Hyera-yah,” he said.

A faint smile spread across Hyera’s lips, and her expression softened as she looked into Sungjong’s eyes. “Any others?” she asked.

“Yes,” blurted Sungjong, “Paradise. It reminds me of you too, for some reason. You and your eyes.”

“That’s odd. Paradise reminds me of you too,” Hyera responded.

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” said Sungjong. At that moment, he wished he was sitting closer to Hyera, although they were already pretty close, separated by a few bags of snacks in between them. He decided to push the snacks away slightly and scooted closer to Hyera, wondering if Hyera was aware of his movement. A thought then struck his mind. “Hyera-yah, have you ever sang Paradise?”

“Huh?” she said, “Well, I’ve hummed it along when I watched you guys perform it and stuff, but no, not really. That’s odd, now that I think about it.”

“Can you sing it right now? If the key is high enough for you,” Sungjong asked.

Hyera, who in fact had not noticed Sungjong scooting over, was all of a sudden aware that he was much closer to her. She looked into Sungjong’s face, and the melody of Infinite’s Paradise naturally came to her in her mind. She nodded, and cleared her voice. She knew what key she needed to begin on, without trying it out.

It’s only Paradise if you’re there,

Paradise, where I locked you up against your will,

Paradise, the sad place I can’t go when I’m awake,

Where we can be together forever, Paradise, oh oh, oh oh oh~

When Hyera finished, Sungjong clapped by himself, softly. He was smiling, a look of satisfaction over his face. Hyera began to speak first. “The song is so beautiful, and so sad,” she said.

Sungjong didn’t have anything to say at that moment. Or more specifically, what he felt about the song and about Hyera were so innate inside of him, he didn’t really have words to describe it. Sungjong was sure that the song, Paradise, would now always remind him of Hyera. It was much more beautiful in Hyera’s voice than Sunggyu hyung’s and Woohyun hyung’s voices. And somehow, to Sungjong, it wasn’t as sad and melancholy in Hyera’s voice. It was more hopeful and emotional.

He still hadn’t said anything in response to Hyera’s comment. Instead, he leaned over and pressed his lips onto hers, finding one of his hands moving up to touch her cheek. He had probably wanted to do that the entire night since they’d gotten in the practice room. It felt sensational, at that moment, right after the beautiful melody of Paradise to Hyera’s magical voice.

When they pulled apart, and he was staring at Hyera’s surprised expression just a few inches from her face, her glittering eyes drawing him into her in the most mystical way, he wanted to kiss her again. So he did. This time, he could feel Hyera’s lips turn into a smile as they stayed connected to each other. She repositioned herself so that she could sit up better, and wrapped her hands around Sungjong’s neck, bringing him even closer to her. Sungjong couldn’t help but grin at Hyera’s forwardness. It was one of her best qualities.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Hyera whispered breathlessly as she forced herself apart from Sungjong for a split moment. She looked into his eyes, where the tear drop tips of their ends on either side of his face faded away into the pale white cheeks and the perfectly firm jawlines. And then she was immersed again, unconsciously, delving into the wide lips herself this time, smiling into the kiss once again as Sungjong responded timidly.

Sungjong felt like his head was spinning, but not in a confused and painful sort of way. It was more of a light and placid sort of way, like the floor beneath him was no longer there, but the space around him was serene and weightless at the same time, so that he and Hyera were the only substantial beings that mattered. But underlying the heavenly sentiments that he was experiencing were the words of Hyera, the breathless and realistic truths of their situation, their location, their identities. And yet, the two of them were connected, all mentally except for the critical points at their lips and their hands in contact with the other’s slight layers of skin, but completely, described most appropriately in the words: together and harmonized. The thoughts that whirled through Sungjong’s head enhanced the sensations that ran though his body with Hyera locked to him. And then, a thought came to his mind that he had to share with her.

“It’s as if our song Paradise was made to describe us, right at this moment,” Sungjong said, ceasing to connect his lips with Hyera’s but not moving even an inch away from her. The words of the chorus flashed through his mind like a film, and he knew that Hyera was experiencing the exact same thing.

She didn’t say anything, however. She stared at him, her eyes radiant in the dimness of the room. Sungjong compared each of the lines of the chorus to the girl in front of him. She was the one that needed to be there for it to be paradise, that one was a certainty. The rest of the lyrics… they hadn’t become like this out of pure admittance, especially Hyera, who had been merely pulled into Sungjong’s problem. The sad reality of the two of them being together, was that it couldn’t be known to anyone else but them. And yet, perhaps most importantly, Sungjong wanted this girl with him, no matter what. He would just have to hope, that Hyera was feeling and understanding exactly what he was thinking, because he didn’t know how he could express it all with just words. Finally, he just said, “Kissing you is precisely being in paradise. Uh oh, oh, oh, oh.”

The brief singing of Sungjong’s last sentence brought out the rest of the giggles that had been hidden behind Hyera’s eyes that night. She found herself moving her left hand so that it went down to reach Sungjong’s free right hand. It was cool but not cold. She wondered how it felt for Sungjong, for her own hand to be in his, as opposed to the hand of a fan. She wanted to assure herself it was different, but at the same time, she thought that maybe it would be better if it was the same, because if Sungjong really did notice a big difference, than he may be losing those very fans whose hands he had once held, and possibly more of their friends. Still, smiling delicately, she said back, “I love paradise.”

At what exact moment after their brief conversational exchange Sungjong began moving his head forward again to meet Hyera at her lips, was unfathomable to both of them, once they both returned to their dorm rooms. The only thing on their minds, their hearts, and the corners of their mouths, as they lay listening to the sounds of their members sleeping around them, was the paradise that they had discovered and had just experienced. Paradise was not the best place a person could want to be in, and it was not the happiest place, nor even a very realistic place. But it was a place that Sungjong and Hyera knew and shared, a place of both a privilege and a curse.

*****

“Lee Sungjong, get up!”

When Sungjong cracked his eyes open, he made out the figure of Hoya hyung, hovering over him and slightly in a rush, as made apparent in his domineering tone of voice.

“Lee Sungjong!!! The CEO wants us to report to his office for a meeting in 15 minutes!!! What are you doing!? GET OUT OF BED!!!!” howled the high-pitched, thin, but obnoxiously loud voice of Sungyeol hyung. Sungjong sat up in his top bunk abruptly, processing what he had just heard. He jumped down to the wood floor without using the ladders and dived for his toiletries, dodging a Myungsoo hyung who was bent over the lowest drawer of a dresser in his boxers.

In an incredibly close fourteen minutes, the Infinite members had reported to CEO Jyungyeop’s office, in casual but neat clothes, mostly freshly washed. CEO Jyungyeol was in no way a difficult company head to work with; in fact, he sort of had the appearance of a teddy bear to Sungjong, with his narrow, smiling eyes, and soft and friendly wrinkles. For those reasons exactly, Sungjong told himself in his mind to be as serious as he could, sitting squished between Sungyeol hyung and Woohyun hyung. Oh great, I’m not supposed to be near these people. Sungjong thought, recalling his conversation about zodiac compatibilities with Hyera last night.

CEO Jyungyeop was sitting with his arms crossed in his armchair, regarding the Infinite members with a mysterious grin. Next to him, Sungjong felt Sungyeol hyung gulp. Had Sungyeol hyung gotten into some kind of trouble Sungjong didn’t know about?

“Alright guys, I have some news,” began the CEO, holding back with a pause, sweeping his gaze over each of the members.

“We’ve finally prepared a new apartment dorm for you guys. Congratulations, you’re moving out.”

“Yehh!?!?!” Sungyeol hyung was the first to speak up, or rather, voice a response, with his misbelieving tone.

“Really??” Myungsoo hyung followed.

The CEO nodded his head smugly, leaning back in his chair, smiling.

Sunggyu hyung finally spoke up in his booming, leader voice for the rest of the members. “Ooowowww!! Thank you so much Sajangnim!! Yah, everyone, let’s thank the CEO altogether, 1, 2, 3!”

“THANK YOU!!” All seven members shouted in unison.

Immediately, the Infinite boys began to cheer like maniacs, jumping up from the sofas they had been occupying to hug one another, scream crazily, and hug the CEO. Sungjong began to cheer with his hyungs, but he found that his body wasn’t moving up from his seat. He looked at the other hyungs, sporting great, large grins on each of their faces, no doubt recalling the glorious moments of Infinite’s Be Mine #1 wins.

Sungjong carefully rolled the thought of moving to a new dorm in his mind. The members would be moving to a nicer, bigger, more leisurely home. They would be leaving the Woolim Company Building. They would no longer be staying in the temporary dorm quarters of the Company. Sungjong would be leaving his room he shared with Hoya hyung, Sungyeol hyung, and Myungsoo hyung. Sungjong would be leaving Hyera.

It was impossible for Sungjong to bring about a smile to his face. The only thought that spun in his mind, carelessly tossing any other thoughts out, was that he would be leaving Hyera. He would no longer be living in the same building with her; he would no longer be able to meet with her in secret, in the large practice room, that held so many memories for the two of them.

The shouts, cheers, hugs, and wild jigs continued all around Sungjong. Moving into a new dorm – it had been the sole, most important goal of the Infinite members for basically a whole year. And Sungjong couldn’t accept it, couldn’t allow it, couldn’t think of it as more than an annoying buzzing taking place all around him while his own insides were in utter turmoil.

Paradise, the sad place I can’t go when I’m awake.

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A/N: Okayy Hi!!

I've finally officially graduated from high school, and the past few weeks have really just been a very busy flurry of graduation parties, get-togethers, and all the rest of those shenanigans. As a result, I found myself neglecting Obsession... and that's that.

But I hope you still remember Sungjong and Hyera, and enjoyed this new chapter!!

On a much more brighter note: CONGRATULATIONS to our boys INFINITE for some AMAZING VICTORIES!! TRIPLE CROWN on M!Countdown, and on their way to some more victories (hopefully) this weekend! I'm so happy for them, and they're so humble and thankful to us, and this Infinite-Inspirit relationship is just beautiful~

Also, did any of you see the Woolim trainee girls (including Jiae!!!) on Running Man!?! Haha, their appearance on such a huge variety show has got to be an indicator of their soon-to-be debut, right??? Please tell me yess, I'm itching for these girls to debut!!!! I think Jiae was the prettiest out of the three from Running Man. She's gotten so pretty, and her hair is soo long!! I'm excited :)

Always, thank you for reading! (Sorry this chapter is so long! I hope that's okay! ^^)