DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.37

chaos welcomed jeongin when he arrived at the rehearsal the next day.

there were people almost pulling their hair out of their scalp, others silently crying, eyeliner running on a line across their cheeks, and others loudly screaming, storming out of the auditorium.

seungkwan stood in the middle of the stage, face in hand, the other arm, which holded a bunch of papers, braced himself. the image of a broken man.

what happened in that room?

jeongin spotted felix, unbothered and always on his phone, and approached him, eager for answers, "what happened?"

felix looked up and smiled, quickly going back to his screen as he said, "we've had biiig knews today..."

"jeongin, can i talk to you for a second?" someone tapped his shoulder. it was soonyoung.

he turned so he could face him, "sure,"

soonyoung pulled a weird face, looking as if he was stepping in burning rocks for a magic show.

"could you maybe, rehearse at home?"

"now?" jeongin exclaimed. what was the problem? was the building being taken down? was it going to be reformed? jeongin braced himself, sort of expecting miley cyrus coming through the walls with a wrecking ball. that was a theater room, after all. weirder things had happened there.

"no, not now, i mean, when you're not here."

jeongin's jaw dropped, slightly offended, "do you not think i already do that?"

how could he? jeongin was a professional, talented young man of the art perfomances world! bold of him to assume he didn't completely commit to this play!

someone passed running between them, screaming as if being chased by a bear. his hands were comically waving in the air in despair.

soonyoung was quick to explain himself, alarmed, as if jeongin was an enraged instagram influencer about to make his followers cancel him: "no! no, it's nothing like that. i don't mean you as in... well, you. i mean..." he leaned his head towards the corner of the room.

there were two people jeongin still hadn't spotted in there. two people that he wished he hadn't spotted in there, actually. the chaotic pair he was avoiding: hyunjin and chan.

they were about two feet apart, both on their phones, both pretending they weren't sending threatening glares at each other, unware of the post-apocalyptic scene occurring before their eyes.

jeongin understood. among all the actors in the cast, hyunjin and chan weren't really... invested in the art. jeongin couldn't deny that their motives for joining were not related to the craft.

hyunjin just joined because he wanted to annoy jeongin in anyway possible. but things were so different now... if the strategy had still that goal in mind, hyunjin would be disappointed. now, chan was only there for... whatever nefarious things he had planned. the whole deal with felix and seungmin stirred his view on chan, seeing him with a new light. why, just why did you audition for the second part of the love triangle, chan?

all of that aside, they didn't have the flicker in the eye when they were acting. they didn't have the sparkle of the performance plastered all around their movements on stage that left the audience awe-struck when watching the story unfold. but not for long. jeongin wouldn't allow it.

he wouldn't be sharing his stage with amateurs.

jeongin ignored the loud sniffing coming from a group of gurls close to them while he turned to soonyoung and gave him a nod, "you can count on me for that."

the boy smiled, relaxed, "good. thank you."

he started to leave but jeongin called out to him.

"wait. what happened here? why are people acting like this?" he asked. close to them, a girl let out a woeful whimper, make up all fucked up.

perhaps jeongin needed to get his vision checked up, because, as soon as those words left his mouth, jeongin witnessed soonyoung having a whole body shiver.

but he just turned back to jeongin, a hand coming up to scratch behind his neck, "oh... this. seungkwan just made a... surprising announcement," he gulped, "you see, seungkwan has been... keeping things from us for quite some time."

jeongin's eyes shot wide open at the information. what could seungkwan possibly need to keep away from them?

soonyoung quickly glanced at seungkwan in the stage. jeongin also looked. he was in the same exact position since jeongin last checked: of dreadful regret.

soonyoung sighed deeply.

"apparently, seungkwan signed us in a national competition," seungkwan told him, and jeongin's eyes couldn't widen more. soonyoung just ignored his expression and continued: "we are competing against two schools..." jeongin didn't want to hear anymore. he wanted soonyoung to stop talking. he was going to certainly faint if he kept talki— "both of them are doing shakespearean tragedies."

jeongin felt everything turn black, and only heard the floor when he crashed into it.