"yo, minho!" izumi greeted, entering the practice room. lee minho rolled his eyes, a chuckle escaping his lips at the stupid rhyme as he set down the tablet.
"what about me?" changbin pouted as hyunjin followed behind izumi, throwing his bag to the side, before beginning to stretch.
"who are you again?" izumi teased, tilting her head as she feigned confusion. she chuckled at changbin's hurt expression before turning away from him. she set her bag down, taking out her water bottle and phone. "where's jeongin?" she questioned, noticing how there was one person missing.
"he went to go get snacks." minho answered. setting up the music. it was currently seungmin, changbin, minho, hyunjin and izumi in the practice room. the five of them and also jeongin were dancers and had their own small group that usually represented the school during competitions and fairs.
izumi had been dancing from a young age back in japan, she was put in ballet class when she had turned five, but when she came to korea she wanted to try out different styles of dance. when she arrived in korea, she immediately joined the local dance school where she met hyunjin. the two had somehow clicked despite how awful izumi's korean was, they also shared the same classes in school which made their bond even stronger. seungmin joined the two of them later on in high school.
minho had been a good dancer friend of hyunjin and so the three of them began dancing with minho who was a senior to them in school. changbin soon joined later after seungmin suggested him to join the team from seeing his tumbling.
jeongin had joined recently thanks to izumi who had watched the school performance that was usually held by the new year who joined the school. although he was only a year younger than izumi , he was definitely more talented than the girl.
"hyung, i couldn't find strawberry flavour so i got you raspberry instead." speaking of the devil. "oh, you're all here." jeongin smiled at his other members.
"innie!" izumi attacked the boy with a hug, taking him by surprise. "i missed you, my baby." she cooed as jeongin chuckled, wrapping his arms around her.
"okay noona, i'm only a year younger you know." izumi didn't even have to look at him to know that he was pouting. pulling away, she grinned up at the boy. izumi had a weird attachment to jeongin, she took care of him as if he were her own brother. "come on, i got you your mint chocolate too." he grabbed hold of her hand, dragging her towards the middle of the dance floor where the other boys were sat.
jeongin first took out the mint chocolate and his own chocolate icecream before giving the bag to changbin. "here." he handed izumi her icecream before taking a seat on the floor. izumi stared at the icecream, a small yet sad smile gracing her lips.
"this was his favourite." she whispered, catching hyunjin's attention, although he didn't hear what she had said.
"what's wrong, mi?" izumi snapped out of her daze, glancing down at the boys who looked up at her in concern. she chuckled, shaking her head.
"nothing." she reassured, taking a seat. they all ate in silence, listening to hyunjin's story of felix who had rejected everyone, but izumi, the boy clearly more affected by it then he lets on.
"he australian?" minho questioned, his mouth full of icecream. hyunjin nodded his head. "we have an australian guy in our class too. his name is chan, he's a music major and makes awesome music. we should get him to join our squad too." minho suggested.
"since we're getting new members, lets get felix too. he could make more friends this way." izumi suggested, biting into her icecream. hyunjin couldn't help but frown at the idea of new members, he liked the group just the way it was.
he also didn't like how close felix and izumi seemed to be getting too. it was too sketchy how the new kid had taken such a liking towards her, but no one else. what if he was a murderer? hyunjin's eyes widened at the idea, mentally scolding himself for having such a farfetched thought. he'd just have to keep a close eye on felix.
"how did speaking about a kid only liking izumi bring us to having another member?" changbin questioned, already finished with his icecream. minho shrugged.
"how did you end up eating all of izumi's pocky?" he fired back, causing changbin to break out into a nervous sweat as he looked like a deer caught in headlights, mentally cursing minho for exposing him.
"changbin did what now?" izumi's head immediately shot up at the mention of her pocky. changbin visibly gulped, avoiding the girl's burning gaze. no one was allowed to touch izumi's pocky, it was the golden rule.
"we should start practise now, come on." changbin stood up, scurrying over to the sound system. izumi huffed, rolling her eyes.
"i'm tired." she mumbled, leaning her head on hyunjin's shoulder. the five boys glanced at one another, raising an eyebrow. izumi was never tired, even when it was 1 a.m and she had to be up by 6 the next day, the girl never gets tired. she was their little ball of energy, so seeing her tired when they hadn't even begun dancing made them worried.
"noona, are you okay? are you feeling sick?" jeongin questioned. izumi shrugged, snuggling closer to hyunjin. hyunjin felt her forehead, comparing it to his own, but she felt completely fine.
"your temperature is fine." he mumbled, concern written all over his face.
"i'm fine, just tired." she reassured, waving it off. she wanted to tell them what was wrong, that ever since she saved felix, she had been feeling weird. she didn't exactly know how or what she was feeling, just that she felt much weaker than usual. she also wanted to tell them about the whole timer situation too, but she couldn't.
so she held it in.
however, one thing i will reveal to you is that izumi couldn't see her own timer. she didn't know that the longer felix's time got, the shorter hers would get.
and her time was coming to an end sooner than she thought.