❝ 𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘... 𓏴 ♢
ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁 . . . 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 those who fall for you ❜ ⸝⸝
⊹ . ◌ ༚ ˳ 🕳️⠀﹒⠀ ꙳ .
⌗ ; 𝗜-𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 ▬ ★ ??
MIDORI STOOD BESIDE K, THE TWO OF THEM CONVERSING ABOUT THE CHANGES IN THE CHOREOGRAPHY THAT HEESEUNG DID.
'I understand why he did it,' Midori said. 'He should've spoken to us first about it, though, but I trust him. If he thinks it's for the best then it probably is. Plus, that minor change is nothing that will affect the whole choreography.'
'It's a bit amateurish, isn't it?' K asked, looking at Midori.
'What is?'
'His groove, we've seen far better dancers.'
Midori chuckled. 'I don't think you're in the right place to say anything about it when you yourself are following him and his advice,' she admitted, placing her hands behind her back while her lips curled into a small smile.
K let out an awkward chuckle. 'You're right.'
'Noona?'
Whipping her head around to find the source of the sound, Midori's eyes met Daniel's. A few metres away from him was Jungwon, eyes trained on K, almost as if she didn't exist to him ━ and by the looks of it, she didn't.
She couldn't deny that it hurt. It hurt like hell. As if the devil had struck its scorching claws into her heart, slowly slicing it into a thousand pieces. To look him in the eyes and know that she practically meant nothing to him, to spend every day with him knowing that nothing would change, to know that someone she cared about so much was willing to drop her in an instant.
'Daniel?'
'Jungwon-hyung and I need help, could you help us?'
Midori opened her mouth to respond, only to feel an arm brush against her back.
'I'll do it,' Naito cut in, not letting Midori respond. 'Midori needs to help Heeseung-hyung.'
Her eyes cast towards the other side of the room where Heeseung stood, his eyes trained on her. He knew, and she knew that. But Heeseung wasn't one to take sides, and Midori appreciated that. No matter how much it hurt to be ignored, Jungwon was still human and humans made mistakes. But even then, the pain was still there.
There was no worse torment than being ignored by the person whose attention meant the most.
Naito looked back at her, noticing the way her shoulders had dropped. 'You good?'
She looked at him, fraud confusion etching across her face. 'Of course,' she answered.
He smiled and gave her a firm nod. She didn't aim to tell him what she was feeling, but surely Naito could figure out what was wrong.
Sometimes, albeit happy with her chance to get to participate in the show, she wished to curse the producers for putting her in the same show as Jungwon.
Midori felt ashamed.
Ashamed for feeling the way she did, ashamed for letting herself feel that way, ashamed for letting herself spend time with him, ashamed for letting Jungwon into her heart. Plain and simple, Midori felt utterly ashamed and she had no one else to blame but herself.
TO MAKE MATTERS EASIER FOR HER, Ni-ki had helped distract her. Of course, he didn't know why, but he couldn't complain when Midori came to him to talk.
'I want to be centre or have part two,' Ni-ki admitted shamelessly.
'Is that so?' Midori asked, eyes trained on herself in the mirror.
'Would you give up your centre part for me?' he asked.
'Would you take it from me?' Midori retorted, using the pad of her little finger to gently dab on some lipstick.
Ni-ki ignored her question. 'Do you think we can rechoose part two?'
'From you to Heeseung?' Midori said.
'Yeah, I'm a better dancer than him,' Ni-ki said, shoulders lifting into a shrug.
Midori smiled. 'I know you want to prove yourself, Ni-ki, but you have plenty of time to do that. Not only does Heeseung's voice fit the song but you have to admit that he is one of the best vocalists we have.'
'But maybe my dancing can give us higher points,' Ni-ki suggested.
Midori snorted. 'Ni-ki that's not how this works. Being able to take a step back if it's for the group's best might be more worthwhile.'
He sighed and Midori knew it wasn't the answer he wanted.
'Come now, Heeseung is waiting for us.' Midori took a step back from the mirror and put her lipstick down. Without thinking twice, her hand took hold of his, quickly pulling him out of the bathroom and down the stairs to the practice room.
To her, that was just a simple act, but to Ni-ki it meant the world. He had fallen fast and hard for Midori, not even a week had passed and he was already crushing. Granted, he had seen her in the Belift practice rooms and the cafeteria before but he had never spoken to her.
The atmosphere felt heavy when the two entered the practice room. Eye mercilessly watching her, eyeing the hoodie she was wearing. It wasn't hers, nor Naito's. It was Sunghoon's.
Cocking an eyebrow at her, Naito silently told her to explain.
She plopped down beside him, nudging his side, telling him to drop it for now.
'Do you want to do what we planned?' Heeseung asked, glancing at the twins.
'Sure,' Naito shrugged.
'All right,' Midori agreed before clapping her hands together, gaining the attention of the rest of the I-LANDERs.
Once all eyes were on her, she began speaking. 'We'll be dancing one by one.'
'One by one?' Youngbin asked.
'One by one,' Midori repeated. 'You'll be dancing in front of the rest of us and we'll give you feedback.'
'Do we have to?' Jungwon asked, eyes skimming over Midori for a brief second, meeting hers.
She felt her heart skip a beat as her shoulder tensed.
'Do you want to improve?' Naito asked.
Midori almost snorted.
'Jungwon you can start,' Midori said, since he was already standing in the middle of the practice room.
To everyone's surprise except Midori and Naito's, Jungwon didn't respond. His attention somewhere else ━ almost as if he was doing it on purpose.
An awkward second passed before Naito spoke up. 'Jungwon? Did you hear her?'
'Oh, no sorry,' Jungwon replied.
Heeseung cleared his throat. 'Let's start then.'
SHE FELT UNCOMFORTABLE.
He was sitting beside her, shoulder touching her own. Why? She couldn't seem to figure out why. Was he silently trying to tell her something ━ or did he just do it for he took pride in knowing he was making her feel all those different emotions?
Heaving in a breath, Midori tried to think straight, her mind lost in the feeling of him beside her. Fuck, she hated him. She hated him so much she wanted him to hold her in his arms while she cried and screamed at him.
Midori hated Jungwon for haunting her mind when he was the one who ghosted her.
Naito stood up beside her, motioning for her to take his place. Her eyes met his, a questioning look spreading across her features. However, her eyes told a different story, her eyes told him that she was beyond uncomfortable.
'Move,' he muttered and Midori obeyed.
A breath of relief escaped her lips as she sat down beside Heeseung, the older boy not saying anything yet knowing exactly what was going on.
He knew everything, and soon, everyone else would too.