"Can you guys come help us for a while?" Daeyeol asked while moving a table with Sungyoon.
"Yah, don't ask the ladies to help, hyung." Jaeseok replied as he took the bag of stuff from the ground and placed it on the table the two are moving, which made the table way heavier, Daeyeol choked on his own saliva in an instant.
"They came here to help us, though." Sungyoon laughed at both Jaeseok and Daeyeol, before glancing at the athletic girl who's running while placing down the cones on the running tracks with the instructions of Jangjun. Obviously, the girl is Chaejung.
"Arim ah, let me help you. You can't carry all of this by yourself." Arim was carrying a bunch of stuff which blocked her vision. Bomin ran to her and took more than half of it from her.
"Thanks." Arim said shyly, before turning to the audience seats to find Joochan slowly approaching Jaein. A smirk appeared on Arim's face.
"Bomin ah."
"Yes?"
"Do you want to play a prank on someone?"
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"I swear... don't get close to her." Jibeom warned Joochan while everyone is away to help.
"Whatever you say." Joochan grinned in response, Jibeom slightly smiled and walked away to get changed. Everyone needed to change into their sportswear but some people needed to help set up something.
"Pfft." Joochan scoffed, and turned to the audience seats, Jaein sat at the very first row, playing on her phone.
"She looks harmless, why would Jidumb hate her so much?" Joochan thought. He wanted to try to talk to her. And with that thought, he started walking towards her.
While he was planning on what he should say to her, he didn't notice someone following behind him.
"Hmm... what should I ask her? I can't just go like 'oh I'm kind of interested in you so tell me what's going on between you and Jibeom' ...right? That'd make me look and sound creepy." Joochan thought and suddenly, he felt water poured all over his body from above.
"Yah!" Joochan yelled and turned around, seeing Arim and Bomin holding a bucket, laughing like crazy. Jaein is laughing while looking at Joochan, too.
"Bye!" Bomin exclaimed and ran away with Arim, leaving Joochan standing there, embarrassed. But suddenly the boy felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, Joochan, right?" It was Jaein. "Here are your clothes. I kept all the clothes in the pile over there. Everyone will change into the same thing, I think." She held a set of pink sports clothing in her hand, and smiled shyly at Joochan.
Joochan didn't know what to say, he was startled. He didn't expect Jaein to speak to him first, even though in a volume that's almost inaudible, and he completely forgot how awkward he is with girls.
"I... uh... t-thanks... umm..." Joochan scratched the back of his neck, but Jaein picked up a towel from a pile of towels next to her and gave it to Joochan as well, but Joochan didn't take it.
"Sungyoon placed the towels beside me. He said that the moment he saw some buckets outside the washroom, he already had a bad feeling." Jaein said, laughing a little, and tip-toed to dry Joochan's hair with the towel.
"I can do this myself!" That's when Joochan finally reacted and took the clothes and the towel from Jaein, his face turning red.
"I'm helping because you aren't even reacting when I'm speaking to you. It's not easy to get me to talk to people I first met." Jaein crossed her arms.
"It's because I- thanks anyways." Joochan sighed.
"Jaein! Can you come here for a second? Jangjun wants us to help." Chaejung yelled from afar.
"Coming!" Jaein replied and left.
"Yah, Hong Joochan." Jibeom has been standing behind them all the time.
"Ah, crap." Joochan mumbled, Jibeom walked closed to Joochan.
"What have I told you? Why won't you listen? If she knows you're my best friend you're well doomed." Jibeom scolded, but after that, he was speechless.
"Seriously, tell me what's going on." Joochan sighed. He didn't understand what's going on between them and why he, as Jibeom's best friend, gets affected as well.
"Let's go to the washroom, you can get changed and we'll talk about it." Jibeom sighed, and both of them headed to the washroom.
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"So... all we need to do here is write some challenges on these cards?" Chaejung asked, looking at the blank colourful cards in disbelief.
"Yes." Jangjun nodded with a huge smile on his face.
"Don't regret." Arim said.
"Wow so scared." Donghyun walked past and teased.
"They won't regret, because they'll all be dead." Jaein said jokingly.
Jibeom walked past her and bumped her shoulder on purpose on his way to the washroom. Joochan, who's walking behind, gulped and immediately walked faster. Jaein's smile dropped and her happy expression changed into an angry and pained one.
"Jangjun, now go away. You can't see what we'll write." Chaejung ordered.
"Okay, my princess." Jangjun said sweetly and jokingly.
"GET OUT! Disgusting..." Chaejung exclaimed and Jangjun ran away. And she finally started writing something on the cards.
"Poor Jangjun." Arim laughed and started writing as well. Jaein didn't speak, and started writing too.
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"I'm done." Joochan said after he changed his clothes.
"Alright, I'll explain." Jibeom sighed.
"Finally." Joochan said as they sat down on the chairs.
"It all started when we were still young and were friends. At that time I started to dream to become an idol. You know that I worked hard to sing well and dance well. I once performed in front of her and ever since then she looked up to me a lot. She said that she wanted to be a good performer like me. She wants to become an idol as well." He started explaining.
"That's cute though. What happened next?" Joochan asked.
"I'm happy that someone looked up to me and appreciates me but... I'm annoyed."
"Why?" Joochan asked, surprised.
"Becoming an idol is impossible for her. Nothing about her is enough. She's not pretty, she's not talented, she's not attractive-"
"It's bad to insult someone like that."
"I know but I'm just being honest. Also, the way that she thinks that as long as she dreams to be an idol and works hard for it will make it possible for her... it's just so hilarious and unrealistic that it makes me angry. There are so many people out there who're talented, worked extremely hard, did well, but still unable to gain success in this realistic world. For people like her?! She doesn't stand a chance."
Joochan didn't say anything, because he understood how Jibeom felt.
"I felt that she's not serious enough about this. The way she just stays hopeful, and sings and dance in front of me, asking whether she's good enough or not to become an idol... that irritated me because being an idol isn't just something to dream about, it also requires me to actually have what it takes, and then take action. She's doing this as a hobby but for me, I'm planning to do this for my entire life... she's making this look easy when it's actually not..."
"I got angry at her, more than just a few times. I'm pretty sure she's hurt badly by me, since I'm someone she looks up to. She got way quieter ever since we stopped talking to each other, I guess that she lost a lot of confidence."
Joochan stayed quiet for a while.
"Look, Jibeom. I'm not sure whether you'll listen to my words or not, and I also don't know Jaein that well yet. But you can't be 100% sure about whether someone is serious about their dream or not. Plus, she's just doing what makes her happy. I understand how you feel but you can't just block someone to their road of happiness like that." Joochan finally stated his own opinion.
"Thank you for listening to me so attentively, Joochan. There's nothing more I can tell you, I guess. I'll think about your words later." Jibeom didn't respond immediately, but patted Joochan's back before standing up, leaving the washroom.
"Hey, you two took quite a long time. What were you guys doing?" Jibeom almost bumped into Sungyoon on his way to exit the washroom.
"Just a little talk and such." Jibeom smiled and walked past.
"The fight seems more serious than it is." Joochan sighed.
"So... you're going to interfere?" Sungyoon slowly asked, the younger boy widened his eyes in shock.
"Hyung... you heard everything?" Joochan asked. Sungyoon nodded.
"What should we do then?"
"I don't know. It might take a long time, or it might even last forever. But for now, as Jaein's partner, I'll find a way to help her."
Who's your Golden Child bias?