A heavy sigh escaped her lip. It had been a long and stressful week. Schoolwork was piling up, her professors were constantly nagging and everyone she thought she could count on were unavailable. Mostly because of how immature and rude she had been to them the previous week. Aera had spent more of her time with DongSe, choosing to avoid HyunTae so he wouldn't have to feel like he was picking sides.
"Tomorrow you'll be separated into groups. So be prepared for that," the professor announced earning a series of groans from the students. Aera lazily stuffed her notebook in her bag and let it loosely swing on her shoulder. Her long and slow walk down the hall was met with a group of girls, in the end, softly whispering and pointing at her. That had turned into a usual occurrence ever since people found out Mark was her brother.
"Excuse me," a soft voice called out. Aera turned towards the girl. She had short dark blue hair, big eyes hiding behind thick round glasses.
"Yes?"
The girl seemed nervous as she evidently hesitated to talk.
"Can I take a picture with you?" Aera internally felt uncomfortable but nonetheless gave a soft smile.
"Sure," she walked closer towards the girl and stood beside her. The blue-haired girl struggled to open the camera app before she held it up. The phone was snatched out of her grasp in an instant. They both stared up at DongSe's cold glare.
"What are you-" before Aera could say anything he interrupted.
"I'll take it for you," he didn't let his glare waver as he snapped a couple of pictures and passed the phone back.
"Thank you," the girl mumbled while she bowed at him.
"Let's go," he said as he completely ignored her and reached to grab Aera's arm.
"Is he your boyfriend?" The curious blue-haired girl asked.
"Yeah," he said and before Aera could quickly deny what he had said he was already pulling her along and away from the shocked fan.
"Why would you say that?!" Aera pulled away from his hold and stopped. He shrugged and continued walking.
Aera couldn't help but huff at his cold attitude. She had found out that his nice and soft moments only came once in a blue moon and that he preferred letting people think he was a big douche.
"Where are we even going?" She dragged her legs behind him.
"To wipe that ugly frown off your face. If you want to hang out with me you need to meet my standards," Aera almost laughed at his odd way to try and cheer her up.
-
"In all honesty, we are done," the producer said as he played with the different audio files on the computer.
"It doesn't usually take this long to record an album but since Sol requested you were the only one who played the instrumental.." his voice trailed off.
"So what now? Like where does that leave me? Do I still get to work here or.." for some reason the fact that she was all done with Sunny's album didn't make her as happy as she thought. It only meant that she wouldn't get to see the artists at SM as much.
"You'll have to take that up with Sol's manager or Lee Soo Mansii," the producer could tell the sadness that overtook the girl's features. Anyone could tell how attached she had become to Sol.
"Will that be all for today?" She asked. He nodded, his eyes still staring at the recordings on the screen.
"Have a good day," he called out just before she was out the door. Aera replied with a quick 'you too' before she closed the door.
She navigated her way through the halls and towards the exit of the building. She wouldn't try to search for Mark because of their busy schedules to prepare for NCT 2020.
However, she could hear the multiple loud voices that were at the end of the hall she was walking towards, her brother's loud laugh amongst them.
"His whole body just gave up," Johnny's voice said to which Ten and Marks laugh followed.
"Dude I don't know what happened," Mark said in between his laughing fit. By now Aera could see him. Mouth wide open and hand flapping around to hit anyone nearby.
"You're so loud," Aera said as she joined them. She waved at the rest of the scattered members, eyes stopping when they fell on Donghyuck. He too stared at her before turning to continue his conversation with Yangyang.
"What are you doing here?" Mark's voice brought her back.
"Finished up with Sol's album,"
"How was that?" Ten asked. Aera ranted about how much she enjoyed the experience and also mentioned her current predicament.
"I don't know where I stand now," Ten nodded silently. Aera's eyes still slightly lingered towards where he stood.
"My chingu!" Lucas's loud voice announced as he saw the girl. He maneuvered his way through the other members to reach her.
"I've missed you!" He said before swinging his arm over her shoulder and giving her a quick side hug. Donghyuck stopped focusing on what Yangyang had been saying and looked at the interaction. Something about Lucas's arm around her made him annoyed.
She had been blushing as they talked. Her shy replies being impossible for him to overhear.
"She looks familiar," Yangyang said when he noticed the boy wasn't paying attention.
"She's Marks twin," Renjun answered. Most of the WayV members and the two new members eyes widened.
"He has a twin?" Shotaro asked in his broken Korean.
"Awe look at her all shy," Johnny teased. Aera playfully pushed the tall giant away.
"Still crushing on me?" Lucas said with a playful smirk.
"That was years ago," Mark cut into his sister's defense.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Everyone turned to look at Ten after he asked.
"What?" Aera asked confused.
"She did but they broke up like... months ago," Mark explained to which Johnny nodded remembering.
"You're cheating on me?" Lucas jokingly said as he held a hand to his heart for a dramatic effect.
"I was just asking because there's these picture of you circulating all over Twitter," Aera looked at Ten even more confused.
"What pictures?"
"You and some guy holding hands," Aera quickly pulled out her phone to check. Surely enough someone had taken a picture of her when DongSe had pulled her arm. People were quick to assume that he was her boyfriend.
"What the fuck," she said as she scrolled. All three boys quickly huddled around her to stare at the pictures as well.
"Ooh he's a bad boy," Johnny commented as he pointed to the tattoos.
"I got tattoos as well," Lucas protested while touching his rib.
"It's not just the tattoos sweetheart," Ten stared at Lucas up and down with disapproval.
"Who's this?" Mark instantly protectively questioned.
"He's just a friend from school. We aren't even holding hands," she zoomed into where anyone could tell he was grabbing her arm, mostly pinching her jacket if they were getting specific.
"Then what's that!" Lucas pressed the next picture that appeared on her timeline. This time it was when she first went out with him to the cafe. They were both smiling and sitting at a table.
She covered her eyes with her hand and sighed loudly.
"Why me? I don't even like boys," she groaned.
"You're fruity?"
Aera stared at Ten with a 'what the fuck' look.
"No! I'm just staying away from them,"
"Wait what does fruity mean?" Marks cluelessness interrupted.
"Lesbian," Johnny said before continuing to sip on his drink.
Her eyes once again fell on his and to her surprise, he had already been staring at her.
"Can we talk?" She mouthed to him. He nodded slowly and signaled towards the hall that led to the studio.
"I'll be right back let me go talk to Donghyuck," she didn't wait for a reply before she walked up to him.
"They get along now?" Lucas asked for both his and Ten's confused look. Mark shrugged.
"So much for staying away from them," Johnny mumbled before finishing off his drink.
"Noona!" Chenle's voice called out just before she and Donghyuck walked away.
"I want to introduce you to the new members," Aera smiled as her eyes fell on two shy boys. They both bowed respectfully to which she also returned the gesture and gave brief introductions.
"Oh and you might already know the WayV members,"
"I mostly know Ten, Lucas, Kun, and Winwin. But it's a pleasure to meet you guys. Hope we can interact more in the future," she politely said.
"Good luck to you all!" She said after they had all formally introduced themselves. Nervously she stared up to meet his waiting eyes. He didn't say anything before he walked ahead.
"Good looks do run in the family," the rest agreed with Xiaojun as they watched her walk away.
"Is she close with Haechan?" Yangyang asked. The dreamies shared a look and smiled awkwardly.
"Now they are," Jaemin softly chuckled at Jenos comment.
"What about before?" Sungchan was the one to ask this. It seemed that they were all hesitating to answer.
"They couldn't stand each other before. It would literally be insult after insult,"
"Why?"
They all shrugged.
"Why do they get along now all of a sudden?" Hendery seemed really into the conversation as he leaned forward to listen better.
"No idea. I just know that now they are.. what's the word-" Jaemin looked around for help.
"Inseparable," Renjun finished
-
a.n: sorry for the long waited update. I've been busy with work and applying for colleges but I'll try to update more often.