Just Like We Were
Unexpected"You actually believe her?" Hanbin exclaims down the road from you, preventing you from walking any further away from him. You had rushed out of the cafe, too unstable and with foreign emotions you didn't know how to handle.
"Then what am I supposed to believe?" You turn your body towards his direction, you could see Bobby in the near distance making his way towards you two as well.
"...how about me" he says almost as if suggesting something you've never even thought about in the clearest way possible before jogging over to you. You shuffle back, showing him you were still unsure.
He scratches the back of his neck, unsure of what to say now that he was so close to you,
"Ally, I can explain everything" his tone a lot calmer after having some time to think it through.
"I'm not in the mood to listen to any explanations" you honestly tell him, knowing you were too emotional to make a rational decision right now.
"Ally, please" he begs, reaching out and grabbing onto your hand.
A sudden rush of emotions surges through you at his touch, your attention travelling down to the tightly wrapped hand around yours. What happened to pretending we don't know each other? You thought to yourself.
"Ally" Bobby also suddenly appears beside you, puffing from trying to catch up as he reaches over and places his hand onto your shoulder, asking for your attention.
"Listen to us, we didn't mean any of this, Lee told us to do it and we almost did-" Bobby cuts his sentence short noticing Hanbin's unhappy face, "I'm not explaining it well am I?"
Hanbin had opened his mouth to reply before he notices you looking around flustered. He follows your gaze to the group of fans slowly beginning to gather.
"" Bobby swears under his breath, also realising the situation.
You shake them both off you on their behalf.
"I guess I'll have to go" you turn continuing on your way up the road.
Hanbin got prepared to chase after you again only to be stopped by Bobby's grip.
"Do you want to get scolded by YG? You don't think he knows about the kiss under the pagoda. If you act out again what's he going to think?"
"What are you talking about?" Hanbin abruptly interrupts him
"Dispatch got pictures, YG paid a few thousand to stop those pictures going onto articles. Don't mess up anymore, we need a leader" Bobby warns him just in time as a Japanese fan manages to muster enough courage to approach them both, asking for a picture.
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"Going somewhere already?" Jinhwan asks, seeing you busily packing your things up in the dressing room as he passes by to go practice.
"Mm." You sound out, wrapping your black jacket around your body.
"What's that reaction?" Jinhwan teases, taking time out to actually step into the room, half joking, half concerned.
"What reaction?" You say as if you didn't know you were acting cold to him.
"This one." He grabs either sides of your arm, stopping you from packing the rest of your things into your bag, pulling your attention to him.
"Let go" you tell him,
"What's wrong, ally?" He stubbornly continues to ask, knowing for sure this wasn't you.
"I'm sick so let go". You lie. You knew it was wrong to be treating him like this but you also knew you weren't a saint, you couldn't be happy 24/7 like them and with the thought of betrayal hanging over you head, the more reasons to act the way you were.
You push him away, attempting to make your way to the door before suddenly, unexpectedly Jinhwan's grip on the hand he hadn't managed to let go of yet tightens, pulling you into his embrace. You unknowingly, as if it was expected buried your head into his chest, crying.
"I might not know what's wrong, but I'm older than you, I should be able to at least do this much" he mumbles warmly down at you. Somehow it was successful, you were comforted.
...
"What's going on?" Bobby breaks the silence first, appearing at the door of the dressing room, hands in his pocket with Hanbin by his side.
You cease your crying almost immediately, knowing where Bobby was, Hanbin would be. You flinch, beginning to move your body away only to feel Jinhwan's embrace tighten, "stay" he whispers under his breath.
"Nothing, what did you guys do to her?" He asks out towards the guys
"Jinhwan, let go of her" Hanbin warns, suddenly stepping forward, pulling your body towards him.
"I think we need to talk" Jinhwan utters, allowing you to go to him. "Don't you?" He adds. Hanbin knew he wasn't asking for his answer. Even though Hanbin was the leader, Jinhwan was still the oldest, his words were as powerful as Hanbin's was.
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"So this is over Lee?"
All of ikon had gathered in the private meeting room with you at the head of the table, silent.
"We would never do that to you" Donhyuk reassures you.
"Lee asked us to because his head was on the chopping block after all the incidents we've had this year. He thought that if we took 'extra care' of you, you wouldn't be able to betray us" Junhoe clears the situation,
"Right, he asked us to fake it with you that day we met you and Jina but when we actually spoke to you we all told him we couldn't do it, at least not to you two." Chanwoo adds
"Exactly, how could you take Miyeon's words over ours?!" Junhoe whines playfully, cracking a smile onto your face.
"Hey!? Does this mean we're forgiven?" He asks, noticing the grin
"Fine, whatever. I wasn't even angry" you playfully brush him off, clearing the air between you and ikon.
"To be honest, you shouldn't believe anything Miyeon says. You know she sees you as a threat right?" Jinhwan fills you in.
"A threat?" You repeat his words, confused.
"She was the youngest in the team and the closest with Hanbin" he continues. You glance over at Hanbin the moment his name was mentioned, knowing you were the only person who actually knew about the real relationship between them. Hanbin stays silent, tapping continuously at the table as if hoping for it to end sooner the moment Miyeon was brought up.
"So, what's that got to do with me?" You ask, not connecting it together.
"Ally, you're like the best at what you do. All your designs always makes its way onto us plus you're now also the youngest and let's be honest, the closest with Hanbin."
He looks at Jinhwan, flustered, "Ally and I aren't that close" he fills him in, indifferently.
"Hanbin shut up" Bobby smirks, "let go of her!!" He acts out sarcastically repeating what Hanbin had said to Jinhwan back at the dressing room, hugging onto Yunhyeong who was sitting silently beside him listening to everyone.
"Oh? You like her don't you~?" Junhoe teases, catching onto the situation.
Hanbin turns away from them in an attempt to hide his face going red before abruptly pushing himself off the chair.
"This meeting is over" he announces, taking it on himself to walk out of the room first.
Everyone glances over at you once he had left. It was your turn now to turn red.
"So what's the deal Ally? Should we set you two up?" Donghyuk asks.
You scoff, "he said we're not close" you remind them also getting up to follow him out.
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You walk aimlessly out the room, unsure if it was a good time to personally talk to him as you head into the elevator. Once on level two you made your way towards the dressing room to finish grabbing your things before the loud thundering of music catches your attention instead. You knew who it was and you knew you wanted to avoid him but you couldn't help yourself as you swiftly redirect your path towards the practice room instead.
You stop in front of the opened door, staring into the room. Hanbin on the other side was busily rehearsing, the music louder than he would usually put it.
"Hey! You're going to damage your ears like this!!" You exclaim over the music catching his attention in no time.
He his head to his side, glancing over at you who was still nervous to enter the room.
Hanbin walks over to the player, turning the music off.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to come in?" He asks as he wipes the sweat off his forehead.
You take his words as an invitation, leading your body towards him who was now placed on the ground, puffing. You sit yourself down beside him, unable to look at him properly as you both opt to look into the same direction instead.
"I'm sorry.." You apologise. You yourself didn't know why but to a certain degree you did feel like it was your fault.
Hanbin his head to you, "I'm the one that should be saying that"
"I know" you say, half joking, "but I still shouldn't have caused such an issue over someone like Miyeon"
"But that's nothing compared to what I've done to you" Hanbin shifts his position, closing the space between you two. You don't move back, unaware of his intentions.
"Yeah..we're pretty big idiots aren't we..?" You smile down to yourself before feeling Hanbin's warm hands on your face, turning your head towards him.
He looks at you longingly, "...Ally, I'm sorry....for everything", Whispering each word as he closes the distance between your lips and his. You don't back away, knowing it was also something you wanted as he presses his soft lips against yours. He lingers, as if everything was put into slow motion before pulling back again, smiling at you.
"Be with me.."
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