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Chinese - Bolded & Slanted
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Other - Underlined
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-Monday, January 1, 2024~2:28PM-
~D.NK's POV~
We arrived at Vixen's birthday party after practice. We were later than everyone else of course and I looked around for certain people. Suddenly I heard my name get called.
"Sunghoonie!" The use of my real name caught me so off guard I whipped my head around, only to see my older brother Seokcheol heading my way. I had forgotten Vixen was friends with his old group so him being here made sense in the end.
"Hyung!" I shouted, running up to my brother and hugging him.
"Awe, well I missed you too, little brother." He said, ruffling my hair. "I heard you're finally in another RC group. It's about time."
"Yeah." I snickered then looked around. "Is Seunghyun here too?"
"Yeah, last I saw him he was with JC by the ping pong table." Seokcheol said.
"Okay, I'm going to go say hi." I told Seokcheol. "I'll come by and find you again later."
"Okay." Seokcheol nodded.
We hugged once more before I made my way to the ping pong table. Before I got there, I noticed Seunghyun was with JC and he was holding her wrist, looking at her bracelet. I saw him smirk and continue to hold her hand when he was talking to her, not even looking at her bracelet anymore. This was when I got upset as I could tell Seunghyun was flirting with her. He knew I liked JC too so this just made me even more sad. I was so distraught I didn't know what to do, all I knew is that I didn't want to see my brother. So, I turned around and left the practice room, walking home by myself. I texted my current group group chat so they knew I left early and headed to the dorm where I just kicked and screamed into my pillows and drowned my sadness out with anything I could find.
*****
-Thursday, January 4, 2024~11:39AM-
~Hikaru's POV~
We've been practicing for almost two hours now and D.NK's motivation just didn't seem to be there. In fact, it didn't seem to be there the past two days either.
We took a quick break and immediately, D.NK walks over to the wall and slides down, just sitting and staring at his phone. The rest of us gathered in a group unconsciously.
"Anyone know what's wrong with him?" Sungmin asked.
We all shook our heads.
"All I know is he's not taking his mood stabilizers, or any of his meds really." Changbin said.
"How do you know that?" Taeyong asked.
Changbin rubbed the back of his neck. "I might have went home and checked after his outburst in practice yesterday. He seemed odd to me, it just wasn't D.NK so I thought I'd check."
"When was the last time he took them?" Hanwoo asked.
"Monday."
"That was when he went home early from Vixen's party." Tyson said. "I wonder if something happened there."
"Who saw D.NK last at that party?" Evil asked.
"I'm sure it was JC." I stated. "Those two are so close."
"I'll give JC a call." Changbin said, turning on his heels and leaving the practice room to make the phone call.
Meanwhile, I made my way over to D.NK and took a seat beside him to see if I could help in any way.
"Hey," I said, handing him a snack I grabbed from my backpack prior to accompanying him. "Want one?"
"No thanks." D.NK shook his head.
I watched as he just continued to scroll through TikTok on his phone. A video of JC from our account popped up and D.NK went to skip it but he hesitated. Instead he watched it and I heard him sigh before going to the next video.
"Did something happen between you two?" I used my deductive reasoning skills.
"I don't know what you're talking about." D.NK said.
"Between you and JC-" I said.
That's when D.NK stood up. "Nothing happened between us okay?! Stop asking!"
And D.NK stormed into the bathroom, all of us hearing the click of the lock as the room was dead silent due to his outburst. That's when Changbin came back inside. We told him D.NK was in the restroom so we gathered around Changbin so he could keep his voice low.
"JC said she never saw him on Monday and that they haven't talked since Sunday." Changbin explained. "She figured it was because we were busy but I told her about his outbursts and not taking his meds and she grew worried. She said she's going to come by and surprise him tomorrow."
"Awe, that's so sweet." Tyson coo'ed.
"Will that work?" Jaehyun asked.
Changbin shrugged. "I think it's our best bet right now. If anyone can cheer him up, it's JC."
I didn't tell the members that I suspected she was the reason he was acting this way because I hoped him seeing her would fix it. It had to.
*****
-Friday, January 5, 2024~12:01PM-
~JC's POV~
I arrived at the practice room where the current group was practicing. In hand was a gift for D.NK I got him and some extra spicy tteokbokki from his favorite restaurant. He loved spicy food so I hoped this would cheer him up as the members say he is still acting out.
I arrived and walked inside the practice room where the members were practicing choreography. Due to hearing the door opened, they all looked over through the wall mirror. My eyes made contact with D.NK's and he was the first to stop dancing. His eyes were wide and his jaw was open. He was surprised to see me, which was what I wanted.
"JC!" Evil exclaimed sarcastically as the music got turned off by Jaehyun. "What are you doing here?!"
"I came to see D.NK if that's okay." I told the boys, playing along.
"Of course it is." Hikaru nodded. "We'll leave you two alone."
The members all filed out of the room while D.NK just walked over to his bag. I followed him over.
"I got you something." I said, holding out the gift and tteokbokki.
"I don't want it." D.NK said, not even able to look at me.
I felt my heart sink into my stomach. In the five and a half years we've known each other, he's never acted this way towards me. I had to just assume it was the not-taking-of-the-meds talking.
"Okay, I'll leave it here and you can have it later." I said, setting the stuff down on the floor next to his backpack.
"I said I don't want it!" He shouted, finally looking at me.
My eyes widened at his shouting, something I didn't think he could even do. I saw his bloodshot eyes and grew even more concerned.
"Oppa, have you not been sleeping?" I asked.
He turned his head away, giving me silence as a response.
"Oppa, please tell me what's going on." I said, my voice cracking as my eyes started to well up with tears. "The boys say you haven't been focusing or eating and have been acting out. I know that means you aren't taking your meds and now you're not even sleeping? Please, I'm worried about you."
"Why should you be?" He muttered.
"What?" I shook my head in confusion. "What do you mean? You're my best friend, why wouldn't I be worried?"
"That's all I am to you, huh?" He finally looked at me again. "I'm just your friend. Meanwhile you're over here dating my brother. Did you get close to me just so you could get close to him?"
"What are you talking about?" I grew even more confused.
"I saw Seunghyun holding your hand at Vixen's party." He muttered, his eyes now facing the floor again.
"Holding my...?" I thought about it. "Oh, he was looking at the new charm on my bracelet. That's all."
D.NK shook his head as he looked back at me. "Seunghyun was flirting with you, JC. The fact that you can't realize that is a problem."
I looked down. That stung a little, only because I knew he was trying to hurt me on purpose.
"Why are you so upset about this?" I asked him.
"Because I don't appreciate you being so close to him."
"Why? He's my friend."
"Because I like you and I want you to be close to me!" He shouted.
My eyes widened as I noticed his heavy breathing. His words took me by surprise and I could tell they took him by surprise too.
"I think you should leave." D.NK said, shuffling through his bag again.
I didn't listen to him. "You...You like me?"
"You're so oblivious, JC." He said, still sounding angry. "Why do you think you're the only girl around here I hang out with, let alone the only person I can be myself around? You make me feel like I matter and that all went away when I saw Seunghyun flirting with you, who knew of my feelings by the way."
"Oppa, I'm sorry I didn't realize it." I apologized.
"It's whatever." D.NK said, continuing to shuffle through his bag. I figured he was just doing it as a distraction, not actually trying to find anything. "You don't like me anyway so it doesn't really matter."
"Who said that?" I stepped forward.
D.NK froze for a moment, his eyes wandering towards me but his head facing sideways so I could only see his side. "What did you say?"
"I said..." I bent down to get to his level, grabbing his hand. "Who said I didn't like you?"
His eyes widened as he looked at me. "You...You like me?"
I nodded, giving him a smile. "I didn't realize it until recently but I think I've always liked you, since the beginning. Like you said about me, you make me feel like I can be myself around you."
"You're yourself even when I'm not around." D.NK rolled his eyes like he didn't believe me.
"No I'm not." I shook my head. "You bring out the inner child in me, the one that wants to have fun and not work. I notice myself missing you when you're not around. I feel sad when you don't talk to me, like this week. You're all I've thought about and it's made me realize that I really do like you."
D.NK smiled, something he only does around me. "So does this mean you'll date me?"
"Like be your girlfriend?" I asked.
He nodded. "What about a first date?"
D.NK shook his head. "I don't need to go on a date with you to know I want to be with you. But if that's what you want-"
"No." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I want to be with you too. I know that now."
D.NK smiled and he hugged me. I pulled from him.
"Now you guys should get back to practice. You have a lot to catch up on."
I started to get up but he grabbed my hand to stop me. "Wait. Will you stay and watch practice for a little bit?"
I smiled at his request. "I would love to." Then I grabbed the tteokbokki and handed it to him. "But you need to eat first. I can tell you've lost weight and I don't like it."
I pouted at the end of that sentence and it made D.NK snickered. His laugh, no matter how small, made me smile.
He opened the tteokbokki and started eating. He ended up finishing the whole thing in a matter of minutes while I grabbed the others. When they saw him eating and smiling, they knew I helped.
"What was wrong?" Hikaru asked me as him and Changbin stopped to talk to me.
"I guess he thought his brother was flirting with me and he didn't like that." I shrugged. "Turns out, we like each other."
"Well duh." Changbin said. "We all knew that."
My eyes widened. "But I didn't even know it until recently. How did-"
"It's called young love." Hikaru explained. "You two are so young, and were so young when RC started that you didn't even know what love was. But the rest of us, we did and we knew that's what was happening with you and D.NK."
"Wow." I looked down. "I really do feel so oblivious."
"It's okay." Changbin said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We've all been there."
"So now what?" Hikaru asked. "Are you two a thing now?"
I looked over my shoulder to see D.NK giggling with some of his other members. It made me smile.
"Yeah, we are." I said, continuing to gaze at my new boyfriend.
"It's about damn time." Changbin said, causing me to look back at them and blush.
"I'm happy for you guys, JC." Hikaru smiled.
"Thanks." I smiled back. "I'm happy too, especially when he's happy."
"And with you guys together, I don't see him ever not being happy again." Hikaru smiled.
I let out a soft laugh. The boys got back to practice and I was finally starting to see the real D.NK I knew I liked. The one who knew what he wanted and was confident when he didn't think he was. That's the guy I liked and I was happy to finally realize it, and I was happy that my first boyfriend was him.
~Author's Note~
Hey guys! Sorry for this being so JCxD.NK based but I felt like it's been long enough for them and this is an idea I've literally had written down for three years lmao so I figured now was the perfect time since he was preparing for a comeback lol. You also got to know who would be part of the comeback so I hope you all were okay with a spoiler lol anyway! I hope to kind of get these old romances that have been flourishing for a while official so please understand if I focus on old characters for a while. Years just seems like a long flirting stage lol anyway! Hope you guys enjoyed and I will see you soon. Biez!
P.S unedited.