suho, with an uncharacteristic gleam in his eyes, instructed them to put on blindfolds and lead them to a room with a closed door. the three had to link hands in order to not stumble.
"—can we please take off these itchy ass blindfolds? i think they're giving me a rash." seojun complained, rubbing his eyes over the material.
"can you please shut your ass up? godamn." daiyu shot back, squeezing his hand tightly so he yelped in pain. she added to suho, "but for real, they are itchy."
there was some shuffling, and then the dim brightness of light filtering through daiyu's blindfold before she heard suho's clear voice call out,
"ok, you can take them off!"
impatiently, daiyu ripped the material off her face and gave a silent gasp as her eyes scoped out the room.
it was a music studio. on one side, there was a computer and a small space with all the equipment needed to record. several guitars were mounted on or against the wall, and a grand piano sat in a corner. the other side of the room was laid out with soft-looking velvet couches and beanbags.
"it's our very own music studio." suho explained bashfully. "i thought it would be a fun way to pass time."
daiyu turned to look at suho. quiet, thoughtful suho, who daiyu had thought was a good person from the moment she met him (though her judgment wasn't the best, as the situation with seojun had told her). so sweet and caring, always thinking of others.
"you're truly an angel, lee suho." daiyu patted him on the shoulder.
he smiled at her.
"since seojun's and seyeon's audition tapes were accepted, they'll need someplace to practice." suho added. seyeon's face lit up.
"ah, that reminds me! seojun and i were asked to join a survival show next week!" the brown-haired boy chirped, eyes glittering in excitement. "the top 6 winners become the next group to be debuted!"
daiyu grinned broadly. "that's great!"
"actually, to celebrate our acceptance, i bought us all something." seyeon said sheepishly.
"but you're not supposed to do that." suho replied bluntly. "usually, it's the other way around."
"i know—but i saw them on the street the other day and i had to get them for us. it'll make me happy if you wear them, so don't refuse them! a gift is a gift!" seyeon pulled a small plastic bag from his pockets.
"here." he handed out small silver bracelets, all with the charm of a key. "this way, we'll never be able to lock ourselves away from each other, since we'll always have a key!"
"you dork." seojun snorted, but nonetheless carefully clipped the bracelet against his wrist.
"now we'll be friends forever!" seyeon exclaimed, lifting his own arm, where the silver object glinted against his skin.
"at this point, we should just come up with a name for ourselves..." suho laughed, looking at the piece of jewelry on his arm like it was worth millions.
"that's a great idea, actually! from now on, we'll be...DS3?" seyeon shrugged.
"DS3? seriously? that sounds like a new console." snorted seojun.
"it stands for daiyu and the three of us, since we all start with s." admitted seyeon.
"daiyu and the three s's! i like it!" daiyu smirked.
"of course you would." seojun muttered, making daiyu elbow him in the ribs.
"well...it does have a nice ring to it." suho added.
"suho the great has spoken!" daiyu proclaimed in a pompous and deep-voiced manner "daiyu and the three s's it is!"
the three boys laughed. once daiyu had something set, there was little they could do to change it.
plopping herself onto the nearest beanbag, the chinese-korean girl gave a content sigh. this would truly be a place she would never forget.
with people she'd always remember, even when the same couldn't be said for them.
━━LIFE HAS ALWAYS had a funny sort of way to remind daiyu how much of a burden she was carrying over her shoulders, and what she should be doing to lessen the said burden.
however, as stubborn as she was, daiyu always chose to ignore everything that she didn't care for. that also counted for proper communication, which is why she found herself seated on a chair at a hospital, furiously wiping any remains of tears from her eyes as she glared at the bedridden han seojun before her.
"i can't believe you trained so hard you broke your arm!" daiyu threw her hands in the air angrily, only to bring them back to rest on her lap, wringing and fiddling with her fingers.
"it's nice that you're worried, but i'm fine." seojun chuckled, flexing his fingers to show that her concern was a bit over the top, and he had only injured his arm, not completely chopped it off.
"still! seyeon was so upset when he heard that he cried for a good hour — and your sister! she says she knows you'll be fine but that all this 'exhausting yourself out until you drop' thing you have going on really worries her and your mother. being a good dancer isn't as important as your health!" daiyu frowned, hurriedly brushing the hair away from her face so seojun could see how serious her expression was.
seojun's smile fell as he realized daiyu wasn't playing around. "they didn't tell me that when they came to visit."
"of course they fucking didn't, you're family, and family always tries to keep their own from feeling guilty about something that isn't their fault. i'm not blaming you, seojun, really. we're all just really worried about you."
since when had zhao daiyu ever grown to care for others that weren't like her? it seemed like years ago that tough-skinned girl that she once was had walked without a care in the world into deserted alleyways and did stupid things for fun. through all that, she was always strong — in check of herself. daiyu had never once let her emotions (that weren't anger) get the better of her, ever.
yet there she was, holding on too tight to the closure of a regular life with these more than amazing people. these people who hardly knew the truth about her — yet opened her into their hearts with open arms.
daiyu didn't like feeling weak, but with them, she felt that she could be allowed to be weak for a little while.
just for a little while.
AUTHOR'S NOTE !
(04/06/23) rewritten
i have a super bad migraine so i just used grammarly to fed most of the errors but i didn't change much of the writing
as always enjoy and vote and comment if u can <33
pls lmk if there are any more grammar mistakes!!
LOVE, A !
seven.
Start from the beginning
