WITH GRACE.

INTERLUDE

──────────────thursday, before the ball

it was a lovely morning. it was sunny, but warm enough not to burn the skin.

the older boys (heeseung, jay, jake, and sunghoon) hung around the dance crew's practice room. the younger members were out helping with the ball preparations, except jungwon who informed them he'd be staying back home. the other members were also out participating in other events. youngbin, for example, was competing in the basketball exhibition game the university hosted today. k, on the other hand, took a day off to rest.

earlier, these four were practicing their newest routine. it was unarguably the hardest choreography they have encountered ever since taking part in the dance crew. in order to polish the moves, the four collectively decided it was best to spend this day practicing. besides, they found nothing significant about today's events which needed attending. in short, the four's performance productivity was at its peak.

now, they dawdled around the room ㅡ exhausted after long hours of repetitive dancing. some were sitting on the floor while others like sunghoon and jake laid on it, not even minding how dirty it must have been.

heeseung hummed a tune and sang afterwards.

" i'm so tired of love songs, tired of love songs, tired of love songs, tired of love..."

he paused for a moment before continuing.

" just wanna go home, wanna go home, wanna go home, woah oh oh oh, "

the other three clapped their hands, awestruck at heeseung's impromptu performance.

"wow, amazing," sunghoon commented.

"wow, amazing," jay parroted the earlier's statement.

"gosh! as expected of heeseung hyung. please accept my love, sunbaenim. i'm in love with your angelic voice," jake playfully stated as he showed puppy eyes to heeseung.

the latter cringed at jake's action.

"jake, bro. that was honestly creepy," jay remarked, his face contorting in obvious distaste.

"you two are no fun. sunghoon-ah, i'm cute, aren't i?" jake turned to face sunghoon who was still laying on the floor.

"yeah, jake is cute," sunghoon nonchalantly replied.

"see? y'all should shoo shoo. jakehoon stays winning," jake flipped his nonexistent long hair.

"jakehoon?" heeseung asks.

"yeah. jakehoon. got a problem with that?" jake replied.

"woah, i'm not up for a fight. i just... where on earth do you get those ideas?"

"heeseung hyung, it's all in this brilliant mind of mine. haven't you heard about ships? goodness, you're missing out on a lot of trendy things these days. old people problems," jake elfishly rolled his eyes.

"may i remind you: you and i have a one year gap between our births. we belong in the same generation, doofus," heeseung snickered.

"hyung, you're hurting my fragile feelings," jake acted hurt, but was painfully bad at it.

jay and heeseung just shook their heads in disbelief. jake was a certified child. he may look mature on the outside, but on the inside (and his height, unarguably) he remained childlike. they didn't bother saying this out loud, afraid they might hurt jake's already 'fragile feelings'.

a moment of comfortable silence passed between them.

"yo, sunghoon. why did you and eunhye leave early last night?" jay started the discussion.

"eunhye got a little drunk,"

"she what?!" jake dramatically exclaimed.

"quit overreacting, jake," heeseung chuckled at the younger.

"no, honestly. eunhye got what? drunk? but there weren't any alcoholic beverages around, except for the fruit punch that had a little,"

"jake's right. how can she get drunk last night? don't tell usㅡ" jay's statement was interrupted by sunghoon.

"if you're thinking about the fruit punch causing eunhye's drunkenness, you're on the right track," sunghoon smiled to himself, thinking about how adorable the girl was last night.

"seriously? how many cups did she drink?" heeseung asked this time around.

"if i remember it right, about seven?"

"didn't you tell her there was little alcohol content in there? how could you let her drink that much?" jay eyed sunghoon with scrutiny.

"i did. i told her it had a little alcohol in it. i stopped her from drinking more one time, but she looked so adorable at that moment. i just..." sunghoon ended his reply in light chuckles.

"damn, somebody's smitten," heeseung commented.

"smitten? i'd say he's whipped," jake corrected heeseung.

"eunhye's really got you wrapped around her fingers, huh?" jay directed the question to sunghoon who just stared at nowhere, smiling foolishly.

"sunghoon, broㅡ" jake was interrupted.

"she was so adorable last night," sunghoon muttered in a soft voice, his smile getting wider.

"confirmed. we got a lovestruck fool in the room," jake says as he lightly laughed.

"how do you really feel about eunhye, sunghoon-ah?" heeseung shifted the playful talk into a serious one.

"how do i feel about eunhye?" sunghoon sat up from laying on the floor. "she's intriguing, interesting, fun and comforting. there's just a lot of good things about her. she's strong, yet she's also fragile. she's soft and kind, but she can be fierce when she wants to,"

the three saw the glimmer in sunghoon's eyes as he started describing the girl.

"do you like eunhye, sunghoon-ah?" heeseung dropped the significant question.

sunghoon smiled at him in reply.

"i guess i do,"

the surrounding stilled until a voice was heard, cutting the silence.

"hyung, you what?" dongkyu stood by the door, mouth agape.

────────AUTHOR'S SECTION───────

hello again, reader!

i'm back once again with a longass message.

first of all, thank you for the constant support eunhye, sunghoon and the rest of with grace's characters are getting! i didn't expect the progress and recognition this story is getting in the past few days i was writing. honestly, this whole thing started as my outlet to vent my feelings towards sunghoon and iland and also an escape from my personal concerns. i used the feelings i bottled inside as a fuel to create an alternate universe where a reader can feel peace, happiness and kilig in one. a sanctuary, basically.

i would apologize in advance because i have no plans to make this story dramatic. for me, the subtleness of the story is its most charming point. i just want to let you experience a cloud nine sort of ride.

happy 1k+ reads and twenty chapters! this interlude is my celebratory gift to all of you who are supportive of this endeavor. i couldn't actually believe i wrote this far because i'm an idle one and i prefer ending my stories at twenty chapters... guess it's not the case for this. however, i would like to remind everyone that this is a short story, so it wouldn't take long until this one's up and done.

again, thank you for the support! i appreciate you guys so much especially those who take time to comment and vote. i love seeing comments on my notifications and i love responding to them so i hope you take time to be more active as a reader.

wherever you are, i hope you prioritize your wellbeing and safety. have a great day!

lovelots,
zee💫