Not Alone || Jung Jaehyun

Chapter 28 | "what about us"

"Oh."

"My."

"God."

"Does that say...?"

"Yeah, yeah it does."

All of the team was gathered at the bulletin the next day, looking for the rankings. Hyemi was too nervous to look and stayed by the wall with Jaehyun.

"HYEMI!" They all screamed as they ran back to the pair.

"Oh god how bad is it?"

"HYEMI. YOURE A NATIONAL CHAMPION!"

"I'm a what?"

"You won!" Jaemin grabbed her shoulders and shook her vigorously.

"I... I won?" Hyemi was in shock.

"I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it!" Jaehyun shoved Jaemin away and Hyemi felt his muscular arms wrap around her small frame, pulling her into his chest in a tight embrace.

"And the team has moved up to 3rd now because of it!" Sana announced proudly.

"Really?"

"Yeah! You did perfectly Hyemi!"

"Thanks guys!"

"Come on, they're about to announce the next challenge."

They all quickly ran to the stage with the other no -eliminated teams to find out what the next challenge would be.

- - -

"The second round of competition will be... male freestyle solo! Each team select your best male solo to compete to stay in the competition. For this challenge, teams will have 3 hours to prepare, good luck!"

"So Jae," Sana said as they walked back into their dressing room. "Are you gonna do our solo again? I mean, you won last year so..."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." He relied, throwing his bags down.

"Are you sure you're up to it? Yuta also has a solo ready." Sicheng commented, nodding to the Japanese boy.

"I'll uh, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

- - -

He was not fine.

The whole team watched nervously as Jaehyun rehearsed. Everyone, including himself, was aware that it wasn't his best work. Not even close. After finished another sub-par run through of his number, Sana walked over.

"Jaehyun, I'm gonna have Yuta warm up and run his and then we'll decide who's looks better okay? You know you're not dancing at your best right now, so figure it out." Sana dipped her head to Yuta who began to stretch for his solo.

As the Japanese boy ran his routine, everyone could see how much cleaner it was. He was dancing sharp and strong. He had something to prove and he was focused on winning, Jaehyun wasn't at the moment.

Hyemi felt crushed as she watched Jaehyun slump against the wall and watch Yuta dance, already knowing he'd lost. As she stared at how upset Jaehyun looked, Hyemi couldn't take it anymore and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room.

"Jaehyun, what's up? You've been holding something back from me and it's obviously screwing with your head. You're gonna lose this chance to compete a solo if you don't figure this out, so what gives?" She demanded once they were alone in the hallway.

"I booked a job as a backup dancer on NCT's world tour." He blurred out, unable to hold back as he nervously waited for her response.