“If you’re going to sing like that, then you might as well quit. Everyone else is working hard, so why shouldn’t you? Don’t think you’re above them just because you’re a senior trainee. If anything, you should work even harder because your hoobaes will surpass you. It’s pathetic.”
His words still rang in your ears as you took another turn into a larger hallway. You stopped running when you realized it was empty. Slowly, you moved to a side and sat yourself down against the wall, your legs hugged close to your body, helping to hide your tear-stained face. In your mind, you could still see the way that everyone looked at you as you excused yourself from the room, but no one’s stare was as hurtful as Daehyun’s.
You knew Daehyun from back when he was also a trainee. No one would know it from the way the two of you insulted and bickered with each other that the two of you were actually close. It was just the two of you had a friendly rivalry type of relationship. No matter how hurt you were at the moment, you couldn’t help but smile a little at the memory.
=={{***}}==
“Yah, Jung Daehyun, could you stop singing so flat? I can’t even hear myself,” you yelled at the boy standing a few feet from you.
He looked over at you, an annoyed look on his features. “Well, I would be able to figure out if I’m flat if a certain someone wasn’t singing so far out of her range. That would be you, _______,” he retorted, leaving you at a loss for words. The other trainees just stared at the two of you, trying to figure out if they should stop a fight from breaking out. But instead, the both of you just walked off in your own directions to cool off.
**An hour later**
“Was I really flat?” Daehyun asked as he sat next to you in the practice room that was once full of trainees. The two of you were the only ones left and were about to head home yourselves.
“A little, but I don’t think anyone other than me really noticed,” you said with a small laugh before nudging his shoulder with yours. “Was I really singing that far out of my range?”
Daehyun nodded a little before nudging you back. “Don’t keep doing it, okay? It’ll be really bad for your vocal chords later,” he told you.
=={{***}}==
You bit your bottom lip gently as you recalled the sweet memory. Daehyun was someone you could confide in back then. He was someone that would tell you that you were doing something wrong when others would just shrug it off. And even back then, he also meant so much more to you than just a friend though, not that you ever told him. He probably would have laughed it off anyway.
But he was different now. After Daehyun debuted, you watched him change, and not for the better. His criticism of you got harsher and far more insulting. The way he looked at you had become indifferent, far from that boy that used to brightly smile at you when others weren’t around. He no longer cheered you up when you were having a hard time and instead just seemed to distance himself from you. It was as if he thought he was far above you now that he had debuted.
And that was, in part, true. He was living out his dream while you were still trying to get noticed. But this Daehyun just wasn’t the one you knew, and that bothered you. Why did you even fall for him in the first place if this was what he was going to become?
“…_______…”
You heard a voice softly calling your name, but you didn’t bother to look up. You knew exactly who that voice belonged to, and you didn’t want to see him right now. “Just leave me alone, would you?” you managed, trying to not make it obvious that you had been crying. “Don’t…don’t you think you’ve insulted me enough today?”
Daehyun frowned as he looked down at you. Your legs hugged close, your head buried in your arms, your voice trying to remain steady. He could tell that you had been crying, and that only hurt him more. “Please look at me, _______. I want to apologize…”
Apologize? He wanted to apologize? Well, that was surprising. You looked up at Daehyun, forgetting that your eyes were puffy from crying, or that you probably looked like a mess. You were rather frustrated with him, and it showed. “What exactly would you like to apologize for? For humiliating me in front of the other trainees? Or maybe for embarrassing me in front of Secret-sunbaenims and the rest of B.A.P-sunbaenims? Is that it? If so, then you can save it. I don’t want to hear that from someone like you.”
He couldn’t look at you at this point and just started to stare at the ground at his feet. “I-I didn’t mean the things that I said…” he mumbled.
“Of course you didn’t. Just like you didn’t mean to completely push me out of your life? Or to treat me as if I’m below you?” you retorted. “News flash for you, Daehyun: just because you’ve debuted, it doesn’t make you a better person than me. I’m pretty sure I’m winning right now. You know if you cared about other’s feelings as much as you cared about insulting them, then maybe-”
“I pushed you away to protect you!”
You looked up at the man in front of you, shocked by the words that just erupted from him. He did it to protect you? “You have a funny way of showing that you want to protect someone. Why would I even need protection?”
“I’ve been in love with you ever since we were trainees, and I didn’t want the fans to find out and freak out about it and hurt you,” he replied, finally looking at you as a look of shock spread on your face. Daehyun sighed and slowly sat down next to you. “I wanted to keep you as far away from me as possible because I love you. I’ve been acting meaner to you in hopes that you would think I’m a despicable person that you could never fall in love with. It’s twisted, but it’s true.”
Inwardly, you were rather surprised, and happy, that Daehyun liked you back, but you couldn’t help but think about how completely backwards his plan was. “You’re dumb,” you said simply, watching as Daehyun glared at you. “Yes, fans are scary, and I’ve heard they do some scary things, but if you liked me, you should have just said you liked me instead of trying to protect me – without me knowing – by pushing me away. If anything, I thought you hated me to death.”
He smirked a little at your reply. “So does this mean that you like me too? Or does this mean that you’ve never liked me, and I’ve just been acting like a jerk to you because I had the wrong idea?”
“Oh no, I like you too. I just never told you back then because I was sure that you would laugh at me,” he nodded in agreement as you nudged his shoulder with yours. “So now that this is all out in the open, can you stop trying to ‘protect’ me and go back to being you? We can deal with your fan problems as they come up.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he replied, nudging you right back.
“But Daehyun, how did you know I would be here? You found me pretty quickly.”
“Oh, so you don’t know?” he asked as he looked over at you. “You always come here whenever you want to be alone so that you can cry like a big baby.”
“You ruined a completely nice moment! Jerk,” you huffed.
“You know you love me.”
“And I’m starting to wonder why I do…”
cr: tokki scenarios
