A New Start || Seventeen

Chapter 35

Daena looked down at her feet.

"I miss you" she whispered so quietly Joshua could barely hear, she did this so no one else could hear what she had said.

She heard Joshua step closer to her. Her head still pointed down at her feet she saw his feet come into view.

"I miss you too" he replied.

Daena was overcome with a wave of relief. She was starting to fear that chosing Jeonghan really had meant the end for her and Joshua.

She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him, needing the physical contact to feel like things were okay between them. This was normal for them, they hugged all the time.

She felt Joshua stiffen in her arms and then heard the room around them fall silent.

She didn't have to look to know that everyone was watching.

What Daena couldn't see from her position holding Joshua with her head pressed against his chest was that the moment she had reached for him Joshua had turned his head and looked directly at Jeonghan.

It wasn't a nice feeling for Joshua to have to look for permission to hug his oldest friend, but he knew he needed to, he needed to understand Jeonghan's boundaries.

The two members made eye contact and Joshua noticed the rest of the room had fallen silent. Joshua watched as Jeonghan raised an eyebrow as he noticed his girlfriend was currently wrapped around Joshua.

But to Joshua's surprise Jeonghan nodded.

Daena who had been unable to witness this quick exchange felt Joshua return the hug and heard the normal chatter of the room start back up.

After a few seconds Joshua lightly grabbed Daena's upper arms and moved her away from him, holding her at arms length.

Daena looked up at him confused.

"We are good, I promise" he said before glancing over her shoulder.

Daena turned to see what he was looking at and found Jeonghan walking towards them.

She hadn't stopped to think what their exchange might have looked like to him. But one look at his face told her he wasn't worried. He smiled at her reassuringly.

When Jeonghan reached them he slung an arm around Joshua's shoulder. It warmed Daena's heart to see that she hadn't created any distance between them.

"Are you making moves on my girlfriend Hong Jisoo?" Jeonghan chuckled.

"I'm not the one you need to worry about" Joshua replied as he laughed lightly, pointing across the room.

Daena and Jeonghan followed his gaze to find Mingyu watching them. He winked at Daena quickly before turning to Seungkwan and continuing their conversation.

"Ya, Mingyu, I'm watching you" Jeonghan called.

Mingyu ignored him.

"He's harmless" laughed Joshua.

Daena nodded in agreement. This was how Mingyu was. He flirted but it meant nothing.

"Isn't it time you guys got started?" Daena asked glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Mm, probably" Jeonghan replied, no sign of excitement could be found in his voice.

"Hoshi normally starts practice" Joshua said.

Daena scanned the room and found Hoshi sitting with his back against the wall in the far corner alone on his phone. He looked up when he felt her eyes on him.