The Dream Chapter (TXT X Reader)

Focus

Chapter 56

  "You're avoiding us again."

  A simple yet true observation. Not much to start a conversation with. You couldn't even think of anything to respond with. What could you say to that? What were you supposed to say to that?

  "Why?" Kai asked.

  Now that, you could respond to.

  "I'm not dense," you replied.

  "We never said you were," Taehyun replied with a short shrug.

  "I know what's happening," you replied again.

  "And what exactly is that?" Beomgyu asked you, leaning slightly closer.

  "You all like me," you said boldly. "Like like."

  "Oddly presumptuous of you," Yeonjun snorted.

  "But I'm right, aren't I?" You asked, looking to the five of them that surrounded you. You received small nods as answers, only confirming your fear to be true, making you feel even more guilty. "I don't want to be distracted. Not during the competition. You are all free to have your own feelings and do what you want, but then again, so am I."

  They nodded as if they were in a lecture. They seemed almost robotic and embarrassed by the conversation at hand.

  "All my focus is on the competition. I've set a goal and I will set any feelings I have aside so that I can do my best to work towards that goal. I can understand if you can't do that, but just know that with those advances will come my avoidance," you finished simply.

  "You'll set any feelings you have aside..." Taehyun quoted. "Does that mean you have feelings for one of us?"

  "Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. That shouldn't matter right now. I don't know if we all have a common goal anymore. I want to win. We worked so hard. I can't let feelings distract me after we all poured our blood sweat and tears into this. I'm trying to be mature. It's not that I want to, it's that I feel like I have to." You tried your best to explain how you felt, but if you were being honest, you didn't even know how to explain it. You didn't even know if this would work or end up pushing them all away in the end. "Trust me, I feel guilty as hell right now. I hope you can see where I'm coming from."

  They all nodded hesitantly. The group seemed tense now that the discussion happened. It wasn't a pleasant conversation to have. Five guys liking you at once, and all of them being some of your closest friends? Not a good situation to be in. Thinking about the situation made you feel stressed. You buried yourself in your work and you noticed the others doing the same.

  The festival that the boys were performing had approached and now you all stood backstage after a rehearsal performance. They were performing close to last. It made them anxious as they heard the area fill with more and more voices. The anxiety they felt before performing was a lot. Too much to handle on their own. But that spiel you'd just made... would it feel like you were going back on it if you attempted to ease their anxiety?

When Kai rubbed your belly to ease his anxiety, that's when you knew it was okay. He took a minute, taking deep breaths and then when he was calm, he slowly retreated his hands so you could go help the others, like a pre-show ritual or something. You gave Beomgyu his hug, you gave Taehyun his back hug, you gently pinched and poked Soobin's cheeks, and you gently held Yeonjun's hand.

He'd had his stitches removed from his palm and it had healed nicely, but there was still a sensitive scar that you were weary about. You knew Yeonjun was strong though. He was performing with a cast on for heavens sake. He was tough. You were proud of him for pulling through for the team. You were also constantly worried that he would hurt himself. He seemed to be better and he said he was stopping whenever he felt hurt, but you knew that if he hurt himself during a performance, he wouldn't stop. That just wasn't him. He gave his 100% all the time.

It was already dark by the time they went on. Once again, you went to watch from the crowd again, observing whatever you'd missed from dance practice. You never usually paid attention there anyways. You kept your attention on your computer. That was your job as the rat producer after all.

Drama went by smoothly. It looked amazing. If you were being honest, it had to be one of your favourite songs you'd ever worked on and that was probably thanks to Beomgyu who finished the track off flawlessly. The bright sound made you so happy. Man, you could rant all day about the brass in the background or the fact that emphasis plays a big part in getting rid of any semblance of repetition even though certain instruments play the same melody the whole way through. Their choreography enhanced it. Their facial expressions, their movements, their hair, everything seemed perfect.

Run Away was also a good song too. You just so happened to prefer Drama. The performance for Run Away went smoothly. The performance required a lot of coordination and it used height, depth, and width of the stage to make it seem more appealing. It was yet another instance where emphasis had been perfectly used to draw attention to a specific thing.

The crowd went wild after Soobin gave a detailed tutorial on how to vote for your group during the competition in a few days. You were pleased with everything that happened on that stage and you were excited to congratulate them on a performance well done.

Being surrounded in a group hug wasn't exactly what you expected, but you guess it worked for that time. You made sure to tell each person how well they did. Performing live may not have been their thing, but they were so good at it you could've thought they were professional idols. They put so much effort into live performance that you practically forced them into, and you were grateful. With their hard work and your hard work combined, you felt more at ease, like you could do well in the competition.

The ride home was exhausting. The four squished in the back were all sleeping, Kai's hands placed gently on Soobin's stomach. You could see Yeonjun yawning repeatedly. He must've been tired too. If you could've driven and allowed him to sleep, you would've. He deserved it. Especially after performing with a cast on his arm. You'd constantly seen him pushing himself, making himself more tired. You'd even had to scold him a few days back for running laps during his basketball practice to keep in shape.

He dropped Beomgyu at Taehyun off at their respective houses and then he dropped you and Kai off. Kai was still a little groggy, having just woken up from a not-so-deep sleep. He looked like a baby, rubbing his eyes with his hands in attempt to wake himself more as he slipped from the car. You both thanked Yeonjun and sent him on his way, Soobin still fast asleep in the back of the car.

"Are you still working on it?" Kai asked you, his voice slightly lower and raspier.

"Yep. I don't have too much to finish now. I've been working diligently for the last few weeks," you informed him.

It was true. With your 'no distractions' rule, you'd felt more productive. You'd zoomed through the editing of the bits of the short film, watching them and rewatching them for mistakes, making sure you only put the best clips in. You had put a lot of hard work in and you were almost ready to show them what you had finished. You just hoped that you would get through this round and be able to show more people your hard work. You didn't want it to be put to waste.

"I'm glad you're almost done," Kai smiled slightly.

"Why is that?" You asked.

"Because if you're close to being done, then distractions won't effect you as much and I don't have to feel guilty about this," Kai spike quickly before pulling you a little bit closer, planting a small kiss on your forehead. He watched in amusement as your eyes widened in surprise.

"Kai!" You squeaked.

"Goodnight." His voice lilted from his retreating figure as he entered his house.

Now it just felt like the 'no distractions' rule was a waste of time, because boy were you distracted at that moment.