" ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ ɪꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ. "
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
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Episode 5 - part 3
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The next day, everyone was practising individually. Something that Raina wasn't used to with these boys. The choreography was extremely hard but Raina pushed through and had almost memorised it all. She had spent most of the night before practising until the early hours of the morning. Raina was currently walking to the main practice room to check up on everyone. Raina didn't care if this was an individual test, if someone needed help, she'd help them.
"Hey, guys!" Raina entered the room with a smile. All of them waved at her.
"Noona, would you be able to help me? I'm confused." EJ asked her.
"Of course." And with that, they practised together. Raina corrected EJ and guided him through it. Everyone in the room noticed how Raina had already gotten most of the moves down. And for the next few hours, Raina travelled around both the main practice room and the individual practice rooms and helped everyone.
Hours went by before everyone had gathered to eat together. However, all of them seemed to have noticed Raina wasn't there with them.
"Has anyone seen Raina?" K asked the group who all shook their heads. None of them had seen her since she made her rounds and helped them. K furrowed his brows and left to find her. He became more and more worried when he didn't find her in any of the practice rooms. It was only until he heard the test song playing from inside the Producing room. He opened the door to see Raina practising alone, he watched her practice just like she had that night. Raina never failed to impress him. It had only been 2 days since the test was revealed and she had already memorised most of it.
"Raina," K called from the door. The sudden voice causes the woman to jump and spin around. She had been so in her head that she didn't even hear the door open.
"K. How long have you been standing there?" Raina asked as she turned off the tablet and gulped down her water.
"Not long. Everyone's in the dining room, it's dinner." He responded as he watched her, she seemed different. All-day, she smiled but it didn't reach her eyes as it usually did. The spark in her eyes was dimmer, she didn't banter with anyone as she would.
"Raina?" K asked, making the girl snap out of her trance and look at him. K walked fully into the room and stood in front of her.
"Are you okay?" He asked her softly.
No.
"Of course I am. Besides being sore. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Raina said to him. He studied her for a moment, he couldn't shake the feeling he had in his heart that told him something was wrong. But he didn't press her any further.
"Now come on, let's get back to the others," Raina said before K could respond. She grabbed his hand and lead him out of the room as they made their way to the dining area. K didn't want her to his hand go, he stared at their joined hands and noticed how big his hand was compared to hers. The sight made his heart burn and a smile made its way onto his lips.
K wasn't the only one to notice their joint hands. Raina glanced at their hands then at his face, he made Raina feel so many emotions that she hadn't felt for a long time. Which both excited and scared her. But even then, it didn't stop the smile from appearing on her lips and for the first time today, it was a genuine one.
The next morning was when they all got together and practised as a team. They had just finished their 4th run-through and Raina stood in front of the mirror and watched as Jake began to show off his arms.
"You got this?" Jake asked Sunghoon cockily. This made Raina roll her eyes so hard.
"Boys." She muttered to herself and watched as Sunghoon pulled up his sleeve and flexed. And soon Jay also joined in.
"Show-offs," Raina said to them as she looked at them through the mirror. Sunghoon looked at the woman and smirked at her.
"Come on, we both know you're fawning right now." This made Raina bark out a loud laugh.
"Fawning over you? Come on Hoonie. We all know it takes a lot more than that to make me 'fawn' " She said shot back. K walked over and Raina thought he was just going to roll up his sleeve and join the boys. But K, after hearing her comment to Sunghoon, did more than roll up his sleeve.
The next thing Raina saw was a flash of skin before K took off half his sweatshirt leaving his arm and abs on display. Raina completely froze as she stared at his figure.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. She thought. The boys around her cheered and surrounded K. She didn't need to feel her ears to know they were burning crimson. The quick-witted sarcastic Raina was embarrassingly rendered speechless. All because of K.
Well if I wasn't sexually frustrated before, I definitely am now. Raina thought as her mind swarmed with not so innocent imagines and memories of that night. K, who had been staring at Raina the entire time. Relished in satisfaction when he saw her red ears. Her gaze practically burned his skin, K ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he watched her look at him so intensely. Even when he was the one making her flustered, she always seemed to find a way to get back at him. But that didn't stop him from teasing her.
"Are you fawning now...Princess." K spoke out. Not caring about the scandalous gasps and shouts the other let out, or that they were being filmed. He knew Mnet would edit it out anyway.
Raina. Whose mind was still fuzzy took a moment to look away from his exposed skin and cleared her throat.
What the fuck? Did he just call me princess? Fuck me.
I'm more than fawning. So what are you going to do about it? She wanted to say. But she remembered where she was.
Keep it, PG Raina. She reminded herself. Gathering her remaining wits, Raina looked at him with uninterested, bored eyes. Or she hoped.
"Nope but it was a nice attempt." Raina shot back at him. Praying that he couldn't see how her hands twitched at her sides, or how she had to force her eyes to stay on his and to not look back at his beautiful body. She prayed he couldn't see the lust in her eyes.
But K did notice. Maybe not everything. But he noticed her red ears, he noticed her biting her lip when she stared at him. He noticed her eyes widen when he called her 'princess', and he wanted nothing more than to keep pushing her. To see how long it takes until they both lose it. But K knew they had limits and lines that couldn't be crossed. So he didn't push. Instead, he simply put his sweatshirt back on and the group continued to practice.
Soon the incident was pushed to the back of everyone's mind as they focused on the performance. After a couple more hours of practice, everyone went on a break. Raina saw Youngbin by himself in the break room with his head down.
"Youngbin?" Raina asked once she sat down next to him and frowned when he lifted his head, His eyes were red and teary.
Youngbin was quick to wipe away his tears even though he knew she had already seen them.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked softly. Youngbin cleared his throat and shook his head.
"It's stupid, nothing for you to worry about noona." He reassured, but Raina shook her head at his words.
"It's obviously not nothing if you're crying because of it. Now, I'll ask again. What's wrong?" Raina asked again. Youngbin took a few moments before he turned to the older woman with teary eyes.
"I'm scared. I don't know what the producers think about me, even when I look at myself, I see my flaws." Youngbin started, already feeling a lump in his throat and tears slipped down his cheeks. Youngbin's last words sent a strike-through Raina. She truly felt for the younger boy.
"I don't know why but... my confidence keeps getting lower and lower. Raina. What if I'm just not cut out to be a trainee let alone an idol?" He choked out through his tears. It hurt Raina to see him like this. Youngbin was talented and although he could use more training, so could everyone else. Herself included. Raina got up and crouched down in front of him. She grabbed his hands that clenched the pillow on his lap and looked him in the eyes.
"Now you listen to me Youngbin. You are a very talented, kind, intelligent, hard-working young man who deserves to be here. I know how it feels to doubt yourself and everything you do. I know how it feels to lose your confidence and not know how to get it black. You're not alone in this. In times like these, as hard as it may be, you need to keep your head high. You need to keep moving forward." Raina said softly but firmly. As she watched Youngbin listen to her words.
"I know you're scared. But there is nothing you can do except keep working and give this test your all. Regardless of the results." Raina said as she gripped his hands tighter and let a small smile pass her lips as Youngbin had stopped crying and nodded at her words. So, Raina stood back up and offered Youngbin her hand with an encouraging smile.
"Come on. Let's get back to practice." Youngbin had grabbed her hand so she could help him up and the two went back into the practice room. Youngbin felt better after hearing Raina's words. Unlike other people he has met, Raina didn't sugar-coat anything and told him what he needed to hear, rather than what he wanted to hear. A trait of Raina's he admired greatly, as did the others. And Youngbin knew that if anyone in this survival show was going to debut. It would be Raina.