*Ren POV*
I hummed Orange Caramel’s, song ‘Lipstick’ as I rummaged through the cupboard in search of a snack. Baekho hyung was on his phone, laughing every now and then. Minhyun hyung was watching our last week’s performance on the laptop. Aron hyung was wandering around randomly, peeking over Minhyun’s or Baekho’s shoulder from time to time. A knock sounded on the door and our heads all swivelled to the noise simultaneously. Then we all looked at each other. No, not actually. We all looked at Aron.
“I’ll get it,” Aron hyung sighed jogging lightly to the door muttering something about lazy dongsaengs.
“Sorry for just dropping in on you guys like this,” I heard a familiar voice say a while after the door clicked open. Abandoning my snack search, I poked my head around the corner expecting the someone I was always glad to see.
“It’s fine,” Aron hyung smiled, “We weren’t doing anything anyway.”
“I see,” Misora smiled back. “I only wanted to see how you guys were getting on.” Her twinkling, verdant green eyes met mine as she grinned and said, “Yo Ren.”
“Misora,” I greeted happily. It was only then that I noticed the guy awkwardly standing behind her. “L sunbae,” my eyes widened in surprise.
Misora scoffed, “Sunbae?”
I pouted indignantly, “He debuted two years before me…”
Misora tried to put on a straight face, “Arraso, I won’t laugh anymore.”
“Yes you will!” I childishly stomped over.
“No I won’t!” Changing the subject, Misora quickly said, “Umma said ‘hi.’”
I wasn’t surprised that Misora had started calling my mother ‘umma.’ I was sure it was going to happen sooner or later. I grinned happily as I said, “Tell her I said ‘hi’ and that I miss her and that I’ll make her very proud.”
“…Yeah… no,” Misora said flicking my forehead.
“Why not?” I rubbed my sore forehead.
“Because it’ll mean more if you go tell her yourself,” Misora said seriously. “Anyway, I just stopped by to say hi to you guys.” Turning to Aron she smiled, “Hi Aron oppa,” and shouting into the dorm she called, “Hi Minhyun! Hi Baekho!”
I heard a weak, “Hi Misora!” and “Hello!” From the two that couldn’t be bothered to come to the door.
“And to see if you were doing all right,” Misora smiled angelically.
“Awh,” I gushed. “That’s sweet of you.” I reached to pat her hair but froze instantly at her innocent yet deadly stare that sent me the message, “You touch; you die.”
“Yeah, never mind then,” I pulled my hand back.
“And now that I see you guys are doing fine, we’re going to leave before L dies of awkwardness,” Misora finished.
“I’m not dying of awkwardness,” L objected.
“Yeah you are,” Misora nodded, looking at him.
“I know I am,” L sulked looking at the floor.
“One thing before you go,” I grabbed Misora’s wrist gently and gestured for her to lean closer. She was hesitant but reluctantly leaned towards me. When she was close enough I whispered into her ear, “When did you and L from Infinite become so buddy-buddy?”
As Misora leaned in to whisper her reply into my ear I caught L’s too obvious, envious stare. I looked over to see if Aron hyung had noticed it too and I got my answer when I saw him smiling cheekily at me.
“I actually have no idea,” Misora’s melodious voice drifted quietly into my ear.
***
*Misora POV*
“And?” I said in a bored tone, “What am I doing here?”
L chuckled, pushing me through the door and into Infinite’s dorm, “To visit of course.”
“But what if I don’t want to?” I grunted pushing against the palm of his hands with my back.
“You and I both know you want to,” L smiled. Into the building, he called out, “I’m back and I’ve brought someone with me!”
“Who is it?” Sungjong rolled into view with Woohyun, who was occasionally pushing him with his foot to keep the maknae rolling, following behind. Upon seeing me, Sungjong sprung to his feet and held his arms out wide, “Misora!”
I stopped pushing against L, chuckling when he nearly fell over since the resistance had disappeared and walked into his embrace. “You saw me last week,” I smiled into his chest.
“I know,” Sungjong grinned happily. He stopped his tight hug and let his arms hang loosely around my hips, his hands interlocking behind me. I placed a hand on his shoulder and ran the other hand’s fingers through his fringe.
“Did you get it cut again?” I asked curiously. I leaned upwards to examine his soft hair closer, aware of his light breath on my neck.
“Yeah, do you like it?” Sungjong said nervously.
“Mm,” I gave him a big smile, “You look amazing.”
Sungjong’s face brightened, “Not as amazing as you though.”
“You two can cut it out now,” Woohyun laughed. “If I didn’t know any better I would think you two were a couple.”
“Wae?” Sungjong and I asked in unison.
Woohyun walked away sighing. Shaking his head, he muttered under his breath, “What a bunch of idiots…”
I pouted slipping away from Sungjong’s grasp, “Did he just call me an idiot?”
A weight was put on my shoulders as L swung his arm around me, “Yeah… because you are one.”
I turned my head to face him, “Yah! Did you just call me an idiot?”
“For someone who objects to being called an idiot you’re not very bright are you?” L lightly tapped my nose with his index finger.
“Aish,” I muttered pulling away from L. I walked towards the window, unaware of Sungjong’s icy glare at Infinite’s visual and L’s defiant smirk back. “Ah, I know that girl,” I caught a glimpse of a familiar brunette standing outside. “Ryu… Hyun Ae… I think… I need to thank her.”
I whirled around to the two idols in the middle of what looked like a staring competition saying, “I’ll be going out the back door,” and was gone before they could protest.
*Sungjong POV*
“L hyung…” I said sweetly as I looked out the window, watching my best friend engage conversation with one of our fans standing outside, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you mean?” He said blankly, following my gaze out the window.
“I’m sure you know exactly what I mean.” I trailed my fingers down the clear glass, “Even a blind man could have seen that glare you were giving me while I was holding her.”
L was quiet, his focus concentrated on the two girls talking on the street.
“I’m not letting you date my best friend,” I continued, breaking the heavy silence.
L scoffed, “What, because you like her?”
I shook my head, “It’s not that…” Still smiling, I curled my hand up into a fist against the sun-warmed glass, “I’m not letting anyone take her away from me again.”
***
Days flew past, coming close to leaving summer behind. Akemi Misora was accepted into Seoul National University without a hitch. The financial issues were settled easily with the money that Misora’s mother had been saving for her daughter’s tuition purposes. As promised all those years ago, Sungjong introduced Misora to the best friends he had made while she was away and Misora became close with Infinite, happily spending a lot of time with them over the summer. One thing she didn’t expect was to become close with Ryu Hyun Ae. The two girls met up often, finding that they had similar interests and generally got along. Misora often dropped in at Nu’est’s dorm wanting to see Ren and because of her frequent visits she got to know Nu’est well as well.
A special day was silently creeping up on them and never had Misora once forgotten it.
***
*Misora POV*
I speedily tapped in a number I had gotten familiar with calling into my cellphone.
“Yeoboseyo?” My call was picked up almost immediately.
“Myungsoo?” I said as I paced my room.
“Ah Misora, hi,” I could picture L smiling, his adorable dimple forming.
“What are you guys doing for Sungjong’s birthday tomorrow?” I asked getting straight to the point.
“It’s Sungjong’s birthday tomorrow?” L’s confused voice drifted through the speaker.
I sighed, “Tell me you’re joking.”
L laughed playfully, “Don’t worry, I was. Just come to the dorm at 7 tomorrow.”
“Got it,” I nodded.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” L confirmed before hanging up.
I placed my phone down on my desk before carelessly flinging myself onto my soft bed. I placed the back of my hand on my forehead as I thought hard, closing my eyes. Yesterday after Hyun Ae had finished squealing about Dongwoo she told me that I would look good together with my best friend, Sungjong.
I had scoffed saying, “That would never happen. If he was going to get a girlfriend, she’d be an idol like him or something.” But what was this feeling that had recently appeared whenever he was around me?
“I don’t care anymore,” I rolled over, mumbling into my pillow.
***
The tall Sungyeol opened the door after I had knocked the secret pattern they had told me a few hours before.
“Come in, come in,” he ushered.
“Where’s Sungjong?” I asked taking my shoes off and hiding them in the place Sungyeol was gesturing to.
“We told him that since he was the maknae he should go buy us all some cookies,” Sungyeol grinned.
“What kind of logic is that?” I said with a laugh.
“No time to think about it, he’ll be back soon.”
***
The dorm was deadly silent as we all heard the front door open.
“Guys!” Sungjong’s cute voice called out. “I bought the cookies!”
He flicked on the lights as we sprung out in a perfectly choreographed way shouting, “Happy birthday!”
“I knew you guys were gonna do this,” Sungjong grinned happily.
“Well that ruins the surprise,” Sunggyu said shaking his head.
“Give me the cookies!” Dongwoo jumped up and down on the spot staring at the plastic bag Sungjong was holding.
“After the cake hyung,” Hoya pulled out a magnificent, delicious looking cake from nowhere.
Sungjong stared at it in awe, “This is really too much guys.”
I stepped forward and gave him a short friendly hug, ignoring the light, happy feeling in my head, “Happy birthday Jongie.”
Sungjong placed a hand on my head smiling way too happily, “Call me oppa.”
I shook my head immediately, “No.”
“But it’s my birthday…” he whined cutely with his aegyo.
I think my heart literally skipped a beat. Since when did he get so cute? I could feel the heat creeping onto my cheeks as I muttered a quick, “Happy birthday Sungjong oppa.”
“Yay!” He clapped his hands together like a 13 year old girl.
“It was just that once,” I pointed out before handing him a parcel, “Don’t open it until I’m gone okay? I realised when I was shopping for it that I didn’t really realise what you like these days.”
Sungjong smiled a smile so wide I thought it was going to rip his pretty face, “Which is why we’re going to spend every day together! And then I’ll know you better than anyone else!”
Ugh, what was this mushy feeling in my stomach?
“Yeah, whatever,” I avoided his gaze and subtly hid behind L.
Woohyun smiled at me and ruffled my hair the way Ren usually did it.
“Let’s go eat the food!” L suggested, already making his way to the kitchen to grab a knife.
***
The night was filled with laughter and smiles but to my disappointment it ended all too soon. Sungjong walked me out into the night, smiling brightly the entire time.
I was smiling as well, “Happy birthday Sungjong. I really missed saying that to you every year.”
“Well it’s okay now because you’ll never miss another year,” Sungjong grinned enveloping me in a warm hug. Summer didn’t realise it was time for it to leave and so the night air was warm and quiet. The streetlights were already on as it was so late and the one we were standing under was flickering slightly.
“Misora,” Sungjong said shyly, taking a step back.
“What is it?” I asked brushing some hair out of his lovely eyes.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. I was going to tell you when you were still in New Zealand but I kind of chickened out and then you were suddenly in Korea and I thought that you might hate me or something for not talking to you so I didn’t bring it up until now either…” he awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “But I feel like I can tell you now.”
Eh? What was this fluttery feeling in my chest?
He took a nervous gulp before staring bravely into my eyes.
“I… I like… no… I love—“
(A/N)
I know he won't ever see this but to our beautiful, lovely, adorable, manly maknae... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNGJONG!
And I don't mean to kill any of your happy vibes or anything but R.I.P EunB... why did this have to happen today?
Oh yeah, thanks for reading! Yehet!