Melodies

12

Woozi's POV
Tonight, we went to dinner. Not for any special occasion or anything. Just because Seungcheol suggested we all should. I'm glad he did. With all these tests I've been having lately, it's nice to be out with them, even if I'd never admit it out loud.
I look at Aelia from across the table a few seats down, my chin in the palm of my hand and a bored expression on my face. Lately, I've been getting extremely jealous about the boys being close with Aelia. I think my feelings kicked in a bit more after the trip to Japan. A lot of the boys (the ones who know about the bet) have also noticed this, especially Soonyoung.
"Jihoon?" Seungkwan waves his hand over my eyes.
"Hmm?" I blink and look at him with wider eyes.
"We've been trying to ask you a question for five minutes." Seokmin frowns.
"Sorry." I sigh.
"Are you okay? You seem down." I hear Aelia ask.
My head shoots up to look at her in surprise. I bite my lip, looking to the side. I shake my head, looking back at her for a second. She frowns before turning back to talk to Wonwoo.
"Time is ticking away, Jihoon." Seungcheol whispers in my ear from next to me.
"Shut up." I hiss at him.
"Just saying. I can tell her easily. She'll believe me too." He pats my shoulder before looking at Soonyoung, who's on the other side of me.
Soonyoung gives him a look, almost of disgust before turning back to the others. My eyes land on Mingyu next who's acting like a child with Aelia. She tells him that something's not possible and he pouts.
"I declare you treat us tonight!" Jeonghan points at Jisoo.
"What the...? Why me?" Jisoo looks confused.
"You're the responsible one of us!" Chan exclaims.
"What about Seungcheol? He suggested this." Jisoo tries to take the bait off him.
"Whoa I just wanted to get food."
"Well who's gonna pay?" Hansol asks.
"KAI BAI BO!" Seungkwan and Soonyoung shout at the same time.
"Actually, I'm cool with playing that." Wonwoo nods.
"Yes~ Let's do this!" Seokmin confidentially.
"You're playing too. Don't think you can get out of this." Minghao looks directly at me.
I groan then scoot closer to everyone.
"Alright, losers play against losers. Last one left has to pay." Seungcheol announces.
"As long as it's not me. I'm broke for the life of me." Hansol shakes his head as he gets ready.
"Ready?" Seungkwan looks around.
First round, me, Jisoo, Jun and Vernon are out. Vernon cheers since he doesn't have to pay. Aelia stares at him for a few seconds before getting a determined face. I smirk at her change of mood. When Aelia gets competitive, things get more interesting.
Second round, we get louder as we see the results. Soonyoung, Seokmin, and Seungkwan all get out at the same time. The three start encouraging Aelia, saying she can beat them easily. Seungcheol starts throwing out some insults and saying he won't lose to them.
Third round, Aelia, Seungcheol, and Jeonghan get out. Aelia and Seungcheol point at each other, screaming in excitement before hugging each other and jumping up and down like children. I try my best not to smile at this kid-like side of her, but it's honestly too cute.
I look at who's left. Chan, Mingyu, Minghao, and Wonwoo are still in.
"How am I still in this game?!" Wonwoo complains.
"I just hope I don't pay. I'm the maknae." Chan makes a scared expression.
One more time, they play a round. Chan and Wonwoo make it out and Minghao and Mingyu both argue that the other one did the wrong move. Aelia seems to get annoyed at their bickering and pinches the bridge of her nose. She sighs just as the waiter comes. She hands the waiter her card and the two stare at her with wide eyes.
"Idiots, you're giving me a headache. You're lucky I have enough money for this with how much you hungry children eat."
"Thanks, Aelia!" Chan hugs her.
"Yeah yeah." She pats his head.
They all tackle her in a hug and thank her. She groans in pain and I smile. She complains that they're crushing her and Soonyoung hugs her tighter.
"Love you, saengseon!"
"Ow!" She pushes him away, making him chuckle.
After we walk out of the restaurant and tell each other bye, I notice Aelia and Minghao talking. Aelia makes a frown and he cups her cheeks, whispering something to her. She nods and looks at her feet. He lets go of her before noticing I'm looking. I start walking over and Aelia looks up. She looks at me with a blank expression and I lick my lips. She seems kind of tense.
"Hello." I nod to both of them.
They both wave to me, giving slight smiles. I frown. Should I walk away? What's wrong? This is unusual, even for Minghao.
"Are you heading straight home?" I ask Aelia.
"Yeah. Bao needs to be fed." She says.
"Oh then do you mind if I walk you home?"
Minghao looks over at her and she squeezes his arm. He sighs then looks at me.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow, Jihoon. Bye, Aelia." He mouths something to her and she nods.
After he walks away, she looks at me and puts on a smile. My heart flutters and my tummy does a flip. 
"I'd love for you to walk with me." She says.
I smile widely and we walk to her apartment.
Along the way, I try to cheer her up with stories of how I met Seungkwan, Soonyoung, and Seokmin. She starts laughing really hard when I told her how Seungkwan tried to go against me in a singing battle but I kept telling him no.
"Seungkwan does have a powerful voice though." Aelia admits.
"So does Seokmin." He pauses, "Soonyoung dances more than he sings."
"He's still good at singing. His voice is cute." She smiles at me.
"Am I good at singing?" I look at her.
"Y-yes." She bites her cheek, "You're really good."
"Is that why you suggested for the thirteen of us to enter the school competition?"
"Yeah. You're a good bunch. You'll probably get a lot of girls running after you though." She mumbles.
"Are you jealous?" I smirk.
"Yes! Those girls will steal my best friends. Then I won't have anyone again."
"What do you mean again?"
She doesn't answer as we approach her front door. She unlocks the door and Bao runs up to us. She smiles and rubs his head before walking all the way inside and motioning for me to come in. I walk towards Bao and smile when he basically jumps into my arms. He starts licking my face a lot, tackling me to the ground as he does so. I laugh nonstop, telling him to stop. Aelia giggles and tells him to get off of me.
"Did you want to give him his food before you leave?" She asks as she pets him behind the ears.
"Okay."
Once I give him some food and water, I look at her. Choi Aelia... Why can't I just tell you how I feel?
"Hey, can I come over tomorrow to study?" I ask.
"Oh. U-um... sure." She nods, looking to the side.
"Are you alright?"
She looks at me quickly with wide eyes, laughing nervously.
"Yeah, I'm fine! Just tired. I haven't been sleeping well lately, that's all."
"Okay." I let it slide, "I'm gonna head home now. See you at school." I wave to her.
I pet Bao once more before walking out her door. I wonder why she hasn't been sleeping. Maybe that's why Minghao was talking to her quietly by himself earlier.